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I awoke to find myself in Seth's room. It was pitch black, save for the lines on his body. They glowed a multitude of colors, and I felt the heat difference between himself and the lines. It was really noticeable right now, especially since his body temperature was low, but the tattoos were hot. Almost as hot as the magma-like stuffing in pizza pockets. The warmth radiated into the air, and despite the dark, I felt comfortable. I wasn't very tired, but felt sleepy anyways, and I fell back asleep to the sound of his heart, and the heat from his chest.

I woke up in the morning an hour before him, and not exactly... pleasantly. I rolled over off his chest, landing on the cool bed. I rolled over on my stomach and set my arm across him to find his fur was boiling hot. Seriously, I was actually burned, and exclaimed in shock. He woke up, and the lines on his body roared to life, bright and vibrant now that he was awake.

"Ow... You're boiling hot..."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Those lines of yours, they're warmer than your body. I woke up to get burned by the searing heat."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"No, don't be. It's not your fault. You can't control it. Even so, it was kinda nice to sleep on a Seth-shaped heat pad."

"Oh... Okay." We got up, but there was a weird buzzing sound as we did, and he grunted. He pulled a phone out from underneath him, and glanced at it.

"Oh, this is yours." He handed it to me, and I saw the twentieth message from my parents. I didn't bother reading it, and just set my phone on Seth's desk.

"You know, you should reply." [Seth]

"No. I can't. They-"

"Alex, they're probably really worried. It's been three days since you got here, and you haven't said a word to them."

"There's nothing to say."

"Just tell them you're alright. You might not believe it, but they probably still love you."

"If they did, they wouldn't have said you don't love me."

"Alex. You know I'm right."

"... I don't want you to be right, though."

"I know. Just tell them you're alright."

"... Fine..." I grabbed my phone off the desk and started reading the messages they'd sent me. At first I thought they really did miss me, then they got a little more sour, jabbing at Seth now and then. It got worse, with them calling me a faggot, and finally with the last message they sent me, threatening to sell my stuff. I couldn't look at the messages any more, and finally dropped the phone, letting it fall onto the floor. I hugged Seth, who tried to reach down and get the phone. After reading the messages he helped me up.

We walked down to the road to my house, and held onto his hand the whole way. I went up to the door, and opened it, letting him in. Inside, everything looked different. The kitchen was dirty, I noticed beer bottles piling up in a corner, and the TV was down here, as was the couch. They were slumped over on it, and I heard mom sniveling. Good.

When they heard the door close, they turned and looked at me, still holding on to Seth. My dad seemed... sad. I still didn't love them. They'd probably just go back to treating me like shit once Seth was out of the way.

"You're home..." [Mom]

"Only for clothes." I let go of Seth and went upstairs, stuffing as many outfits into my backpack as I could, not bothering to take out the dirty clothes. When I got back downstairs, Seth was on the edge of crying, and was glaring at them.

"What... What did you say to him?!" [Me]

Silence.

"Go on! If you had the balls insult him to his face, then why don't you have the balls to insult your own child?"

Silence.

"What? You realize how horrible of parents you are? Did you?!"

Silence.

"Well good! 'Cause you are, and that's all you'll ever be!" I grabbed Seth's arm on my way out the door, pulling him with me.

We were halfway to his house when we heard someone's voice.

"Hey, you guys gay or somethin'?" I immediately recognized the voice, and spun on my heel to see X in the upper floor of a two story house, not including the obvious basement.

"X!" [Seth]

"Sup guys?" He crawled through the window and slid down the roof, landing hard on the cement, but in a way that he wasn't hurt beyond a grunt.

"I didn't know you lived here. And on our street?" [Me]

"Hells yeah! I just haven't been home very much this... what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"Alex, I'm not an idiot. Seth's literally shaking, you look sad, and you're breaking each other's hands. What happened?"

"My parents. That's what." [Me]

His eyes widened, realizing what I meant, "Oh my god... did they kick you out for being gay?"

"No, I'm leaving. I'm done with them. I can't stand them any more, the way they treat me, and... mom's pregnant with... with my replacement, and... I... I just can't do this any more." I started to collapse, letting one of them catch me, and opened my eyes to see X a foot in front of me, and could smell Seth holding me up. I'd realized last year that he had a unique smell... one that I loved like a drug.

"You guys... Come on in." X tugged on Seth's shoulder, and we walked into his house. The inside was somewhere between the shitiness of my house and the beauty of everyone elses. I could tell it was only two floors from the outside, but it still had a basement. In fact, there was a stairwell in the house, and he explained that there were two stories of basements, but only the ground and second floors have plumbing. The floor space of each floor was only a little more than that of mine, but his second basement was what topped it off.

Imagine when you walk into a McDonald's, then imagine there not being the walls separating the kitchens, bathrooms, or anything else from the eating area. That's how big the second basement was in his house. It was his living room. Rooms, to be accurate. There were two rooms, one with a bar, and one with a stairwell. Both had couches, TVs, and pool tables. I loved having upper class friends.

After giving us a brief tour of the house, he took us to the first basement, which was his room. There was a wall separating his room from the stairwell, so his room was pretty big compared to mine. He had a couple consoles hooked up to a TV in his room, and I noticed something Oblivion-ish on his wall. Some poster. His bed was a bunk bed, and he hopped up to the top bunk to talk to us. We sat on a small sofa on the other side of his room, which was painted a dull blue.

"So, what do you guys think?" X was twirling a nerf sword in his hands.

"It's big." [Me]

"Why do you have a bunk bed?" [Seth]

"I've got three brothers, one of them's within months of my age." [X]

"... How? How can your mom have had two kids within... how many months?" [Me]

"Six, and she didn't. I'm adopted." Well. There's an explanation for you. "I know, it sounds really fucked up, but I don't care. They still love.... Never mind. Point being, I've got a brother to put up with, and the other two sleep upstairs. My dad practically lives at work, and mom wishes she could live at work."

"I'm sure that's not true." [Me]

"No, I totally get it. I'm the oldest, and aside from my brother who gets bottom bunk, the other two are five year old twins. Their dumb as rocks."

"Huh. So, where are they?" [Seth]

"Eh, they went to see some stupid movie, and my brother's stuck in summer school 'cause he can't math, and dad's at work. We got the place to ourselves and I'm completely bored. ... So how's your summer been going?"

"Good. Us and Ted and Daniel are starting to hook up as a foursome." [Seth]

"Yeah, no fuckin' shit. Ted loved both of you, and Daniel loved Ted and everything he loved. Daniel was weird actually, he practically worshipped the ground Ted walked on."

"No he doesn't."

"He did. I got to talk to him once at school, and he couldn't stop fidgeting or talking about Ted."

"Well yeah, how do you think I feel when Alex isn't around?" [Seth]

"Or me without Seth?" [Me]

"Yeah yeah, but you guys were meant to be together. Seeing one without the other would be like seeing salt but no pepper. Seriously, it's not a thing that commonly happens." [X]

"Do... do you even know how cooking works?" [Me]

"Point being, I'm not so sure Ted and Daniel were meant to be. I mean, he's a fuckin' zebra trying to love an otter."

"I'm a fox trying to love a mash up of my favorite species." [Me]

"Trying?" [Seth]

"Stop! Both of you! You know what I'm saying!" [X]

"But it's not true. Ted and Daniel are just as together as us." [Me]

"But are they as destined to be together as you?"

"Yes. And maybe we're destined to be with them." [Seth]

"Eh, maybe. I just don't think they're meant to be, but what do I know? I've never been in love."

"What?! Then what was all that with Rick last year?" [Me]

"I... I don't know, I felt bad. He's gone through a lot. When he went back home, he said he could tell I didn't love him, and he admitted to not having feelings for me, and... it was mutual."

"Oh. Woah..." [Seth]

"Yeah. It's fine. He was kinda bulky, anyways. Not my type."

"You ass!" I couldn't help myself, I just blurted it out. "S-sorry. It... Just came out."

"Well, what's your problem?"

"Hey, I caught it, it wasn't too late to take it back-"

"Yeah, but you still have a problem, and I'd like to know. Tell me. Why did you feel like calling me an 'ass'?"

"I... Okay, you can't really have a 'type' when you're gay. I mean, there's only a percentage of the world who's homosexual, a smaller percentage than that of gay men. You're lucky if you meet even one of them."

"You do realize there were nine of us last year, right?" [Seth]

"That was one in a million, and mostly inspired by mutual hatred for those worthless jocks. But yeah, I get what you're saying, Alex. I just... I'm just not attracted to guys that big."

"Ah. Probably why you think Ted and Daniel don't belong together." [Me]

"Probably."

"So who would you like?" [Seth]

"I don't know, just not someone that bulky. I... I guess I'm kinda into scales. I don't know, it's not that big of a deal."

"Right. So-"

"Honestly, I wish I could've been with you, Seth." We were both taken aback by him saying this. Did he really...

"I-I-I mean, like, everyone did last year, so, you know it's not a big deal."

"That's not true. Only Ted and Alex were-"

"Only Ted and Alex were roomed with you. Seriously, everyone wanted to be with you. You're not just another Anthro off the street, you fucking glow, and those glowing patterns change and... wow, they're doing it right now."

I glanced over at Seth, and saw what X meant. In the unfilled spaces of Seth's arms, legs, and face, a band of crimson light wove it's way to the ends of his body. It only took a minute, but it was glowing brighter than the rest of him, so it was really, really, distracting. He watched his own arms, and looked kinda curious.

"Great. Now I can't go to movies." [Seth]

"You couldn't for the majority of your life, and honestly you aren't missing very much." [X]

"Yeah, and if you really wanted to go, you could just wear gloves and a beanie." [Me]

"I don't want to have to hide myself, though." [Seth]

"Aww..." I squeezed him, nuzzling him just under his chin, and felt one of the new bands of red. "What the fuck?"

"What?" [Seth]

"Okay, so, you know your main ones are warm?" [Me]

"Wait, what are you talking about?" [X]

I held out Seth's arm as X jumped down from the top bunk, "Feel right here, where there's no lines. ... Now feel the pentagram."

"Woah." [X]

"Now feel the new line." As he set his hand on it, I saw Seth's fur beginning to tense up. I realized the band must've been even colder than when I first felt it.

"How the fuck... Dude, that stings! Ow..."

"What? Is it cold or something?" [Seth]

I grabbed Seth's other hand and pushed it to his neck.

"Woah. ... So, since my back has nothing on it, does this mean I get to be held by you all summer?"

"Dude, I bet that freezes water." [X]

"Crap! I'll come out of showers with ice up and down my arm!"

"And steam boiling off of other parts of your arm!" He knew I was kidding, and twisted his arm to set the cold line on my face. It didn't burn as much, and it honestly felt nice since, well, it was summer.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing you're pentagram lines are on the inside of your arm." [X]

"Why?" [Seth]

"Think about it, you get to hold him in the winter, when it's cold, and he gets to hold you in the summer when it's hot."

"Huh. Cool." [Me]

"So, obviously, both of you need to be switch for your relationship to work."

"X, you're a pervert." [Me]

"What does switch mean?" [Seth]

"Okay with being a top or bottom." [X]

"Uhh..." Seth still looked confused.

"Right... Top means sticking your dick in someone, bottom means having-"

"Okay, I get the picture- please stop talking." [Seth]

"Hey, you're gay, you gotta be okay with that thought." [X]

"Just because I'm okay with it doesn't mean I have to like talking about it."

"No, but, you still need to understand-"

"Lay off, X. It's not a big deal." [Me]

"Yeah, let us go at our own pace." [Seth]

"Well, at that rate we'll be goin' by the school year."

"W-what?" [X]

"Shower." [Me]

"Ah. Oh... Woah, fuck."

"It doesn't seem like that big a deal." [Seth]

"It's kinda a big deal." [Me]

"Kinda? Kinda is understatement." [X]

"It just seems like something that a couple would do. You know, a gay couple." [Seth]

"Yeah, a couple. As in a married couple, who aren't teenagers in high school, and who are allowed to have sex." [X]

"Well we didn't have sex-"

"We did touch." [Me]

"God dammit, I hate you guys." [X]

"Why?" [Seth]

"'Cause you're turning me on! Get outta my fuckin' house and let me get off before my family gets back! Fuckin' lovers."

We both laughed, me understanding what he meant more than Seth as we went out of the house and back to Seth's place. I let him hold me, since I couldn't really feel the heat from the pentagrams on his chest through his shirt, and my arms were always a little cold. Not much happened for the rest of the day, and it felt like my life was getting a little bit of closure from the chaos that was my parents. Just sitting and talking to someone like X always helps stress.