Well here is chapter 20 of the fic. This chapter continues the events of chapters 17 and 19. Krystal reappears after several chapters absent.

Chapter 20

A Fresh Start: Part 2

Meanwhile…

Fox was on his phone right now. The person he's talking to on the other side; General Pepper.

He owed Wolf big time for saving his life a couple of times, even though he kept on saying that he wanted to be the one to finish him off himself, from the Aparoids outnumbering him on a rooftop and helping out with the queen. He also owed a big apology to Wolf for things said during their dogfights back then, so he's willing to do what it can take to make his own amends. Either by actions or by words.

For the past twenty-seven minutes, Fox was on a phone call with Pepper regarding helping Wolf with job offers that would be beneficial with helping him to start over. He figures that General Pepper would have some good suggestions.

"...would one of these be a suitable job for him?" General Pepper was asking Fox on the other side of the phone.

"Maybe," he said. "I'll just have to see how well he does. Thank you so much Pepper! I'll be sure to tell him all that you've suggested."

"No problem," he replied. "Give my regards to Wolf as well. I'll see you soon someday."

"Okay, bye."

With all said and done, Fox hung up the call and put the phone in his pocket as he turned to Wolf.

"I was able to get some suggestions and offers from Pepper for you. He also sends his regards that you do your best at whatever job you get."

"You're seriously going this far for me and my team?" Wolf asked. "Sounds like a really big risk. I mean, I'm feeling really grateful you're doing this for us but aren't you afraid of what other people would think that you're helping an ex-criminal to repent for his mistakes?"

"Everyone can say what they want," said Fox. "But I know what I think is right. I owe you a lot…"

Wolf was silent for a moment. He felt like he should let out what he wanted to tell Fox for a really long time.

"No," he said. "I do."

Fox gave a confused look as he didn't understand what Wolf was going with.

"I owe you. For...for everything I did to you." Wolf's heart began to beat a little bit faster as he clutched his hands. "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what happened between us back in the Lylat Wars. I've said some awful things to you, and treated you like shit due to some anger I had for…" His good eye began to tear up a bit. "For getting dragged into the whole mess of your father being killed, and me getting the blame for it. I never intended to hurt you in any way, physically or emotionally, I was just...super pissed over everything that happened! And...and…"

Wolf began to croak his words and sob a few times as he trailed off from his apology. Fox was surprised by his behavior. He never thought that Wolf's regrets would be eating himself up like this, it reminded him of how he felt heartbroken like that; when his mother died years ago, his father being killed after Pigma betrayed him, and earlier this week when he learned from General Pepper that Wolf and Leon were framed for the involvement of James' death too. He walked over to Wolf, grabbed both his arms, and gently shook him to get him to look at him.

"Wolf, listen," Fox said, feeling concerned. "It's okay. I don't blame you, not a single bit. If anything, I should be the one apologizing." Fox was almost gonna cry again but shook it off. "I was fooled to believe that you were involved with my Dad's death, just as much as everyone else has. And like everyone, I was in denial of hearing the news. But, I acknowledged that and I felt really horrible for treating you like a bad guy all due to Mr. Stink-Swine's lies and false evidence. You're not the only one that feels guilty over all this. Me, my team, and maybe some other people in the Lylat System feel that way too." Fox lowered his arms and grabbed ahold of both of Wolf's hands. "I forgive you for all you've said and done before, I'm just hoping you'll forgive me too."

Wolf stared into Fox's eye for a few seconds, thinking to himself how he felt lucky to come to peace with his crush and how he was being given mercy after all he did to him. He let a few tears escape his eye as he was slowly breathing in and out, trying to calm down. He smiled, and said, "I forgive you too…" He and Fox then hugged it all out, feeling like he was being comforted after waking up from a nightmare that he was afraid he'd never get out of.

They broke the hug and Wolf began to giggle.

"What?" Fox asked. "What's so funny?"

"We're mercenaries, who were on opposite sides of a war, apologizing and hugging out our past regrets, while everyone still has it out on the ex-criminal who used to fight the hero of the Lylat System, as if we were old friends!"

Wolf continued to laugh at the thought, and soon enough Fox began to laugh too.

"Haha! Gee, our lives are really beginning to go crazy from now on huh?" Fox asked.

"Suppose so," Wolf replied. Another thought came to mind and made him giggle some more. "Hehe. 'Stink-Swine'. That's a good one."

Laughter kept on going for the two of them and when it started to die out, Fox recognized a blue vixen from the distance as she was jogging on a nearby sidewalk. Wolf turned to where Fox was looking at and immediately tried to cover himself from sight.

"Hey, it's okay. I don't think she knows that we're here," he reassured.

"I've learned that sometimes we can't be too careful," he pointed out. "Have you talked to her about what happened?"

"No, not yet," he replied. "Thinking about it is giving me the chills…"

"Just do with her what you did with me: Talk things over instead of arguing," Wolf said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You're right." Fox took a deep breath heading to the direction Krystal was going down. There was a crosswalk and the light turned red, so he was able to cross easily. He took deep breaths when he got to the other side from running.

"You know, it's not safe to cross the road without looking both ways~," a female voice spoke. Fox looked up to see Krystal in a training suit.

"Yeah, well. Stupid things happen when you're in a hurry," he breathed. Fox stood up straight, still looking at Krystal. "There's something we need to talk about. From Monday, if I may add."

"I know," she replied. "I'm really sorry for what I tried to pull. I have no excuse for what I did."

"I figured as much. You're too good to think like that, but I still don't approve of what you tried to do," he lectured. "As much as I care for you, what you did was not okay."

"Yeah, I really messed up there…" Krystal was feeling really guilty again. "I just…I still don't understand why you didn't return my feelings when we finally got to know each other after saving me and Sauria."

"Well, there are two reasons: One, I saw how attractive you looked and how kind you are, but I only felt like you were like a sister to me. A sister that I never thought I'd have in my life. And I'm really happy about that."

Krystal couldn't help but smile at the comment. She felt glad that she was like a family to Fox, but she still feels guilt over her dishonest actions.

"And two?" She asked nervously.

"That's...a long story," he reluctantly said. "Let's talk about it somewhere private."

…

Peppy and Slippy finished their round of exercises in the hotel gym and were already heading back to their room, both feeling a bit tired and sweaty from the workout. For Slippy at least, his concerns for Peppy getting hurt during training were still holding him. Just like it was there when they entered the gym, it's still here even after Peppy pulled through. That made Slippy look up to Peppy even more than he already did, because, despite his age, Peppy's body was still really strong.

An idea crossed his mind that made the toad blush; he was fantasizing if he would ever have sex with Peppy and how many rounds they could hold up before they get tired and stop. Slippy figured there might be enough to satisfy both of them, and what's more is he began to wonder what Peppy would be like in bed. It would be tender, he would try to make him feel the same pleasure that he'd feel in that moment, and he would caress him that would make him feel as if he were in heaven…

"Uh, Slippy?" Peppy asked, snapping Slippy out of his fantasy.

When the toad realised it, he was already standing in front of the door to their room, with Peppy already inside waiting for him to enter.

"Are you okay?" the rabbit asked when he saw that his friend had his mind elsewhere.

"Oh, yeah!" he said, trying not to show his face, which became completely flushed. "I'm fine. Nothing's happened."

Once Slippy entered their room and closed the door, his blush began to fade but he still felt nervous. But unfortunately, or lucky in his case, his time alone with Peppy wasn't over yet.

"Well, I think it's time for us to take a shower," Peppy said. "How about that? Since the bathroom and shower are big enough, we can both take it at the same time."

Hearing that part made Slippy come back to a blush again. He was going to see Peppy completely naked for the first time. He had come to see the old rabbit in his underwear on some previous occasions, such as this week, but he'd never seen him without his underwear on before. This was happening a little too fast for the toad right now!

"Although, if it bothers you, I can just wait till you're finished," said the rabbit.

"NO!" he shouted accidentally. "I-I mean, no. No, it doesn't bother me one bit. I did survive the communal bathrooms back in the academy, so this shouldn't be any trouble."

"Well, in that case, go ahead," Peppy replied. "I'll join you in a moment."

Slippy nodded and went to the bathroom where he took off his clothes and threw them in the basket to be washed later. 'This can't be happening…' he thought to himself. He wanted to spend more time with his crush, but now he thinks he's gone into the danger zone at this point. He had a mixture of emotions between nerves and excitement. If only Peppy knew his feelings for him and reciprocated them. However, now's not the time to think about that. Slippy shook his head to put those thoughts aside, got in the shower to turn it on and let the warm water run over his body.

While Slippy let his thoughts wander, Peppy entered the bathroom but went to do a little something unknown to the toad that took him no more than five minutes to do. Once he finished whatever he was doing, he stepped into the shower to see the toad who had his back turned to the rabbit. For Peppy, it wasn't strange or weird to bathe with other men. After all, the men's locker room for the Cornerian army had communal showers and all the men that entered the locker room had to shower together. So, for that reason, Peppy grew to be used to doing that, even though it was over 30 years since he last bathed in the company with another man.

When the toad noticed Peppy's presence and turned around, he was surprised to see two things: One is that the rabbit had just shaved his mustache, looking almost like he did in the time of the Lylat Wars 9 years ago; and the other thing was to see the rabbit's penis. It was definitely a little bigger than he expected, although not that exaggerated either, since it was the right size for someone with Peppy's physical build. Slippy felt like he was about to pass out, but he tried to be strong as he didn't know if he might get another chance to be this close to Peppy like this again. He only managed to say one phrase:

"I see that you've shaved before coming in here~."

"Yes, I have," Peppy said. "As we are on vacation, I decided to give myself a makeover and I decided to remove my mustache to remember old times when I didn't have it. Whaddya think?"

"Oh, it looks good," Slippy said, as he mentially wanted to say to him. 'You look beautiful, sexy and I missed seeing you that way...I lost count of how long I waited to see you like this again."

"Glad to hear that. Well, I think we should continue with our shower."

So they both grabbed some washcloths, wet them, and spread some body soap on them and began. But it was getting very difficult for the toad, since he couldn't stop staring at the naked and wet body of the rabbit. He was soaping all the fur on his body, even his private parts, and the result was making Slippy blush even more as he also soaped his own body. After a few minutes while he was washing off the soap with water, a thought began of Peppy approaching him and rinsing him off. That caused the toad to have an erection and his nose began to bleed. Fortunately, the rabbit had his back turned so he didn't see what was happening. The toad quickly wiped off the blood and focused his mind on something else to lower his erection, which he accomplished in the end before the old man could see it.

Once they were done showering, they both took a towel each and dried off, then wrapped it around their waists before leaving the bathroom.

"Hey, uh, Slippy?" Peppy asked to get the toad's attention, as if he wasn't getting enough of his attention. "I don't suppose we could spend our time together again tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah. Of course!" said the toad, while he thought, 'Of course I would, I want to spend all my time with you, and maybe someday...I would love to spend the rest of my life with you.'

Here ends the twentieth chapter. I hope you liked it.