I finally got this done holy crap. I pretty much did all of the coloring last night because I just really wanted to get this done and posted. Hope you guys like this chapter! Like always, sorry for any typos and stuff. If I see any I'll update the post.

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Froaker walked out of the kitchen with a fresh mug of coffee and took a seat on the couch next to Crus. Slash was sitting in the big armchair next to the couch. He took a sip and sat the mug down onto a coaster on the coffee table.

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Crus asked, relaxing.

“I dunno. I gotta do some stuff to my car. Oil change and all that. I just don’t know if I feel like doing that today.” Froaker says.

“Why don’t we just drop it off at a place?” Crus asked.

“Eh, we have oil. I don’t wanna pay someone to do it when I can do it myself.” The frog says with a slight sigh.

“True” Crus shrugged.

“Why don’t you call that Arcanine dude you mentioned?” Slash asked, sipping on his own mug of coffee.

“What?...Oh, that. I dunno. It’s not like I need help with this. I got the tail light fixed already too, which was what he offered to help with in the first place.” Froaker answered.

“So you haven’t called him at all since then?” Slash asked. He set down his mug onto a coaster on the small table next to the armchair.

“No. I pretty much forgot about him till now.”

“Wait who is this?” Crus asked them.

“The day Incinerate went into the hospital this cop pulled Froaker over for his tail light being out, but then gave him his number.” Slash explains, “I think he likes you, dude.” He says to Froaker.

“Just cause he gave me his number? He gave it to me in case I needed help with the car!” Froaker argued.

“Alright look at it this way,” Slash started.”You can do that stuff to your car by yourself and let it be a normal boring afternoon. OR...you can be alone with an Arcanine cop that has a crush on you already.”

“Well I-” Froaker started but then thought. “Wait I don’t even know if he likes me or not!”

“Sounds to me like he wanted some alone time with ya.” Crus says with a smug smile on his face.

“You thought he was hot didn’t you? He’s an Arcanine, he must be buff.” Slash said.

“What is wrong with you two?” Froaker said, not bothering to answer that last question.

“Look man, we’re just trying to help you out a bit. You haven’t been on a date since before the kids were born.” Slash says to his brother. “Just give him a call. Or even a text, really. You don’t have to ask him out, you can just use today to see if he does like you.”

Froaker didn’t respond right away, just scratching his cheek. “I guess…”

“Might make Incinerate feel better if he knows you’re with a guy too.” Slash suggested.

“I...guess….” Froaker thought.

“Oh my god if you don’t do it I’ll steal your phone and do it for you.” Crus finally says.

“You are not stealing my phone.”

“Want me to use pepper again?”

“No. I’ll do it.”


Froaker sighed as he popped the hood of his car and got around to the front to lift the hood up, propping it up. He looked around the garage for the container of oil. It took him a minute but he finally saw it all the way up on top of a shelf they had in there. He grumbled a bit, of course it was all the way up there. Not that it was an issue for him to get up there without a ladder, it was just one more thing to do. He climbed up pretty quickly, thanks to how agile he naturally was, being a Greninja. He grabbed the container of oil and then groaned.

“Dammit...why do we keep empty containers of stuff around?” He said to himself. He tossed the empty container into the open trash bin that was by the door to go into the house. He got down from the top of the shelf and looked around scratching his head looking for another thing of oil to use. He looked all over and couldn’t find one. He just never bought another because he assumed that one up on the top shelf still had something in it. He sighed and picked up his phone off the driver’s seat of the car and opened the Notes app, where he had written down the Arcanine’s number after he’d given it to him. Just in case. The number showed up as a link. Once he tapped it, it was gonna call the number. He thought it over. It can’t hurt, right? Maybe the guy will just pay for an oil change and then give him a ride back home. Or he’ll just go buy him another thing of oil.

He took a deep breath and finally tapped the number expecting to see the call screen show up. Although first a menu popped up asking to call or text the number. He forgot about that part. He hit call and then the phone finally started dialing.

“Hello?” Spoke the deep voice of the Arcanine. Froaker recognized the voice instantly. That was him alright.

“H-hey there. Uh...this is Froaker, that Greninja you stopped a few months back for the burnt-out tail light…” He said, hoping the Arcanine would remember him. He felt so damn awkward right now. “Arty, right?”

“Oh, yes!” The man said. “How are you?” He asked.

“I’m fine, thanks. Uh...I know this is kinda waaay later than you probably meant, but I was wondering if your offer to help with something on my car was still on the table?” He asked. It seemed rude to him to call after all this time to ask for that. He thought the guy would just get mad. But instead he heard a chuckle through the phone.

“Of course! I’d be happy to help...wait, it’s not still the tail light, right?” He asked, a bit jokingly.

“Oh!...No, no it’s not that, haha! I got that fixed right away. This is just an oil change. A-and uhm...maybe something wrong with the engine.” He lied, as he didn’t want it to seem like he wasn’t able to put oil in his car. Maybe he did just wanna see this guy.

“No worries, I’ll help you out.” Arty said. “Need me to bring some oil?” He asked.

“That would be great.” Froaker responded. “Thank you so much.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. My pleasure. Least I could do for stopping ya while you were rushing for...actually I don’t think you ever said where you were going.”

Froaker gulped. “Oh, um...I was...I’ll...tell you some other time. It’s a long story.” He said shaking his head. Froaker gave the canine his address and the two hung up their phones. He took a deep breath again. He just did that. He just invited a manly, buff Arcanine cop over to help him fix his car. That was it though. He didn’t ask him out or anything. Not at all.


It only took about ten minutes for Arty to arrive, pulling up to the house and parking by the curb. He wasn’t in his cop car, instead a pretty new looking red sedan. He wasn’t in his uniform either, instead being dressed in a white tank top and some cargo shorts. It was common for certain species to wear clothes, although lots of Pokémon didn’t, as they didn’t need necessarily need to. Most clothing that was worn would be during the winter just to keep warm while outdoors. Judging by his outfit, he figured he must’ve caught him on his day off. Froaker blushed as the Arcanine walked up to him in the garage. He had a warm smile on his face, just as he did back when he pulled the frog over that day.

Arty held out his hand for a handshake, “Hey Froaker. Good to see you again!” He said with a bigger smile. Damn this guy sure was cheerful, yet still tough sounding. Maybe it was just the muscles and deep voice or something. Froaker tried his best to not look him over but it was nearly impossible. He held out his hand as well and shook the man’s hand, which felt like it was twice the size of Froaker’s own hand.

“G-good to see you too! You look good...wait, I mean-” Froaker caught himself too late. Arty just laughed though.

“You as well! Now, let’s see if we can’t get this thing all good to go!” He said, walking over to the car. “So, an oil change, and gotta check out something with the engine, that was it right?” He asked the frog. This dude towered over Froaker. Froaker wasn’t tall by any means, so it’s not like it was unusual for others to be taller than him, but he was only up to the canine’s shoulders, his ear-like fins went up around the middle of his face though.


The two put oil in the car, which was no big deal at all. Again, Froaker could do it on his own...he finally admitted it to himself though: he did just want to see the Arcanine again. Arty fiddled with the car a bit, seeing if he could find any issues or anything with the engine, or possibly anything else wrong with the car.

“Well, everything else seems to be in working order.” He said, scratching his head trying to think of anything he could have missed. Froaker stood there with his hands behind his back. He knew there was nothing else wrong with the car. Although, he was hoping he wouldn’t find something unexpectedly.

“Oh, really? Well, that sure is a relief. I thought something was going on with the engine. But I guess it’s fine.” He said and blushed a tiny bit. “So um...is fifty enough?” He asked getting his wallet and opening it up. The dog looked at him confused.

“...What? Fifty for what?” He asked.

“For your help. And your time.”

The Arcanine laughed again. “Oh, please! No need to pay me! This was my offer, remember?” He said.

“Well yeah, but you didn’t have to do that for me. That was very nice of you. Are you sure you don’t want something? At least to pay for the gas to get here?” Froaker asked.

“Please, don’t worry about it.”

Froaker thought a moment. “W-well, at least let me take you to lunch or something.” He said. Arty grinned and chuckled.

“Alright, alright haha. We can go to lunch.” He said. Froaker blushed some more. He just asked the dude on a date. He gulped, as it had been years since he had last been on a date. But was this really a date? It could just be two friends getting lunch. Although calling the two of them “friends” didn’t sound quite right either.

“O-okay. Um...where do you wanna go?” He asked.

Arty thought for a moment and smiled. “There’s a great little diner downtown. They got pretty much everything.” He said with an optimistic shrug. Froaker took a second to think about it. He was nervous as hell, but he agreed.

“Sounds good to me. Let me just tell my br-...I mean...yeah let’s go.” He said, grabbing his wallet and phone. He figured it would be best to not tell his brothers that they were right. And he was a bit embarrassed about living with his brothers as well, for some reason.

“Great! I’ll drive.” Arty offered. They got into his car and drove off.


“You think they’re getting into it in there?” Crus asked. Him and Slash had heard the Arcanine’s voice muffled through the door to the garage.

“Pff, no. The garage door never closed, plus I’m pretty sure the twins will be home sometime soon.” Slash replied.

“It’s been pretty quiet from in there. Haven’t heard that dude’s voice in a while…” Crus said scratching his chin. “Go peek in there and check.”

“What?! No way, I’m not doing that! That’s really creepy!”

“Hey, you said they wouldn’t be doing anything like that. Just go see if they’re still in there.” He said.

“Fine.” Slash grumbled and headed over to the door that led to the garage. He very carefully turned the knob as quietly as he possibly could before lightly pushing the door open just enough so he could see inside. He looked around but saw nobody in there. He opened the door more and looked around again now that he could actually see the entire room. “Welp…”

Crus came up behind him and looked in too. “Where’d he go?”

“Either kidnapped or on a date.” Slash said sarcastically. Crus smirked.

“I knew he liked him.”


“So you’ve really been a cop for over 15 years?” Froaker asked the Arcanine. The dog nodded, taking a sip of his water.

“Yup.”

“That’s really cool. I could never do what you do. I’m not...y’know, tough enough.” He chuckled.

“Oh, c’mon. We all go through a ton of training and stuff. I was a toothpick at the start of college.”

“Really? Were you still a Growlithe at that point?” Froaker asked.

“Nah, I evolved before then! I just wasn’t a super active guy, y’know? Always wanted to be a cop though, so that’s what I went for. It was brutal at first, cause I had quite a lot of catching up to do in terms of my physical health.” Arty explained.

“Well, you did a great job.” Froaker said looking at the man’s arms.

“Why, thank you!” He smiled. The two had already eaten their lunch. They had been sitting talking for a while now. Froaker had paid the bill, although he had to do it secretly so the cop wouldn’t know, as he was trying to offer to pay for the whole thing. He sure was a generous one. “Say, by the way, do you live with someone? I noticed some other cars there in the driveway at your place.” He asked.

“Oh...yeah. Those are my brothers’ cars…” Froaker said with a bit of a nervous chuckle. They live with me ‘cause it’s just easier for us honestly. Although they’ll likely move when they each get in a relationship or something.”

“That sounds cool though, living with your brothers. I mean I’m sure you all get on each other’s nerves from time to time, as siblings tend to do.” Arty chuckled.

“Oh believe me, sometimes it’s like we’re ten years old again…” he said. “Just the other day one of them sat on me to hold me down while the other held my tongue in one hand and had pepper in the other. They were trying to get me to tell them a secret that didn’t concern them.” Froaker rolled his eyes.

“Wow.” Arty laughed. “That’s tough. Did you end up telling them?” He asked with a smirk.

“I did, but not before I got pepper poured onto my tongue.” The frog chuckled. “They’re just nosy. Well, one of them is. The other just sorta follows along.” He said. “He’s always kinda been a goody-two-shoes.” He said talking about Slash.

“Oh yeah? Heh, was the other the bad one of all of you when you were kids?” Arty asked taking another sip of water.

“Oh, no, that was me.” Froaker laughed. “I was a pain in the ass back then. He was some trouble too, but I was the worst of the three of us, for sure.” He grinned as he remembered all the trouble he caused back in the day.

“Oh really? Well you don’t seem like a trouble maker nowadays.” Arty said.

“Thanks.” Froaker blushed with a small smile. “It kinda changed once-“ he stopped himself. He didn’t know why, but he felt strange saying he had kids. “I got a lot better after my daughter was born.” He said slouching a bit in his seat.

“You have a daughter?” Arty asked.

“Yeah. And two twin sons. They’re all adopted though.” He said. “Kinda another reason my brothers still live with me. We all kinda take care of them. They’re all grown up for the most part now. The boys are in high school and my daughter lives with her husband.” Froaker explained. He was hoping that didn’t turn the arcanine off or anything.

“Oh! That’s really cool! My sister and her husband adopted their son. They were his foster parents for a few years but now they’re officially his adopted parents.” The arcanine said.

“That’s really sweet.” Froaker said.

“Pardon me if this is getting too personal or anything, but how did the adoption process go for you? Were you with someone at the time?” Arty asked curiously.

“No, not at the time.” Froaker started. “My daughter was the only one I planned on, really. Technically adopted her before she was born, if that makes any sense. The mother was pregnant but couldn’t afford to raise a kid, at least at the time. Haven’t exactly talked to her in a long time. My sons on the other hand...well that’s a different story. Those two were born in this...awful family. The mother wanted to protect them as best as she could, but eventually had to give them up.”

“Protect them?” Arty asked.

“Yeah.” Froaker nodded. “The dad was an alcoholic who’s in jail now for murder and a few other smaller things too. I knew the mom in high school, so she came to me about taking them in.” He sighed. “Luckily both of them seem to have taken after the mom.” He said.

“Wow…” Arty said, putting his hand on Froaker’s. “That’s incredible. What happened to her?” He asked.

“She was the last one he murdered before the police finally caught him.” Froaker said followed by a sigh. “That was only a few months or so after I took the boys in. They were about 6 months when I got them so they weren’t even a year old yet. I’m amazed they made it that long where they were.” Froaker shrugged a little. He blushed as that warm paw was overtop his webbed hand. He gave the arcanine a soft smile.

“So sorry to hear that…” Arty said. “That’s amazing that you took them in though. Not everyone would’ve done that, you know.” He told him. Froaker smiled at him.

“Yeah...hey listen.” He cleared his throat a little. “Thank you so much for helping today and everything. It’s been great talking to you too...would you wanna do this again sometime?” He asked. Artsy face lit up with a huge grin.

“Of course! That would be great!” He said, their hands still together.

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Yay, Arty finally came back after like, ten chapters or something XD. I dunno it's been a while though. Hopefully I drew him right. I think he came out looking good, but I dunno, I never draw canines or muscles. I know they aren't really proportioned correctly, Froaker is a bit smaller than he should be, and his legs are kinda small but oh well.
Hopefully the next chapter can be out before I go home for winter break, which would be November 15 (Same day as Pokemon comes out hell yeah), but I'm not making any promises. With how I had to work on this one to be able to fit it into my schedule, and it's only week 3 of the quarter, I dunno if I'll get a chance to work on much personal work at all this quarter. Oh well, I'll at least try to get the writing done at some point. Honestly, I haven't even started writing the next chapter yet, so it's basically back to square 1 right now.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry it took so long, hopefully the next one won't be too far away :)