And so, the warthog was forced to pull out his phone book and speed-dial lists, and begin ringing up all nine phone numbers. Most went relatively with ease and without too much question, but naturally, there were the odd few friends that felt the need and chance to give him a hard time. "-So exactly WHY should I show up?" Richard was saying. "-Becuz you're one of my 'bestiest buddies' and you wouldn't do that to me??" Bullseye suggested. "-Hmm... nyah, that just doesn't cut it for me," the lynx said, to Bullseye's impatience. "I think I need some more convincing." The warthog gave a grumble. "-What... you want me to BEG, Richard, is THAT it??" "-Sounds like a plan to me!" his comrade said cheerfully. Buckthorne nearby, laughed madly. It was quite amusing to see Bullseye 'squirm' and be under pressure like this. The warthog gave a sage grin. "-Fiiine then... oh Richard, I NEED you, I'm lost without you, I can't do this without you, I CRAVE you, I-" "-Dude, what the FUCK, is this begging or foreplay?!?" Richard yelped, rather weirded out by his friend's speech. Bullseye simply smiled to himself. He knew what he was doing. "-You're right Rich... how about I just do it the old fashion way?" In a nut-shell... you don't come, there'll be a ripping out of lungs, a puncturing of spleens, and loss of genitals... with the exception of those who already lost them-" He coughed. "Rockavar and Masevar!" he wheezed, and coughed again. The lynx howled. "-THAT's more like it!" he gasped. "Alrighty, I'll be there then." Laters, man." Then there was Charles. "-You know, it's not the request I mind Bullseye, really," the hedgehog told him. "But asking it this late, last minute situation DOES rather get to me." You REALLY couldn't have given me more notice, here?" "-Well I'm sooorry!" Bullseye groaned. "I just found out too, you know!" "-You said YOU planned it!" Charles exclaimed. "-Yeah..." the warthog flinched. "But I planned it JUST barely an hour ago, becuz I was waiting for my brother to call and confirm!" His friend sighed, "-Figures..." "-Oh come on, Charles... what have I EVER done to you?" Whatever happened to the whole group policy thing of 'being there for friends when they need you'??" Throw me a bone!" Charles gave a snort, "-Oh riiight... like YOU've done that policy so 'superb' yourself!" Exactly HOW did you try to 'help' Masevar get over Aleena that time, again?" The warthog hissed, "-Oh please, you saw how pathetic the guy was at the time; I HAD to do something drastic!" And I even helped your sister during that period too, thank you very much!" "-Wait, you WHAT??" the hedgehog demanded to know. Bullseye's jaw fell, realizing what he'd just let slip out. "-Uhhh... there wasn't any chance that some err... phone static drowned any of that out, is there?" "-NO..." Charles said, icily. "-Oh... well..." Bullseye gulped, nervously. Taking the first idea of escape he could think of, he then blurted, "-What's that, call waiting?!" Crap, I gotta go, Charles... heh, see you tomorrow then?" Okay, bye!" The warthog quickly hung up and threw the phone on his bed, as if he expected the hedgehog to jump out of the receiver. As he sighed in relief, Buckthorne remarked, "-Smooth, buddy... real smooth." I feel like I should be taking notes." His friend blinked, slowly. "-Have I told you how much I hate you, recently?" The wolf nodded, "-Twice at dinner." Or is that irrelevant?" He received a typical Bullseye flip-off for that response. A last call was made to Rockavar. "-Hello?" "-Greetings your hornyness... err, hardness... I mean, highness," Bullseye joked, randomly. Rockavar blinked. "-I hate to break it to you Bullseye, but if it's phone-sex you're looking for, wrong number." "-It got your attention, didn't it?" the warthog said. "-To a degree, I suppose," the fox muttered. "What's up, then?" "Not much, got a proposition for ya." "-Shoot." "-Need you to be at the flat pad tomorrow, say noon-ish." That work for you?" "Hanging out around twelve?" Hmmm, I guess my so-called 'Royal' schedule of kissing aristocratic ass, learning things I don't care about, and speeches on things I don't even know, can stick it... sure, why not, count me in." "-Gravy." I'll seeya then." "-Alrighty." 'Night."

It might've taken an hour or two to call everyone up, but luckily for Bullseye, each was capable to come, and all showed up in good time, before Goresky, Chislett and Jacque were expected to arrive. Most of them sat around, either relaxing or just loosely chatting. In the rather calm state of the room, they were soon to notice Bullseye's oddly nervous behaviour. He restlessly walked about the room, with a weird 'pinched' look on his face. The others watched him with amusement. Richard commented, "-Dude... you look like you're about to confront one of your ex-'hoes' or something... what's eatin' you?" Bullseye calmly replied, "-Nothing." "-Then why are you 'pacing'?" Masevar questioned. "-I'm not pacing," the warthog replied, bluntly. "You've been walking over the same 'trail' for the last five minutes," Rockavar observed. "-So I happen to be 'walking' and over the same 'line', so what?" Bullseye snorted, gruffly. Why couldn't they just shut up and bugger off? At least they seemed to take the hint; no one persisted the matter after that. Finally, there was a loud knock at the entrance. Everyone looked towards either Bullseye or the door. The warthog set to compose himself. "-Okay... that's probably them." The others nodded, as he walked over to the front. He suddenly halted, and mentioned, "-Oh, I almost forgot to tell you guys!" My oldest brother Goresky is gay, and the friend Jacque they're bringing is actually his boyfriend." Alright then, back in a jiff!" This set an immediate and explosive group reaction. "-WHAT!?!?!" they all yelled. Bullseye threw up his hands. "-What, WHAT?!?" Ya'll got a problem with that?" You all homophobic or something??" Charles spoke up, "I can't say for everyone in this room, but for myself, no I'm not homophobic." Still... once again, Bullseye, the 'giving us better notice' thing... did it EVER occur to you, here???" The warthog responded, "-Believe it or not, YES that little voice in my head DID speak up at one point." But it was being drowned out by this other voice in my head, saying I should tell you all at the last possible moment, becuz it'd be funner that way." His friends gave glares and disappointed looks. Lewis added, "-You're an insufferable IDIOT, did you know that?" Bullseye gave a nod. "-Yeah huh, you said that last week." The fox's face fell. "-Oh right." What was it for THAT time?" "-Dunno, ask me again later," the warthog told him. "Anywho, I better get the goddamn door already, alright then?" They all shut up and watched him open it. This HAD to be interesting, they thought, especially considering the fact that he'd just given them about Goresky and Jacque. None of them had really ever had that much 'experience' around male-loving-same-gender people before. So naturally, they were thinking stereotypes. All Bullseye was thinking was, 'Finally I get to meet the 'boyfriend'... I wonder if I can contain my 'joy'!' The first one to enter was Chislett, who immediately said, "-About time bro!" Who were you waiting for, Jesus?" "-For a second, I thought this place might have one of those 'passwords to enter' or something, and we were screwed," Goresky added, entering. Then right behind him, the lynx-caracal followed. "-Well it looks better than I thought," Jacque agreed. "When you guys said 'flat', I thought it was gonna be one of those 'shanty' houses." Then he and Bullseye got their first look at each other. To start them off, Goresky introduced both. "-So yeah, Bullseye this is Jacque." Jacque, this is our brother Bullseye." Obviously wanting to get a good start with him, the feline smiled brightly. "-Oh hi!" Wow, so you're Bullseye!" Goresk and Chis have been going on about you for the last two days, I gotta tell ya!" It's nice to finally meet you," he said politely, offering him his hand. Bullseye forced himself to hold a smile to some degree and return the handshake. "-Likewise," he lied, as sincerely as physically possible. Nearby, Ian whispered to the others, "-Says the 'Prince of Bullshit'," referring to Bullseye's response and appearance. Michael added, "-Ah yes... how I have missed that sarcastic ass." They suppressed laughs, but quickly composed themselves as their warthog friend turned and put them on the spot. "-So guys... these are my brothers and... Jacque." Jacque and brothers, this is everybody." Interesting introduction, considering only one name was given. But the gang seemed to note which was Goresky and they now knew who Jacque was. They all awkwardly waved or said a low, "Hey" or "Hello", and the like. From the way they appeared to be acting, Goresky gave a suspicious look and turned on Bullseye. "-You told them we're gay, didn't you?" His brother pretended to look shocked. "-What?" Me?" Told them?" Weeell... maybe... might've been mentioned... say... two minutes ago." Goresky just stared. "-I suspected as much," he muttered. There was a nerve-wracking silence for a few moments. But then Chislett felt the need to do his cutting tension thing. "-Does anyone here know that a domesticated pig can have an orgasm of up to forty minutes at a time?" Everyone in the room, including Goresky and Jacque (whom he could never cease to surprise) gazed his way and gave him odd looks. He took the attention as a good sign. "-Hi, I'm Chislett, I make random and disturbing points of fact or jokes to ease tension," he grinned. Random point of fact indeed. The gang forced themselves, as Bullseye had, to give him a half-hearted smile in turn and said, "-Hi." Their warthog friend continued to keep things going, by introducing each of the guys to the new three. He saved the best for last; Buckthorne and the "royal" ones of the group. "-Obviously, Goresk and Chis, you've already met this grease-ball, but anywho, Jacque this is Buckthorne, Buckthorne meet Jacque." The wolf gave a polite nod, but in his mind he was thinking, 'Bullseye, you maroon...', seeing what his friend was trying to do; not mentioning the whole bus-story-wallet-incident that had occurred from before. Big surprise. However, the lynx-caracal had not forgotten the event either. His eyes widened and he gasped at Buckthorne, "-Hey... I remember you!" "-You do?" rang an echo of three voices, ironically coming from all three Warthogg brothers. Bullseye's was faked innocence of surprise, Chislett's was just a simple question, and Goresky's held an air of suspicion. Jacque gave a blush. "-Yeah... I saw him the other day!" We... uhh... 'ran into' each other at the bus stop... literally!" The wolf produced a small grin. "Yah, I remember that too." Chislett gave a wide smirk. "-Oooh... I'm sensing a little 'picking up' action occurred, huh?" He was given immediate odd looks. He explained, "-Oh come on... it's a joke!" You know... like 'picking up' has two meanings!" One is like, picking up someone from the ground, and the other is-" When still no one reacted, he shrugged, "-Sheesh... tough flat." Buckthorne then remembered something else. "-That reminds me... Jacque, right?" You been looking for this?" From his pocket, he held out the wallet he had saved. The feline spluttered with surprise, "-Oh my god!" You found my wallet!" The wolf shrugged, sheepishly. "Somewhat... guess it must've fallen out when you... 'ran' into me." And I figured you'd probably be kinda well... NEEDING it eventually, so... yeah." Jacque took it from him, still shocked. "-Wow... I don't what to say!" That was so nice of you!" I mean seriously... I'd HUG you if it didn't look inappropriate!" Buckthorne blinked, "-Well... uhhh... thought that counts, right?" The feline exclaimed, "-I don't know how to thank you... you have no idea how grateful I am!" "-No really, it's not a problem... glad I could help," the wolf insisted. He then added, "-Oh, by the way, some of the cards and photos kinda dropped out of it, if you're wondering why it's out of order." I unlike SOME people, don't believe in snooping in others' privacy." Bullseye flinched at his friend's hinting tone. Jacque, luckily, didn't seem to notice, he was just happy to have his wallet back. "-Oh that's okay, no big deal," he said, obviously not minding. Buckthorne heard Bullseye hiss in his ear, "-Cripes, why don't you just 'hint' some more, I think he almost GOT it!" he growled. When his brothers and Jacque's attention were focused back on him, Bullseye then announced the last two of the gang. "-And finally, we got these two, whom if you keep track on current events and the government, you would know." Prince Rockavar and Prince Masevar." The fox and hedgehog rolled their eyes and sighed at the "formal"-ish introduction. Goresky and Jacque looked stunned at this. "-Wait a sec.. you're saying... the Royal Princes of Mobius, our future KINGS, are in your little gang, and you're friends with them??" Goresky gaped. Jacque was just speechless, holding a hand over his mouth. "-Sounds about right to me!" Bullseye nodded. Chislett looked in deep thought for a moment, before asking, "-Are we like supposed to... 'curtsy' to them or some shit?" Masevar tried hard to stifle a laugh. "-Oh dear god," he muttered to Rockavar, who added, "-Oh yeah... here it comes." Bullseye stared at his brother. He gave a shrug. "-Sure... if you wanna look like an ass." Chislett seemed to be interested in this response. He cocked his head to the side. "-What kind of ass?" The amused smirk disappeared from Bullseye's face, and was replaced with a confused, screwy look, as he glanced towards Goresky, questioningly. Their older brother 'translated', "-I'm pretty sure he meant dumb-ass-wise, Chis." "-Oh THAT one," Chislett said, understanding. The youngest Warthogg mumbled, "-Yeah... that's pretty much what I was jisting for-" I mean, I thought 'ass' was self-explanatory, but no, apparently I need to be more specific!" "-Around HIM you do," Goresky responded, jerking a thumb at their brother. Chislett nodded in agreement. "-He's right." Bullseye gave a wry smile, "-No kiddin'." The fox Prince then spoke for himself and Masevar's behalf, to the three, "-Bullseye's right; no need for the fancy treatment here." Around 'rejects' like these people-" he said, gesturing to the rest of the group, "-Believe me, they're no need for 'impressions'." Tyler snorted to them, "-Gee, thanks man." The others followed suit, and pulled faces and mocking sneers at their friend's reference to them. "-Oh you KNOW you love it!" the fox scoffed back. "They really do, having these special 'privileges' towards us..." he muttered to the three guests. Jacque looked on, questioning. "-Meaning?" "-As in they've done things to us that could; if witnessed by 'officials', be sentenced to 'treason' for," Masevar supplied. Chislett seemed extremely interested at the mention of 'trouble' as it were. "-That so?" he asked, his eyebrows lighting up. "Oh DO tell!" Rockavar chuckled, heartily. "-Oh wow... this could go ON for awhile!" God, where to START??" Letsee... they've mouthed and cussed us off, an INFINITE amount of times... which is 'mockery' as in disrespect to status." Aaand... they never use protocol, which is informal... they don't do the 'walking three steps behind' thing either-" "-And they've STRUCK us, not to mention!" the hedgehog added, with a relish. "Raising a hand to a Royal figure, that's just treason, right off the bat, no trial or anything." The lynx-caracal gazed to the others in the room. "-You're saying these people have HIT you??" No way..." The fox insisted, "-Oh YES they have!" They're PLENTY capable, just look at them!" They're as huge as next guys!" He paused, glancing at the hedgehogs of the gang. "-Well... maybe some are bigger than others..." On the hedgehogs' behalf, Ian simply banged his wrists together at Rockavar, meaning "Fuck you", falsely grinning all the while. His friend immediately yelped, "-See!" That was treasonous right there; he gave me a rude gesture!" I could have your ass on trial right now, Ian!" The orange-haired hedgehog snorted, "-I'd love to see you try, Rocko." Masevar sniffed, "-One of these days man... one of these days!" You all just wait; when you least expect it, we're gonna totally nail your asses with this shit!" The guys just hooted and booed at them. The new three exchanged glances and looks of amusement. Goresky then said, "-So in short, you're saying your whole 'Princely' air is just a total bullshitter for the media and noble folk?" Both blinked at him, looked at each other, then looked back. A huge grin spread across Rockavar's face as he exclaimed, "-I believe that about sums it up!" Masevar gave them a thumbs up, and added, "-Accuracy in a nutshell, my good man!" We may have that whole 'nobility' tone look going on, but trust me, you should hear the REAL thoughts going on while we're making those flowery speeches!" Jacque's eyebrows lit up. "-Now THIS sounds intriguing!" he mused, and took a seat on the couch across from them. Goresky automatically followed suit, but Chislett gave a snigger, and said, "-I think I'll leave you 'ladies' to gossip... excuse me!" and wandered off towards some of the guys at the card table. The Princes glanced at him, as Goresky assured them, "-Don't mind him, he's just got a short attention span." Anywho, you were saying?" Rockavar thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers, "-Got one!" Masevar, what say you tell them about that negotiation with Lord Barrock?" The hedgehog's face grew wide with amusement, in reminiscence. "-Oh now THERE's a good one!" he exclaimed, with delight. "Lemme think, it went along the lines of... 'What could POSSIBLY be bigger... his wig or his ego?" Now there's a toughie... oh look, a centipede!" Gosh, I can't help but wonder where that's gonna end up later... my bet's on a woman's cleavage or a soup bowl." The three listeners burst out laughing. "-Oh my god!!" the lynx-caracal shrieked, giggling. "-That is SO bad!" Goresky howled, punching the couch arm. Rockavar gasped, breathlessly, "-Man, that one never gets old." Masevar shrugged, modestly, "-Ah, I try." But hey, enough with our stuffy Royal pain in the ass crap... what about you two?" "-Hmmm?" Both looked questioningly. Rockavar spoke, "-So you two... a couple, huh?" Goresky opened his mouth, getting it. "-Oooh, you mean that!" Yep, pretty much." "-Been together for about a year now," Jacque added, nuzzling his face against the side of Goresky's neck, affectionately. The warthog grinned and put his arm around Jacque's shoulders, nodding, "-Had a bit of an awkward start, but it panned out pretty well, I must say." Neither Rockavar or Masevar seemed repulsed by their 'gay' behaviour; quite the contraire, in fact. They seemed to enjoy being in the presence of a fellow "couples" people, as no one else in the gang was hitched. The Hedgehog Prince said politely, "-Aw great, that's cool." I gotta tell you, it's nice to see other people our age, that are in a 'serious' relationship, you know?" Me and Rockavar here are taken too, actually." Goresky asked, "-Oh really?" The Fox Prince nodded, "-Yup, only ones in the gang, in fact." And we're-" "-PUSSY-WHIPPED!!!" several of the guys shouted, cutting him off sentence. The Princes smiled, icily. "-Right... thanks as ever, for the support guys," Rockavar muttered, sarcastically. He turned back to Goresky and Jacque, adding, "-Swell friends, aren't they?" Jacque smirked, sheepishly. "-They always like this?" Masevar shook his head, "-You have NO idea..." Chislett, nearby, was finding that the guys seemed to be his kind of crew. He'd been watching them play cards for awhile, when finally Charles spoke to him, "-It can't be too much fun just standing and watching us there, eh Chislett?" The warthog broke from his daze. "-Huh?" The hedgehog added, "-Wanna join?" We're starting a new hand." Chislett grinned, seeing he was being accepted. "-Sure thing!" He took a seat next to Charles and Michael. "So what's the game?" "-Black poker," Lewis supplied, as he shuffled the deck. The warthog blinked, then started to loosely laugh. The other three looked at him. "-What?" Chislett blew a breath out, and responded, "-Nothing, it's just... I mean, 'poker'?" Isn't that a little stereotypical male libido of you?" Glances were exchanged. "-You think so?" Michael asked. The warthog shrugged, "-That, and I already played strip poker three days ago." Charles' eyes widened. "-Really?" "-Yep." "-How much did you lose?" Chislett snorted. "-Heh, stripped down to my... phew... gloves and shoes I believe... ONLY... them." Michael breathed, "-Whoa... damn." "-Wasn't your night, huh?" Lewis stated. The warthog shook his muzzle, "-Can't say it was!" The fox mused. "-Hrm, well then, poker aside, any suggestions for game?" Crazy eights, twenty-one, moans and groans, go fish-" "-How about 'screw your neighbour'?" Chislett suggested. Michael looked quizzically. "-Never heard that one." The other two murmured in agreement. The warthog gazed at them, in shock. "-You're shittin' me... you people have never heard of 'screw your neighbour'??" Well actually it's technically called 'BUG your neighbour', but still, man!" In that case, pass the deck over here, mate, Chislett Warthogg is gonna teach you guys how to play cards!" Lewis passed the cards to his outstretched hand, and said, "-By all means then!"