This is a story based off a sequel for a fanfic I've written called "Short Circuit."
You can read that story right here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/83.....pters/19044199
Illustration by:  ventkazemaru

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Fox took deep breaths as he watched the outside from the passenger seat, the buildings passing by and turning into trees covered in crystal white snow. The car had just left Corneria City and started to run along the large lake that surrounded the town and gave way to the hills. Fox couldn't help but feel extremely anxious about it; he couldn't imagine living Wolf, only thinking about the worst possible outcomes of this stay, and by extension, his stay at the Great Fox.

(Stay calm, Fox; it's just for a few days. You can do it! If you could handle living with Falco, you sure can handle living with Wolf. Your dad's counting on you, stay strong and don't look back!)

"HEY!" Wolf's voice came crashing down, startling him as a paw touched his shoulder and made him jump on his seat. "I asked you if you're okay." Fox avoided him and then returned to sight-seeing through the window. "I-I'm fine… Just thinking about stuff." Wolf chuckled and asked him. "What kind of stuff?" Fox completely avoided responding, preferring to ignore Wolf's presence. "C'mon, pup. We're gonna get there faster if we talk~!"

"Alright." Fox said sighing and shifting on the passenger seat. "So… Why did you buy a house in the middle of nowhere?" As a response, Wolf asked back. "Because I can? Haha." The lupine started laughing, which annoyed Fox greatly and prompted him to give a nice punch to the other man's shoulder, none too lightly. "Okay, okay! Geez!" Said Wolf as he rubbed his arm. "I don't know, I just spent so much time hidden away in a space base it feels natural, ya know?" He explained while Fox nodded acknowledging. "Plus, I was getting sick of giving out a new interview every fuckin' day. It did give me some extra money, but fuck it. These assholes aren't worth it."

"Sure… And the eye-patch?" Fox asked pointing to the eye-wear. "What about it?" Wolf responded sounding completely natural. "You told me earlier you fixed your eye, so why are you still wearing that thing?"

"Hey, I got an image to keep, pup. Don't know about you, but I'm not just gonna let everyone step over me." He snickered. "You should've seen the guy's face when he sold me the house, heh." When he finished, Wolf changed his expression to something far more serious and sinister, he then started speaking with a gruffer tone than usual. "You tell anyone where I live and your life ends here, pal!" He finished, tapping twice on the dashboard for added effect. His tone and expression then returned to the former, and he said with a smirk. "Shit was priceless!"

Fox looked at him and remembered the times they fought against each other, then he said trailing off. "I don't think I know you anymore..." Wolf just laughed and told him. "You never knew me to begin with." Fox just looked away and started admiring the view as Wolf continued. "They say people have two faces, one they show to their enemies, and another one they show to their friends. You just never met my second face, pup." The city moved in the background with the lake shining under the clouded sun as snow fell from the sky.

Shortly after, Fox caught the sight of a large house approaching next to the lake. "Hey look, we're here!" The car speed started to slow down and it started running around it. Fox looked around and started to examine his new home: the house was big, not mansion-sized, but still big; about two stories tall without even considering the attic, colored in silver white with a blue roof and decorations around the windows; many of the rooms in the second floor were visible through balconies with glass doors leading to them, standing above a porch surrounding most of the building with part of it being suspended over the lake. Someone could probably take a dive from up there.

On the back side, there was a deck, a small patio, and another small building connected to the main house that served as a garage. Wolf took a remote from the glove box and pressed it, and the gates were opened for them to enter. The place's architecture seemed odd, to say the least. Fox figured Wolf just told them to add everything they possibly could since he had the money and didn't care about the end result.

The car engine was turned off and both canines stepped outside. They walked up to the trunk and Wolf opened it, as Fox took two suitcases out while displaying a bit of effort and dropped them into the floor. "So, uh… can you tell one of your servants to take my bags to my room?"

"Servants?" Wolf asked confused, Fox was in disbelief. "You don't have any servants? On a house this big?!" He asked shocked while Wolf chuckled. "This house ain't that big, pup. That's just how it looks on the outside." Fox sighed and picked his bags from the floor, grunting softly in the process. "Fine… Just lead me to my room then." Wolf snickered and asked him. "What? You're gonna do it all alone with those little sticks you call your arms?"

Fox cringed a bit. Wolf had never made a comment on his appearance, not even when they were fighting, so he felt a little weirded out by the question. The lupine walked up to him, taking one bag from his hands and walking away. "Your room's over here, pup." Fox started following him.

As he ventured through the house, Fox realized what Wolf said was true: the house only looked big on the outside. Inside, it just looked like any other house, with a bunch of normal-looking rooms connected to each other. No libraries, no recreation rooms, no ridiculously-sized main halls… only a kitchen behind a dining room, a laundry room, a living room with a fireplace, and a foyer with a flock of stairs leading up to the second floor.

Once they got there, Fox couldn't help but notice how dead the place looked upstairs. The entire second floor seemed composed of nothing, but bedrooms; most of which were completely vacant and lacked doors. They had no beds, nor furniture; only the glass doors leading up to the balcony that served as windows and an empty doorway that Fox assumed is where the bathroom should be. Wolf stopped in front of a room that did have a door and opened it for him.

That one did look like an actual room. It had furniture, a super-king-sized bed, a laptop on top of a computer table, some dresses, a wardrobe, and a pure white door decorated with a frosted glass that was obviously meant to indicate there was a bathroom behind it. Fox threw his belongings on top of the bed, prompting Wolf to do the same, and opened the glass door to the balcony outside.

Supporting himself on the railing, he was presented with a wonderful view of Corneria City hiding behind the lake, the mountains and the trees. Now that he thought about it, it didn't seem as far away from civilization as he first assumed. Wolf stood beside him, wrapping an arm around Fox's shoulder, who strangely didn't mind much. "So, you like my house, pup?"

Fox pressed his lips together and frowned. "It's pretty." However, he had something he was curious about. "Don't you feel lonely, though? I mean… all those empty rooms… living out here away from everyone… I would."

Wolf laughed and told him. "Hey, I'm not lonely; I've got you, remember?"

"What about your family?" His smile suddenly disappearing as he heard Fox saying these words. Wolf grunted and asked back. "What about them?"

"Don't you have any family members to stay with you? Parents, siblings, cousins, anyone? It's Elenard, so you must-"

"I never met them." Wolf said short and simple, interrupting Fox's question. He removed his arm from the vulpine and started walking away from him, sitting on the bed. "And if I did, they'd wish they never met me." (Damn, and I thought I had daddy issues.) Fox thought while following him back inside the room.

"Okay… so… if this is my room, where are you sleeping?"

"Here? Duh." Wolf said casually as Fox's eyes shot wide open and his jaw dropped to the ground. "All the other rooms are empty. You didn't expect me to sleep on the ground, did you?"

"But… that means… we're gonna have to sleep on the same bed!" Fox protested.

"What? Ain't my bed big enough for the both of us?" Wolf said mocking him.

"That's not the point, Wolf. It's just… This is just way too weird, okay?"

"Well, get used to it." The lupine said as he laid back on the bed and took most of the space available. "Like you said, it's Elenard. Most of the stores are getting looted by now, so I'm afraid I can't buy you another bed, pup."

Fox cursed under his breath as Wolf got up and started to make his way out. "So… make yourself at home, I guess." He pointed towards the furniture. "The other dresser is empty, so you can put your stuff there. I got some stuff to do, so see ya around!" After that, the door was closed and he was out.

The only sound in the room were his footsteps, getting fainter by the time Wolf started to move downstairs. As they vanished, Fox threw himself onto the bed and buried his face in the mattress. (Just when I thought things couldn't get any more worse… Oh well.) He shifted on the bed and opened his belongings, taking out what he'd brought: a blaster, a communicator, his phone, his laptop, and his clothes. He organized everything on the dresser Wolf showed him and moved out of the room himself.

Fox wanted to take a better look at the house and see what he could while he trapped living in the wolf's cage.

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A gust of wind blew against his fur as he typed on his laptop. Fox looked up and was mesmerized by the view of the lake surrounding Corneria City as he heard the sounds of the lake moving under his feet. Fox had to admit it: Wolf had good taste, if anything.

It had been a few hours since the lupine went out to do god-knows-what and left Fox alone in the building. Wolf's house was interesting, but became dull after some time. TV had nothing good on, as usual, so Fox resorted to finding something entertaining on the Com-Net. He stumbled upon a news article with the following headline:

"Massive blizzard buries neighboring cities under several inches of snow, our weatherman predicts it to hit Corneria City in a matter of threedays or less. Citizens are advised to stay indoors and gather supplies to keep themselves warm."

Fox let out a massive bark of laughter as he reached the end of the article. (It's like the whole universe decided to mock me overnight!) Shortly after, he heard the sound of a car running around the house. The vulpine placed the laptop on top of the chair and decided to follow the noise back to the garage. There, he found Wolf opening the trunk and taking out a bunch of plastic bags with groceries.

"Where were you? I was getting bored like hell!" The vulpine said entering the garage. "Had to fix some legal crap with Pepper, but nice to see you missed my company." Wolf said smirking in his direction. Fox felt a little embarrassed he accidentally complimented Wolf and turned away. "It's not like there's anyone or anywhere to go to around here, anyway."

"Yeah, yeah, if you say so." The lupine said as he passed by Fox carrying the bags. "Now make yourself useful and help me with this shit, will ya pup?" As Wolf turned away, Fox started to mimic his words by making exaggerated faces when he wasn't looking. Reluctantly, the vulpine moved to the trunk and grabbed a few bags on his own.

After both canines took the groceries to the kitchen and stored them properly, Wolf moved to the living room and planted his whole body down in one of the couches, laying sideways as he took the remote and turned the TV on. Fox arrived shortly after and saw him flipping the channels in hopes of finding something entertaining, he decided to comment. "You're not gonna find anything watchable. Believe me, I tried." The gray-furred canine chuckled and asked sarcastically. "Oh, really? Just watch."

Fox rolled his eyes and stared at the screen, the channels started flipping rapidly until they stopped in some kind of Fortunan soap opera. Only a few minutes passed by and Fox already felt like he was about to throw up with all the forced romantic plots and overuse of love triangles. After what seemed like forever, the ending credits finally played. "Okay, why the fuck did you make me watch this?"

Wolf snickered a bit, then he told him. "Oh, keep watching, it's gonna start now." Fox sighed in frustration and stared back at the TV. Once the credits from the previous show ended, another show came up, much more infantile by the looks of it. Fox cringed when a gang of canine pups started dancing in front of the cameras with an overtly happy theme song playing in the background, what's worse is that the show's protagonist seemed to be a fox kit himself. The biggest insult came when the theme song reached its chorus:

"Move it, move it, move it, move your paws. LITTLE PUPPIES! Move it, move it, move it, move your toes. LITTLE PUPPIES! Move it, move it, move it, move your tails. Come dance with us, and move it again! LITTLE PUPPIES!"

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Fox furiously yelled at Wolf while the latter erupted in a fit of laughter and started rolling on the cushion. The vulpine jumped on top of him and tried to wrestle the remote away from him, all the while Wolf was stretching it away from reach. "Gimme that! Turn that shit off!" The older man couldn't contain his amusement and kept mocking him non-stop. "How do you say, pup? What's the magic word? C'mon, say it~!" Somewhere along the fight, Wolf used Fox's position to his advantage, tickling the vulpine's belly until he fell down laughing on the floor.

Even more enraged, Fox stomped to the TV and tried to find the turn off button, only to falter when realizing there was none as Wolf kept laughing himself to tears at his expense. As a last ditch effort, the vulpine moved behind the device and opened its plasma battery container; he would shut it off the old-fashioned way. When he noticed what Fox was about to do, Wolf's grinning face started to fade away into worry. "Fox, don't!"

It was too late, the red-furred paw had touched the container and attempted to move it. It caused a short-circuit, shutting the TV off and burning Fox's hand in the process. "FFFFFFUCK!" The vulpine shouted in pain, waving his paw in the air and blowing air into it. Wolf came running to his aid and knelt down beside him. "Shit, pup. Are you alright?" He asked trying to grab Fox's wrist to help him, but the vulpine shoved him away. "DAMN YOU!"

Fox started to run away and left the house. Wolf got up shortly after and chased after him until he could see the vulpine kneeling down beside the lake from one of his windows. He watched how Fox desperately dipped his paw under the freezing cold water, then took it off almost immediately and screamed a number of curses to the skies.

(Real smooth, Wolf… Real smooth.) The lupine thought as he rested a hand on top of his head.