Chapter Two: Hanging Out

Nick was in trouble. He had now put Stacy in the middle of a con with his friends by lying to them that he and Stacy were a couple in order to keep his promise not to tell them that Stacy was homeless. The problem was, Stacy wasn't lying. She really did have a crush on Nick. Nick felt bad about lying to Ben again, but he didn't want to hurt Stacy's feelings. The tiny mouse had a big amount of pride.

Ben was still squealing from their confession. "EEEEEE! You two are seriously an item?!"

"Y-Yes!" Nick said unconvincingly. He tried to prove it by licking the side of Stacy's face like a fox would normally kiss someone.

Stacy giggled. "HEE!HEE!HEE!HEE!You're licking me like a lollipop!"

"That's because I'm a sucker for you!" Nick replied.

Stacy gushed. "AWWW!"

Ben started rolling on the ground. "AAAHHH! I can't stand it! It's so sweet!" The fat cheetah cub hugged Nick and Stacy so hard that he picked them up off the ground and he started to cry. "I'm so happy for yoooou! I'm SO going to live vicariously through you two!"

Nick struggled to get free. "Calm down Benny! It's no big deal!"

"Sorry! Sorry."

"Benny, can you go catch up with Flash? I need to talk privately to Stacy."

"Oooooh! Okay. I'll leave you two lovebugs alone."

Nick just rolled his eyes as Benny left. "Great. Now I lied to Ben again and now everyone's REALLY gonna think we're an item."

Stacy thought about it. "Well, m-maybe they won't tease you anymore about it if it's official. Or maybe we could...ummm...not fake it?"

Nick laughed. He didn't understand that she was serious. "Hee-Hee! You're funny Stacy! Don't worry. We shouldn't have to fake this for too long. Just until you find a new home. Sorry I licked you. I don't know how to give a mouse a kiss."

"Don't be! I kinda liked it."

Nick picked up the mouse and put her on his shoulder. "You don't have to lie to me. Let's catch up to Ben and Flash."

The four of them were headed to the local mall which isn't too far from the school. On the way, they passed by a street corner and there was Finnick, the fennec fox. The junior high dropout had a little gambling table set up to lure in suckers to his games. "Hey kids! Wanna play a game? Oh! Hey Nick! How's my favorite fox?"

"My mom told me not to talk to you Finnick. She says you're a bad influence."

"Now where would she get an idea like that bro?! All I'm doin' is making an honest livin' letting people play my games!"

"It's gambling!"

"What?! Naaah! In this game, you don't even have to make a bet unless you're sure! Watch..." Finnick had three upside down cups in front of his table. He lifted the middle one up. "See that ball? I'm gonna swap the cups around and around and all you gotta pick the one the ball is in!"

Finnick scooped the ball in the cup then lifted all three up and dropped them back down. He then started switching the cups around. "Round and round they go! Where they stop, nobody knows!" He twisted and slid them around at an incredible speed, but since Ben was a cheetah, he could keep his eye fixed right on the cup with the ball. Finally, Finnick stopped. "Okay! There you go! Just put some money on which cup you think it's in."

"I know! I know!" an excited Benjamin said. He fished a dollar out of his pocket to place on the cup when Nick grabbed his paw and stopped him.

"Don't do it Ben!" Nick said.

"Why not?" Ben asked. "I'm a cheetah. I can follow things at high speeds. I KNOW it's this one!"

"It doesn't matter. All three cups have a ball and he can stop them from dropping."

"WHAT?!" Shouted Finnick "I'm offended. I am an honest businessman."

Nick then grabbed two cups which ticked off Finnick. "Hey! Hands off!"

"There's a thin switch here!" Nick turned the tiuy switch on the two cups and pulled him up. Sure enough there was a ball that fell out of each cup. "See? I bet there's one in that one too!"

Finnick was caught. "Fine! You guessed it. Are you trying to ruin my business?!"

"You're ripping off my friends!"

Finnick backed off. "Sorry Nick! Y'know, you got a real talent for seeing a scam. You'd be great at this! He showed Ben a magazine with a girl in a tight bikini. "Maybe your fat friend would like to spend his money on a dirty magazine?"

Ben was confused. "Why would I want a dirty one?! I'd rather have it clean. GASP! Is it about video games or toys?!"

"No! It's got huge boobs!"

"Big deal! So do I. C'mon guys."

Nick was upset. "Now you're trying to sell nudie mags to kids?! My mom was right about you."

Finnick was getting mad. "Shut up Nick! You don't know me! You're just a kid! Trust me, this world is unfair to us foxes. You keep tryin' to play by their rules and you'll wind up on the streets. You work as hard as you can and they'll still find ways of keeping you down! You got your parents helping you now, but mark my words. You're gonna end up just like me!"

Nick left Finnick behind. Flash didn't like the fennec fox either. "What...a...jerk."

"Yeah." Nick replied. As he entered the mall, he thought of the grade he got on his paper despite his score. He then thought again about what Finnick said. "You work as hard as you can and they'll still find ways of keeping you down!"

Stacy looked up at Nick with concern. She saw that he was deep in thought. "Are you okay Nick?"

"Hunh? Oh! Sure, ummm...'honey'."

Ben squealed again. "EEEE! I'm never going to get used to that! It's so cute!"

"Don't call us cute." Nick replied.

As they went in, they saw all the Christmas displays all over the mall. They were really impressed with the giant Christmas tree in the center of the food court. "WOOOAH!"

"That's such a cool tree!" Ben said. "I wanna climb up it and not get down and then the firemammals have to come and get me out."

"I wanna chew my way through and live in it!" said Stacy.

"I...want...to...hang...off...it's..."

"...branches," said Flash.

Nick looked up at it and then looked at the trunk. "I wanna pee on it and mark it as my own!"

The others looked at him with disgust. "EWWW!"

Nick just shrugged his shoulders. "What?! I'm a canine. It's what we do."

Nick then saw Chucky Damwood hanging out with his friends. "There's that stupid, spoiled Chucky. Look at him! He must have a dozen kids hanging out with him. SIGH! He's so lucky. I wish I had that many friends. I'd love to be part of a pack."

"We're a pack!" said Ben.

"More like two dorks and a mouse." said Nick.

"Yeah, but we're loyal. Any of those kids would probably dump Chucky if his mom wasn't the teacher."

Flash chimed in. "Quality...over...quantity."

Ben smiled and patted his sloth friend on the back. "Well put buddy!"

Nick drew up a smile. "You're right. Sorry guys. Hey! Let's go see Santa!"

The kids ran over to see Santa Paws sitting on a bench waiting to pose for photos. There was no one around the hippos booth at the time. Nick excitedly wagged his tail. "Hey Santa Paws! Can we sit with you?!"

"You got money for a photo?" Santa asked.

"Well...er...no."

"Then get lost kid. Paying customers only."

Ben then spoke up. "Wait! I have a question."

Santa shrugged his shoulders. "Well...I guess I have time. Shoot."

"How do you have time to be here waiting for pictures while also making toys at the North pole, getting ready for Christmas and also appearing at parades and malls all over the world, not to mention visiting millions of homes in one night?"

Santa motioned him to come closer. "You wanna know the truth?"

"Yeah!" said Ben excitedly.

Santa started fishing an item from his pocket. This worried Nick. "If that's not a candy cane, we may need an adult."

Santa pulled out a toy that looked familiar. "Do you recognize this?"

Ben gasped. "It's a sonic screwdriver! Are you Dr. Moo?"

"Close. I'm another time lord. Same planet as him. I travel through time at will and I'm immortal. One Christmas night on earth actually takes me about 500 of your earth years to finish, but I can just travel back and fourth and rewind time to end up at a new spot. In fact, there's multiples of myself in malls all across the world right now! I'm gathering information on what kids want for Christmas, but I get your letters too."

Ben's eyes were about to bulge out of his skull. "Woooah! That makes so much sense now! Thank you so much Santa! We won't bother you anymore since you're so busy going through time and space. Bye!"

"Bye!" Santa replied. "And remember, keep that to yourself! It's top secret!"

As they left, Flash stayed behind and just stared at Santa. It annoyed him. "What are you looking at kid?"

"...Dork."

"Oh c'mon! That excuse is cool and you know it. You're just not a Dr. Moo fan."

Moments later, the kids passed by the video game store "GameShop". There was a tiny sign in the window that said "We sell games, not babysit your kids". Nick got excited when he saw a Super Nine-Ten-Doe kiosk display. "Guys! Guys! Look! Street Ferret 2!"

Sure enough, it had a playable demo of Street Ferret. The kids ran to it, but some teens were already playing the game. "I got next!" said Nick who waited in line to play.

The two teen wolves playing the game didn't care. "Get lost! We're playing this for the next half hour!"

"But that's not fair!" said Nick, but Ben pulled him away. "It's okay Nick. We can still play it at the arcade. I'll pay."

Nick put his arm around the fat cat. "Thanks Ben. It's not fair! It's bad enough my parents can't afford to buy me one, but I can't even play it at the game store!"

They got to the arcade and luckily, no one was playing the game. However, the joysticks were too high up for their short bodies. "Aww man! I just wanna play the game!" Nick shouted.

"I got an idea!" Ben said. "Flash is gonna be our third player."

Flash was confused. "It's...only...a...two...player...game."

"But YOU are going to play the most important part!"

Moments later, Nick and Ben were standing on Flash's back as the poor sloth was on his claws and knees. "My...poor...spine!"

"Don't be such a baby!" Ben said. He put in two quarters for him and Nick. "I'm gonna play as E-Hoppa. There's something about a sumo wrestler I can identify with."

Stacy then had an idea. She jumped off Nick shoulders and onto the cabinet. "Nick! Play as Cub-Li!"

Nick was a bit confused. "Why?"

"Trust me. I play this game with my mice cousins. You control the joystick and I'll press the buttons okay?"

"Well...I dunno."

Ben looked over at Nick. "Nick, the best way to have a healthy relationship is teamwork and to let the girl have whatever she wants."

"You've never been in a relationship Ben!"

"True, but my mom reads a lot of Catsmopolitan...and romance novels come to think of it. Maybe her and dad need counseling?"

"Let's just play."

They chose their characters and started playing. Stacy instructed Nick on what to do. "Pull back and duck down!"

"Okay! Said Nick.

Ben tried a jumping attack and Stacy yelled out. "Forward! Now!" Nick pressed forward and Stacy hit the hard kick button resulting in a spinning bird kick. It hit E-Hoppa and he fell back. "Quick! Jump back!" Nick did as she said and she hit the medium kick button causing Cub-Li to do a stomp kick on top of E-Hoppa. When Cub-Li finally landed. Stacy ran in place, stomping on the hard kick button, causing the rapid-fire lightning kick. E-Hoppa went down, so Stacy and Nick won the first round.

Ben was upset. "Hey!"

Nick laughed. "You're right Ben. Teamwork is important!"

Ben won the next round, but the team of Nick and Stacy proved too much and they won. "Whoo-Hoo!" Nick cheered. "Great work Stacy! Gimme finger!" Nick stuck his finger out and Stacy high-fived it."

Ben wasn't too upset. "Looks like I was not match for team Wildar!"

"Team Wildar?!" Nick asked."

"Yeah! It's the amalgamation of you and Stacy's last names. Wilde and Cheddar. It's totally a couple thing. It was either that or 'Childe'."

"Whatever. I don't even know what 'amalgamation me-"

"GET OFF!" Flash yelled. The kids quickly got off of his back.

Ben picked him off the ground. "Sorry Flash! That must have hurt since you didn't space out your words."

"I'm...out...of..."

"...breath."

"Sorry about that." said Ben. "I'll carry you on my back for a bit."

The four kids arrived in front of the gate of Little Rodentia. "This is my stop!" Stacy said as Nick put her down.

She was then quickly picked up by Ben. "Goodbye hug!" Ben said as he gave the tiny mouse a big hug.

"Ben's a big hugger." Nick explained.

The tubby cheetah then put Stacy down. "Me and Flash will give you to love birds some space."

"Why?" Nick asked.

"So you can give her a goodbye kiss of course!"

"EWW!" Nick replied.

"What do you mean 'EWW'?! She's your girlfriend!"

"Oh! Umm...right. The girlfriend thing. It's just...I've never kissed a girl before."

"You licked my face earlier." Stacy said.

"For a canine a lick is very casual. It's only kind of a kiss."

Ben yelled out. "Kiss her on the lips!"

"How?!" said Nick. "I can't even see her lips!"

"You pucker and give a gentle suck on the face."

"Sounds gross, but I'll try it. Is that okay Stacy? I mean, honey?"

Stacy heart was pounding a mile a minute. "Y-Yeah! S-Sure! Go for it!"

Nick picked Stacy back up. "Well, here goes nothing."

He closed his eyes, puckered his lips and stared to make a sucking motion. Stacy did the same. Unfortunately, his sucking was too strong. There was a "thunk!" sound and and he sucked half of Stacy into his mouth.

Ben freaked. "AAAH! Spit her out! Spit her out!"

Nick quickly did just that and the poor mouse was covered in saliva. "I'm so sorry!" Nick said.

"You almost ate me!" Stacy said.

"I'm sorry! You're so tiny!"

Stacy wiped the slobber off of her face. "Blech! How about this? You put me down, lie on your belly and pucker, but don't suck and I'll lead."

"Okay!" Nick replied. "Who knew kissing a girl could be so dangerous?"

Nick put her down and lied on his belly in front of the gates. He closed his eyes and puckered his lips again. Stacy walked up and pressed her lips against his for a moment before parting them. Nick then opened one of his eyes. "Is that it? Are we done?!"

Stacy giggled. "Tee-Hee! Yeah."

"That wasn't half-bad!" Nick replied. "For something as gross as kissing."

"Y-Yeah!" Stacy replied. "See you later 'darling'."

Nick waved goodbye. "Later 'honey'!" He then walked off with Flash and Ben. He couldn't help but notice that Ben was sobbing. "What's your problem?" Nick asked.

"SNIFF! Nothing! Th-that was just...SNIFF!...so beautiful!"

"Oh brother. Still, that wasn't so bad. Maybe this relationship lie, err...life will work out okay!"

They walked a bit more and stopped in front of Flash's home. "Bye...guys." Flash replied.

Ben raised his arms up. "Goodbye hug?"

The little sloth slowly opened his arms. "Oh...kay."

Nick however was frustrated. "No! Ben! This is going to take forever!"

"All my friends get goodbye hugs." Ben argued.

Nick sat on the porch watching as Flash slowly put his arms around Ben. "We're gonna be here awhile."

Twenty minutes later., Ben and Nick left Flash's home. "I'm just surprised he can keep up with us while we're walking."

"Technically, he's running the entire time." Ben replied. "He wants to go out for Sloth track and field someday."

"That must be an all day event. Hey Ben! Can we stop by the Goodwill store on the way home?"

"That place with all the used junk?! Why?"

"Don't knock it! I'm poor and I need some Christmas gift ideas. Maybe a nice necklace for my mom."

"Or a diamond ring for your girlfriend!"

"Ha! That would be a very expensive hula hoop on Stacy."

The two kids entered the store and looked around. Ben was weirded out by some of the things for sale. "I've seen garage sales with better quality stuff. What is this thing that looks like a video game cartridge but it's about music?"

"My grandpa had some of those." Nick replied. "It's an 8-track tape."

Ben stared at it. " 'The best of Bark Owens and Roy Cluck.' Who are they?"

"Some old country singers I think." Nick then looked around the toy section. "Transmorphers with missing parts?! Who would buy this old junk?! A Catmobile with a broken wheel?!"

"And the Jackal got away!" Ben sang. "Here's something! A big bag of random Brick-os! Must be ten pounds worth! It costs ten bucks."

"Brick-os?! Those are for babies."

Ben was offended. "No they're not! I have a bunch of them myself. Brick-o's are cool! You can make anything out of them. You can make a house, a boat, cars, planes, trains. Anything you can imagine!"

"What was that first thing you said you could make?"

"A house, but it would take almost the whole bag."

An idea was then forming in Nick's mind. He thought back to what Ben and Stacy said earlier. Their voices were inside his head.

"You could build a house!"

"A house! A house!"

"Nick, I'm homeless!"

"You could build a house!"

Nick ears perked up and a huge smiled came across his face. "Ben, I just thought of the best Christmas gift ever!"

"A lifetime supply of Lucky Chomps?!"

"What?! No!"

"Then it can't be the best gift ever."