Sam stared at his phone, contemplating what to do. His thumb hovered just above the call button as he read the phone number back for the third time since dialing it in.
“Come on, you coward,” Sam muttered to himself under his breath. “Just call him up and ask the question. It’s that simple!” The tiger moved to press the call button, but he chickened out at the last second and pulled away, cursing his cowardice under his breath.
After waking up from a short nap with Todd, the wolf left to go and check on Curtis, leaving Sam alone to do…whatever, really. He had considered giving Mark a call and seeing if the snow leopard wanted to meet up at the gym, but Sam decided against it, since he had already gone to the gym that morning. He then considered seeing if Dare and Milo wanted to hang out for a while, but after knocking on their door and getting no response, Sam realized they were probably out somewhere together. With nothing else to do, Sam went back to his room and began to browse the internet on his phone.
As he browsed the internet, he received a notification from the photos app. Curiously, Sam tapped the notification, and he was presented with a picture of a young white tiger and a taller orange tiger. The orange tiger had his arm wrapped around the shoulder of the white tiger. Both of them had huge smiles on their faces. Sam looked at the date in the picture…six years ago today…
”See Mikey? I told you mom and dad would take it well!”
“Yeah yeah, I guess you were right, fuzzball.” The older tiger ruffled the fur on Sam’s head before pulling him into a tight hug. “Thanks for talking me into telling them Sam. I feel like a massive weight has been taken off my shoulders.”
Mike proceeded to pull out his phone and open the camera before pulling his brother close and holding the phone out in front of them. “I wanna remember this moment forever,” he said. “Let’s take a picture!”
“Okay Mikey!”
“How has it already been six years…?” Sam thought to himself, staring at the photo before shaking his head, remembering that he hadn’t even met his brother in this world, let alone known him for six years. However, he needed to learn to push his old memories to the back of his head and embrace these new memories. Maybe giving his tiger brother a call to remind him it’s been six years since he came out to his parents would be a decent idea, which led to where he was now.
“Come on, stop being such a coward!” Sam growled to himself. “He’s your brother! Just give him a call!” He stared at his phone screen for a few more seconds before taking a few deep breaths and pressing the call button. The phone rang for a few seconds before a voice answered on the other side.
“Hey Sam, what’s up little bro?”
“Uh…hey Mike. I…uh…I got a notification from my photos…you remember that picture we took when you came out to mom and dad?”
“Huh? Oh yeah! I remember that! What about it?”
“That was six years ago today. I just wanted to call you and let you know.”
“Oh shit, really? How has it been six years already? God, how time flies…”
“Well, okay, that’s all I wanted to say. I should go now.”
Sam prepared to hang up until Mike quickly said “Hey, wait a sec!”
“What’s up Mike?”
“Well, I’m actually in the next town over for work, and I was going to get some dinner. With Adam not here, I was going to be all alone, but since you’re so close, you want me to pick you up so we can go and get some dinner together?”
Sam was quiet for a second as he considered what Mike was offering. Was he even ready to meet his older brother in this world? Would he be ready for all the new memories that would come flooding in all at once? Could he even deal with all that by himself?
“Uh…yeah…yeah! Sure! I’d love to!”
“Awesome! I’ll meet you at the usual place in about 30 minutes! Oh, and if your crush is there, bring him with you. I want to meet him!”
“If he gets back in time, I’ll let him know,” Sam responded, a blush appearing on his face. “See you in a bit Mike.”
“Likewise, little bro.” With that, the older tiger hung up the phone, and Sam exhaled a breath that he didn’t even realize he had been holding in. He put his phone down on his nightstand and flopped down on his bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering exactly what he had done.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“A-Are you sure you want me to come?” Todd asked nervously, holding the tiger’s hand as they walked down Mane St. “I f-feel like I’m just intruding…I can st-still go back to campus…”
“Babe, this is the third time I’ve told you: you’re not intruding,” Sam replied. “Mike said that he really wanted to meet the guy I’m dating, and I…” The tiger‘s voice trailed off at the very end. He took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m scared, Todd. Really, really scared. I know he’s my brother, and it seems like he’s almost the exact same as my brother from the other side, but I…I genuinely don’t think I can do this by myself.”
The wolf nodded in understanding and gave Sam’s hand a gentle squeeze. “You’ll be f-fine, Sam,” he said. “He’s your b-brother. I’m sure all these memories will just c-come naturally.”
“Yeah…yeah, you’re right!” Sam said, beginning to hype himself up. “I can do this! I’m going to go and meet my brother for dinner, and everything's gonna be fine!”
Todd couldn’t help but laugh a little at Sam giving himself a pep talk. The tiger’s high energy and good attitude were so infectious that he could make anyone come out of their shell. Of course, that was one of the reasons Todd found himself falling head over heels for his jock roommate. “S-So where are we going for dinner?”
“It’s a local diner here on Mane St.” Sam replied. “Whenever my folks and I would come to visit Mike when he was in college, we would always go to this diner to have dinner. They have some of the best burgers that you’ll ever taste in your life, and the desserts are to die for!” A confused look then crossed the tiger’s face; a look that Todd had seen many times over the past week.
“New m-memory?”
“Yeah…God, those don’t get any easier. I’m not fighting these new memories at all, but it’s just so jarring when they clash with my pre-existing memories, you know? It just makes me wonder what will happen when…”
Sam’s voice trailed off as the two of them walked past the grocery store and the local diner came into view. Though Sam had never once seen the diner before, looking at it gave him a strange sense of nostalgia. It was as if he’d been here multiple times. Without saying a word, the tiger walked into the parking lot and towards the front door, with Todd following close behind. Sam opened the door and held it open for his boyfriend before going inside himself.
The inside of the was just like any other diner you’d see when going on a road trip. There were various tables and booths for groups of anthros to sit at and eat, with each table having salt, pepper, sugar, and a bottle of ketchup on it. Along the back wall was a bar with six stools for people to sit at. On the other side of the bar was a soda fountain and what looked to be a milkshake mixer, as well as a cash register. Not far from the bar was a pair of double doors with circular windows that led into the kitchen, where all the food was prepared. However, what really had drawn Sam’s attention was one of the diner’s patrons.
Sitting at the bar was a tiger with orange fur and black stripes. They were only wearing a pair of khaki shorts, which showed off their slim yet muscular physique. Upon hearing the door open, the tiger turned his head towards it to see who walked in. As soon as Sam’s eyes locked with the other tiger, his mind was overcome by memory after memory he shared with this other tiger: his first day of school, doing homework, birthday parties, holidays, family vacations, and much, much more. He could remember going to every single one of the other tiger’s baseball games, cheering wildly when they won the State Championship. He could remember attending his college graduation and the other tiger showing him around the campus of the school Sam would be attending just a year later. He could remember standing near the altar with other anthros, all of them wearing black suits, and beaming with pride as he watched the tiger and a fox walk down the aisle together with their arms linked.
When the deluge of memories finally began to subside, Sam found himself tightly hugging the other tiger as his eyes began to well up with tears.
“I’ve missed you…I’ve missed you so much…”
Mike returned the hug, gently running his claws through the fur on Sam’s back. “I’ve missed you too, lil’ bro.”