Foxbutt Ch. 02

"No dice, dude," says Thomas, making brief eye contact with Lily - "it's a liability thing. Smell that? Can't have customers around when there's electrical gremlins abroad."

The majority of the customers are already grumbling towards the door. "Shouldn't take but a few minutes," says Lily, "we'll have it sorted out in a jiffy."

The one dude is still lingering around the counter, stepping awkwardly from foot to foot, looking like he's about to put up a fuss. Thomas, bless him, is stepping around the counter, forcing the guy to walk with him, talking soothingly to him.

"See her?" he points towards Lily. "She's an electrical genius. Whatever the problem is, she can fix it."

"What if she can't?" asks the guy, crestfallen.

"Look," soothes Thomas, "just head next door," they're halfway across the floor - "grab a can of Coke or something," Thomas is easing the game from the guy's hands - "and by the time you've checked your email and posted on Twitter that you're waiting to buy GTA, we'll most likely be back open and ready to sell it to you. Okay?"

Lily takes a deep breath, ready to say "The stockroom's on fire, get the fuck out you moron," should this last play by Thomas not work.

"Okay," nods the guy, sadly, and Lily exhales. The second he's out of the shop Lily twists the key violently in the lock behind him. She spins around and stalks towards the stockroom. Thomas follows her sheepishly.

Lily waits in the stockroom for Thomas to enter and the door to close on an agonizingly slow airbrake behind him.

Clunk.

"YOU'RE A FUCKING FOX!" shouts Lily, pointing at Thomas.

"I know!" says Thomas, palms upraised.

"What the fuck!" she says, pointing at his ears.

"Yeah!" says Thomas, pointing himself. "What the fuck?!"

"What the fuck?!" she says, pointing behind Thomas, to the tail swishing between his legs.

"I know, right?!" Thomas grabs his tail, pulls it around for her to see. "Fucking look at that!" He shakes it at her.

"What the fuck," says Lily, pointing to Thomas' face with one hand, and with the other, touching her cheeks with thumb and forefinger and then drawing her hand away from her face to describe a muzzle shape.

"It's crazy," says Thomas, dropping his tail and grabbing his muzzle, "I had to learn how to brush my teeth all over again!"

"You're clearly a fucking fox, Tom, how come the customers can't see that?!"

"I only noticed myself this morning!" says Thomas, inexplicably.

Lily waves her arms in Thomas' general direction, sputtering. "HOW THE FUCK DID YOU NOT NOTICE THIS?!"

"Hey, you didn't notice either! Apparently my dad didn't notice that he was a fox either, until he and my mom started dating."

Lily covers her face in sane, reassuring palm. "Oh, this is crazy," she groans. "This is, like, dream logic or something." She takes her hands off her face and pinches her forearm, hard. "Ow."

"This is why I was late coming in," says Thomas.

"We've only got a few minutes," sighs Lily, hands in her hair, "before corporate notices and calls my cell asking what the fuck. Tom, I have so many questions."

"Me too!" cries Thomas, shrugging, palms facing Lily. "This morning I woke up, panicked, called my dad, and he told me that I'd been a fox my entire life and just not noticed it! And him, and my granddad too, and God-knows how far back it even goes! And before we could even talk about it, he said I had to get to work quick and not draw attention to myself!"

"Okay," breathes Lily, "so we're more or less on the same page, at least." She looks Thomas up and down. "Seriously, you didn't just turn into a fox? You've actually been a fox the whole time? That's even more insane."

"I know," says Thomas, nodding. "Tell me about it." His eyes widen - "But only me. Don't tell anyone else about it, please."

"Gotcha." A secret, thinks Lily. "So how come I can see you? Is that gonna be a problem? Are other people gonna start seeing you too?"

"Ah," says Thomas, rubbing his neck. "Um. Well, uh..."

Lily notices something. "The insides of your ears are turning pink!"

"Well I guess that's what a blush looks like on a fox!" cries Thomas, exasperated, looking at Lily's shoes.

There's quiet, for a moment.

"Why're you blushing, Tom?" asks Lily, quietly.

"Well, uh... my dad said..." he forces himself to look Lily in the eye. "My dad started to say a lot of stuff about quantum mechanics and my wave function collapsing when my..." he looks down - "...body was observed, and... uh, my mom chimed in, thank goodness, and she said that..." he rubs his knuckles. Lily feels a blush starting. "She said that I became aware of my body because someone else had, too, and, uh..."

There's quiet, again. Lily looks at Thomas, feeling the blush reach her cheeks, then her ears, her hands creeping up to her mouth.

"So..." says Lily, quietly - "you're a fox now because... I was..." her ears burn - "...looking at your butt?"

Thomas nods, glancing up at her, a weak grin, the insides of his ears deepening in color.

"I thought I saw something moving," says Lily. "That was your tail, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," says Thomas. "That's, uh... that's gonna move around on its own, until I learn to control it. And knock all the games off the shelves."

Lily feels a smile creep onto her lips. "Am I gonna turn into a fox if you look at my butt?"

Thomas' ears twitch. "If you were gonna, you probably would've by now," he admits.

"So much more makes sense now," breathes Lily. "You're a bit colorblind. You eat lots of meat. You wear shorts and a T-shirt into October. I should have connected the dots sooner." Oh my God what a ridiculous thing to say.

"I've always liked my steaks rare," says Thomas. "Even when I was little."

"I like mine rare too," says Lily, pointlessly.

"Do you, uh... still want to go on a date with me? Y'know..." he casts a hand up and down himself. "Knowing what I am?"

Lily looks at Thomas.

"Yes," she says, quietly.

Thomas untenses visibly.

"But not tonight," says Lily. "We have to keep your foxiness secret and I don't think I can do that in public tonight. I just want to... look, can we just... like, go back to your place, and talk about this?"

Thomas nods. His whiskers wave up and down, and flick back when he grins. "Yeah."

"Good," says Lily. "Okay."

"Okay," says Thomas.

"Alright," says Lily. "Let's fake me not having just microwaved a shitty game and thrown this breaker, and reopen the store before corporate notices."

"So that's how you made the smell!" grins Thomas. "I did wonder."

"Yeah - but gimme a second first, because I really do have to pee."