Calculus of Love, Chapter 3: Running

Universe: Save the Day, created by Zia

Artwork by RebelNightwolfe, of Kent the bull relaxing in his room.

Word Count: 7,572

Scene #2 for October, 2017

Hey guys! Chapter 3 of Calculus of Love is finally here. I waffled over this part for far to long, because its essentially a bridge/setup chapter since the story isn't yet to all the sexy times (those are so coming, as this story's picture hints at), but there is a huge revelation in this chapter about Joseph so...

I hope you enjoy it!

***

The setting sun filtered through the tall trees, the beams of light shifting and sparkling through the air moving so gradually they looked like golden syrup. Sparkles of dust hung in the air around Joseph Baker, glowing like fireflies in the fading light, as the wolf sat cross legged on a large flat rock at the edge of a clearing in the old forest.

Joseph leaned back against the huge tree he was using as a back rest, and watched the light wash down into the little secluded dale he thought of as his own personal place.

The wind whistled through his old Extradornaries t-shirt, cutting through the holes in his blue jeans. Joseph had come to love this field, the open sky and empty woods so different in every way from the life he had led back in New York and the new life he was building in Boston.

Everything was so quiet here, and Joseph needed that. If finally gave him a chance to think about things properly.

***

The first two weeks at MIT were a blur for Joseph, which was saying something, given how strange his life had become after leaving New York. Boston’s finest had certainly lived up to its reputation as also being the hardest. Joseph was buried in school work and newfound social commitments.

Most of the excitement centered on his new roommates, Kent and Andy, and Joseph felt like he’d won the jackpot being paired up with them. Neither of them was particularly messy, and so the dorm room had remained fairly neat. Joseph had been worried that he would have to clean up constantly in order to keep the dorm room from being such a mess it distracted him, but Andy was even more of a neat freak, and Kent was only careless with his clothes, which stayed in his room. The three of them settled into a comfortable routine, watching television or talking with whoever was around between classes and studying, and going into their rooms when they needed privacy or a moment alone.

This was good, because as freshmen they shared a lot of classes, and Joseph saw a lot of his new friends outside of their shared dorm. Kent was in his Chemistry 101 lab as well as Statistical Analysis, Andy had the same life drawing class as Joseph, and all three of them shared History 101. Tina and Kent were in Joseph’s Chemistry class, and all three of them shared Physics class with Conner, the mountain lion they’d hung out with on orientation night and was in a room down the hall by the communal bathroom. The cougar had been kind enough to ‘forgive’ Joseph for rooting for the Yankees, and they usually talked baseball over lunch together with Kent.

All four of his new friends were so much more outgoing that Joseph was, and each seemed determined to drag the quiet wolf along to every event or meetup that was happening in the first week. Not that Joseph minded he wanted to go with them; he just wasn’t used to talking to people. He ended up getting ‘dragged’ along to dozens of events where he stood in the back, watching the freshmen of MIT mingle, trying to make friends as best he could. He was a wallflower, but that was more than he’d ever done before, so Joseph was thrilled about how things were going. Conner and Kent were even talking about rushing for a fraternity in the spring. By the end of the week Joseph, felt like he knew half his freshman class because of Andy, Conner, Kent, and Tina’s efforts to include him.

A side effect of meeting so many people so quickly was that the wolf always had somebody to sit with in class. That helped keep him grounded and in the moment as the flood of knowledge washed over the wolf. It took some real work for Joseph to adjust to learning things with other people. Joseph tried to pass it off as being home schooled, but it amused Andy especially that the wolf was so unused to studying together.

The husky was super eager to work alongside the wolf, teaching him how to draw or studying history with Kent as a group, all three of them studying together on the couch side by side. Joseph blushed every time the subject of history came up, because after their first night as roommates, the other two used ‘studying together’ as an excuse to flirt shamelessly, both with each other and with Joseph.

There was actually a lot of flirting going on in their dorm room in fact, nothing as overt as the kisses on the first night, but Kent didn’t see much point in wearing clothes if only his roommates were around.

“We’re all gay, right?” The big bull said when Joseph had practically yelled in surprised the first time he’d found his roommate on the couch in just boxers, “Whose delicate sensibilities am I gonna offend by not wearing pants?” Joseph didn’t have a reply to that beyond a blush, and after that Kent left the door to his private room open most of the time, even when changing. His two canine roommates soon learned the bull slept in the nude too, and Joseph caught Andy looking in on Kent more than once while the bull was napping, and that set the tone for everything else.

Joseph would have called the husky more restrained than the clothing adverse bull, except that the husky was a very hands-on kind of person. His tail wagged all the time, and his expressive paws were always eager to touch Joseph’s arm or side whenever they studied together. The slender husky also took every excuse to scoot closer to either Joseph or Kent when given half a chance, and was delighted to sit on the couch between his larger roommates. His favorite position seemed to be leaning against Kent’s bare chest, with his legs draped over Joseph’s lap.

It was overwhelming for Joseph to be so casually open about being gay. Back in New York, the wolf had hidden everything about who he really was. Now he was out of the closet and not even Conner, who was painfully macho, seemed to care. The feline just shook his head at Andy’s limp wristed antics and Kent’s lack of shame. None of the guys in the dorm seemed to care that he or the others were gay. It was overwhelming.

Everything about living in Boston was overwhelming. Eating anything he wanted and at regular times in the school cafeterias, going to class on time, doing his homework… and especially talking to so many people. The wolf tried to not let the other find out how strange this all felt to him, but Joseph was sure it showed. He didn’t want his new friends to realize how massive a change MIT was from his old life, and for now his explanation of being home school was enough. Tina had started calling him, “Homeschool” and “Yankee boy” whenever he was surprised by something, teasing him both about his education and his hometown of New York.

The only thing that didn’t happen at warp speed in those first two weeks was his new job as a research assistant. Joseph got some emails from the math department and went in to sign a few forms, but the department secretaries didn’t seem all that eager to process the paperwork quickly, and had been less than helpful answering his questions about the professor. He’d been unable to catch Dr. Bernadette in his office, and the badger didn’t have regular office hours. It wasn’t until the fourth Statistics and Analysis class that anything more had happened on that front.

***

Joseph listened with rapt attention as Dr. Bernadette began to wrap up the day’s lesson with a flourish, the chalk boards behind him covered in equations.

"One of the key things you need to understand about the study of mathematics is that eventually, everything will be discovered by someone. What matters is who invents a good and efficient way of explaining it. The best mathematicians are the ones who come up with the way of describing the math to everyday people." The badger gestured to two different equations and models he’d used to describe the same statistical concept to the class. One was detailed and complex, and while comprehensive, was barely understandable. The other equation was much more cleanly expressed, and easy to grasp just by looking at it.

Joseph stared at the badger, his gaze intense, and while he listened to every word Samuel said, he also took special interest in the way the badger moved. The way he stood. The way his body pulled his shirt tight across his shoulders, and rode up whenever he bent low for a moment. The wolf watched him, chin propped up on a paw as he took notes, simply fascinated by the man.

"This is the heart of innovation in the modern day, being able to take something complex and express it in an easily understood way so that everyone can use it. Math is the basis of this, the universal language which all of science depends upon. Having a fundamental grasp of how this probability actually works in the real world will be fundamental to many of your futures. We’re going to continue the chapter on Basina priors next week, so study up on it. And your first section of homework will be due next Wednesday, so don’t forget to start that. Class dismissed."

As the class began to break up around them, Joseph kept his eyes on Samuel, watching as the badger began to pack up his notes, following his every movement. Kent leaned over to the stationary wolf and whispered, “Wake up sleeping beauty, the prince has dismissed us.” Joseph finally blinked when the student in front of him stood up and broke his line of sight with the badger, turning his head to look at the bull sheepishly.

Kent just grinned at him. “Didn’t hear a word I said, did you?” The bull kept his voice low, but his smile said everything.

“Hey, I was paying attention,” the wolf said with indignation, turning his ears back as if angry to cover up how red they were turning. “And you better appreciate that, or I won’t share my notes with you.”

“Hey now, let’s not get crazy!” Kent put his hands up, making frantic motions and grinning even more. The bull had been relying on the wolf’s explanations and copious notes to understand even these first two weeks, and his own were nowhere near as through as Joseph’s were. “I want to pass this class you know.”

Joseph laughed at his friend, and they began picking up their books and packing their bags. Joseph was zipping his closed when Kent spoke, again in a low tone only meant for the wolf, “Hey, you said you landed a job as Dr. Bernadette’s research assistant, but you never told me how that turned out. Is it fun?”

“Don’t know… we haven’t met up about it actually,” the wolf shrugged, trying to act like he didn’t care.” The math department is dragging their feet I think.”

“It’s been two weeks dude, didn’t you say they were the one’s demanding he publish something?” Kent shook his head and snorted in such a stereotypical bovine way that the wolf nearly laughed. Kent’s eyes focused on Joseph, giving him an intense look that made the wolf squirm, and he spoke in that low, suggestive voice again, “Don’t you think you should go talk with him about it before he vanishes? Dude’s impossible to find in his office. How are you ever gonna get anywhere with him if he keeps getting away?”

“Tell me about it,” Joseph muttered, glancing back down at the front of the classroom, where several students had lined up to ask Dr. Bernadette questions before he could leave. The wolf stood still for a moment, watching the badger, weighing what he should do. “You know, you’re right, I’ll catch you later okay? We’ll grab dinner tomorrow.”

“Breakfast, I wanna hear how it goes.” The bull waved him off, hefting his backpack and heading out as Joseph made his way down to the front of the class, where Dr. Bernadette was looking at something on his phone.

***

Samuel finished answering the last question and leaned over to pick up his briefcase without looking, eyes on his cell phone. It was displaying a report from the Extraordinaries base, detailing an intrusion attempt which had been made on the base’s computer systems. The attacker had not penetrated beyond the carefully constructed false business fronts Samuel maintained as the base’s outward facing systems, but Samuel was so intent on reading the small text he very nearly collided with someone.

The badger jerked back on reflex, one paw coming up to defend himself, but he relaxed instantly when he saw it was student. The report of the data breach during his class had his reflexes on high alert, but Samuel smoothly turned his raised paw into a fake nervous gesture, brushing one ears back to cover his defensive reaction. Stepping back, Samuel smiled pleasantly at Joseph, whose paw must have beaten his own to the handle of the briefcase by moments. The black wolf with the white stripes on his face stood there smiling, holding his briefcase and wagging his tail, “Where too next professor?”

“What do you mean?” Samuel said, keeping his tone light and puzzled, while on the inside he was on high alert. The badger very casually reached for his briefcase again, and there was a tense moment for Samuel where he was unsure what would happen, but the wolf surrendered the case without complaint or even seeming to notice Samuel’s tension.

The badger forced himself to relax, casually letting the case hang by his side completely once he had the case again, his smile becoming a genuine one. He was sure that Joseph had meant nothing by it; he sensed no deceit from the wolf, but still one had to be careful. He had certain things inside the briefcase that he could not let his students discover. They were all hidden cleverly, but he wasn’t going to let his briefcase out of his sight.

“Well, I’m supposed to be your assistant right? But you haven’t set any research times or anything, and you’re never in your office, so I figured I’d just follow you and see if we can work something out?”

The badger nodded, unconsciously straightening his jacket with his free paw. “Ah yes, well, I’ve been rather busy, new term and all…”

“I know right? This place is crazy.” Joseph flashed him a smile so cheerful it had to be forced, but he didn’t seem upset with Samuel. “I’ve never been so busy. Is it always like this?”

“Mostly,” the badger said which a chuckle, “it’s much worse. Just you wait until midterms, Mr. Baker.”

The wolf’s muzzle broke into a grin, the white stripes on his cheeks crinkling, “Sounds like we should start on that research project then, before things get too crazy?”

Samuel stared at him for a long second, trying to discern the intentions of the earnest look on the wolf’s face, but he saw only eagerness in the young man’s eyes. I’m being too suspicious, the badger thought, been working too many hours on that case for the S.A.D and getting nowhere. And we really do need to get started on that research. “Well, let me check something here,” the badger muttered, and Samuel lifted his phone, but the little app he used to monitor the base’s defenses showed everything was in the green again. Whatever had been testing the base’s firewall had stopped, and he could investigate further later one. “Well, I suppose for once I’m as free as I ever will be. Why don’t we go to my office and discuss things, and see if you still want to go through with this little project. It’s going to be quite advanced work, Joseph.”

The wolf’s grin widened, “Lead on professor, I’m sure I’ll be able to keep up.”

***

Joseph followed the badger across campus to the Mathematics building, one of the older faculty buildings on campus, with a much blander look to it than the high energy physics buildings or the new chemistry labs. Samuel’s office was the last door on a long hallway at back of the math building, right beside a little used back entrance, and once Joseph saw inside it, the wolf knew exactly why the badger never stayed there long.

The office started off small, and had been made incredibly cramped by the furniture which had crammed in there. The room was dominated by a huge; U shaped desk that stretching along the back wall, across most of the left side of the room, and then jutted out into the middle of the room, dividing the small space in two.

The section of the desk along the back wall was covered with electronics in various states of disassembly, the center section against the left-hand wall held a very high tech looking computer setup, and the third section in the middle of the room was kept clear, and was probably where Samuel worked with visiting students during office hours, whenever those were. Floor to ceiling bookshelves covered the right hand wall completely, and behind the desk, an old and comfortable looking swivel chair sat, while a second chair sat by the door for visitors.

Everything in the badger’s office looked old and well worn, but it was all perfectly arranged to fit the tiny office. Every book, stapler, and tool had its own place, which was good because everything was within easy reach if you stood in the center of the little office. It was small even compared to the other offices along the hallway, having been built out of the last few feet before the end of the building.

Joseph stood in the doorway, examining every detail of the little room, and taking a slow scent of the room. Tile polish and cleaners from the hallway mixed with old wood and paper from the bookshelves, and hints of ozone from the work bench along the back of the office. Overlaying all of it was the rich, musky scent of badger. Samuel had worked in this office for years, and the scent of him filled Joseph’s keen canine nostrils. For a moment, the wolf let himself enjoy it. The older male’s scent was earthy and deep but also clean, as if even after years of working in here the badger took care to prevent his scent from going sour. It was a bit thrilling, and­-

“Well Joseph, take a seat,” Samuel said, jostling the wolf out of his thoughts. They both awkwardly forced smiles as the badger slid into the office behind Joseph, who was still blocking the door. Joseph had to lean back a little as the bulky badger brushed past him, set his briefcase down beside his desk, and then took off his jacket. There was a long moment where Samuel was facing the wall of bookcases, and Joseph got to watch the badger pull his tweed jacket off up close, eyes lingering on the way the badger’s fur showed through Samuel’s crisp white dress shirt. The badger’s biceps were straining the fabric of his sleeves, and once the too big coat was off Joseph could once again tell just how good a shape Dr. Bernadette was in. Samuel hung the coat on a hook on the back of the door and turned to his desk, and Joseph’s ears felt hot as looked down at the badger’s tight pants. It was impressive how well they showed off Samuel’s ass under his spade tail, which poked through the hole at the back of his pants, which hugged his muscular legs.

“Well now,” Samuel muttered, forcing joseph to look up and pretend he hadn’t been checking his professor out. The badger sat down heavily in the old chair behind the desk, tapping on the keyboard to bring his computer to life as Joseph pulled the small and uncomfortable visitor’s chair out. “Why don’t I show you want why I was so interested in Dr. Taberson’s probability matrices, and you can tell me if you see what I think is wrong with them. Close the door and pull that chair around Joseph; everything is on this old hunk of junk here.” Samuel said with a smile, motioning at the computer.

Joseph flashed the badger a grin and pulled the second chair up close so he could see, and tried to focus on what Samuel was saying, rather than how much the badger’s shoulders stretched his shirt.

***

Hours later, Joseph left the badger’s office, and was shocked to discover that it was dark outside.

The wolf checked his phone, and stared at the glowing screen in disbelief. There was no way it was after eleven o’clock. Had he and the professor really been in the badger’s office for over five hours?

Joseph blushed in the darkness, smiling to himself. Once he and Samuel had begun working, the badger was entirely focused on explaining the mathematical concepts to Joseph, and the wolf had been entirely focused on listening to his every word. It had been fascinating, and the wolf had split his attention between the badger’s words, and the proximity of his body, which well… no wonder he hadn’t noticed the time passing.

Joseph was awful at telling how much time was passing, and Samuel’s proximity had made it impossible to focus on anything but what the badger did and said. But it was surprising the badger had been so focused that he hadn’t noticed the hours slip by either.

Well, Joseph thought with a spring in his step as he made his way across the dark and deserted quad in front of the mathematics building, I guess Samuel must like me as much as I like him. That or he really, really loves math. It’s probably the second one, but God I hope he likes me some too… Joseph tried to tamp down on his excitement, but it was hard not to think of reasons why his professor might be interested in him. No older guy in that good a shape is straight, right? He’s got to be working out for some reason, and he wasn’t wearing a ring. He’s got to be gay to, right?

The wolf sure as hell hoped so. Because if Joseph had any illusions about how smitten he was with Samuel Bernadette before, tonight proved that he was head over heels with the badger. He hadn’t cared about getting dinner, or how long they were cooped up in that cramped little office, or how carefully and slowly the badger had explained things. Nothing mattered but listening to the badger talk, and trying to prove to the handsome, incredibly fit male that Joseph could keep up with him.

Joseph wanted to prove himself to Samuel so much it made his paws itch and his heart beat a mile a minute. The whole time he’d been leaned over Samuel’s shoulder as they worked, Joseph had to keep himself from leaning against the badger’s body, even casually. He just wanted to run a paw across the badger’s arm, or lean in and kiss Samuel’s neck, or that square jawed muzzle...

The wolf grunted, and for what felt like the hundredth time that night, adjusted his pants so it wasn’t quite so incredibly obvious that he had an erection. As he walked across campus, the wolf felt his fingers twitch and his fur prickling, and his arousal refused to go down. Joseph needed to blow off steam, big time. After hours of soaking in the badger’s scent and looking over his shoulder without touching, the wolf felt trapped in his own fur.

Walking back to the dorm room wasn’t going to be enough; Joseph’s skin was itching to move, to stop holding himself back and to run as fast as he could. It was a feel that had been building for days now, and his paws were begging him to just run full tilt at some wall, scramble over it, and then just keep going. It had been two weeks now since he’d done it last, and the hours spent at Dr. Bernadette’s side was just too much. His paws were itching at the thought.

Joseph cinched the straps of his backpack tight against his body, making sure that everything was closed. He even clicked the buckle on the flimsy strap that went around his waist, pulling it tight like a belt. That was one of the reasons he’d purchased this backpack, it was a normal school bag, but it had really good straps and buckles, good enough to go running in without losing his balance.

Bag secured, the black furred wolf lined himself up with a short wall, about waist height, which ran across the quad, dividing the space meant for students to walk from a carefully manicured garden people could sit in and study. Built alongside one of the old buildings, the garden had a gazebo in the center and tables under the trees, and made for a quiet little place in the middle of the busy school.

Joseph paid no attention to the garden, he only looked at the wall, and the way it sloped upwards towards the roofline at the far side of the quad, rising up until it was about five feet below the building’s sloped roofline. To Joseph’s parkour trained eyes, it was a perfect ramp up onto the building top, and from there, the wolf knew he could make his way down the street from building to building easily, all the way back to his dormitory building.

He’d scoped the long row of frat houses that lead towards his dorm out on the first day, but he’d been holding off making a run at them as long as he could. He didn’t want to ruin everything by getting caught running across the rooftops, but now he had to move fast or he’d burst, and not just out of his pants.

Glancing around carefully, Joseph made sure there was no one else in the quad who could see him, and no security cameras that might capture what he was about to do. The only sounds he heard were the wind in the trees and traffic in the distance, and he couldn’t see or smell anyone nearby. Bouncing on his heels once, the wolf took off, rushing towards the low wall full tilt and leaping up to race along it.

There was a brief blur, like a stutter on screen when a movie reel skips, and the running wolf simply vanished into thin air, leaving the quad empty save for the blowing wind of the little garden’s trees.

***

Everyone knows what it feels like to run. There’s a momentum to the world as you run through it, a weight that pushes against you as you accelerate. Picking up speed has meaning as you charge through the world, and if you run fast enough, you can feel everything else fall away.

Everyone knows that feeling because everyone, at some point in their life, has to run.

Some people run towards things. They run to win a gold medal, to steal second base, to put out the fire, or to get the girl of their dreams. Other people run away from things, from a life they hate, a lover that hits them, or an attacker in a dark alley.

Joseph Baker had run for all those reasons. Any kid growing up in the Bronx learns how to run, especially when you stand out as ‘special’ in any way. A dark black wolf with three distinctive white stripes on each side of his face and ‘special’ habits certainly stood out, even when though Joseph had been a few inches too short for his age. Being short only made him more noticeable really, at least to the bullies of the world. So Joseph learned to run, and how to fight when he couldn't run.

This was one of the few things I was truly good at, even back then, when I was just ‘special’ rather than fantastic, the young wolf mused as he ran in a way only a handful of people would ever understand.

Because from Joseph’s point of view, there had been no stuttering or jump in the film of the world. He hadn’t vanished with a pop.

To the black furred wolf it looked someone had frozen the world in place, everything outlined in blue as he jogged through the world casually. The garden wall and rooftops of the fraternities were child’s play, passed over in moments, and before he’d taken a second breath Joseph had raced across the rooftops of five buildings and was passed his dorm, back on street level, and running across the city of Boston in the dark night, invisible to everyone moving at normal speeds.

The lights of this new city became a technicolor blur around him, passing by at unnatural speed as Joseph ran across Boston and past its frozen citizens at fantastic speed. It only took a moment for the wolf to reach the strange, super accelerated state of equilibrium, he found himself in whenever he ran at super-speeds like this. Friction didn’t affect him the same way anymore. Despite his incredible speed and constant acceleration, the air around him merely ruffled his fur slightly and it felt as though he were jogging easily down the road, his perceptions accelerating to match his speed.

The quad, the frat hours, the street his dorm was on, and all of Boston proper, were gone in a matter of moments to Joseph’s accelerated perceptions. Soon, relatively in to his own timeframe, Joseph was racing down the shoulder of the U.S. interstate system, zooming along the open road at well past the speed of sound.

Joseph took a deep breath and howled into the empty night; letting all the tension and excitement he felt flow into his pumping legs. The frustration of being surrounded by people constantly, having to carefully control his movement and perceptions so he could interact normally with them poured out of him into the night air. Forcing himself to move at ‘normal’ speed where ever he went was so much harder than joseph imagined it would be. The sexual tension building between him and his new roommates, and the hours he’d just spent drooling over the hottest badger he’d ever seen, were just as frustrating. He let it all go now, turning all that stress and pent up emotion into pure speed as he ran.

He loved this part of having super speed more than anything else. When the wolf gained full control of his super powers a few months ago, everything in his life changed. A lot of things in his life had gone wrong, but this was easily the best part about his new power. Being so fast that the rest of the world was completely still, passing through it completely unnoticed by anyone else... It was a real thrill, and Joseph wondered if the other super-fast wolf, the hero Blitzkrieg, experienced his super speed powers the same way.

Joseph doubted he'd ever be able to ask the hero.

The black wolf ran past the few cars left on the road this late, mostly truckers, who all appeared to be standing still. The people were frozen in the act of driving cross country, their muzzles often in funny expressions as they talked to each other or sang along to music Joseph could not hear. It would take those drivers more than an entire day of solid driving to reach Joseph’s destination, the Redwood National park. For Joseph, the journey would take only about two minutes, and he’d be able to see the sun set through the giant trees.

But the wolf was hungry now that he was no longer distracted by Samuel’s presence, and so as he ran along I-80 he made a detour, passing through Chicago so he could grab something to eat.

The wolf passed through downtown Chicago like a ghost. At this speed there wasn’t even a whisper of wind as he went by, and most video cameras were incapable of capturing more than a blur as he went by. Unless he touched something, Joseph’s superpower let him slip through the world unnoticed. The only people who saw him at all were the people at the all pizza place where he stopped to grab a slice of pepperoni pizza just before they closed up shop. He loved Chicago style pizza, and Joseph ate the slice in the shop, bolting the food down quickly as the unconcerned staff locked up. The wolf ate so fast he burned his tongue on thick melting cheese, and so he grabbed a can of soda before heading out of the shop, tossing down cash to pay for everything.

Joseph walked normally around the side of the shop, slurping his coke as he turned into the little alley behind the pizza place, looking for a spot where no one could see him. Then he was gone in another blur of speed, soda can left spinning empty behind him.

***

A few relative minutes later, but more than two thousand miles away, the wolf sat at the base of a giant redwood tree, seated cross legged on a large flat rock, and watching the sun set on the east coast.

This was the spot where Joseph had first ended up after gaining his powers. The flat rock looked out over a small clearing, filled with long green grass that was beginning to turn brown as autumn approached. Joseph breathed in the crisp, ultra clean air of the Redwood National forest, his mouth still burning from the hot cheese of the Chicago pizza as he watched the last golden rays of the sun slowly setting through the quiet forest.

Joseph shielded his eyes slightly as he watched the light wash through the branches like slow syrup, his accelerated perception allowing him to count every mote of dust dancing in the air, lit by the slowly vanishing gold light as the sun set behind the nearby mountains. In the real world, the sunset only lasted a few minutes, but to Joseph it felt like hours, the sun slowly dropping from the sky as the wolf sorted through his thoughts.

A chill wind swept through the coastal forest, rippling the long grass before dancing in the wolf's black fur and riffling the pages of the statistics text book that lay open across his knees. Joseph was rereading the brand new book for the hundredth time, trying to better understand everything Dr. Bernadette had explained to him. Tina had made fun of him for how ratty his ‘used’ text books were, but all that wear and tear on them was Joseph’s fault.

It was so peaceful here, surrounded by nothing but the wind. Everything was so quiet here. Joseph loved the city, loved the bustle, the excitement, and the smell of so many different people and foods. That was the thing Joseph liked about Boston most, the smells were so much better than back in New York.

He liked Boston more than his old home town in practically every way. All his memories of the Big Apple made him want to run as far away as he could. That's how he had first found this place, by running away from New York when he’d gained his powers a few months ago. This unused piece of the Redwood National Forest on the west coast was about as far from New York City as you could get, and was the perfect place to watch the sunset, surrounded by silence and the scent of distant snow.

Joseph had never encountered anyone else here in all the time he'd spent visiting this spot. The flat rock and the little field it overlooked were his secret, one of many, and probably the most harmless one. He hadn't come back here since he’d signed up for classes at MIT. There’d been books to read, supplies to buy, and a hundred little things he needed to do during the first few weeks of class, and that was before you added in all the people he'd met.

Kent would love it here, the wolf thought a bit wistfully. The big bull would probably be very happy living in a place like this, with open fields and land to call his own. The bull would probably want to build a cabin out here; he wanted to be an architect after all. Maybe Joseph would do so instead.

A grin played across Joseph’s muzzle. Andy would hate it here of course. The Austin native husky was a born city boy like Joseph, and was practically glued to his cell phone, which would never get signal here. But the husky would have loved to try and paint a sunset like this one.

Neither of them would ever see it though.

Joseph's ears twitched backward for a moment, his calm and safe place disturbed by dark thoughts. He would never be able to share this place with the bull or bring Andy here so he could paint the trees. That was the choice he'd made by leaving New York and going to MIT, hiding his superpowers and what he could do, and it was a choice he would just had to live with. Boston was Stratagem's town, and he'd known what he was signing himself up for when he decided to the greatest super science college in America. He was never going to be able to use his powers in the open, not even in disguise, without being discovered by the super smart badger.

It was a stupid thing to have regrets about, if had hadn't gone to MIT, he would never have even met Kent or Andy, but he still wished he could be honest with them. Be open about his powers like he was about his sexuality, at least to his roommates who were… well, quickly becoming more than just friends. It was only a matter of time before he slept with them at this rate. But he couldn't tell them the truth; it would only put them in danger. He’d made his choice, now he had to live with the consequences.

Joseph remembered the day he'd decided to go to MIT perfectly. In fact, he remembered everything he’d done since gaining his powers perfectly. Joseph didn’t understand how it worked yet, but his thoughts and perceptions were now so accelerated that he was able to remember everything with crystal clarity, even when moving and thinking at ‘normal’ speeds.

***

He’d been standing on the rooftop in New York, watching his target carefully through binoculars. Joseph kept one eye on his digital wrist watch, marking the time as he marked the movements of a half dozen people on the street below. The wolf shifted his weight from foot to foot, ready to run, and when the digital clock ticked over to 9:15 am, he did one last check of the people on the street and then, Joseph ran.

He ran full tilt across the roof, down the wall, and across the street. He dodged between frozen car and still people, past the waiting armored car, and then through the front door of the bank that had just been opened by a tall deer in a coat. Joseph grinned as he raced across the bank’s lobby, through an open door at the back of the lobby, and down a long hallway filled with cameras and security measures which could neither see nor stop him. The black furred wolf raced past the two guards from the armored car company, squeezing between the bear and moose and then past the stoat bank manager who was opening the vault door at the end of the hallway.

Money went into the backpack he’d bought earlier that day, stacks of hundred dollar bills which were grabbed and taken in a flash, vanishing into think air. Then just as quickly as he’d come, Joseph raced back out, up the hall, through the lobby, and back through the still open front door. The deer who had opened the door was still there, still frozen in the act as if he had been patiently holding the door open for Joseph. The deer hadn't even finished pulling the gun he’d been drawing before Joseph was miles away.

Inside the bank, people took no notice of the breeze that went by the as the door opened and the robbers demanded their attention. Not even the guards by the vault realized that thousands of dollars in cash had been spirited away before the robbery had even begun. It would be two days before the bank robbers were caught and the money Joseph had taken wasn’t found with them. A review of the security tapes showed nothing beyond the robbers the police had already caught. There were only a few blurred frames of video, a smudge that the investigators didn’t even notice. Even if they had, they would have attributed them to some kind of hacking by the robbers they’d already caught, some failed attempt to alter the video to disguise who had stolen the money. The truth was they'd recorded the real thief; he'd just been too fast for even the electronic eye to see.

***

Now months later, Joseph sat on the rock he’d first collapsed onto when gaining his super speed, wishing that he hadn’t been forced to steal his tuition money he needed to go to MIT. He wanted to tell his new friends what he really was, but he’d made his choice. He’d crossed the line from potential superhero to supercriminal, and there was no going back now.

There was never any going back; Joseph thought to himself, watching the sunlight vanish from the trees, the shadows growing dark around him as the stars began to sparkle in the sky. The darkness pressing in around him made the wolf think of the night he’d gained his powers, and he held out a paw in front of himself, fingers cupped as if holding a baseball. With only the barest bit of effort, Joseph formed a ball of lightning in his cupped paw, the energy crackling between the black fur on Joseph’s fingers as he held the crackling power easily. The tamed lightning bolt threw sharp white light across the clearing, and the wolf picked up his book and continued to read by the glow of his self-made lightning.

I’m never going back to the way I was before, the wolf thought as he finished rereading the text book, taking careful hand written notes of questions he wanted to ask Samuel the next time he saw the badger. And I don’t care what I have to do to make this new life work.

***

Joseph raced back across the country, the stars in the sky growing brighter and dimmer as he ran past cities of various sizes. The beautiful star-scape faded in and out as he traveled, replaced by the colored lights of the cities along his path.

I-80 became I-90, and he kept to the freeway on his way to Boston, avoiding his stomping grounds of New York. The city of Boston was still frozen but just as alive as when he’d left only an hour ago in real time, even though it had felt much longer to Joseph. He raced back onto the MIT campus, feeling totally refreshed and relaxed from his cross-country journey. He’d been gone from the city for less than an hour, but to Joseph if had felt like a dozen.

A small unused side door granted him unobserved access to his dorm, and panting slightly, he jogged up the stairs two at a time, grinning like mad as he used his keycard to get back into his room and his new life.

On the couch, Andy was leaning against Kent in the dark, watching an old movie together. Neither of them had anything but boxers on, and they both looked up as the door opened. “Hey Joseph, come sit with us?” the bull rumbled, patting the couch beside him.

The wolf grinned sheepishly back at them as Andy wagged his curled tail. Joseph dropped his backpack by the door, the dirt from the forest floor falling off it unnoticed by any of them. The wolf pulled off his shirt and kicked off his shoes before dropping onto the couch beside the bull.

Kent’s big arm snaked out immediately, and the wolf gasped as the large man pulled him close. “Sooo,” the chocolate brown bull rumbled as he held the wolf to his side, mirroring the way he held Andy under the other arm. The husky looked over at Joseph and wagged his tail when the wolf met his eyes. “How’d your night with the good professor go, huh?” Kent asked, his voice dripping with innuendo.

Andy giggled as the wolf’s face flushed, and he told them both about his night with Samuel, the movie forgotten.

***