Matt had been turning a lot of heads walking around the orphanage trying to find Monica. Mammals didn't even try to hide that they were staring at him. It was mostly because he should be at work and bunnies were talking about what had happened last night. There's nothing faster than gossip in a bunny community. Some even joked that it was part of their culture.

The white rabbit wasn't in her office. Sadly, that meant that she could be anywhere on the orphanage grounds. She was a busy lady. Mammals working there weren't much help. Monica had a habit of moving around a lot to check that everything was in order. They could only point to the general area of the orphanage where they saw her last.

Matt was nervously turning his head to check every corner. Normally, he would just go to Kyle's room but he wasn't sure what the fox's condition was. He could roll the dice and hope that the boy was in a good mood, however it was too important to gamble. He had made a mistake yesterday, and saw how it affected Kyle. Yesterday's disaster was caused by a lack of planning and the bunny didn't want to make that same mistake . Matt also needed Monica's help for what he had in mind.

The orphanage was an interesting building. Because so many kits lived there, the orphanage also had its own dedicated school. It was much easier to bring school to the children than to bring the children to the school. And after all, lagomorpha kits didn't stay at the orphanage for too long, so it would be an additional burden on schools to deal with a changing number of bunny kits. It was also much easier for kits to stay in one environment during the transition to their new home.

It had been the first time that Matt was at the orphanage while the kits were in class. The building was eerily quiet compared to what he was used to. Noise is one of those things that bunnies were quick to get accustomed to... especially with a large family. As he moved through the building, he glanced inside the classrooms. It put a smile on his face to see those young minds focused on tasks ahead of them and learning. Matt's mind wandered for a second, imagining Kyle in a classroom with all those kits.

It put in perspective just how much Monica had to worry about while running the orphanage. On the one paw, the orphanage specializing in lagomorpha specifically made it a little easier. On the other paw, they had a lot more kits than regular orphanages and employed a lot more mammals.

He heard a familiar voice as he moved past the dining area. It was Monica. When he poked his head inside she was talking with the kitchen staff checking the list of produce that had arrived. Her head lifted from the list when she heard steps approaching.

"Matt?" Her brow furrowed. "Shouldn't you be at work right now?"

Her ears were up and shoulder were relaxed, which Matt took as a good sign.

"One day late to work won't kill me," He waved his hand dismissively. "More importantly, how is Kyle?"

Every ear in the room turned towards them almost at the same time. They kept working but there was a weird mix of curiosity and tension. One of the cooks mouthed something to another who almost immediately shushed him. Monica remained calm but her ears swiveled around towards every sound. She was staring at Matt and bit his lip before she looked at the list in her paws.

"You can finish it without me," She turned around and handed the list to an older bunny lady with a nice simile. "Bring it back to my office when you're finished."

The older lady nodded before giving Matt a curious look. "Of course. Good luck with the fox."

Monica stood still for a moment. All eyes of the kitchen staff were on them. There was almost palpable nervousness and uncertainty in the air. Matt's eyes met Monica's. She had an apologetic look on her muzzle before saying. "Thank you."

The white bunny turned around and motioned for Matt to follow him out of the dinner area towards the empty hallway which led to Kyle's room. Matt looked back and gulped. Were they scared by the news or was it a regular thing for them? He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Monica walked in front of him and looked ahead. "Kyle calmed down a little. He even ate what we left him but he still refuses to leave his room and screams when someone wants to come in. He skipped his classes."

When it was just two of them alone her ears dropped and she softly clenched her fist. She was avoiding his gaze displaying a weird combination of shame and worry. She had been working in the orphanage for a long time, but wasn't able to help the boy. Matt exhaled with a smile. He needed that reminder that some mammals care about Kyle.

"I might have an idea. I have talked with my predator friend and he suggested something that might work." Matt said with a tempered excitement and underlying worry about Kyle was ever present.

Monica stopped so sudden that he ended up crashing into her back but she ignored it and spun around and looked at Matt. "Really? That would be amazing."

Matt clenched his paw on the taser in his bag, bringing it to Monica's attention. She looked down furrowed her brow, not sure what she was looking at. Slowly realization dawned on her muzzle. She looked shocked but her voice remained calm. "Why did you bring a taser with you?"

"To help Kyle." Matt saw the cogs spinning in her head, jumping to a wrong conclusion. "I need you to use it on me."

It stopped the tidal wave of anger that was approaching so suddenly that Monica was lost for a second. "Excuse me?"

"He's scared that he'll hurt someone if he would go savage." Matt felt how dry his mouth was. "We need to prove to him that we'll be safe if that happens."

"And you want to do that by getting shocked?" Monica blinked in disbelief.

"Yeah. I'm not sure if he knows what the taser is. After yesterday's mistake, I don't think that he'll just believe me." He lifted the taser up. "So we need to show him how it works."

"I'm not sure about this." She bit her lip. "Are you sure that it's safe?"

Matt put on his best smile. "Of course it's safe, otherwise it would be banned. Please, we need to at least try ."

Monica looked at Matt. How far was he willing to go for the fox kit? She had never experienced being tased but she was sure that it was going to be painful. The device was also rather big, so it could have higher than regular voltage. She couldn't just shock him. It was supposed to be safe for healthy mammals but he could have an undiagnosed heart condition or any other illness that would make it dangerous to use a taser on him.

She looked deep into Matt's eyes to find some sign that he was going crazy. She didn't find it. And to top it off, there wasn't any hint of hesitation. Only of urgency. He was really serious about it. However his plan didn't feel right.

"So your brilliant idea is to convince Kyle that we can hurt him." She wanted to make sure that she understood him correctly. It sounded even worse when she said it outloud. She heard a lot of horror stories about kits being rescued from homes like that. It went against every instinct she had.

Matt's ears dropped and he swallowed. His eyes dimmed for a second. "Sadly, yes. I just hope that he won't see it that way. We just want to let him know that we'll be ok. That it's safe to be around him. I'm scared to think what is going through his mind at this point. I can't even pretend that I know what it's like to be in his situation."

Matt took a deep breath. "But I know someone who can understand Kyle and I trust what he told me."

With shaky paws he motioned for her to take the taser from him. She didn't move a muscle so Matt gave her a weak simile and added in a joking tone, "You said yourself. Predator and prey psychology are different fields of study."

"You say that, but we can also easily traumatize him. Getting tased isn't as great as you think it is." She said with a worried muzzle.

He couldn't really deny it. All the clips that he saw of it weren't pretty. Some mammals were able to be somewhat graceful if they knew what was coming. "You're right. Can we go somewhere where we can try it before doing it in front of Kyle?"

"You want me to tase you not once, but twice. Are you listening to yourself? You can get hurt!"

"It's the only idea that I have. It has to work." He said with desperation in his voice. "Unless you have any predator psychologists that you can call for a second opinion, I want to do it."

Monica had called for a psychologist but they were already overworked dealing with predator kits at their orphanages and no one was willing to spare her even a few seconds. Most of the time, she could only reach a receptionist.

Matt at least had some idea what he was doing. She wasn't sure what he did last night, but he got the boy to eat and sleep. Something that she was unable to do even after years of running an orphanage. In her defense, she never had to deal with a predator in such a delicate situation.

Should she put her faith in him? She had done so twice already and he hadn't disappointed her so far. Her white paw grabbed the scratched taser and took it from him. "Kits have classes so we'll have to use one of the play rooms."

Matt nodded eagerly and followed Monica. The sleepiness from the morning was almost completely gone. The bunny felt energized when they found the first play room. Monica quickly closed the doors behind them. She held the taser with two paws and pressed the button as a test. Sparks went flying between two prongs and loud crackling noise filled the room. She swallowed loudly and her ears fell down. "Are you really sure that you want me to do this?"

Matt was shaking his paws and was jumping in place as if he was warming up, trying not to think what was coming next. He finally stopped and let his arms hang loosely. He took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes."

With shaky paws, she pressed the taser to Matt's fur and pressed the button. In an instant, his muscles locked, which made his body unable to move. They way his muscles pulled at his body felt as though they were going to outright break.

A painful heat was radiating from the point on his arm where the taser was pressed against him. The bunny felt himself losing the balance but couldn't do anything about it. With his body locked he could only watch as he began to approach the floor.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. He had leaned away from the taser to the point where it lost contact with his body. He didn't feel locked, now, just numb and sluggish. He had to force himself to move his arms in front of him to brace for the impact, but he was too late and too slow. He was only able to turn his face to the side so he wouldn't smash it against the floor.

He crashed down with a loud thud. His glasses came off and landed a few feet away. Monica dropped the taser and in an instant was on the floor next to him. "Are you all right?"

She didn't touch him and just gave him time to respond. She didn't want to cause more damage if he was hurting. Matt was breathing heavily, and his head was pounding from the pain of hitting the floor. His vision was out of focus and head was spinning. It was a lot more painful than he expected. He groaned. "Yes."

"I knew that it was a stupid idea." She said worried and helped Matt to sit up.

"It's a stupid idea but we're still going to do it." Matt's body was trembling and the arm where he was hit was over-sensitive. He almost could feel every hair in his arm, or at least it seemed that way. He squinted looking around.

"No, we aren't. You're gonna scare Kyle. I don't see how you thought it was going to help. And you can get seriously hurt. We were lucky this time. This thing isn't a toy." She waved the taser around while scolding him like one of her kits. But Matt didn't react at all.

"You were right and I'm glad that we tested it before going to Kyle." The boy wouldn't take that sight lightly. Matt moved his paw on the ground towards his glasses. "Next time we'll do it safer."

"There won't be a next time!"

Matt grabbed his glasses and put them on. "Monica, it'll be fine. Next time I'll just crouch and put my arms over my head so I'll just roll over when you'll shock me. It'll be safe."

The brown bunny rubbed his arm. It was so tender and it was almost hard to believe that he was touching his own body. It was like one of those times when he'd slept on his arm and woke up unable to feel it.

"Matt," She said softly. He wasn't reckless, but at the same time she couldn't say that he was thinking clearly. "This is the wrong way of going about this."

"It is the only way that I can come up with and I want to use this opportunity. If we adjust the plan then I'm sure we can make it work. Please."

Matt looked at her with big, hopeful, disarming eyes. It would be easier if he just told her what he wanted to do and she could say no. She could easily shut down a bad idea. Instead, he was asking for permission and was inviting her to help figure out the problem together. He wasn't fighting her. Matt was trying to get her to give in and try to help Kyle - however unorthodox their strategy might be.

He was the only bunny that she knew who was willing to help Kyle rather than just dealing with the problem that the scared boy posed. It was such a small but important difference. There was no ill intention behind his eyes, only a worry that she wouldn't agree and he wouldn't be able to help the fox. She sighed and rubbed her paw on her forehead.

"You'll take off your glasses."

"Deal." Matt jumped up from the floor.

It was eerily similar to one of those situations when her kids were able to convince her to do something. She was undecided if what they were going to do was good or bad. Matt was already waiting for her at the door, eager to go to his boy. Monica blinked. The thought sneaked up on her without noticing. She shook her head. It happened from time to time when she saw mammals working at the orphanage who had a really good connection with a particular kit. After so many years, she knew that it was just her mind playing tricks on her. She stood up and they headed up towards Kyle's room.

It wasn't a long walk and Matt eagerly knocked on the door. "Kyle? It's me, Matt. I'm going to open the door. I want to show you something."

The bunny waited and when he didn't hear any protest, he proceeded. The first thing that he noticed was an overwhelming scent coming from the room. It was musky and unclean. With wide eyes he looked at Monica who didn't react at all. Her nose twitched but other than that she stayed composed.

After the initial hit of the scent, the bunny noticed that it smelled like Kyle... just much more intense. Speaking of the boy, he was nowhere to be seen. While staying in the hallway he dropped on the floor to look under the bed. There he was, hunkered in his corner. He looked miserable but the bunny found small comfort in the fact that the boy's fur was dry.

"Hi, buddy. I brought something that can help us with your problem and I want to show it." Matt smiled warmly. "But I need you to poke your head out from under the bed so you can see it."

He saw the hesitation in the boy's eyes. Matt didn't pressure him, just laid on the floor with a smile waiting for the boy to be comfortable. Kyle's eyes moved from the bunny to the floor in front of him, his tail wrapped tightly around him.

"Please. It's something I want to show you just once. You need to see all of it or it won't work. I worked very hard to convince Missus Monica to help me and it would be a waste to not use her help after all that."

Kyle liked his corner under the bed. It was dark and out of the reach of most mammals working in the orphanage. It was the only place where he felt truly safe. That was true until yesterday. Everything felt scary, even his corner. No one was safe. He wasn't safe to be around. Everyone is going to leave him or get hurt. There were no other options. So why was he coming back?

The fox looked at the weird bunny laying on the floor. Kyle still wasn't sure what the bunny wanted from him. He seemed nice but mostly smelled like fear. Matt was the first mammal that visited him regularly, which confused the boy even more. Kyle was used to being alone. It hurt, but it was familiar. What the bunny was doing was uncharted territory. They had tried a lot of new things together and they were fun. Should he try another thing that the bunny suggested? He didn't want to move, but in a world where his corner didn't provide any safety a few feet away from it would be as good as the corner. The fox was curious, and finally poked his head out from under the bed.

Matt's muzzle lit up and he moved into a sitting position. He wanted the best for Kyle but in the end it was his choice if he was going to accept it. The bunny couldn't waste that opportunity.

"Do you see the black device that Missus Monica is holding?" He pointed at the female rabbit. "It's called a taser. It stops mammals from hurting others. It works in a weird way."

Kyle tilted his head to the side as he looked at the new thing. The box didn't look that threatening. It was old and could be broken.

"Did you know that the brain in your head sends signals to your limbs and tells them how to move? Well the taser, in a way, shouts louder than your brain so your body doesn't know how to move and it stops you." Matt said as he took off his glasses and rested them against the door frame.

"Missus Monica agreed to use it on me to show you how it works." Matt moved to a crouching position and put his paws on top of his head so his arms would be in front of his muzzle. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. It might look a little scary, so I want you to be ready for that. Can you do that for me?"

Kyle shifted his gaze from the taser to Matt. The bunny tried his best to have a confident and reassuring smile but he already knew how painful it was going to be. Some of that worry showed on his muzzle.

The fox studied Matt's muzzle. He could tell that the bunny was worried but for some reason, it felt like a good kind of worry. It was like a wordless promise that everything is going to be all right if they got through this bad thing together. It was exactly the same promise that so many mammals in his life had made before. None of them were true. They just wanted to make him feel better... but in the end he was disappointed and hurt. He stopped believing them a long time ago, but this bunny was different. In spite of all his previous experiences he wanted to believe Matt.

Kyle nodded softly. Matt smiled weakly and looked at Monica giving her a small nod of his own. Matt's breathing quickened as he felt metal prongs against his shoulder and did everything in his willpower not to pull away. Then there was a loud clicking noise and groan of pain coming from the bunny.

Kyle jumped up from the surprise, enough that his back hit the bed frame. Matt was doing his best to keep his muzzle neutral but a grimace of pain was very clear on it. The electric burn ran through his body but in that position he was a lot more stable. Monica just kept pressing the taser against him.

Finally one muscle twitch caused him to lose his balance and he rolled to the side away from the device. He landed on his side breathing heavily. His first instinct was just to lay there and rest after a painful experience, moving was such a chore at that point. Kyle made a worried squeak which made the bunny look at the confused boy. It reminded him what he was doing.

Matt wasn't able to hold in his groan as he lifted his body up, slowly moving back into a sitting position and said with a weak voice. "You see, it's able to stop me so it shouldn't have any problem with you."

Kyle stared in awe at the bunny not really sure what to do. The fox knew that something had changed but couldn't tell what it was.

"It's safe for you to be around other mammals. We can handle it." Matt weakly reached for his glasses and put them one.

The bunny's breath was still uneven as he used the door frame to get up. He grabbed the taser from Monica who gave it back without any resistance as she was mostly focused on the boy. She didn't know if they did the right thing. Matt's legs were a little shaky but he smiled. "So, can I come in?"

Kyle looked at the object in bunny's paws and the state that Matt was in. The fox was breathing faster as tears started to come to his eyes. He wasn't fine, far from it but the bunny kept his unspoken promise. With a hoarse voice Kyle just said. "Yes."

A smile dawned on Matt's muzzle and he walked in. The bunny should have waited after being shocked but nothing was going to stop him from entering that room. Even if his legs felt like they were made from lead and his balance was off. Matt's paw lingered at the door frame for as long as it could, for the support.

Kyle watched that weird bunny trying his best to get to him. He enjoyed his company but it was always just that, nothing more. The boy didn't notice when his body started moving. With a blurry vision from the tears he ran on all fours towards Matt.

The bunny saw the boy fast approaching and it distracted him for long enough to lose his balance. He fell on his knees and knew that he would feel it tomorrow but it didn't matter. He opened his arms just before Kyle hugged him.

Matt wrapped his arms around the boy and held him tight. Kyle wasn't fine and it was okay. Matt didn't want him to be fine. The bunny wished for it but understood that it couldn't happen. He just wanted Kyle to be safe while he was dealing with his problems.

Matt's paw ended up on Kyle's head and he petted him. "I'm sure that we can convince Missus Monica to get something for adults to carry around so you could go outside. You shouldn't be missing classes."

Matt took a breath and almost gagged but tried not to show it. The boy reeked. Kyle's cleaning habits had a lot of room for improvement. He was skipping on showers a lot and the situation probably amplified that. Matt didn't mind enduring that. It was a problem that they would have to deal with when the boy felt better.

Kyle hugged the bunny as tight as he could. It was something new, but he didn't really think about it. The fox found a new place that felt as good as his corner and it was all that really mattered. Finally, his grip started to relax and Matt brought the taser closer for Kyle to inspect.

"Unfortunately, I won't be able to leave the taser at the orphanage. I borrowed it from my friend, but I'm sure they can figure something out for them to carry around." Matt kept it in his paws but let Kyle touch it. "I already ordered a smaller one for me since I'll have to give this one back."

They stayed embraced for a few minutes. At some point Matt started gently rocking his body back and forth. Monica was watching them with a smile, not wanting to interrupt the moment.

Matt didn't want to move but he needed to. The bunny was sore all over, but at the same time it was the most comfortable position that he had been in for years. Finally he said with a soft sigh. "I'll need to go back to work soon but I promise to stay longer on Monday, okay? I'll also have my own taser by then. It'll be easier to play with you when I won't have to worry about this big thing."

Kyle just nodded. He didn't want the bunny to go but it was normal that mammals didn't have a lot of time for him. The fox took a deep breath and smelled something weird. He turned his head to the side and rested it on the bunny's chest as he sniffed the taser. He smelled another predator. Something that he hadn't smelled in months. The boy wasn't sure who that mammal was, but he smelled really nice.