CHAPTER 7

  Later that night, Niko and Pakos went out to eat. Pakos had returned to his joking, sarcastic self, and offered to take Niko out wherever he wanted. Niko chose a large restaurant in Teromod’s city center, not too far from the starport, where they’d have seating and cooking for Moccan customers as well as Latian—as Bonaco still lacked any large establishments that served both—and acted like he was flattered and ready to enjoy it. Thankfully, the bus trip there was relatively uneventful, though Niko found himself mimicking Kelsen and crouching down in Pakos’ jacket pocket.

  At the restaurant, Pakos chose a Latian-sized table outside, and at Niko’s request, the server brought out a Moccan-sized table, chair, and silverware, and set them opposite Pakos’ seat. “What, you don’t want to sit with me?” Pakos said, though it wasn’t clear if he was joking or actually upset. Niko shivered. Sitting with Pakos would be warmer, but he was afraid to stay too close at this point. Most of all, he was afraid of making Pakos angry again. What if he did something to set him off, and Pakos went too far this time? Better to tough it out, be as pleasant as possible.

  And then what?

  He didn’t know. But he had to say something. “Oh, no, I just—I don’t want to make a mess,” he said, somewhat lamely. Thankfully, Pakos seemed to accept it, and began perusing the menu. “I think the chicken sounds good,” he muttered. “Yeah. We should get the roast chicken with rice, what do you think?”

  “Well, I was thinking of trying—”

  “Great,” Pakos snapped, cutting him off. Maybe he was angry about Niko not sitting with him after all. When the server came, he ordered for both of them, and Niko gave up on trying to order what he wanted. It wasn’t worth it. He did notice a fox sitting alone at a nearby table giving them an odd look as the server walked away, but chalked it up to his being Moccan. The restaurant might do its best to cater to them, but as far as he could see, he was still the only one there. That, or it was the gay thing again. Latians and their backwards sexuality. Suddenly, he realized that Pakos had been talking to him, and turned his attention back to the wolf.

  “...tomorrow. Hey, are you listening to me?”

  “Sorry,” he said. “I zoned out. What were you saying?”

  The wolf sneered a little. “You should learn to pay attention. I said, I don’t think we’ll be meeting with your friends tomorrow after all. I have other plans.”

  “...What? I mean...that’s okay. I’ll have Rails come pick me up.”

  “No.” Pakos took a sip of his drink, a heavy Latian lager. “You’re coming with me.”

  Niko furrowed his brow. “Uh...I think I’d rather see them. It’s been a couple days, and...”

  “I’m not arguing about this. Besides, you’ll like it. It’s a surprise.”

  Niko opened his mouth to argue further anyway, but their food arrived, so he grumbled under his breath instead. They were more or less silent during the meal, with occasional comments on the quality of the food. Niko thought it was perfectly fine—good but not great, and more or less what he’d been expecting. Pakos kept complaining about it, though when the server came to ask them how they were doing, smiled and gave his compliments.

  Near the end of the meal, after Pakos finished paying for the food, Niko tried again. “Pakos, I’d really like to meet up with Ralia and Kelsen again. I need to make sure Kel’s doing okay. He was depending on me to be around to make sure he didn’t get overwhelmed.”

  Pakos just scoffed. “That coward needs to toughen up. Besides, it’ll be good for him to be out on his own, without his mommy coddling him.”

  Niko bristled. “He’s not a coward! And I don’t coddle him. He just needs someone familiar to ground him every now and then. It’s nothing to be ashamed of!”

  Snarling, Pakos stood up suddenly. “We’re not meeting them. End of discussion. Get up; we’re leaving.”

  Maybe he was tired of being pushed around by the wolf, or maybe he was just angry at him for insulting his best friend, but Niko had had enough. “You leave. I’m going to call Ralia and stay with her tonight.” He took out his phone, only for Pakos to pound on the table only a few feet away, causing him to drop his phone.

  “No, you’re not! Come here!” Pakos made as if to grab him, and Niko flinched, throwing his paws up in front of him, for what little good it would do.

  Pakos’ paws never closed around him. Niko looked up after a moment to see that the fox from the nearby table had jumped up and grabbed Pakos’ wrist. “I’ve had enough of watching this shitshow,” he said coolly. “You need to leave, or I’m calling the police.”

  “I don’t need to do anything!” Pakos shouted, and swung with his other paw. Both he and Niko were shocked when the fox grabbed it and used Pakos’ momentum against him, swinging him around and throwing him headfirst into the table. Niko was thrown off his feet by the crash, and his ribs cried out in protest.

  “S-sorry about that,” the fox said, still not sounding particularly heated, but disgusted instead. “You all right?”

  “Y-yeah,” said Niko. He stayed down for a moment, before searching for his dropped phone.

  Meanwhile, Pakos struggled to get to his feet as well, though now his nose was bleeding. All his charm and guile was gone, replaced by rage and condescension; this was the real Pakos, the Pakos that had shown his true colors the night before. “You stupid fucker! You’re dead!”

  The fox shifted his footing and raised his arms threateningly. “If you attack me again, I’ll do a lot worse than bloody your nose.”

  They both stood still for a few long, agonizing seconds, before Pakos backed off. He looked at Niko, who involuntarily took a few steps towards the side of the table the fox was on. “This is how you treat me? After everything I’ve done for you?!”

  “After what you’ve done for me? Try what you’ve done to me! You fucking kicked me last night, because you didn’t get your way!” The fox’s eyes widened just a bit, and Niko found it was much easier to speak his mind now that there was someone between him and Pakos. “Not to mention your constant bitching about everything I do and everything I like, or how you insult my friends at every opportunity! I’m sick of your shit, and I’m sick of you! Fuck off!”

  Pakos started to back away, all the time glaring at Niko, and after another few moments that dragged on far too long, he was gone. As soon as he was out of sight, the fox whipped his phone out. “Calling the cops anyway. That guy should not be roaming the streets.” Niko found he’d been holding his breath, and let out an explosive sigh. He waited patiently while the fox gave Pakos’ description to the police, and passed along a few details as well. When the call was over, the fox huffed a sigh as well and offered Niko a paw. Niko stared at it a moment before shaking one of the fox’s fingers, which seemed to be what he wanted. “I’m, uh, I’m Fyche. You all right?”

  “Niko. Yeah, I’m okay,” Niko said. “Thanks for the rescue.”

  “N-not a problem. I’ve dealt with guys like him before. They like picking on people who are, uh, too weak or too nice to stand up to them—er, no offense.”

  Niko shrugged. “None taken. A Latian could squash a Moccan like...well, a mouse.”

  This seemed to agitate Fyche. “But you know we w-wouldn’t, right? Not most of us. We’re not all like that asshole.”

  “No, I know.” Niko wandered to the edge of the table and sat down. “Actually, before I really got here, I guess I was thinking no Latian was like that. I wanted to believe they were all kind and strong and good. Like you.” Not until he had said it aloud did he realize how that sounded, and blushed. “Oh, man, that was cheesy, huh?”

  To his surprise, Fyche’s cheeks reddened as well. “I-I don’t know about all that, but most Latians are good people. I hope you can, can keep believing that.”

  “If I meet more like you and Ralia, I definitely will.”

  Fyche shook his head, seeming both pleased and amused. “A-anyway. You need a ride somewhere? I got nowhere to be anytime soon, and it sounds like you, well, want to get back to this Ralia.”

  “I...” Niko paused for a moment, thinking about it, before nodding. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

  “Then come on up.” Fyche set his hand at the edge of the table, and Niko clambered on.

...

  A knock sent Ralia to the door. “Now who on Latia would that be? I swear, if Linds locked herself out again...” Kelsen watched from the couch arm as she opened the door. A Latian fox stood there, looking slightly nervous—and he was holding Niko out in front of him at chest height. Ralia gasped. “Niko?”

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  Niko stood up. “Hey, Ralia. I’m back. Finally.” He winced at the pain in his ribs, reignited by the fall back at the restaurant.

  Ralia hesitantly reached out and took him from the fox. “Are you hurt? What happened? And who’s this?”

  “I’m fine. Had kind of a falling out with Pakos. This is Fyche, he gave me a lift back.”

  The fox started to offer a paw, but dropped it when he realized hers were full with Niko. “Er, pleased to meet you. And he’s lying, by the way. That Pakos guy was abusing him, physically a-and mentally. Kicked him around, grabbed him without consent at least once. Treated him like shit the whole time I was looking.” Kelsen shuddered, and Niko glared at Fyche. “What? They’re your friends. You owe them the truth.”

  Ralia brought Niko up to her face, which was overshadowed with worry. “He hurt you? Niko, I’m so sorry. We never should have left you with him.”

  “I’m fine, really. He just knocked me around a little. No real damage. And it was my decision to go with him.”

  Ralia frowned, and looked up at Fyche. “How hurt is he really?”

  “I said I’m all right!”

  Fyche shrugged. “I didn’t really get to examine him. I don’t think it’s too serious, but definitely worse than he lets on.”

  “Hey! Right here! Don’t just talk over my head because you’re bigger than me!”

  “I was half worried I’d need to take him to the hospital.” She gave Niko a stern look. “And it has nothing to do with size. It’s because you’re being obstinate.”

  “Am not.” She held her gaze, and he eventually looked away. “Okay, maybe a little. But you’re making a bigger deal out of this than you need to.”

  Fyche snorted. “Not as far as I could tell. That guy was treating you like an animal. Probably worse, actually.”

  “Do we need to call the police?” Ralia asked.

  “A-already done. They’ve been on the lookout for him for over two hours, now. For all I know, they might have found him already.”

  “Okay. Okay, good.”

  Ralia set Niko on the couch next to Kelsen, who immediately pulled him into an embrace. “I’m sorry. I’m a bad friend. This is my fault.”

  Niko patted him on the back. “What? What are you talking about?”

  “I told you to go for it, and I let you go with him. A good friend wouldn’t do that.”

  “Oh, for...” Niko pulled back, then looked up at Ralia. “This is no one’s fault but mine, okay? I made the decision, and it didn’t go so well. You don’t need to blame yourselves.”

  “Might be better to blame the wolf,” Fyche observed, only to glance down at Kelsen. “The other one, obviously.”

  “Okay, I guess he shares the blame, but not really. Not completely, anyway.” Kelsen, Ralia, and Fyche all gave him inquisitive looks. “Look, it was kinda my fault. I was being a jerk, and I made a bad situation worse. I don’t think he ever would have gone off on me like that if I hadn’t escalated things.”

  Fyche immediately shook his head. “No. Don’t ever think like that. Guys like him, you spend long enough with them, and you start thinking everything that happens is somehow your fault. Like they only act like they do because you set them off. Seems like he already had you thinking that way.” He looked away. “It’s clear-cut abuse. Don’t let him make you think the shitty things he does are your fault.”

  “I...okay.”

  At everyone else’s insistence, Niko took off his jacket and shirt and let Kelsen examine him to the best of his ability. He wasn’t exactly a doctor, but he’d seen Niko—who had been an overeager child, prone to accident and getting in over his head—injured enough that he knew the basics. Eventually, Kelsen straightened up. “It’s not too bad. Some bruising. I think one of your ribs is bruised, too, but nothing is actually broken.” His eyebrows lowered. “You need to go lie down.”

  “I told you, I feel fine.”

  Kelsen bit his lip, and then drew himself up, making himself as tall and broad as possible. “I’m not asking! If you don’t, I’ll drag you there myself.”

  Niko smirked, amused at his friend’s bravado. “You really think you can?”

  Kelsen deflated, but didn’t break his gaze. “Th-then I will politely ask Ralia to!”

  Stooping over them, Ralia grinned. “I will, too.”

  “Damn it. Fine, I’ve lost this one. Honestly, lying down sounds good right now.”

  Fyche raised a paw. “Oh, um, before that—I-I mean, before I go—we should give each other our info.” Niko raised an eyebrow, and Fyche coughed. “You know, uh, in case the police need to talk to us, or something.”

  “Oh, right.” They swapped phone numbers and email addresses. “Hey, thanks again. You really did save me back there.”

  “I was happy to—I mean, it’s all--that is, no problem. I’m not happy that it happened. Uh.” Fyche glanced away and then back, apparently flustered. “I-I should get going. See you.”

  “Yeah, bye.”

  Ralia called her own goodbye to him, and then shut the door and locked it. “Okay, bedtime for you, Niko. Actually, we all might as well get some sleep. It’s getting late.”

  “Fiiiiiine. Gimme a lift?”

  “Sure.”

  Ralia approached to let Niko jump onto her hand, and was surprised when Kelsen joined him. “I’m gonna sleep in there tonight,” he explained.

  Niko looked between the two of them. “As opposed to?...” Kelsen flushed, and Ralia merely gave him a knowing look. “Man, what happened while I was gone?”

  “N-nothing,” Kelsen said.

  “Nothing? That meant nothing to you?” Ralia gasped.

  “N-no! That’s not what I meant! Of course it meant a lot, I just...”

  He trailed off as Ralia grinned. “Relax. I’m just teasing you.”

  “You’re so mean to me,” he complained.

  Niko threw up his arms. “What on or off Moccs is going on with you two?!”

  Setting them down, Ralia stuck her tongue out at him. “Ask Kelsen. I need to check something on my computer before bed.”

  A few minutes later, Kelsen and Niko lay in bed, listening to Ralia shifting positions on the couch. “Okay, man. Spill.”

  Kelsen rolled over so that he was facing away. “I told you. I got upset, but now I’m doing better.” He pulled the blankets up to his shoulders. “A lot better.”

  “Oh, no, no, no. Details, or I will ask Ralia to explain as embarrassingly as possible.”

  “Fine! God. You two are the worst.” He grinned back over his shoulder. “After you left, I kinda freaked out. Part of it was that you were gone, and part of it was...my fear getting worse.”

  “Of Latians, you mean? Or just general anxiety?”

  “Neither. I...I didn’t really talk about it with you, but ever since I found out Ralia was Latian, I’ve been really worried that our relationship couldn’t work out.”

  “Because of the size difference?”

  “Yeah. Like, how could she ever see me as anything more than a pity friend? Or a pet?”

  “Kel, she’d never—”

  “I know. I mean...I think I know, now. We talked about it for a while. She said some things that made me feel better. And I told her I wasn’t afraid of her...just afraid we couldn’t be together.”

  “Yeah?”

  “And...well. She picked me up and hugged me and told me...we were better together, and I guess that being different doesn’t mean we can’t be good for each other. And I sort of felt it, when we were touching and talking and...well...I’m not as afraid now.”

  “And you slept together?”

  Blushing, Kelsen nodded. “Yes. I mean, only in the literal sense. I spent last night on the couch with her.”

  Niko whistled. “I missed a lot.”

  Kelsen rolled back over. “Okay, your turn. What exactly happened with Pakos?”

  “Do we have to get into it?”

  “Yes!”

  Niko sighed. “Fine, okay, that’s fair. Well, we went back to his apartment after the theater, and...he wanted to do something. Intimate. He wanted to fuck. I didn’t.”

  “And he kicked you because of that?”

  “No. I said I wanted to get to know him better. He was annoyed, but accepted it and we just went to bed. I think I just sent him the wrong signals. The next day, we went out to some museums and stuff, since you guys never texted about meeting up.”

  “Oh, yeah...I was probably hiding in here at the time.”

  “Anyway, things didn’t go so well. We were both kind of pissed and kept arguing, and ended up calling it early. When we went back, he said that he did what I wanted, so I should do what he wanted. I told him he was crazy. Then he got pissed off and kicked me.”

  “And he didn’t take you to a doctor or anything?”

  “No. He set me down on a pillow. Either he thought I was faking being hurt, or he just really wanted me to be faking. Had some weird dreams that night, and then the next morning, he apologized. Said he was sorry, and only acted like that because I made him mad.”

  Kelsen frowned. “I think that Fyche guy is right. Remember back in Mrs. Donovo’s class, the unit we did on negative communication? That sounds a lot like what she told us about abuse.”

  “Yeah. I guess. I think it’s easier to look back and say ‘Yeah, that’s abuse’ than it is to recognize it in the moment.”

  “Probably. What happened after he said that?”

  “He took off. Said he had to do something for work. He was gone for a few hours. Then he got back, we watched some TV, then went out to dinner. Came back to Teromod. At the restaurant, I said I wanted to meet up with you guys tomorrow. He said no. We argued. He tried to grab me, I guess to force me...but Fyche stopped him. They sort of had a little fight. He gave Pakos a bloody nose. Pakos ran off. We called the police. Then Fyche brought me back here.”

  Kelsen shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry, man. That really sucks. You just wanted to hang out with a guy you thought was a friend, and he turned out to be a jerk.”

  Niko shrugged. “It happens.”

  “It shouldn’t.”

  “But it does. Let’s just be glad I wasn’t hurt badly and he’s gonna get what’s coming to him.”