(Might be some mistakes, been in pain all week but wanted to get something done. Just note any and I'll try to get to them when I can. I also drew one of my Australian shepherds, Racquetball, but ran out of patience to finish it lol) 

"Hey Erin, you know a kid named Grayson?" Terran asked.

He had decided to call Erin after he'd smelled him on the kid he'd saved. Well, all over the darn kid, to be honest.

He better not have been trying to use him.

"Yeah, I do? What's wrong, Terran?" He asked, clearly a little confused.

"A few bullies tried to mess with him but I took care of that. Anyways, why was your scent all over him?"

They were good friends, but Terran wasn't going to condone him trying to push the kid into doing something he really shouldn't at his age. Erin should know better after being around Arron.

"Um, about that. It's kind of weird and hard to explain." Erin mumbled.

"It better not be hard, as in a certain item that should be staying in your pants my trunked friend." Terran warned.

"Whoa, no no! That had nothing to do with it!" Erin said quickly, his voice rising in volume from surprise.

Well, at least that's good. I knew he wouldn't lie to me after being friends for so long.

"Okay, so why did I smell you all over him? I have a decent walk till I get to work so I'm good with a long story." He said into the receiver of his phone.

"Uh, well, we had an art assignment and our partner had to shift. Since I was an elephant..."

Yeah, that part is easily acceptable.

"He was the one to change and then it turned out that he hated touching paint so I kind of tossed him into it for a distraction so that I could fish out some cheese. So that's part of why he had my scent on him. It turns out that he's lactose intolerant, too."

Poor mouse.

"Well, after that I kind of didn't realize that I had gotten him completely covered in paint, so the teacher told us to go get him cleaned up. We then went down to the gym locker rooms since they were the closest showers. He kind of had a small mental breakdown when I found the bell he evidently kept tucked beneath his collar. I think someone had hurt him before because they knew what a cross-shifter was so it freaked him out that I could tell. We ended up on the floor and I hugged him until he calmed down. That's the rest of the story on how my scent got on him." Erin finished.

"Alright, as long as you weren't trying anything you perverted elephant." Terran replied with a smirk he knew the guy couldn't see.

"I'm not a perverted elephant!" Erin grumbled back.

Terran rolled his eyes and chuckled at his automatic response. He really wasn't bad, just really wanted a kid a bit too early in his life. Granted, elephants often had extremely long gestation periods, unlike cats, so he supposed that trying to start now would make sense. That's also probably why there weren't as many elephant shifters when compared to all the others.

We'd all run out of non-meat food quickly.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later, have to get to work." Terran said.

"Alright, see ya. Thanks for helping Gray." Erin replied.

"No problem, kid."

With that he hung up.

Time to work my most favorite job in the world.

Slight sarcasm.

"Mom, I'm home!" Grayson called out as he walked inside.

His mother probably would panic if she knew that he had gotten attacked by bullies so he'd been sure to brush off any dirt and straighten his clothing before he'd opened the front door. She rushed around the corner with an oven mitt on one hand not a moment later.

She still looks worried.

"Grayson! Where were you?" She asked.

He was in her arms a moment later, but he couldn't cry. Even he'd been afraid of the bullies and his mouse desperately wanted to cry to its mother. He wasn't a little kid anymore.

"I just tripped and a friend helped me. Kinda knocked my head a bit so I stayed with him for a while before heading home. I'm sorry I didn't call." He replied.

She stroked his hair and thankfully calmed down, leaning away with a smile after one more good squeeze.

"It's okay, Grayson. As long as you're okay. Dinner is ready if you're up for it." She said.

Grayson returned her smile, but something was bothering him as they walked into the kitchen and began filling their plates with turkey and carrots.

"Hey mom?" He asked.

"Hmm?"

They walked over to the table and sat down before he continued.

"When is dad coming home?"

It had been over a week since he'd gone on his business trip and Grayson didn't remember what day he said he'd be back. He was nibbling at a cooked carrot waiting for his mother to reply when he noticed her face suddenly turn downcast.

"Um, mom? What's wrong? Did something happen with dad?" He asked, lowering the carrot slowly.

His stomach rumbled, but not because of his still-full plate sitting before him. The longer it took his mother to come up with an answer, the worse he felt.

"Mom?"

She blinked quickly a few times before pursing her lips and straightening in her seat.

"Grayson, your father—"

The front door opened and they both turned to see his father stalk in. He was a well-built man with blond hair, and was a rat shifter. Grayson was so exited that he jumped up and ran over to give him a big hug... until he smelled something that definitely wasn't right. His feet skidded to a halt a foot away from his father while his belly twisted. That smell...

"Dad? You smell like alcohol and smoke."

He'd promised to quite two years ago. He had quite two years ago. The man's dark brown eyes looked down on him with an aggression Grayson had only seen in him when he'd been drinking.

"Dad?"

A sudden shove had him falling against the wall and sliding to the floor with a surprised gasp.

"Get out of my way you annoying brat."

Grayson couldn't think of anything to say to that. What were you supposed to say to that when it was your father speaking to you? The father you'd looked up to. The father you were so proud of when he overcame his bad habits for you?

"Jake! You will not treat your son that way!" His mother yelled, though her voice quieted before she even finished speaking.

Grayson's father hissed at her as whiskers sprouted from his nose and cheeks. His mother had run between them, which was never a good idea when he was drunk.

"That little wuss isn't my son and I'm sick of dealing with you, too!"

I'm not a wuss...

His father ducked around his mother and ran into their bedroom. The sound of things breaking echoed through the house before he reappeared with a backpack and a handful of cash.

"Screw you both. I'm out of this worthless family!" He growled.

Grayson could hear his mother begging for him to calm down and think things over, but it didn't stop his father from stomping past him and out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Everything came crashing down around him moments later when his eyes rose to meet his mother's broken ones. She was crying and he knew that he should try to comfort her, but he was just as scared. With a loud squeak of sorrow Grayson ran upstairs, shutting his door and locking it before he fell into his bed.

Dad left! He got messed up when he'd promised that he wouldn't, then left.

He had probably cheated like he'd done two years ago, too, but Grayson didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about anything. He was quietly sobbing into his pillow for ten minutes before he felt his back pocket vibrate.

Sniffling, he sat up so that he could fish his phone out and look at who had texted. Wait a second, it's was still vibrating. Pressing the accept call button quickly, he put the phone to his ear... and couldn't do anything but sniffle.

"Grayson?"

Erin.

"Gray? Hey, Gray? What's wrong?"

He just couldn't get his mouth to work to respond.

"Are you mad that I stole your number when you were in the shower? I'm sorry. Come on, You can talk to me if something's wrong."

Finally forcing himself to speak, Grayson managed to mumble one incoherent word before starting to bawl over the phone.

"Shit. Gray, where do you live? Can you tell me your address? Please?" Erin asked, clearly sounding worried.

It took Grayson several minutes to calm down enough to stutter out a response that he hoped Erin could understand.

"Three... two ...two five. Blackberry L-Lane."

"Alright, hang on. I'm on my way." He said reassuringly before the call ended suddenly.

Grayson blinked and sniffled in confusion.

He flopped back over and hugged his now-wet pillow as the tears started up again. He got lost in his depression until something thumped against his window.

"What the?"

He was on the second floor. How could something tap against his window? There was a tree in the back yard, but the branches weren't long enough to touch his window. He decided to chalk it up to his upset mind until he heard another, louder thump.

"Okay okay." He grumbled as he got up and sauntered over to the window right as the tip of a trunk slapped against the pane again.

"Holy Squeak!"

Grayson jumped back, eyes wide in shock, at first, but then when he realized what it was his heart went crazy with excitement.

"Oh my gosh!" He squeaked.

An elephant!

The trunk swung in front of his window again before he quickly ran over and yanked the thing open.

"Oh wow." He said, his voice quiet with shock.

All of his sadness was forgotten when he saw Erin's gorgeous shift. The trunk he'd been waving around suddenly curled in front of him, gesturing to Erin's massive back. He was hesitant to do what he thought Erin wanted, but Grayson couldn't talk himself out of it, either. He quickly scurried out of his window and with a slight jump, landed on Erin's elephant's back.

Grinning from ear to ear as Erin began walking, Grayson couldn't help himself as he let his hands wander over the thin hair between Erin's humongous ears. Considering that he was the tiniest of shifters, riding on the back of the biggest was so unbelievably cool.

Having fun, Squeaks?

"Yeah!" He shouted back.

He didn't even mind the corny nickname.

Here, take these please...

Before Grayson could question what he meant, his trunk was hovering in front of his nose with Erin's clothing secure in it.

"Oh!"

Grayson quickly reached up and took the pile into his arms.

"Got them." He said with a smile.

Thank you.

"Of course!"

Everything was quiet as Erin walked them toward town. There were a few cars on the road but most people were at home with their families... The thought had his attitude immediately going south as he fell forward with a hiccup and sniffle.

Grayson?

Grayson, sweetie. Will you talk to me?

Grayson shook his head and sniffled.

Erin's elephant gave a snort before they turned, making Grayson curiously look up to see where they were. Ah, the park? Why did he bring me here? Suddenly there was a trunk around his waist again, easily lifting him down until his bright shoes landed in the grass. Erin shifted a moment later and Grayson's eyes couldn't help but follow the amazing change, even though he had to blink back tears to do so.

"Hey hun, can I have my clothes please?" Erin asked once he was back in his human form.

Oh! Right, I have his clothes.

Grayson quickly handed them back with a blush, but then realized he wasn't wearing any shoes.

"U-Um, where are your shoes?"

Erin glanced up as he tugged on his torn jeans over a pair of black and red checkered boxers. His face lit up with a mischievous smile before he strung his shirt through one belt loop and scooped him up. Grayson gave a quiet squeak of surprise, but when Erin didn't flinch at the sound he happily wrapped his arms around his neck and nuzzled against it. He'd definitely needed the hug and he soon realized that Erin had sat down on the swing and began to move them slowly with his feet in the soft dirt. The motion immediately reminded Grayson of when his father used to rock him in his arms when he couldn't fall asleep as a toddler.

Dad...

The tears began to leak through his determination, quickly followed by more unwelcome sniffles. He was beginning to sink back into depression when he felt a gentle hand begin to rub against his back. That simple gesture felt like heaven as they swung calmly, the wind rustling their hair in the crisp night air. It took Grayson a long time to finally relax completely and just enjoy the quiet time with Erin. After a long while he leaned back just enough to look up and meet Erin's gaze.

"Does this mean that we're... friends?" He asked, hopeful.

Erin was silent for a second before he gave a faint laugh and rustled his hair.

"Yeah, Gray. We're friends."

I have a friend!

He'd never thought that he'd get another chance to have a friend after his terrible experience in middle school and then being home-schooled for years, but now he was grinning wide.

I have a friend, and he's an awesome elephant!

"I can feel your happiness in my mind without even hearing your thoughts." Erin said with a soft smile as he reached toward Grayson and poked his lips gently. "Ready to talk?" He asked.

He instantly clammed up, but Erin's smile slowly melted away his hesitation.

"Um, I. My dad..."

Grayson's lips began to tremble at just the thought of admitting what had happened. If he did that then it would make it feel real. He really, really didn't want it to be real. However, the soft stroke of Erin's thumb against his cheek, wiping away his tears, made him bite his lower lip and focus on getting the last few words out.

"He just l-left."

Grayson was suddenly bawling again, but this time he was in Erin's strong arms and the soothing rhythmic motion of swinging, which he hadn't noticed had stopped, picked back up. They swung in silence for awhile and when Grayson had finally cried himself out Erin got up and carried him back toward home.

"C-Can I stay at your house tonight?" He asked after a few quiet minutes.

He wasn't sure if he could go home without starting to cry again.

"No. Your mom is home, right?" Erin asked.

Grayson nodded against his shoulder where his head was resting.

"Don't you think your mother would like her son home tonight of all nights?"

He hadn't even thought of that. Now he felt terrible.

I left her alone during one of the most difficult times of our lives.

"I feel like a bad person now." He mumbled with a sniffle.

"It's okay. If you'd like, and your mother is okay with it, I don't mind staying over tonight."

Grayson's head jerked up right away at Erin's words.

"R-Really? You would stay?" He asked, shocked.

Erin nodded and Grayson smiled wide.

"I know mom will let you! She thinks elephants are super cool, too."

Erin laughed again and patted Grayson's back before climbing up the steps to his house and setting him down on the porch so that they could walk inside. At first, Grayson ran over to his mother on the sofa and gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek, then asked if it would be okay if Erin slept over. She smiled and nodded, getting up to greet his new friend before deciding to go to bed.

"Just be sure to be up for school tomorrow, Gray." She called to him before they heard the door to her bedroom shut.

With an excited grin, Grayson tugged Erin upstairs to his room. He wouldn't be sad anymore that evening. He finally had a friend and they were going to hang out and Erin would stay with him. When he gently shut his door behind them and turned, Erin's arms were around him in a comforting hug that had Grayson's whole body sagging into the embrace.

"Thank you so much for coming by and for staying tonight. Thank you for not minding that I'm a mouse and for letting me be your friend." He said as he nuzzled into Erin's T-shirt.

Instead of a verbal response, Erin just tightened his arms around him. The action spoke far louder than any words he could have said, and it was greatly appreciated.