Rex-mas Day
The morning light shone on the table as everyone loudly chatted and ate their breakfast.
Legosi reached over towards a plate of hash browns with his right hand. "Ow!" The wolf winced and recoiled back rubbing his left arm, which was in a purple sling.
Lee reached over with a fork and picked up a hash brown, dropping it on his father's plate.
Legosi smiled. "Thanks, Lee."
Louis looked at Legosi curiously. "You arepursuing legal action, right? Your bosses were completely responsible for your injury."
The wolf's ears drooped. "We're probably settling out of court."
Juno gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't be too upset about it. An accident happened and your bosses are accepting responsibility. It isn't personal."
Bill snorted. "If I were you, I'd be way more pissed about it."
Jack nodded. "Ten meters is a longfall. You could've died."
Legosi shrugged. "My life has been in more danger than just a fall if I'm being honest."
Haru rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that makes me feel more confident."
Lee's eyes drifted over to Olivia. She and Esther sat next to each other, looking incredibly nervous. They looked like they wanted to say something.
Olivia looked up at Lee, who gave her a reassuring look. She gulped. "U-Umm… Mom, Dad…"
The two labs looked towards their daughter. Jack tilted his head. "What is it, sweetie?"
Olivia took a deep breath. "I-I need to tell you guys-"
Bill interrupted. "Esther, what're you doing with her hand?"
The couple looked surprised and glanced down under the table. It looks like they started unconsciously holding hands.
The lab started to tremble. "Well… uhh…"
Esther blushed. "L-Liv and I are dating."
The room fell dead silent. The tiger and labrador families glanced at each other with stunned looks, clearly struggling for words.
Elise cleared her throat. "Olive… I mean no offense, but don't you think you should aim a little higherin terms of partners?"
Bill glared. "The hell does thatmean?"
The female lab sighed. "No offense, but your daughter is no dog. I don't like the idea of Olive dating someone of lesser intelligence."
Jack face-palmed. "Oh, God… Here we go…"
Sarah growled. "Our daughter isn't a moron. At least she doesn't have a stick in her ass."
Elise scoffed and looked towards Olivia. "See what I mean? They're far too crude and blunt for someone of your intellect."
Olivia trembled. "But-"
Bill snorted. "Look at you, all high and mighty. You dogs are so damned full of yourselves."
Esther looked around nervously. "P-Pops, you don't-"
Elise crossed her arms. "As if your type isn't prideful at all. You've seen how ostentatious your daughter is."
Bill looked confused. "The hell does 'Austin tatshis' mean?"
The female lab laughed. "Thanks for making my point for me."
The entire party looked incredibly uncomfortable. Louis was about to say something until he was interrupted by someone loudly sobbing.
Everyone turned to see Olivia crying into her hands. "I-I knew this was going to happen."
Esther gave her a very concerned look. "Liv?"
The younger lab stood up and sprinted upstairs.
The white tiger chased after her, knocking over her chair. "Liv! Wait!"
Elise glared at the two tiger parents. "Now look what you've done!"
Bill growled. "What we'vedone?! You were the one that started shit."
The older black lab argued back and the argument turned into a straight out yelling match.
BAM!
Everyone jumped and looked towards Jack. The male lab's fist was on the table and he had an extremely irritated expression. He stood up and tossed his napkin on the table. "I need to speak with my daughter."
The gold lab stormed off, heading up the same stairs.
Elise and the two tigers looked ashamed and squirmed in their seats as the entire party gave them disapproving looks.
Lee sighed. Why did things need to be so dramatic?
Upstairs, Olivia sobbed and sniffled as her tiger girlfriend held her tightly on the couch.
Jack slowly approached. "I'm sorry about how your mother reacted, Olive." He gave Esther an apologetic look. "And I'm sorry for the awful things she said to you, Esther-chan."
Esther's ears drooped. She still didn't know what to say.
Jack sat down on a couch across from his daughter. "Whatever attracted you towards Esther-chan, you deserve to be allowed to follow your heart. Don't be ashamed of loving who you do."
Olivia continued to sob and hugged Esther tighter.
The gold lab looked incredibly concerned and walked closer, wrapping his arms around both girls.
Esther looked depressed and Olivia continued to cry.
The tender moment was interrupted by footsteps.
The white tiger looked past Jack and was surprised to see Elise and her parents approach, looking ashamed.
Elise fidgeted. "I'm… so sorry, Olive."
Bill scratched his neck awkwardly. "You two… I… Aw, Hell…"
Sarah put a hand on his shoulder and looked towards her daughter. "We're so sorry for our outburst. To both of you."
Olivia looked up, her eyes swollen from sobbing and sniffled.
Sarah chuckled. "I guess I shouldn't complain that my daughter is dating someone smart that's improved her grades so much."
Elise nodded. "I shouldn't be complaining either. I'm glad you've found someone that makes you happy."
Olivia's mood started to improve and her crying stopped.
Esther chuckled and took off her girlfriend's glasses before wiping away the tears for her.
The lab's sadness turned to embarrassment and she started to blush.
The rest of their Rex-mas went well. Everyone seemed satisfied with the gifts they were given, most of which were placed by Louis and were fairly expensive.
Esther just hoped it would be smooth sailing from here.
New Year's Eve
Ibuki sat at a couch, sipping hot chocolate and staring pensively out the window as the rest of the party loudly conversed.
Lee spotted his boyfriend and walked over to him, taking a seat right next to the deer-wolf and wrapping an arm around him. "God, I hope next year won't be as insane."
Ibuki chuckled. "Don't jinx it."
They stared out the window silently until their parents showed up. Legosi stopped. "Oh. Sorry, are we interrupting an intimate moment?"
Lee shook his head. "It's okay, Dad."
Haru smiled. "Sorry to bug you. Jolene's making eggnog and just needs to use the bar."
The chimera could hear a clattering noise from behind the bar.
Legosi looked over that way. "No alcohol in mine, please."
Jolene's voice came from the other side. "You got it."
Haru giggled. "Are you sure? You're cute when you're drunk."
The wolf blushed looking incredibly embarrassed and covering half of his face with his hand in shame. "I am neverletting that happen again. The one time you talked me into drinking, Louis needed to drag me to the couch."
The deer scoffed. "Tell me about it. You're really heavy too."
Juno laughed. "It waspretty funny though."
Lee looked contemplative. Then, it seemed something hit him. "Oh, yeah. That was at a New Year's party too, wasn't it?"
Legosi sat down on a nearby recliner. "Yeah. I don't plan on spending this year's party unconscious."
Louis sat down at a nearby couch with his wife. "I hope not. I planned this New Year's party out months ahead of time. I want to make damn sure everybody enjoys it."
Haru shrugged. "I mean, even the party when Legosi got hammered wasn't bad at all. And that was a last-second thing we threw together at our place. We didn't have a big, fancy penthouse."
Legosi chuckled. "To be completely fair, you'd be hard-pressed to find a worse way to spend New Year's than fighting a bear under the Gazura bridge."
Lee's ears twitched and he had this look like he was deep in thought.
Juno had a look of realization. "Oh, right. That was on a New Year, wasn't it? The thing with Riz."
Louis nodded. "Legosi got beat up and arrested and I lost a leg. I don't think you can top that in terms of terrible New Year's."
Lee's eyes widened and his ears stood up straight. It seemed he had a shocking realization. He jumped up to his feet. "I-I need to go! I'll be right back!"
Before Ibuki could respond, Lee started sprinting away.
Haru looked concerned. "L-Lee! Where are you going?"
Ibuki tilted his head. What was that about?
Lee sprinted at top speed. It was eleven at night and he needed to get to the Gazura bridge. As he ran there he prayed that a certain person would be absent. He wanted this New Years's to go by without bloodshed.
In the distance he could see the bridge bathed in the light of the full moon. When the wolf-rabbit arrived at his destination his ears drooped and he felt a deep terror and despair. There was a large, hulking figure staring up at the moon.
The large creature turned around to face Lee. It was the last person the chimera wanted to see, Trevor the bear. Trevor tilted his head. "Lee-kun? What are youdoing here?"
The wolf-rabbit growled. "I came here to stop you from doing something stupid! That phone call was to your dad, wasn't it? You came here to kill him, didn't you?!"
Trevor stared at Lee for a bit. "If that's what you believed, why in the world would you come here alone? All you needed to do was call the police."
Lee shook his head. "Because I need to talk you out of it. You've gotten in enough trouble. I don't want to see you go to juvie. Did you even think about that?"
The bear's lip twitched and there was an eerie silence.
The chimera's fur stood on end when it hit him. "Y-you didn'tplan on going to juvie at all, did you?"
Trevor gave Lee a serious look. "My New Year's resolution was to kill everyone responsible for Mama's death." He frowned sadly. "But they arrested the guy that shot her. I have no way to kill someone in prison." He glanced up at the bridge. "So tonight, I'll kill the two people that should've been there to save her."
Lee trembled. "H-have you lost your mind?!"
The bear sighed. "I don't have anybody left, Lee-kun. I don't have a single thing to live for." He gave a wry smile. "But you don't have to worry about me. I'm not your responsibility. Go home, Lee-kun. Spend New Year's with your family."
The chimera shook his head angrily. "No way! I'm not letting you do this! You can't just throw your life away like this!"
Trevor snarled. "This again? You're always playing the hero and sticking your nose in other people's business. Stay out of this."
Lee shook his head. "Senpai! Just listen!"
RRRROOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRR!
The sudden roar from the bear caused the chimera to feel somewhat dazed.
Trevor glared at Lee. "No, it's yourturn to listen." He cracked his knuckles and neck. "This is the last time I'm giving you a warning. If you don't leave now, I'll have to get violent."
Lee trembled with equal parts anger and fear. "What the hell happened to you? This isn't you at all, Senpai."
The bear scoffed and took a step towards Lee, raising his fists.
The chimera gulped and raised his own fists. Why can't his New Year's be normal?