Chapter 5

The Reveal

Written By: FairlyOddFaller and SmilingDolphins

The door opened, and Simon poked his head out. He spotted the two mammals and grinned.

"Hey, Vulpes! Hey, Crodut! Glad you guys made it! Come on in!" Vulperne and Crodut looked at each other, confused.

"You mean, you're not surprised?" Vulperne asked.

Simon's face immediately turned to a look of dread as he remembered he wasn't supposed to know about this.

"I-er-uh…" Simon sighed in resignation. "Look, Lily and I saw you two kissing outside the cafe. I wanted to let you tell us yourself since it wasn't our place to know."

"Well, thanks for not confronting me about it. I probably would've freaked if you had."

A thought suddenly crossed the hybrid's mind. He looked at Simon intently.

"Wait, does Delphin know?"

"I don't think so," Simon responded. "If he does, I certainly didn't tell him. Plus, he was gushing about you finding a girlfriend over the phone this morning. Talk about temptation."

Then, an idea flew into Vulperne's head. "Hey, Simon? Well, I think it's pretty obvious that I was planning to come out here. Since you know, do you think you could help me break the news to Delphin?"

"Sure! What did you have in mind?" Simon said, his tail wagging behind him.

Vulperne chuckled. "Jack was right, by the way. You are cute. But you're not my type."

Simon's ears went a deep shade of red at that compliment.

"Anyhow, my, or well, Crodut's idea was for us to just walk in with our arms and tails around each other."

"Kiss a few times," Crodut added.

"That too. Most definitely." Vulperne confirmed. Now it was his turn to blush.

"But, since you and Lily know...hmm." Vulperne's eyebrows furrowed in thought. Crodut suddenly snapped his fingers.

"I've got it! What if you two go in, Vulpes pretends he took an Uber or something, cause as far as Delphin knew, Vulpes "girlfriend" was still at the motel when he took the Moucedes. I'll wait out of sight for a few minutes, then walk in. Then I'll act like I'm the overprotective brother of Vulpes' girlfriend. I come in, demanding to see "the hybrid that's defiling my sister." When I see him, I'll march up and grab him by the shoulders. Then, instead of beating him up, I kiss him. Like, really kiss him."

Vulperne raised an eyebrow.

"Are you just trying to get another kiss?" He asked.

"No! Well, I mean, I'll certainly enjoy it. But no, I'm not just trying to get a kiss."

Simon scratched his chin, working the plan out in his mind. He grinned at the two of them.

"I like it. What do you say, Vulpes?"

Vulperne grinned and nodded his agreement. Crodut turned to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"I'll be walking in 10 minutes from now. See ya soon!" Crodut rushed back to the truck and hopped in. Vulperne gingerly placed a paw where the feline had kissed him and sighed.

"He means a lot to you, doesn't he?" Simon asked, a smile forming on his muzzle.

"Yeah. If it weren't for him, I'd still be afraid and lying to myself." Vulperne took in a breath. "Well, it's now or never. Let's go in."

The two of them walked in just as Lily was coming to check on them.

"Oh! Vulperne, you're here! Where, uh, where's your... +1?" The skunk asked. Simon grinned and walked over. He bent down and whispered the plan into his wife's ear. Her face flushed red when she heard how they were planning on "telling" Delphin.

"Well, that will for sure be interesting. Now, come on. Delphin's in the kitchen, cooking dinner." Simon pouted.

"I told him I would take care of it." Lily waved him off and began to walk towards the kitchen. Vulperne and Simon followed close behind

"You know how he is. Besides, you've been cooking us dinner and breakfast the last 4 days. Take a break. Delphin won't burn down the house."

The 3 of them rounded a corner and shouted in surprise at the huge tower of fire flying out of a pan on the stove. The inferno died down, and Delphin noticed them. He grinned and gestured to the food.

"I'm making chicken flambe!" The dolphin turned off the stove and leaned against the counter.

"So, where is she?" He asked.

"She's running a little late," Vulperne answered. "She said she probably won't be here for another ten minutes."

Delphin was puzzled. "I thought you would've arrived together."

"That's what I expected too, but it turns out her truck decided to die right before she came to pick me up, so I told her we could just take Ubers here."

Simon gave Vulperne a look of sympathy, though inside, he was chuckling. "That smarts. Believe me, I know what it's like when plans go south."

Lily discreetly kicked him in the shin, but Simon kept a straight face.

Vulperne couldn't help but chuckle at their antics. I wonder if that will be me and C in the future. "Yeah, it's a pain, but she said it's okay if we start the party without her. She didn't want us to be sitting around, bored, over something she couldn't control."

"Cool," Delphin said. " Help me out and set up the table while we wait. I want an early dinner, so we have more time for fun later on."

And so they went about arranging the dining room table with all the trinkets that a proper mansion-warming meal would have. By the time they were finished, you'd think the table belonged to a high-end restaurant. Barring the admittedly less than high-end cooking by Delphin, that is. As they were settling down to eat, Vulperne discreetly texted Crodut, feeling that this would be a good time for the plan. Plus, there was no sense in letting C's food get cold. He whispered to Simon what he was planning so he wouldn't be caught off guard. And sure enough, just as they were about to dig in, the doorbell rang.

"Ah, that must be her," Vulperne said. "She got here quicker than I expected."

Simon stood up. "I'll get the door."

Simon stepped out of the room, heading for the doorway. About a minute later, they heard what sounded like stomping, and Simon's frantic voice.

"Hey, HEY, you can't just barge in here! This is private property!"

"SHUT IT, HYBRID FILTH!"

Vulperne put on a worried face. "Uh oh. It's her brother. I'd better-"

"YOU!" Crodut stormed into the dining room. Thankfully, Delphin didn't seem to recognize him from the cafe.

"Too late." Vulperne whimpered.

Crodut marched right up to him and grabbed him in a faux-stranglehold. "Listen, mutt. I don't know where you get off thinking you can defile my sister like that, but if you EVER show your face around here again I'll-GAH!" He was cut off by a sudden force yanking him away from Vulperne.

Unbeknownst to either Vulperne or Crodut, when the latter stormed in, Delphin's spy training kicked in and he immediately went on the defensive. Once Crodut was distracted, he snuck around behind, grabbed him, and threw him to the floor. Crodut may have been extremely fit, but Delphin's size made Crodut seem like a toddler. The next thing Crodut knew, he was staring up at Delphin as he pointed his watch at him. Or at least, it looked like a watch.

"Listen, cat!" Delphin growled, his usual enthusiasm replaced with cold fury. "I don't care what you have against hybrids, but nobody, and I mean NOBODY, attacks my friends!"

Crodut was freaking out but tried to maintain an air of calm. Maybe they should've thought this through more.

Vulperne tried to intervene. "Delphin, wait! It's not what you think!"

But Delphin wasn't listening. He raised his other hand and gripped the sides of the watch.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't fry you."

Crodut's brow furrowed. "Fry me? What the heck are you talking about?"

"This." Said Delphin. He then aimed his watch at the floor next to Crodut and squeezed. A small laser beam shot out of the front and burned a hole clean through the hardwood floor. Any semblance of calm Crodut had put up was immediately replaced with fear. Vulperne was terrified too. Crodut was almost killed just because he couldn't bring himself to tell Delphin back at the motel. He knew what he had to do. So he threw himself between Delphin and Crodut.

"Delphin, stop! This is all a HUGE misunderstanding! HE'S THE GIRLFRIEND I WAS TALKING ABOUT!"

Delphin's eyes widened in shock.

"Wait. What?" He said, lowering the watch. "He's a girl?"

"No, no, no," Vulperne said. "Okay, you remember Crodut, right? From the cafe?"

The shock in Delphin's eyes turned to recognition. "I...yeah. I could've sworn I'd seen that face before."

"Anyway," Vulperne continued. "Crodut really is my +1, and he's also not a girl. He...he's my... boyfriend. He has been since this morning. I'm sorry I didn't tell you when you asked, but I wanted to tell everyone at once."

"So, there never was a girlfriend, it was always…"

"Yes, it was Crodut."

Delphin didn't say anything for a bit. This was a lot for him to take in at once. One thing did come to mind, though.

"Sorry 'bout that Crodut." The dolphin said as he helped the cat up. Crodut brushed himself off and looked up at Delphin.

"It's fine. You were just defending your friend. That makes you a good one to have."

"If I may ask, why put on this elaborate charade?" Delphin inquired.

"That...that would be my fault," Vulperne said, sheepishly raising his hand. "I was...afraid. I thought you guys might...unfriend me if you found out. I was a fool. I should have just trusted you guys."

"I think I get it," Delphin said. "And I'm sorry I pried back at the motel. I was worried too."

"I'd say we're two-for-two at this point." Vulperne chuckled. He was trying to diffuse the lingering tension, but the underlying message made it across. "Apology accepted."

"So, you two are really… you know?" Delphin asked. Crodut opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as Vulperne grabbed his face and pulled him into a passionate kiss. When the hybrid pulled away, Crodut let loose another happy sigh. Delphin raised an eyebrow at a grinning Vulperne.

"I guess that answers my question."

A small wave of laughter passed through everyone at Delphin's remark.

"Well," Crodut began. "Now that that incident is over, it looks like dinner's ready to go, so whaddya say we dig in?

"A-greed," said Vulperne. "Though I do have one question…"

He turned to Delphin. "You seriously carry around a laser gun?!"

Delphin threw up his hands in defense. "It was a gift from my parents before they went...missing."

Delphin's tone became evasive, telling everyone that it probably wouldn't be best to question what Delphin meant by missing.

"Okay, okay," Simon interjected. "I think we've had enough emotion for one party, so let's just leave that be and dig in before dinner gets cold."

As the mammals began to eat, they began to engage in small talk. Eventually, Delphin's missing counterpart was brought up.

"So, Delphin, where's Pulchra?" Simon asked. The dolphin looked up from eating and grinned.

"Oh, she's gone back to the ocean."

"The ocean!? Why?" Vulperne looked slightly worried. Pulchra was like a sister to him, since she had come over to the dorm so often. Too often in fact! Delphin almost got suspended when a senior monitor walked in and interrupted a steamy makeout sesh.

"Well, we are ocean mammals. We were made to live under the sea. Pulchra and I came here so we could expand our horizons a little bit. After all, I'm going to be an agent for the MOIA when I head back in a few days, and agents need to be well versed in all matters, both on land and underwater."

"Wait, you're going back to the ocean in a few days?" Simon asked. Delphin nodded. "Why didn't you tell us?"

The dolphin blushed and gained a sheepish expression on his face.

"Well, I was planning to tell you when tomorrow, which would be our last day together. Then I would go back to Zootopia, stay one more night, then meet up with Pulchra in Ocean City the next day." Lily socked the dolphin in the arm.

"You have any idea how angry we would have been if you told us right before you left? It would have felt like we didn't get to spend any time together!" Everyone nodded in agreement. Delphin laughed his chittering dolphin laugh.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So what do you guys want to do tomorrow?"

"Well, if Pulchra, I'm guessing she's your girlfriend, were here, I would say we go on a triple date," Crodut said. Simon scratched his chin.

"Let's not worry about tomorrow," Delphin said. The dolphin laughed his chittering laugh.

Vulperne suddenly had a look of devastation. "Tomorrow! Oh, fuck! I got so caught up in all this joy I completely forgot I was going to return to Zootopia tomorrow!"

"Wait, what?" Crodut jumped out of his chair. "But-but I thought-I thought we'd be spending every day together! You mean we can't see each other again?"

Vulperne's demeanor immediately changed to one of comfort. "I didn't say that. But we might not be able to be physically together as much as we'd like. Unless…"

"Unless what, Vulpes?"

"Well, I'd rather not say it right here and now, it's a...big deal. For now, let's just enjoy the rest of the slumber party. I'll tell you my idea tonight when we're alone. Okay?"

Crodut was worried. Long-distance relationships rarely worked out, so he was dearly hoping that whatever he had in mind was good. "Alright, Vulpes. Tonight, then."

Delphin grinned. "Speaking of tonight, where are the two of you staying? And, just wondering, will we be needing headphones?"

"Not sure about the headphones, Delphin," Vulperne said, "But I figured the two of us could share one of Doc's guest rooms. What about you?"

"Oh, I'll just be in one of the larger guest rooms. Maybe call Pulchra and see how she's doing. But right now, we need to turn this into a real party. I'm thinking maybe a game of good old-fashioned Truth or Dare!"

"I haven't played that since I was a pup!" Simon said. "I'm up for it! Lily?"

"I think that would be perfect! I can't wait to find out new ways to embarrass all of you." She chuckled. Delphin slapped her a high five.

"Right there with you sister!"

Vulperne and Crodut looked at each other with nervous smiles. They could already tell that this was gonna be a long night.