Chapter 33

Pressure and Confidence Issues: Part 6

Peppy rubbed the back of his head as he gazed his attention onto his daughter, who looked to the side and nervously twiddled her fingers together. The awkward situation that resulted from both admitting that they're both not straight and hearing that from each other was becoming a bit uncomfortable for them, which was making it uncomfortable for the others as they've been quiet for the past minute.

Fox, Wolf and Falco made perplexed looks at the father-daughter duo, anxious to hear from both of them on how they discovered their sexualities.

"So…" Fox said to cut the silence. "Do you need to have a private conversation to work…something out, or do you not want to talk about it yet?

"No Fox," said Peppy. "I'm just…surprised, that's all. Heh, never thought I'd find out that my daughter wasn't straight like I'm not."

"Yeah, Hehe. It's just another one of those unexpected turns of events that only a small majority of people experience every now and so often" Lucy said, nervously agreeing with her father.

"I'm pretty sure that there might be more than a 'small majority' of people who'd be able to experience that every day," Dash said.

"Ya think?" Leon said, making Falco and Wolf give him a deadpan look. Leon just gave an unsatisfied look and said, "What?"

The rest of the group ignored the remark that the chameleon made and tried to focus on Peppy and Lucy, who looked at each other nervously before Peppy began to speak.

"So…" Peppy started. "Do you wanna go first sweetheart?"

"Uh, I don't know Dad," she replied sheepishly. "I think I'd feel more comfortable with you going first, if that's ok with you."

"Well, okay then." Peppy cleared his throat and took a few deep breaths so he could feel emotionally prepared to explain his story to everyone. "Alright folks, listen up!" Everyone turned their full attention towards Peppy. "Before I begin, I must inform you to keep discrimination or any other negative comment to a minimum for what you will hear is very emotionally personal to me. I won't take kindly to anything insulting towards me or anything that you would find strange. Understood?"

Everyone nodded in agreement upon seeing the stern look on the old rabbit's face (Slippy thought he looked hot with that intimidating look) and quieted down. Lucy moved next to Krystal and Sabre to have a better view of her father as he began his explanation.

"Good," he said with a sigh. "Now, here's how it all began…"

Flashback…

Peppy was lying in bed one night, looking up at the ceiling in his own bedroom on the old Great Fox that he resided with James and Pigma. It was around bedtime, and he couldn't sleep a wink. Didn't want to sleep. He was feeling lonely and depressed that night, like the few nights before, because there was something on his mind that kept him awake as he felt this hard pain that just wouldn't go away.

It wasn't really something, per say. It was actually someone on his mind. And that someone was named Vivian.

Peppy received news from Lucy that his wife, who was also her mother, Vivian had been diagnosed with cancer on her trip to the doctor's office. She was gonna have to be hospitalized whenever the condition worsens.

'Why…?' Peppy thought in his head.

He was feeling afraid of what was gonna happen if she never recovers and she passes on for good. He was afraid of Lucy being forced to grow up without a mother in her life, and he was also afraid of losing the special person he fell in love with.

'Why is this happening…?'

His eyes were red from crying and lack of sleep, and he wasn't able to put much effort into his job since he heard the news from his daughter. This made James worry for him, as he knows how it feels to be afraid of losing someone you love and care about, but Pigma just feels indifferent and annoyed as he wasn't too considerate about how he felt. The vulpine with sunglasses tries his best to help wean him out of his grief so he could feel better, but even at a young age Peppy can be too stubborn for his own good.

The younger version of the old rabbit turned over to the side and hugged his pillow tightly to use as a comfort buddy. He was on the verge of tears again before a knock on the door was heard, making him flinch and squeezing his eyes tightly to ignore the one person who always checked up on him: James McCloud.

"Peppy?" James' voice echoes from outside the door. "Can I come in?"

The hare was about to say 'no', but all that came out was silence. He really wanted to be alone, but a part of him in his subconscious told him that his friend wanted to help him and that he was worried for him. He let out a small sigh of defeat and just listened to what that voice was telling him.

"Yeah…" he muttered in a sad tone. "Come in…"

With that, the door opened and in came James McCloud, in his gray boxers, wearing a sad look behind the glasses on his face. He closed the door behind him as he walked in.

"I thought you might need some company," the vulpine said to his rabbit friend with a sympathetic tone. "You definitely look like crap."

"I feel like crap," said Peppy. "Was this really how you felt when you lost…" He hesitated before stopping. James knew who he was gonna mention but he wasn't gonna dwell on it. "Sorry…"

"I should be saying that" the fox said. He walked closer to the bed and kneeled down on one knee, trying to grow a small smile on his face. "I wouldn't be your friend if I didn't."

Peppy looked over from his pillow to turn his attention to his friend. James looked in shock of how red his eyes looked from all the crying for the past few days. He recognized that look very well. It was the same look that he and Fox shared when they both lost Vixy, the wife and mother that was in both of their lives before life made an unpredictable decision on them. He remembered how his wife died of a terminal illness when Fox was about six years old, and how scared his son was feeling when he thought that he was gonna be the only kid in school without a mother. He had to calm him down and assure him that a lot of other kids would have similar problems that he was having and that nobody would hate him for his own.

His parent/best friend instincts kicked in and slowly but surely, he moved closer to the hare and began to wrap his arms around him, giving him a soft and reassuring hug. Peppy slowly began to hyperventilate before instantly wrapping his own arms around James and began sobbing over his shoulder. The crying lasted for about six minutes before Peppy began to calm down, embracing his friend in his arms, looking at his soft and kind smile before smiling back at him, whispering a 'Thank you' in his direction.

"Do you want me to sleep with you for the night?" he asked, surprising Peppy.

"Are you sure? I mean, wouldn't you find it…w-weird for two guys to sleep in the same bed together with their u-underwear on?" he blurred out nervously.

"I don't find that weird. Besides," he moved his thumb up to the rabbit's eye and rubbed a few tears away. "What are friends for?"

Peppy didn't know what to say. He felt silent for a few seconds before he started to giggle a little over how corny that sounded.

"Thanks man," Peppy said.

"No problem, buddy," James replied, making his way onto the bed as Peppy made some room for him to sleep there. They pulled the blanket over themselves and looked each other in the eyes once more. "Goodnight, Peppy."

"Goodnight, James," Peppy replied. Before falling asleep, he stared at James a bit more before his smile grew larger. His cheeks grew red as he began to feel warm inside, like he hadn't for a long time. He kept this feeling close as he finally fell to sleep.

End of Flashback

When Peppy finished telling his story, everyone present was shocked that Peppy found out about his sexuality at a dark time in his life and that the person he found out about his sexuality with was who would've been his best friend from his childhood.

While many of them had questions, Fox and Lucy were left speechless for a moment since hearing what Peppy said has left them with questions in their heads that they didn't know were true or not.

Was Peppy unfaithful to his wife in the years after he found out that he liked men, even though he knew that Vivian had cancer? Did Vivian ever learn about Peppy's true sexuality? Has James had feelings for Peppy too? Did James and Peppy have a secret relationship behind everyone's back during the short time they were able to be together before James died? Would James and Peppy have been very sexually active in a potential relationship? Will Peppy have any kind of attraction to any other man these days? What's more, considering how much Fox is the spitting image of his father, would Peppy now have feelings for him?

Even though Peppy now felt good to finally let out that secret and nobody said anything mean or disrespectful about it, he felt an uneasy atmosphere around him. So, to try to not keep the atmosphere quiet, he said aloud, "And don't worry, even though I realized that I was bisexual at the time I was never unfaithful towards Vivian and remained faithful to her even sometime after her death. And I never had sex with James. It was highly doubtful that he would've found out my sexuality before he died or if he was bisexual himself."

Heading that, Fox and Lucy gave a sigh of relief. They were actually worried that Peppy cheated on Vivian before she died.

Finally, it was Lucy's turn to confess her sexuality to the whole group but she wanted to speak to Peppy first. She waited to see if anyone else was gonna say something regarding her father, but nobody said a word, which meant that this was the right time to start.

"Well Dad," she began, getting the old rabbit's full attention. "I think it was interesting to see how you came to realize your attraction to people of the same gender as you are. And, even after Mom died," she grabbed both of her fathers hands and held them firmly. "There were a few times that I've felt that you were alone and you needed a person that you could love and make you happy. I don't know if it's true or not, but in case you want to be with someone at some point, whether it's a man or a woman, you'll have my full support."

"Thank you so much, sweetie" Peppy said teary eyed as he hugged his daughter.

Slippy, upon hearing that, was feeling happy at that moment. If what Lucy said was true, that she supports her father no matter who he chooses to be with, then he would definitely have a chance to be with Peppy in a romantic relationship. He wants to make Peppy to be happy, by being the one who makes him happy.

"Well Lucy," he said, letting go of his daughter. "Looks like it's your turn to tell us how you found out about your sexuality."

Lucy sighed and looked at everyone. "My story isn't so long, and it's kinda similar to how Fox found out he was gay. Although, I picked it up a little faster than he did. You see, when I reached adulthood I had a boyfriend-."

"BOYFRIEND?!" Peppy shouted in surprise.

Everyone shushed at the old rabbit as some of them were rubbing their ears for how loud he sounded. Peppy gave an apologetic gesture and let his daughter continue.

"...I had a boyfriend. He was a rabbit named Ace and he was kind and loving to me. But one night, when we tried to have sex for the first time…"

Hearing that made Peppy stiff. He never expected she'd bring up the topic of sex.

"...I couldn't enjoy it. For some reason, I felt disgusted, like I was gonna be sick of the whole experience, so in the end we didn't do anything that night." She sighed before continuing. "We tried it a second time, but we couldn't do that either. We ended up breaking up because of that. At first, I thought it was because I could be a lesbian so I tried dating females to see how that goes, but I didn't feel anything for them either. Although I never tried to have sex with them, I was looking for other methods if I really did like girls, but in the end, no. Nothing. That's when I found out that I was asexual, that I wasn't sexually attracted to both males and females. Not even reading magazines or watching adult movies."

Peppy smiled and said, "I'm so glad that there are no more secrets between us, my daughter."

"Thank you Dad," Lucy replied and gave him another hug.

Then, the older rabbit turned to Fox and said, "So Fox. I guess with all this we've been talking about you must feel a little more safe to reveal to some others about what you like. And you don't have to let them, your fears, make you think that everyone is going to judge you."

"...And if they do?" Fox said in a low voice, catching everyone else off guard. "I'll be ready. I'm starting to look forward to the day, to finally show everyone that I'm gay and I'm proud of it!"

Everyone present, including ROB, grew happy and proud of what he said.

Falco wrapped his arm around Fox's shoulder and said, "And we're all going to be there to support you, no matter what."

Wolf also circles Fox with one of his arms. "And we're not going to let anyone treat you less for that. If they try, I'll beat em' up!"

This caused some of the guys (Falco, Leon, Sabre, Panther and even Fox) to giggle, as he might actually want to, but can't to avoid getting arrested.

"Thanks everyone," Fox said as a few small tears of happiness escaped from his eyes. "You don't know how much this means to me…"