Chapter 7: Dinner and a Movie

“This is the third time we've had to empty the damn vacuum cleaner" Peter groaned as he checked the bag, which looked ready to burst. Thankfully, the guest room/gym was almost free of its dust and grime. Years of neglect slowly being washed away by its 3 diligent cleaners.

“Calm down, we're almost done. Then we're going to eat some lunch" Jacob said as he scrubbed the floor that his nephew had already vacuumed. Alopex, who was cleaning up the dumbbells, looked back at the two. She waited for one of them to tell her if she'd also get some of their lunch. “I mean, Peter and I will eat some, then he'll bring you a bit of food too. After that I have to go to the station, Tom is gonna want to take a break" that answer satisfied her.

“Tom is my dad by the way, you'll really like him" Peter interjected.

“Hope I get to meet him soon" Al spoke as she took another careful look at the room. It had everything you'd want from a gym: an exercise bike, a punching bag almost bigger than her, leg weights, dumbbells, multiple lying mats, an exercise ball and many other pieces of dusty gear “Why do you have so much dusty fitness equipment, Mr. Manners?"

Jack sighed as he and Pete finished up their cleaning routine. “I bought it all from a friend after I got divorced. He said a home gym would help me out of the rut I was in, it didn't, so I just left it all in here. We're lucky it didn't get rusty" he chuckled a bit to himself while grabbing one of the lighter weights.

“I guess I could use a place to work out…" the mutant spoke in a hushed tone, almost like a whisper, as she picked up the heaviest dumbbell in the room and started lifting it up and down. She'd probably have to get new weights soon, these weren't that impressive.

The teenage boy unplugged the vacuum and started taking out the dust bag. “Alopex, you don't have to train to fight people anymore, and you don't have to work out if you don't -" The moment he looked up to check on the fox, he witnessed her lifting a weight that he couldn't even dream of lifting. His shock also caught the attention of his uncle who was left speechless at her previously unknown strength. “HOW ARE YOU LIFTING THAT?"

“Uh? Oh! Well, it's pretty lightweight Petey" The fox humbly bragged, as she lifted it up and down in a steady motion. Exposing the strength and muscle seemingly hidden within her.

Peter gasped at her response. “Al that's incredible! You're amazing! I could never lift something that heavy." 

“Thank you Peter. Maybe I can show you my training routine later…" The mutant's response to the compliment drew even more attention from Jacob. He saw the two smile to each other, and realized that he'd probably need to have “The Talk" with his nephew later.

But right now he needed to check, and see if his impressions were true. “I'm gonna take all these things to the closet for later" The room was clean, the rest of the house was still a mess, but at least the new guest had a place to sleep. Jack grabbed the supplies that they were all using and rushed out towards the corridor, ready to test his theory. As he began to hear giggles and whispers from the two teenagers he realized that hypothesis was correct. Running back after leaving the supplies in the closet. “Hey, Looks like we're done here! I gotta say you've got some good lifting skills, Alopex. You're welcome to use the gym as much as you'd like, but now we've got to go. We're almost late for lunch"

Neither of the teens noticed his suspicions. “We'll be back soon, you can take a shower to clean up your fur if you want. I'll try and get you some better clothes" Peter spoke, chuckling a bit at the shirt.

Al crossed her arms while making a grumpy face. “What? Don't you like a Foxy Lady?" She laughed at the boy, who jumped at her reply before realizing she was only joking.

As Pete was about to respond he was interrupted by his Uncle. “Just take one of your sister's dresses from the laundry, nobody will notice" He said in a serious and quick tone, stopping the laughter.

Both of the Manners walked towards the door, leaving their new guest behind to enjoy her room. “See ya soon Al"

“Heh… Guess Allie didn't stick" She smirked while winking to them and getting a chuckle from Peter. “See ya later, Petey" When they had left the room Alopex immediately took the opportunity to test out some of that Gym equipment. Sure, she wasn't forced to train anymore, but some exercise never killed anyone.

-

Later, as they slowly traversed the short beaten dirt path that connected the two houses “How are we going to do this?" Pete questioned his uncle. Wondering if he had formulated a plan already.

Jacob sighed “I'm gonna have a quick lunch with your mom and sister. Then your dad will be back from the stop to eat with you"

However, that answer clearly didn't satisfy his nephew. Who stood in place until Jack realized he was no longer being followed “We can tell mom first-"

The middle-aged man interrupted Peter abruptly “Don't mention what she is, we can cross that bridge when we get there. We also have to pretend she isn't already living here" his eyes narrowed, there was something that he was catching on to that Pete wasn't seeing.

Deciding to ignore that for now the teen came up with a plan of his own “I got it! How about we say I have a school friend that really needs a place to live?"

Jack groaned at his nephew's false narrative, seeing the clear holes in it “They'd tell you to call your friend's parents or child protective services"

“What if her parents live far away, but she wants to stay here until she finishes high school? Come up with the idea of letting someone in and then bam! It's an arctic fox mutant and not a normal human, but I never lied about her being a friend" The spark in his eyes showed the boy was proud of his idea, even if it was convoluted and complicated. All that they had to do was convince the family that his friend was trustworthy. Having his Uncle's word to back him up was a massive advantage, considering how much trust his parents had on him.

But something still wasn't sitting right between the two “Right, friend…" the tone in Jack's voice was different now. “Look Peter, have you ever LIKED someone? I don't mean like enjoying their company and all that. Not as a friend at least. I mean have you ever REALLY LIKED someone"

Pete was oblivious to Jacob's intentions so he answered honestly, without thinking much of it “Well, there was a girl in my class a few months ago, but she moved out"

“Good, then you know what LIKING someone is" The older Manners wanted to know if his nephew managed to get a crush on a Mutant fox person that he had known for only a few hours. He seemed infatuated with her, and teenagers are known for making rushed decisions.

“Yeah?" Peter was starting to get where his uncle was going, but pretended he had no idea what this conversation was about.

Jacob put one of his hands on Pete's right shoulder. He looked at his eyes so firmly it was like he was going to melt them. His mouth opened and those dreadful words came out “Do you LIKE Alopex?"

Peter froze in place, he felt as if his soul had left his body “She's not a… But she's… I don't know her that much but…" The piercing stare of his uncle as he attempted to make an excuse to get out of his conversation only made things worse. But then he smelled something, he smelled… a distraction! “Hmmm! Is that the smell of a delicious meatloaf!" 

Pete attempted to resume his walk towards the house; they were so close he could practically taste his mother's food, but Jack firmly held him in place "Don't dodge the question kid. We need to figure out how to tell your parents, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be receptive to knowing their child is falling for a Fox". And to be honest I'm not sure I'm ok with it either" That final phrase stung. Who did he think he was to decide who Peter could like?

Perhaps reminding Jack that he had already accepted Alopex could help convince him. "But you-" 

However, the boy's meek attempt at a comeback was immediately interrupted by his Uncle, who correctly guessed what his argument would be. "Let her stay, yes! I did, but not for that, It's not a good idea."

"Dad said people should be with whoever they wanted to be…" Peter was angry, he didn't want anyone to decide what his relationship with Al would be. That was something he should decide for himself. And so what if he found her kind of cute …for a mutant, a really human-like mutant. Stupid teenage hormones, they saw feminine shapes and immediately activated.

"So you do want to be with her…" Jacob had found his gotcha. Letting the mutant stay was a hard decision to make, but letting this teenage crush go unmonitored could prove catastrophic for everyone involved.

"No, I…" there was no use in denying it. In such a short amount of time he had grown to like Al and wanted to get to know her better. If this was truly romantic love he wasn't sure, but there was a spark in there "Please support me ok?" 

Jacob looked at his nephew, he was determined, and making a scandal out of this now would only make things worse. He had been a teenager once and knew what Pete felt like. Hopefully supporting him was the correct choice "...alright, just know that you have to be responsible about this. I trust you to make the right choice kid" They smiled at each other and Jacob finally removed his hand from Peter's shoulder. It felt like he was growing to accept anything related to Alopex much quicker now, and to think that only a few hours ago he was ready to shoot her.

While they were talking, a woman walked out of Pete's house and smirked. "Are you two going to stand there talking all day?"

Peter immediately recognized his mother's voice, and seeing her made him even more relieved "Hi mom!"

"Hey Pete, helping your uncle clean up his dirty house?" She spoke while they walked towards the house.

Jacob gave out a smug smile "We've done one room already!"

"Only the rest of the place to go" Peter snarked at his Uncle's attempt at sounding impressive 

"Yeah, but we go through things slow and steady. You've raised quite a worker here Barbara!" The way Jack talked about going slow and steady was clearly aimed at Pete, complete with a wink and a nod. "Anyway let's go inside we've got uhh… something special to say" 

A sly smile landed upon Barbara's face "Something special? Well I want to hear that".

-

Agatha took a large bite out of her meatloaf. "Tell us already!" She spit out bits over her plate as she spoke, earning a disgusted look from her brother

"Agatha! Don't talk while you're eating, and let your Brother speak when he wants!" Barbara reprimanded, she always had a hard time teaching her children to be patient.

Peter sighed. This was going to be difficult. "Well, yesterday I found out a friend of mine lost her home. So might have to move out to Alaska to live with her parents-"

"Who was she living with before?" His mother immediately interrupted. She didn't like admitting it, but deep down she was just as impatient as her children.

Pete quickly scrambled to find a good response "Uhh… her brother! And he already moved back, but the problem is she doesn't want to leave!"

Barbara shook her head. "Peter, if her parents want her to leave there's nothing you can do about it." Her reply was calm and collected. She tried to let him down easy of what she was guessing he would propose.

Pete knew it was going to take all his charm to convince his mom. "That's the thing! There is something we can do, we can let her move in!" Jacob gulped at his nephew's suggestion, realizing he needed to support it now.

Barb furrowed her brow "What?" She was surprised at how sudden his proposition was. She didn't even know the girl's name, and he already wanted her to move in?

"Why do you think we cleaned the guest room at the other house!" Pete spoke out gesturing with his arms out in excitement. "She's going to stay there. Uncle Jack already said yes and it's his place anyway!" The boy's uncle coughed while trying to appear calm, but his clear nervousness was quite obvious.

The Matriarch got up with a shocked expression "Jacob! You didn't even ask us, is she coming soon? Did you talk about this with her parents? You know there are legal arrangements involved in-"

Jacob left his seat to help calm her nerves "Relax Barbara, please sit back down. We've arranged everything with her parents and she's coming in… next sunday. I've met the girl, she can't go back to her parents. You'll have to trust me on this one" He gave her some shoulder pats and returned to his seat.

Barbara looked less concerned now that she knew actual arrangements had been made about the girl. "Plus she's really cool! She's got like a black belt in martial arts and is super tough. Also she loves animals too" Peter did Karate Chops, and winked at Agatha to show she had something in common with Alopex

Agatha's eyes bulged out, and she released her most serious question. "What's her favorite animal?" The answer would define how she would think of her new guest

Pete scrambled for an answer. He could lie and pick one of his sister's favorite animals, but a better answer suddenly came to mind  "Uhhh… the Arctic Fox"

And so, Al had passed her test "Ooohhhh, good choice! She can live here. I'll show her some documentaries and books."

"Yeah, she'd love that. She's basically like a human fox or something" Pete thought maybe trying to squeeze the reveal of her true nature into a conversation like this could work

"What do you mean?" Barbara asked with a confused look on her face.

"That she's uhh.. a smart and agile person! She's won a bunch of martial arts tournaments" That was close. Peter had panicked at her question, while his uncle just chewed down his food to look less nervous

Swallowing another bite, Jacob decided it was time to pull himself together, and use the Manners charm to convince Barbara to let Alopex stay. "She could teach Peter a bit of self defense too. That way we wouldn't have to take him to Karate, and we'd know his instructor would never go too hard on him"

"We'll have to see what's she's actually like before confirming anything, plus she's another expense on the family" Barb sighed in response

Jack was much more relaxed now and talked with his mouth full "Don't worry about that, we'll work it out, plus she actually wants to help out at the station. I've been needing someone to handle the stock."

"That's good, but it's still a pretty big responsibility for us" Barbara said as Jacob finished up his plate and got ready to leave.

"It'll be fine, she'll be here next sunday and then you'll see how great Alopex is-" Petey spit out Al's name without even thinking twice. Clearly growing a bit too confident.

Barbara immediately interrupted Peter after hearing that strange name "Alopex? That's an odd name, is she-"

"Her family is from Alaska, y'know how they can be" Pete said while chuckling awkwardly. That was a close one.

"Hmmm… well. If you've talked to her parents already and have this all sorted out, then I'm sure it'll be fine" Barbara suddenly found herself a bit excited at the prospect of having someone new in the house. She rarely even got visitors outside her family. “How long have you two been friends Pete?"

"She studies in my class, yeah. I've known her for quite a while. Plus we were her first choice for a place to stay" Peter felt guilty about lying to his mother. He at least hoped that he could finish this conversation before having to come up with more falsehoods.

"Ooooohhh Peter has a girlfriend!" Agatha barged into the conversation to tease her brother. 

He immediately jumped at his sister's comment."She's not my-"

"Agatha please… let Pete be the one to admit he has a girlfriend" She giggled a bit at the prospect of her son having a secret crush. "Why didn't you tell us before Pete? If both of you really trust her that much, then she's more than welcome to stay here. I need to meet my future daughter-in-law after all. Can't risk my son ending up with a bad woman."

"She's just my friend…" Said Peter, defeated. This was going to make breaking the news of what Alopex really was a bit more difficult.

"She calls him Petey" Now even his uncle was playing along.

"Oh come on, not you too!" Pete guessed Jacob didn't even think about how this would affect his mom's opinion on Al being a mutant.

"It's settled then. She'll be here on Sunday and I'll finally get to see if my boy made the right choice in love" Barbara smiled. Picking up her and Agatha's plate as she went to do the dishes.

"Ughhhh…" Peter groaned at his mother's enthusiasm  "Just… don't expect a normal… y'know"

"What?" Barb spoke, confused as to what Peter wanted to communicate.

"Peter…" Jacob was getting ready to leave, but froze upon realizing what Pete was about to do.

"She's not really a regular person. She's different from y'know, regular people, but you'll still like her if you give her a chance" The boy wanted to be clear and straightforward to mother, but a bad reaction could wreck his plans. So he simply played it safe.

Barbara gave him a warm smile, thinking he was simply nervous about what they'd think of Alopex. Whatever the reason, she only wanted her son to be happy. "If your uncle thinks she deserves a chance. If YOU think she deserves a chance. Then I'm 100% sure she does" Hopefully her husband would agree.

Jacob rushed out the kitchen while yelling back at his family "Oh look at the time! Gotta run to the station, take care Peter!"

"Thanks Uncle Jack!"

-

Peter grabbed a small container from the kitchen and shoved it full of all the food it could take. He didn't notice his father entering the kitchen behind him. “Who's that for Kiddo?"

The boy turned around, in a bit of a panic “I just wanted some extra food for later!"

Tom raised an eyebrow in confusion, but then quickly changed his expression to a smile. “Packing lunch to take to your uncle's house? You don't have to hide this kind of stuff from us. You can go there whenever you want, but make sure you don't mess with any equipment. You know that kind of stuff can get dangerous!"

Pete groaned at his father's response. “Dad please I'm fine, there's nothing dangerous there. I'll just play with Uncle Jack's PS2. I'm taking the lunch so I don't have to come back to grab dinner."

“Dang that thing still works? Well alright, but be careful, there could be crazy spiders all over that place. It's a health hazard!" Tom laughed awkwardly but wasn't really comfortable with leaving his son unsupervised like that. Still, his brother explicitly told him he needed to give his son a bit of space sometimes, so letting him spend a day 'camping' on the house next door could work. “Jack told me about the girl by the way. Honestly, I wasn't sure at first, but hearing him talk about it really sold me on how much she needs some stability right now. I hope she really is as nice as he says"

“Yeah, she is…" Peter finished placing the food in the container, as his father sat down and began eating some of the final pieces of meatloaf “I'm glad you get it dad. I was worried you'd say no, but-"

“Hey, we need to help others, right? Your grandpa didn't care much for me and your uncle, but I just want to keep you happy and safe, and by helping this girl I'll be fulfilling most of my objectives there… Plus, I want to know if she's the kinda person my son deserves" Tom winked at his son who grimaced in his direction.

“We're just friends dad" Pete closed the pot's lid and exited the kitchen.

“That's what I used to say about your mom" His father yelled out, making sure the rest of the house knew of their awkward conversation.

Before he actually gave Alopex her food Peter had to find proper clothing for her. Luckily one of Agatha's dresses was hanging from the rack right outside of the house. Hopefully nobody noticed it was missing.

-

The arctic fox tested the punching bag with a flurry of quick kicks and punches. Her wounds had fully healed, another benefit of being a mutant. Not that her condition as one was particularly favorable to her now, in fact it caused her to wonder if things wouldn't be better if she had never become one in the first place. The more she questioned her very being the harder she hit the bag.

Al could feel it deep inside, someone talking to her, trying to tell her something, she just couldn't tell what. Her mind was clouded by a million other thoughts, of Peter, Jacob, the rest of the Manners. She wanted to know if she had finally been accepted somewhere where she didn't have to kill to survive. People that would actually want her around as something more than an asset in an ongoing war.

She didn't want to live her life as anyone's pet, she was a free person, nobody to hold her back. But here she was, staying in a little gym room, venting her frustrations on a boxing bag waiting for someone to bring her food and clothes. Yet, this time it felt different than before, she had a choice and she chose to stay. Maybe this was a break for her, a well deserved retirement after years of violence that had come to define who she was. Sometimes it felt like she wasn't a real person. In place of a living thinking being, was a simple attack dog for her former master to unleash upon his enemies, and now that was all gone. She could finally decide her own future. For now staying with Pete's family seemed like the best choice.

But what was the deal with Peter, was he just looking for some excitement in his life or did he truly care for Alopex? He helped her when she needed and even stood against his own uncle, even convinced him to accept her. She felt something towards him, and the more she thought about it the quieter the voices inside of her got, was he just a friend? Or… 

Al stopped hitting the bag, it felt like she had been doing this for hours and yet she wasn't tired physically. In truth she wanted to focus for only a second on that previous thought, what actually were her feelings towards him? So far Pete had shown great character in his actions, and she respected him for it, but in the grand scheme of things what did that actually mean for her? There were no other mutant arctic foxes out there, hell there are barely any mutants out there now. Maybe that'll change in the future, but she couldn't count on it. This was all so new for both of them all she knew is that she liked having him around and that was enough. Guess this is what having a true friend felt like, sure she had allies in the past, but not friends, not like this.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the noises Peter made as he made his way to the house. She had tried to give him some privacy by going hard on the punching bag, otherwise her hearing might've been good enough to hear his entire family lunch.

At that moment Pete entered the house holding a blue dress and a small food container “Hey Al I have some food for you!" A smile spread upon the fox's muzzle. It felt nice to have a friend.

-

The 2000s gaming system turned on for the first time in quite a while. The dust that had accumulated in its surroundings was cleaned by the teenagers, who now selected a game to play. “The place is looking good. Hopefully the other rooms are as easy to clean" Peter spoke, proud of how quickly the house was coming back together. “Now it's time for me to show you how good I am at games!" He went through a bunch of random CDs in a carrying case. “Oh man, I remember this one!"

“Check this out" Pete put the CD in the console. After a startup sequence and a few settings choices, he and Al were greeted by an Intro showcasing a colorful kart Racing game. “That yellow guy is Pac-Man" Peter pointed at the screen, he remembered playing this game all the time as a kid.

“I've heard of Pac-Man Petey, how do you play this thing?" She said while checking out her controller. She had seen a lot of things on her past missions: games, movies, books, but never really got to properly experience any of them, at least not for fun. This was all brand new to her.

“Ok, so you…" He was about to tell her all of the controls, but decided against it. Maybe this could be an opportunity to check how Al dealt with these things. Let her go in fully blind, learning along the way “Actually, why don't you figure it out on her own?" Alopex shot a surprised look at him, but quickly realized what he was doing. She'd figure this out on her own and find a way to beat him.

“Fine, but I'll let you know I'm a quick learner" 

-

Seven hours had passed and Al had not taken a single bathroom break. Peter got a bit tired of the game and started reading an old magazine to pass the time. The mutant fox couldn't stop, her eyes glued to the screen, she had fully mastered the controls of the game. It took her a few minutes to even find out how to accelerate, but soon she was throwing items, drifting and winning every race. Pete had never seen anything like it, by hour one it was like she had been playing this game her whole life. To think that until today she had never held a controller.

“YES!" She had won another cup. Even though Alopex played through all the racetracks and unlocked all the extra characters in the game, she kept on playing. Peter couldn't help but wonder what she would be like playing a game that wasn't clearly intended for such a young audience. “Petey, we have to play together again. I can't keep going all on my own!" Peter shot a concerned look towards her. How had she not gotten tired yet? Didn't she at least want to try another game?

“Al, we've been playing this game for over seven hours" The fox almost dropped her controller after he explained how much time had passed. She rubbed her eyes, somehow they remained fine, meanwhile Peter's were almost red from staring at a TV in a dark room for so long. He yawned, even though it was somewhere around his usual dinner time, he felt ready for bed. “Why don't we watch a movie or something like that?"

“Oh… sure, sorry if I got a bit out of hand with my game time. A movie sounds good. I need to use the bathroom first though" Alopex was actually sad that she had to end the game. But she also felt guilty for making Pete so tired, maybe a movie would help bring the day to a more mellow end.

“Alright, I'll get the movie and some food ready" The mutant made her way towards the bathroom as he arranged the living room for the movie night.

-

After doing her necessities and cleaning up, Al stared at her reflection for a few seconds. She didn't think of herself as 'cute', her body felt like a parody of what she once was. A twisted mess of science to be used as a disposable weapon. Mutant, what a joke. Peter only said she was 'awesome' because he was a dumb teen that thought action figure monsters and ninjas were cool. No, it wasn't that, he actually liked her, somehow…

She tried taking her mind away from that negativity, that voice in her head that she tried too hard to silence. At that moment, Alopex noticed her face paint clearly needed to be reapplied, maybe she could find a way to make some more. She had run out of it yesterday, but the materials for it were easy to come by. 

Then again, change was always welcome.

The mutant began splashing her face with water. After a few minutes of effort she managed to remove all the paint. Her face felt almost empty without it, but it felt right somehow. More natural at least, it made her feel like she was breaking away from her past. From whatever part of her conscience desperately yelled at her to return to what she was. This was merely another step in ensuring she'd never go back.

-

Peter placed the two plates on the table, sitting back on the couch waiting for Alopex. All that he needed was to press play and they could have a fun time watching a movie. “Nice setup" He looked back, only to see Al had finally come back, having removed her face paint and wearing the dress he had given to her. It was still a bit too small, but it looked good. Maybe blue was a better color for her than purple. “So, what are we watching?"

“Uhhh… well, we didn't have Gamera, but I thought Godzilla would be a good replacement" Pete was nervous, did she change her appearance to impress him? No that was stupid, he wasn't the center of her universe, she decided to change herself up a bit and he was thinking too hard about it. Maybe she didn't want to risk falling asleep and spreading face paint everywhere.

“Sounds good. As long as there's giant monsters blowing things up I'm in." She sat down next to Peter and the two began eating while the black and white movie played. Turns out his uncle had a bootleg of the original Godzilla film in his collection. The quality wasn't the best, but it was good enough for them to enjoy a nice time together. 

They still had a full week of planning until Jacob and Pete revealed Alopex to the rest of the family, but time always seems to move faster when a big event like that looms closer. Hopefully it was all movie nights and video games until then.