AN: Hello. It's been a while since I've uploaded anything. Found out that I had a chapter done long time ago that I didn't publish, so here it is.
9 – Catching Up
"Sorry… I was out of it before you two left."
"Oh… That's so…?" Jonathan smirked and rubbed the bottom of his snout with his hand as he turned to his father with the same smirk. "You missed the look on his face, dad. I really messed with him."
"Well of course. Goes to show no one knows that I have a family." Wolf smirked as he continued to observe Fox in a stupor. "Good to know it didn't spread to Star Fox. Or else…" Wolf gulped. "Nothing."
Jonathan faced his father with a touch of concern. "So…" Jonathan turns to Fox. "What's up?"
"Oh, I heard you were talking about Star Fox… what about it?"
"It's nothing Fox. Nothing bad, at least." Wolf replied.
Fox shrugged and cleared his throat. He looked around, and fortunately, the hallways were not as crowded. The only foot traffic was a nurse delivering blood samples from room to room. If it were crowded, it would be a whole other situation.
"Well, it looks like you want to hang out with us, yea?"
Fox nodded slowly yet instantly.
The two wolves looked to each other. The younger one was more expressive with dynamic facial expressions and body language whilst Wolf stood firm.
Not long after, the two turned to Fox in unison. "Okay, here's the deal," Wolf sternly announced. "You may hang out with us. Consider it my apology from yesterday."
"Yeah. Besides it doesn't look like you're that busy today. What's on your agenda if we said no?"
"I go home and watch re-runs of Corneria's Got Talent."
"Oh, boy. Yeah that's a lot better than sulkin' on the couch watching that mess."
"Wait, how?" Wolf immediately questioned. "It's a decent show If I remember."
"Wait… why isn't the elevators…" Jonathan turned around. "Oh, I forgot to hit the down button! Oopsie." He chuckled as he pressed on the button. Even though Fox noticed it beforehand, he did not bother telling the two.
Immediately, a mechanical chime sounded off from the right, followed by luminous light spilling out from the open elevator cabin.
"What do you wanna do, Fox?" Jonathan asked as they travelled down the floors.
"Whoa, not so fast," Wolf interrupted. "Can I at least change my clothes into something that's more presentable?" His red eye stared right into both canines. Every time when Wolf stared at Fox, he was always reminded of the mean look on his communicator in his Arwing, and it has been stuck with him for a long time.
"Oh, true." Jonathan snickered discreetly, wagging his tail. While Fox was looking straight at the Door, Jonathan glanced at the part of his face where he was slapped last night, and it seemed like almost nothing has happened to him, which elicited a relieving sigh from Jonathan.
"How's the weather out there, son?" Wolf gently asked as the elevator decelerated and levelled before opening the doors.
"Well, you'll like it."
As they emerged from the elevator, Fox had a calmed look on his face, Jonathan had an ambitious smile, whilst Wolf's face was completely stale, staring fixedly straight at the sliding entrance doors.
Once out, they found themselves at one corner of a bustling intersection, where roads were wide enough to require crosswalks to be elevated, all dwarfed by surrounding skyscrapers and plazas built with various geometries and with windows reflecting the fresh rays of Lylat and the perfect mirror image of wispy cirrus, giving off the lively appearance of the city center on a summer's day. A screaming yet refreshingly dry summer wind propelled from the west, accelerated by the tunnel effect of the buildings.
Although it's the usual sight for Fox and Jonathan, Wolf squinted his eyes as he had to raise his hands to filter out some of Lylat's rays. The screaming west wind brushed and hugged every inch of his body, and the ambience of commuting and the general city scene brought it all together.
"Boy do I miss downtown…" Jonathan stretched as he exhibited a slow-moving street washing truck pass by, beeping some song along the way. He cleared his throat. "So… are we going back anytime soon?"
Wolf immediately turned around. "Back where?"
"Your house! You really forgot already?" Jonathan gave him the classic puppy face.
"Hmm. Good question." Wolf smiled in return. "I don't know how to go back…" He shrugged. "You do, dontcha?"
"Yeah… but how?"
The two continued to lightly argue, with Fox treating it as a bit of light entertainment. Funny enough that it was a such strange contrast to last night where they fought.
"But what about Fox here?"
Fox immediately snapped from his contemplative state, greeted by the younger lupine staring at him with his fluorescing yellow eyes.
"He'll just get another car."
"Now that's just dumb. A fare from here to your house costs like 23 dollars and obliging Fox to pay separate? Not surprised to know that you're still a bit cuckoo."
"How is that?" Wolf inched his face closer to his son.
"If you let Fox hang out with us for apologetic reasons, you should be the one that's treating us two to show your apology."
Wolf thought for a while, but then gave a defeated sigh but remained in a positive mood as the warm breeze caressed him. "Okay, let's go then."
How tame… Fox wondered as they began walking, with the usual images and voices of old Wolf stuck in his head as he compared one more time.
…
After the taxi pulled up in front of Wolf's apartment complex, the three stepped off with Fox emerging from the front and the wolves emerging from the back. Wolf led the way, grabbing his key as they gathered at the main entrance. With a simple tap of a plastic token attached to his keyring, the door clicked, and Wolf swung it open.
Jonathan first noticed the smell of the fresh paint, which somehow disagreed with him for reasons unknown, and the walls were also too vibrantly white, much like his fur.
"Welcome to the Old… Donnell home…" Wolf inserted the key into fixture, followed by several loud clanks within the mechanism.
"Ugh… jeez… I have to deal with those again, don't I?" Jonathan rolled his eyes, and Fox chortled as well upon his reaction.
"You know it and there's no escaping it!" Wolf snorted as he swung open the door, and a strong smell of cedar found its way to Jonathan's nose along with a couple notes of ash… Maybe it's just the generic old furniture smell, but if Jonathan were to explain it to Fox, he would struggle.
Wolf immediately plopped onto the leather sofa, placing his bare feet on the coffee table. "Well, what do you think, son?" Right after he finished the question, Jonathan found his way to the bathroom.
Wolf leaned back and closed his eyes, exhaling and inhaling smoothly and slowly to the point where he was drifting away.
Fox walked by and stopped at the window and slid open one side of it, allowing the usual city ambience to pour in, including the sound of a distant jackhammer. Even in the afternoon hours, a historical area like this still seemed active with commuters as a bus pulled up to the intersection and commuters diffused out of it. Fox took out his phone and held it in front of him.
A minute later, the bathroom door creaked open.
"Um… Dad?" Jonathan peeked his head out into the hall. "I can't flush the toilet." He clenched his teeth in embarrassment.
"What!?" His eyes burst open. A shrill and venomous utterance erupted from Wolf, causing Fox to flinch and let his phone slip out of his hand and fall flat onto the windowsill. Wolf bolted up onto his two feet and stomped his way to the bathroom. "Them crooks…" Wolf grumbled as he repeatedly pressed on the flush valve. "Can you get Fox over?"
"Sure thing," Jonathan obliged, and right as he turned around, his eyes widened as Fox was already in his face with his fur gleaming in the light. He passed by without a noise and roamed around the living room as Wolf complained unintelligibly.
He went back to the small hallway and snuck into Wolf's bedroom where it only contained old style wooden furniture and nothing decorative on the walls. In the wardrobe were some stale-smelling clothes, but a small fragment of paper behind all the clothing caught his eye. Revealing and unfolding the pamphlet was a street map of Corneria City, with only forty percent of the infrastructure compared to present day, and it wasn't evident until he spotted a copyright year of 1979 on the corner.
After more pointless arguing, Jonathan figured out something and autopiloted to the front door. Once opened, behind the door was a metal enclosure built into the wall with a small glass window showing some dials for an inspector to look at. Using the apartment key Wolf left on the kitchen table, behind the door revealed a red lever that was pointing up. Amidst the continuous complaints, Jonathan slowly turned the lever clockwise until he heard and felt a rush from the lever, and then he heard a splattering noise and a loud yelp which made Jonathan jump.
"Oh now they listen to me! Thanks!" Wolf yelled from the bathroom, along with other loud commotion.
After slowly closing the compartment door, Jonathan walked back into the room normally and placed the key where Wolf originally left it before he emerged with bath towel around his head, furiously rubbing.
"The water just spewed out without warning…" Fox explained as Jonathan felt the blood rush to his face. Wolf, without a sound, retreated to his room.
After several minutes, Wolf appeared with a white and blue checkered flannel. "What's for lunch?" He blurted from the end of the hall.
"Well…" Jonathan pondered and smiled.
"Come on dad… just pick a flavor, I am starving!" Jonathan asserted as Wolf glossed up and down at all the ten flavors for his chicken wings. Fox had his arms crossed on the table, looking up and away.
"Hmmm…" Wolf hummed for the seventh time as he drew his finger between two flavors. As his fingers went back and forth, Jonathan was running low on patience.
"Eenie meenie miney mo?" Jonathan uttered.
"Alright, son… I made my decision." Wolf closed the menu and grabbed the portable service kiosk to him. On there were Fox's and Jonathan's orders.
"8 piece Blazing Salsa, boneless." Wolf spoke into the microphone grille, and instantly, the order was listed on there. In response, Jonathan widened his eyes for a second and nodded nonchalantly; even Fox turned his head to Wolf.
"Would you like to order a glass of milk or yogurt?" A robotic voice came from the kiosk. Wolf quickly tapped 'No' and sent the order.
"You ordered Blazing Salsa?" Fox asked.
"Yes, is there a problem?" Wolf responded calmly with a smirk.
"Isn't that the second most spicy? I remember Falco having it and gave up after the first bite."
"Oh it won't be bad. Come on, Fox… what can't the universe's strongest and most notorious mercenary can't handle?"
"Yeah…" Fox's voice dropped off as he pulled out his phone, texting Falco about the change in location for Peppy's retirement party on Sunday. To his disbelief, it was moved to Peppy's house, which has the most inconvenient itinerary since barely any public transportation reaches that far out of city limits. After that ordeal, Fox looked around to see Jonathan slouching and his eyes half closed and Wolf on his phone.
With such a high-profile appearance for Fox and Wolf, Jonathan had thought at least one person would stare at his direction, but to his surprise, none of that happened. Jonathan looked around the sports pub; many people there were families, casually chatting and periodically viewing the various sporting events broadcasting on the television sets mounted above. In the bar section, several patrons sat hunched and downed their beers slowly as they watched their dearest Cornerian football team lose another close game.
"Hey," Fox whispered to the wolves.
"Yeah, Fox?" Jonathan responded while Wolf continued dozing off on his phone.
"How did you know of this place?"
"Some of my college friends knew of this place and ordered carryout. A lot of us got drunk that night so the food made it a lot more tolerable."
"Why is it that this place has a specialty?"
"Two dollars for six wings on the weekends, that's all." Fox answered. "Lines out the door during those days when they did it. Falco would order 36 so it was worth the wait."
A leopard waitress walked over and placed all the orders to the respective person.
"Enjoy, guys!" She said brightly before she left.
"There were some things we would never order, and that would be one of them." Fox glared at the wings Wolf ordered. Just by the smell irritated Fox's nose, and the bright red color speaks for itself.
"I never had these before. Can't I try something new at least once down here?" Wolf argued, raising his voice a bit.
"Well, good luck." Jonathan teased as he bit into his first piece.
Wolf grabbed his fork and slowly picked up one moderately sized piece, and both Fox and Jonathan stared at him as he chewed on it.
"It ain't so bad… why are you guys staring at me?" Wolf looked around. Eventually, Fox and Jonathan went back to eating at their own pace.
Jonathan could hear Wolf breathing out of his mouth more often. "Could you pass me a napkin, son?" Wolf said as he sniffed; Jonathan obliged. Just by the sound of him blowing his nose substantiated Fox's past decisions on why not to order that item, eventually, a tear dripped out of Wolf's red eyes.
"Excuse me guys…" Wolf slid out of the booth and hastily walked away.
Jonathan looked a Fox, cracked a smile and shook his head slowly, making a few chuckles as well. "Wow, I am not surprised at all!"
Fox began to chuckle too. "That's what Falco had to go through one day. He couldn't finish. None of us could, so we threw it away."
Wolf immediately came back with a glass of milk that is already half full. He sat there, breathing in and out of his mouth and chugged the rest of the milk, which made Jonathan resist chuckling even more.
"Hey, aren't you supposed to swish the milk instead of chugging it? It washes the spicy away!"
Wolf placed the glass down with force. "I'll get another then… Help me finish this, you two." Wolf said before he left.
Jonathan and Fox looked at each other in confusion.
"You have it." Jonathan spoke.
"No." Fox replied. "None of us can tolerate spice that well, except for Slippy."
"Okay, one for me." Jonathan took one medium sized piece and put the entire thing in his mouth. He chewed for several seconds before swallowing it. Thereafter, he took a large sip of water.
"Nice. I guess you had this before, right?"
"Yup. It's one of my favorites."
Fox nodded with his eyes closed.
Jonathan let out a drawn-out sigh, drank a sip of water and looked around twice.
"Fox, how long have you known him?" Jonathan put on slight gruff to his voice as he leaned forward with both elbows on the table. "Has Wolf always been like this?"
"I have known him for a while, maybe a couple years during Star Fox but… He's just gotten friendly within the last three days."
"I see." Jonathan took another bite out of the wing. "So friendly to vicious and now… reclusive?" he cocked his head to the right. "That doesn't sound like him."
"Well, to be honest… I expected the vicious part."
"Of course you do." Jonathan tapped his finger on his cheek. "Fox." He looked straight to him. "If you don't mind, may I give you my number?"
"Sure thing." Fox took out his phone. Jonathan looked around again before taking his phone, adding himself and giving it back to Fox. What was concerning to Jon was that Fox never asked why and just nonchalantly added someone to his contacts. "One thing you gotta make sure… Do not, I mean do not share my number with anyone unless I give you clearance."
"I can tell you Fox, you're a long way to seeing what the real Wolf O'Donnell is like. I may be wrong though but it's up to you to tell me every—Oh shit he's coming!" Jonathan leaned back and scooched in as Wolf plopped down next to him with a whole carton of milk.
"Hey guys, what did you talk about while I was gone?"
"Desserts." Fox chimed in before Jonathan could.
"Oh nice. I could use some after this hellish meal."
…
30 minutes later, a large strawberry cheesecake was delivered to the table. Most of it was devoured by Wolf, leaving Fox and Jonathan a third of a cake total.
"Your total is $16.53. Please hold your phone near the transponder to pay." Wolf held his phone to the screen, and it was a relief when a checkmark appeared. The two agreed, without much commotion to go home, but Jonathan was ordered to tag along with Wolf. While they got into the taxi and Wolf was looking away, Jonathan made a 'call me' gesture to Fox, in which Fox responded with a nod before he closed the door.
…
"What is this dad?" The two got out of the taxi before it drove off. Wolf remained silent as they entered the apartment complex and eventually, the room.
Wolf went into his bedroom and quickly walked out with a key.
"Come with me son." Wolf sternly commanded as he left the room. Jonathan gently shut the door before they climbed four flights of stairs. He realized that the stairs kept going after the top floor, ending at a locked door.
Wolf jammed the key into the lock, and gently turning it, it gave way without much noise and the door opened to a complete view of the neighborhood just after sunset.
"Wow…" Jonathan said as he looked around.
"Amazing, huh?" Wolf closed the door behind him gently. "No words can describe how much I missed this view, so that's why I brought you with." Wolf wrapped his right arm behind Jonathan, pulling him towards.
The two walked to the edge, guarded by a short fence. Looking down revealed an empty one-way street, and to the right, a subway train whizzes by with a slight rumble with some people walking below. The more time they spent there, the more worried Jonathan became but thankfully none of those people were looking at them.
The two stepped back and Wolf tightly hugged Jonathan, tail rubbing against him.
"It's been so long son, I was worried sick…" Wolf's voice broke up as he embraced him even tighter, causing him to fill with warmth associated with the memories of the hugs he would get from Wolf as a child.
"I was too… I dreaded the day where the news headlines would announce your death…" Jonathan proclaimed.
"The only reason I left Star Wolf… was to find you, son. You might make this place worth living, Jonathan…" Wolf patted him on the shoulder, hard.
"You've grown a lot too…" Wolf scanned him from top to bottom. "Your fur… mother made them beautiful just for you… You've become such a handsome wolf…" Wolf sniffed and was about to cry again. "I'm sorry."
Jonathan was glad that no one was witnessing this as he comforted his broken father.
"I'm sorry for what happened yesterday… The moment I what I've done… I thought I lost a son…"
"Well Dad…" Jonathan thought, "I will forgive you, but If you do it again then the deal's off."
"No I won't do it again, I promise." Wolf stepped back, looking at Jonathan's smile.
"Alright. You better keep that promise."
The two stared off into the distance. An appreciable amount of the skyline can be seen from here from such a stout building.
"Any more secrets you wanna tell me?"
Wolf turned his head towards him before looking up. He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes as a teardrop fell out of it.
Jonathan heard soft growls out of him as his arms began to shake.
"I…" Wolf struggled. "I can't tell you…"
"It's alright, dad." Jonathan placed his hand on his shoulder, and immediately, Wolf opened his eyes and his tremoring stopped. "You can tell me anytime."
Wolf gave Jonathan a sincere smile. "Thank you, son."
His hands caressed his face, moving over the white fur and revealing the scars from last night. Wolf gave a drawn-out sigh. "What have I done…"
"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt anymore."
"Really? Mine still does," Wolf put his hand over his wound area. "You hit hard. I'm proud of that," he put on a confident smile. "You really did put up a fight."
A refreshing silence filled the air. Wolf took out his phone and took a panorama of the view in front of him.
"Oh, you have a phone, right?" Wolf cocked his head to Jonathan.
"Of course I do. Here, I'll add my number to yours." Jonathan grabbed Wolf's phone and keyed in his number. "Just don't call me when I'm at school or early in the morning." Jonathan handed his phone back.
"Sure thing." Wolf put the phone in his pocket before the two looked to the distance and up in the sky.
It was the most calming and wholesome thirty minutes they could ask for.
"Hey Dad" Jonathan spoke.
"What is it son?"
"Welcome home."