(My newer rescue dog will hopefully be getting adopted this Saturday. Fingers crossed. She is ready for a home without my crazy aussie.) 

Well, sleep didn't quite work the way he had planned. In fact, Arron was up within two hours of falling asleep as thunder boomed right outside the window. Lightning soon followed, then an even louder rumble of thunder that actually shook the house. He wasn't afraid of the dark, but when he was younger he'd gotten lost in a thunderstorm in his cheetah form and now his instincts freaked out whenever there was a bad one.

After a very long mental discussion with himself, he decided to take a quick shower and hopefully relax his nerves. The lightning lit up his room every few seconds, allowing him to slide out of bed and grab a pair of boxers, then easily head for the hallway without bumping into any walls.

He quietly made his way to the bathroom by the stairs, being sure not to make any noise. Rylan to be on the phone with his door shut, but the rest of the Leo family seemed to be asleep. There were plenty of towels still folded up on the back of the toilet that were no doubt put there by Rylan's mother or father.

I should help out with some chores soon.

As Arron stepped out of Rylan's shorts and got the water going in the shower, he heard a yawn by the door and turned to see said lion shifter leaning sleepily against the door jamb.

"Uh?" Arron whispered unintelligibly.

"Why are you taking a shower at midnight, Spots?"

He didn't think that saying he was afraid of thunderstorms would be a good idea. Never reveal a weakness to a predator. He could sense Rylan's lion pretty close to the surface, too, so he wasn't too sure what kind of reaction he would get.

"The storm woke me up. I was just going to take a quick shower to relax before going back to bed." He said quietly.

Arron noticed Rylan's hand moving and had to quickly look away as it dipped into his boxers and began scratching. It seemed to take him a minute to process what he had said, but he easily figured out that he was partially lying when a loud boom of thunder rocked the house and Arron jumped a good three feet in the air.

"Nice one, Spots."

Arron really didn't want Rylan mocking him so he quickly jumped into the shower and yanked the curtain closed.

"Go away."

There was no response for a minute so Arron figured that he'd left. He quietly began humming as he scrubbed his body, then lathered up his hair. The water was perfectly hot, which definitely helped calm his nerves. Turning, he began stepping under the spray of water, but was suddenly tugged backward by an arm around his waist, making him yelp from surprise.

"Shhh."

Rylan?

Arron's heart jumped into his throat when he felt Rylan's hard chest press against his back.

"Rylan?"

He needed to wash his hair out but Rylan pushed him against the cold tile wall instead of letting him go under the hot water.

"Be quiet, Spots. I came to ask you something."

It couldn't wait until I got out of the shower?

"What?"

"I'm going out tomorrow night after the game."

But Jordan said we had to come straight home.

"But your dad said no." Arron said quietly.

"Hush, Spots!" Rylan hissed. "You're going to cover for me."

Arron frowned. "But how?" He whispered as quietly as he could.

There was a strong pat on his shoulder before he felt breath on the back of his neck.

"I'm sure you can figure that out, right, Spots?"

He was pretty sure that saying no wouldn't be an answer Rylan was going to accept, so Arron just sighed and nodded.

"Good boy."

He felt a tap on his cheek, then a lick before he was released. A moment later, he heard Rylan step out of the shower and quickly ran forward to rinse his soapy hair out. The rest of his night went just about as well as the first half. He couldn't sleep and each time a boom of thunder echoed in his room, he flinched and whimpered beneath his blankets.

Come morning, Arron pretty much felt like dirt. His nose was stuffed up and he had gotten maybe twenty minutes of decent sleep. The storm was just slowing as he awoke so his body was tired and achy from being on high alert all night. Rylan's little shower visit hadn't helped, either.

Deciding to logically skip the shower, he tugged on a pair of clean boxers, torn blue jeans, and a grey sweatshirt. After glancing at his appearance in the mirror and shrugging, he grabbed his backpack and headed downstairs.

The kids were already at the table and as his eyes met Rylan's, he swallowed and pursed his lips. Rylan glared, but quickly averted his eyes when Jordan came into the room, along with his wife.

"Hello Arron. Are you feeling alright?" Jordan's wife asked.

He fidgeted, realizing that he definitely didn't look that great. She quickly walked over to press a hand to his forehead, only to frown at the heat there.

Arron quickly stepped back and gave her his best smile.

"I'm okay. Just didn't sleep too well last night. I'm sure with a good breakfast and fresh air I'll be good."

"Alright hun, but if you're not feeling well, Rylan can take you home."

Maybe with a few bruises for ruining his night.

"Yes ma'am." He replied.

"Oh none of that ma'am stuff, call me Emma."

"Okay... Emma." He said a little awkwardly.

Jordan walked up to them a moment later and nudged a plate of bacon and eggs into his hands.

"Eat up, kiddo. Rylan will take you to school today."

"Huh? I usually skateboard." Arron said.

"You don't look too steady on your feet right now. Humor me today, please?"

Arron tucked his head a little and nodded. "Okay."

Jordan smiled and nodded for Arron to take a seat and eat. Him and Emma left early with the twins to drop them off at school since they sometimes didn't take the bus in the morning, so at least he didn't have to pretend to finish his breakfast. Arron could only manage a few spoonfuls of eggs before his stomach rebelled. As soon as he got up, Rylan grabbed his plate and easily finished off his meal. He headed for the door a second later and Arron had to stumble after him to get in his car before he drove off.

The ride to school would have been tense, but he was just too tired to listen to his instincts. They were on edge, but he just wanted to sleep. When they got there, Arron stepped out and trudged up the stairs, ignoring the glare he was receiving from the lion on his heels.

Luckily, Erin was in most of his classes. He sat next to him most of the day and nudged him awake whenever he started drifting off. He also had several packages of peanuts, as stereotypical as that sounded for an elephant shifter, but they definitely helped and didn't bother his stomach as much as breakfast had.

At lunch, Arron decided to pay for Erin to have some salad since he'd helped him most of the day. Although, it wasn't twenty dollars worth again. The kid ended up shoving a few carrots in Arron's mouth, which he nibbled at as Erin talked about random stuff.

Around fifth period, Arron's cheetah ended up taking over, then promptly passed out. Thankfully, his elephant friend was in that class, too, and got the teacher to leave him alone so that he could sleep in Erin's lap.

The real problem began as soon as the bell rang and Rylan caught Erin carrying him outside with the intent to give him a ride home. Rylan ran up and grabbed him by the scruff with a warning growl to Erin.

"The hell Rylan? Give him back."

Rylan scoffed and tucked him under his arm as his two shifter friends came up behind him. Of course, they were both members of the football team, too.

"He's my foster brother and I was told to take care of him after school by my father. So get lost, elephant."

Erin looked at Arron with eyes beginning to change, but he quickly shook his head and mewed. It wasn't worth the fight, and Rylan was technically right.

"Call me if you need a hand, Arron."

With a frown, he tugged Arron's backpack off of his shoulders and tossed it to Rylan, who caught it with one hand and swung it over his shoulder to join his own. Erin stared for one more moment before sighing and walking off.

This darn lion has to have a split personality. He was so nice yesterday, and now he's starting to be a brat again.

As Arron was thinking, Rylan toted him toward the locker rooms. As fate would have it, everyone inside was naked... and his cheetah picked that time to change him back and give a hard jerk to his instincts. Arron quickly dropped to the floor and covered his lower half, not wanting his overreacting body to cause trouble.

"Rylan, looks like you might have an admirer." One of the boys said with a chuckle.

Rylan turned and looked down at him, his nose twitching as if his lion was picking up on a scent. There were a few murmurs from the other kids before they began getting closer. Arron could tell that some of their intentions weren't going to be friendly and tried to curl into an even smaller ball.

Shadows began to darken his shrinking line of vision before Arron squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He felt someone grab his left arm and try to pull him up, but the hand disappeared after only a second, letting Arron drop back down with a quiet whimper.

"Just leave him alone, guys. His hormones are messed up because of some idiot vet." Rylan partially growled as Arron felt some sort of fabric drop over his shoulders.

Rylan's sweatshirt?

There was a lot of whispering in response, but no one dared try to challenge Rylan. After a little while everyone headed out of the locker room.

"We're going to a party after the game, so don't go anywhere, Spots." He said before quickly changing and heading out to get ready for his game.

But your dad said that we can't go anywhere afterward. Arron though as his body slowly shifted back into his feline form due to his adrenaline wearing off. He didn't want to cause any problems, though, and just found a bench near the front door to curl up on and wait on the noisy game.

He had a good headache going by the time the football team started filing back into the locker room. Arron sat up and yawned, then was promptly shoved off the bench by that one guy who had taunted him earlier.

His paws scrambled for purchase to keep himself from dropping to the cold tile, but didn't succeed.

At least I'm fuzzy.

Arron made his way into a corner to keep from getting stepped on or shoved more, then waited until Rylan was done showering and getting dressed in clean clothes. When he started heading over to him, Arron began walking toward the door, but before he could even make it a few feet he was scooped up and tucked under one of Rylan's arms like a fuzzy football.

"We're gonna change the story a bit." He said as he began carrying him toward his car. "You'll have lost your phone and were wandering around a bit, not quite remembering which way was home."

That didn't make much sense because he had walked or skateboarded home several times, but he wasn't going to argue... and he definitely didn't feel like walking anywhere right then.

"Mew." He said as he was set down in the front seat, then Rylan walked around and got into the driver's side.

A growl was Rylan's response and it had Arron's cheetah crouching down on the seat. They were silent the whole way to the party, which was quite obviously taking place in the giant house they parked near, because Arron heard the bass vibrating through the car nearly halfway down the street.

There were drunk teenagers stumbling around and throwing up all over the front lawn, and it looked like there were hundreds more right inside the door to the home. He really didn't feel like getting stepped on or kicked around inside, but Rylan didn't let him get himself under the car and out of reach. He snatched him up by the scruff and quickly ran inside with his friends, shouting over the music, which only incited a louder array of shouts to welcome the main players of the football team.

Ow my sensitive ears.

Rylan walked around for awhile, completely ignoring Arron as he was held in one arm. He was handed beer after beer, and kissed more girls then Arron thought would want to even touch such a stuck-up guy. A few asked about him, too, but Rylan always steered the conversation away, which wasn't hard since he seemingly knew how to work his charms on females.

I bet he could charm a hamster out of its fur. Arron thought sarcastically.

About an hour into the mess Arron was tossed outside and told to stay. Yes, let me get right on jumping that six foot fence, drunk idiot lion. He was definitely not going back inside to try for the front door, either. The amount of intoxicated people in there would use him as a soccer ball without even trying.

Thus, he found a nice place with a cool breeze and curled up, trying to relax. He couldn't really lie that he didn't have a fever anymore, but complaining while in his kitten form, or human one for that matter, would likely just fall on deaf, or annoyed ears.

Arron was just beginning to doze as he listened to the booming base from the house behind him when he heard something sniffing near his backside. His patience for the day was already running rather low so when he looked over his shoulder and saw an ocelot, he bared his teeth and hissed a warning.

Get lost, pussy!

The ocelot circled him a few times, nuzzling at his muzzle and licking his nose, but again, all it got was a warning hiss in response.

Back. Off. It's bad enough to try and breed someone in their animal forms, but doing it in public? I'll tear your whiskers out if you try!

Arron swung around as the cat tried to bite at his neck to pin him. He slashed a clawed paw across the ocelot's cheek with a much louder hiss of anger.

He tried again, even after Arron made him bleed, but when a loud roar ripped through the thunderous music coming from the house, the ocelot was disappeared in a hurry. Rylan was standing in front of him a second later and gave another roar from his lion form in the direction the ocelot had vanished.

Arron's body flopped down on the deck as the adrenaline wore off and he tried to focus on slowing his breathing.

I don't feel good.

He wasn't very focused right then, so he didn't even bother to try and move when Rylan's lion leaned down and picked him up by his scruff with his teeth. He easily moved through the noisy house, mainly because everyone seemed to have stopped partying when he had shifted and barreled outside onto the deck to defend him.

Once they were out the front door and a few houses down, Rylan shifted back to his human form and tossed him into the back seat of his car. Arron's body shifted slowly back to his human form, too exhausted to make the change go any quicker.

When his vision cleared from the shift, Rylan was leaning over him, pinning him down on the seat.

"Rylan?" Arron asked cautiously.

He didn't seem to hear, or care about what he'd said as he tried to grab at him. Arron gathered his energy and forced himself to squirm out from under Rylan and onto the floor. Another moment and he was wedged against the driver's side seat in the corner.

Rylan's eyes were shining bright gold down at him in the dark.

At least he shut the door before trying to pounce on me so that we weren't giving people a show, but still. He needs to come back to his senses.

Arron slashed at his reaching hands a few times before Rylan finally leaned back and blinked. His eyes went back to normal, but they both needed a minute to catch their breath and let their bodies calm down before they could process what had happened.

I'm not completely sure why he had gotten like that, but it was right after that ocelot guy had tried to get me. Arron thought for a few moments before a strange idea came to his mind. Was he actually jealous?

"Come. Here."

His voice was deep and demanding as he reached over to Arron with his right hand. It was still partially clawed and he could see his lion just behind his eyes. With very careful movements, Arron got himself free of the small space he'd squeezed into and let Rylan pull him into his lap after he'd pulled a blanket over it for a too-tight hug. He didn't hesitate to begin licking at Arron's hair and face after a few moments.

He could feel that he was upset, most likely because what that ocelot had tried to do. Arron was sure that he'd never admit it was jealousy, but that was okay with him. He appreciated the save, even if it almost ended just as badly in the back of his car.

"Thanks."

Rylan gave Arron's ear a sharp nip with a snorted growl, letting him know that he didn't want to hear any kind of gratitude. Probably shouldn't have thanked him, anyways.

After a little while, Rylan set him in the driver's seat and buckled himself in after pulling on a pair of spare shorts he left in the car for, what he would assume, was this type of awkward situation.

He was surprised that he was being allowed to drive the guy's car, but he didn't hesitate to get them heading home with directions from Rylan. When he'd parked, Rylan had them going around to the back and jumping up to Arron's balcony. Or really, he tossed him over his shoulder and leaped up.

Once inside, Rylan was about to head to his room but heard Jordan moving around, possibly checking on Jamie and Jared. So, instead, he turned toward Arron and pulled him down into bed.

"Eh?"

"Shush. Just go to sleep. I know you're tired, Spots."

Well, that was definitely true. Arron wasn't too happy about being snuggled in bed with Rylan, though. When he pulled the blanket over them and began lapping at his face softly, Arron gave up any argument that he felt on his tongue. He couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.

It was definitely not what they had planned, but he supposed that if his father found them out cold in his bed, he would have to assume that they had been home, hopefully. Either way, he was out cold long before Rylan, but little did he know that his plan was to pretend that he had been taking care of him in his room for the past few hours.

Arron figured that out because he awoke a few times when Rylan changed the cool cloth on his forehead, then around three, when Rylan gave him some cough medicine. He had taken a shower at some point, too, because he no longer smelled like alcohol, but Arron's mind was too fuzzy with his fever to really question what he was doing. He just did as told and took what was offered.

Jordan came in around five, which woke him up a little, but he just pressed a kiss to his forehead and told him to get some more rest.

When Arron snuggled back into his blankets to do just that, he noticed that Rylan was snoring quietly on top of the blanket beside him. That had him smiling a little as he moved a bit closer. His fever was beginning to break, so Rylan's added heat was just right to make him relax enough to fall back asleep.