The sound of the school bell brought Fox out of his concentration. He'd finished his exam a while ago, but after having stayed up late to study with Owen most of the week, he had been determined to get a good grade. Thus, he'd been reviewing all of his answers and reworking each problem to make sure that he was comfortable with the results he got.

There was only one that he wasn't quite sure about after reviewing the entire exam twice, but considering how far he'd come in such a short time, he was pleased with himself when he got up and turned it in to the teacher before heading outside.

Stepping down from the portable classroom, he looked over toward the main building.

Pyre?

The boy he'd talked to before was walking his way, a notebook tucked under his arm but no backpack in sight.

"Hello, my little Fox friend!" he yelled as he lifted an arm to wave, as if he wasn't clearly visible walking across the large expanse of grass that separated the two areas.

He had seen the guy around a few times during the week, but neither of them bothered to interact with each other.

I thought he might have decided I wasn't worth the hassle.

"Hey you," Pyre said cheerfully as he finally stopped in front of Fox, then reached up to rustle his hair.

Ducking away from the attention, Fox started toward the main building, intent on getting to lunch early. The first bell was always for the special education students. There would be another shortly to release the main campus kids.

Pyre easily caught up with him and, to Fox's surprised, grabbed his heavy backpack and swung it over his own shoulder. Fox immediately tried to get it back, but Pyre was surprisingly quick on his feet, even with the added weight.

"Don't worry, I won't run off with your precious textbooks. This thing just looked way too heavy for you today," he said, making Fox hesitantly relent.

It was nice not to have to carry the four textbooks. He did have a locker, but considering how often they got broken into, from what he heard whispered around while walking through some of the main hallways, he didn't trust putting his stuff in there.

He had also brought all of his books today, too. With exams in each class, he'd wanted to review as much as possible, and since taking notes wasn't his strong suit, he preferred to reread chapters.

"You guys had exams today, right?" Pyre asked, seemingly reading his mind as they stepped up onto the concrete basketball courts that lead into the main walkway area.

The actual hallways for the main building were outside, but most of it had overhangs in case of poor weather. The only area that wasn't shaded much was the outdoor physical education courts and track.

Fox nodded as a basketball rolled past them. He expected Pyre to ignore it, but the guy abruptly jumped forward and stopped it with his foot, then skillfully kicked it back toward the group that had been playing a few courts away.

"That was cool," he mumbled without hesitation, honestly jealous.

His Fox might be extremely agile and nimble on its paws, but his human form? He was a klutz. Another ball came from a different angle, drawing Fox's attention. He wanted to try what Pyre had done, but he knew that he would end up on his backside. It had taken him a while just to learn how to walk decently well. Trying to kick something like a soccer ball? Not happening.

Maybe I can look cool by just stopping the ball? They would appreciate not having to chase it, I think.

With that thought in mind, Fox watched the ball roll closer, preparing himself. When it was within a few feet, he leaped, grabbing it with both hands and holding on tight, as if it might suddenly decide that it didn't want to be stopped by him.

When nothing else happened, he looked down at his prey and slowly let a huge grin spread across his face. His inner fox wanted to bite it, just for good measure, perhaps to teach it a lesson about rolling off on its own, but when he heard a shout from across the court, his focus was broken and he looked up.

"Gonna kick it back to them, little Fox?" Pyre asked as he knelt next to him, a mischievous smile on his own face.

Fox looked slightly up at him, his eyes widening as he hurried to scramble backwards, fumbling onto his backside as he shook his head.

"I-I can't kick," he hurried to mumble out, his face warming even with the growing clouds above them blocking out the warm sun.

Instead of poking fun at him, Pyre reached over and mussed up his hair again.

"It's alright, little Fox. I'll help you with anything you can't do yet," he said before easily standing up, even with Fox's heavy backpack on his shoulder, and kicking the basketball back to the waiting group.

They waved and thanked him, but Pyre's attention was already back on Fox as he offered him a hand up. Fox was still processing his words as he reached up and took the proffered hand. Once he was comfortably back on his feet, he began to walk toward the main building again, but to his surprise, he was suddenly pulled back against Pyre's chest and hugged tightly. The abrupt gesture brought out a quiet warning growl, but when he looked up at the other boy's expression, he realized that he wasn't trying to hurt him.

"You're so fucking adorable, kid."

Fox could tell that the guy wanted to get closer as he spoke, his eyes looking much like Amos's when he wanted to roll around with him, but thankfully he held himself back and eventually released him. He did, however, gently grasp the tips of his fingers with a smile as he started toward the main building again.

While he normally wasn't a fan of people touching him, he didn't really mind the other boy. He wasn't being mean, and he was honestly pretty cool. It was an odd thought, but as they walked toward the cafeteria, Fox realized something. Well, two somethings. He shouldn't judge someone just because their appearance is a bit different than others'. And also... Pyre had to have skipped his last class in order to get all the way out to the portable classrooms in time to pick him up for the early bell.

Maybe I was right about him... partially?

"Let's stop here for a sec?" Pyre said, making Fox slow to a stop beside a row of rough-looking lockers.

Pyre undid the lock quickly, then took out a plastic bag with two small boxes inside. Fox immediately perked up as his nose sniffed the air. Something smelled really good.

"I see you sneaking a sniff at my lunch," Pyre joked as he guided Fox away from the cafeteria.

He didn't mind. Even though he did promise to eat something every day, he rarely managed to take more than a few bites of anything the strange old ladies served.

They wandered for a few minutes before they entered the classroom Fox usually hid in during lunch. Pyre ran forward and set Fox's backpack on the floor, then spun around and hopped up onto the top of teacher's desk.

Should you be sitting on that?

Of course, he knew that the answer was no, but shrugged off the idea of reprimanding the boy. He seemed capable of handling himself, and his mistakes, if he got caught. Fox walked over to the first desk in front of where Pyre sat, unboxing the food, and took a seat himself.

"Here, little Fox."

Looking up, Fox watched Pyre slide from the large desk and walk closer, then set a compartmentalized box in front of him. It was filled with different kinds of seasoned meat, vegetables, rice, and even some sort of sweet-looking bread. He couldn't help but stare at it as drool was just-barely held back by his bottom lip.

"My parents recently started up a small Japanese restaurant. I don't usually care for it much, but once in a while it's pretty good," Pyre said as he offered Fox a fork that was gratefully taken.

"They accidentally gave me two today, so you can have that one," he said as he walked back to the desk and hopped up, then started digging into his own meal.

How do they accidentally make two full meals?

He wasn't going to ask. While hesitant at first, his nose told him that he wouldn't regret trying the food. It was still slightly warm, since the special needs kids got the earliest lunch and it had been sealed well. He tried one of each item first, and couldn't find a single thing that he disliked.

"This is really good," he said quietly as he hurried to fill his growling belly.

Pyre ate silently for a few minutes before he looked back up at him with a smile.

"Glad you like it. I remember always seeing you wander around the cafeteria, but I never saw you eat. Even when you had that pizza when me and my friends found you, you didn't look like you were too interested in eating it."

Correct. It was gross.

"I didn't like it," Fox said before taking another big bite of some sort of braised pork and lettuce.

They ate silently for another few minutes before Pyre slid from the desk and walked over, leaving his box and fork on the desk. Fox paused his own utensil over the half-empty box and watched him as he slightly passed his desk, but then turned and sat down, leaning against the side of Fox's connected plastic chair.

What are you doing?

When the guy simply leaned his head back against Fox's thigh and sighed, closing his eyes, Fox lifted an eyebrow.

"Quick nap. Wake me when the first bell goes off?" Pyre mumbled, already seemingly drifting off.

Fox was going to nudge him away, but after a glance back up at his unfinished lunch, he figured that it wasn't worth the effort. Besides, if Pyre decided to have his parents make an extra lunch again, he wanted to be the one who got it.

"Okay," he eventually said before continuing his meal, though he had a feeling that the other guy was already out cold and didn't hear him. Oh well. It didn't matter.