Bound by Blood (Gay Star Fox Fic)

2 - Wolf's Hideout

Fox woke up in a daze, his head spinning as he tried to come to his senses. It took a while... A shock like that does a real number on the consciousness. He was thankful he was seemingly still alive, though whether or not he was safe was still an open question. Having gotten a hold of his dizzy head, he lurched up from where he rested, and tried to take a look around.

He lied in a bed, a surprisingly well-kept one, in a rather industrial-looking room, with metal walls and various deactivated control panels lining the space. Fox was quick to put together the idea that someone repurposed an abandoned military base to be their home. And he knew just who this someone may have been, too.

"Wolf... Is this your place?" he groggily asked.
"Ah! Hey, you're awake," Wolf loudly barked from another room, and hurried over. He emerged in the doorway, wearing a grease-stained but clean t-shirt and a tattered, old, and quite tight-fit pair of jeans. "Sooner than I expected. You feeling alright?"
"...You bastard, you think I'm feeling alright after getting blasted like that? Damn," the vulpine groaned, cupping his hands over his face and rubbing tiredly.
"Hey, what else was I gonna do? Let you tattle off with the knowledge of my whereabouts? Capture me, and leave me subject to Cornerian torture?" the wolf shook his head, as he sat at the bedside. "Hell, for all I knew, you still would have gone and killed me."

"Says who!? I explicitly said I wasn't gonna kill you," the fox griped.
"A clever rouse, it mighta been. How was I to know for sure?" O'Donnell growled, with some lingering suspicion.
"Because if I had wanted to finish you off, I would've with a lot less talking to you," Fox explained.
"So I figured," Wolf nodded. "In that case, I'm glad I brought you here."

"So this is your place," Fox huffed. He got out of bed, his uniform still on, minus the outer jacket, which laid on his bedside. Beneath that, he had a plain tank on.
"Make yourself at home," Wolf quipped, with a sigh, as the both of them made their way out of this room. "It's nice, isn't it? Especially considering I threw it together with what I could, after Andross kicked the bucket."
"It's Cornerian, an obsolete model of satellite surveillance system," Fox remarked, observing some of the scrapped control consoles.
"Space junk, freee for the taking," the wolf singsonged, pouring a pot of coffee. "Want some?"

"Sure... You're acting awfully casual to your captive," Fox furrowed his cream-colored brows, as he sat at the small table across from the kitchen of the ship.
"Captive? No, I brought you here so we could safely discuss that offer of yours," Wolf smiled, handing over a mug.
"Safety isn't my concern. Androssian forces have been taken care of, and I can handle myself," Fox explained.
"Safe for me, I mean," Wolf clarified.

"Ah, good point. But you are interested!" the fox warmly remarked. The tone turned from passive-aggressiveness to amicability far quicker than he expected, and, realizing this, he then became suspicious. "What's the catch you're looking for, here?"
"Any you probably have to give me," O'Donnell chuffed, taking a daring sip of the piping hot brew. "I can't imagine you can just take a criminal and turn him into your ally with a snap of the finger. You probably have to take it up with that General of yours."

"Like I said, Wolf, Pepper had been deposed and executed," Fox re-explained, "and I'm sure General Hare, in his place, will allow what I'd plan for you."
"What do you plan for me?" the other canine seemed to interrogate.
"That's the thing. Anything you'd want. You can be a member of Star Fox," Fox proposed, "or a high-ranking soldier. You would make a hell of a flight instructor, if not, if you can explain it well. If you've had enough of that sort of thing, then I could get you any sort of life you want."

"General Hare, huh? Is that Peppy you're talking about?" Wolf smiled. "I should say hi to him sometime."
"I'll have to explain a few things, but sure," Fox nodded, then turned his head. "How come? You know him?"
"...Barely," Wolf grumbled. "But it'd be nice."
"Anything," the fox smiled. "So long as we put aside this whole rivalry thing, now that the war is over."

"Congratulations, by the way," O'Donnell gave.
"Hey, thanks. It was my mission," McCloud proclaimed, "and by the stars, I did it."
"I'll drink to that," Wolf chuckled. "And I mean that literally, I did raid Andross's fancy liquor cabinet on my way out."
"Wolf, we're already having coffee," Fox chuckled.
"Yeah! And a little bourbon goes great with it," Wolf claimed, pouring some in. "Want some?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I don't drink," the fox refused.
"Alright, but let's at least toast," Wolf smirked.
"With mugs," Fox snickered.
"To a peaceful galaxy, and to revelry instead of rivalry," Wolf spoke.
The mugs clinked, and the two drank.

"Mm... Still a long way to go, though, huh?" Wolf figured.
"You bet. Most of the system might not even be recognizable after what we rebuild and renovate of it, after all that," McCloud thought along. "Everyone needs to take a breather."
"You probably had a long flight, huh?" O'Donnell reckoned.
"You bet. Cramped up in my Arwing for all that time, I'm glad to have stretched out," the smaller canine gratefully said.

"Fox, stay here for a while," Wolf then insisted. "Take that breather you mentioned, away from everything."
"It's tempting... I do want to be back soon, but there isn't any special reason to be," Fox considered.
"What, haven't got a vixen to come home the hero to?" Wolf teased, albeit with a twinge of serious curiosity. "There has to be, hasn't there?"
"No-sir. I've been married to my mission," Fox shrugged.
"Excited to see who'd pounce on the national hero, then?" the wolf now growled. "A handsome bachelor like you has to be the talk of the town."

McCloud thought a bit, then shook his head. "No, I see myself single for the foreseeable future."
"I won't ask any more, then," Wolf chimed. "But I'm sure we all expect a James McCloud III at some point, no?"
"...How'd you know my name was James?" Fox looked with a keen eye at the wolf sitting in front of him. "That's... not something everyone knows."
"...It's a joke," Wolf gruffed. "Is it, really?"
"Yes," Fox confirmed.
"Fitting," O'Donnell chuckled. "You do look just like him," he lied.