Cameron and Patrick had been running the junior campers’ tee-ball game for about a half-hour, and things were going well enough. Patrick could barely say a word to his bigger roommate after how much he had embarrassed himself back in their cabin, but he found himself taking to the campers immediately, getting them excited for the game and playing their hardest. Years of coaching experience don’t disappear overnight, after all, but it seemed almost uncanny to Cameron how good the nervous mouse was at talking to little kids compared to adults. Cameron also found it odd that a few of the little critters seemed to have almost perfect batting form, despite not being able to hit the ball very far with their little muscles…
“Great hit, Jess! Now you need to run to first base!” Patrick cheered as a six-year-old skunk girl hit a grounder right to the third baseman. “N-no, first base is the other one, sweetie! Over there! Yeah, there you go!” Patrick was cheering at the top of his lungs, which felt clearer than they had in years, and the loss of over a hundred pounds of dead weight compared to when he’d been human let him move around like he hadn’t in years.
Cameron, on the other hand, was struggling to find something to do. Sure, the kids had been impressed when he’d knocked a few balls out of the park or when he showed off how he could lift up six of them at once. However, once the game started, Cameron was honestly having a hard time keeping up with his little roommate’s manic energy as he ran around the field to motivate the little critters.
Unfortunately for Patrick, Soren had been right on the money in assigning Cameron to watch over him. The twinkish mouse’s energy far outweighed his stamina, and as the hour came to a close Cameron could tell something was wrong; Patrick was stumbling around a bit as he walked between campers, his hair was slick with sweat, and his little mouse tail was glowing red with sunburn. “Crap… He’s about a minute from passing out,” Cameron muttered as he ran into action.
“Pat! Hey, are you feeling okay, little guy?” Cameron said as he fell in next to Patrick, looking at his roommate with concern. Patrick blushed even redder underneath his sunburn, hearing the big tanuki's concern as patronizing instead of friendly.
“I-I’m not ‘little guy’, okay!?” Patrick managed to whimper out, even as he started to feel a little dizzy. “Just ‘cause you’re so much bigger that me doesn’t mean I can’t do this, okay!?”
For some reason, the side of Patrick that wanted to cut ties and run as far from this camp as possible were getting pushed into the back of his head, and the side of him that wanted to prove that he wasn’t just a big wimp was coming to the front. He blinked a few times, trying to refocus his eyes and hold his ground. However, he felt his legs wobbling a moment before the finally gave out and he started to fall to the ground.
“Whoops, careful there, Pat,” Cameron said gently as he caught the mouse and held him up. “Let me guess… you didn’t get anything else to eat after you spilled half your breakfast, right? You did pretty good today on half a meal, but you need to be more careful.”
Cameron hefted Patrick up in one arm, holding up the little mouse easily and planting one of his paws right on his roommate’s soft, rounded bottom. Patrick let out an unintentional squeak of surprise as Cameron cupped his ass, but was too dizzy to say anything.
“Okay, campers! We’ve got five minutes ‘til lunchtime! Get those bats and balls cleaned up and line up to head to the mess hall! Let’s move it, kiddos!” Cameron called out, and the little critters snapped to attention and got to work. While they cleaned up after the match, Cameron sat Patrick down in the shade and got him some water, and before long Patrick was feeling a little better, albeit with a splitting headache.
The two young men sat in silence for a little while, with Patrick embarrassed to speak up after feeling like he made a fool of himself just now and Cameron trying to put into words how impressive he had found it that Patrick had worked so hard, despite his weaker physical condition. Finally, Cameron shyly spoke up, deciding to change the subject.
“So… Umm, me and my buddy Zack… You met him, right?” Cameron started, making Patrick blush when he remembered what had happened in the showers. “Yeah, I guess you did. Anyway, me and him were planning on hanging out this evening once the job’s done. Do you want to come along? Could be fun to just unwind after a long day, you know?”
Cameron lifted an arm to scratch the back of his head shyly, giving Patrick a big whiff of the tanuki’s sweaty underarms. For some reason, it didn’t bother the little mouse at all, and instead it just reminded him how safe and protected he felt having such a strong, manly roommate there to keep him safe. If Cameron was there, why was Patrick so scared of this camp and eager to escape, anyway? There had been something bothering him before, but... it seemed so minor and pointless the more he tried to remember what it was. Struggling to sort out his feelings, Patrick looked Cameron right in the eyes and smiled nervously.
“Y-yeah, I think I’d like that, Cam…” he said, putting one little paw on Cameron’s leg shyly. Cameron chuckled in relief hearing that, and soon the two of them were back on their feet and getting their little group of campers back to the mess hall for lunchtime.