Chapter 133: First Kiss

They say that your first kiss is the sweetest.

Jake climbed up into the barstool next to the smaller tan furred fox with big ears. "So Finn, where is Nick?" he asked the fox.

"I dunno, you know how unreliable those cops are?" the small fox in the black bowling shirt answered in his very deep and gruff voice before he sipped from his large mug of beer.

"Yeah, I'm sure he got delayed again at the station," the raccoon sighed as he gingerly shifted his arm with the white cast on it slightly.

"When does the doc say that he is gonna take that plaster band-aid off?"

"In a few more weeks." Jake nodded at the bartender when she brought his usual scotch and soda. "I can't wait. The itching is driving me crazy."

"It's the fur growing back," Finnick chuckled. "It always Itches like hell, I remember that when I broke my arm as a kit."

"So what have you been up to lately?"

"Laying low, I had a run-in with some cops last week. They were hustling me about selling pawpsicles downtown. You know, I'm a fox so I have to be up to something illegal."

"You sometimes are," the raccoon laughed.

"Look Runnel, you may have the best house in Happy Town, but you still still live in old HT. You are a coon and no matter how much cash you have, you will always be a coon. I'd bet that if you walked through a nice neighborhood in suburbia during the night, that someone is gonna call the cops because you don't belong there. They see a raccoon and think that someone's house is gonna get robbed."

"Times are changing…" Jake began to object.

"Sure, then explain why I got pulled over a few weeks ago by a cop because I was taking a shortcut through the Palm District?"

"Probably because your beat-up old van's tailpipe was falling off," Jake joked.

"My van meets the legal requirements and passes inspection every year, I can't afford for it not to!" Finn actually snarled in reply. "The cops had no reason to hassle me! They only did so was because I was a fox on the wrong side of town."

"We can only hope that things are getting better, after all, Nick was the first fox in the ZPD and now he is a detective."

"His talent got him there, but that is as far as he is ever gonna get in rank. Many in the world see a fox as being no more than a fox, no matter if he is wearing a uniform. Just like all those rich animals who hire you because you're a coon. There is an old saying that goes it takes a crook to catch a coon."

Jake didn't respond but stared at the drink in front of him for a few minutes.

"So your oldest furball called me," Finnick continued after he set the now half-empty mug down and let out a hardy belch.

"That was just classy fox," the raccoon snickered. "So what did Nicky call you about?"

"He wanted to know if I knew of any attorneys, it seems that he wants to sue you and the misses for child abuse."

"What?"

"He was crying and saying something about you wanting to disfigure his face."

"Finnick, Nicky has to have braces."

"Yeah, I got that out of him and then I explained that was not child abuse."

"He didn't take the news too well," Jake sighed out as he swirled his drink around. "When he got home from the dentist, he climbed into the tree at the treehouse and refused to come down."

"So he climbed into the treehouse?" the small fox chuckled. "That joint is more luxurious than most of the places I have lived in before."

"No, he climbed up the tree into the branches above the treehouse and refused to come down unless we promised not to make him get the braces."

"With your arm all broke, I guess you couldn't climb up there and get him down?"

"Billy showed up just in time."

"A coyote climbed up into the tree?"

"No, of course not! Billy must be hanging around Nick too much for he actually talked Nicky down."

"How did he do that?"

"He reminded Nicky of all the cute girls in their school who have braces and that having braces would give him something he can talk to them about."

"You're kidding!" Finnick began to laugh. "You've got to be kidding me! Are you telling me that skinny yote convinced your son that talking about his having braces could be a pickup line?"

"Yeah, the scary part is that he now seems to be looking forward to getting them."

Three Weeks Later

Dixie Greyears stood there giving him a coy smile and the young grey fox vixen had her tail slightly wagging near his footpaws while the young male in front of her leaned forward and gave her a grin. "Have you ever kissed a raccoon before?" he softly asked and her eyes widened slightly at the question.

"I've never kissed any boy before," she almost whispered her reply even as she stepped back a pace or two, only to find herself now against a brick wall. "Have you ever kissed anyone…I mean besides your momma on her cheek or something?"

"A real kiss with a girl?" was Nicky's reply as he stepped forward.

"Yeah?" she said, her tail gave a more vigorous wag and she knew that the male raccoon couldn't have missed noticing.

"Plenty of times," he lied as he leaned closer to her. "But never anyone as pretty as you are."

"You think I'm pretty?"

"Of course."

The raccoon's muzzle drew closer to hers. He reached over and took ahold of her paws even while he leaned further towards her. He smelled her breath and it had the scent of the anchovy sandwich which she had eaten earlier during the day in the lunchroom. Being a raccoon, he loved the taste of fish.

"We will get in trouble if we are caught," the vixen meekly protested. "Student's kissing at school is against the policies."

"If we get caught," he said with a smile. "Who is going to turn us in?"

"Oh?"

Nicky leaned slightly upwards and gave a thin grin when she closed her eyes and pursed her lips for the kiss. He knew that this was really both his and her's first kiss and he wanted it to be more than just a chaste peck on the lips, he had seen the videos of animals making out on the internet and he wanted that experience. His lips met hers and she began to pull back as if they were done, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her even closer while he pushed his lips harder into hers. Her eyes widened when she felt his tongue on her fangs and then she opened her teeth to allow it into her mouth. With a small groan, she felt the raccoon's kiss become even more urgent while he pressed his muzzle even harder against hers, then something felt wrong. "Mmmmfufff?" she tried to say but there was definitely something wrong when she felt a tug on her braces.

"Yurmmmfff?" Nicky tried to reply while he gently pulled his muzzle back from the vixens, his eyes widen when he realized that they were stuck. "Billallauyffaff!" he tried to call out.

The taller thin coyote heard his best friend's mumbling and looked over to see that the raccoon was kissing the gray furred vixen. "Dude, making out at school…" he began to laugh, and then he realized that something was wrong. Walking even closer, he reached up with his paw and gently lifted the raccoon's lips while he peered at their teeth. "How did you two get stuck?"

"Murrrummmf!" the raccoon tried to reply.

"I think if I just give you a good tug, you two will come loose," Billy suggested before he reached for Nicky's waist.

"NNNOOO!" both raccoon and the vixen mumbled their objections while they desperately slapped at the coyote's paws.

A few minutes later Nicky and Dixie awkwardly tried to walk down the school's hallway towards the nurse's office. There was a crowd of other students standing in the hallway staring and laughing as the two muzzle stuck animals passed by.

"MISTER RUNNEL…MISS GREYEARS!" the principal roared out and the raccoon winced when he saw the tall ram standing there with his arms crossed. "Once the nurse gets you two separated I want both of you to come to my office!" Nicky began to nod, but Dixie gave out a slightly pained whimper when he did.

Boy, were they in trouble!

"So Nicky has been suspended for a full week for kissing a girl?" Nick asked before he leisurely leaned back and sipped the glass of ice tea he held in his right paw. The lean fox was still wearing the white dress shirt he wore to work, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His tranquilizer gun and its shoulder holster were laid on the table and his blue sports jacket was strewn on a nearby chair.

"One whole week," Jake replied, he too was sitting at the table. "And of course it is going to be a busy week for Marie over at the Coyote Cultural Center. She has a routine auditor due that week, so she can't have him underpaw."

"So what are you going to do with the little guy?"

"What every loving father who owns a business does."

"Hire a nanny?"

"Nope, I am going to dump him off on my employees at the office. I'd bet that Ben and Jerry would have a blast with him hanging around."

"Do you think that is a smart idea, I mean Nicky around all that high tech?" the fox asked as he leaned forward even while he gave the raccoon a look of concern.

The raccoon pondered the fox's question for a few minutes before answering, "Yeah, maybe I haven't thought this through enough? I wonder how much a nanny costs for a week?"

"A lot less than it will cost you if he gets his paws on the wrong keyboard."