Tad’s morning started off normally. He got up to his alarm, got dressed, ate breakfast, packed his lunch, and left for the bus stop. As he walked down the street towards the bus stop, he couldn’t help but think about the conversation he and Amy had after school yesterday. Amy had noticed that Connor was “checking people out” yesterday during school. Tad initially wrote this off as Connor trying to find differences between Normals and Weres, but when Amy mentioned that the majority of those people were male…
“Could Connor actually be gay?” Tad thought quietly to himself.
Tad didn’t have any problem with someone being gay. He had been raised to accept everyone, no matter their age, gender, race, culture, or sexuality. The thing that confused him was the fact that he had known Connor for years, and he had never once mentioned anything about liking men. They always talked about girls when they were younger, so what changed in the span of 3-4 years?
“Maybe I should keep an eye out for those things that Amy mentioned…” Tad thought to himself.
As he rounded the next corner, Tad was a bit surprised to see that Connor and Ryan were already there. The two of them were sitting next to each other on the nearby bench. Connor had a fairly large book in his lap that he and Ryan appeared to be reading together. Tad could easily overhear their conversation from where he was.
“...And that’s why I don’t think you should become a Werelion,” Ryan said. “Or, at least that’s just my opinion on it.”
“Jeez, all of that just sounded really complicated,” Connor said, scratching the back of his head. “The whole way their social structure is set up is just…” He stopped speaking and shook his head. “I think I’ll just keep it simple.”
“Good idea,” Ryan said. “You don’t want to feel overwhelmed by all of this. Anyways, are there any new fursonas on your radar?”
Connor was quiet for a minute as he thought to himself. “No, not really,” he said. “It's still just Werewolves and Werewildcats on the list.”
“Speaking of werewolves,” Ryan said before gesturing to Tad, who was now at the bus stop.
“Morning Connor, morning Ryan,” Tad said, giving them a casual wave. “How’s it going?”
“Pretty good, pretty good,” Connor said with a smile. “Ryan’s been helping me look through the Guidebook. While there are a lot of interesting fursonas out there, I’m still really just interested in Werewolves and Werewildcats.”
“Glad to see werewolves aren’t off the list just yet,” Tad said with a chuckle. “But I’m also glad to see that you’re expanding your horizons beyond the type of Were that you already know. By the way...any particular reason why you’re looking at Werewildcats?”
“Oh...um...I don’t know…” Connor said, sounding a bit nervous.
This made Tad a bit curious. He was well aware that there Werewildcats are an exclusively male species that are either bisexual or gay, so the fact that Connor, someone who was ‘straight’, was looking into becoming one rang a few bells in Tad’s head. He glanced over to Ryan and was surprised to find that he seemed to share Tad’s look of curiosity.
“What matters is that you’re aware of the ‘side effects’ of becoming a Werewildcat,” Ryan said, seemingly trying to make the situation less awkward.
“Yeah...yeah of course,” Connor said.
“I don’t like seeing him like this,” Tad thought to himself. “This isn’t the overconfident best friend that I grew up with. Maybe if I keep an eye on him throughout the day, I’ll find a way to help him to the best of my abilities.”