The wolf nurse was sitting on a chair with Kyle in her lap, gently holding the nape of his neck. The fox held the pen Matt gave him in his paw while his tail sat in his lap like a protective blanket. Beyond looking around the room with his scared eyes, he didn't move any more than that. Matt wasn't faring any better. His ears laid flat on his back, and he was unsure of what he should do. Normally, the parent was the one who held the child to keep them calm. But the medical staff decided for him that they would do a better job.
"It'll be fine." Matt said, partially to Kyle and partially to himself. Standing next to the sitting nurse only brought his head on-level with her thigh.
As the cheetah doctor checked something on the computer, her pleasant expression slowly turned more serious. She took a deep breath and returned to a smile before she got up from her desk and crouched in front of Kyle.
"Hi! I'm Doctor Swift. I'm going to make sure that you're doing alright." Her long tail was dragging on the floor behind her. "I need you to let go of your tail so I can listen to your chest."
That only made Kyle hug his tail even tighter. He looked down to the bunny for guidance.
Matt smiled weakly and said, "Kyle, the nice doctor just wants to listen to your lungs."
"I'm fine!" The fox answered quickly, with an unusually high voice. "She doesn't have to."
Kyle's breathing quickened, which irritated his throat and sent him into a coughing fit. The doctor and the nurse looked at each other, and the cheetah sighed softly. They probably had experience with problem children. Practically speaking, his body was completely relaxed while he was being held, and they could very easily just pull away his paws. But if they forced it, it might associate going to a doctor as a bad experience.
Matt gulped. He didn't want this day to be any more traumatic for the kit. Without thinking, he reached up with his paw up so the boy could grab it. Before he said anything, Kyle's paw shot towards it and squeezed it tightly. The cheetah moved to intercept the paw but she was too late.
A shiver ran through his body as Kyle's claws dug into his paw. The bunny knew that it was going to happen. He tried to prepare himself, wanting to comfort Kyle, but he just froze. It was all that Matt could do. He tried to find something that would take his mind away from the claws digging into his paw, something simple; breathing. Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out. It took every fiber of his being to stop himself from forcibly pulling the paw away from Kyle.
The cheetah stopped her paw in mid air and looked curiously at the bunny. Her tail flicked and she looked at the boy who now had the paw with the pen on his tail. "Would you feel better if Mister Leaper sits with you?"
Kyle looked up at the smiling wolf, and then at the frozen bunny. The boy's ears were down, but he nodded slowly.
The doctor looked to the nurse and asked, "Betty, could you put the boy on the examination table?"
"Of course." The wolf replied.
She looked at the bunny, waiting for him to let go of Kyle's paw, but Matt couldn't even look at her. The bunny didn't seem to register what they were even talking about, and the wolf tightened her lips in annoyance. She lifted Kyle by the nape, put her paw under Kyle's bottom and slid the kit from her lap in a way that he would stay in the bunny's reach. Then she got up from the chair while bent over to keep the kit low as she moved him to the examination bed.
Matt felt a tug on his paw and automatically followed the boy. The nurse sat the fox at the edge of the bed while still holding his nape, letting go but still holding her paw close in case the boy bolted. Kyle made no attempt, and the nurse looked back at the doctor who simply nodded and said, "Thank you Betty. You can go back to your work. We should be fine. If something happens I'll call." With that, the wolf left. The cheetah then said, "You can jump up on the bed with him if you want."
Matt blinked. Someone was talking to him. He looked up to see the cheetah expectantly awaiting an answer. "Could you repeat that?"
"If you'd like, you can jump on the bed with him. It might be comforting for him." She pointed at Kyle to avoid any further confusion, clearly amused by the shocked bunny.
"Oh. Right." His ears grew red, but luckily for him they were hidden behind his back
The bunny put his other paw on the bed and hopped up, nimbly turning in the air so he sat right next to the boy. There was a clear difference in the way they were both sitting. Without any back support the boy looked precarious and unstable, slouching and swaying for balance. Matt even felt him tug on his paw a few times to keep his balance. The fox's other paw, which was holding the pen, was planted firmly on the bed to help him stay upright. The cheetah clearly noticed, but didn't comment.
"Is that better?" She asked Kyle.
The big mammal wasn't holding him anymore. He was sitting on a soft bed and Matt was next to him, and so the boy nodded. He still used his tail as protection, but he no longer darted his eyes around for an escape.
"Can I listen to your chest?" The doctor tried again.
Kyle looked to Matt. Since the boy was more relaxed, he lessened the iron grip on the bunny's paw which gave Matt some of his brain capacity back. Once he was able to think again, he realized how peculiar it was that the boy was afraid of a simple examination. Maybe he didn't know what they wanted to do to him?
"Doctor, could you show what you want to do on me?" Matt suggested. "So he'll know that it's nothing to be scared of?"
The cheetah smiled and nodded. "That is a wonderful idea."
The doctor put the stethoscope into her ears and sat on a chair close to the bed. She slowly moved her paws towards the bunny and Matt couldn't help but notice how small the stethoscope looked in her paw. With another paw she lifted Matt's shirt and listened in a few areas of his chest and back. The bunny was embarrassed that she could hear how fast his heart was beating.
"It's nothing scary, just a simple check-up." Matt gently squeezed Kyle's paw for encouragement.
The boy looked between the two adults, and after a moment of hesitation let go of his tail. Once he was ready, the doctor performed the same examination on the fox. A few times she asked him to breathe deeply and her smile grew over time. She put away her stethoscope and pulled out a small flashlight before lifting her paw with a well practiced motion. But she suddenly stopped and looked at the pair thoughtfully.
She looked to Matt and asked, "What do you think about the weather?" before pointing out the window. Matt's head instinctively turned towards it, which faced him away from Kyle. Without missing a beat she asked Kyle, "Could you open your mouth for me and say 'a'?"
Kyle followed the instruction, and the soft sound of 'a' filled the room. Matt turned his head back to see her shining a light into Kyle's mouth, with his teeth on full display. The bunny's nose twitched, but he didn't look away.
"It's a beautiful day for kits to play outside." Matt said calmly.
"I think so, too." She said, slowly looking over the bunny before going back to the examination.
Matt curiously looked at the boy's teeth. The last time that they played catch, Kyle was missing a few teeth. The teeth that had grown back were smaller than the surrounding teeth, but they were there all the same. That reminded him that he would need to find a predator dentist for the boy.
Doctor Swift turned the light off and straightened up before going back to her computer. As she started typing she said, "His lungs sound good. His throat is irritated but I don't see any swelling. He'll be fine. A cough syrup will be enough to make him feel better. I'll give you a prescription."
"That is great news! See? It wasn't that bad." Matt exhaled loudly and rubbed Kyle's shoulder which caused the boy to wag his tail.
The cheetah smiled at them. "I must say that I'm impressed. For an emergency placement you have a good connection with the kit. I was half expecting we would need another nurse for you when he grabbed you."
Matt rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. I'm still working on that, but I'm getting better. It helps that I've known him for some time. It… it just happened that he needed a home."
She stopped typing for a second. "It's still amazing that you're willing to take him for a week or two with everything that's happening in the city."
"Oh no, I'm planning to be his foster parent. It was just an emergency placement because he needed to be moved fast."
The doctor tilted her head to the side and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Do you want me to do a general health check, then? You'll need to do one eventually if he is going to stay with you."
Matt smiled and opened his mouth to say something but stopped. The bunny looked at Kyle. "Can the nice doctor check a few more things?"
Kyle looked between the two adults waiting for his answer and furrowed his brow. It didn't happen a lot for him. Most of the time he was just told what to do. The fox nodded slowly. After all, the doctor was nice and Matt was there.
The cheetah got up from her desk and approached them once again. "Could you lay down on your back for me so I can measure you?"
Kyle moved slowly, and he darted his head between the adults to check if he was doing the right thing. Finally, he laid down on his back with his legs hanging awkwardly in the air. The cheetah pulled out the measuring tape and measured from the tip of his head to his hip joint, from his hip joint to his knee joint, from his knee to his ankle, and from his ankle to his paw. She did this to determine his height if he could stand straight.
She looked to the boy and said, "Now I'm going to grab your legs and move them, try to relax." That caused him to squeeze Matt's paw a little harder.
The doctor gently grabbed one of his legs and one by one she moved each joint until she felt resistance. The fox was far away from being able to straighten his hip joint. Kyle's range of motion didn't seem great to Matt's untrained eye, but Matt didn't know what result was expected for someone with his condition at his age. The thoughtful expression on the doctor's muzzle didn't help alleviate his worries.
She looked at the pen that was in the boy's paw. "Can you give me your pen for a moment?"
Kyle's eyes went wide, and he looked at his paw. He seemed surprised that he was still holding it, and he turned his head towards Matt with a questioning look. The bunny nodded encouragingly.
The boy lifted his paw towards the cheetah and she grabbed the pen. "Thank you." The doctor held it up over his knees. "Can you grab the pen without lifting yourself with your arms?"
Kyle extended his paws and tried to pull up his head and chest from the bed. The boy's muscles tightened as he was fighting with gravity to lift his upper body up but wasn't able. A few times his back left the bed for a moment, but he didn't have the strength to lift up more than an inch. The boy was straining and was getting more frustrated. To Matt's surprise Kyle's claws looked longer. Were fox's claws retractable like you would see in felines? It wasn't as big of a change as with felines, but he could swear that they got longer.
"Ok, that's enough." The doctor gave the panting fox his pen back. Kyle snatched it from her paw and right away presented it to the bunny with a worry in his eyes.
Matt's expression softened. Kyle was working so hard because he wanted to give the bunny his pen back. Matt took the pen and put it back in his bag. "Thank you for giving it back."
A small smile appeared in the boy's muzzle, and the tip of his tail flicked.
The doctor went back to her desk and typed on her computer again. "Can you stand on the scale in the corner?"
Matt looked at the boy, knowing that he would need help getting there. He let go of the boy's paw and jumped off the bed before putting his arms up and saying, "I'll help you get down."
Kyle nodded and slowly got into a sitting position. Matt had a front row seat to see how unusual the process was for the kit. Sitting up wasn't something that Matt thought about very often. It was a quick thing that he did every day, but it was a process for Kyle. He planted his paws firmly on the bed and pushed himself up with shaky arms to get to that unstable state. He had never noticed that the boy was always leaning on things when he was sitting. Getting up in a quadruped fashion would probably be easier for the boy, but he clearly didn't want to do that in front of the stranger.
Kyle moved his legs over the edge, looking a little scared. It wasn't a big drop, but he would be landing just on his legs. Matt aligned his paws so they would be under the boy's armpits while he slid off the bed.
Matt smiled. "I got you."
Kyle pushed himself off the bed. In an instant Matt's paws were holding the boy, making the drop more gentle so the kit didn't lose his balance when his paws hit the floor. Once the boy was stable, Matt walked backwards towards the scale and helped Kyle on. Even though Kyle clearly wanted to stand upright, Matt had to tighten his grip when he felt Kyle begin to lose his balance.
The doctor came to the rescue. "You can sit on it if you'd like, but your legs can't touch the floor."
The bunny helped the kit into a sitting position and the doctor read the weight on an electronic display. She made a note of it on her computer. "He's on the smaller side for a fox his age, but still perfectly healthy. Does he have funding for physical therapy?"
Matt bit his lip. "No, but I'll be adding him to my insurance and my policy should cover it."
The cheetah's smile widened. "There is one physical therapist who specializes in dealing with his condition in the Meadowlands. He has an office at the community center. I'll give you the address and print out Kyle's result. It's better to start therapy while he is young and limber. It's much harder to correct when he's older."
The printer came alive, and a moment later she handed Matt the papers with Kyle's test results, his prescription, and the address to the specialist's office.
Matt put his papers in his bag and said, "Thank you for your recommendation. I'll look into it after he settles in."
The doctor was ready to say goodbye to them when she looked at her computer and furrowed her brow. "Something's wrong. The computer's telling me that I should charge you."
"That can't be right. All foster and orphan kits in Zootopia have insurance provided by the city. Even without it, my insurance plan should cover it." The bunny looked to her, confused.
"Yes, I know… I have my next patient waiting, but someone at the front desk should be able to help you. It has to be some kind of glitch."
"Ok, thank you." Matt got in position so Kyle could grab his back. The boy waved to the doctor and they left.
When Matt and Kyle came back they went to the same counter as before. The ferret smiled. "Is the little one all right?" It made Matt chuckle. Kyle was close to both of their sizes.
"Yes, it's nothing serious." Matt smiled. "Could you help me with something? The doctor said that I should be charged for the check up when that should be impossible. It should all be covered."
"That's unusual. Just a moment." She typed on her computer for a moment and thoughtfully read the screen. "Ok. I see what happened. In his insurance history I can see that he was removed from Zootopia's health plan. That happens automatically when the parent's insurance is better than the one provided by the city… but I don't see him getting attached to yours. I'll go ahead and input it manually."
She tapped on the computer again and a few clicks later she looked perplexed. "I can see that you have a health plan which covers foster children, but I can't find Kyle in the public database." She pondered what to do before saying, "Give me a moment, please."
The ferret left her desk and went to a room nearby. She returned with a badger who lazily gave a nod to Matt with his jaw slack.
The receptionist briefly explained, "I can't find Kyle's file to add to Mister Leaper's insurance policy."
The badger pressed his eyes closed and huffed a sigh. Then he bent down to look at the screen and clicked on a few things. He looked very bored by the whole situation, as though helping was of some inconvenience to him. "Yeah, you're in different databases. Prey and predator data is stored separately. To get it to work you need to manually add the fox to the prey database, then link it with predator database to confirm that he's a real person. After that you should be able to add him to your health plan."
"Well, I have all his documents right here. You can add him, and it'll all be cleared up." Matt swung his bag in front of himself, ready to pull out the documents.
The badger shook his head. "We can't add him. It isn't something that our system allows us to do. You need to do it yourself." He stole a quick glance towards his office as he finished speaking, and made a few fidgety steps in place.
Matt sighed. "How can I do that?"
"Your insurance provider would be able to help you. They'll ask for a few confirmations over the phone, and after everything is set, we can add him to your plan."
The bunny looked down to Kyle, then back around the waiting room full of predators. "Would I be able to do it from home?"
"If you don't do it before you leave, then we'll be legally obligated to charge you upfront." The badger fidgeted for a moment longer before he turned around and went back to his office
Matt looked at the confused fox who didn't know what was going on. "Sorry buddy, but we'll need to stay here for a little longer."
"""
Matt groaned in frustration as he clicked again and again on the same icon, each time getting an error. He had checked over and over if he had filled all the fields correctly without even a hint of what the problem was. He had been there for almost half an hour on his insurance company's website, trying to add a foster child to the database. Even the badger guy didn't know what was happening.
The next step was trying to find an answer online, which took him another fifteen minutes. None of the sites he found provided any help. He tried different questions, but they all directed him to the same sites. They only talked about parents making an error and wanting to fix it later. He even tried to flip it around and looked for problems with adding a prey child to the database. On the plus side there were more results for it, but it still didn't get him anywhere. Matt was thinking about calling customer support when he clicked on a link to some dodgy, poorly made forum. The layout and graphic design was ancient, but to his surprise it still seemed to be active.
Matt was worried the site was going to give him a virus, or that it was some kind of scam. He nearly clicked off, but then he saw it: a post titled, "Why can't I add my foster child to the insurance database when he is in the prey one?"
Matt clicked the post, half expecting it to be a dead-end. But as he began reading through the replies, he at last found the answer.
'Ugh. I thought that I would pull my claws out when I tried to add my daughter. It took me hours and a few calls to the customer support. They were so unhelpful. Insurance guys didn't know what was going on so after talking with 3 guys, they connected me to their technical department. It turns out that adding child/foster child form assumes that the child is the same species or in the same 'breeding group' as you. It automatically checks the security number and when species don't match yours, it flags it as an error. Let me tell you. I have written a strongly worded email to the company. You need to add your child as a foreign relative. This form skips the database check because it assumes that it would have access and their agent would need to confirm it manually. You will see a red exclamation mark on the site that you need to confirm the date. It gives you options to do it manually or automatically. You click automatically and it'll confirm it and link it to the child's original database.'
The bunny quickly pulled up the form and filled it out, carefully following the instructions from the post. After hitting 'confirm', he got a verification message that everything went well and the relative should be visible in the system. It was finally over. His eyes were irritated and his body hurt from keeping his computer in his lap for so long, reminding him that he hadn't fully recovered from the taseing that he took a few days ago.
He looked to his side at Kyle, who was intently watching the screen while leaning against Matt with an enchanted look on his face. The fox didn't have regular access to a computer, so even an internet search and filling forms was interesting to him. The bunny was grateful for that, as it would be a much more painful process if he had to deal with a scared fox.
He checked back to the forum once more. The original poster gave thanks, and the rest of the thread turned into complaining about Zootopia assuming that interspecies families are from poorer demographics that would only use the provided insurance.
The focus they had on interspecies families piqued Matt's interest. He went to the forum's main page, only to find that it was a forum dedicated to interspecies couples and families. He didn't have time to look through it now, so he bookmarked it for later. The site for interspecies families and relationships which are not supported by the law.'
He packed his documents and laptop into his bag and with a beaming smile Matt went to the desk to sort the payment. "He should be visible now."
The ferret receptionist checked the database. "Oh, yes. I can add him." She did some typing and then went quiet as she read the screen. Her muzzle turned apologetic. "I'm sorry sir but you still need to pay. It says that your health plan is insufficient."
Matt's smile disappeared and his frustration instantly returned. "But I have an insurance policy that includes foster children! I've been paying more on purpose in case I got kits specifically so I wouldn't have to wait for the insurance to kick in!"
"Yes, but foxes are in a different price category. Luckily, with your insurance you can just pay the difference. There won't be any wait period and you can do it here. It's still less than you would pay for the check up out of pocket." The ferret tried to look on the bright side.
Matt stared at her blankly. It wasn't her fault, so getting angry at her was pointless. The bunny just sighed. "I'll pay with my card."
"""
One quick trip to a pharmacy next door to get the medicine and they were again on their way home. Kyle was licking his lips, enjoying the sweet taste of the cough syrup. The buildings became more familiar as they came closer to Matt's neighborhood. Only a few more minutes and they could finally relax in the bunny's apartment. They were both lost in their thoughts when Kyle's stomach growled. The bunny giggled as he looked in the rear view mirror, and the fox looked sheepishly back.
"We'll be home soon and I'll make you something to eat. What's your favorite thing to eat?" Matt's mind wandered towards the list of healthy recipes for growing kits, needing input from Kyle to narrow it down.
The boy humed and pondered the question as if it was the most important thing in the world before his muzzle lit up. "Bug-burga!"
Matt's smile dropped in an instant. How could he have forgotten something so important? He didn't have any predator food at the house. And what was worse, the bunny wasn't sure what Kyle's diet should consist of. He kicked himself that he didn't ask while he was at the doctor's office.
Matt bit his lip. "I don't know how to make one, but we'll stop at the market to see what they've got for you."
It was another unexpected detour on his way home from the orphanage. The day was long and tiring, but at least the bunny could see his building from the market. Matt had gotten quite proficient in helping the boy out of the car. It wasn't rocket science, but any small victory was worth celebrating. On the way in Matt grabbed a size-appropriate shopping cart and walked into the store with Kyle grabbing onto his back.
Matt knew where the predator section was in the mart. He knew that so he could avoid it, and the shop made it convenient to do so by putting the section in the back corner of the building. Matt lived in a predominantly prey area so the shop catered mostly to prey animals.
The pair walked slowly because Kyle was pulling on Matt's shirt a lot. The bunny didn't mind the slower pace. It gave him time to steel himself for what he was going to see. Matt dreaded that area. It was just food, but at the same time it was food that once lived.
It was eerie how mundane the predator section was. Everything was neatly packaged and put on shelves, in freezers and fridges. From far away it didn't seem any different from other areas of the shop. But from up close they revealed their true nature. The things which, from a distance, looked like nuts or beans in a package were, in reality, dried bugs and salted pieces of fish. Matt gulped. He knew that predators snacked on them and used them as ingredients as he'd seen when he was at Liam's place, but he never looked too closely at what they were eating. He didn't have that luxury anymore. He needed to pick something, which meant looking over everything in great detail.
"Do you like any of this?" Matt gestured to the shelf with dried food.
Kyle looked at the packages and shrugged. Orphanages prepared meals for him, so he didn't know which ingredients were the best. But the kit scanned the shelf for something that he recognized.
Matt, on the other paw, pulled out his phone and Zoogled a fox's diet. The bunny counted himself lucky when he saw that they were omnivores so he didn't need to pick up anything specific for him. Foxes just needed some animal protein in their diet to stay healthy. The only things to be avoided were onions, grapes and chocolate.
In that case, Matt wasn't going to experiment. There were bug burger patties in the fridge, but he didn't know how to cook that stuff and it was getting late. He pulled away from the shelf and went towards the freezer. The first thing that his eyes landed on were the pink pieces of chicken meat and the bunny swiftly looked away. Matt didn't need to have an existential crisis in the middle of the shop. That would come later. He just needed to feed the kit in his care.
While keeping the freezer in the corner of his eye, he saw a splash of color. It was a section with pre-prepared food, luckily separated from the raw ingredients so he could just look at the packages. Kyle mentioned that he liked bug-burga, so the bunny looked for something that had bugs. As an added bonus it meant that he wouldn't need to deal with meat that day.
He expected to see a single bug meal, pick it and go... but no. There were a variety of different bugs, especially grubs and crickets. Matt looked back at Kyle who, to bunny's surprise, was panting. Matt doubted that the kit would be able to help with the choice. With a shaky paw he reached in to grab a meal with crickets in it and put it in the cart. He had seen Liam eat them, so it should be tasty, at least.
Matt felt as if he was doing something wrong. He even looked around to see if anyone saw him before quickly rushing towards the cash registers. They only made it a few feet outside of the predator section when the bunny felt a strong tug on his shirt and heard claws ripping through the fabric to prevent a fall.
He turned around to see Kyle's tongue hanging out. He was breathing heavily and his legs were shaking. Matt had been forcing him to walk around more than he regularly did, and the boy was exhausted. Matt turned around and grabbed the kit under his arms to take off some of the weight from his legs.
"Are you alright?" Matt asked worriedly.
"Tired…" Kyle said between panting. Just standing there caused his legs to shake. The kit looked over the bunny's shoulder and instantly his eyes went wide and his ears dropped.
"Do you need any help?" A deep voice asked.
Matt turned his head to the side to see a goat in a security guard's uniform approaching them. His eyes were going back and forth between the bunny and the boy.
"Thank you, we're fine, he just got a little tired and stumbled." Matt said in a rush so he could focus on the kit
"Would you like me to contact his parents? I can make a report of the incident." The goat was eyeing the boy and how he was holding onto the bunny.
A cold shiver ran through Matt's body, making him hold Kyle tighter. He smiled uneasily and said, "There's no need for that... He's here with me. I'll talk with his parents... we don't need the report. It's an old shirt anyway."
"Ok." The guard nodded slowly and his eyes lingered on Kyle as he walked away.
With the security guard farther away from them Matt noticed something weird. There were a lot of animals in the store, but there was a bubble of free space around them. Normally the bunny needed to dodge and maneuver between animals, but it didn't happen even once while they were there. Matt's nose twitched and he looked at the fox.
"Can you walk to the car with me?" Matt asked, already knowing the answer. Kyle put his tail between his legs and shook his head.
Matt bit his lip. "How bout on all fours?"
Kyle's eyes went wide and he shook his head in panic.
Matt's ears lowered. He didn't think to consider Kyle's limitations, and the bunny couldn't really pick up the fox and carry him. He was kicking himself for not picking a bigger cart. Kyle wouldn't fit in the children's sitting area, and while Matt could try putting the boy in the cart, he would for sure be over its carrying limit and they didn't need to get in trouble today.
That only left one option. Matt turned around and leaned forward. He looked at Kyle over the shoulder. "Climb on my back. I'll give you a piggyback ride."
Kyle blinked, did he hear it right? It seemed crazy, but at the same time Matt presented his back to the fox, the back with a torn shirt on it. Of course Kyle had seen kits playing like that, or adults carrying them around in that fashion, but it was never something that was meant for him. He was supposed to stay away, not be a problem, not getting closer. Was it really ok? He wanted to try it, and his legs felt so weak. The fox gingerly wrapped his arms around Matt's shoulder, moving slowly to look for any sign of Matt changing his mind, but it never came. As he got closer the bunny even wrapped his paws around the kit's legs to pull him up. His tired legs almost sang from relief as they left the floor.
Matt grunted as he adjusted his grip on the boy. His recovering body disagreed strongly with what he was doing. The doctor said that Kyle was on a smaller side, but he was still rather big by bunny standards and Matt wasn't the strongest bunny around. He didn't really work out and worked in an office. The only thing stopping him from getting fat was his healthy diet, but that wouldn't help him with a few pounds of fox on his back.
Matt leaned forward so Kyle wouldn't slide down. With one of his paws he supported the boy and used his other to push the cart forward. His steps were heavy, but he still felt stable.
Kyle's head rested next to Matt's ear and he quietly said, "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it buddy. It was my mistake. I'll remember for the next time to make our trips shorter or plan them better. You did really great walking around for the whole day." Matt tried his best to be encouraging, but it was difficult with his labored breath.
Matt went straight to the cash registers. Luckily the line wasn't long and soon he was next. A goat lady casually scanned the product but her eyes went wide when she saw a bunny with a fox kit on his back. She packed the meal into a paper bag but her eyes had never left Matt. She looked around when she handed him the bag and leaned in closer.
"You're a babysitter, right? I remember you visited the shop with bunny kits that you babysat. You were so great. My bunny friend is looking for one if you're interested. I'm sure that they'll pay well for your work. I can give you their number if you want." She smiled softly.
Matt's ears dropped gently tapping Kyle's head. The bunny grabbed the bag and without a word rushed out of the shop.
For the third time that day Matt helped Kyle to his seat for a final, short trip a few buildings away to his new home. However, before he started the car, he sat there and stared at the fox in the mirror. The kit looked tired, but that was it. He looked outside the window, taking in new sights. Matt gripped the steering wheel tighter. Kyle was fine, they were fine, it would be fine. Kyle noticed Matt looking at him in the mirror and the boy tilted his head confused. The bunny fumbled with his keys when he got caught, and started the car. He sighed and under his breath said to himself, "We'll be fine."
When he parked in his regular spot, Matt realized that he had another problem. He needed to bring Kyle's bag and crutch, his own bag, and the grocery bag up to his apartment in one go. Matt just couldn't leave the kit unattended in a new place. He stuffed the meal in Kyle's bag and put it in one paw. He handed the crutch to the boy who was still in the car. "Can you carry it for me?"
The boy nodded, and the bunny grabbed his own bag in another paw. Matt turned his back to the boy so he could get directly onto the bunny's back. Matt's knees buckled when he felt the boy's weight, but he was able to stand while carting all that weight. Kyle was holding his crutch on the bunny's chest, so he would have to be careful while going through the door. Since he couldn't support Kyle with his paw he needed to bend forward more than before. The bunny kicked the car door closed and locked the car with his key fob. With a beep from the car they made their trek towards the apartment.
Matt was never more grateful that his building had an elevator. He would die climbing the steps to the third floor with all that weight on him. He wasn't sure if it was good or bad that he didn't see any of his neighbors. On one paw they could help him, but on the other he really wasn't in a mood to explain anything.
His ears were red and he was panting heavily when he finally reached his door. He abruptly dropped both bags on the floor and fished out the key from his pocket. The bunny opened the door and almost stumbled into the apartment.
