A chance for Friendship by: Pent Ghelsburg
Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this work are purely fictional. Any resemblance to persons alive or dead is purely coincidental. They are the original and rightful intellectual property of their creators. I use them with permission and respect. This work involves underaged characters. You have been warned.
The next few days came and passed by pretty quickly. The young fox always managed to keep his nose low when at school. Pent did not like to be noticed. The fact he had made a friend didn’t change that part of his personality. Of course, he didn’t realize it himself. It had become a part of him since he had become wary of people taking advantage of him. For him, the only person he could trust was his brother.
Home life was a mixed experience of support and distrust. Pent and his brother lived with a foster parent who was one of those guardians who took no Creedence in how she treated her so-called family. Pent and Samaliel had no say in the matter as the older fox knew all too well that it was better than living on the streets. Every time his brother complained about it, Pent tried reminding him of that.
It was Friday morning, the day before the so-called play date with his new friend. Pent hadn’t thought about it much and the issue had fallen back into his mind. The clock sounded with the familiar echo of the alarm chiming in the room. The white fox slowly roused in his bed, poking the bottom of the top bunk as he often did to see if Samaliel had already gotten up.
“I’m awake…I’m awake.” The younger cub groaned from above.
Pent stopped jamming his finger into the bottom of the bunk and rolled out from within. “Morning.”
Samaliel rolled over from the top mattress. His bare paws could be seen from down below. Seconds later he hopped down onto the floor, forgetting all about using the ladder that was affixed to that bed for just that purpose. Pent stared at him intently but it wasn’t until Samaliel turned around that the other cub noticed.
“What?” The salt and pepper-furred fox looked at his brother expectantly.
Pent shook his head. “Nothing, let’s get some breakfast and get ready for school.”
The white fox rolled out of his bed and onto his feet. He ruffled his brother's head fur and the two stood there idly for a moment. Pent began walking after a few seconds with Samaliel following close behind. The two walked down the hall until they arrived in the Kitchen. It was still dark enough outside that Pent had to turn on the lights so they could see around them. The foxes made their way to the fridge.
“What do you want for breakfast?” Pent asked as he knew the other boy preferred variety in his diet.
The younger cub hummed. “How about some pastry tarts?
“Easy enough. I can do that.” The white fox opened the door and pulled out a small container of fruit for himself.
The older boy then walked over to the pantry and pulled out a pastry tart and popped it into the toaster. Samaliel watched eagerly as the timer on the side of the machine counted down. It didn’t take much longer before the pastry popped out of the machine making an audible noise to signal it was done cooking the baked good. Pent pried it out of the silvery top and delivered it onto a plate before sliding it over to the younger boy who had already set up drinks and utensils for them.
Pent joined and grabbed a bowl before joining his brother at the table.
“Still planning on going to your friends today?” Samaliel hadn’t forgotten about the deal his brother had made him earlier in the week.
The white fox hesitated a second before answering. “I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet. Did you even read the book you decided on?”
“Um…well…I kind of forgot but what does that matter? You never go over to people’s houses for fun. It’s always to tutor them and you know how that turns out.” Samaliel talked between bites of the warm pastry tart.
Pent sighed. “Yeah, well. I’m a sucker I guess. Still, I’m nervous about going over there for fun. I feel like he will take advantage of me like everyone else.”
“Does he seem like that kind of person? The only one who can make that determination is you. Still…I think you should still go. How often do you get to have fun without me?” The younger boy was always bluntly honest with his brother.
The bigger fox rolled his eyes. “I have plenty of fun without you. You just don’t realize it. I have fun in my way.”
“Uh-huh. I’m not saying you don’t. I just think you should try to be more social…for once.” Samaliel shrugged trying to reason with the other cub.
Pent finally began eating. “I’ll think about it.”
The two remained silent for the remainder of the meal. Once they were done, they worked together to clean up the mess they had made. Samaliel and Pent seldom did chores alone as the older fox had trained his younger sibling well in the realm of teamwork. After they were done, they made their way back into the living room. They had put their bookbags there from the previous day and so they just grabbed them before heading out the door.
Pent locked the door behind them. Looking in front of them, he gauged the weather situation for the day. There were a few clouds in the sky but nothing overly ominous. A chilly breeze blew through the area but both boys' fur was thick enough that it didn’t bother them. They began walking together through the front yard and toward the main street. The lack of communication between them made Samaliel believe he had upset the other cub.
“I didn’t make you angry did I? I wasn’t trying to be pushy.” Samaliel wanted to clear the air.
Pent huffed. “Naw, you’re fine. Just thinking about too much as always.”
“Heh, doesn’t surprise me.” The younger cub smirked at his brother's response.
They continued walking down the main street on the sidewalk. It didn’t take them much longer before they arrived at the school. It was still early enough out that there weren’t many other cubs around. As always, the two separated near the diverted pathways leading to both buildings.
“Have a good day.” Pent waved to his brother as he made his way to the secondary school.
Samaliel waved back. “See you later.”
The white fox headed toward an outcropping of trees in front of the bigger building. He knew most people didn’t go there and preferred the isolation rather than bugging other people. Once he was underneath the canopy of the vast oak branches, he sat down and made himself comfortable. Easing himself back, he pulled out a book from his bag to begin reading and soon lost himself in the text.
Soon a somewhat familiar voice spoke to him.
“What’s up?” Arthur stood overtop the other cub looking down at him.
Pent was entirely lost in the book and wasn’t paying attention to anything else. Arthur tapped him with the toe of his shoe. Pent finally came around and looked up at him.
“Oh, hey. Sorry.” The white fox put the book down on his lap.
The Eskimo cub smiled. “It’s alright. What are you reading anyhow?”
“Nothing you would be interested in.” Pent figured that his subject heavy book would only appeal to him,’
Arthur murmured a bit. “Right…well you can still tell me what it is?”
“It’s called the Sirens of Mars.” The white fox held it up and showed the rather bland cover of the novel.
The standing cub kneeled to look at it. “I suppose it must be interesting. You’re always reading it.”
“This is a new book. I just started it but it seems interesting.” Pent tried to keep the details as simple as possible.
Arthur nodded. “Sounds good. Are you still coming over today?”
“I suppose. Did you need help with homework?” The white fox assumed the boy just needed some form of academic assistance.
The Eskimo cub stammered a bit as he spoke. “Uh…no? Not yet? I was just thinking we could hang out and have fun.”
“That sounds good. I need to be home for dinner so I can make food for my brother though. Is that alright?” Pent didn’t want to leave his brother home alone all night even if Samaliel knew of his assumed plans.
Arthur smiled wider. “Yeah, sure. That’s fine. I didn’t tell my parents you were staying for dinner anyways so that works out.”
“Alright.” The smaller cub wasn’t sure what else to say.
The bigger boy stood back up. “See you after school then. I’ll let you read your book.”
Pent nodded and buried his nose back in the book he was reading. It wasn’t much longer before the first bell signaled that classes would be starting soon. He groaned and picked himself up. The fox slid the book back into his bag and began walking towards the entrance of the building. It was much more congested now with foot traffic, so he kept to the side to make sure he didn’t run into anyone.
Pent made his way to his first class. As always kids were hanging around the outside of it. The white fox isolated himself from the crowd and kept to the side before sitting down again. He decided it was best to not start up his book again.
“Oh, look. It’s the nerd.” A deep-toned male voice mocked the young fox.
The cub ignored the insult and said nothing, keeping his head on the floor.
“Don’t ignore me…you jerk.” The Doberman kicked his foot forward, jamming it into the side of Pent’s butt.
Yet, still, Pent said and did nothing. He sat there, unwilling to initiate the conflict any further. Luckily for him, the teacher came out of the class and noticed the issue. The older fur reached over and grabbed the bigger boy by his shoulder and turned him around. She pointed away as if to signal for him to go to the office. She allowed the rest of her class in before checking on the victim.
“You alright?” She asked to be certain the fox wasn’t injured.
Pent nodded and picked himself up. It wasn’t the first time he had been assaulted by the other boy and he assumed it wouldn’t be the last. He made his way into the class and sat in whichever open chair he could find near the front of the classroom. The class started before long. They started talking about the book that had been assigned. Pent had long ago finished the novel and had moved on to something else.
Still, Pent was able to answer pretty much all of the questions he was asked. The cub was always eager to show off his knowledge and today was no different. Of course, the teacher tried
not to always rely on him but there were times when she had no choice in the matter. Once the discussion of the book was over, she passed out a worksheet which Pent was able to complete pretty quickly as he was more than eager to get back to the book he was reading.
The rest of the class went by quickly since Pent always occupied himself to pass by the time quicker. He did not like to be idle. Once the class was released, he made his way through the hall to his next class. He was looking forward to math as it was a more challenging class for him. The cub passed by Santiago who happened to be in the same class he was in since the squirrel was older.
“How goes it?” The rodent asked the other boy.
Pent looked at the bigger boy. “Fine.”
“No other issues?” Santiago recalled the cub's problems from the other day.
The white fox shrugged. “The usual, I suppose.”
“That sucks. Well, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I am serious about the offer I made the other day.” The bigger boy couldn’t help but frown at the cub's answer.
Pent nodded. “Thanks, we can talk at lunch if you want.”
“Sounds good…I’ll count on it.” Santiago wondered if the boy would go through with it or not.
The white fox made his way to the classroom and the two sat down together. It was the first time Pent had decided to not sit alone without some element of the reason behind it. The teacher waited a few moments before beginning instruction. Today’s lesson was a displacement lesson anchored in engineering. The kids were expected to figure out discharge versus retention in a pool.
Each of the groups of students was provided a small laptop where a simulation was enacted. A small toy boat was submerged in water. The bucket it was in was small enough that the water overflowed from within the moment that the boat was put inside. A larger tray had been placed underneath and was removed by an invisible hand. It then displayed a prompt on the screen with the weight of the water and the size of the plate that contained it. The kids were then expected to figure out the volume of water that was pushed out.
Pent reviewed the little hints on the Screen. Santiago had no idea where to start. The two stared for a bit as they worked out options in their heads. The fox began scribbling some equations on some paper that was already in front of him. Plugging in the numbers into the equations to determine the volume of the plate. That was simple enough for him. Looking at the screen again, he saw that the water inside the plate had a marking distinguishing its height.
There were no markings of height where the water was sitting. It appeared to be about halfway up the tray and so Pent made an estimate. He plugged it in and did the same calculations for the water. The fox came up with an answer and put it into the answer slot of the problem on the screen. Sure enough, it came back correct and the fox smiled.
“You’re pretty smart.” Santiago exclaimed with a look of amazement on his face.
The fox shrugged as if it was no big deal to him. “Do you want me to show you how to do it?”
“Sure, I don’t get it so that would be nice.” The squirrel blushed a bit at his naivety.
Pent showed the older boy his equations and began explaining each of them. Starting with the equation for volume, he showed what each of the numbers represented. He then pointed on the screen to the part of the problem where he got the number from. It was becoming more clear to Santiago now but he still didn’t get the last step.
“So, what about the remaining volume of water? How did you figure that out?” Santiago wanted to be sure he understood the entirety of the question.
Pent began showing him again, this time pointing out the numbers of the water. He explained how he assumed half was correct by showing the water on the screen. He figured it was simple enough but didn’t want to demean the other boy's willingness to learn so he said nothing about his feelings.
“Thanks, I get it now.” Santiago smiled at the younger cub.
Pent pointed at the paper. “Now do it yourself.”
Santiago proceeded to do the same steps, having some small issues but was able to work through them after a few minutes of struggling. Pent patted him on the back, glad he was able to figure it out on his own. The computer screen soon prompted them with more questions to try their skills. Pent and Santiago worked together this time to figure it out, though Pent remained much in control of the answer itself as he hated to be wrong.
The rest of the class went much the same. The two boys were able to work through the problems without much issue. They scored a 100%, which was the first time Santiago had ever gotten a perfect score on a math assignment. He thanked Pent and the two made their way out of the door once the instructor dismissed them. Once outside, they made their separate ways. Pent continued to his next class.
Pent always looked forward to Science class. It was his favorite subject and had been for a long time. He wasted no time in getting to the class. Taking the closest seat to the front before his favorite teacher showed up. The woman was used to him always showing up early. She didn’t say anything to him as she was anxious about being alone with students. Instead, she walked outside and proceeded to welcome the rest of the cubs into the class.
Once everyone was inside, she made her way back to the front of the room. Today’s lesson was about astronomy. A discussion about gravity and how it changed between planets. Visiting NASA’s reviews on the subject Of course the main focuses of the subject were the Moon and Mars since both of them had extensive studies done into their gravity and how it changed. Still, they visited the ideas of gravity on the other planets as well.
The woman then postulated to the class to see if they could figure out the gravity of another planet’s moon based on the difference between Earth and its Moon and Mars and its own.
It was a completely hypothetical activity and the instructor figured the cubs would enjoy a chance to explore something different. Already the gears in Pent’s mind began to wonder how to figure it all out.
Again they were given laptops to explore the issue. Pent wasted no time in going directly to NASA’s website. He figured they would have research papers on the subject. Sure enough, the agency had a research lab just for gravity. He scanned through the articles and eventually came up with research for Pluto. It was a dated article since the celestial body was no longer considered a planet. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder how accurate It would be since it was an older article.
He began reading way too much into it. The article stated that Pluto was roughly 1/15th the gravity of the earth. The students were given several equations and ratios to work with. Of course, they were all for the non-dwarf planets but that didn’t stop Pent. He worked out the gravitational pull to about .6. It was surprisingly close to the one he had found in the article. He showed off his work to the teacher. She smiled at him and challenged him to do another dwarf planet that hadn’t been researched yet.
Pent went back to work, looking for another Dwarf Planet, and settled on Ceres. Again he began pouring through the articles on it. Much more recent work was found as he began reading. This time he had to compare gravity for both Mars and Jupiter which had well-founded gravity readings. Ceres’ was a little less consistent so he decided to see what he could come up with. He plugged in the numbers and came up with about .3.
He again showed it to the teacher who was busy in the middle of something. Pent was disappointed he couldn’t show off his work but didn’t let it bother him. He continued to scan through articles, reading more up on Ceres to see what he could learn about it since he didn’t know much about it. He spent the rest of the class reading articles since he felt like he didn’t need to put any more work into the assignment.
Once the class was dismissed, Pent went about his next class like normal. It wasn’t until lunch that he changed things up a bit. He remembered that he had told Santiago that he’d meet up with him. The fox had been looking forward to reading his book again but supposed that could wait so he didn’t seem like he was misleading the older boy. He began to make his way to the cafeteria and headed down the hall.
After he had arrived in the cafeteria, he looked around to see if he could see Santiago. The squirrel had yet to arrive from what he could see and didn’t appear to be in the same spot as last time. Instead, he proceeded to walk toward the end of the line. As always the string of people was outlaying around the perimeter of the room. Pent waited in line as the stream of other cubs made their way through the queue.
At the front of the line, Pent was handed a tray for him to pick out food. As a vegetarian, he always picked out whatever green options were available for him. Usually, there wasn’t much other than salads and fruits. Still, he did not like to complain much as the conflict was something he preferred to avoid. Pent picked his selections and proceeded to depart from the lunch line and into the main part of the cafeteria.
Pent found an empty spot on the table, somewhat isolated from other groups. He was used to sitting alone so it didn’t bother him much to carry about things as normal. He started eating his food and looked around once more to see if he could see Santiago. There still didn’t appear to be any sign of him. The fox decided to leave the issue and settled on reading his book when he was done.
The rest of the day went much the same for him. The school was pretty slow for him after his favorite classes were done and over with. Though, he liked to learn so it wasn’t like he was in a bad mood about it in the latter part of the day.
Even gym class was pretty low-key today with the cubs being expected to play basketball, which was quick and easy to pass time when the weather did not permit outdoor pleasures.
When school ended and the bell finally rang, the whole population of cubs exploded out of their seats. Pent, as always, was slower to get out of his chair. He didn’t like to be subjected to the crowds of kids rushing home. It wasn’t like his brother got out the same time he did. The primary school let out a bit earlier than his own and he was used to letting Samaliel go home with his friends.
The white fox made his way outside to the front entrance of the school. Cubs of various ages were standing around and hanging about. He paid them no mind as he made his way looking for Arthur. He hadn’t forgotten about the plans he made and had decided to go through with them despite any premonition he might have had about it. Sure enough, the bigger cub was hanging out under the same tree they had met up at before.
“How were classes?” The Eskimo dog asked his friend.
Pent shrugged. “Fine and you?”
“Well enough. Ready to head out to my place?” Arthur got up from where he was sitting and stood up.
The white fox nodded and took a deep breath telling himself it would be alright. “Yeah.”
Arthur took the lead of the two with his smaller friend following close behind. Pent put his hands in his pocket and tried to distract himself from negative thoughts. The two began to walk down the main street. They headed in the opposite direction of how Pent normally walked home. He’d been to this part of town before but eventually, they arrived at a gated community.
Arthur led them through an entryway into the community. Pent was taken aback by the size of most of the homes in the area. Many of them were far larger than what he lived in. Each of them had sizable lawns in front of them and most of them were well-kept. Even the cars in each of the lots showed some element of wealth as many of them appeared to be luxury by design. He couldn’t help but look around, dazed a bit.
They continued walking to the far side of the community. Traffic was non-existent this time of day but the boys still kept to the sidewalk, just in case. Eventually, they arrived at Arthur’s place. The bigger boy began to lead towards it and Pent figured they must be at his friend's home.
“You have a pretty big house.” Pent commented at the thought that had reoccurred in his mind.
Arthur looked back at him. “You think so? I guess.”
“Yeah, it’s bigger than mine. It seems nice.” The white fox continued to wait in front of the building.
The bigger cub turned back around and opened the door. “Thanks…but wait until you see my room.”
“Should I take off my shoes?” Pent was used to such rules in his own house and figured he’d ask if it was necessary.
The Eskimo dog shrugged. “It doesn’t matter but you can if it will make you feel more comfortable.”
Pent thought about it a second before deciding to ignore the issue. The two continued to walk back toward the rear of the home. Arthur’s room was the last one on the left of the hallway. His parent's room was opposite his own. The cub always left the door open except at night so he didn’t have to bother opening it once they arrived. Arthur allowed Pent to go in first and once he was inside, the white fox took a look around.
Arthur’s room had stuff all around it. Littered with clothes here and there as the boy wasn’t the tidiest cub. Posters of various athletes were plastered on the wall leaving very little of the blue paint that colored the room. Most of the posters featured hockey players though there were some other sports. The furnishings in the room were of lacquered wood and seemed to be rather ornate compared to the ones Pent was given.
“Nice room.” Pent couldn’t help but compliment the boys living accommodations.
Arthur smiled and nodded. “Thanks. I’m glad you came over.”
Arthur plopped down on the only bean bag chair in the room. It was apparent he didn’t invite people over often. Pent wasn’t sure where to sit down so he walked over to the chair at the desk and proceeded to sit down in it. It wasn’t long before the fox reached into his bag to pull out his book as he often shut himself down when was uncertain of what to do.
“So…uh what do you like to do anyways?” Arthur couldn’t help but notice the boy's deflection.
Pent murmured a bit. “I like to read.”
“I gathered that…anything other than read?” The bigger cub laid back in his beanbag chair.
The fox hummed. “I like to play hockey but it’s probably too dark outside for what.”
“How about video games…do you like any games?” The Eskimo suggested one of the easiest ways he knew to pass time.
Pent shrugged. “I play sometimes with my brother, though I’m not very good at it.”
“Right, well it’s better than just sitting around and doing nothing.” Arthur got up from his chair and headed over to the TV stand and powered it on.
Pent put his book back in the bag and waited a few seconds before joining Arthur on the floor. The Eskimo turned on the switch and swapped out the game that was in it.
“How about some Smash Brothers?” Arthur figured it was a popular enough game for the other boy would know about it.
Pent nodded. “Sure, I’ve played that before.”
Arthur detached the two joy-con controllers from the side of the console and handed one to Pent. The two waited for a few moments as the system booted up. It didn’t take very long before the familiar menu was displayed on the screen. Arthur proceeded to navigate the options until they were at the character select screen. The bigger boy let his friend pick first, who went with Inkling while the other cub picked Ganon.
“Fan of Splatoon?” Arthur couldn’t help but comment on what he considered to be a rare pick.
Pent shrugged. “It’s alright. My brother likes it more than I do.”
The screen soon loaded to the battle. Arthur had removed all items from the map, which was something Pent wasn’t expecting. The match started before long with each of the cub's characters being given 3 lives to expend. Arthur immediately began his assault, he had always been an aggressive player and he wasn’t about to let up on Pent. The fox found himself on the defensive, unable to do very much. The first match went very poorly for him Pent wasn’t even able to score a single point.
“Wow, you’re pretty good at this game.” Pent said as he wasn’t sure how else to react.
Arthur rubbed his head. “Sorry, I guess I should have let up a bit.”
“Nah, play how you want. You don’t need to go easy on me.” The fox was used to losing in games so this certainly was the first time he’d experienced it.
The next match started after the results screen went away. Neither of the cubs changed their characters. Pent found himself a bit more prepared this go around and so he was able to defend himself a bit better. Still, it was no good. Arthur was just too good at the game for him to do much but try to play defensively.
“Sorry, I’ll pick someone else…” Arthur just wasn’t one to throw games even if he wanted to give the other cub a better chance.
Both cubs picked a different character this time around and Pent was able to do a bit better than before as Arthur picked one of his less-used characters. The two continued playing for some time until Pent grew tired of it, and placed the controller on the floor.
“Can we do something else?” Pent was frustrated with losing and wanted to move on.
Arthur put down his controller. “Sure what else do you want to do?”
“Read a book…?” The fox defaulted to his usual activity.
The bigger boy murmured a bit. “But…there’s gotta be something else.”
An awkward silence was shared between them. “Do you need help with homework?”
“I don’t think so.” Arthur didn’t think his assignments were difficult enough to need help on.
Pent got up and went over to collect his book. “I guess I’ll head out then.”
“Thanks for coming over. I promise I’ll think of something different next time.” Arthur felt guilty that he didn’t have an option that the other cub liked.
The fox grabbed his backpack and began to head outside. He wasn’t sure what to make of the ordeal. Pent had a hard time relating to the other kids and this made it even more apparent. He sighed and began making his way home. He remembered the way out and backtracked his way to the school before proceeding on his way home. It took him a bit longer than he expected but he was able to get home without much issue.
Pent opened the door and was immediately greeted by his brother, who bounded out of their room the moment he heard the front door pry open.
“So…how was it?” Samaliel said with his tail visibly wagging behind him in anticipation.
Pent shrugged. “It was no big deal. I’m not sure how it went.”
“Did you have fun?” The young cub tapped his socked paw on the floor impatiently.
Pent started to shake his head. “No…not…”
“Oh, come on Pent. You got to try harder to relate to people.” Samaliel scoffed at him with a frown.
The white fox frowned a bit. “I mean…I tried…”
“But did you? I know you shut off around people. He invited you over…you need to give it more of a chance.” The salt and pepper-colored fox sighed a bit.
The older cub murmured a bit and looked at the floor. “Look, I didn’t want to go over there in the first place. I just wanted to read my book. All he wanted to do was play games.”
“So? That’s a normal thing for kids our age.” Samaliel patted Pent on the back.
Pent closed the door behind him. “I know.”
“Right, well. He was just trying to have fun with you.” The younger fox continued to try to rationalize the whole ordeal.
The white fox kicked off his shoes. “Well, I didn’t have fun. I’m fine with losing at games but he didn’t even give me a chance.”
“Well, perhaps you should have told him that. You can’t just expect him to know how you feel.” They began walking
Pent looked back
at Samaliel. “Well, it’s not like he took interest in what I wanted to do.”
“Did you try to read a book again? It’s fine if you like to read books but that’s not exactly fun for everyone else. Especially when the school forces us to read…” Samaliel sighed as if frustrated.
The white fox began walking again. “This is why I didn’t want to go over to his house. I just want to be left alone.”
Samaliel stopped pursuing the issue for the time being. He felt a bit guilty all of the sudden but he wanted nothing more than Pent to have a friend other than himself. He decided he would let the issue die down a bit. He followed Pent back into the room. Samaliel noticed the older fox had already shut down and had already stuffed his nose into a book.
“You want me to make something for dinner for us?” Samaliel just wanted to be helpful.
Pent huffed. “I will take care of it. Don’t worry about it.”
The white fox got up from where he was laying down, placing the book on the surface of the bed for later. Samaliel decided to follow along to make sure that his brother was alright. Pent kept silent. The older boy had always been sort of a stalwart, seldom showing his emotions. Samaliel knew this all too well. Still, Samaliel knew when Pent shut down that he needed his support even if he didn’t want it.
Samaliel continued to follow Pent until they were both in the kitchen. The older cub knew he had been followed and so he turned around.
“What do you want to eat?” Pent’s discernment still gave off a bit of annoyance.
Samaliel ignored the awkward look. “Whatever is keen.”
Pent turned around and began walking toward the fridge to see what was available to pick from.
“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you upset with me. I am just trying to help.” Samaliel confided the issue again.
Pent sighed. “It’s fine. I’m not mad at you.”
“Are you sure? It seems like it.” The younger boy always tried to be honest with his brother.
The older fox nodded. “Yeah, I promise. I’m just frustrated.”
“Good. I’m glad.” Samaliel decided to let the issue die again and trust his brother’s word.
Pent began to prepare dinner for the two of them. Samaliel tried helping to make the other cub's jobs easier. Pent ended up picking some tofu along with some flavoring. Picking on some stir fry to provide some variety. Samaliel focused on making the stir fry since it was the easiest thing to make. It didn’t take very long for either of them to prepare it. The younger fox delivered some milk to the table.
Once the food was ready they both sat down at the table and began eating. Neither said much. Pent’s mind was still rife with self-conflict. Did he want to pursue the friendship any further or let it go? He decided time would tell and he would try to stop thinking about it for the time being. He cracked a smile on his face for the first time that night. Samaliel patted him on the back.
The two finished dinner before long. When the meal was done, the two of them proceeded to stand up and clean up after themselves. Neither cub was shy about helping out despite the little issue beforehand.
“You wanna play some Smash so you can get better? I’ll show you some tricks if you want.” Samaliel suggested it so his brother would improve at it.
Pent shook his head. “Not right now. Maybe tomorrow. When you start reading the book we talked about…”
“Yeah, yeah. Okay…okay you win.” Samaliel couldn’t believe the other boy had remembered the deal.
The white fox poked his brother on the nose. “Yup. For once. Want some ice cream?”
“Sure an ice cream bar sounds good.” The salt and pepper fox’s tail wagged slowly behind him.
The older boy smiled before padding over to the freezer and pulling out one for both of them. He wasn’t keen on sweets very often but he figured he’d indulge for a change of pace. The two didn’t bother to sit down and proceeded to just enjoy the treat while standing. Once they were done, Pent reached over to clean off Samaliel’s snout which had some ice cream smeared on it.
“Thanks.” Samaliel snickered a bit at the older cub.
The bigger boy nodded and the two finished their treats before long. They disposed of the wrappers before retiring to their room. Pent grabbed his pajamas from the drawer before retreating to the bathroom to take his nightly shower. The fox wasn’t one to spend very much time in the shower as his mind was normally occupied with other things. Once he was done bathing, he changed into his clothes. Upon returning to his room to find Samaliel reading one of his favorite books.
“That’s a bit above your understanding isn’t it?” Pent asked as he read well above his grade level.
Samaliel snorted. “So? You wanted me to read…so I want to see what's so good about this.”
“Alright, suit yourself.” Pent climbed into bed and began reading the book he had picked up earlier.
It wasn’t long before Samaliel got up and changed books. Pent couldn’t help but notice and giggle a bit. The younger cub simply ignored his brother and went about his way. The two read for the remainder of the night until they fell asleep. The younger boy was the first to pass out. Pent got up to tuck him in and return the book to its shelf. The older fox found Samaliel hadn’t read much but it was better than nothing.
Back on his bed, Pent peered out into the sky. It was dark enough to see the stars twinkling back at him. He loved to look at the sky and delighted when it was clear enough to make out the constellations. The fox put the book on his chest, allowing his mind to rest. It was a long day and he was looking forward to the weekend, hoping only to find a friend with which he could truly relate with. Before long he drifted off to dreamland, eager for another day.
