Howdy fellow furry fellows! I got a big one for you today! I'm sorry it took a bit to get this one out, it ran on a lot longer than I thought it would, and even then I wanted to get all the way to the end of the encounter between the two destined lovers. But it was already really long, so... here's the story!

I kind of incorporated Eggy into the story, but he's more of a side character than anything, but he's there! This story has Fen and Husk meeting up at BunHop to have their impromptu date, sharing a bit of feelings and emotional times together. This one isn't as sad as chapter three, but it has a moment or two.

Like I said, this one is longer than my other stories. With my other stories having a word count of at most 2000, this one is 3500 whopping words! That's twelve pages of two furs being awkward with each other! This story took way longer than I expected it too, but hey, I hope you like it anyway! I might try to make a small story focusing on the end of the date later today, but I don't know yet.

Anyways, I hope you guys and gals have a wonderful day or night, and happy reading!

Café Husky
Chapter 5

On your drive to BunHop, you start thinking about the weird circumstances that had you driving to the pancakery. Husk had texted you early, asking you if you minded talking with him. He sounded really distraught, so you saw no reason to deny his request, briskly getting ready, and heading out the door. You were still feeling kind of groggy, but that’s nothing another coffee at the pancakery won’t fix. Which you can’t wait for. You have loved pancakes all your life, and rarely get the chance to eat any. The ingredients to cook pancakes were expensive, and you have never really made any good pancakes, so you stopped trying a while ago, so you can’t wait to have someone serve them to you instead of making them yourself!

You very quickly find yourself pulling into the pancakery, pulling into the establishment, and finding a parking spot near the entrance. You ease your paw on the break of your car, coming to a slow stop in the parking spot. You slowly get up out of your car, which is pretty easy, due to your short stature, and head into the pancakery.

You walk into BunHop, and are surprised to see that barely anyone is here. You expected the morning traffic of pancake eaters to be a bit on the heavier side, but I guess that is not the case for today. As you can only see a few employees wandering around. You do notice however, that of the employees that are running around, all of them are some breed of rabbit. You knew there were establishments like this on Furth, but you had never actually been inside one before, and the sheer number of bunnies shocked you a little.

You had no time to dwell on that though, because you had to get a table for you and Husk. You wanted to make today go as good as possible, and having a table ready for him would be great for to reduce his stress, so you walk up to the reception and get a small table, just big enough for Husk and you, and with perfect view of the front so you could watch out for him.

You see your server walk up to you, and you see that he is a bunny with green fur… no, wait, it looks a little lighter than that, more of a pastel hue to it. You look at the name tag to see who it is that is going to be serving you today. Eggy huh? What an on the nose name for a rabbit. You thought it was a cool name though. You can’t say you’ve known many Eggys in your life, but he is definitely going to be the first.

As he gets up to your table, you can see him tense up a little, before he greets you confidently and happily, “Hello, and welcome to BunHop! I’m your server for today, my name is Eggy! What would you like to drink today?” His enthusiasm is enough to make you smile and chuckle to yourself, brightening up your morning a little. You see him waiting patiently, and you have already decided that he is going to get a pretty good tip once everything is gotten and eaten, as long as his mood doesn’t lessen any by the end of the meal.

You decide that you’ve let this bun sit here long enough, and quickly decide on what to drink, “If you don’t mind, I would like a coffee. I have a friend coming later, and I have no idea what he drinks, so be prepared to deal with him too!” That lame joke gets a chuckle out of the bun, and you see him take down a note on the notepad he brought with him, and once he’s done, he looks back to you.

“Certainly, I can get you your coffee, and once your friend gets here, I can get him something to drink too! That will be out in a minute, it won’t take long! There aren’t too many people in today, if you haven’t noticed, so I’m sure we can get that out real quick! Be back in a minute.” He quickly hops off before you could say anything, making you chuckle under your breath, seeing why this place is called what it is. You watch him hop back to the kitchen, only for him to be stopped by another female rabbit, who gives him a hug, before she goes and takes care of whatever table she has been assigned to for the morning. Hmm… they must be dating.

It randomly occurred to you that you never texted Husk that you were here, so you quickly sent him a text, just to make sure he knew that you at least had a table.

"Hey Husk, I’m at the pancakery waiting on ya. I have a table and everything. I’m near the windows, so you should be able to see me."

You realize that he might be driving, so you set your phone down, not really expecting any kind of reply from him. You look over the menu, trying to see if you would like anything. Nothing really catches your eyes, until you reach the waffles section, and you see that they have chicken and waffles! You have always wanted to try them, but you never thought anyone would do a good enough job to entice your particular palate. But you know that BunHop probably could!

As soon as you decide what to order, Eggy comes back with your cup of coffee, and a carafe, which you assume is also full of coffee, “Here is your coffee! There are little creamers and sugar right there in those containers, and if you need anything else, try to flag me down, and I’ll come over and try to help you if I can, alright?” That enthusiasm is still going on strong, and you still can’t help but smile at him, wondering if he is always this plucky and happy.

“Thanks, Eggy! And I will be sure to flag you down if I need anything! You’ve been pretty amazing so far, so I’ll be sure to keep you in mind!” You see him blush at the sound of his name, seemingly making him uncomfortable, it might not have helped that he just received a compliment from a complete stranger.

“T…thank you. I’ll be sure to keep up with you throughout the morning.” He nervously says before walking back to the kitchen again, probably to look for his girlfriend. You quickly prepare your coffee, dumping what you assume to be your usual amount of sugar and creamer, and upon taking a sip, decide that it’s good enough to drink.

You sit in the quiet for a bit, thinking about Eggy. You hear the bell from the front door ring, and upon looking, see Husk walk through the door. You wave your arm frantically to get his attention, and once he notices your idiotic display, starts walking towards you. You notice he looks a little… unkempt today. He is wearing a pair of shorts, and a plain white shirt, but it all looks hastily thrown together, as if he leapt out of bed five minutes before coming here. His fur doesn’t look as good as it did yesterday… but he still looks just as cuddly. His eyes, which usually draw you in with their magnificent colors, look faded and tired. He must not have gotten much sleep last night, and knowing everything that he went through, you could understand why.

As he gets to your table, he quickly sits down, before greeting you, sounding defeated, “Good morning Fen, I’m sorry to bring you out here so early, I just needed some encouragement this morning.” He slumps down a little, and lets his hands fall to his sides. Okay, he is really tired. I probably should have guessed he would be once I heard him on the phone, I at least could have gotten him a coffee, but I didn’t know if he drank it or not, so I didn’t bother.

“It’s no problem! I don’t usually get up this early, but I need to be here for you, so I don’t mind waking up early for that. And besides, you need some emotional support from your friends, so I’m here to be your support.” You are trying your best to sound as happy as possible, and you see Husk raise in his seat a little, which is proof that you are at least improving his mood. “And besides, you’ve been through a lot in the past day! And I know you’ve been through a lot because meeting me wasn’t the most stressful part of your day yesterday!” That gets a chuckle out of him, and he fully raises in his seat, placing his hands on the table, and smiling at you, clearly a little better than he was a minute ago.

He gives a weak smile before he continues, “Thanks Fen, I really appreciate that. I’m glad you’re here to help me. I wouldn’t really feel comfortable telling anyone else, so I’m overjoyed that you said yes to joining me.” As he was talking, you saw Eggy coming out from the kitchen, holding the same notepad as before, and noticing the extra person with you, walks toward your table to take his order.

Upon arriving at the table, he greets Husk with the same enthusiasm as he did with you, “Well good morning! You must be the friend he was waiting for. My name is Eggy, and might I ask what you would like for a drink this morning?” Eggy’s enthusiasm gets right to Husk, making him light up for a moment, and seeing him smile genuinely for the first time today. You were hoping Eggy would keep up his charm, and he did not disappoint, cheering Husk up right away, at least for now that is.

Husk quickly takes a menu and looks over all the options really quickly, and after a moment, he answers Eggy, “May I get a glass of orange juice please? I need something refreshing this morning, and I feel like a cold glass of OJ would be amazing right about now.”

Eggy takes down some notes on his notepad, and once he’s done, he looks to Husk encouragingly again, “Certainly! I’ll have that out in a quick minute, and while you wait, you can look over the menu for a minute!” You both thank Eggy before he leaves. He goes back to the kitchen to procure some OJ for your friend.

You turn back to Husk, to see him scanning the menu. When you were searching for something to eat on the menu, you saw something you knew he would like, “Hey Husk. I’ve noticed your fondness for blueberries, and I noticed something pretty enticing in the pancake section that you might like.” He eyes you suspiciously, before looking over the menu again, obviously looking for the blueberry goldmine that was hidden from him the first look through, and you know he finds it when his eyes light up. He looks at you, and you see excitement in his eyes, obviously happy that he came here now, just from seeing what he could get. “I knew you would get excited! That’s more blueberries than you know what to do with!”

When he speaks, he sounds a lot more cheerful, he’s jumping up and down in his seat, and its probably because of the aspect of a ton of blueberries that he gets to himself, “I looked right over that! I don’t know how I missed it!” He looks downright giddy, before he remembers that he is out in public, and calms down a little, before continuing, “My mom used to have blueberry bushes that she grew in the backyard, and she would put them in everything. From pies to muffins, she made everything with blueberries, and I just couldn’t get enough of them!” His enthusiasm is really infectious, and you can’t help but feel a little bit better, especially when he seems so happy.

Coming down from his blueberry induced happiness, Husk sets down the menu, and looking at your smirk, he quickly looks down, ashamed at what he just did, “…Sorry, I lost myself for a moment. The taste of blueberries just brings back so many childhood memories, I just get excited whenever I get offered the opportunity to eat some.”

You quickly wave your hand in a dismissive way, still smiling all the while, “That’s fine! We all have that one thing that reminds us of our childhood! And besides, I’ve never seen someone freak out so much about blueberries! It was kind of cute!” You quickly cover your mouth, embarrassed by what you said. You didn’t mean for that to slip out, and upon looking at Husk, you know he definitely heard it. His cheeks are red with embarrassment, and it shows up really well on his white fur.

Eggy couldn’t have chosen a worse time to come out of that kitchen, walking back to the table, with the tension cutting orange juice, to bring both of you back to the present, “Here is your OJ, and I’m sorry it took so long to get it to ya. I got distracted by another table, and forgot about the orange juice. That’s why I got this handy notepad! It helps keep me in line.” Eggy sounds genuinely apologetic, and you can see now that he must really good at his job. Either that, or he’s a good actor.

Husk forgives him quickly, seemingly still not having recovered from the cute comment. Eggy sees this, but he seems to ignore it, “Okay, so now that I finally got you your orange juice, what can I get you guys to eat this morning?”

Realizing that Husk probably won’t be able to say anything for a hot minute, you realize that you ordering might kick him back in gear, “Oh, yes, I would like an order of chicken and waffles please, and an order of turkey bacon to go with it.”

Eggy quickly jots down your order, before looking to Husk expectantly, “And what about you, what would you like to order?”
Husk finally composes himself, and responds to Eggy, “Um… may I get an order of Blueberry Pancakes? And can I request a side of hash browns as well?” Eggy quickly jots this down, taking the time to look over his notepad, before repeating your order back to you. He was exactly correct, (which isn’t hard when he’s looking at the order), and quickly runs off to submit your order.

You look back to Husk, and see that he can’t bring himself to look at you. You hated seeing him like this, so you try to grab his attention, “So Husk, what did you want to come out here to talk to me about? Please, look at me, I want to see those eyes.” That got his attention, and he can finally look you in the eyes again. It was a little hesitant, but it got his eyes back on you. Now that he is looking at you, you continue, “C’mon, talk with me. You know I’m here for you.”

He continues to look at you, before he gives out a sigh of defeat, “I guess I was just looking for some type of reassurance that everything is going to be okay. I’ve never really dealt with anything of this caliber before, and I just needed someone to tell me that life is going to get better…” His eyes have trailed down again while talking, and his voice has taken a sadder tone, obviously still upset over the whole situation.

You take a minute to collect your thoughts, trying to think of the best thing to say, and after thinking for a minute, you speak, softly, “Of course things are going to get better. You’ve been through a lot more in life than you think, you just don’t know it.” You place your hands-on top of his to reassure him, and he looks up at you again, blushing, “And besides, you have a small safety net in case everything goes belly-up, remember? You can stay with me in my apartment. I know we don’t know each other very well, but I can tell you’re a great person, and I know that we could have a great time living together.” Husk looks a little bit better now that you said that. You can see a sad smile start to creep onto his face, and you can see some light returning to his eyes. A text can only give off so much emotion, so hearing you say that in person must help raise his confidence.

He has been blushing this whole time, so you remove your hands. You lean forward, to ruffle the fur on his head a little, just to try and lighten the mood, “Now stop being such a worrywart! We’re in the finest, and only, pancakery in town! There’s no time for sadness! There is only time for pancakes and laughs!” Your tone takes a bit more of a serious tone, “But I do think everything is going to be okay. Whether you move in with me or not. Life just has a weird way of working out sometimes.”

Husk thinks for a moment, before a smile returns to his face, seemingly a little better after that pep talk, “Thanks Fen. I really needed that. All you’ve done is help me in the past day and a half, and I don’t think you could have inserted yourself into my life at a better time!” As he says that, he puts his hands on top of your this time, staring into your eyes, and this time you can see the happiness returns to his face, if only a little, “It feels good to have someone fighting with me through this. I don’t think I could have confidently walked through this alone, so I hope you’re not tired of hearing me say this yet, thank you.”

You are the one blushing now, not used to this kind of forwardness from Husk. You look down, and remove your hands, absent mindlessly moving a hand to mess with your necklace, “It… Its definitely no problem, and stop apologizing so much! I told you I don’t mind doing this, and I’m going to keep saying that, until you stop apologizing!” You give him an accusatory look, at which he just smiles at, seemingly not bothered by this onslaught by you. He moves his hands back to his sides.

“Okay, fine. I can’t promise I’ll stop apologizing, but I’ll tone it down a bit. At least for you.” He looks back at the kitchen, before perking up immediately, turning back to you, with a huge smile on his face, “Here comes Eggy with our food! Ooooohh, I’m so excited! I’ve been waiting all morning for this!” He’s jumping up and down in his seat like an actual pup would, this puts a smile on your face, happy to see him so excited over something so small.

Eggy brings all of your dishes to your table, and everything looks absolutely divine to your foodless stomach. As Eggy places food on the table, you can barely resist the temptation to just start digging in. After everything is added to the table, Eggy looks to both of you, before starting to tall, “Here you guys go! Everything is here as you ordered! We have chicken and waffles and turkey bacon for the fennec, and some blueberry pancakes for the husky, with a side of hash browns. Do you guys need anything else this morning?”

He looks to both of you, and seeing you both shake your heads, he continues, “Okay, perfect! I’ll just leave you guys to eat, and I’ll be back to check on you in a few minutes, okay?” You both nod your head this time, and Eggy probably sees the savageness in both of your eyes, because he quickly runs off after that, which is probably more for his own safety than anything.

You both quickly pick up your silverware, holding it eloquently, before you speak, in the most obnoxious accent you can come up with, “And so, let them eat pancakes!” After you say this, both you and Husk start digging in. Ready to finally get the breakfast both of you have been waiting for.