i don't actually write as a profession, like 5 or 6 years ago or so I used to write on here and it was, y'know, what you'd expect from a random = funny 7th grader with no friends
unfortunately some company is screwing around with my stuff irl so I've taken up writing again to pass the time, and I figured I'd post what I'm writing here
to summarise, this is a sort of dumb reimagining of an absolutely horrible CWC tier animal crossing fanfiction I wrote when I first got on here a half decade ago which I expect will be NO BETTER, a fanfic of a fanfic if you will (you can read said horrible train wreck here: justpaste. it/9d9fi)
i am by no means a good writer, but this is killing the time so yes, hope you all enjoy this, don't get super attached though D;
The sun gleamed through the wispy white clouds, a golden song upon the land, singing a merry tune of morning. Yet within the walls of Lucas's home, such a hymn was unwelcome.
"You're kidding me..." the human said, his eyes still shut, his arms throwing empty swings at the alarm clock that sung its own piercing lyrics of dawn - far less subtle ones. The boy groaned loudly, then, upon finally landing his mark, silence filled the room.
Lucas got up and rubbed his eyes. He began to recount in his head the dream he had - it had been storming, pouring with rain, and the town he'd been living in was flooded. He pretended he was the secretary of the mayor, and his job wasn't paperwork, but futilely comforting the citizens of the town... when it had all suddenly come to an end, as the morning melted away those groggy dreams like cotton candy.
He wandered over to the handset on his desk and pressed the inbox button - the same droll process every morning, on repeat. A mechanical voice broke the silence: "No new messages."
Lucas was a brunette human teen, who worked as an espresso mule for the town hall workers. He was tall and lanky, with greenish eyes. Lucas, like every other kid at the age of 16, was required to work full-time and could own their own house - as it was in this town. Unlike most citizens, however, he was a human, whereas most others were animals.
Lucas showered, got dressed and took eager sips of his coffee, all in that order. He opened the door, locked it, and set off for the town hall, as he usually always did. Maybe he'd stop by the store along the way and grab something to snack upon at work, but regardless of what he decided to do, his footsteps would eventually lead him to his workplace.
This, however, was not a normal morning.
As he passed by the store, a sandwich in hand for his breakfast in the morning (meat, mustard and peanut butter, to be exact), Lucas was stopped by the sight of a moving truck in front of him.
The teen rubbed at the back of his head. "Are they allowed to do work this early?" he questioned, taking in the new yet familiar scent of exhaust smoke and diesel. Eventually, however, he turned on his feet and continued his journey to the town hall. And, everything went on as usual.
Then, the walk home.
Lucas trudged down the sidewalk, his hands in his pockets, his bag lazily slung over his shoulder instead of in his hands, as it were in the morning. This was all a part of his routine, however, and it mattered not where the bag sat. He passed by houses and stores, the same ones every day, the same path every day, until he came to the house where the moving truck had been hours before.
And he stopped. And he thought about who had moved in there. And then, he continued walking, once again. 10 seconds in the morning, 15 seconds in the late afternoon. That's 25 seconds, almost half a minute, lost in the realms of thought.
As the boy stepped inside his own home, he stopped and sighed, his mind still on the moving truck in the morning, the smell of gasses permeating the air now permeating his mind. However, he had little time to get his bearings together before something changed again.
A knock on the door he had been leaning made Lucas jump, his heart skipping a beat. He turned around, not thinking to look through the window or the peephole, and swung his door wide open. In front of him were two police officers.
"Excuse me, is this the residence of Lucas McGregor?" the taller, male one in front asked. He was a canine, a wolf in appearance, with grey fur and yellow eyes. Lucas noted that he was unable to maintain eye contact with the boy, instead looking elsewhere or at his female partner. The boy smiled. "It most certainly is. How can I help you?" A grim look befell the larger one's face, and his stern eyes turned to concrete, a look of dead seriousness.
Fang stared down at his coffee, the horrible black liquid growing cold in its porcelain prison... perhaps it knew that it would never be drunk. The young police cadet was absolutely not a coffee drinker, his teetotaler ways extending to caffeinated drinks as well, though by personal choice as opposed to societal pressure. He grimaced at the awful smell of coffee, but was far, far too polite to decline the teen's welcome gift. Fang looked to the side at his senior, Kat, who was, as expected, lapping away at the acrid sludge. He frowned, looked back at his coffee, and sighed.
"Mister McGregor, I understand that an event happened to you some years ago that involved a certain girl who lived down the road." Fang paused, continuing his staring contest with his espresso foe, before finally making eye contact with his host and continuing. "Bree, right
Lucas appeared to ponder for a moment, before nodding and taking a sip from his cup, a pale pink ceramic piece. "Yes, that's right. 3 years ago was when that happened. The, uh, assault..." Fang's eyes widened for a split second, before he straightened up immediately.
"Kat, the report, please." Fang looked down at his cup once more. He knew this was going to get worse.
Kat wordlessly placed the report in front of Fang, and reflexively almost went to explain the details of it to her new partner, but decided otherwise, knowing full-well the new recruit was very, very capable - this is why he was sent out on this job, despite his lack of experience. Kat was only there as part of protocol, though she knew the cadet could be quite nervous at times. Savant-like skill does not replace the hardened years on the force.
The wolf fumbled with the paper at first, not wanting to read the contents, but steeled his nerves. "S-so... Bree, er, attacked you at... on... Ah, I apologise. Please excuse me, Mr. McGregor." Lucas offered a warm smile in return. "It's fine. Are you perhaps here in relation to the case?" The rookie let out a breath of relief, a breath he wasn't aware he was holding.
"Uh... yes, yes, that's right. Lucas, I am sure you noticed the moving trucks here earlier, they were, um... on your commute to work, correct?" Lucas nodded. "Yes sir, the house near the corner. Why do you bring it up?" Fang froze. "Ah, well..."
Kat spoke up, not just out of a necessity to speed up the process, no longer interested in mincing words and playing war with small talk, but to soothe her partner's mind, as he appeared to be unusually tense. This happened sometimes, on the less than pleasant cases out of town - perhaps the familiarity of this small town was not mixing well with the severity of this case. "Mr McGregor, your assailant is moving into that house. She's been on good behaviour and has shown immense improvement in her program in her time at the hospital. Unfortunately, there's been a mistake in protocol... she's not supposed to be moving into the same town as you, let alone so close, on your commute to work." As opposed to Fang's flighty, drifty eyes that could not hold the teen's gaze, Kat's eyes were steely, not breaking eye contact whatsoever. "Please excuse my language, sir, but this idiotic breach of protocol has been the result of some changes in power here. It's been causing some bizarre issues here and there. Mr. McGregor, we are here to inform you that... We will do the best we can to make sure things don't get worse."
Despite the magnitude of the news, Lucas was not so alarmed... at first. He was the superstitious sort, and his recent dreams of Bree and the event that took place that day had mentally prepared him for something he wasn't even sure was going to happen.
"Ah, thank you officers. But... what exactly does that help entail, if I may ask?" Lucas was not aware of it, but he had broken into a cold sweat, remembering what happened that day. He had been fidgeting subconsciously with his coffee, now an unpleasant lukewarm, and had spilled a little bit without even realising. The wolf cadet spoke up.
"We, err, Officer Kat and I have been assigned to your case." Fang mindlessly took a sip of his lukewarm espresso, not even remotely registering the contents of his cup, even when it had assaulted his tastebuds. "We're looking at ways to make sure you and Bree do not cross paths. Changing your route to work, for instance-"
"That won't be necessary, thank you." Lucas interjected, slightly unaware of the shock he was in.
"This is a matter of principle, sir." Fang retaliated, looking away.
"Do you expect me to hide in my house all day?" Kat scowled at the teen's acidic choice of words whilst Fang merely held his gaze, sensing his partner was about to speak. "We will see about that. All we know is that we're assigned to your case. We'll take orders as we receive them, and I hope you will cooperate with us well."
The human boy stared down at the table, through his cup. Fang looked down at his as well, and a silence fell thick upon the room.
"You're going into shock." Fang said, without averting his eyes from the window outside, where his vision had been stuck, avoiding the confrontation. Lucas looked up in surprise, then looked at his hands - they were shaking - before grasping the table quite tightly. "Kat, gimme a sec, I'm gonna grab water from the car." The older policewoman nodded, and rushed to Lucas's side, whilst Fang rushed outside.
"How do you feel?" The feline officer sat across from her client, her rookie in training sitting next to him holding an empty plastic bottle, crumpled and squished. Lucas slowly took a breath, and exhaled calmly, as per advice from the two policeanimals.
He certainly felt a lot calmer, but not fully calm; not quite shaky, but not quite still, either.
However, his condition was far, far better than it was before. "I feel... confused. Confused and angry... really, really annoyed." A thought ran through Fang's mind at that very moment, he was recollecting the details about the case that he and his partner were given by his C.O., and recalling the unpleasant, muggy November weather, before snapping back to the conversation upon seeing the moving trucks in his memory.
"You have every right to be, Mr. McGregor. Considering the state of things, it's a miracle we were even given this job." Kat smiled at her partner's remark before adding, "Yup." The teenager nodded in agreement to nothing in particular, perhaps he was still a little woozy from the shock.
"I just don't understand, but... If she's completed a course and such, wouldn't she be safe to be around?" asked Lucas. "Unfortunately, no. Considering the nature and motive of your assault years ago, we can't be sure if you wouldn't trigger some sort of mental collapse." Fang was at ease, comfortable with letting his trusted partner talk. He wasn't very informed on what was going on in terms of power, so he was thankful Kat had his ass covered.
"But, isn't that the exact type of thing you check for before letting someone like that out on the streets, let alone completing some stupid course, whatever that is?" complained Lucas, and rightfully so. "Like she said, changes up top have really muddied things." Fang added, not really knowing what he was talking about.
"Does she even have a carer, or supervisor?"
"We can't tell you that, sir."
"What about a restraining order, or a leash?"
Fang sat back, and crossed his legs over eachother. "Now that'd REALLY be them taking charge, wouldn't it?" He smiled to himself and rested his hands in his lap. "We... asked about the restraining order. Unfortunately, since she's not even supposed to be in this town, we can't actually ask for one."
"A court appeal would also take too long..." His partner chimed in, and Fang leaned back and turned his gaze to the tacky off-white of the ceiling. "...not that we're lawyers, or anything. It's not definite, but I'd certainly try and avoid wasting your time there." Lucas let out a dejected, breathy groan, internally beating himself up for even opening the door to the officers. "I'd've been better off not knowing..." he thought.
Lucas got up, struggling with his footing for a single moment, before rebalancing and stretching his arms upwards. "Well, can we discuss these "changes" you want to make tomorrow? My head's still spinning... I'm pretty sure I need to sleep this stuff off, but, it feels like I'm dreaming still too."
The officers looked at the human, watching for any sign of dizziness or otherwise. "You're sure you're ok?" Kat asked. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. Thank you, guys. Really. I'm gonna call my girlfriend and go to bed... ah, you don't mind if I tell her about this stuff, right?" Fang got up from his couch prison, and walked over to the walnut door, counting the many, many splinters he could get from it if he so much as breathed on it wrong.
Kat followed her partner, but looked over at the human. "Just don't be ridiculous and spread rumours or anything. I'd advise her to stay at her house for tonight as well. Oh, and don't forget about the patrol car outside tonight."
"I won't," Lucas groaned, seeing the officers to the door. "Take care, you two. I'll call for you at the station if anything comes up." Then, he shut the door, and listened for the engine of the police car and the sound of it tearing off into the distance before delivering some choice curse words to the sky.
"So, Fang," Kat asked, her eyes trained on the road in front of her, but her mind wandering for ways to pierce the silence, the awkward silence that followed the horrible incident they had just driven away from. "What's on the agenda for this evening?"
The younger but taller police officer was trapped in his head, replaying the things that were said and rereading the case notes of the assault. Kat looked over after not receiving a response from her junior. "Hey, Fang!"
Fang looked up, confused. "What, what, what happened?" Kat squinted her eyes a little, slightly annoyed at the wolf's jumpiness. "Lemme hear about your plans, man. What's happening tonight?" Fang sighed. "Ah, sorry... Well, I have a date-"
"Ooh, do tell!"
"But, I'm kinda stuck in my head right now. I think I'm gonna postpone it, actually." Fang grimaced and felt a bit uneasy, realising that he'd completely forgotten about his plans that evening. His senior only clucked her tongue at him.
"Officer Fang, you're gonna need to toughen up a bit if you wanna stay on the force. I understand you're a new recruit, but..."
"But what? I didn't choose to be top of the cadets, only to get blasted with cases like these."
"What did you expect when you joined the force, Fang? Did you expect people not to beat the tar out of each other until you felt you were ready to see it?"
The wolf frowned, beaten. He knew his partner was right - she was always right. "That doesn't make this type of thing less upsetting."
Rain began to fall very lightly from the grey tinted sky. Heavy clouds had rolled in, painting the heavens dark. Kat instinctively turned on the windscreen wipers, and sighed. "It doesn't. But we're officers of the law. We can change that sort of thing, right?" she said, playfully and lightly punching her partner in the shoulder. Fang smiled. "You're right. I'm sorry for being such a downer."
"Oh, don't be silly." Kat laughed. "We're partners! You can be the cool and mysterious douchebag and I can be the headstrong moron that gets killed first. Maybe," she says, reaching over to turn the wipers up a notch to match the crescendo of the brewing storm, "maybe that'll get you more dates." The wolf laughed. "I doubt that'd get you ONE."
"Oh, thanks, Casanova!"
"But yes, I don't think you should postpone your date. Go out and take your mind off of things." Kat fixed her gaze on the road again, while Fang turned the case over so he wouldn't be able to look at it. "Even the weather's being all moody for you."
Fang gripped the phone tightly in his hands, his palms sweating. On the other end was his date, and they were mid-conversation about the night. "I apologise. My head's all crazy from work, so I may come across strange, but-"
"Oh, did you wanna postpone, then?" replied the date. Fang shook his head no, despite knowing that a gesture like that, no matter how universal, can't be seen over the phone. "No, not at all! Truth is, I'd love to just unwind tonight. No crazy over the top stuff or fancy restaurants, just a nice relaxing time. It's not very romantic, but..." The voice on the other end sounded as though it was computing the information in its head, before replying with a simple "Sounds great. Your place?"
The wolf perked up immediately, and struggled to change out of his uniform whilst still on the phone, getting his head caught in his own shirt and his pants caught around his ankles. The voice on the other end could hear the scuffle, and laughed. "You really are like a puppy sometimes. Put the phone down for a second and get changed, you dork, I'm not going anywhere." Upon finally surrendering to his uniform foe, the officer laid on his back, defeated.
"S-sorry. You know how I get sometimes..." The voice and the wolf both laughed a little at his sheepishness, and Fang finally wrestled his way out of the white singlet. "Like I said, you're a puppy." the voice replied.
"So, what time did you want me to pick you up?" asked Fang, having set his phone down onto the side-table beside his bed. "How does an hour sound?" the voice on the other end replied. "Even though we're not going anywhere fancy, I still wanna try and prepare, y'know? Besides, sounds like you need to soak your head in the shower for a bit after today..."
Fang threw his underwear to the side and wandered over to his wardrobe, thinking of what to wear as he flicked through each shirt and each pair of pants like pages in a book, before settling on a pink turtleneck and some tracksuit pants - the weather outside was muggy and warm, but Fang's house was frozen in comparison, his air conditioner serving as a little piece of the Arctic, blowing out frozen winds against the November heat. Seeing the rain outside, he also grabbed a tattered grey raincoat, one that was a gift from the voice from the first date when it had rained.
"Hey, you might wanna dress warm, by the way. I've got the air on."
"Ah, ok. Would a lighter pair of clothes be good too?"
"Not unless you're staying the night, or something..."
The voice on the other end laughed. "Well, you've certainly convinced me."
Fang bit his lip, his nerves beginning to act up again. "Wait, I didn't mean... I'm sorry." The voice on the other end immediately began to regret its little joke. "Fang, are you ok? We don't have to do this tonight," asked the voice, "I really don't mind if you want to wait-"
"N-no... No, we can do this. I'll pick you up in an hour, ok?" Fang interrupted. The voice agreed, and the animal to which the voice belonged to also began to feel nervous and excited. "I'm too smooth for my own good..."
"Oh dear."
Fang opened the door to a clap of thunder, the roar shaking the ground. His sensitive lupine ears tingled a little at the sound. "Geez, it's this stormy?" he said, his car keys digging into his hand rather uncomfortably as he froze on the spot after getting a faceful of Zeus's cruel joke on his date night. "Good thing we weren't going out to eat after all..."
After going inside for a moment and returning with an umbrella and a raincoat, the wolf officer sprinted to his car, almost slipping once or twice, before practically throwing himself inside and slamming the door shut. Fang had started the car but realised his still open umbrella was occupying the entirety of the passenger seat, getting the vinyl wet. The wolf let out a pained breath, knowing that was the spot for the to-be date, and scrambled to collapse the umbrella. He then realised the seats were wet, and cursed to himself quietly, before remembering the cancelled beach trip from the other day with his friends, and grabbed a dry and not-sandy beach towel from behind him to dry and cover the seat.
Finally. No time to waste.
Traffic, Fang noted, was particularly bad today, despite (or perhaps because of) the weather. Despite this, he was in no rush, taking every moment where he had come to a stop to observe the town around him in the ashen stormscape surrounding him.
Until, of course, he passed THAT house.
The assumed moving truck, which he knew as part of the case was actually a furnishing unit for empty houses that need emergency living, had actually pulled out and intercepted Fang directly - an error due to the lack of vision from the rain - and the truck driver apologised with a wave of the hand and a slight bow of the head, a sheepish look on their face, but the wolf had not noticed the wave nor the error, instead staring daggers at the logo of the truck he recognised, and then what he could see of the house.
Fang's stomach sunk thinking about Lucas from earlier that day and the details of the case, but he shook his head and tried to ignore it, to not quite full success. And then, within no time at all, he had pulled up to his date's address.
"Hey..." said Fang, out of breath from running from his car to the door, his hands gripping the umbrella handle so tight that he felt the aching, itching sensation of the handle imprinting on his hands. "I didn't realise it was this stormy..."
"Fang!" the voice from the door replied, walking over to Fang and hugging him without a second thought, taking the officer by surprise. "Ah, were you that worried about me?" he replied at his sudden hugbug attacker. "Let's not hug out in the rain, you dork. Come on, the car's over there. Try and stay under the umbrella, Henry..."
"What? I don't need an umbrella..."
"Oh, right, but, your clothes'll get wet..."
"Don't be silly, I'm a frog." said Henry. "Wet clothes are fine."
"You're sure as hell not wearing them on my sofa, dude."
"Smooth."
"That's not what I meant."
Henry stood in the doorway, wearing a light grey summer jacket over the exact same pink turtleneck as Fang was wearing - he'd chuckle about this to himself later - and black jeans. He stood about 4 and a half feet tall, compared to Fang's easy 6 feet.
The frog laughed out loud at his own teasing, hugging the wolf close to him. Henry was well and truly infatuated with him, but knew that he'd want to take things slow, and didn't want to rush his own feelings. Secretly, Henry took in Fang's smell, and felt at ease. Fang relaxed as well, the trials and tribulations of the day melting away in the arms of the shorter frog boy, his head buried in his stomach.
"I missed you, Henry." the wolf said, rubbing the side of the frog's cheek, despite his conflicting emotions about the relationship - he didn't want to rush into one, but he truly felt it was love after the first date. Fang wondered if it was his loneliness, or the stress of work, or something else that made him want to just give in to his emotions: he tried to be cold and platonic in fear of succumbing to desperation, but there were little moments like these when he felt it to be *acceptable* to himself. He, in truth, was far too harsh on himself, but, as Henry noted at the time, there's no hiding that wagging tail of his.
"Alright, come on. We can't hug here forever, you big nerd. Get your fat butt in gear." said Fang, loosening his grip on the umbrella and feeling his blood rush back into his hand, from his face and his heart, taking the frog's hand into his own and holding him close - protecting him from the rain, of course, he thought to himself, but there was no denying how nice it felt.
The drive home was far quieter, and rather awkward. Henry wanted to hold hands, but Fang was far too nervous with the weather to take his hands off of the wheel (plus the laws of driving had been drilled into his head as a cadet).
The atmosphere only thickened when they passed Bree's house once again, and Fang's hands visibly tightened on the wheel. The frog wanted to say something, anything to alleviate the tension, but assumed the significance of that house from the discussion earlier, and decided to keep his mouth closed.
Driving, he thought, and mentally noted, must be therapeutic for him, perhaps: a pondering of the frog that was correct in every way, as the negative thoughts of the day rushed in and out of Fang's head, staring at the darkening road ahead of him, the sticky, static-like numbness of the rain on the car roof washing them all away, his froggy companion beside him.