Dare heard a knock at his door and sat right up in bed, then he ran over to the door and threw it open frantically.
“Milo, I’m so sorry, I was just-” Dare started to say, then he saw that it was Todd standing in the hall. “Oh. Sorry. I thought... Forget it...”
“I saw M-Milo leaving the dorm and he looked upset, so I thought that...” Todd started to say, then he saw streaks of dried tears down Dare’s cheeks. This wasn’t the Dare he’d seen during the day, the one that always had a smug smirk on his face as he playfully mocked the others.
“You thought what? That I kicked him out? ‘Cause I’m such an asshole, right?” Dare huffed, wiping his face and trying to look at least a little dignified. Todd and him hadn’t had much of a chance to talk, even though everyone was eating and going to Anthro 101 together; Dare was usually too focused on Milo and Todd too focused on Sam, so they didn’t chat too often. But, Dare was honestly a little jealous of the shy wolf; he was trying his hardest to break out of his shell and express himself better, while Dare was just wallowing in his own misery and refusing to open up.
Todd looked around nervously, unsure of how to deal with Dare when he was in a mood like this. Before all their changes started, Todd probably would have turned around and ran, but now that he was learning to be more social from Sam, he was willing to give talking to Dare a try, even though Dare was clearly on-edge.
“I... I d-don't think you're an asshole, Dare. You’re funny, and you offered to help out Ollie with studying yesterday... And I think Milo likes you a lot, so-” Todd saw a flash of hopeless sadness cross Dare’s face, and it was clear that he’d stepped on a landmine with that last comment.
“Milo hates me. And you know what? He should. I did something awful to him, and now he doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore,” Dare sighed, turning around and slumping back onto Milo’s bed, treasuring the scent that was still soaked into his roommate’s sheets. “He wants to go play with his pretend family…”
“Did Milo say that? That he h-hates you?” Todd asked curiously. He couldn’t believe that someone as kind and patient as Milo would write someone off like that, even someone as prickly as Dare.
“...No. He says he needs some space,” Dare said listlessly. “Same thing. It means ‘get the hell away from me and stay there’.”
“I don’t think so!” Todd said suddenly, walking into the room and sitting across from Dare. “When I saw him outside, h-he didn’t look that angry. He was... worried? Confused, maybe? A-and, who can blame him, with everything that’s going on right now...”
Dare bit his lip nervously, listening to Todd’s reassurance closely. What the hell did Milo have to be worried about? He got a new life and a new family, even a new big brother to look after him. All Dare got was...
*bzz*
Dare felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and he curiously pulled it out and glanced at it, seeing a text had come in. Miss you, sweetie. Want to hear your voice before I go crazy, call me soon, okay? -Mom
Todd noticed the odd look crossing Dare’s face, and he understood what it meant implicitly.
“I-is it from your family?” he asked cautiously. “Your new one, I mean?”
“...She’s not my mom. I don’t even know her...” Dare whispered, and he immediately felt a pang of guilt for saying that about his own mother. He tossed the phone onto the bed, though he kept it close in case another text message came in.
“...Dare, I think I know what Milo meant w-when he said he needed some space,” Todd said, sounding more confident that Dare had ever heard him. “W-when I started thinking about everything, about my new family, all these new m-memories, and about turning into a wolf... I had to get away from Sam for just a bit, needed some time to myself. It’s a lot to take in, you know? Maybe it’s n-not something you can really talk to someone else about... Too personal.”
“So... What’re you saying? That Milo needs to figure things out? That’s why he needs a break from me?” Dare asked.
“Maybe. B-but... Milo’s always thinking about others, too. So, if I had to guess... He might think that you’re the one that needs a little time alone to think,” Todd replied. He wasn’t sure what made him think this, but it was just something he’d gleaned from watching Dare and Milo’s interactions over the past few days.
“Well, I hate being alone... I just want to be with Milo,” Dare muttered pathetically. “I really do want him to like me, you know? But all I can do is try to make him laugh, help him with his photos... And just when he starts to respond to those stupid little things... I run away. I just set everything back to zero. Hell, probably even worse than zero.”
The two of them sat in silence for a few moments, both of them mulling over what had been said. Finally, Todd broke the silence, standing up and walking over to put a paw on Dare’s shoulder.
“I d-don’t think Milo could ever hate you. He’s a nice guy, and he tries to make everyone happy,” Todd said quietly. “He wouldn’t get so upset if you meant nothing to him. But, all this running away you’re talking about… It sounds like you’re afraid of showing that he means as much to you as you mean to him. Making him laugh or smile, or helping him with something he’s passionate about like photography… Those aren’t ‘stupid’ things. They’re how he knows that you understand him and want to be with him.”
“…I think that was just more words than I’ve heard you say the whole time I’ve known you,” Dare replied after a moment, a cheeky grin sneaking onto his tear-stained face for just a moment.
“Y-yeah. I’ll probably have t-to be quiet for a whole week to make up for it…” Todd agreed. “S-so, are you going to be okay, Dare?”
“Nah, I’m probably gonna cry some more and stuff my face with junk food ‘til I feel better,” Dare chuckled darkly, but Todd could already tell that he was starting to snap out of it. For tonight, at least. “And… I think I need to call someone, too…”
Todd saw Dare looking at the cell phone sitting across from him on the bed, and he knew exactly what Dare was thinking. “Okay, good luck. And try to have a little fun tonight, okay?” Todd said quietly, then he waved goodbye and headed down the hall to his own dorm room to wait for Sam.
---------------------------------------
Once Todd was gone and Dare had a chance to recompose himself, he reached out his paw shakily and grabbed the phone, pulled up ‘Mom’ on his contacts list, then tapped ‘call’. Within seconds, a bright voice piped up over the phone’s speaker.
“Dare! You had me worried sick!”
“Mom?” Dare asked, still unsure if this was really a good idea.
“Who else would it be? Dare, you said you’d call me your first night there, and you blew us off!” Dare immediately recognized the voice. The kind, energetic voice of the skunk who was his mother in this new world. The one who had always been there for him, always ready to tell him what he needed to hear after a bad day.
Well, he’d been having a bad day.
“Right… I guess I was busy. How’s everyone doing? Did Cass end up getting onto the softball team?” Dare replied. He frowned at how easily that slipped out of his mouth, but at the same time it felt good to just chat with someone he’d (seemingly) known his entire life. He cautiously let the words flow more freely, speaking whatever came to his mind and hoping his ‘mother’ wouldn’t notice anything unusual.
“She did! She chalks it all up to the pitching practice she got in with her big brother the week before you left,” Dare’s mom said cheerfully. “And Nils started those karate classes he’s been begging to take for years. Started up yesterday, and he’s already punched a hole through the fence in the backyard! Such a little stinker…”
Dare burst into laughter at that, able to imagine it happening like he was there. “Yeah, that’s just like him…” he sighed, feeling a bit of his stress start to melt away. He continued to chat away with his mother, losing himself in the new memories of his life and catching up on all the important news he had apparently missed in the half-week since leaving home for college. As he did, out of the corner of his eye he caught his reflection in the mirror near the door, seeing his nose start to push forward into a slight muzzle shape and turn a light pink, while a bit of black and white fur began to creep down across his forehead to dust his new muzzle.
He stared at his reflection for a moment, and he realized that he felt… okay? About the transformation, at least. Sure, he was turning into a skunk. He could live with that. And sure, he suddenly had a nipple piercing, but once he got used to that he’d probably be okay with it too. The only thing that really bothered him right now was-
“Dare, honey? Something’s wrong, isn’t it?” his mother asked, her voice full of concern. “I can hear it in your voice.”
“…I got into a fight. With my boy-… m-my roommate,” Dare said quietly. As much as he wanted it, calling Milo his ‘boyfriend’ was pure fantasy, and even calling him a ‘friend’ at this point was questionable. “It was just a stupid thing, but-“
“But, you haven’t apologized, right?” his mother sighed. “You’ve been like that since you were a kit. Someone asks a question, you avoid it. Someone gets mad, you hide behind that tail of yours! I can put up with it since I’m your mother, but it’s gonna piss everyone else off, you know…”
“Yeah… I know, mom…”
“…So, what happened? Or is it a boy thing I wouldn’t understand?” she asked, and Dare could hear her laughing behind her paw even over the phone.
“Boy thing, sorry. That’s all I’m going to say,” Dare replied immediately. The list of things he knew could talk about with his mother was long, but ‘cumming all over his roommate’ was not on it.
“Fine. Here’s my advice. Take a night off, go into town, and find the ice cream shop on Mane St. I saw it on the way out of town after dropping you off, and I’ll bet they have strawberry milkshakes,” Dare’s mother said knowingly. “And once you’re all sugared up and feeling a little better, figure out a way to fix things with him. And don’t take too long.”
“And how am I supposed to do that, mom?” Dare asked nervously.
“I thought it was a ‘boy thing’? Figure it out yourself, stinker.”
Dare smirked at that. Here he was, having a conversation with what should be a complete stranger, and he was already feeling slightly better. Maybe there really was something to be gained from leaning into this ‘new life’ he was getting. He wasn't sure he trusted it yet, but if he could use it, maybe he could think of a way to make the best of a bad situation. He thought hard, dipping into his memories from the ‘new life’, trying to come up with something he could do to show Milo that he still wanted to be friends. That he could slow down and give Milo space.
“Hey, mom? Do you have that cake recipe? You know, the one we always make for birthdays,” Dare asked, a sudden flash of memories coming to him. “Could you text it to me?”