Matt was shifting in his chair. Even a weekend after the tasing, sitting was painful. The bunny's knees were bruised and his upper body muscles still felt the effects of being tased. They had size specific ergonomic chairs at work, but no matter what he tried, Matt couldn't find a comfortable position to sit in. In the end he had to pick which ache was the least annoying.
A lot had changed over the weekend. There had been a few more savage attacks, and the city had felt its effects. Mammals were always vigilant, often traveling in groups. A lot of prey animals went out of their way to avoid predators. The price of self defense items skyrocketed. Matt touched the taser attached to his belt. He would need to thank Liam for forcing him to buy it before they went out of stock. Monica was also able to buy a supply for the orphanage to keep Kyle comfortable.
The bunny's phone pinged. It was an update from Monica saying that the young fox was doing well. He still didn't leave his room often, but that was normal for him. That day he ate in the dining area while Monica watched him. He was even allowing mammals to enter his room. Matt hoped that after the initial shock Kyle would go back to acting normal and feeling comfortable around other mammals.
Matt even considered visiting the boy over the weekend. Kyle would enjoy his company, but the bunny wasn't in any shape to play with the kit. He was barely moving and had spent most of the time on the sofa in front of the TV, trying to rest his aching body. However, the bunny made sure to have this evening free to stay with the boy.
Matt's ears went up and turned towards the phone room's opening doors. The bunny grabbed the big, scratched taser from his bag and made his way to Liam's makeshift office. Through the dimmed glass he could see someone big moving inside, and at their office it could be only one mammal. The bunny knocked on the door, waited a few seconds, and walked in.
A strong scent of mint hit the bunny's nose, which made it twitch. Matt pushed the door completely open. Liam's eyes lingered a little on the open door before they moved back to the bunny and the taser in his paws. The hyena took a step back deeper into the room.
"Hi," the hyena said awkwardly.
"Hi. I just wanted to give your taser back. Thanks for lending it to me." Matt put the device on the table opposite of where Liam was standing.
The hyena's eyes went to the taser on Matt's belt before he reached for his own. Liam flipped the on button and raised his brow when the light indicated that the taser needed to be recharged. "Did it work?"
"Yes! Like a charm," the bunny said with a smile. "He even ate breakfast with other kits."
"That's great!" There was a shine behind Liam's tired eyes, and he gently wagged his tail.
"Yeah. I only needed to be tasered twice to convince him that it's safe for him to be around other mammals," Matt said with a casual tone and mischievous smile.
"Oh, so that's why the battery's low," Liam said thoughtfully. Then it clicked in the hyena's mind and he looked at the bunny with wide open eyes. "Wait, what!?"
"The first time as a test so I would know what to expect, and the second time in front of Kyle so he would know that I'm telling the truth." Matt counted on his fingers with a grin.
The bunny placed a paw on his shoulder and moved his arm around to stretch it with a slight grimace of pain. "I still feel it. I don't recommend doing it."
"Noted." Liam blinked and looked at the old taser, "I've had this thing for so many years. I would have never expected that for the first time it would be used, it would be by a bunny on himself."
"Oh, I didn't use it on myself." Matt's eyes shine watching Liam getting more and more lively, "My friend used it on me. I have a sneaking suspicion that she enjoyed it way more than she let on."
Matt narrowed his eyes and tapped his finger against his chin which caused the hyena to laugh softly. "Kinky."
The sound of Liam's laugh was so warm and filled the room with light. Matt didn't know when he got so attached to the sound of his laughter, but he would make sure to hear more of it in the future. It was paired with a simple, yet powerful feeling of making his friend happy in a time when the hyena needed it the most. The bunny lowered his ears with a soft smile on his muzzle. For a moment the world was a better place.
The laugh was infectious and the bunny joined in. "She has a husband and kits. Also, she's not my type."
"Let me guess. She's too old for you," the hyena said amused.
"No. That's not it," the bunny said as he took a step closer towards the hyena.
"So maybe you're not into bunnies," Liam smiled with his teeth showing.
"All my boyfriends were bunnies," Matt said with a twinkle in his eye.
Liam tossed his arms in the air in defeat. "In that case, I don't know why she isn't your type."
"I guess it'll remain a mystery forever."
They stared at each other in pleasant silence. Their smiles grew with each passing second. Matt's shoulders were shaking as he tried to hold back a giggle, until finally he could no longer. The bunny chuckled and put his paw over his mouth.
"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting you to be such a player." Liam was wagging his tail with a lopsided grin and wiggled his eyebrows. "Boyfriends, how adventurous."
"You're making it sound more exciting than it really was." Matt shrugged, "It wasn't anything serious. To be honest I'm not sure if I can even count them as boyfriends. A few dates before we realized that we weren't right for each other. It happens. I didn't have anyone that I would consider a serious boyfriend."
"I had a few girlfriends." The hyena admitted thoughtfully and added with a smile, "Does that mean I'm winning?"
"For sure. Especially if you have to carry a taser around for them. Are you so swarmed that you can't get away from ladies?"
The spotted hyena's eyes went wide and his ears dropped against his head. "It isn't like that."
Matt bit his lower lip and mentally kicked himself for killing the good mood. He clearly said something stupid and or insensitive. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by that."
Liam sighed and fixed his ears. "I know. Don't worry. Hyenas are unique so it was always a little awkward for me to talk about girls with guys from other species."
Matt furrowed his brow trying to remember what he knows about hyena's culture. His mind wandered towards the female hyena villain from the movies. "Hyenas are matriarchal, right?"
Liam nodded. "It's little more than that. It's a female who gets the guy and takes care of him. Our females are also bigger and stronger than males. So those kinds of jokes are weird for me."
Matt was horrified and his paws covered his mouth. "I'm so sorry..."
"I know that you didn't mean it like that." Liam smiled and waved his paw, "It isn't like anything had happened to me. My sister is just a little bit overprotective over her younger brother. She got the taser for me when I moved out so I would be able to protect myself."
Liam looked at the ceiling. It warmed his heart remembering how ladies in his life took care of him. "You should've seen her when she was scaring my girlfriends. After getting 'the talk' from my sister and my mom, girls always walked me home and made sure that I was safe. They would be in a world of pain, otherwise."
Matt looked at the wall thinking back to his own family and a few smiling faces appeared in his mind. "They sound like wonderful ladies."
"Yes, they are." The hyena smiled tenderly, "It's just a different experience than most other guys have. Boys at school always looked at me weird when I told them that my sister could kick their brothers' asses."
"I can imagine it being a tough sell."
"It's one of those things that you have to get used to as a hyena." Liam shrugged.
"I think that's true for all species. We have things that we need to get used to." The mischievous smile returned on Matt's muzzle. "Lucky for you I know at least one thing that you don't need to get used to."
Matt was smiling and wiggling his eyebrows waiting for the hyena to react. The bunny waved his paw, showing that it was Liam's turn to speak. The hyena sighed, "Ok, I'll bite. What is that one thing?"
Matt spread his arms around. "This phone room! You can go back to your desk."
Liam looked away, "It isn't that simple. I can't."
The hyena was standing close to the wall. The table between them felt like a barrier, impossible to penetrate. Personal space which needed to be respected by the animals around him. A place where the hyena had to allow people in.
"I know that it feels that way, but you shouldn't be scared to be around mammals." Liam seemed to be shrinking with every word that the bunny was saying. It wasn't the reaction he was hoping. "I don't know about you, but I have a one hundred precent success rate when it comes to convincing predators that it's fine for them to be around me. I don't think that you have a chance against me."
Matt's heart swelled when his comment caused Liam to chuckle with a sad smile. "Your one hundred percent comes from one fox."
"When you say it that way, it doesn't sound as great." Matt stood straight, confident and comfortable around the hyena. "One mammal is still one hundred percent."
"Matt, I appreciate it. I really do, but it's not safe." Liam scratched his arm, "There were new attacks over the weekend."
"I'm not dealing with attacks in the city… just you." Matt's joking tone moved into a more tender one. "I know a specialist who told me that I need to make my friend believe that he can't hurt me."
Liam sighed, annoyed that the bunny was using his own words against him. "I'm a few times bigger than anyone in the office. I know that you mean well but it's too risky."
The bunny didn't let go and gently pushed forward, "So why aren't you working from home, then? You wouldn't even need to leave your apartment. You like us and want to be around us. Even if it's just for a coffee break."
"I don't want to feel trapped in my room." Liam sat down and looked at his monitor. "I'm sharing an apartment with 2 other predators. For safety reasons, we've decided to stay mostly in our rooms."
The hyena took a deep breath, "I would have to work from out of my room. It's supposed to be the place where I rest. I don't want that to change."
"But locking yourself up at the office isn't a solution either. You just trade one isolation for another." Matt's ears dropped and he spoke softly, "We can put your desk in the corner of the room. Tom requested to work from home full time until this thing gets sorted out."
Liam lowered his head, ashamedly. It was the wrong thing to mention, but Matt pushed through it. The bunny started to gesticulate wildly to keep the momentum. His muscles were aching but he wanted to get his point across. "We can put you in Tom's place, and I'll move my desk next to yours so the only way for you to get out would be through me. Also, I was tased two times so I'll have no problem doing it to you."
Matt pulled the smaller taser from his belt and waved it, "I can even have it strapped around my wrist the whole time. The taser is rubbery for easier grip so it wouldn't make that much noise as it moves around on the desk. That way I'll be able to grab it faster if anything happens."
Liam looked at Matt in amazement. The bunny was a ball of energy who wanted to say everything on his mind before the hyena could stop him. Matt was also slowly inching closer to the sitting hyena.
Liam should have stopped the bunny and told him to stay back, but he was mesmerized. He couldn't believe the drive that Matt had for a predator. There was such conviction to make him feel more comfortable, to make him feel better, to keep him as part of the team, as part of their friend group.
Then it happened. The bunny stepped close enough that the hyena could smell him over the overwhelming scent of mint. For the first time that day the hyena smelled someone other than himself. How much he missed that. Sense of smell was so important to him. A scent was a part of who mammals were. Without smelling it, Liam felt disconnected... As if he was watching a tv and not real mammals.
Matt smelled like a field of grass on a warm spring day. Liam could almost feel the soft fresh grass gently tickling his pawpads and hear laughter of kits playing in the distance without any worry or fear. The little guy in front of the hyena was doing everything in his power to convince him that it was all right. In a weird way it was cute how animated he got.
Matt was using the taser as a pointer as he was detailing his plan, "I can arrive at the office at the same time as you and leave with you. I have a car so it isn't a problem for me. I'll just need to get your train schedule and…"
Liam gently grabbed Matt's paw which was holding the taser. It made the bunny shut up in an instant and he froze in place. Matt slowly lowered his other arm into a more comfortable position and stared at Liam's massive, yet gentle paw. The bunny was so caught in the moment that he wasn't sure when he walked across the room.
Up close the scent of mint was so much stronger. The light above their heads was buzzing quietly. Matt wasn't sure what to say or do but the hyena came to the rescue. Liam smiled softly and gently squeezed the bunnies paw. "Ok you win. I'll go back to the office space if you'll do all the things that you said."
Matt should have been celebrating, but being so close to Liam made it almost painfully obvious that something was wrong. Something was missing. He couldn't smell the hyena, only the overpowering mint. Matt didn't have as strong a sense of smell as Liam but even he could notice it. Something that Kyle said to him once came to mind.
"Is it really that bad?" The bunny asked before he could stop himself.
"No… I can manage. As I said, only one on one stuff freaks me out. Especially when I'm the biggest guy in the room."
Matt was given a way out, but he needed to know. His predator friends were hurting and the bunny wanted to understand. Kyle wouldn't be able to explain it properly. "I meant, is the scent of fear really that bad?"
The hyena pulled his paw away from Matt and sat straight in the chair. He answered slowly with a frown on his muzzle, "What are you talking about?"
Matt bit his lip, "Kyle told me that I smell like fear a lot, and you've been eating mints since the day of the conference."
Liam lowered his ears. "He shouldn't have said that. It's very impolite."
"So you can smell it," Matt asked worriedly.
The hyena sighed as a tranquil moment slipped away from him. From both of them. However the conversation felt comfortable. It wasn't something that he was willing to discuss with just any prey, but Matt wasn't just any prey. He was the crazy bunny who was trying his best to help his predator friends. "Yes, but predators don't talk about it. It makes us seem more… savage."
"Did I smell like fear from the beginning?" Matt asked quietly looking at the floor.
The hyena paused for long enough to make the bunny's nose twitch, so he hurried to answer, "It doesn't really matter."
"So I did." Matt sounded disappointed in himself, but otherwise took it rather well.
"Yeah… You interacted with predators so little that you didn't even notice." Liam scratched the side of his muzzle.
Matt took a breath, "I'm sorry for that."
"I told you not to worry about it. I understand what was happening. You made great progress, and you smell great, now." Liam stared in disbelief and his ears instantly got hot. Why did he say that? The hyena was so glad that from his position Matt couldn't clearly see them.
"Thanks?" Matt said seeing the weird reaction. Smells were important for predators but he couldn't judge the weight of that complement.
"I think that we should move those desks before the others arrive." Liam said smiling nervously.
"""
There was a friendly chatter coming from the team's office space when Emma arrived at work. It had become such an alien sound recently. The whole city had become much gloomier. Most of the public spaces had become quiet. Mammals were afraid that being inattentive could cost them their lives. She stopped and listened, not wanting to intrude on a pleasant conversation. They were too rare and precious these days. It was a refreshing contrast to the silence of the city.
The ewe narrowed her eyes as she listened to familiar voices. A bright smile dawned on her muzzle and she rushed toward their office. She wasn't going to miss a second of Liam's good mood. It might be few and far between.
Liam and Matt were moving desks around without a care in the world. They were laughing softly, unaware that the sheep was watching them. It wasn't much of a change for the bunny, but a quantum leap for the hyena. His ears were up and he was smiling as he spoke with Matt just outside her ear shot.
'Did Liam just need a weekend to process the whole thing?' She thought while she watched the buck setting up his desk, 'Or did Matt have some tricks up his sleeve?'
They were feeding off of each other's energy. Matt's ear's were moving around expressively, and it was easy to see how happy Liam was. The hyena's tail was a dead giveaway. She had slowly grown accustomed to the way he expressed his emotions. It was always a process getting to know a mammal from a new species and discovering their specific quirks.
As nice as it was to just watch them interact, she also needed some of the hyena's energy. She walked in saying, "Hi, boys!"
Matt turned towards her with a smile. Liam, on the other paw, froze. The only things that were moving were his eyes. They immediately met hers, and a cold shiver went that down her back. For some reason they were both painfully and uncomfortably aware of each other's presence in a way that she would have never expected. She was making him uncomfortable.
Liam's eyes darted to Matt, and Emma followed his lead. The bunny was oblivious of the quick exchange between his coworkers.
"Hi! Don't mind us. We're just rearranging the office. We should be done shortly." The bunny said and pushed his desk next to Liam's. "Tom is going to work from home, and Liam called dibs on his spot in the corner. You really seem to like corners. Is it a predator thing?"
The bunny looked back at Liam, wanting to continue the conversation, but he stopped in the middle. Matt's expression softened. The bunny went and grabbed Liam's keyboard on the desk nearby and handed it to him. That prompted Liam to move further away from her.
The ewe was so thrown off that she wanted to quickly move past it. She grasped at the first topic that took her away from that awkward situation, "Why would it be a predator thing?"
Matt quickly turned towards her and she could swear that for a split second his eyes went wide before a smile returned to his muzzle. He shrugged casually, trying to make a joke, "I don't know. I've never seen prey like them that much."
Her stomach dropped. It couldn't be happening. She had seen it a few times before, but it was the first time she was on the receiving end. Matt's ears weren't moving. He was keeping them still. It stung. And the worst part was that she didn't know why it was happening.
She tried to process everything as fast as she could. Liam gave the bunny a disappointed side glance. She couldn't make a sound as she stared awkwardly. What was she missing? At that point she just needed to say something, anything. And to her even greater shock, Matt was holding onto something worth talking about.
"Is that a taser?" She pointed to the device on Matt's belt with a shaky hoove.
"Oh." The bunny patted it, "I bought it for protection."
She wasn't sure if she should yell at him first, or apologize to Liam. How could he have done something so insensitive? But she didn't have a chance to say anything before the hyena chimed in.
"It's a really good brand. I helped him pick it up," Liam said in the most casual voice he'd spoken with since she arrived.
"Good thing that I got it when I did. All the online stores are out of stock at this point."
She blinked. Was it really fine? That was all it took to bring everything back to normal. She rubbed her forehead. It was too early for her to try to figure out what was going on. She wasn't going to create more awkwardness just to satisfy her curiosity. The ewe just sighed and went to her desk.
"It is nice to have you back again with us. Even if you moved just for one day." She swiveled in her chair to look back at the guys.
"Yeah. I just had a lot on my mind," Liam sighed. "We talked about it, and he was able to convince me that it was fine to have me around."
Liam sat at his new desk and smiled. Matt was the last person to do so. The bunny pulled the taser from his belt and placed it on the desk. It felt like a threat but Liam wasn't saying anything about it.
"I get it. We're all trying to figure it out." She nodded, "I guess Kyle didn't take it that well, either."
The bunny sat up straight in the chair and slowly turned his head towards her, "What makes you think that?"
"Didn't you visit him on Friday morning? I thought that's why you were working from home." She furrowed her brow. Matt was unusually defensive about it. "I assumed that he had some troubles."
That pause before he answered. He was thinking about what to say. The bunny answered slowly, weighing every word. "Yeah. He heard that something biological is causing animals to go savage and he got scared that it'll happen to him. You know, with his condition he thought he was at greater risk. They asked me if I could talk with him because he likes me. I couldn't say no to that." He rubbed the back of his neck.
There it was again, the dead ears. She was on a minefield. Every step that she took she was stepping on another mine. She shifted her gaze to Liam who was looking away focusing on something on his monitor and glancing back from time to time. The hyena knew something.
Emma swiveled back towards her desk to hide the shock on her muzzle. A thought entered her mind that couldn't be real but made so much sense. Were his ears always dead when he talked about Kyle and she didn't notice? It was always a casual talk with teasing so she wasn't looking for it.
"Do you know what you're doing?" A loaded question slipped out of her mouth which caught Liam's attention and their eyes locked. The hyena looked apologetically.
"Not really." He shrugged, "But I was able to help, and that's something."
Matt didn't notice how unusual that question was, and the way he answered so effortlessly convinced her that she was right. The ewe wanted to yell at him but it wasn't the time for it. She was his friend. She would do that when he finally decides to talk to her on his own.
"""
Matt walked through the door to the orphanage. She was sitting there on a small bench close to the entrance. The young cream bunny was bouncing her leg, fidgeting with her paws with her ears down. She was one of the students working at the orphanage as an intern. In a blink of an eye, she sat up straight and adjusted her clothes when she saw him. The way she looked at him sent a cold shiver running down his was a glint of worry in her eyes.
She stood up, "I'm really sorry sir but something came up and you can't visit Kyle today."
She had a firm but polite smile which didn't reach her eyes. In those few seconds that he stayed silent her eyes softened apologetically. Her paw was grasping the edge of her shirt.
"Did something happen to Kyle?" He walked a few steps further past her to look into the hallway where Kyle's room was. The door to his room was open.
Her ears instantly dropped and she moved in a position to prevent his progress and said in one breath. "He's fine. There are some rule changes and we want to play it on the safe side while we're figuring them out."
Matt pulled out his phone and saw no messages. "Monica could have sent me a text about it."
"She didn't have time. It only just came up." Her smile disappeared and was pleading with her eyes that he would listen.
There was something obviously missing in the hallways. "Where are other people working here?"
"They are at a meeting to discuss new rules."
Matt was very quick with the follow up question, "Are these rules only about Kyle?"
"I'm sorry but I can tell you until they're decided." She said weakly.
He had a really bad feeling, but the young lady in front of him was just doing her job. It was really nice that they were letting him visit Kyle so often. He should follow the rules. "Ok. Could you tell Monica to call me when she has time? I want to know when I'll be able to visit Kyle."
"I will." She nodded eagerly.
It was the best that he could do. He trusted that Monica would take care of the fox and disturbing the meeting could cause even more problems for Kyle. He turned around to leave and looked over the shoulder at her relieved face. It was going to be ok… but the nagging feeling of dread wouldn't leave him.
As soon as he was out the door he sent Monica a text asking her to call him. It was all that he could do. He walked to the car and took one last look at the orphanage. More specifically, he looked at Kyle's window. It was open. Did he like having his window open?
The weather was warm but that wouldn't explain why both the door and window would be open at the same time. Every time that he visited the fox he had to knock on the door with the exception of the last emergency. Was he overthinking it? Just an open door didn't mean anything bad.
He could check it quickly. Kyle's room was on the ground floor so just a small jump would allow him to grab the windowsill. Matt shook his head. That would be such a creepy thing to do... but he wasn't going to spy. Just take a look inside to make sure that everything is fine. Just a quick detour before going home.
His heart was pounding as he quickly walked to the window. It didn't feel right, but at the same time he needed to calm his mind. He looked around to make sure that no one saw then jumped and grabbed the windowsill.
His grip wasn't the best. He hadn't worked out in a long time and on top of that his muscles were still aching. Pulling himself up was a challenge, but the brick wall let him put his foot claws into the grooves. He slowly poked his head up, not wanting to scare Kyle.
The room was empty. It was a little messy but nothing out of the ordinary for a 7 year old boy. At this hour Kyle should have been in his room. The fox knew that Matt was going to visit him. His heart ached knowing that he won't be able to keep his promise.
What was even worse, he wasn't satisfied by what he saw. It made things even more unsettling. All he could do was wait until Monica called. He could wait in his car until they finish. He was about to let go when a sudden gust of wind from the hallway carried air from the room towards him.
The first thing that he noticed wasn't the scent, but the burning feeling on his eyes as they started to tear up. It wasn't anything serious, just an inconvenience. But then he realized what it was. Pepper. There was an overpowering scent of pepper.
