Apologies for a long wait, I've been working on some other stuff such as my Gamecube Collection and art but hope you're ready for more and it's a big backstory time. BIG ADVISORY NOTE: There are some important story points that use a bit of vulgar language and harsh words so please keep note of that. Anyways, time for:
FTF Chapter 15: Holly's Story
"WOO-HOO!" Hana zoomed around the house in her new car, weaving around furniture and between everyone's legs as she learned to navigate the vehicle.
"Woah, watch it! You wanna take our toes off?!" Bigwig yelled at the mouse as she drove through the kitchen and came within an inch of driving over his foot.
"Sorry darling!" Hana called back as she did a U-turn and rode back into the living room. It had now been two weeks since Connor Hopps had told Hana about the remote control car in the basement and offered to get it fixed up for her, and the buck had not disappointed. Connor had taken it to one of his brothers, a forty-something buck named Roddy, who had a gift for tinkering with electronics and also happened to owe Connor a favour. Roddy had not only fixed up the car but also modified it so that the controls were now built into the dash, enabling Hana to control it from right in the driver's seat. It was also powered now by rechargeable batteries instead of disposables like before; the car itself was a yellow convertible with an old decal of a cartoon seagull on the hood.
"Whatcha gonna call it?" Connor had asked Hana as he had presented the car to her, "Everybody's got a name for their car: Kitt, Betsy, Herbie, what's yours?"
"Hmm…" Hana had tapped her chin thoughtfully, "That seagull reminds of an El-ahrairah story I heard once, where he rescued an injured seagull and it later helped him by spying enemies approaching his warren. I think I'll name my car after the bird in the story: Kehaar."
"The Kehaar Car it is," Connor proclaimed proudly as he set the car on the floor before her. Hana had climbed in, turned it on and started inching her way across the entrance hall, and now five minutes later she was zooming around the house like a video game racer.
"I wanna play with it!" Pipkin came running down the stairs, carrying a toy truck and two more toy cars in his paws.
"No Pipkin, that is for Hana's use only!" Blackberry said firmly, "Besides, it's late, time for you to go to bed."
"Awww, but we don't work tomorrow! Can't I stay up later?" Pipkin pleaded.
*"Pipkin…"* Blackberry warned him.
"Oh come on, just ten minutes!" Hana piped up, pulling up next to Pipkin. Both looked up at her, making their eyes go as wide and cute as possible. Blackberry sighed, "Fine. Ten minutes." And she left the kit and mouse to play road racer on the rug and walked over to the couch, where Hazel and Fiver were playing cards on the coffee table while Holly sat slumped, watching them and looking exhausted.
"How is the leg tonight, Hazel?" she asked the orange buck.
"A little stiff," Hazel gave a groan as he stretched out his nearly-healed leg, "But I'm definitely feeling ready to go back to work on Monday."
"Lemme see," Blackberry knelt down and grasped his injured leg, giving it a few careful bends and twists to see how his muscles would react. She had already inspected his bullet wound a few times since Bonnie Hopps had stitched him back up, and deemed the hole to be healing nicely.
"Yup, I think I agree," she said, satisfied. She stood up, patted Fiver on the shoulder as she walked by and sat next to Holly. "Why don't you go to bed?" she asked her old friend, "You look terrible.
" "Yawwwn…" Holly stretched, and then his eyes glanced around the room, and noticed that all the other rabbits in the group were still downstairs with them, either watching television or playing games.
"Sounds like a good idea," he admitted. And then he got up, gave Blackberry a quick hug around the shoulders, and started up the stairs.
"Is he alright?" Fiver asked once Holly was out of earshot. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry, but Holly's been looking tired ever since we moved here; he isn't sick, is he?"
Blackberry's ears gave a flick as Hazel looked up, interested. "N-no, he's fine," the doe answered, "But this farm work is jarder on him than all of us, he just doesn't like to show it. You know, tough military captain, got to keep his dignity."
Hazel shook his head a little, "Alright, I'm just going to come out and say this," he said in a whisper so only Blackberry and Fiver could hear, "The day we moved in I heard you two, talking in the kitchen."
The insides of Blackberry's ears paled, which both bucks noticed. "Wh-what did you hear?" she asked, trying to sound casual and failing.
"Just that you and Bigwig are the only ones he's told in years, and you think the rest of us will understand," Hazel recounted. "I didn't hear what is was but for the record, I think we will understand too."
"What is it?" Fiver asked in a whisper.
Blackberry looked very much like she wanted to tell them, but instead she shook her head. "I'm sorry, that's not my place to say," she replied. And before the brothers could ask another question she stood up, "Come on Pipkin, bedtime!"
"But it hasn't been ten minutes yet!" Pipkin protested as Blackberry strode over to him.
"I said now," the doe replied firmly as she took Pipkin by the paw and started leading him up the stairs. Not noticing, in her haste, that one of Pipkin's toy cars was left lying by the stairs.
00000 RATATATATATATATAT!
The familiar rattling of gunfire broke into Holly's dreams as he slept, and suddenly he was back in the past. Holly looked around, seeing no other soldiers nearby despite the gunfire, and then looked down, and saw as always that he was once again holding his old rifle, sporting his old military uniform in the blistering heat of Afghanistan. The dream always started the same, happening so often that he would growl in frustration every time he saw it. It always started this way, he always noticed the heat first, and then- KABOOOOOSH!
The sound of the blast rang Holly's ears, and he turned in horror and saw the ruined building, white smoke billowing out of the blasted windows. He looked back, but the weasel wasn't there, he was never there…
"TOADFLAX!" Holly yelled, racing towards the building. He felt around for his gas mask, pulled it on just as he reached the doorway, and ran straight into the smoke. He cast his eyes around and listened out for his fellow soldiers, fully aware he was dreaming but unable to stop himself from going through the motions. Nobody was there, he couldn't hear of them.
Now the stairs, now the stairs… where was Toadflax? He climbed, and he climbed, and he climbed some more, until he finally reached the top. Sure as he could be, for how poorly he could see. He ran for the door, he burst in… And then he woke up.
000000000000000000
"Frith, what a nightmare," Holly panted. He felt frustration how this bad dream could sometimes drop on him but he never understood why it kept happening after all this time. The explosions, gunfire, holding a rifle and Toadflax...he willed himself to hold back tears at the memory of the soldier who never made it past that day. After a quick trip to the bathroom outside Holly went over to his dresser, opened the top drawer, and dug around underneath his underwear and socks until he pulled out a pair of dog tags on a chain.
On one of the tags was his identification:
SANDERS, HOLLY. LEPORINE. 413-11-1972. O POSITIVE. NO PREFERENCE.
And then he sadly looked at the other tag on the chain:
TOADFLAX, FERGUS. LEPORINE. 413-05-1920. B NEGATIVE. CATHOLIC.
"Sigghh…" Holly's ears drooped sadly as he regarded the tags, his mind on the buck that he could not save, that he could never save, no matter how often he dreamed about that day. He put his on his bathrobe and walked out of the room. It was 5 AM; might as well get breakfast going. Holly made his way downstairs, treading lightly so not to disturb anyone. His body was still half-asleep, his mind still on Toadflax, so it was incredibly easy for him to miss the little toy race car parked by the bottom of the stairs-
"Wh-WOOOAH!" Holly skidded spectacularly on the car, flew backwards, tried to turn in mid-air to catch himself at the same time, and collided his head with the edge of the stair post. The dog tags flew out of his paw as he fell, landing hard at the base of the stairs.
00000 "W-WOOOAH!" a loud cry penetrated Blackberry's room near the top of the stairs and reached her rabbit ears, making her start to stir before a loud THONK and a crash made her bolt upright.
"What was that?!" Blackberry asked aloud before jumping out of bed and putting on her dressing gown. Even in a half-asleep state she knew the difference between the sounds of an object hitting the floor and a person hitting the floor, and that was definitely a person with a very familiar cry. She opened her door just as Bigwig opened his on the other side of the hall, and she could hear other doors opening as well as she flew to the stairs and looked over the railing: "HOLLY!" she cried.
"Ugghh…" Holly crawled on all fours at the foot of the stairs, trying to stay conscious as blood trickled down his head, and Blackberry and Bigwig ran down to his aid.
"Holly, oh Frith…" Bigwig gasped as he saw by Holly's temple, "Holly? Holly, are you okay? Talk to me, captain!" he cried into his friend's face.
"Not so loud…" was all Holly could think of to say.
"He's conscious, he's responsive, pulse is steady…" Blackberry breathed hard as she felt Holly's vitals, "Help me get him to the couch!"
"What's going on?" called a voice from the top of the stairs. Bigwig and Blackberry whipped around and saw Fiver, Hazel, Silver and Pipkin standing at the top of the stairs, and could hear more movement coming.
"Holly fell and hit his head!" Blackberry answered. "Silver, help Bigwig put Holly on the couch! Hazel, get the first aid kit from the girls' bathroom! Fiver, get a clean wet dishtowel! And – and the ice pack from the freezer!"
All three rabbits instantly obeyed, Hazel hobbled as fast as he could for the first aid kit while Silver and Pipkin zoomed downstairs and at Bigwig's instruction picked up Holly's legs while Bigwig picked the elder buck up from under the armpits, carried him over to the sofa and put him down. Fiver ran fast as he could into the kitchen, grabbed a towel and the ice pack, wet the towel under the faucet, and ran back to Holly and pressed the ice pack to the buck's head as Hazel came downstairs with the first aid kit. Blackberry began to gingerly wipe away the blood to inspect the injury.
"Okay, this isn't too deep…" she sighed in relief once she had looked closer, "I don't think you'll need stitches, but we'll see how long this takes to stop bleeding."
"Mm-hmmm…" Holly mumbled in response, and Blackberry could tell she was talking to herself more than him. As more rabbits began to shuffle downstairs and gather round, she fished around in the medical kit and pulled out a penlight.
"Pupils are normal, but I wouldn't rule out a concussion," she muttered in exasperation. "Frith, why does this keep happening to us? Okay, focus… Holly, can you tell me what happened?"
"Fell…" Holly mumbled.
"Yes, I know, how?" Blackberry pressed. If Holly had fallen because of a dizzy spell or something then he was in worse shape than they thought.
"D'no, slipped on something…" the grey buck muttered, and then he laid his head back and shut his eyes.
"HOLLY! Mister Holly!" cried Pipkin, shaking his shoulder.
"It's okay, he just fell asleep," Blackberry assured the little buck. "But we have to be vigilant, er, careful. If he acts funny when he wakes we'll take him to the hospital wing. Everyone!" she called out to the room in a raised voice that was still little more than a whisper, "Holly fell and hit his head. I think he's going to be okay, but until he wakes up I want everyone to be nice and quiet so we can let him rest, understand?"
There was a hushed murmur of agreement among them. "Good!" Blackberry hissed, "And for Frith's sake find whatever he slipped on, so no one else slips on it!"
All the rabbits besides Bigwig and Fiver, who were still tending to Holly, bent down and looked around the area.
After a few seconds Hawkbit stood up: "Well well, what have we here?" he held up a little toy car.
Blackberry's ears shot up, and her eyes narrowed as she turned to glare at Pipkin: "Pipkin! You left your toys on the floor? Where anyone could have stepped on them?!" she hissed at him.
"I'm – I'm sorry!" Pipkin stammered, "I – you took me upstairs so fast I didn't notice!"
"You knew it was bedtime, you should have had everything collected-" Blackberry continued before getting cut off.
"What's this?" Dandelion's voice suddenly interrupted. Dandelion pulled his head out from behind a potted plant where he had been looking, and then he stood and held up something that made both Blackberry and Bigwig stop cold: Holly's dog tags.
"That – that's Captain Holly's dog tags!" Bigwig answered quickly, standing up to take them from him, "They identify who you are in the army, I got ones like 'em-"
"Who is 'Fergus Toadflax'?" Dandelion asked, reading the tags. There was a sudden hush in the room.
Bigwig started, and tensed up further: "He – he was a friend of Holly's, they served in Afghanistan together. Give me those, now."
He moved to take them from Dandelion, but Hawkbit stood between them. "Why would Holly have this Toadflax's tag around his neck, if they were just friends?" the blue buck asked pointedly, "And what does this have to do with why Holly's been so tired and avoiding us lately? You think we didn't notice? We want to know what's going on, now!"
Bigwig swallowed hard, and looked frantically at Blackberry, who looked lost for words herself.
Meanwhile, looks of epiphany appeared on the faces of most of the other rabbits in the room as Bigwig finally answered: "Captain Holly is gay."
There was a collective gasp.
"What…?" was all Hawkbit could answer. "He's gay, alright?" Bigwig snarled, "He's a homo, a fairy, a buck-lover, a friend of Dorothy, okay?"
"Big, tough old army captain Holly, gay?" Hawkbit asked.
"That's right," Bigwig rounded on him, "And if you or anyone else has got a problem with that you answer to me, understand?" he growled.
"Of course we don't have a problem!" Hazel jumped between them, "We're already friends with Connor and Marcus, and remember Silverweed, on Cowslip's farm? He was gay, and we didn't care! We even thought it would cute if he and Fiver got together! Now why do you think we'd have a problem with Holly being gay too?"
Bigwig took a few deep breaths, staring into Hazel's eyes, and finally seemed to deflate as he remembered the silvery buck.
"Holly's… gotten a lot of flak for being gay," Bigwig admitted, "His family disowned him for coming out to them, when he was a teenager. Couldn't get into college on his own so he joined the army, where he had to hide it his whole career. And he's been in the closet ever since, Blackberry and I are the only ones he's even told in the last thirty years."
Hazel's ears twitched as he realized something, "Is that why he always gets up early, and never uses the showers or sauna when we do?" he asked, "He's afraid he'll 'look', or something, and we'll find out?"
Bigwig nodded.
"He really thought we'd mind? After Connor and Marcus and Silverweed? He actually thought we'd reject him?" Hazel questioned again.
Bigwig raised his paws in a half-shrug. "Blackberry and I have tried to tell him it's okay, but he just wouldn't believe it. He's been hurt too much."
"And Toadflax is…?" Dandelion probed, holding up the tags again.
"He was, Holly's boyfriend," Blackberry quietly stepped in. "They had a secret relationship in the army; Holly wanted to make a life with him when they got out, but he died in the line of duty."
"And Holly's been all alone ever since," Bigwig finished, and he finally snatched the tags away from Dandelion and put them in his pocket.
A moment of silence fell amongst the group, still stunned by the news of Holly's hidden orientation. It explained so much, and all they could do was look with sympathy upon the elderly buck lying unconscious on the couch, who had done so much for them and yet still doubted their acceptance of him for so long.
"He's really never tried to find love again?" Silver whispered. Bigwig sighed a bit.
"I don't think so, and after what he's been through I think he's afraid to go through that kind of loss again," Bigwig grumbled. He looked over at Holly's unconscious form, "Once he wakes up, Blackberry and I will try to ease him into this. Nobody, nobody, bring this up until we've told him, okay?"
"Agreed," Hazel replied, and others in the room nodded. "Let's… get some breakfast." And he and the others started moving into the kitchen while Blackberry and Pipkin remained behind tending to Holly.
"Blackberry, who's Dorothy?" Hazel heard Pipkin whisper.
"Boy, sure got a lot of gay folks coming out of the woodwork, haven't we?" Hawkbit whispered to Hazel as they pulled cereal boxes out of the cupboard. Hazel didn't reply but simply poured milk on his cereal and went to the table to sit next to Bigwig, who didn't look hungry for anything.
"May I ask you something?" Hazel asked.
Bigwig snorted a little, "Like you haven't asked enough already?"
"I'm just curious to why he told you," Hazel muttered, choosing his words carefully, "I mean, I know you served in the army together and became friends, but I've known him a long time too, most of us have, and yet you and Blackberry are the only ones he ever told. I was just… wondering why."
Bigwig sighed. Then his eyes looked at some of the other rabbits around who were watching him, then he looked back at Holly lying on the couch, then he turned back to Hazel. "Did you ever wonder what I was like when I joined the army?"
Hazel regarded Bigwig, with his harsh temper and brusque demeanor. "I have a general idea."
Bigwig nodded. "I joined the army to get away from my dad. Picture it: I was 18, I was alone, and I was angry. I hated my dad, I hated the world, and I hated the army when I first got in: the rules, the discipline, all the abuse they shout at you, it was just like being back home. I lashed out at everybody, and almost got kicked out several times. But then they sent me to this special troop of smaller animals and that was where I met Holly, he was our sergeant in command. At first I didn't think anything of him, except that he wasn't as harsh as the other instructors I had, but then one day I got in a brawl with a raccoon in my unit, he insulted me. And Holly separated us and ordered us both to apologize. Well, you know how that gets me going: I went berserk and tried to attack Holly right on the spot; in three moves he countered me, dropped me and pinned me to the ground."
Several rabbits gasped. "And he let you stay, even when you attacked him?" Silver asked.
Bigwig nodded: "I really thought I'd done it then. But instead of chewing me out Holly took me into a little room, and we had a long chat. He asked me why I kept lashing out, and why being told to apologize seemed to trigger me. I was shocked, nobody in the army had asked that before, so I told him. I told him about my dad, the things he did to me, and how I joined the army just to get away from him. Well, Holly just sat there and listened the whole time, like he was some guidance counselor instead of my commanding officer. I spilled my guts out for what felt like hours, and when I was finished, Holly told me I wasn't expelled. He said he saw potential in me, and he wanted to help me reach that."
"Wait – back on Cowslip's farm, Holly said he didn't know why you have trouble apologizing," Hazel said.
"He was just being respectful, that was my story to tell," Bigwig answered. "Anyway, I had no idea where he was coming from but after that, I was determined not to let him down. I buckled down and became a model private: every task I got, whether it was watch duty or scrubbing toilets, I did it better than anyone. I became the best shooter, the best runner, and the best fighter in our unit; and I stopped getting into fights with my comrades; training and learning to fight gave me an outlet for my anger that I never had before. Holly taught me everything I know. And we rose through the ranks together: he became lieutenant and I became his sergeant, and we served a 3-year tour of duty together. Shortly after that he got promoted to captain, but then he told me: he wanted to get discharged. He said he was done with army life, and that mentoring me and seeing how I had grown up brought him more fulfillment than anything else he had done in the army, and he wanted to help others in the same way; he wanted to be a social worker. And a few months later, he was gone."
"And then he became me and Fiver's social worker," said Hazel. "What happened to you after that?"
"After that I served a couple more years, but my heart wasn't in it anymore either," said Bigwig. "Holly was my mentor, my best friend, and more my father than my own dad ever was. Then the following year I got the news that my real dad had died, and I had to go home and settle his estate. Well, that was as good a chance as any to leave, so I got my discharge, went home and sold dad's house, and moved to Sandleford. And you know what happened next: I became custodian for the Home for the Unfortunate. It wasn't much, but I got to be with Holly again, and then I met Blackberry, and Dandelion and Hawkbit and you and Fiver and Sage and Lily Anderson, and then Pipkin when he came along."
He looked at them all fondly, "And for the first time, I felt like I had a real family. Those were the happiest days of my life."
Hazel put his paw on Bigwig's shoulder, returning the expression, and then Dandelion did as well.
"So, what made him come out to you?" Dandelion asked after a moment of silence. Bigwig fidgeted a little, about to reveal a more uncomfortable memory. "One night while we were on tour, we had to share a tent. Holly looked uncomfortable at the idea, but I didn't ask why. Then that night, I got woken up by him whispering in his sleep. I thought he was talking to me, until he started saying 'Fergus, Fergus', and getting all… cuddly in his sleep."
Squeamish looks appeared on a lot of faces.
"Holly… cuddly?" Hawkbit muttered, unable/unwilling to conjure up the mental picture of the old captain being affectionate.
"Hey, hey – he's old, but he's still rabbit," Bigwig said. "Now naturally I had to wake him up before it went too far, and when I did, Frith was he ashamed. I won't give you all the details, but he looked ready to die. He thought he'd lost my friendship forever, not to mention his career."
"They really would have kicked him out for being gay?" Hawkbit asked.
"No, being gay was allowed by then," Bigwig explained. "Technically – don't ask don't tell they call it. But any affection between soldiers was certainly illegal, even by accident like that. If I told, I could gotten Holly expelled." Bigwig looked proud of himself, "But of course I didn't – I respected him too much for that. Besides, my dad was a big homophobe, saying the word faggot every chance he got – what better way to flip him the bird then by being friends with a gay buck? So I calmed him down, told him it was okay, and that was that. It was actually a week later he told me he wanted to get out of the army – I wonder if that tent incident was part of the reason."
"And what about Blackberry?" Hazel asked, "How did she find out?"
"Feminine intuition. I guessed, he admitted it," Blackberry's voice piped up. She walked into the kitchen behind them and went to the sink to wash her paws. "Good news, Holly's bleeding has stopped, I think he's going be okay. Going to have a nasty headache when he wakes up though."
"And what do we do when he does?" Hawkbit asked. "Should we be in the room, or out of the house, or what? What should we do?"
"Um, pardon me," Fiver whispered, "I think I have an idea…"
0000000000 "Uggh…" Holly began to stir. He blinked his eyes, stretched and started to roll his head- "AHHH!" And was greeted with the biggest head throb of his life. He clutched his forehead, feeling his fingers over a rough bandage, before trying to open his eyes again: he was in the living room, lying on the couch, still in his pajamas and robe. His mouth was so dry; he needed water, and aspirin, fast.
"Is anybunny there?" he croaked, "Anyone?" He heard a gasp from the kitchen, and he saw Blackberry poke her head out, and rush over to him.
"Holly?" she knelt down next to him, her eyes wide with worry, "Oh, I'm so glad you're awake, how do you feel?"
Holly smacked his lips as Blackberry shone a pen light over his eyes, "Like they ran over my head with a tank," he muttered, "Can you get me some water?"
"In just a second," Blackberry looked directly into his face, "What is my name?"
"Wha-"
"My name?"
"Blackberry Nicola."
"Good, what is your name?"
"Holly Sanders."
"Good, good…" Blackbery held up her paw, "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Er, two," Holly replied.
Blackberry held up more.
"Four," Holly answered. And finally Blackberry held up just one, and Holly gave the right answer. She breathed a sigh of relief, "Just checking, if you gave any wrong response we would have to take you to a hospital," She got to go to the kitchen, "Bigwig! He's awake!" she called to the stairway above.
Holly heard voices and shuffling upstairs, and a minute later Bigwig came down and knelt next to him like Blackberry had.
"H'lo, Captain," he breathed, his voice full of relief, "How do ya feel?"
"Like a really, really bad hangover," Holly mumbled as Blackberry returned with a big bottle of water and an aspirin bottle. He took the water and downed it gratefully. "What time is it?" he asked once he had drunk his fill.
"9 AM, you've been out for two hours," Bigwig answered. There was a sober, morose look on his face now that Holly did not like. He looked at Blackberry, and saw that she shared the expression.
"Bigwig, what's happened?" Holly asked, suddenly filled with dread.
"Captain…" Bigwig said quietly, "They know."
"Know wha-" Suddenly Holly remembered the dog tags he had been holding, and started frantically feeling over his chest and inside the pockets of his robe for them.
"After you fell, they found your dog tags," Bigwig answered, holding up the necklace for Holly to see. "They saw Toadflax's name and started asking questions. We tried to deflect, but they kept asking, and we had to tell them," He pressed the tags into Holly's paw, "I'm sorry, Captain."
Holly gasped, and his paws shook with fear. His greatest secret, laid bare for everyone to see while he was lying unconscious on the couch…
"But they're okay with it," Blackbery interjected, as Holly regarded the tags sadly. "They're all fine with you being gay, just like we told you. You have nothing to worry about."
"Where is everyone now?" Holly asked.
"Most of them went into town," Bigwig said quietly, "The rest are in their rooms. Thought you'd like some space."
"I guess that's for the best," Holly then sat up, and clutched his chest, both from the pain and the shame he was feeling. He hadn't wanted everyone to find out, not like this.
"Tell you what," said Bigwig, "Since nobody's using it, why don't you go upstairs and hop in the sauna?"
"It'll be good for you," Blackberry said, "It will increase your circulation and help your headache go away."
Holly sat there breathing deeply for a few seconds, and then nodded. "Alright, that sounds good right now," he answered.
00000000000
With Blackberry and Bigwig's aid he went into the kitchen, refilled the water bottle and then went upstairs, passing closed doors to the bathroom. But once they passed the lockers into the shower room, Holly began to hear voices. Familiar voices, coming from the sauna. He tried to turn back, but Bigwig and Blackberry gently prevented him, and kept moving him forward.
Once they were in front of the unit, Bigwig opened the door and Holly saw them. Everyone in their group was sitting in the sauna, looking straight at him. All the bucks, plus Violet and Hannah and Pipkin, all dressed in only underwear, swimsuits or towels around their waists.
"Er, uh, mm…" Holly garbled, feeling his paws tremble and his heart start to pound as he took in all the half-naked young bucks staring at him; he hadn't seen so many half-naked mammals since the army, and they were all rabbits here. He didn't know what to say to them.
"Holly," Hazel stood up, and put his paw on Holly's shoulder. "It's okay. It's okay, we want you in here. Isn't that right everyone?"
"That's right!" Dandelion echoed, and everyone called out their agreement as Bigwig gently nudged Holly into the sauna and shut the door.
"You can sit here," Hazel gestured at an empty spot next to him and Fiver, "Might want to lose the robe and pajamas, it gets awfully hot in here."
Lost for words Holly began to strip down, slowly removing his robe and then his pajama top, revealing his grey belly that had once held a six-pack but had now turned to a prominent stomach from age and neglect. He looked up, Hazel gave him a nod, and he slowly lowered his bottoms as well until he was dressed just in briefs he had thankfully worn under his pajamas. His body was still shaking with nerves as he sat down, but as he warmed up, Holly could start to feel his fears melt away. Bigwig and Blackberry had been right, they were all fine with him being gay. And before everybody in the sauna was chatting like it was just another night at the dinner table and Holly was joining in, his dog tags hanging around his neck without him having to hide them from anyone.
Here you go everyone and sorry for such a long abscence. COVID is getting me down still, my reignited love for my Gamecube has taken up a lot of my time, a bunch of my inspiration is stalled and losing grandma on my moms side doesnt help as she passed away on june 25 2021 on my last day of pre summerwork. all i can say is expect a lot of long waits between chapters.
next time, Bigwig gets into work and a couple of familiar bunnyburrow faces show up!
Song Choice Of The Day: Crash And Burn by Savage Garden
