Sitting in front of a class of children, Fox felt himself wobble on his two unsteady feet. He hadn't exactly wanted to go back to school, but he knew that he needed to at least learn more about the basics before he could try to get a job.

The word alone left a sour taste in his mouth, but he knew that at least some of what Henry had said was true. Hell, he couldn't even count to one-hundred anymore. His mind got stuck somewhere around thirty-eleven something.

The sixth grade class of children stared back at him with humor shining in their eyes, clearly on the edge of bursting into laughter.

"Fox? Wake up, bud."

Blinking, Fox stretched his paws over his head and rolled onto his belly, then gave a little shake before squirming his way out from beneath the blankets. He knew right away that he was back in his animal form, and couldn't have been happier. Well... Looking up, he saw Noah standing beside the bed with a tired smile on his face. His fancy suit was unbuttoned and his hair was a mess, likely from his habit of rolling down the windows while he drove, even though it was pretty cold outside recently.

It had been a few days since he'd had that tense talk with Henry, and thankfully, the man had stayed away, likely busy with his business. There were holidays coming up soon, or so he'd heard from the television, and that had kept Noah quite busy, too.

Flicking the tip of his tail eagerly, Fox hopped to the edge of the bed. Noah met him with a gentle pat to the head before sitting down beside him. Fox climbed into the man's lap as soon as it was available, then leaned into his chest.

"You've gotten a lot more tolerant of us recently, huh?" Noah said, making Fox flick an ear as he received another pat to the head.

Just you.

"Hanukah is coming up, though I don't really celebrate it much anymore, besides lighting the candles. I think Henry was planning on bringing over a small tree for Christmas, too, so I guess we'll just do a little mix of the two."

Guess he didn't hear me. Oh well.

He didn't mind the holiday idea, either. Heck, he actually was looking forward to a tree in the living room. He would have requested one much earlier, but he'd thought that Noah might have frowned upon chopping one down and dragging it inside.

Noah pulled Fox up into a gentle hug, earning the slightest growl for the action. Sure, he did enjoy the man's presence, and did want to get to know him better, but there was a rather large time frame where those thoughts would play out, and it definitely wasn't three days from when the decisions were made.

"Sorry, I know you aren't quite used to being cuddled yet," Noah said as he leaned over and set Fox down on the floor, then stood up and headed out of the room toward the kitchen, tugging off his jacket as he went.

I don't like that word. Cuddled.

He was not a puppy or kitten to cuddle.

Noah snickered as he set his coat on the back of one of the dining room chairs, then went about getting something ready for dinner. Instead of just going to lie on his bed of blankets, Fox sat at the entrance of the kitchen and watched Noah work, taking in as much as his twitchy mind could before it got bored and made his eyes begin to wander about.

"How have you been, Fox? Sorry I've been gone so much recently. Hopefully things will calm down after the holidays are over," Noah said as he got out a few more ingredients.

Twitching his nose, Fox reached up and licked one of his paws as he replied; Sleeping a lot, but I feel much better.

Noah glanced at him over his shoulder, a gentle smile on his face.

"I'm glad. You had me worried."

Fox remained quiet as Noah returned to his cooking. He wasn't sure what to really make of their situation, or even how to even make it into any kind of other situation. As he contemplated things, the sound of a key sliding into the front door had his ears pinning back abruptly.

Go away, you.

The door opened a moment later, then was gently shut before Fox heard the sound of Henry slipping off his shoes by the door. The man appeared around the corner a moment later, and to Fox's chagrin, Noah was far more pleased with the houseguest than he was. He immediately turned off the burner he was using and hurried over as Henry opened his arms. Noah fit easily into the man's large coat, and arms.

Fox bit back his thought response, but did stick his tongue out and walk over to his bed to lie down.

"Bad day, hun?" Henry whispered against Noah's hair.

When Noah nodded against Henry's chest and sighed, Fox felt his heart sink a little as his ears fell to the side. He hadn't noticed that Noah was upset at all. He hadn't been told, either... but what reason did Noah have to tell him about his day?

Would I have even cared enough to realize that he'd wanted some sort of comfort? Wait... he'd tried to hug me.

Lying his head down, Fox watched as Henry pressed a soft kiss to Noah's cheek, then took the man's hand and lead him over to the counter beside the things Noah had been preparing for dinner. Henry patted the corner of the counter with his free hand and grinned at Noah, who, after a few moment's hesitation, hopped up onto it to sit.

"I'll finish up cooking. Just keep me company?" Henry asked with a small nod as he washed his hands, then got the burner going again and started cutting up some vegetables.

Looking the man over from head to toe as he worked, Fox noted the tear in his left pant leg.

I thought I'd smelled blood.

Henry's eyes were on him the second he finished that thought, a warning in them to keep quiet that had Fox's hackles bristling with annoyance.

It must have been a big dog.

Noah glanced over at him, curiosity in his eyes. "A big dog?" he asked, making Fox fidget.

Uh, outside. I thought I heard barking. It was probably just someone's big dog, he quickly tried to cover his wandering thought.

"Ah, I guess your ears are more sensitive than ours," Noah said with a small shrug.

Henry gave a quiet grunt in agreement as he finished cooking.

"Plates, No?"

Dumb nickname.

Henry bit back a laugh, but his smirk wasn't hidden at all as Noah, clearly having not heard Fox's thought this time, reached up and got down some plates. Soon there was a plate of cooked vegetables and chicken with some sort of lemon sauce in front of Fox. He sniffed it for a moment before trying a piece. He wasn't exactly a fan, but Noah had cooked, well, most of it, and he knew that he was being too picky. One couldn't just eat pancakes and bland chicken every day. At least, not for every meal.

Licking a bit of sauce off his nose, Fox leaned down and took a bigger bite. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Henry and Noah head toward the couch with their plates and two cans of beer. Noah hesitated, letting Henry sit down first. When he noticed Noah standing next to the couch nervously, but refusing to sit, Henry leaned forward and set his food and drink down on the coffee table, then extended a hand toward Noah.

"Come on, hun."

Noah didn't need any other encouragement. He set his drink down and quickly climbed into Henry's lap as he handed the man his plate so that he could get comfortable. Henry put the leg rest up once they were both good, then set Noah's food in the man's lap and held up his fork.

"Eat some. I snacked a bit on my way home, so I'll eat mine after," Henry said, the determination in his words letting Noah know that there would be no arguing.

Fox expected Henry to turn on the television, at least for some background noise, but the man surprised him and simply wrapped his arms loosely around Noah's middle and relaxed back against the sofa with a slow exhale.

He looked comfortable, even with another adult on his lap. Fox could also hear tiny grumbles coming from his stomach, but Henry didn't even glance at his own plate of food getting cold on the coffee table.

A soft but intentional tap against the sofa cushion caught Fox's attention, drawing his eyes down to where Henry's hand rested against the fabric. He then looked up to meet the man's own eyes. One of his brows was lifted as he nodded toward him.

Fox sneezed and looked away toward his own food, but he just wasn't hungry enough to bother with it right then.

After a few minutes of silence he heard Noah set his own empty plate on the coffee table, then adjust his weight in Henry's lap.

"You should eat now. I can hear your stomach growling," Noah said, drawing Fox's attention to them.

Noah had Henry's full plate in his hands now, the fork lifting hesitantly toward Henry's mouth.

It didn't seem like Henry really wanted to eat, even though he was clearly hungry, but he put up little resistance as he leaned forward and took the bite of food on the proffered fork after a moment's hesitation.

They repeated the process for a few minutes before Henry swallowed his last bite of food and looked toward Fox. With a hint of a smile he patted the sofa again, offering Fox a spot beside him.

He wanted to say something snarky back, but again, he bit his tongue. Well, his mental one. Instead, Fox found himself getting up the second Noah looked over at him and smiled.

Are you feeling better?

The question slipped from his mind, but, he actually didn't find himself regretting it. The way Noah's eyes lit up at the hint of concern drew Fox over to the couch. Henry didn't hesitate to pat the cushion again, inviting him up.

What the hell.

With a mental shrug, Fox hopped up, then promptly settled himself in Noah's lap.

"Cocky fox," Henry stated, but didn't try to remove him.

Once Fox got comfortable, he glanced up at Noah. The man was staring down at him, an eager smile on his face that told Fox one thing.

Fine. But just once.

Before he could even finish the thought, Fox was snuggled tightly in Noah's arms as the man leaned back against Henry. Everyone seemed to give out a content sigh in the span of the next few minutes. Henry closed his eyes while Noah pressed an unwanted, but uncorrected kiss to Fox's fuzzy head. It wasn't so terrible to get a little attention. But just a little.

"Hey, Fox?" Noah mumbled as he snuggled in against Henry, which, in turn, snuggled Fox a little closer than he'd prefer to the other man.

Yes?

"How have you been doing with your human form? You just shifted back to your fox this morning, but you had been doing really well with walking. I can't wait to hear you talk to me out loud," Noah said, making Fox glance over the man's shoulder to Henry.

The guy glanced away awkwardly, making them both realize that they should keep their mouths shut about the fact that he'd talked to Henry first.

I still can't transform at will, but I'm getting better at controlling my body when I do shift, Fox said proudly.

Proud. He never thought he'd be proud to be in his human form. Much less to actually be trying to get used to it and use it. Walking as a human? Useless, he had paws and legs as a fox, and was faster. Hunting? Oh yes, fingernails definitely beat claws. Not. Don't get him started on how much easier it was to lick his own butthole, too. Just don't.

"Would you be interested in starting some classes on a tablet, Fox?" Henry asked, drawing both Noah and Fox's attention to him.

What's a tablet? And I suck at math, and English, and everything else required for people life stuff.

"Well, a tablet is kind of like a computer... or I guess, a television would make more sense to you? But you can interact with it. They would be classes for kids, not for adults."

Fox twitched his nose, making his whiskers brush against Noah's shirt, since he was still stuck in the man's arms.

I am technically an adult.

"I know, but as you've said, you aren't that great at a lot of things, yet. The tablet programs I've been looking at are games where you basically touch the screen of the tablet to play, and in the process, you learn a good bit of stuff that you can use, like math, English, and so on."

He wanted to decline right away, but his mind, which had been a lot less Fox recently, and a lot more human, unfortunately, thought that it was, maybe, worth at least a glance.

I guess I can look at it sometime.

"I actually bought you a tablet on my way here, hoping that you'd be interested in giving it a try. I'll leave it here when I have to go to work tomorrow morning... if Noah doesn't mind me staying over."

Fox could feel Noah's body tense, though there didn't seem to be stress involved. His instincts told him to dart, which were spot on. The second he squirmed out of the man's arms, they were wrapped around Henry's neck as Noah kissed the other man. It was rather reserved as far as kisses went, considering what Fox had seen before, but Henry didn't seem to mind at all. He returned it as he slowly let himself slide sideways until he was on his back. Noah followed him down without an ounce of hesitation, barely allowing their lips to separate.

Fox made a face and stuck out his tongue as he fake-gagged down at his paws, only to have his ears perk up at the sound of two different chuckles. He scowled up at the two men. Noah was resting his head on Henry's chest as he calmed his breathing. Henry seemed to have faired a bit better in that regard, but his hair had gotten mussed in the few seconds of time it had taken Fox to be a sarcastic brat.

"So then it's settled?" Henry asked as Fox tilted his head, confused.

What is?

Instead of answering him right away, Henry turned his attention to Noah. Stroking his hair, Henry spoke a little quieter.

"Would you like to help me get the tablet set up for him when we both get back from work tomorrow night? I can bring dinner and we can have a bit of fun with the games?"

Tomorrow night? That's a little fast. Most kids don't really start learning actual useful school stuff until they're like, in college, right? We can put it off a bit longer... Fox thought as he nervously licked a paw.

Both men laughed at him, making Fox glare up at them... only to relax a moment later. Both of them were grinning at him, but he didn't see any hostility in their eyes and their hadn't been any sarcasm or taunting in their voices when they'd been talking.

Putting his paw down slowly, Fox licked his lips a few times, then hopped up onto his bed of blankets and curled up, intent on going to bed early.

I guess tomorrow night could work. I'll try to clear my busy schedule.