Once inside, Daniel gently led me to the cot with his arm firm around my back. Sitting me down on the edge he broke out a pair of gloves and went after a bottle of saline, putting a few drops on some balls of cotton and dabbing the soft material against the gashes in my face. I could tell that this was particularly difficult for him-- not the procedure, but everything that led up to this.

Carefully he dabbed and washed away the dried blood and dirt from the assailant's nails, starting with my face and working his way up to the top of my head. His expression was tense, ears fallen to the side but trying his best to stay focused. I did what I could to stay silent and let him work, not wanting to break his concentration and possibly upset him further. It took about four or five cottonballs before the cuts on my face and head were clean enough for his liking.

"Please turn your head to your left and look up at the ceiling," he flatly requested.

I did as he asked, looking up to the ceiling with my head turned to my left. He gently prodded around my neck where he'd seen the blade pressed, pushing and pulling back the fur to check for any cuts. He seemed to find a very fine line and, just to be safe, cleaned it the same way he did my face and head.

"Where else where you apprehended?" he asked.

"...M-My right wrist, right ear, and the nape of my neck," I answered.

"Let me see your wrist."

I hesitated for a moment, but extended my arm with my wrist face-up. Sure enough, several circular digs had been left by the man's dirty claws, the skin surrounding the punctures red and inflamed. The skin had already attempted to scab over.

"You might not want to watch this," Daniel said, grabbing a razor from a first aid box.

I turned my head away as he cut through the soft scabbing and re-exposed the cut to the open air, my teeth grit and ears back.

"Unfortunately if I let it stay that way it'll probably get worse, so I'm reopening the wound so I can clean it properly," he quietly said, dropping some saline on the punctures. "I know it doesn't feel too great, but it'll be better in the long run."

After my wrist was cleaned he wrapped it up with a pad of gauze and a bandage, tying it securely in place. He then rose to his feet to take a look at my ear, gently pushing back the short fur and folding the thin cartilage to check for any sores.

"Your ear looks fine, just a bit bruised," he assured. "Please turn around and...face the wall so I can check the back of your neck."

I briefly looked up at him hearing the twinge of pain in his voice with his request. His ears were low and eyes still reddened and sore, the usual warm smile I might normally see entirely absent from his face. After what had just taken place I'm sure he felt horrible to ask for such a thing, but I followed through regardless.

"...Keep your back straight, but tilt your head down and look to the cot," he said.

I did as he asked, his firm fingers pushing through my fur and investigating the skin beneath. He gently pressed down against my nape with his fingertips.

"Any tenderness?" he asked.

"A-A bit, yes," I replied.

"Far as I can see there's no open wounds here, just a fair amount of bruising," he said after a snap of his gloves. "Won't feel very nice, but it'll heal on its own in due time. Fortunately these lacerations aren't very deep and should follow suit. You can...turn back around now."

I looked back behind me again, his face pained but stern before I rotated my rear to face away from the wall.

"...Could you, um, get me a damp cloth?" I asked after a moment.

He stood up without a response, walking to the small shower and wetting a cloth. Wringing it out in the little sink in the infirmary's bathroom he walked back over and handed it to me.

"...Sit down?" I asked further.

Daniel took a seat on his chair, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and hands folded together in front of him. He could hardly look at me, opting instead to look down to the floor. With the cloth in one hand I reached forward with the other, placing my hand gently under his chin and lifting his head to better face me. He looked to me in tense confusion as I washed away the dampness and matting of the fur on his cheeks before slowly closing his eyes.

"...You shouldn't have to do this," he whined. "I'm not...the one who got hurt."

"You're still hurting and I don't want to see you this way," I responded. "Please let me help you."

"How could...you even say that?"

"Shh," I shushed. "...Please let me do this."

I resumed cleaning his tears away with the damp cloth, gently wiping away the moisture and staining from his cream-colored fur. All the while his ears were pinned back, discomforted by receiving my care. When I was finished I put the cloth aside on the cot and stroked the long fur along his jaws, his eyes slowly opening back up.

"I'm...sorry, Sam, for being so...fragile about this," he sighed. "I-I should be the one taking care of you, not...the other way around."

"We take care of each other," I said, brushing back his hair.

His eyes narrowed in thought as he looked away to his side.

"Do you...feel safe around me?" he asked.

"...What?"

"...I recall a long time ago how you, um...don't like people a-against your back," he said, his eyes downcast. "I-I feel really...really horrible for doing that all this time."

"It took some getting used to, having someone...against my back in a friendly manner," I answered. "This was...sadly not my first rodeo."

"What!?" he whimpered, looking back up to me.

...Ah, damn.

I withdrew my hands from under his chin and hugged my front, looking away from his widened eyes. It was something I never wanted anyone to know about lest they see me as...lesser than, if it were even possible to see me as less than I already was.

"N-No, no, please tell me," he stuttered, his tone tainted with fear. "Please don't hide away from me."

"...I-I had gone through...something of this nature in the past, a very long time ago," I recalled, my nails digging into my sleeve. "L-Long before I came here, back in Falun when I w-was still a teenager."

The look of shock and pain plastered upon his face was getting to be too much to bear, my inability to look at him for very long without wanting to just shrink away into the wall. I held my front tightly as I confessed some of the worst parts of my earlier years, hoping above all else he'd still see me as a person by the end of it.

"...It was a classmate who'd...heard whispers of my modifications and...decided to use that against me on my way home from school," I clenched my teeth. "H-He pretended to be nice for weeks...just to do that. J-Just to hurt me, m-make me 'feel like the woman I was.'"

"Y-You were...r..."

I hesitantly nodded. Even looking away I could tell his eyes were welling up as he started to sniffle.

"I-I'm so--" I started to say.

"Don't you dare apologize for that," he snapped, his long ears as far back as they could go. "Just...don't you ever, ever apologize for that."

I looked to him, rather stunned by such a remark.

"...I never wanted anyone to know about this just like I never wanted anyone to know about the...modifications," I whispered. "People already think less of me without that knowledge, so with it...they'll hardly see me as a person anymore."

"...C...Can I t-touch you?" he asked, fidgeting with his hands.

"Daniel?"

His face tensed and he stood back up, stepping forward and opening his arms. Slowly he drew nearer, wrapping me up in a hug and rubbing the side of his face against mine. In his embrace I could feel him trembling, so terrified to put me on guard or make me uncomfortable with these horrible secrets finally out in the open. It hurt so badly to see him this way, and hurt even worse knowing that I was the cause.

"I'm s-so sorry, Samuel," he sniffled, his tears wetting my face. "I-I never knew. I had a feeling but I didn't want to pry. I never wanted to scare you or make you uncomfortable, I swear."

"Daniel, where is all of this coming from?" I quietly asked, gently rubbing his back with my tiny hand.

"I'd...I-I'd never hurt you," he continued, squeezing me tight. "I don't want you to...to be afraid of me, or think I'll do anything like that. I care about you. I care so...so much, and don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you."

"Please, Daniel, what is this about?" I asked further.

"Y-You said they pretended to be nice just to get close enough to hurt you," he whined. "I don't...want you to feel like that's what I'm doing. Such a horrible thing's never crossed my mind."

"Shh...I'm not afraid of you," I hushed. "You've been nothing short of wonderful, both to the children and to myself. I couldn't ask for better company."

"I-I want you to feel safe and cared for," he sniffed, rubbing his snout into the fur along my cheek. "Even with h-how I reacted against that staffmember, I...I don't want you to ever think I'll do something like that to you."

"I assure you that never once occurred to me. I just...hope you don't see me as anything less...now that you know this."

He pulled back away from me, his pained eyes looking right into mine. It was so hard to maintain eye contact with his eyes so sore and glossy, my never having wanted to put him into a situation like this.

"Why would...I ever think less of you?" he asked, bringing his big hands around my jaw.

I broke the eye contact and found myself looking down, barely able to face him.

"...I didn't...want to saddle anyone with this," I quietly said, my ears falling back. "...My history on this earth is...not pleasant, and the last thing anyone needs in their life is damaged goods."

He paused, just continuing to stare at me as he held my head in his hands.

"...Is that how you think I see you?" he inquired.

"...I think that's how everyone sees me, Daniel," I replied. "That's what I'm used to. You remember my father."

His thumbs gently brushed the fur on my cheeks as he brought himself closer, rubbing his soft snout atop mine. He rested his nose on the bridge of mine, his eyes closed.

"Not a day's ever passed I've thought of you as anything less than my favorite man, and my best friend," he murmured. "Just like your scars, just like your past, these things don't make me see you as anything but what you are to me."

"Do you...really mean that?"

"Absolutely. You are special and precious to me, Sam, and I'm...so happy that you've humored my being here like you have. I never thought I'd...I-I never thought I'd find anyone like you."

"You deserve better than--"

"I want exactly what I have right here," he said hushedly, nuzzling my forehead. "I feel nothing short of spoiled by you, honestly."

Daniel pulled back a bit, his hands moving from my face to my own hands. He eased his fingers under my palms, his thumbs rubbing the soft, short fur on the backs of my hands.

"D-Do you really s-see me as...as a man?" I asked, my face growing tense. "Sometimes I wonder if...maybe you act this way a-around me because you see me as...a woman."

"I've never seen you as anything but a man, Samuel," he reassured, a cautious little smile creasing his lips. "I'm sorry if my habits bother you, I...thought you enjoyed them. I can stop if they--"

"I do!" I blurted, taking him by surprise. "I-I just don't want you to th-think of me as a woman, or have that impact...how you treat me."

"I never have. I'm just...very affectionate regardless of gender. I assure you it wouldn't matter what you were, I'd treat you the very same. You mean a lot to me and I want to show that to you in the ways I know how-- you're my adorable little man."

I tilted my head upon the last fragment of his sentence, his recoiling back slightly in an awkward hesitation as he looked away to his side.

"'Your?'" I questioned.

"I'm sorry, I didn't, uh, mean to make it weird," he answered. "I just care about you a lot and--"

"Daniel."

"Y-Yes?" he whimpered, tilting his snout away from me.

I squeezed his fingers in my small hands and pulled them closer to me, inviting the rest of him to do the same. Apprehensively he did so, leaning forward and gently bringing his arms around me in a comforting, warm hug. He settled a bit lower than usual, his head at my chest. I took the opportunity to rub my sore snout atop his head and massage between his ears, finally getting him to relax after such a tense morning.

"There we go," I softly said as his ears eased back up, combing my fingers through his dark brown hair. "I'm not bothered. I care a lot about you, too."

"I..."

"Hm?"

He pulled back, his eyes full of worry as he bit his lip. His ears dropped to the side and he paused for a moment, but I waited patiently.

"I don't...want to make this weirder," he whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"...I...love you, Samuel."

"Well, of course," I softly chuckled. "You're my best friend."

"...I-I'm...i-in love with you."

I could only blink, any words I might have had had left me.

"Y-You...are you..." was all I could find to say.

He raised his shoulders in a nervous cringe, his back stiffening in place. I'd never seen him look so anxious, so worried about something I might do or say. While much of me wasn't surprised it was something else to actually hear those words spoken aloud, especially toward a mess like me.

But that expression couldn't lie.

"I feel...welcome and cared for by you," he said, continuing to look to the floor. "I love spending time with you and the kids, I love when you lay against my side on the couch in the evenings or when you snug up close to my front in bed at night. I even love that thing you do with rubbing your snout against the back of my neck, even though it tickles. Your soft, gentle touch and the little nuzzles in the morning...I-I just...I love everything about you. All those scars on your body, the modifications you so deeply despise-- I love those, too, because they're part of you."

"I don't...understand," I replied. "Wh...Why me? I'm...s-small and ugly, Daniel, and there are so many more people here."

"When you smile and your big, shiny eyes light up I feel all warm inside. You're shy and apprehensive, I know your past ain't great, but you still humor letting me hug and cuddle on you and keep you close. You're the first person to do that, the first person to not only receive those things but to also give them back and make me feel like I matter beyond a paycheck. ...You're an adorable, sweet little man."

"I-I..."

"...I'm sorry, I-I know you...prob'ly don't feel the same way," he said, eyes still to the floor. "I don't...I don't want to ruin what we have, to lose your friendship over...this. I've been so, so scared to say anything...because that means a lot more to me. But...this morning I...I realized I could have been too late to...to tell you anything."

He continued sitting in his chair, eyes to the ground and his back and shoulders stiff and tense. I could make out the mist in his eyes as he finally came forward about these things, though I couldn't help but wonder how long he'd been holding on to all of this. Daniel was such a warm, gentle soul, one who accepted me without question even with decades of baggage and a mangled body. Maybe it was time...to face my own feelings.

My hands reached forth and gently took hold of his head as I leaned closer. I wasn't sure what I was doing, acting without thinking and letting my heart decide for me. He hesitated, but slowly drew closer all the same, his ears fallen back in nervousness.

I nuzzled the side of his fuzzy snout, his eyes slowly closing as I did so. After a few seconds he relaxed with a little sigh. I slowly moved from there, rubbing my nose against his.

Before he could open his eyes again I pressed the end of my snout against his, his lips meeting mine. We stayed this way for a few seconds as I swept my fingers through his long sideburns, our parting with a tiny smack. His eyes slowly opened and he looked back to me with a gaze of confusion. I could only give him a little smile to reassure him as my face warmed up.

"S-Sam?"

It's funny, really.

"Daniel..." I whispered, coming forward to wrap him up in a hug of my own and rest my head against his collarbone.

I'd say I never thought I'd be in this position...but that would be lying, wouldn't it?

"I love you, too."

...Thank you, Esmé.

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