Page 44 of A Quiet Man

Auden, now wearing shoes and his soft red coat, walked up to him. "What is it? What's he say?"

"Yes, please," quoted Tomas. Tears pricked at his eyes. He wasn't usually so emotional, but this text didn't sound like the buoyant, independent Cody. "Let's hurry. I feel shitty for leaving him there. I should have thought about it."

"You're doing your best, Tomas," Cody reminded him. "Here." He handed Tomas his coat, and then reached up and smoothed back some of his hair that had been out of place, probably because Tomas had been running his fingers through it. "You're a good friend. And so am I. Come on. Let's go get him some tacos."

Tomas gave Auden a quick kiss and grabbed his keys. It was so nice not to be alone in this. Auden was such a steadying comfort, and so wise, really.

They drove to the taco truck and made a big order, then headed over to Cody's. He let them in straight away when they knocked. His somber expression brightened a little when he smelled what they'd brought.

"Can I hug you?" Auden asked, clearly longing to put his arms around the fox shifter but not wanting to cross any boundaries.

"I like hugs," Cody said in a small voice. Then his gaze drifted back to the tacos. "Short hugs," he amended.

Auden wrapped his arms around Cody and held him. Tomas could see Cody's shoulders relax and slump a little as he let go of being strong for a moment and buried his face against Auden's neck.

Tomas brought the tacos to the table, made sure the kitchen door was locked, and started getting out some plates. It felt good to be here to support Cody and to know he and Auden were in this together, no matter what.

The three of them ended up sitting on Cody's bed, eating and watching a movie like it was a sleepover, although there was a lot more snuggling than during most sleepovers. Auden was leaning against Tomas, who rubbed his back; Cody was lying on his side, head resting on one of Auden's thighs while Cody stroked his hair.

There was a huge but welcome number of pillows to lean against, stack up, and lie on.

None of it felt remotely sexual or boundary-crossing to Tomas, and he was pretty sure he'd have been able to tell if the other two felt that it was. He knew how Auden looked when he was thinking of sex: flushed and flustered, unable to hide it. And Cody wasn't doing any of his usual, non-serious flirting. He just needed to not be alone.

At one point, Cody asked if they'd be comfortable if he changed into his fox form, and of course they were. He proved to be an adorable fox, and Tomas felt very honored that he trusted them enough for this.

The shy fox returned to the room Cody had left and looked at them for a moment, all sharp lines and soft fur, wary and wistful at the same time. Auden put his hands up to his face and looked as if he was trying not to squeal. "You're socute," he managed at last in a slightly trembling voice.

That did it. Cody rushed towards them, fluid and fast, and lay down quickly between them, wriggling into place. He rested his chin on Tomas's thigh and half-closed his eyes while they stroked his soft fur and rubbed his adorable ears. He was the cutest thing in the world.

Eventually, all three of them fell asleep, sprawled out on the bed, filled with tacos and exhausted from the long day, a pile of warm bodies. Cody's wet nose was pressed up against Tomas's bicep, the fox jammed between him and Auden.

#

"You've got to let meget you a car. You know that, right?" Tomas told his boyfriend as they drove home. "It's too hard to coordinate everything otherwise."

They'd ended up spending the night, and Tomas had cooked breakfast for them all before he and Auden left.

Auden looked down at his lap and didn't say anything. But he looked embarrassed, even ashamed.

Tomas reached over and patted his thigh. "Think about it. You don't have to say anything. Just think about it."And prepare yourself, he silently added.Because it's happening, and probably sooner rather than later.

Cody had been grateful for their company, although a bit embarrassed, and he'd enjoyed their breakfast a lot, which Tomas took as a good sign. He'd liked the tacos, but he was usually so much of a foodie that it had been sad to see him nibble at them rather than eating like a python. To see him more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, chowing down on the pancakes and bacon Tomas had cooked up for breakfast, was pretty good to see.

He'd given them each a long, tight hug before they left, and said thank you. "It helped to not be alone," he added quietly, and Tomas could see it was true. Even though they hadn't talked about anything serious, they'd been there.

When he got to work (barely on time, because they both had to go home, shower and change, and then he'd dropped Auden off as well), the captain wanted to see him in his office. Alone.

Tomas knew it was craven of him, but he wished Riley could come with him as backup. But it would be wrong to subject Riley to a stressful, possibly confrontational, situation without a good reason. And Riley wasn't the so-called shifter expert at the precinct. Clearly, Tomas was.

Well, good. Best if he and the captain talked this through before Cody had to be here.

So Tomas faced the captain alone, Riley waiting anxiously at his desk for his return. It turned out the captain was understandably worried about what had happened and how Cody was doing. He was less inclined to cast blame on Cody than Tomas had feared, which would make the rest of the conversation much easier and more civil.

Tomas didn't think he could be perfectly civil, even with all the practice of a lifetime, if the captain was shitty about Cody today. He hadn't been there; he hadn't seen Cody's distressed, almost dissociative reactions.

Instead, the captain listened with a worried frown as Tomas spoke.

"He didn't tell me what happened, but he was in a bad way last night. He was pretty overloaded and overwhelmed, and it almost seemed like he went into shock. We got him home safe, and I looked after him for a while. Then my boyfriend and I went over again in the evening and spent some time with him so he wouldn't be alone. He seemed to be recovering this morning."