The threat had been a subtle bluff obviously. After that, the brothers had merrily chatted and argued on, as was normal for them. After an hour or so, Buckthorne arrived back at the orphanage, from highschool. He didn't run into Melony on the way in, so it came as quite a surprise to him when he walked into the room and saw Bullseye's brothers, lounging around his bed, conversing about whatever. The wolf fell a step back. "-Oh... sorry I didn't-" "-Hey, wolf dude!" Chislett exclaimed, cheerfully. Goresky smiled as well. "-Hi Buckthorne!" "-Hi..." the wolf blinked, giving a slight wave. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?" "-Nyah, by all means, join the party," Bullseye told him. "These two came up outta nowhere awhile ago, and they've been pestering my flu-induced ass ever since. So much for getting bed rest, when these two apes keep jumping on it!" The eldest brother protested, "-What! I'm not jumping on it!" "-No, but Chis is doin' it enough for the both of you, so you might as well be," Bullseye pointed out. The middle twin nodded in agreement. "-He's right; I have this fidgeting thing." "-Yeah, it's called 'I'm Chislett and I can't sit still for five fucking seconds!'" his younger brother retorted. Chislett whined, "What? What's wrong with that!" Buckthorne smiled wryly. "-Right... so did you two skip, or what?" Realizing what his friend meant, the warthog said, "-Hey, he's right! Why weren't you guys at your school today?" "-Oh that! Yeah, it was one of those half day-ers... school planning and such," Goresky explained. "Speaking of which-" Chislett thought outloud, "-wasn't there something we wanted to tell these two, about plans?" "Oh right!" his brother remembered. "I was gonna tell you; Jacque's parents are out this weekend, and he said you two could come over if you want. Guy's night and all." --More like gender-confused queerbag night-- Bullseye thought, scornfully. But outloud, he gave a shrug. "-I guess if we're not up to anything, we could stop by." "-You can stay the night too, y'know; there's plenty of room," Chislett added. The youngest warthog glanced over to Buckthorne. "-What do you think, Buckthorne?" The wolf lifted his shoulders. "-Sure, sounds fine to me." "-Alright then; we'll see what we can do," Bullseye told them. "Anything else we should know?" "-Well... we'll probably rent some movies and buy some junk food, so bring some extra cash," Goresky suggested. "And his parents want to meet you first, so... behave and no hostile behaviour towards their son?" His brother grinned smugly. "-No problem. Jacque won't even know who the hell I am after I've charmed their pants off." The oldest Warthogg made a face. "-Bullseye..." "-I'm serious, the guy's seen me flirt; he knows what a sickeningly, charming, false-ass I can be." Goresky gave a heavy sigh. "-Promise me you won't do anything stupid." Bullseye chuckled. "-Do something stupid? Thought that was Chislett's job." "-Oooh!" Chislett yelped. "Seriously bro; ouch! You're killin' me!" "-Good," his brother chimmed. "At this rate, I'll have you dead by Christmas." "-Well that's cute," Goresky snorted, rolling his eyes. "We've gotta get going now, Bullseye... it's our turn to buy groceries today." "-Fun," Bullseye mumbled. "Well I'll just be stayin' here and gettin' better for the weekend, then." "-We'll give you a call later and let you know if anything else comes up," the eldest triplet said. Patting Bullseye's knee, he smiled, "-Feel better, little brother!" Bullseye pouted, indignantly. "-By eight minutes! Hell, could've been sooner, if Mama didn't have to squeeze Chislett's fat ass out first!" "-Ouch kabbible!" his middle brother howled. "Geeze, man! You really are gonna kill me by Christmas, cuz you're breakin' my heart!" "-Looooove yooooou," the youngest brother oozed sarcastically.

"-So he said yes?" "-Yup. Buckthorne's in too." The lynx-caracal looked sceptical. "-Wonder what he's gonna do to me this time..." Goresky frowned. "-Jacque... I know you two got off to a bad start, but that doesn't mean he's gonna always be like that!" "-Wanna bet?" Jacque retorted back. The warthog sighed. "I daresay he could out-asshole us all!" the feline raved. "Same way Chislett out-stupids people." Goresky suddenly paused, in thought. "-Wait a sec... so if Chis out-stupids, and Bullseye out-assholes... what do I do?" His boyfriend blinked. "-Actually, I haven't decided what you do yet!" he admitted. "It's a real thinker... I thought of out-nicing, but it makes you sound like a big giant pansy." The warthog went rather pink. "-Yy... you think I'm a big giant pansy?" he spluttered. "-What? Of course not! What would make you think that, sweetie-pooh?" Jacque gushed, wrapping himself around Goresky. His partner flinched. "-Don't call me that..." he whined. "You know I hate sweetie-pooh." The feline hybrid shrugged indifferently. "-What about... sweetie-pie-pumpkin-pooh?" he grinned cheekily, snoggling his mate's neck. Goresky gave a loud sigh of exasperation. "-Jaaacque... why do I put up with you?" Pulling off, Jacque gave him a smack. "Oh, why won't you just get in the mood, you giant pansy!" The warthog rolled his eyes. "-Well that answers my question... But aside from that... what makes you think Bullseye's gonna do something?" The lynx-caracal crossed his arms. "-Well think about it! Doesn't accepting an invitation to the house of a person you hate sound a little fishy to you? Unless they had a little vengence surprise up their sleeve?" Goresky considered this. "-Weeell... I mean... c'mon, Bullseye wouldn't do that, right?" He gave an uneasy laugh, and soon he saw that even he was unconvinced. "-Oh my god; he so would..." "-My point exactly!" Jacque sang, dramatically. His boyfriend shook his muzzle. "-Oh no he won't! Because if he does... I'll unleash upon him the ultimate punishment!" "-You mean fluffy pink bunnies?" Jacque squealed. Goresky paused, dumbfounded. "-Uhh... no... but now I think I know what to get you for Christmas..." The feline gave an indignant pout as the warthog continued, "But yeah... as I was saying! Picture this if you will and imagine how he'd react. Three words: Me. Miniskirt. Thong." Jacque beamed with glee. "-Are you serious? Oh my god, he'd get brain damage!" Goresky added, "-Even better; I'll put on yours. Let's just say I'll give the saying 'hangin' loose' a new meaning!" The lynx-caracal whooped, deviously. "You are SO bad!" "-I try," his partner shrugged, modestly. "But now that we got that out of the way, what movie are we gonna get?" Jacque smiled coyly. "-I'm glad you asked! I'm thinking of... tear-jerker or a chick-flick!" Goresky gave an uneasy look. "-This is gonna be a long weekend..."

"-So what you guys up to this weekend?" The usual suspects were at their table, at the highschool cafeteria. Tyler was looking on, expectantly. "-Me and Mikey are gonna check out some used cars." "-Yeah, since we'll be drivin' all you guys around, we might as well pick something we all like that goes easy on gas," Michael added, in agreement. Aaron blinked. "-What's wrong with your dad's car, Michael?" The fox shrugged. "Nothin'. He's just sick of me using it all the time. Told me to get a life and get my own car!" Richard snorted, "-Now that's a good parental shove." "-Anyone talked to Rocky or Mase-man?" Ian inquired. "Maybe they'd like to come with." Aaron scoffed, "-Yeah, they're the rich bastards; they should buy us the car!" "-Well I don't know about Masevar, but Rockavar's busy," Lewis answered, blandly. "-Doing what?" Richard asked. "Other than your sister, I mean." The others burst out laughing, but quickly stopped as the insulted fox slammed a fork on the table, with a piercing clang. A long uneasy silence followed, as Lewis's death glare seered at the now sheepish lynx. "-Richard..." he said slowly, "...you say that again and I'll shove my foot so far up your ass, your nose'll bleed." Richard gulped, "-Don't blame me Lew; I'm just the messenger! I'm not the guy dating Vera!" The irritated fox just hissed and frowned at his food. "-Geesh... I don't even wanna think about what could happen... I've read royal history I know all about that shit with kings and their mistresses!" Bullseye rolled his eyes. "-Lewis... are you forgetting this is Rockavar we're talking about here? Pul-lease; he's too much of a pansy to pull anything like that off." Charles raised a bushy eyebrow. "-It's called loyalty, Bullseye," he said calmly. The warthog waved it off. "-It's called insanity, Charles. Potatoe, potato." The blue hedgehog shook his head, as Bullseye continued, "-But aside from that, can't make it Friday. Me and Buckthorne got plans." Lewis blinked at him. "-Oh really? Doing what... the cheerleading squad?" Bullseye grinned smugly. "-Wouldn't ya'll like to know." "-His brothers invited us over to Jacque's for the night," Buckthorne spoke up. Everyone stared. "-Jacque?" Richard echoed. "-The- Jacque?" Ian stressed. "-Gay brother's boyfriend Jacque?" Michael added. "-You wanna rip his nuts out and make him eat them Jacque?" Aaron continued. By then, Bullseye slapped his hand down on the table surface and griped, "-Okay, are we headin' for a punchline, or how long is this gonna go on?" A moment of silence. Then Tyler dropped it. "-Tell us Bullseye; did that chick fuck you or your brain? That or did she give you a bug or amnesia?" The warthog gave a scoff. "-What? You think I agreed to it because I forgive that little pussy? Fuck no!" "-Ooh great; what are you gonna do to him next?" Charles sighed. Bullseye shook his head. "-No, no, not doin' that either... mainly because Goresky threatened me with severe consequences if I did." Michael laughed. "-Severe consequences? Since when has that ever stopped you?" The warthog plainly stated, "-Since it involved Goresky in tight, feminine clothing." Everyone looked disturbed at this remark. "And I'm not talkin' about the number he wore at Roxy's; I'm talkin' skanky transvestite 'I can see your balls, ma'am!' look!" Tyler blanched, "-Oh god, right after I've eaten! Are you kiddin' me?" The others looked equally sick at the thought, some of them shoving their lunches aside. "-I know... he's goin' nuclear on my ass now!" Bullseye muttered. Ian narrowed his eyes. "-That still doesn't explain why you agreed to go." His friend gave an exasperated sigh. "-Little fact about triplets... if at least two of them agree on doing something... the one who doesn't is fucked." "-Meaning?" Aaron questioned. "-Meaning they'll either guilt trip me into it or drag me there by force," Bullseye quipped, bluntly. "But they said Buckthorne could come too, so hopefully I won't go completely insane." No one seemed to notice the said wolf bristle a little. The way Bullseye had worded it... like he was just some last resort life line; like he'd play no part in the weekend, except as some sort of rebound guy. --Yeah, make room for the best friend. Woo. Set me up a room in a closet or a cupboard if you like! Don't take up much space in a room... just like I don't in a conversation...-- "-Hey Buckthorne!" Richard called the wolf out of his moment of angst. "-Huh?" Buckthorne questioned. "-Can you pass the ketchup over, man?" the lynx requested. "-Oh," his friend said. "Sure Rich; here." Gathering up a few packets, he slid them in Richard's direction. "-You okay over there, Buck?" Michael asked, fiddling with a straw. The wolf blinked, slowly. "-Yeah, why?" The fox shrugged. "-You just look like you got something on your mind." "-Nyah... just stuff," Buckthorne told him. Why do I always do that? he thought, sadly. --Oh, what's it matter anyways... they wouldn't understand.-- He didn't seem to realize that the gang really liked him for him. He was everyone's little brother. He thought they just felt sorry for him; they only put up with him because he was Bullseye's friend, or out of said pity. In all fairness, he did only feel truly comfortable with Bullseye. But seeing the events of late, Buckthorne was hardly finding solace in even Bullseye's presence. With his refound brothers to be there for him; what good was he for now? The wolf suddenly found it hard to swallow. A hand on his shoulder startled him. "-Buckthorne?" He turned and looked wide-eyed at who turned out to be Charles. The hedgehog gave him an odd smile. "-Try exhaling," he suggested. His friend opened his mouth and let out a breathy gasp. Turns out he'd been holding his breath without even knowing! Comforting thought. Charles blinked, inquiringly. "-Choking?" Buckthorne nodded, "-Yeah..." then gave a slight cough, to add. Sure he'd been choking. Choking on fear. Fear of what seemed to be taking over. Something he had no control over, to what could be a destructive end, no matter if he had a say or not.