Bound by Blood (Gay Star Fox Fic)

5 - Truth In The Wardrobe

"Mmph... You're still here, heheh," Wolf said, with a characteristic snicker, looking at Fox on the couch after emerging from his bedroom. "How long is the fox gonna burrow here, hm?"
Fox didn't reply, raising his head with a new, more testing look at the still-shirtless wolf.
"Hm, what, did I say something? You can stay as long as you want, I was just teasing," Wolf clarified.
"I know that," Fox nodded, squinting.
"Hey, what gives?" the wolf said, noticing this mood. "What're you looking at me like that for, hm?"
"...Nothing," Fox resolved. "I'm just... still on-edge from everything," he lied.

"Aww. Hell," O'Donnell grunted, with a bit of fake pity. "It's not like you don't have a good bed and as much food as you're welcome to."
"No, I appreciate it! Thank you," Fox smiled, making sure to express his true gratitude. "I'm still just so shaken from it all, if that makes sense."
Wolf looked for a few seconds down at the fox, then nodded, this time seriously. "I guess so. Hey, ah... maybe I could give you a good shoulder rub?"
Though hesitant, the vulpine found himself unable to refuse this sort of offer. "That'd feel good right about now."
"Heh. Here," the older canine nodded, and got himself closer, before reaching an arm around Fox's neck, and gripping a shoulder in each hand. "Just relax, and let me get in deep..." he whispered.

This sent a blush rocketing across Fox's cheeks, hearing these sorts of words, from a hefty, shirtless older wolf behind him! He shuddered as the firm hands started to get so necessarily deep, to best work out the tenseness from the vulpine's trapezii. "You should've gotten this sort of massage sooner, you must have been sitting in that Arwing for a while," Wolf grumbled. "How much longer do you need to stay?"
"I'm going to want to leave soon, and I do have my report submitted now," Fox now confirmed.
"And I reckon I'm coming with, right..." Wolf stated, much less of a question and much more of an acceptance.
"You'll be safe with me and Peppy," Fox smiled warmly.
"God... that Hare, how I'd like to talk to him," O'Donnell once again remarked.
"What's the connection?" McCloud prodded.

"We knew each other, old friends. I'm sure he'd like to see me not trying to shoot him down," Wolf assured.
"...Strange. Peppy's always talked about you like you were a new threat," Fox contemplated.
"For intelligence reasons, maybe," Wolf quickly excused.

"Hey, Wolf— Did you know my dad at all?" Fox now asked.
Wolf froze, keeping his hands on the fox's shoulders. "Yeah, for a bit. Shortly before he died." A silence followed this remark, as he seemed to be lost in apparent emotional reflection. His eyes stared at nothing in particular, as a few memories came back to him.
"I'm really sorry," Fox now apologized, the tone of his voice tenderly softening. "Did he do something to you?"
"Far from it. He was an amazing man," Wolf remarked, much to McCloud's surprise. "I held him as my role model, of sorts... Something closer than that, though."
"Wolf, did you have a cru—" the vulpine began to ask.
"Don't ask that sort of question now. There's no use in it," Wolf chuckled, and shook his head. "Your dad was an awesome pilot, and I can tell he made an awesome father to you. Nothing more! Nothing more."

As he said that, Fox looked into Wolf's eyes, as he found his snout resting on his shoulder from behind. It was unexpectedly tender of a moment, and the wolf's arm started to snake around Fox's belly. Then, though, he scoffed at himself, and shook his head fervently, getting Fox off of that half-seat on his lap and getting himself up off the couch. There seemed to be that level of affection, but Fox soon came to know why it was so complicated now.

Still, it felt like there was a mystery about it all. As Wolf seemingly went into the kitchen to make something to eat, Fox idled for a little while, before getting up, and heading to the hallway, going to his room.

—

At least, that's what he hoped it would look like he was doing. In reality, he took a detour into Wolf's room, and decided to take the investigative matters into his own hands. He knew that this might lead to things he wasn't prepared to see, whether they were related to his truth-finding purposes, but this didn't matter to him. He did, after all, just see Wolf naked. What more did he have to prepare himself for?

Once he got into the room, he looked for anything that would help. Signs of James, or of himself, or anything else that might give a better picture of what this wolf company of his was feeling. His eyes scanned along, and he opened a few drawers, finding little else but empty spaces and compartments, and plain clothes where there weren't. A plain leather jacket with a Star Wolf patch was probably the only other interesting thing that Fox found there.

Then, though, there was a tall wardrobe in the corner of the room, that seemed to be ripe for the opening. With this seemingly being the only thing left in the room to check, Fox popped open the doors to the inside, and took a look at what he found there.

Pictures laid on top of a shelf, ones Fox certainly hadn't ever seen. They were of James's early life, of his parents, and grandparents, some of which had yet to have eyes laid upon them. While these were definitely what caught Fox's eyes first, what he saw when he looked down was staggering!

The uniform, boots, patches, medals, awards, and personal flight technology of James McCloud all rested within, so pristinely kept. For Lylat's sake, this could very well have been the legendary regalia to Corneria's people, right in front of Fox's eyes. He started to shake, as he then saw and reached for something he never thought he'd see again... With baited breath, the young McCloud beheld his father's dark-lensed glasses in his hands, and started to tear up. They were the ones, alright. Custom made, and never made this certain way again, out of respect for the fallen.

"I thought I'd locked that," Wolf quietly yet concernedly remarked, his face presently rendered with that ghostly expression of a secret found.
"What... the HELL... are you PLANNING?!" was the only thing Fox could reply with.