School was far more interesting than he'd thought it would be, considering what he'd heard over the years. Flipping the pencil about between his fingers, he stared at the teacher, taking in the information she offered with little effort. Every few minutes he'd write down a note that he wanted to glance over another time, but most of the lesson was quite simple.

It was over before he knew it, just like the other classes he enjoyed. History definitely wasn't his strong suit, but he didn't mind learning it. No knowledge was ever wasted.

Tucking his notebook and pencil into his small backpack, he stood up and made his way out of the classroom. The other classes that were being held for the normal students still had a few minutes before they were dismissed, allowing the special needs kids to get to the cafeteria first and retrieve what they wanted for lunch before it got stressfully crowded.

Fox only had one class left, and it wasn't till a bit after lunch, but if he tried to walk home, he'd have to return soon after he arrived. Even if he got to see Owen, which was rare during that time of day, it wouldn't really make sense to go. That, and Owen had chastised him last time for not eating lunch.

He hurried through the massive building, weaving around tables and chairs to duck inside to one of the serving lines. The food definitely wasn't up to par with Owen's cooking, and Amos was shockingly great at it, too, but he would eat it. They had offered to pack him lunches during his schooling days, but after he saw how busy they were themselves, he had told them that the food at school wasn't bad.

He got himself a small square pepperoni pizza and a bottle of water. After paying, he ducked out of the cafeteria as students began to file in. A short time later he slipped into a classroom he knew would be empty for the next hour or so, allowing him to sit down and start his small lunch in peace.

Unfortunately, today was evidently not the day he got his time to recharge between classes. The handle for the door creaked open, drawing his eyes up away from his pizza. Two boys and a girl walked in that appeared to be around eighteen or nineteen. They were talking about something at first, but when one of them noticed Fox sitting in one of the far desks, they all paused in their conversation, leaving the only sound in the room that of the door slowly clicking shut.

A text from his phone was the first thing to break the silence, and Fox immediately checked it. Owen and Amos both checked on him during lunch. Amos was the first chime, and just like clockwork, a notification from Owen came in a moment later. He had a feeling that they had been glancing at his phone, since he never bothered locking it, to see who was texting earlier, and then remembered to text a tiny bit earlier the next day to try and be the first one.

It's cute.

"Can you hear us, kid?"

Blinking, Fox realized that the group had gotten closer and was trying to talk to him. One sat on the desk in front of the one he had taken, while the girl was standing leaning against one to his right, with the second boy on top of the one behind him. They were uncomfortably close.

"He's one of the special needs kids, isn't he?" the girl asked, making the boys pause for a moment before one nodded.

"Yeah, you're right. I remember seeing him go to those classrooms."

Fox looked down at the piece of pizza he'd only taken a few bites out of, then mentally shrugged and looked back up. He hadn't really wanted it to begin with, but he'd promised Amos and Owen that he'd eat lunch every day. Setting it back down, he looked to the boy who had spoken to him first.

"I can hear you."

The boy's confused expression turned to one of intrigue as he reached forward and took a piece of Fox's tiny pizza. He took a bite, then reached forward with the bitten piece and nudged it against Fox's lips.

"Hungry?"

Fox tilted his head and frowned.

"Yes, but I don't like that food."

The boy behind him chuckled, drawing Fox's attention over his shoulder.

"He's so straightforward. It's kind of cute."

The girl reached forward, taking one of the few remaining pieces of the small pizza and took a bite.

"You don't mind, since you don't like it anyways, right?"

Shouldn't you ask that before you take it?

Fox looked at the remaining two pieces and frowned, reaching for one of them. Before his fingertips could grasp it, however, the boy in front of him took it.

"This is annoying," Fox muttered, not caring that he spoke his thought out loud.

The whole group laughed quietly as he grabbed his last remaining piece of pizza and took another bite. He'd promised to eat, so he forced himself to chew. The boy in front of him glanced up at the clock and then reached over to nudge the girl.

"We've got to go grab some real food before next period, be nice, Pyre."

The boy behind Fox chuckled and waved.

"No promises."

Fox had finished chewing the last bite of his miniscule slice of pizza and swallowed as the door clicked shut and he glanced up at the remaining boy.

Red hair. Blue eyes. Too many earrings.

Fox wanted to roll his eyes. The guy was trying to look like a bad boy, but there was no one who could compare to Amos on such a topic. He'd heard stories from Owen, and judging from what he'd seen himself, the guy was the definition of bad.

A good kind of bad, now.

The thought put a smile on his face, which was evidently misunderstood, because the boy in front of him leaned forward and brushed his bangs away from his eyes.

"What's your name?"

Fox scowled and replied, "don't touch."

The boy's eyebrows rose but he leaned away, putting his hands between his legs that were on either side of Fox's chair.

"Interesting nickname, but what's your real one? Josh? Tommy? Isabel?"

The joke went over Fox's head as he sighed.

"Fox."

The boy paused for a moment, then frowned.

"That's... really your name?"

Fox nodded, earning a quizzical look from the boy. When the guy seemed to finally accept it, he fished a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and quickly lit one up with a lighter that appeared from who-knows-where.

"Want one, little Fox?" he asked as he offered the pack to him.

Fox stared at it, remembering Amos' habit. They smelled bad, but when he took in a breath of the smoke from the boy's lit one, it smelled like some sort of strange fruit.

"They're flavored. Makes them taste and smell better," the boy said, nudging the carton a little closer.

He knew that they weren't very good for you, but Owen and Amos had said to try and fit in a little and maybe make a few friends. This person was offering him something that belonged to him.

Should I turn it down? I don't have to use more than one...

Unsure, he pulled out his phone and took a picture of the item, making Pyre raise an eyebrow before he sent the image to the group chat he had set up between Amos and Owen. Beneath the photo he typed a simple question.

He sent it, then looked up at the boy.

"Did you just ask someone else permission if you could have a cigarette?"

Fox nodded, glancing down at his phone as several chimes came in one after the other.

"Damn, they're kind of harsh. It's just a cigarette," the boy mumbled as he tucked the pack back into his back pocket and stashed the lighter, too.

Fox shrugged and sent a quick as his reply, then put his phone away again.

"I trust what they say, since I don't know much about stuff yet."

Pyre leaned forward, wrapping his arms loosely over Fox's shoulders as he nudged his sneaker-clad feet onto either side of Fox's small chair.

"You a momma's boy or a daddies boy?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows with the latter mention.

Fox looked up and slightly backwards so that he could meet the other boy's eyes, but he wasn't really sure how to answer and took a few moments to process the question.

"I consider two people my fathers, but I don't consider my real mother or father my parents," he finally said, making the other guy blink.

"Are they the ones you just texted?"

Fox shook his head and shrugged off the boy's arms.

"No. They are my..."

My what?

He definitely felt like they were more than friends, but there was a lot of gray space between that statement and the only other one he could come up with at the moment, which would have been boyfriends.

"Alright, alright. Don't fry your brain, little Fox. So they're probably your friends with benefits, yeah?" Pyre asked, making Fox's brow crinkle in confusion.

Pyre's face fell and he rolled his eyes after a heavy sigh.

"Your bumper buddies? Your boy toys? Your sex friends?"

A light came on in Fox's mind at the last phrase and he gave a quiet chuckle.

"Ah, no. We haven't done any of that, but I wouldn't mind in the future, once I figure everything out."

Pyre leaned back a bit and smirked, then reached forward and rustled Fox's hair.

"Well, you are one hell of a straight-forward guy. It's a bit refreshing," he said before swinging his foot around so that he could slip off the desk.

Once back on his feet, he faced Fox and smiled.

"I'll see you around, kid. As much as I wanted to play, I'm not going to push someone who doesn't quite get it yet and it's almost time for the one class I actually like. Till next time, little Fox."

Fox watched the strange boy leave, then stood up and grabbed his trash. He tossed it on his way out the door, then tugged his phone from his back pocket. He'd felt a few rumbles from his text messages again, but didn't want to interrupt Pyre when he'd been speaking. If it had been an emergency, whoever was trying to contact him would have called.

Fox felt his heart break as he stood in the busying hall. More and more kids pushed past him, eventually shoving him back against a space between two rows of lockers, but he didn't allow his eyes to leave Amos' message.

That's what had happened. That's why he's been so sad these past weeks.

Fox leaned back against the little alcove he'd been pushed into and sighed, staring at the messages on his phone. He noticed the little typing bubbles at the bottom of the screen and waited patiently for the next message to come.

Fox felt his face heat up as unnecessary images slipped into his mind. He shook his head hard and quickly turned off his screen, then hurried off to class.