𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 (𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚡𝙱)

Track 43 | 𝗪𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗕𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗕𝘆 𝗧𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄

The silence endured and reigned on for what felt like hours, casting a looming, overshadowing fear down onto me. It seemed nobody in the room could think of a single good thing to say. 

Until Harley.

"Wait, so... are you gay?"

"Harley!" Levi hissed, smacking his shoulder.

"No, Levi, it's okay. It's a valid question," I assured the fox, nodding my head in their direction. "I don't know. And I'm not in a rush to find out. It's possible, but... what matters to me now is devoting my time to working on this thing I have with Ari. And working on being a better friend to all of you."

Another long pause. I took the time to pass out assuring glances to each and every one of my peers, scanning their faces and detecting slight hints of shock, remorse, and even pity. Eden stared at me with furrowed brows, connecting with my distress and my grief, like the empath that she was. 

I couldn't blame them for reacting this way. It was quite the bombshell after having known me for several years and grown accustomed to me being a certain way for the entire timeline of our friendship. Not a single person in this room, apart from the already knowing individuals, expected any of those words to come out of my mouth in the order that they did—

"I fuckin' knew it," Harley raised his voice, banging his fist forward with enthusiasm as if he had just won the lottery.

"Harley!" Both Levi and Eden scowled, giving him a full-on death glare.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He defended himself, fighting off Levi's little punches as the fox began to whack him multiple times. "I mean—I didn't know he was finoodling with Ari, but I knew you definitely weren't straight!"

"Oh, my god..." Levi grumbled, rubbing his temples with exasperation.

"Harley, shut up, right now," Rian growled.

Harley objected: "I'm just—"

Rian refuted: "Harley."

Then Harley: "I'm—"

Then Rian: "Stop."

"I'm—"

"Shut up."

"I—"

"Nope. Shut up. Stop."

Then Torrence: "Wait, so, let me, just, try to get this straight in my head..."

I looked at my dear corgi friend and rested a considerate paw on his shoulder. "It's okay, I wouldn't expect you all to understand immediately, I'm just as confused as you are—"

"—You went on a date with Eden, but you got with Ari instead?"

I opened my mouth to deny Torrence's assumption, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that was pretty much what happened. "Yeah, it's, um, it's a long story—"

"—There are some crucial details left out, but that's basically the gist of it," Eden clarified. 

"Harvey, you're dating Ari?" Levi questioned.

"Yeah, that's what... That's what I've been saying—"

Completely out of the blue, Levi instantly lunged forward, pouncing on us like a tiger and wrapping both arms around Ari and me, giving us the biggest bear hug you could ever possibly receive.

"I'm so happy for you guys..." He whimpered. Ari and I looked at one another, flashing weepy smiles as our hearts melted in unison.

"Harvey, Ari, um..." Rian spoke up, prompting Levi to back away and Ari and I to turn and look at the solemn black wolf. "I'm sorry for being silent, I... It's a shock, what can I say? I wasn't expecting it at all, but..." Rian then fiercely shook his head. "Fuck it, I don't care. I love you guys. I'm so happy for you both."