Betaread by Khito Rhustu

Nathan wasn't having a good day. Then again, the young fox figured it was bad every year. The day his mom had died would never be good. He'd never forget finding Mom laid out in front of the small shrine. One hand on their clan bible, its pages open. The scream his sister had made when she saw it too…

Bang!

He jumped, his train of thought derailed. A few moments later the sound repeated, whatever it was came from the front of the house.

He set the remains of his breakfast aside, and got up to investigate.

There was another loud bang, and the door flew open. The latch had been busted and the door swung freely on its hinges. A flood of men and women in uniform charged into the house. “Police!" “Get down!"

He blinked, and found himself sitting next to the sidewalk. His body from being forced down to the ground. His wrists throbbed with every slight movement, the zip-ties cutting into the skin.

A young policewoman was asking him if he had anywhere to stay. If he had any other family to take care of him. He opened his mouth to speak…

Three large police officers dragged his father out of the home. Eric Yoshino was a short fennec, even his kids were a whole head taller than him. The officers around him paid no mind to his short and frail build however, roughly dragging him out of the house and into a squad car.

Nathan shouted, "Hey! Let him go. He didn't do anything. You can't take him."

He tried to get to him, shoving past the policewoman as she tried to calm him down. Running for the car, desperate to do something, anything. He didn't see the policeman that tackled him to the ground, a nightstick thudding into the ground inches from his head in threat.

The last time he saw his father was through teary eyes as they shoved him into the car. He couldn't help him. He couldn't help anyone.

He woke up in a panic, his body flying upright, chest heaving as he returned to wakefulness. He sat there for several moments, breathing heavily. “I can't keep doing this every night." 

A while later Nathaniel is dressed and ready for the day. “Alright, just have to run by the shop after school and check up on things. I've gotta make sure the shop is still there when I get dad back after all." BRIIIING!!!BRIIIING!! Who's bothering to call me at seven in the morning?

Nathan makes his way back to his room and looks at his phone. 

Sis Calling

  Answer   Decline

Text response 

He hesitated as he reached for his phone. Before he could answer, the call timed out. Should I even call her back? The choice was taken away from him as the phone began to ring again, caller ID confirmed she wasn't going to give up without a response. He answered the phone. 

“Nats, hey, I just…had a moment. Are you doing alright? I know it's hard right now, with….everything. I just wanted to see if you're okay." 

“I'm doing about as well as I can Ash. Things are complicated back here, the store's not doing so well, and I don't really know how to run a business." He paused for several seconds. “I don't know if dad's going to be okay, there's just no way he would, I just can't believe he would kill someone, and he's gonna be in jail for life. I'm all alone out here." He felt weak for even saying the last part out loud, wasting his breath on how unfair things were. 

Ashley sighed, “Yeah, I know it's hard Nats, I wish I had the time to come back and help, but the whole office is still in crunch mode for that big case" 

The case? Is that what she's worried about? Are we really that unimportant to her? “Sis I know you've got a life out there and all, but couldn't you come back? Just a little while. Please, I need some help with all of this, it's just too much for me to deal with. I need help." 

She sighed, “ I really do wish I could, I can't make it back. I'm really busy with work and the office, I'm the lead for our team right now."

He growled, hand clenching dangerously hard around the phone," You could make the time! Why is that job more important than your family?!" He regretted it immediately, he didn't want to fight her, and he didn't want to hear her tell him that he wasn't important enough to help. 

It was her turn to get angry, “ What, so you just want me to ruin everything I worked so hard for? Come back to that place where everything went to hell and leave the one thing I've gotten right behind?" 

“Gotten right! Is that what you call it?" 

“Yeah it is, I have a career, I'm going places and I'm not stuck in some dusty small town anymore." 

“And all it took was you abandoning us and moving halfway across the damn country."

 “I didn't abandon you! I had to do something to live my own life. Mom died and dad turned into an alcoholic mess. For three years we took care of him, and he didn't get any better!" 

 “He lost his wife!"

 “And we lost Mom, just because he hurt doesn't make it okay that he neglected us."

 “Like you did?"

 “That's not what happened! I had a chance to make something of myself and I took it. I'm not apologizing for that!"

 “And all you had to do was throw away your family, guess it is that simple when you put it like that. You didn't even come home when he was arrested. I really needed you here dammit!"

 “I know, I know, I just have a lot on my plate right now, I didn't have the time to fly back home, not with this big case-"

 “I can't believe that you cared more about some case than your family."

 “That's not true, I didn't know it was that bad! I didn't realize that any of that was. I mean, I thought it was okay."

 “Well, I'm glad you found the time to take care of yourself. It's fine, I guess I didn't need your help anyway."

“I-"

He couldn't do it anymore, he ended the call before she could respond. A few seconds passed before he got another call, Sis, again. He denied the call and turned off the phone. A moment later he was on the floor, hands on his knees and back pressed tightly up against the wall. Tears filled his eyes as he finally let himself cry. Why do I have to do this all alone?

 He decided to go back to bed and sleep it off. It was a school day but his attendance and grades were nearly perfect so missing one day would be fine he reasoned. He went back to bed, this time he didn't dream.

 A few hours passed before he got out of bed again. It's still school hours but I think I can get away with checking up on the store. He got in his dad's truck and drove off.

Thirty minutes later he was at the store, Erick's Music Hall. 

 The building wasn't overly large or even fancy, but it was professional enough and it did have a certain charm to the old sign out front. The inside was spacious, to make room for displays of instruments, from high-quality drums and guitars down to cheap recorders, practice kits, and even a couple of used acoustic guitars that were refurbished in store. Off to one corner was a series of stands and racks to display all of the smaller bits any musician might need, drumsticks, guitar picks, various types of stands for sheet music, and a few guidebooks for the different instruments they sold for beginners, among other things.

 It was a nice place, cozy enough especially with the warm orange and yellow on the walls, old photos from concerts, and even a few photos of local cover bands. Nathaniel's dad absolutely loved music, from the greatest rock stars and orchestral bands to the smallest garage players, he loved it all and he made sure everyone who came in those doors would know it. 

He stopped a bit inside the store to take it in, this place was almost like a shrine to the idea of music, or at least that's how he viewed it. It always had something playing, though it was anyone's guess as to what genre it would be, sometimes it would play hits from the legends of rock and roll, other times a home-made recording of a blues street artist that caught Eric's eye, and of course, on some days it would be a live performance. Never anything big of course, but that small stage over the corner did get used now and again. Eric and Nathan had both been known to sit there and just play whatever came to mind for hours on some days... He did love this place, after all, he did take after his dad in a whole-hearted love of anything musical.

 There weren't that many customers today, it was a weekday and school was still in, but even then they should have more people, business just wasn't good ever since the news came out that Eric was found guilty of murdering Franklin Tennington. The Curator was well-liked in this small town for his easygoing attitude and his delightful collection of stories. The man had a tale for every occasion.

He decided that if he was going to do this now was a good time before school let out and hopefully business would pick up for a bit. 

The fox wandered over towards the counter to see Gary, assistant manager of the place behind the counter, and another associate leaning against the wall behind the counter. There was not much to do with so few people here. “Hey Nathan, you should be in school. What are you doing here?"

 He brushed a hand over the back of his head, “I had a bit of a rough morning and decided to skip it, nothing but wasting time and some extra credit, and my grades are more than fine already.  Think we could talk in the back room for a minute?"

 “Sure, sure. Hey Carlos, watch the floor while I talk with the mini-boss"

 A casual wave and a “Can do" later, and they were walking into the back room. It was way more cramped, part of the price of making the front so spacious was that the employee-only areas were just barely big enough for function. The rooms were simple and spartan, a keypad-locked door led into a small hallway joined by the middle to the rest of the store, and the sides of the hall had shelving racks filled with cleaning supplies and extra stock of smaller items. Towards the right was a small break room that was just big enough to hold a small fold-out table and a pair of chairs. A small coffee maker sat on the table with styrofoam cups in a plastic sleeve laid down next to it. The other way had a small office, a desk with another fold-out chair and a micro-desktop, and piles of paperwork that Eric would have called “organized chaos".

 “So how's it going really?"

 “It's not that bad, we are still making a profit, just, not enough to live off. Truth be told, it's you I'm worried about, the loan on that house you're living in is probably going to take a bit more money than this place is putting out to keep up with if nothing changes."

 “I'll be fine, I just want to keep this place running. Dad loves this place, and I'd hate to have to tell him we lost it before we get his name cleared up." He realized his mistake just a moment too late. Gary was a good friend of his dad's, but he wasn't convinced that he was innocent after the trial had ended. It was a source of tension between the two of them, now more than ever.

 “Look, I know you love your old man. But the court-"

 “I get it, you think he did it. Can we just not do this today."

 Gary frowned a look that conveyed all the understanding that just made it so hard to hold on to anything against the man. Eric felt bad for holding a grudge over their disagreement. The silence between them lasted for a few short moments that felt like years. “Yeah, sure. Anyway, the store's doing alright, we had to cancel a few orders for newer stock, but we'll be alright." 

“Great, look' I'm gonna spend a while here, keep myself busy."

 Nathaniel left Gary with some paperwork. He did need something to do. He walked out of the back rooms and passed the weasel at the counter.  He ended up working on the stands out on the floor, tidying up some instruments that were left when a customer decided against a purchase, finding smaller bits that were in the wrong places, and straightening out the displays of music books. All in all, it was tedious but satisfying work for the young fox that just needed to zone out for a while.

 Eventually, as he was tuning up some of the guitars, a particularly stubborn string on a steel guitar had him completely focused. He thought he had finally got it to tune, so he tried playing a few chords. A moment later he was strumming a tune, the world fell away when he played like this. Just him, an instrument, and the sound of music. The troubles and the stress melted away and he just played.

 “Wow, that sounds great. I wish I could play like that, I can barely keep mine in tune yet." Nathan jumped. With the stool he was sitting on, this was decidedly a bad move. He slipped backward and balanced for just a moment on the tilted stool before falling with a crash.

 “Ow." From under the guitar and stool, he looked up at the one who had startled him so badly. Heat rushed to his cheeks at his clumsy maneuver. It was a calico cat, jeans and a t-shirt under an unbuttoned denim jacket with a pride button stuck on one flap. Nathan felt his cheeks get even hotter.

He's kinda cute.

“OhmygoshareyouokayIdidn'tmeantoscareyoulikethat" The Calico went frantic for a second, before realizing the fox was still on the ground. He tried to step closer to offer him a hand up, and then promptly tripped over the stool and fell down on top of him as well.

“Ow…again" He opened his eyes again to find the cat's face inches from his own. His eyes were a sparkling blue and he could feel his warm breath on his face. Okay, I have a cute guy on top of me and his eyes are gorgeous, abort, abort, I am not ready for this right now.

 “Hehe sorry, I'm usually not so clumsy."

 “Could you please get off of me?"

 The cat's eyes widened and a bit of a blush showed under his fur. “Oh yeah I should definitely do that." He scrambled around a bit before he picked himself up. Once they were both upright, the cat was looking at the floor. “Sorry I didn't mean to uh, well any of that, but like you're so good at that. I just wanted to tell you it's really cool, and then I scared you and I tripped, and um, SORRY!" He pushed out his hand to the fox who simply stared at it for a few seconds.

 Well at least we're both acting like idiots… “It's uh, fine?", He took the hand and shook it once. This is a complete trainwreck, isn't it?

 “Nonono it's totally not fine, I'm a menace." He grabbed at his ears and pulled them down over his eyes.

 Nathan couldn't help it. He laughed, a small chuckle at first, until he was laughing out loud with tears in his eyes. The whole thing was just too much. The cat started a bit, then he started laughing too. By the time they were both done they had smiles on their faces,

 “How about we try this whole meeting people thing again? I'm Nathaniel, but my friends call me Nate. Or they would if I had any. Nice to meet you."

 “My name is Nick, short for Nicholas. You're Sooo good with that guitar though."

 Oh great, I'm blushing again “Well I mean, dad was always a musician at heart, so growing up I got a lot of practice, I can play other stuff too, and sing, I'm just okay at it though, really there are way better players out there."

 “It's way better than anything I can do though." He looked a bit disappointed by that. This guy is a bit of a clutz, but maybe it would be fun to hang out some more.

 “I could teach you some things. If you want I mean, and it's not like you couldn't learn it on your own, but ehm, if you want." Oh great now I'm doing it. 

 Nick lit up like a figurative Christmas tree. “You would? Sure, totally, when do we start?" He was visibly excited, it was incredibly adorable.

“Well I'd have to get your guitar in here to help you, we really can't just use the display models for that. I probably shouldn't have been playing on that one in the first place like that." 

 “That's fine, I brought mine in to get it tuned here. I was coming over here to pick it up in the first place." 

 Nathan looked back behind the counter and noticed one of them had a cartoonish set of letters that spelled out N.I.C.K.Y. It's not exactly hard to find yours, huh? “Is it this one?" He held up the guitar, checking to see if the tuning was paid for.

 “Yeah, but, well, we shouldn't be going through that stuff. We don't work here you know. It's like, really bad manners to do that." He kinda looked upset as he said that. Somehow, that was even cuter. Nathan laughed again, “Hey, I mean it, you shouldn't mess with stuff that isn't yours to mess with." He actually looked a bit angry now. Maybe I should stop him before he gets wound up anymore.

 “It's fine, I'm basically the co-owner. Eric's my dad." He visibly deflated.

 “Oh, geez I just keep putting my foot in my mouth today. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." He dragged the hand that wasn't holding onto his instrument over his face."

 “Well, why don't you sit down for a minute, I'm going to help close up and send everyone else home, then we can use the shop for those lessons I promised." Nick nodded, hand still held over his face. 

 It didn't take long to get the last couple of customers out of the store. After that, it was just a few more minutes to get the store mostly locked up and send Gary and Carlos home.

 “Alright, so we've pretty much got the place to ourselves. Your guitar got tuned up, so let's start with the basics. How about how you hold it to play?" Nick set the guitar strap around his shoulders and held the guitar, his right hand was on the strings. However, his left was curled tight around the neck, it wouldn't be impossible to play like that, but it would cause pretty bad cramps. He also had the guitar at a forty-five-degree angle over one shoulder, which would be fine if he were standing. 

 “Uhm, like this, can't you just hold it, however?"

 “Not really, here, let me show you something." He walked around the back of the stool and adjusted Nick's arms. First he adjusted the fingers on his left hand around the neck into a more natural grip. Next, he pushed the neck flat with the ground. “See that, it should feel a lot better to play now." 

“Oh, yeah, this is better." He tried to strum a few chords, though they came out way off. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was playing them badly on purpose. Only one good way to correct that.

 “Hmm. Alright, let's see about that." Nathaniel leaned over and put his arms over Nick's, “Okay so when you're going for a C chord you want to …" He felt warm as he guided Nick through basic chords. 

Nick had learned the chords quickly enough, and even managed to play a few simple songs. “Alright, I think it's about time we wrapped this up. The sun is starting to get pretty low."

 “Oh, yeah. Hey, so there's this new cafe opening up and they have a great stage, it's open to anyone so you see a lot of cool acts later at night. Maybe we could go together?"

 “Maybe another time, I should really get to sleep soon." He could swear he saw the briefest flash of disappointment before the cat grinned back at him.

 “How about I get your number then? We can do it when you're more available."

 Nathan shrugged and couldn't help but smile back. “Sure thing."