\n "Good night, meathead," Kip returned, putting his hand on top of Jake's and holding it in place as he scooted an inch closer to his friend. For a reason he couldn't quite explain, Jake let him keep hold of his hand. He'd never let another man hold his hand, but it seemed innocent enough, given the circumstances. By the time Jake took his hand back just a few minutes later, Kip was fast asleep.

\n Jake's own sleep did not come as easily.  Laying in his bed next to this beguiling fox, his head swam from thought to thought like a shark on the prowl for dinner.  What he had said was true; the other guys had slept in his bed from time to time. None of them, however, had preoccupied his mind like Kip did.  There was something about this man that captured his attention like nobody else had been able to, and for the first time Jake found himself imagining what life might be like with another man.  After several hours of  listening to his thoughts as the hands silently marched around the face of his bedroom clock, Jake made decisions and packed the issues away for storage in the back of his mind.  Tomorrow would come soon enough, he thought, and he needed his sleep.

\n  

\n Kip's first thought was, "I'm not in my own bed." His second thought was, "Who put this heavy blanket on me?" His third thought was, "Oh my God, that's not a blanket, it's a person!" And then he remembered who that person was, and the tension drained out of him. Kip relaxed and allowed himself the decadence of melting into the 400 lbs of soft, warm morph who had one thick, heavy arm draped over his waist. The breeze that drifted in through the open bedroom window was chilly, but being so close to Jake warmed him like a campfire.

\n At some time during the night, Jake must have pulled him close and put an arm around him, and Kip could not have possibly objected less. He heard Jake's soft breathing coming from somewhere above his head, and felt his oversized chest rising and falling against his upper back. Jake was warm and alive, and in stark contrast to the panic Kip felt yesterday at being physically close to the other man, he now felt completely safe and protected. Kip knew it was irrational, but at that moment his reality wasn't about rationality, it was about allowing himself to be submerged in the comfortable security of Jake's arms. He reached up and laid his hand gently on a forearm which was easily the size of his neck.

\n Kip's eyes eased shut for another ten minutes or so before Jake's stirring aroused him. Kip's slide back into consciousness was laconic, quite the opposite of his usual morning ordeal of getting ripped from sleep by the angry ringing of an alarm clock. Jake stretched his arms and legs like a giant cat, the popping of his strained joints sounding like chestnuts in a fire. The entire time, he kept one arm protectively draped over Kip as if he might take the opportunity to escape.

\n Jake sighed deeply. "Mornin'," the bigger man said, settling back down into the soft, warm bed.

\n "So the other guys crash with you all the time, huh? Kip said,

\n "Mmm hmmm." Jake responded, sleepily.

\n "I'll bet they never woke up with your arms wrapped around them." Kip joked, quietly.

\n "Oh, hush." Jake said, giving Kip a squeeze. It felt like being constricted by an anaconda. "How do you know what the other guys do when you're here? Maybe we cuddle all night long."

\n "Right," Kip said, "I can just imagine those meatheads getting warm and snuggly."

\n "Up until last night, you didn't think I'd get snuggly either," Jake reasoned, gently encouraging the fox to roll over to face him

\n "Well, you've proved me wrong." Kip said, taking the hint and rolling himself over to bury his face in Jake's lush chest hair. "You're about as intimidating as a basket full of kittens right now." He threw his arm over Jake as best he could and pulled himself into the hug.

\n "So how does your head feel?" Jake asked the top of Kip's head, which had returned to its previous position, nestled in the valley between the lifter's pecs.

\n "I'm good." Kip said.

\n "Actually," he corrected, after thinking about it for a moment, "I'm better than good. I haven't felt this good in a dog's age." Glancing over at Jake as if only now realizing his friend's genetic composition, he amended, "So to speak."

\n "It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for you," Jake said. "and watch it with the dog comments."

\n Kip gave him a firm hug of apology and mumbled, "Yeah, it was like sleeping with a huge, warm pillow."

\n "Actually," Jake corrected, leaning back slightly and reaching down to gently tilt the red fox's head back so he could see his mesmerizing green eyes, " it was exactly like sleeping with a huge, warm man." He leaned down and gave the the top of Kip's head a quick kiss. "Unfortunately, I'm going to wet the bed if I don't go to the bathroom soon."

\n "Not into that." Kip said, releasing his grip with a grin. Jake rolled out of the bed, and Kip asked his retreating back, "What do you want to do about breakfast?"

\n "Spoken like a true gym rat," Jake said approvingly, "always thinking with your stomach." He continued to talk as he walked into the bathroom and flipped up the lid of the toilet, leaving the bathroom door open as he pulled down his shorts and relieved himself. "There's cereal and protein bars, and a shit-ton of eggs in the fridge." Kip heard a huge sigh come from the bathroom, followed by a sound that must have been Jake resting his head against the cabinet above the toilet. Clearly, a good night's sleep had put the man in casual mood.

\n By the time Jake had washed...whatever he washed in the morning and emerged from the bathroom, Kip had found a large bowl and was pulling eggs out of the refrigerator. Padding into the kitchen on oversized feet that looked like they belonged more to a bear than a man, he watched as Kip broke a dozen eggs, tossing half of the yolks down the drain as he went. "It looks like you know your way around a kitchen," he said, "I've never been the greatest cook."

\n "Every man should know how to make a few things," Kip said, melting butter in a big skillet while chopping an onion he'd found at the back of the pantry along with a potato that had looked a little spotty at first, but had turned out to still be good. Along with the onion, the finely diced potato went into a cast iron pan along with a couple of tablespoons of sesame oil and some powdered garlic.

\n While they were frying up, he stuck his head back into the refrigerator and emerged holding an old block of cellophane-wrapped cheese and a takeout container that was half-full of kung-pao chicken. Sniffing the leftovers, he made a face and tossed them in the trash. "We'll just have cheese omelettes, then."

\n Jake watched as the fox poured two thirds of the eggs into the buttered pan, and went about the process of turning a few simple ingredients into real food. "Where did you learn to cook?" he asked.

\n Kip shrugged. "I just taught myself, I guess." He turned the large omelette out onto a plate, then made one for himself using the remaining eggs. "I like to eat, so I figured I should learn how to cook, too."

\n "Isn't it about time to turn the potatoes?" Jake asked, looking at the contents of the iron pan.

\n "Not yet," Kip explained, flipping the eggs over with practiced skill, "you want them to get nice and crispy on the bottom,"

\n Jake folded his arms on the other side of the kitchen counter and rested his head on his arms. "I've never seen this kitchen turn out real food before," Jake said, "I didn't realize it was capable. I'm impressed!"

\n "Don't be impressed before you taste it," Kip warned, turning his own breakfast out on a plate and garnishing both of them with some chunky picante sauce. The potatoes went next to them, and the fox served with a flourish. "It's as done as it's going to get," he announced, "so eat it before I throw it out."

\n Jake had been salivating for at least five minutes, and not just because it had been a dozen hours since he'd last eaten. What Kip managed to produce in his woefully ill-equipped kitchen smelled mouth-wateringly delicious. He enthusiastically shoved a fork full of egg in his mouth, and was not disappointed. "This is pretty good, dude!" He said, around a mouth full of egg and potato. "Good job!"

\n Kip warmed with the praise, and the two men took their plates to the living room, where they sat in the only two chairs in the place.

\n Kip ate half his breakfast in silence before he couldn't keep his peace any longer. "What are we doing?" He asked.

\n "We're eating breakfast, then we're going to the park." Jake said, and Kip wondered if he'd intentionally missed the point.

\n "No, I mean, about us," he said. "I wake up in your arms this morning, we have a nice snuggle..."

\n "A very nice snuggle," Jake interrupted, but Kip continued without missing a beat,

\n "I make us breakfast while we plan a day together, and it all seems very, very natural."

\n "So what's wrong with that?" Jake said, evidently unperturbed. He scraped the last of his eggs together on the plate and forked them into his mouth. "It's not against the law to have a good day together."

\n "Be serious, Jake," Kip said. He really needed to get some things out in the open before they became land mines between them. "I really need to talk to you about something."

\n Jake carried his plate to the kitchen, rinsed it in the sink, and came back to the living room. He moved his chair around and sat facing Kip ,with his arms on his knees. "Okay, buddy. I'm listening." Kip was not expecting to see the look of weary sadness that had settled into Jake's eyes.

\n "I'm just really confused, is all," he started. "This whole scene feels like the morning after a really good date. Just last night you were telling me that you had no idea what to do now that you'd admitted to someone else that you might like guys, but this morning I wake up wrapped in your arms with your boner poking me in the back."

\n "Which was not a bad place to be, believe me!" Kip hastened to add, when Jake started to protest, "But I'm catching a lot of signals that I'm not sure you're aware that you're throwing."

\n Jake broke eye contact and sat still for a moment, thinking what to say. Finally he looked straight into the fox's emerald eyes and said, "What if I am aware?"

\n Kip was flabbergasted. "Jake! Dude! You could have anyone you wanted! You're kind, you're generous, and let's not forget that you're smokin' hot. Why on Earth would you settle for the first gay person you've ever known? I doubt you'll be satisfied with a half-eaten hamburger like me when you see the buffet of steak dinners that's about to be throwing themselves in front of you. There's a world of rich, hot men out there that you could have, and even if you don't realize that right now, you will shortly."

\n Jake whined in protest, "But I don't want someone rich and hot, I want YOU!" Kip's eyebrows climbed dangerously. "But seriously," he said, in a more normal tone of voice, "I know this is fast, and I know that I haven't even  been out of my little closet for more than about ten hours now, but when I woke up with you in my arms this morning, I knew it was right. And more than that, you knew it was right too, didn't you?"

\n As pragmatic as he was, Kip had to concede the point. "Well, yeah, I have to admit it, I don't think I've ever slept as well as I did in your arms last night. For the first time in a long time, I felt, well...safe."

\n Some hope had returned to Jake's eyes. "So you're not going to kick me to the curb?"

\n "Well, not right now," Kip said, feigning disinterest, "but I might later."

\n Jake's relieved smile was bright enough to shame the sun. "Cool."