Foxes (Part 1)

A lead up of a character and their life long experiences in the general segregation and racism he sees happening around himself in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist.

Age 6

The small cat-child ran outside giddily, their white tipped fingers reaching greedily at the latch on the front gate of their fence. His fur was black as night, covering their entire body, with a hand full of white under their chin, chest, paws, and tail, to be topped with light green eyes and triangular ears. His mother howled from inside, but their bare paws carried them away and down the street.

Their neighborhood was relatively safe, most humans were kind to the cat family, or at least as far as their youngest son could tell. His big brother had already wandered off to hang out with his friends without letting their younger sibling know, so he was on his own. Several houses down the street lived another fur his own age and the two had fun passing the hours of the boring afternoons by; their parents even warmly greeted the cat boy on most days so he had no reservations of trotting right up to their door and knocking.

His ears perked up in excitement, his round lips pulled back in a wide grin with twitching whiskers. It was their friend who opened their door, the small silver fox kit perking his own black ears up in happiness. "Hey, Vince!" He chirped in a voice high pitched from youth.

"Wanna go explore the neighborhood?" Vincent responded with the same excitement and the silver fox ducked his head eagerly.

"Dad! Can I go out with Vince?" He called back into the house where a fully grown fox emerged, his thick fur rippling underneath a t-shirt and lazy jeans.

His black flecked pelt circled warm yellow eyes and he spoke in a voice much deeper than the children. "Sure, Keith, but don't leave the street." The pair of youths bounced in excitement before both the kit and the cub bounced over towards the side walk. Keith's father trailed after them outside, settling his fluffy frame on a chair sitting on the porch so he could keep them in sight.

The pair of kids talked loudly, running over each other's words often in the way of excitable youth, as they began their adventure. When Vincent looked up, however, he saw the white form of his mother, standing with a deep frown directly out front of their house. The tuxedo kitten flattened his ears instinctively under her yellow gaze and he shot the silver fox a look before running up to her.

"Mom?"

"Vincent, come inside. You have a lesson," the she-cat spoke stiffly, her eyes almost seeming to put too much effort into ignoring the other child.

Her son's green eyes went round with shock. "No there's not! It's Saturday! Even Coal is off with his friends, why do I have to be stuck inside!" His voice rose to a whining wail, staring at her helplessly.

"Go inside," she commanded, only then giving a cool look to Keith, who had hung back with his ears also dropping in disappointment. "Go home, Keith. Vincent can't play today."

"This isn't fair!" Vincent cried out again, this time glaring at his mom.

"I said go inside."

"I hate you!" He spat before rushing past her taller form, the tuxedo's bicoloured fur standing up in anger.


Age 10

The sky was clear, without a cloud or care in the world as the elementary school was let out from the last day of learning and the first real one of summer, but one child's face was covered with tears as he rushed through the bubbling crowds. With his pack slipped over one shoulder, the black and white cat was lucky for once; his oldest brother was there with the car, to save him, and not his mother-- whom was always notoriously late.

Wiping his face with one white furred hand, Vincent tried to clear his green eyes before pulling at the door handle and crawling into the car. The other cat was pitch black with intelligent yellow eyes, which quickly flickered with concern at the state of his brother. "What's wrong?" Coal asked, not pulling the car away from the curb yet.

The tuxedo refused to face the older he-cat, still dabbing his tear covered face with his paws. He seriously considered lying, but it was far too obvious he had been crying, and his brother was his closest friend in the family. "My friend is gone," Vincent choked out, feeling his eyes fill up again.

All year, he had a trio of friends, but in the last half of the year, another kid joined their class; he was a short red fox named Theodore, and the two had bonded almost immediately. Theo had been shy, much more quiet than the other boys in the class, but the two were inseparable during school hours. The cat had felt more for him than he ever had his three other friends, something different he had never encountered before; despite his desperation at hiding it, Vincent had been found out by his best friend in the same class.

*"You like him!" She exclaimed, the girl's mouth forming a shocked and excited o.

"I- it's not--" Vincent had scrambled to defend himself but felt his ears growing hot and he couldn't meet her eyes.

"Is this the first crush you've had?" His best friend suddenly gasped, eyes going even wider. "S**t, it IS isn't it!"

"I've just never liked a- anyone before," he stammered, already knowing the fault with it.*

In the present, Coal's eyes softened. "You'll see them next year, and your one friend lives across the street," he points out, but only causes another half cry to escape the tuxedo cat.

"Not him... He moves every year. I won't see him again."

Several emotions flickered in the black cat's eyes as the realisations became clear in his own mind. Was his brother gay? He had never spoken of a crush at any time, in any school year, but there was no way to be certain.
"I'm sorry, Vinny," Coal soothed, reaching over to rub the kid's arm in comfort.

"I- I'm gonna miss him s- so mu-uch," the cat hiccuped, staring out the window at ll the other children, all so excited for the summer and end of school days. "He was the most cat-like fox I ever met," Vincent cried quietly, his green eyes falling.

Coal's expression became pained, knowing all too well how their family hated foxes. But his little brother, little naive Vincent, had never caught onto the unspoken rule. Turning the car off, the black cat turned and wrapped his arms around the sobbing kitten. "I'm here for you, little man," he whispered.

*I think I loved him,* ran through the tuxedo's mind, but it never left their mouth. Shutting his eyes, he wept against his brother.

Author's Note

Due to the changing time periods of this story, there is a lot less description in details not entirely necessary for the story to progress. The character is also asexual and homoromantic.