Dylan and Benny stopped, startled, as the black limousine stopped next to them.

A back window rolled down, and Tyr stuck his head out, smiling. "You don't have to walk home, Dylan. Hop in."

"Dude! What the hell?" Benny gaped, indicating the limo.

"Guess I forgot to mention I'm hanging out with Tyr today," Dylan grinned and laughed, slapping his friend on the back. "See you later!"

Benny shook his had a cackled. "Be careful, Marshmallow. You jerkass."

Dylan stuck his tongue out at him as he climbed into the limo.

He looked around, amazed, at the seats, the compartments, the buttons and lights- everything. It was all so luxurious! "Dang. Only seen these in movies. I had no idea..."

Tyr chuckled warmly. "Yeah, they're pretty cool. So, where do you live?"

Dylan gave him the address, adding "Really, it's only, like ten minutes' walk from here."

"And you expect me to hobble over there?" Tyr smiled.

"Well, no, I guess not," Dylan laughed. "Just seems... A bit unnecessary for me to get a ride."

"Well, what are friends for?" Tyr chuckled.

In a few short, smooth minutes, they arrived. Dylan went to open his door, only to find the chauffeur opening it for him.

"Oh! Um, wow, thanks," he laughed, surprised.

The chauffeur nodded and went to help Tyr out of the limo.

"I've got a thing at six, and I'm getting picked up a bit before then, so you know," Dylan explained quickly. "Came up after I invited you over, you see, or I would've told you."

Tyr nodded and smiled pleasantly. "Okay, that's cool."

He gave the driver instructions and then followed Dylan into his house, as interested in it as Dylan was in the limousine. "Wow, it's so small..."

"Well, I dunno, I suppose," Dylan chuckled. "Never minded it, though. The living room's there. You wanted a snack? I'll be doing a bit of cooking for later, too."

Tyr set himself down on the couch and said "Oh yeah, sure! One of your recipes, right?"

"I've got one that isn't in the book," Dylan offered. "Just came up with it the other day. It's tested extensively already."

"Alright, cool, that will do," Tyr nodded.

They talked a bit while Dylan whipped up the muffins, and when he put them in the oven to bake, he returned to the living room, sitting on the other side of the couch from Tyr, at what he hoped was a respectful distance. Now that they were secluded in his house, he was rather nervous about what the wolf might do.

"So, um, do you ever play video games, Tyr?" He asked, trying to remain calm.

"No, never really had time before," Tyr admitted. "Though Lex and Imp talk about them quite a bit. Are they fun?"

"Yeah, lots of fun!" Dylan nodded. "Er, I have only one controller, but you can play, and I'll tell you what to do..."

"Alright, I suppose that works," Tyr said uncertainly, taking the controller.

"You'll probably want to try it on Easy," Dylan recommended.

Tyr scoffed. "Hell no. I'm not pushover. Expert."

Dylan threw up his paws and rolled his eyes. "Alright. If you think you can handle that..."

"Where's the start button? Let's get this thing going," Tyr said, fumbling on the controller briefly.

Predictably, he was slain within a few minutes. Grumbling, he restarted, and was slain again. And again. And again.

When it became painful to watch, Dylan spoke up, suggesting quietly "Maybe you'd like to try an easier difficulty?"

Tyr ground his teeth. "No. Shut up."

"Alright, sorry," Dylan said, snickering quietly. Hearing the oven beep, he rose. "I'll be right back with those muffins."

A string of loud curses that would shame a sailor sounded from the living room as the cat pulled the muffins from the oven and set them on the counter. He had prepared these ones with chocolate chips in addition to the marshmallows. While they cooled, he prepared a batch of chocolate cupcakes with marshmallows on the spur of the moment. It should work, and Emi would be pleasantly surprised.

Taking one tray of muffins out to the living room, he said "Hey Tyr, how about a snack break?"

Tyr breathed deeply, making a visible effort to calm himself, and nodded. "Okay."

"Hope you like them," Dylan said, offering the tray as he perched on the couch. "They've got chocolate chips as well, though you can make them without them, or add graham crackers."

Tyr took a muffin, appraised it, and then pushed the entire thing into his mouth. He chewed it around and swallowed.

"So, what do you think?" Dylan asked hopefully. "Good?"

"These are great, actually!" Tyr grinned, beginning to stuff his face with more of the muffins. "You invented these?"

"Yeah. My friend Benny gave me the idea by accident. Came from a nickname," Dylan nodded, pleased.

Tyr snorted laughter. "He calls you 'Muffin'?"

"No!" Dylan blushed. "Marshmallow. Not muffin... We're not that sort of friends..."

"But you turned down a girl for him?" Tyr smiled, amused.

"She just wasn't right for me..." Dylan grumbled stubbornly.

"Uh-huh..." Tyr said, clearly not believing Dylan.

"It's true!" Dylan protested hotly. "I'm not... I'm not..."

"Whoa, hey, calm down, bro," Tyr said sympathetically, "If you are, I mean, that’s- that's cool, or whatever. Whatever your thing is, doesn't bother me. It's cool."

Dylan sighed shakily. "Yeah. Whatever it is..."

He calmed down, then asked with a small smile "So. What's your 'thing'? Just girls? 'Cause you must see a lot of guys in uniforms, and if that's your 'thing', you know... That's cool."

Now it was Tyr's turn to blush and growl around a mouthful of muffins "No! I like girls! Wouldn't have dated Cassie for so long if I didn't."

Dylan chuckled. "Alright, so, got any more dates lined up?"

Tyr sighed and swallowed. "No. I don't know. Seems like all the girls are too intimidated, or they already got boyfriends, or they just don't like me that way, or they're not really my type... I don't know..."

"Well, don't despair, you'll find someone yet," Dylan said comfortingly, not quite daring to reach out and pat his shoulder. "How's the leg?"

Tyr grunted. "Coming along, I suppose. Got a doctor's appointment tomorrow to check."

"After school?"

"During. I'll be there at the end of the day."

"Well, if you're not too busy, um... You can come over again tomorrow if you want. I won't be busy..." He gulped.

Tyr cast a sideways glance at him and smiled a little. "You don't have to be so nervous. You're like most of the girls I talk to."

"Well, you are intimidating..." Dylan blushed, kicking himself.

Tyr chuckled. "I'll try not to be. It’s a date, then. I can pick you up again after school, of course."

Dylan nodded, throat suddenly dry at those words, 'It's a date'. Why did that sound so nice? It meant nothing! "Sounds good."

Tyr held out the empty tray of muffins, patting his rounded stomach. "These were great, by the way. Do you have any more?"

Dylan gulped as he took the tray, paws trembling, trying not to look at the wolf's stomach. "Oh, um, yeah. I got another tray. Recipe makes two dozen."

"Bring those out, would you? Us athletes eat a lot, you know," he smiled.

Dylan nodded and sprang up. "Oh, yes, of course, Tyr." He rushed to the kitchen and took a moment to cool off.

No wonder Tyr was putting on weight! He was so careless about what he ate. How could he not notice? Was he so deluded, so high on himself? How could he not realize?

Dylan's heart fluttered. It was so difficult to relax around the wolf. They had buried the hatchet, but still, something made him tense up. He always wanted to be watching him. Like he was just waiting for him to spring. He liked him, though. Why couldn't he stop thinking about him?

Dylan shook it off and brought the other tray of muffins into the living room, setting them by Tyr. "Here you go. I've got to attend to my cupcakes in a minute, here. I'll be in the kitchen."

"Awesome," Tyr said briefly before digging into the muffins.

These were cooler, so he ate as fast as he could. Not a crumb was missed, nor muffin spared, and by the time he was done, he was not quite stuffed, but comfortably full. 

He stretched lazily, and his shirt rode up, exposing his round stomach, the size of a small soccer ball. His shorts were elastic, or he would certainly have had to un-button them. As it was, they were bowed down in front by his black, soft, furry stomach, and strained in back by his almost-equally round and soft butt. His thighs filled the legs of the shorts, and his sides were soft, just short of developing love-handles.

He didn't look in the mirrors; he didn't think he needed to. The image of himself that he held in his head was all he needed: sleek, toned arms and legs; flat, lightly muscled stomach; firm, strong chest. God among men.

Making sure Dylan wasn't looking, he paused the game and dialed the difficulty down. He'd never admit he'd been wrong. Maybe it was best to start out small and work his way up after all. And these video games were rather fun.

Dylan came back in to give him some tips when needed, and they whittled the rest of the afternoon away in this fashion.

At about quarter to six, they stood up to part ways. Dylan tried to keep his eyes off Tyr's stomach as they shook paws.

"Well, thanks for hanging out with me, Dylan," Tyr smiled warmly. "I think I needed this."

"We can do it tomorrow, too, of course," Dylan nodded, smiling back, heart beating a little faster. That smile...!

"I'll being my own controller, and we can play together, how does that sound?" Tyr offered.

Dylan paused to think about this. "Wait, I thought you said you didn't have this system?"

"I don't," Tyr laughed. "I'll just buy a controller. That should work, right?"

Dylan chuckled in wonderment. The things rich people would do. "Alright, yeah, that'd work. Thanks for coming over."

"Sure, it was fun! Goodbye," Tyr said, waving as he hobbled out.

"Goodbye," Dylan called after him, waving.

As the limo pulled away, he retreated to the couch and dropped onto it, exhaling in relief. "That was nerve-wracking but... That was fun."