>"THIS is the surprise!?" the Aardwolf looked through the passenger's window in disbelief. 

>Anon casually maneuvered the steering wheel as the car turned into the parking lot. "Hey, I don't wanna hear any complaints. You already took the McBribe. Besides, I've been wanting to do this for years now."

>Chloe undid her seatbelt, got up and pushed her nose against the glass to get a better view. No way she was going in there. Part of her didn't even think this was happening. 

>Plopping back down, the Aardlet whined. "Whatever, I only ate your mcDonalds 'cause I was hungry as fuck." 

>The car glided along the asphalt towards a familiar building. Anon was more focused on driving than anything else right now, but managed to divide his attention enough to respond.

>"You told me you had the-"

>"Parking spot right there." She pointed to an opening on their left with a single claw, tapping it against the windshield.

>Anon nodded and changed course. "You told me you had the afternoon free. Said you'd be fine trying something new. I don't see the problem here."

>"Are you fucking kidding me? When you said new, I thought you meant, like, a different skate park! Not this bullshit!" She waved her paws at the facade outside her window. 

>Another turn of the wheel, and Anon shifted into park. Chloe handed his backpack to him. The black bag contained some water bottles, pretzels, and leftover McDonalds.

>Chloe was the first to step out, landing on the hard pavement with the elegance of an earthquake. She stretched her arms, and then her hamstrings. Anon followed a few seconds later, slinging the backpack around his shoulder before shutting the car door and locking it. The calm afternoon wind hit both of them. A little chilly out, and the sky stood clear and orange. 

>Sauntering over to behind the car, Chloe looked up at the big blue letters plastered on the edifice ahead. Whatever annoyance she felt was superseded by the memories she got from reading the sign out loud. 

>"'Canidale Kits Museum'. Jeez, what a nostalgia bomb. I haven't been here since I was..."

>"A kit?" he finished, joining her by the trunk of the car. "Same for me. It's one of those experiences I've always wanted to relive." 

>Anon adjusted the sleeves on his jacket and exhaled. "You know, if you really don't want to go in, we can still turn back right now." 

>The aardwolf's face snapped over to him. "What? I d- ... I mean, look: As long as you're paying for my ticket. Plus you already drove us out to Canidale, stupid."

>"You're with stupid. And sweet, I'm excited." chimed Anon. He stared at the girl's head for a second, before plucking a large piece of fuzz from her beanie. She swatted his hands away and pulled the hat tighter around her head. "Alright, let's go."

>The pair started towards the museum. Anon kept his hands in his pockets, while Chloe seemed unaffected by the chill of the air.

>"Wait a minute..." her eyes narrowed onto the man beside her. "What's the catch?"

>"Catch?"

>"Yeah," she started counting reasons on the digits of her paw. "You bought me McDonalds, drove us down here, and now you're paying for my ticket. Trying to butter me up for something. What is it?"

>"Am I not allowed to be generous to my friends?" Anon rolled his eyes, and Chloe rolled hers right back.

>"Bullshit, I know you're hiding something from me. Spill it."

>"Alright, there might be a tiiiiny little favor I need from you." He flashed a toothy smile.

>"Here we go, I fucking called it." Chloe barked. She considered stopping right in the middle of the parking lot, but kept walking to hear Anon's response.

>"You see..." he started, almost chuckling. "The museum doesn't want to let in weirdos or pedophiles, so they only give tickets to real-looking families."

>"Okay...?" She sneered.

>"Well, eheh..." he beat around the bush. "obviously we'll need a cub to look believable... and only one of us is under 5 feet tall."

>Her head shot up like fire as the idea clicked in her brain. "NO! THERE'S NO WAY IM PRETENDING T-"

***

>"Welcome to the 'See-Kay-Em'!" sang the cow behind the counter. She was pretty skinny for a cow, Anon thought. Maybe she's related to the girl on the milk cartons. "How can I help y'all today?"

>"Yeah, one kid, one adult ticket please." responded Anon, dragging a small creature behind him. 

>"That'll be $30." The associate hummed as she waited for the tickets to print out. She wore a tacky blue and orange uniform, which didn't compliment her yellow-brown fur in the slightest. A terrible combination really, but at least she seemed happy to be there. 

>Speaking of 'happy', Chloe wore a smile so fake that it would convince you she was the worst actress on Earth. Maybe she thought that kids always looked constipated, because that's kind of the impression she gave right now. Anon thought the role would be easy for her considering how immature the girl was already, but he was having second thoughts. At least Chloe was pretty good at the mannerisms. 

>Anon handed over his credit card while Chloe waddled out from behind him. He crossed his fingers and prayed her age would go unnoticed.

>The cow lady somehow perked up even more after seeing little Chloe. 

>"AaAAAWWW, well wouldja look at this lil' butterbean!" She cooed. "So is mommy a wolf and Daddy a human?" 

>Oh fuck, he hadn't even considered the fact that they were different species. Also, was that question a little personal, or what? 

>Chloe cleared her throat. Jesus Christ, this was going to be a trainwreck. She raised the pitch of her voice a little. "I wuv Mommy! She's a stwong aardwowf but she works all day!" 

>"Well, I'm sure she's working hard because she loves you!" The bovine lady smiled, then turned around to get the tickets that had just printed. 

>Chloe kicked Anon in the shin, as if to say "We'll never speak of this." He winced. Luckily the worker couldn't see much of their legs from within her booth.

>She handed back his card along with the tickets and two wristbands, colored the same blue and orange as the CKM uniform. "She's just adorable, sir!" the lady squeed, unable to take her eyes off of the Aardwolf.

>"Among other things." Anon acquiesced, as if he had been a father for 10 years. He casually took a map from a basket on the side of the ticket booth. "She's a real handful sometimes, I'll tell you that." 

>He got another kick in the shin. Stifling the pain, Anon raised this pitch of his voice as he knelt down to take his 'daughter's' paw. "Okay sweetie, we can see the museum as soon as I put your bracelet on. Do you want the blue, or the orange?" he shot her a wicked grin.

>"Blue, blue!" She jumped up and down. Although the act looked like excitement to an outsider, it was most certainly a venting of frustration. 

>"Okay, hold still." Said anon, peeling the bracelet to expose a sticky strip on the paper. He wrapped the band around her left wrist. 

>"All done!" 

>"All done!" She echoed. Judging by her glare, she enunciated the two syllables as "fuck you" in her head. 

>"Just hold Daddy's hand so you don't get lost, okay?" Anon interlocked his fingers with Chloe's. Neither of them made eye contact. He stood up and nodded at the associate. "Thank you, ma'am." 

>"Enjoy the museum!" She chirped, watching the 'happy family' until they rounded the corner and left her line of sight. 

>The entrance hallway was white and sterile, and was lined on both sides with paintings of old aristocrats who probably died a hundred years ago. Below each painting was a gold-plated plaque, with detailed flatteries for donating money, or helping found the museum, or something. It's not like Anon or Chloe would ever care to read them. They simply continued walking.

>"Well that was fun." he prodded.

>"Fuck that, I wanted to stick nails in my eyes the whole time." she muttered.

>"Either way, it was good teamwork. We made it, 'sweetie'." he responded in a mock-paternal tone.

>Chloe checked to make sure no one else was in earshot. "Whatever, but don't you DARE ask me to call you 'Daddy' or I'll Mike Tyson your ear off."

>"You can't even reach my ears, but sure. I'm honestly surprised that you're still holding my hand at this point." 

>Chloe's eyes darted again.

>"...we've still gotta make it believable, right?" her claws tapped on the back of his carpals. 

>"...Right." With his unoccupied hand, Anon pulled out the map of the CKM. Chloe saw he was struggling and used her free paw to grab one edge of it. The paper unfolded before the two of them.

>"So where do you want to go first?" 

End.