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How humiliating.
Fox wasn’t supposed to get petty injuries, but while chasing Rabbit he had gotten his foot stuck in a hole - surely one dug by Barry or Simon - and twisted his ankle. He had tried to continue chasing the rabbit, but it was impossible to stand, let alone run right now.
Wolf chased Rabbit for a moment before huffing and catching his breath, his eyebrows raising as he glanced around for his partner-in-crime. Upon not spotting him, he made his way back to his home, where he found his friend; arms crossed and glaring at his foot, which had twisted in an unsightly way.
“How did you manage that?” Wolf questioned as he knelt down, studying to the injured paw, the high-heeled-shoe he had been wearing on it now hastily tossed to the side.
“Haven’t I told you before, my dear Wolf? Running in heels is never a good idea.” Wolf glared at the paw, a huff in his breath.
"You weren't supposed to be running. Thought you said you were going to keep an eye out for--"
"Keep an eye out for the tortoise, I know, I know what I said," he interrupted in an irritated tone, "but I saw Rabbit ran by and just--"
"Lost your cool?" Wolf interrupted him right back.
"Lost my composure," He corrected, leaning forward and running a gentle claw over the bump on his ankle that was already swelling into the size of a grapefruit. "Yes. Only briefly, but look what that got me."
A moment of silence passed before a disgruntled sound left Wolf and he knelt down further, grabbing Fox by the waist and hastily lifting him over his shoulder carelessly.
An uncharacteristic yip escaped Fox, and he considered kicking the Wolf in protest, but his swollen paw told him not to.
"Guess I'll have to bring ya home to rest," he grumbled, carrying the vulpine back to his humble home. He remembered the last time he had let Fox stay in his home and hesitated about where to bring him, standing idly in his hallway, causing a quick pinch on his shoulder.
"Well? Are you going to set me down yet? I'm not exactly fond of having my face dangled like a piece of meat above a lioness, you know," he complained, but Wolf didn't seem to acknowledge it much, simply grunting in response.
Wolf pushed open his own bedroom after a reluctant moment, setting Fox down on the bed with a thump, freezing for a moment as he stared down at him before clearing his throat and standing up straight. "Guess I'll uh.. Tuck you in," he said matter-of-factly, reaching forward to do just that but having his hand swatted away.
"I am not one of your bumbling children, Wolf. I am a grown man. You do not need to tuck me in," he huffed, squirming slightly as he got himself comfortable, "you can bring me some tea and some Acetaminophen. And perhaps your television again," he said with a smug smirk at the last request, knowing it was inconvenient to ask.
Grumbling under his breath about hating making tea, Wolf rushed off to do what was asked of him. Left in silence, Fox pulled the blanket up around him, breathing in the irreplaceable scent of Wolf's cologne and sweat. He made a mental note to nag Wolf about changing his sheets and blankets more often, but for the time being, he basked in them.
Later, the boys bounced home from school, rambling on about their days loud enough for Fox to hear from down the hall, over the television that played one of his DVD copies of Nocturnal at the moment. He tried to keep himself focused on his movie, but it was hard to dramatically wipe his eyes at the love confession between Bella the Water-deer and Edward the bat with the sound of two wolf children laughing and howling.
Unable to help himself, Fox pulled himself out of his nest and limped dramatically to the kitchen, where Barry and Simon were happily discussing something about the letters 6 and 7 and a trend going around their school.
Upon seeing the vulpine, Simon elbowed Barry and leaned over, whispering something to his brother -- something about the fact that he was wearing one of their dad's robes.
"Oh, uh, good timing, Fox. Was just about to come ask what you want for dinner. I'm ordering from the Fluff Belly Deli to mix it up a little tonight. They have a pretty good selection--"
Before Wolf could finish his thought, Barry interrupted him with a loud question. "Is Fox moving in with us?"
"Hrmm?" A disgruntled sound escaped Wolf and he shook his head. "No, no he is not. How about you two go sit down in the living room?"
"Buuuuut Dad, the TV is missing again," Simon added, and Barry made a whimpering sound and nodded in agreement.
"Well, uh... Go play with your toys instead, then," he suggested, and even though both kids sighed dramatically, Simon perked up and turned to his brother.
"I know! We can go and find sticks and hit each other with them!"
Barry's tail wagged excessively at the idea while the two rushed off, ignoring the concerned calls of their father about not hurting each other.
As soon as the two were alone in a now silent kitchen, Fox leaned his body weight against Wolf, his eyes closing in contentment. He thought about what it would be like to live with Wolf for a brief moment, having him around constantly not seeming like a bad idea, but then the thought of Barry and Simon being around all the time snaked in and he decided it was good that they didn't live together after all.
Wolf awkwardly cleared his throat at the contact after a moment of standing tense in the embrace. "So uh... Dinner?"
Normally, this would be the moment that Fox would pull away and move on from the moment, but this time he took in the sight of Wolf's tail thumping softly against the counter and decided not to pull back. Instead, he shifted his head so he was looking up at Wolf, "Hmmm... Does this little deli have veil? If so, that will be my order, my dear Wolf."
"Y-yeah, sure. Veil it is," he coughed awkwardly but still didn't move away from Fox, inhaling sharply when Fox suddenly leaned away from him.
"Alright. Well I simply must get back to my film... You know, my dear friend, you could always join me--"
"Oh uh, I better go and check that Simon and Barry haven't poked any eyes out. I'll uh, order dinner and let you know when it's here--" he nervously responded, seeming to understand what Fox was suggesting and being flustered by it, rushing off before Fox could utter another word.
Fox sighed inwardly before limping back to Wolf's bedroom for the time being.
When dinner finally arrived, Fox limped back into the living room, feeling a little perturbed by a sheep woman with the name-tag Ragatha being the one to deliver the veil, but otherwise he was focused on his appetite for veil and wolf.
He discovered -- against his will -- that Simon and Barry had accidentally knocked down a flower pot of Rabbit's while chasing each other with sticks, and that Rabbit had actually chased them, which both embarrassed and frustrated Fox; how dare Rabbit chase the boys, even if he himself wasn't very fond of their company. He mentally imagined that he was slicing into Rabbit's flesh instead of his cooked veil for a moment. How sweet and satisfying that payoff would be.
As dinner finished, Barry loudly cleared his throat. "I have a question! Is Fox staying the night? Does that mean the TV can't come back to the living room yet?"
Fox felt his tail sway eagerly behind himself as he waited for Wolf to speak up; it was ungentlemanly to invite himself to stay the night, but if he needed to, he would.
"Huh? Oh, Fox is staying. Wouldn't be right to make him limp home," Wolf explained matter-of-factly, tensing slightly when Simon asked a question as well.
"But... If Fox is sleeping in your bed, where are you sleeping, Dad?"
Wolf coughed and nearly choked on a bite of his veil, his eyes darting away from his sons. He clearly hadn't considered that. "On the couch," he mumbled.
"But then where will I sleep, Dad?" Barry asked, and Wolf seemed thankful for the distraction, even if it was answering a goofy question from his youngest son.
"...The same place you always sleep, Barry. In your bed," he replied.
"That isn't fair, Dad... You take my bed, I'll sleep on the couch," Simon sweetly suggested, causing Barry to interject.
"No, I'll sleep on the couch and Dad gets my bed!"
"But I want Dad to take my bed! I thought of it first!" Simon replied.
"But I wanna sleep on the flooooooor--" Barry started to whine.
"Oh, for goodness sake, he can sleep in his own bed," Fox blurted out, eager to end the childish bickering, "with me, obviously," finding himself flustered upon realizing what he had said but not backing down. He patted his mouth delicately with a napkin. A soft silence followed his proclamation, and for once, Fox felt thankful that Barry spoke up again.
"Can I still sleep on the floor?"
"Huh? Oh uh... No, Barry. No sleeping on the floor. I can't tuck you in on the floor." Wolf responded, his eyes now completely focused on his sons, trying to avoid looking directly at Fox. Whenever he did, his tail thumped a little too loudly.
With dinner done and Simon being tucked into his bed and Barry being tucked into his impromptu fort on the floor, Fox waited for Wolf to join him. When he finally did, Fox found himself stuck between laughing or groaning at how Wolf attempted to quarantine himself on one side of the bed, one of the Nocturnal movies still quietly playing in the background.
"You know, my dear Wolf, it isn't very wolf-like to corner yourself on your own bed," He stated, a small smirk on his face as he watched Wolf tense up at the comment before frowning and crawling closer to Fox, pressing his face against Fox's chest and letting one of his ears press up against the sound of Fox's thudding heart.
"Better?" He grunted out, clearly embarrassed but determined to prove that he was wolf-like.
"Much," Fox murmured tiredly, his hands combing through the fur on the back of Wolf's head, trying to ignore the way his heart was hammering like a hunted mouse - it was uncharacteristic of him, after all.
Still, he found drifting off to sleep under Wolf's weight incredibly easy, and again, he found himself wondering what it would be like to live with Wolf and sleep like this every night, and that thought didn't seem bad at all; in fact, it sounded... Ideal.
What wasn't ideal was waking up at 5:30 in the morning to the sound of Barry howling and chasing his brother, claiming that he had been bitten by a radioactive spider during the night and he was turning into a terrifying spider-wolf super villain.
Fox decided that living alone was still his preferred choice, even if he found himself humming a love song under his breath while he picked scraggly grey and blue furs out of his pristine red.