Meanwhile at home, Sora and Bolt are sitting on the couch, looking at each other in silence. Sora has his elbows on his thighs and supports his head with his hands which are crossed, giving Bolt an examining look. Bolt on the other hand is leaning back against the couch openly, his arms over the back of the couch and smiling nicely at Sora. The silence then is broken by Sora "So tell me about your real name". Bolt gives Sora a playful grin and chuckles "You ain't gonna get that outta me, quit trying". Sora grumbles quietly and squints his eyes "Why the secrecy then?". "Like I already said, I wanna have some mystery to my person" Bolt answers while giving a nice smile. "You can't tell me that's all! Tell me your secret" Sora answers slightly upset. Bolt leans forward and shakes his head slowly, still smiling "Nope, that's all, really". An unsatisfied sigh can be heard from Sora and he shrugs "I will find out what you are hiding!". "I wish you the best of luck. I honestly can't wait to see you try" Bolt says laughingly. Sora gives him a determined look and grins "In that case, wanna make a bet?". Bolt grins back happily and looks heavily interested "Oh? Whatcha got in mind?". "If I do find out that you are hiding something and what you are hiding, you have to behave like Minos and my pet dog for an entire day!" Sora says in a determined voice, already sure of his victory. Bolt grins even wider and gives a low chuckle "You have one month and if I win, you will walk around in a set of clothes from your brother that I get to choose for 2 weeks". He reaches his hand out to Sora and Sora just looks determined, taking the hand and shaking it "Deal!".
Mino continues to walk around aimlessly past shops, houses and more, but doesn't find any place he recognizes. By now the night properly set in and Mino stops at a gas station and gives a deep sigh "Maybe I should have gone with someone... I really can't be left alone, huh?...". Suddenly he feels something soft touch his leg. He quickly looks down and sees a small cat brush against his leg over and over again. He gives a small giggle and crouches down, patting the cat "Hey little friend, are you lost too?". The cat just gives a small meow and then starts to walk away. Mino just shrugs and follows the cat, thinking that he has nothing to lose anyway. The moment he turns around a corner behind the gas station, he bumps into a guy who is half a foot taller than Mino and then falls to the ground "Umpf... s...sorry!". The guy turns and Mino sees that the guy is a huge muscular canine, almost looking like Bolt, but with darker fur. The guy looks at Mino, holding the cat by its neck and throws it into Minos lap "Tell that thing to not touch other peoples stuff or it gets in trouble the next time!". The cat hisses in the guys direction and Mino pouts "D...don't be so mean to it. It was p...probably just hungry". Before the guy even says anything, he grabs Mino by his neck this time and lifts him up, growling him in the face "I don't care!". Mino flinches heavily and starts to tear up, looking around in panic for help. Once the cat fell out of Minos lap, it ran away as quickly as it could.
As Mino looked around, he spots Jack walking along the pavement with a bunch of other people. He tries to call out to him, but doesn't manage to make a sound out of fear. The canine throws him to the ground and steps in front of Mino, towering over him and looks quite aggressive now. Another loud growl emits from the canine and he reaches his hand out towards Minos face. Mino gives a couple quiet whimpers and closes his eyes tightly. As nothing happened, Mino slowly opened his eyes again and looks around, not spotting the canine, but the back of Jack, who stands protectively in front of Mino "That these nobodies really think they can do what they want in our city". The group of people laughs and grins as they watch the canine run away. Quick as the light, Mino rushes at Jack and hugs him from behind tightly, sobbing quietly "T...t...thank you J...Jack". A small black feline guy looks at Mino heavily confused and steps closer "Who is this, b...". Jack cuts the guy off, by raising his hand and turns around to hug Mino "He is part of the family". The group looks slightly confused, but just accepts the words, watching. Jack smiles at Mino and kisses his forehead "It's okay, I am here now". Minos tightens his grip and keeps sobbing. Jack moves his hand and signals to the people that they should leave and everyone obeys, walking away. Only the black feline hesitates a little, looking at Mino suspiciously, before leaving as well. In one quick movement, Jack picks Mino up and Mino presses his face against Jacks chest, still sobbing. A small smiles draws upon Jacks face and he starts to head home with Mino "Shhh, everything is okay. I will protect you".
After a while of walking, Mino stops sobbing and falls asleep instead in Jacks arms. They both arrive home and Jack slowly opens the door. Sora and Bolt quickly rush towards the door "MIN...". "Shhh!" Jack shushes them both in an instant, so that they don't wake Mino up. They both understand and nod, watching as Jack brings Mino into his room. He closes the door and heads towards the bed, laying Mino down in it. Then he smiles happily as he looks at Minos face "Adorable...". Afterwards he stretches and looks at the door saying jokingly "Say nothing if you want me to stay the night". As he takes a step towards the door to leave, he is stopped by Mino, sleepily grabbing onto the fabric of Jacks shorts and mumbling "P...please s...s...stay...". A light shade of red washes over Jacks face as he quickly turns to look at Minos hand. He feels his heart beat faster "O...of course...". He carefully climbs into the bed, next to Mino and wraps his arm around him, covering Mino with the skin of his wing protectively. Mino scoots closer to Jack and nuzzles against his chest, quickly falling asleep again. Jacks heartrate increases even more and his face turns completely red. He lays his head onto Minos and holds him protectively, letting him sleep for the rest of the night.
Once Jack enters Minos room, Bolt seems to get upset and heads into the kitchen. Sora watches Bolt confused and follows "What are you doing?". Bolt gets to the ground and starts doing push ups, starring at the ground "Workout". "In the middle of the night?" Sora asks confused. Then Bolt turns his head towards Sora with an annoyed expression "Yeah, now leave me be!". A deep sigh escapes from Sora as he heads towards his own room "You two really are weirdos". He then stops as he walks past Minos door and turns his head to look at it. He grabs the handle and presses it down, thinking it would be good to check up on his brother. Though instead of opening the door, he remembers the words of Mino 'Let me do something alone finally' and lets go of the handle again "I will let you sleep for the night, but tomorrow, you will get an earful, idiot...". Then Sora heads into his own room and calls it a night. Bolt continues his workout for a couple of hours and once he calmed down, he heads towards his room as well.
The next day starts and Mino slowly opens his eyes, looking right into Jacks face, who seems to be asleep. Once Mino moves, he opens his eyes in an instant and looks back at Mino "Good morning cutie". Minos face goes red in an instant from that statement and as he notices in what situation he is in "I...I...I...I... I'M SORRY!". Jack just laughs happily and strokes Minos head gently "Oh don't worry, I liked spending the night with you". To that, Minos face turns even more red and he looks away shyly, making high pitched sounds. After a little, he seems to calm down despite Jack watching him the whole time and he turns to face Jack again, still with an overly red face "U...uhm... Thanks again...". Jack then pulls Mino close to hug him tightly and laughs "No need for that, I will always protect you". Mino seems quite happy with that and hugs Jack as well. He then lets go of Jack and gets up, stretching "I w...will go get ready now". Jack nods and gets up as well, leaving the room with his arm around Minos shoulder "You go and do that and I will cook for you".
Bolt steps out of his room, rubbing his eyes and spots Jack and Mino. His hackles start to raise slightly "THE FUCK ARE YOU UP TO?!". Mino flinches heavily at the screaming and Jack pulls his arm away from Mino, walking towards Bolt "What is it this time puppy? Not happy our friend likes me more?". A growling noise emits from Bolt and he steps forward towards Jack "I'm gonna...". Bolts hands turn into fists and Jack gives him a smug grin "You gonna what? Cry?". Sora steps out of his room, looking heavily annoyed "What the hell is going on?". He looks towards Mino, whos ears have lowered and who has stepped back quite a bit, pressing himself against a wall. Sora quickly heads over to his brother while Jack and Bolt continue fighting, not even noticing anything else anymore "Mino! Are you okay?". Mino anxiously nods.
Then Sora quickly puts his hands over Minos ears and leads him out of the house, so that he wouldn't have to hear the fighting. "It's my fault!" Mino cries out as he hugs Sora tightly, tears welling in his eyes. His brother gently pats Minos head and sighs lightly "No it's not. I'm sure you did nothing wrong. Don't listen to them, they are just big idiots". A light whimper comes from Mino as he buries his face into his brothers chest "Why... why... Are they fighting because of me?". "T...they are, but it's not your fault, really" Sora puts in as he lightly rubs his head against Minos to comfort him. Muffled sobs come from Mino and he looks up at his brother with tears in his eyes "I...I d...don't want them fighting...". Agreeing nods come from Sora "Yeah, I know. That's nothing we can control though, okay? How about we go into the city and start to pick out some things for you room, hm? You like decorating, don't you?". A small smile draws onto Minos face from Soras comforting attempt and he nods slowly. After just a little longer, he pulls away from his brother and wipes his face "I...Im not ready". Sora pats Minos head and chuckles "Don't worry brother, you always look pretty". Giggles emit from Mino and both of them start to head towards a store to get some things for Minos room.
They both head out and towards the next shop, Mino continuously clinging onto Sora while they walk. The building they enter is an extremely large furniture store not too far away from the house. They take one of the shopping carts and walk through the store. Mino looks around excitedly at everything they come by, already imagining how he wants his room to look. To nobodies surprise, the first thing he puts into the cart is a big can of pink paint. Throughout the whole walk through the shop, lots of items are added to the cart and at the end, it contains pink and white paint, a pink blanket with white butterflies on it, a whole pink shelf with white accents, pretty decorative lamps, a whole bunch of plushies, white pillows, a round rug that has pink and white circles on it, making it look like a target, a pink table with white legs and a pink chair with white legs. Onto that, Mino also adds some pens and paper and little other decorations. The brothers head to the checkout and Mino quickly starts to look worried "Oh no, I haven't looked at the prizes. How will we pay for all of this?". Sora just laughs and pulls out a credit card "It was surprisingly easy to get Jacks card once I said I wanted to get some stuff for you and me later". Mino looks extremely happy and his tail starts to sway quickly as they pay for the things and head back home.
Sora opens the door and heads inside with Mino. The house seems completely quiet for now and once they enter the living room, they see Bolt and Jack sitting on the couch, playing a board game "Errr... you two okay?". The two of them turn their heads towards Sora and Mino and nod, saying "Welcome back!". "So we would need someone strong to help with Minos new stuff" Sora says and both of them immediately stand up heading out to grab Minos stuff quickly and bring all of it into his room. Mino quickly follows them and smiles happily "Thank you!". They both smile and stand in front of Mino. Jack says "No problem, everything for you, you know that". He then pats Minos head softly and leaves the room.
Bolt chuckles and waits until Jack left the room. Then he leans down until his face on a level with Minos and smiles "Hey uhm... sorry I scared you back there. I should have been more careful and considered your feelings with everything. You don't have to worry, Jack and I are always a little rougher with each other, but we will always stay friends no matter what happens". Mino nods and suddenly hugs Bolt "I...it's okay. I just don't want you two to get hurt. I like the both of you a lot already and I want everyone in this house to be happy". Slowly wrapping his arms around Mino as well, Bolt hugs him back and smiles happily, his tail swaying slowly "You are a good guy Mino. If there is ever a problem, you can feel free to let me or Jack know and we will come to your aid". Mino gives a small giggle and both of them let go of each other. Afterwards Bolt leaves the room, smiling happily.
He closes the door and it doesn't take long before he notices Jack leaning against the wall right next to the door "Awww, puppy can actually show feelings". Bolt gives a low growl and flicks Jacks forehead "Fuck off, will ya?". To that, Jack hits his head against Bolts head and grins, bearing his teeth "Got a problem, puppy?". Bolt presses back with his head and grins, looking him right in the eye, his hackles slightly raised "Looking right at it!". "Oi! You idiots forgot Minos decorative plant!" Sora yells from the living room. Bolt and Jack quickly look over towards the living room and rush towards it "I will get it!".
Mino on the other hand has already started building his furniture and happily decorates his room. Sora went ahead to take a shower, while Jack and Bolt continued their board game.
At 'Genics and co.'
Alexa heads up the elevator to the 68th floor. She has a happy smile on her face as she takes off her lab-coat and hangs it on a coat-hanger. Then she stretches and slowly walks towards the desk in the room. She sits down, starts her PC and chuckles "Everything is going as planned. Only a few more weeks and a few more test subjects and we will be finished with it. You know what to do. Once your job is done, you will be number one, rich and powerful. Your report was splendid once again". She pulls out a big stack of cash and chuckles, throwing it over to the entrance. A rather small black silhouette picks the cash up and turns to head into the elevator "Thanks ma'am. I will keep my part of the deal and you keep yours. I will report back next week". The doors close and the elevator moves down. Alexa chuckle and works on the PC "Such an adorable guy".
