Hauling up nearly a year's worth of groceries put some serious strain on King's old injuries. By the time his mom finished going over what he should be feeding Baron, and how often, she already had two charts hung up on his fridge with magnets, expertly designed with everything he needed to know... and quite a few things that he really didn't. 

"Alright, I think we're all set, mom. Thanks a lot for helping me with the groceries, and with him," King said as they both glanced at Baron, who was standing at the threshold to the kitchen on his back legs, holding Otterbahn in one arm and one of his new cat toys in his opposite hand. 

He was definitely curious about what was going on, but he didn't quite trust his mom enough to investigate while she was there yet. 

"I'll leave you two be then. If anything happens, please let me know. I'll also start looking into what happened with him. Maybe we can figure this out and find a way to bring him back to himself," she said as she pulled King in for a hug. 

He made a face at the physical contact, but returned the gesture anyways. He wasn't a hugger, but he'd always let him mom do it. But anyone else? Hell no. 

When his mom walked out of the kitchen, Baron quickly high-tailed it over to the couch, his little ball tingling as the bell rattled inside it. 

Once his mom stopped by the door, she waved to his little friend. 

"You be good, okay? Take care of my son." 

Before King could correct her she was out the door and gone, leaving him there with his mouth half open in confusion. 

Him? Take care of me?

Glaring at the now-closed door, King walked over and locked it, then promptly turned around to tell a certain raccoon exactly who was taking care of who, when his suddenly jumped, startled by the fact that Baron had silently run over to him in the time it took him to simply lock the front door. 

Ah, you left your cat ball by the couch. That's why I didn't hear you. 

"Maybe I should get you a collar with a bell on it. You're pretty sneaky when you want to be," he mumbled, then immediately decided against it. 

He knew that raccoon were normally nocturnal, and since Baron had used the bathroom at some point without him knowing, he didn't doubt that he'd been wandering around a bit at some point while he'd been asleep. 

His attention drifted away from his thoughts as he watched his friend wander into the kitchen with Bahnbahn in his arms. 

"Do you want something to eat?" he asked, surprised that he was hungry already. 

I guess it makes sense, though. You are pretty skinny and only had a banana and a few grapes. 

"Well, mom bought plenty of stuff, so what would you like?" he asked as he went to make himself a sandwich... then realized that he'd forgotten to get more bread. 

I... got cold cuts but no bread. 

He paused for a moment, shaking his head slowly at himself. 

You know what. That's not really a surprise. 

He was great at forgetting the most important things. Noticing Baron now at the fridge, King walked over and opened it for him. He expected the little guy to immediately go after some of the chicken, eggs, or other meats his mother had bought for him, but when Baron climbed up onto the middle shelf and wrapped his arms, and Bahnbahn, around the watermelon she'd picked up, King raised an eyebrow. 

"You... want that? You sure? That's it?" he asked as he reached forward and gently removed the raccoon from the fruit and set him back on the floor so that he could take the watermelon out of the fridge and get it cut for him. 

"You know what? I probably should give you a different name, don't you think? Your daddy is Baron, but you're definitely not. At least, not right now," King said as he got his cutting board out. 

Haven't used this thing in forever. 

He hadn't used any of his good knives, either, because he rarely cooked anything that required them. 

"Alright, little Prince, let's get you some food," he said as Prince began wandering around his legs, eventually grabbing hold of one of them as he looked up eagerly. 

He began cutting it carefully, not trusting his knife skills much, but when he felt a little brat begin climbing up his leg, he glanced down. 

"You're being a bit impatient, bud," he said, even as he let Prince climb up onto the counter. 

The little raccoon was soon tapping the watermelon with its paws, as if to say hurry up. 

This guy. You give an animal fancy name and it suddenly starts acting like one. 

"You're not a prince, you hear me? You'll wait your turn to be served," he said, even as he carefully cut out a big piece on the opposite side that Prince was pawing at. 

He was just about to hand it to him, but then realized something and lifted him up. 

"You need to eat it here, okay? I don't want my counters stained," he said as he gently set Prince down in the clean sink, then quickly offered him a large piece of the watermelon. 

To say that the poor slice of melon didn't stand a chance would have been an egregious understatement. 

"I... how did you eat that entire thing before I could even cut myself a piece?" he asked, dumbfounded as he stared at the now juice-soaked raccoon. 

Thank god mom bought you so much stuff. 

He quickly got him another piece, then went to the fridge and took out a couple grapes and a cartoon of eggs. He quickly handed the grapes over to the little grabby paw reaching for them, then got the stovetop switched on and filled a pot with water using the other side of the sink. 

As he waited for that to boil, he watched Prince finish up his meal with loud, content chomps. 

So messy. You're going to need a bath after you finish your lunch. 

He was honestly curious how he would handle water. Since he'd dropped Otterbahn in the tub earlier when he'd fallen asleep by accident, he didn't think that it would be too much of an ordeal... hopefully. 

When he noticed Prince begin climbing out of the sink, clearly intent on finishing off the watermelon, King stepped in and scooped him up. 

Oh boy, you're a mess. 

Glancing back at the eggs he'd just put in the pot, he noted the timer and pursed his lips. 

"They won't take too long... I'm sure there's another thing you could eat so you don't have too much fruit," he said as he opened the fridge, then glanced down at the overflowing vegetable drawer. 

"Ah ha." 

He pulled out a long carrot and held it up to him. 

"How about this?"

Prince glanced between the carrot and watermelon, clearly torn. Eventually, thankfully, he grabbed the carrot and began gnawing away in King's arms. 

"That's a good boy." 

With his little prince busy, King gently nudged the eggs a bit with a slotted spoon, then went to the laundry room to grab a few clean towels before bringing them to the bathroom. The entire time he was busy Prince was completely focused on his carrot. 

"That yummy, bud?" King asked as they finally returned to the kitchen. 

He got a quiet squeak in response right as the timer for the eggs went off. 

"I need both my hands for just a sec, okay? Can you hold onto my shirt?" he asked. 

Prince did as told after a bit of shifting around and a few swishes of his bushy tail. With the carrot mostly gone he was able to simply hold it between his teeth to accomplish the requested task relatively quickly. 

"Thanks, bud," King said as he got the eggs drained, then piled up into a large bowl. 

He was just about to put them in the fridge when Prince reached out toward the bowl. 

"I can still see that carrot in your mouth, P. You can have one after your bath, okay?" King said, right before his little friend looked up at him with the most pathetic sulk he'd ever seen.

If it wasn't for the carrot still clearly in his mouth, he might have caved and given him an egg right then and there. 

"After your bath," King said sternly as he put the eggs away, then carried his forlorn raccoon into the bathroom. 

He quickly closed the door once inside, not wanting Prince to try and run. The little guy didn't seem too worried, thankfully, and even when King set him down on the floor and began filling the tub, he ignored him and worked on finishing off his carrot. 

"I think it's almost ready," he said after a few minutes as he looked under the sink, bringing out a few little bath toys his own shift had enjoyed many years ago. 

His animal actually stirred a tiny bit as it looked through his eyes at them. He didn't dare try to tease it or even nudge it to come out, though. It wouldn't. It hadn't come out since he was eight. The crash that had killed his father had severely crippled his animal, as well, leaving it in constant pain and unable to enjoy much of anything while out. 

"Ready, Prince?" King said as he turned around and scooped up the little raccoon. 

He was thankfully well behaved as he was set down in the warm water. The shiny rainbow of bath toys he'd added definitely seemed to help distract him, too. 

"You like those, huh? They belonged to my baby, so treat them well, okay?" he said as Prince grabbed a little plastic blue fish and shook it a little, chattering happily. 

He felt his animal grumble a bit as it swam around within his mind.

He's just playing with it a little. 

Of course, his shift had never been the nicest, but after the accident it had gotten pretty aggressive. He didn't doubt that it was because of the pain, though, so he couldn't blame it. 

Taking advantage of Prince's relaxed demeanor, King got the fluffy guy soaped up, his smile turning downward into a frown as he felt how truly bony the poor raccoon was. 

He really is skinny. No wonder mom put so much food in the cart. 

Once he finished scrubbing him, King leaned away to give his back a rest, but Prince still seemed preoccupied with the toys. 

Taking his chance to sneak away for a moment, he stood up, then opened the door and walked out. He was only gone for a moment, and soon returned with a little boiled egg. 

"Hey there, my Prince. You still hungry?" he asked as he walked back over. 

By the time he got close to the tub there was a little black hand reaching up towards him. 

"Here you go, bud." 

Prince gladly accepted the snack, and with a toy in one paw and his egg in the other, the little raccoon calmly settled down in the water as King got back to business and began rinsing out his coat. 

When a lot of fur began to come off on his hands, King retrieved a brush from beneath the sink and began gently working his way through Prince's wet coat as the little guy munched away on the egg, shell and all. 

Once that was as good as he could get it, he set the brush aside and reached over for a few cotton balls that he'd left within reach. 

"Let me see those ears," he said quiet as he gently grasped one between his fingers. It flicked a few times, clearly not used to being touched, but after only a quick glance back at him, Prince continued working on his snack. 

To his relief, his ears were pretty clean. Heck, all of him was, to be honest. 

Glad your human took care of himself, even when he was feeling so down. 

King was just about to grab a towel when he suddenly had a little paw reaching up towards him, offering the small blue bath toy.

"Oh? You want to share?" he asked as he took it, then lowered it into the water and pretended to make it swim around like a real fish. 

Prince watched the toy intensely, putting all of his focus on it as it swam around him. Pretty soon he was pouncing after it, splashing in the half-filled tub as he ran after the toy with so much excitement, chattering enthusiastically, that King couldn't help but laugh along.  

His inner beast wasn't too happy about watching another animal play with its toys, but he disregarded it again, because he knew that it wouldn't want to shift. 

That's why, when his vision suddenly blacked out and the left side of his body burst with pain, King was so surprised that he couldn't even fight the change! 

Soon he was a little river otter, his size barely less than Prince. Unfortunately for Prince and his now overly-excited expression and demeanor, he was not a friendly otter. 

He was an otter who was never really friendly to begin with, but after the accident the crippling pain had greatly taken over its personality. As such, when his otter finally lifted its head to meet Prince's adoring gaze, its own expression was far from pleasant. 

Prince didn't seem able to read his disdain, however, because he quickly hurried forward and reached out to grab his new friend!

Uh oh...

The poor raccoon promptly got a slap across the face fit for a cheating spouse, complete with claws and all. 

I'm so sorry, I can't control him!

To his surprise, however, Prince only seemed stunned for a few seconds before he turned his head back to face him. 

Why... does he still look excited? 

Before his otter could react, it was suddenly pulled into Prince's arms and licked feverishly! His otter snarled and squirmed, trying to bite constantly, but when Prince accidentally squeezed its left arm while distracted, his otter couldn't help but give a loud squeak from pain!

Thankfully, Prince understood the sound and immediately released him, and even stepped back just in time to avoid another slap to the face. 

King expected his otter to go after him, but instead of lunging, it lowered its tear-blurred gaze until it fell upon the little blue fish toy. 

With a shaky paw, it leaned forward, balancing most of its weight on its right foot and backside. Once its right paw was close enough, it swatted at the little toy, making the cooling water splash up and mist his face.

When he realized that he hadn't managed to reach close enough to grab it, he tried again, but even King felt the zap of pain that flared on the left side of his back in response, making his otter quickly straighten back up with a quiet whine. 

Sweetheart, don't hurt yourself more. It's not worth the little toy. Why not shift back and wait until mom can come play with you? I'm sure she would be overjoyed to see her sweet baby after so many years. She will absolutely spoil you. 

Of course, his otter was stubborn and ignored him as it tried to push through the pain so that it could reach for its toy again. 

Right as it was blinking away the remaining blur from its previous tears so that it could see better, it paused abruptly and stared down at the two little black paws holding out the blue fish toy to him...

Before it could figure out how it wanted to react, the little fish was pushed into his fuzzy chest, forcing him to grab it with his right paw. 

Not a moment later, another toy joined it. Then another, and another. 

Pretty soon he was holding the majority of his old toys, more than a little bewildered as he stared at a wiggling Prince. 

I'm... not sure how this hasn't ended in a bloodbath yet, but I'm just going to be glad that Prince isn't nearly as possessive over items as I thought he'd be. 

In fact, the little raccoon seemed to become more and more accepting of what was okay and what wasn't as the two interacted for a while. By the time his otter finally grew tired from the chronic pain and allowed him control again, King couldn't argue that the two might actually become friends down the road. 

I'm proud of you, Rexy. 

His otter's name had actually been King, but once it had stopped coming out, he'd decided to use the name for streaming, so he felt a little more connected to the animal he might not have ever seen again. 

Now, with it having finally made an appearance after so many years, he felt like a new name was in order. And what better name to give his strong baby than his own? 

"And you..." he said as he reached forward and lifted Prince into the air, making the raccoon wiggle a little in excitement. 

"You are an amazing little guy and I owe you so much for helping my otter come out and relax a little for the first time in years. I think more eggs are in order, then, perhaps, a nap for us both?" King said as he slowly got them out of the tub and dried off.

The entire time he worked, Prince was making a sound that he could only think of as a purr. He wasn't quite sure what it meant, but considering how excited he still seemed to be as he climbed up King's newly donned pajama pants, he could only assume that it was a positive thing. 

"Alright bud. Eggs, then nap," he said as he hugged the damp animal to his chest with an extra towel, then stepped out of the bathroom. 

He couldn't remember a time that he'd been in a better mood, at least, not within the past several years. He was also excited to let his mom know that his otter had finally come out again, too. 

I'll tell her later, though. 

They needed to eat a good bit of what she'd already bought them first, because he knew that the moment he told her about what had happened she'd be at their door with twenty pounds of fish for Rex.

Heh... my mom's the best.