{"sf1_id":575987,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Warm Welcome part 1","author":"DarkSoulsSauron","words":1980,"posted_at":"2013-08-13T21:49:00.000Z","tags":["M/M","ninetales"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/575987-warm-welcome-part-1","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/575987","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=575987\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Eli was enjoying a well deserved break.\nHis auction last week was incredibly well received. Both Gloom and\nClockworks had started\na three way bidding war, going out for very large sums of money. In a\nway, those few days of tenseness between Soren and himself had been\nquite profitable. But he didn't care about that. He just wanted Soren\nback to his normal self. He was getting there, but he was still\nstressed about his sick Aunt. Soren walked in the\ndoor. He was coming home closer to seven rather than six now, but he\nwas happy with his new position. He was promoted to a lab assistant\nrather than just being a techy, and he was eager to start on the new\nexperiments and projects now that the fallout from the break in was\nover. They found the culprit the Monday after Eli managed to get\nSoren to tell him what was going on. Eli had a feeling that the\npromotion was recompense for how hard they ran Soren while they\nthought he was the culprit. Eli wished he had the ability to cook, as\nSoren was always ravenous when he got home.Eli got up and\nkissed Soren on his silver cheek. He hung up his jacket and backpack\nfor him. Soren immediately went to the kitchen and put water on to\nboil. He had a red sauce simmering all day, and he was starting to\nprepare some hand-rolled meatballs. Eli stayed nearby and savored the\nsmells. Dinner was ready fast, and they both sat down to eat. Soren\ntucked in for a minute, and once he had gotten some food down, slowed\ndown so he could talk. Eli started with a\nsimple question that had a lot of meaning underneath. \"How are you\ntoday?\" He asked this every few days in attempt to coax out\nanything that might be simmering beneath the surface. It may be\npainful for Soren to talk about it at the time, but Eli wanted to\nmake sure another meltdown didn't happen. \"I'm fine,\" he\nsaid with a smile as he grabbed Eli's forearm. But it was a different\nkind of \"I'm fine\" from last Sunday. Soren was actually feeling\nOK. \"The test subjects are doing well. We think we can get them\nready for experimentation in three generations. Then we can start\nrecollecting the data we lost. I also got to call Aunt Aly on the way\nhome. She tries to call me when no one is around. She's feeling\nterrible but the doctor says that she is reacting well to treatment.\"Eli smiled. They\nfinished dinner and cleaned up together. Soren felt like slipping\ninto Lordran for a while, so he popped in Dark Souls. Eli laid his\nhead on Soren's lap. He loved to watch Soren play as much as he loved\nto play himself. Plus he got to talk to Soren now, and Soren was\nalways happy when he was exploring Lordran. \"Just so you know,\"\nsaid Eli, stroking Soren's silver tails, \"My parents can't make it\ndown here. Our schedules just don't match up.\" Eli heard Soren give\na little sigh of relief. \"They're not monsters you know. They do\nwant to meet you.\" \"Sorry,\" said\nSoren, \"I just get nervous when meeting new people. And I was\nafraid that they'd be like be my last boyfriend's parents.\"Eli was curious and\namused. \"I told you I came out to them when I was 16. They were all\nfine with that. But what do you mean? Were your last boyfriend's\nparents that bad?\" Soren nodded. \"My\nfirst and previous boyfriend, he was a Furret named Milo. He was a\nstraight A student, an amazing baseball player, a total geek, and\nabsolutely gorgeous. He was also into guys. However, his parents were\nnot happy that their role-model son was gay. So after he came out,\nhis parents were really mad. When he told me, we came up with a\nplan.\"Eli was intrigued.\n\"Go on... what did you do?\" Soren smiled. \"It\nwas straight out of a B romance novel. You'd eat this up. Milo\npretended to date Sasha. It wasn't much of a stretch. She was such a\nboy magnet. Milo said his coming out was a bad phase and he got over\nit. But whenever he went out with Sasha, we'd just meet at a town\nabout 10 miles north. His parents didn't care how late he stayed out\nas long as he continued to excel at baseball and school. My parents\ndidn't care either. They thought I was a lost cause anyway.\" Eli smiled.\n\"sooo... what did you do?\" Soren knew Eli\nwanted all the dirty details. \"The normal date stuff. Dinner,\nmovies, long walks... sex.\" Soren grinned. Eli laughed,\nsitting up now to face Soren. \"Where?! But you had nowhere to go!\"Soren shrugged.\n\"You know that Sasha's parents travel a lot. Sasha lent us her\nplace while she stayed with a friend.\" \"Ooo!\nThat's so illicit,\"\nsquealed Eli. \"Was it good?\"\"Fantastic,\"\nsighed Soren. \"Obviously it was my first time with another male.\nHell, it was both of our first times with anyone. We got away\nwith it four times. He was strong, he was big, and he was...\nflexible.\"Eli gave Soren a\nfake pout. \"Was he as good as me?\"Soren kissed his\npartner. \"No,\" he said, quite truthfully. Then he sighed. \"It\nobviously couldn't last. At the end of our senior year, right after\ngraduation... Someone saw us kiss. And they told his parents.\" He\npaused and sighed again. \"They were so furious. They moved away in\nless than a week. They forbade him from leaving the house, using a\nphone, or using email. I wish I would've talked to him again. To\napologize. The only bright side was his parents were so mad they\nforgot to tell mine what we were doing. When I came out my dad\nwould've pulled my tuition if it hadn't been too late. If they found\nout then I wouldn't even have been able to go to college. But enough\nabout my old flames. Were you gonna say something else?\" Eli returned to\nSoren's lap. \"My parents want you to come to Thanksgiving.\" Eli\nfelt Soren's silver fur bristle a bit. \"You can't run from them\nforever. You can't expect to live with me like this and not meet my\nparents. They're really nice and want to meet the famous Soren Saul\nI've told them all about.\" \"I hope you\nhaven't talked me up too much,\" said Soren playfully. \"I don't\nwant to meet any unrealistic expectations you set for me.\" He\npaused a minute. \"I'm sorry. there's really no good reason for me\nto be nervous. I just am. I would love to come. I really would.\" \"Can I tell them\nwhen they call next?\" asked Eli, stroking Soren's arm now. The silver fox\nnodded. \"Who else will be there?\"\"Just us, my\nparents, and my sister,\" said Eli. \"Most of my other family\nmembers live out west, so we only visit every other year.\"Soren sighed. A\nsmaller crowd would be easier for him to get used to. \"Cedar Rapids\nisn't too far of a drive. Only about 4 to 5 hours?\" \"Yeah,\"\nconfirmed Eli. \"can we take your car? You get so much better\nmileage.\" Soren nodded, then\nsighed. \"I just wish you could have met Grandma Jeanne.\nThanksgiving with her was fantastic.\" \"Wasn't she the\none who taught you music?\" Soren nodded again.\n\"She was a widow. My Grandpa Gregory died when he was 57. about 3\nyears before I was born. Heart attack. He was a chain smoker.\" Eli nodded, hoping\nSoren would say more.Soren began talking\nagain, turning off the game to give Eli his full attention. He began\nto rub his beige shoulders. \"She started teaching me after I said I\nstopped believing in God. My parents started to act really hostile,\nso she took me out of the house under the guise of teaching me\nviolin. She taught me all about music. And she talked to me about her\nfaith, or lack thereof.\"Eli raised an\neyebrow. \"She didn't believe either?\" Soren shook his\nhead. \"Nope. But she knew that Catholicism was really important to\nGrandpa Gregory, so she let him teach it to my mom, even if she\ndidn't believe herself. No one knew except Grandpa. But when I\nstopped believing, she told me all of about it. Whenever I felt too\npressured in the house, I could walk to Grandma's and learn more\nmusic. In five years she taught me violin, piano, cello, bass,\nclarinet, trumpet, and saxophone. Almost all those instruments\nupstairs are hers. When she died, she left a lot of stuff\nspecifically for me in her will. My parents were rather furious. They\nthought they would get all of her inheritance.\" Eli felt honored\nthat Soren was letting him learn music on the instruments that his\ngrandmother gave him. He felt like Soren was sharing memories, a\nlegacy, by teaching him music again. \"Grandma\nwas also a big help three year later,\" continued Soren. \"When I\nwas realizing I was gay. I knew I couldn't tell my parents, and my\nbrother, Chris, wasn't a good confidant either. We had grown apart\nafter I lost faith. So I told Grandma about these feelings. And she\nsaid it didn't matter to her. That was one of the best things to\nhear. That she still loved me regardless of who I loved.\nShe started teaching me more about cooking after I got into high\nschool too. I was basically living with her for my sophomore and\njunior years.\"Eli sat up and\nhugged Soren. He knew that Soren's grandmother died before his senior\nyear of high school. Soren was unfazed though. \"You would have\nliked her,\" he said. \"she was a better cook than me, and she\nloved to dance. She could still dance until right before she got\nsick. It was pneumonia. I'm sure she would have loved to meet you.\"Eli was skeptical.\nSoren's cooking was restaurant level when he wasn't rushed. If his\ngrandmother was better than him, she could've run a five star\nrestaurant. He decided to return to the topic of Thanksgiving. \"You\nwanna go through their names again,\" he asked as he wrapped his\narms around Soren's silver shoulders. \"That's a good\nidea,\" said the silver fox. Eli knew Soren was\nterrible with names and faces. \"You know who my dad is, right?\"\"He's the lawyer.\nI've never seen him out of a suit,\" responded Soren. \"his name\nis... Logan?\"Eli nodded. \"That's\nright. And you know who my mother is, right?\" Soren paused,\nthinking. \"It's not... Laura... no that's not it. Is it... Lyra?\nDoesn't she write children's books?\" Eli smiled. \"Right\nagain. By the way, do not call them Mr. and Mrs. Vatra. That's way\ntoo formal. They won't let you get away with it.\"Soren sighed. \"I'll\ntry. I was just raised like that. Sorry.\" \"And can you\nremember my sister,\" asked Eli. Soren had trouble\nwith this one. He had never met or even seen Eli's younger sister\noutside of photos. \"You got me there.\"Eli sighed. \"Her\nname is Eleanor, but people call her Elly sometimes. She's into\ngymnastics. You'd like her, she's studying Personal Power\nApplications.\" Soren brightened up\nwith this news. \"I was reading about that. There was a journal\nabout the potential of using inner powers for medicinal purposes.\"Eli made a swishing\nsound and threw his hand over his forehead. \"All that sciencey\nstuff is Greek to me. Talk to her about it.\" Soren smiled. \"I\nlook forward to it,\" said the silver fox, quite genuinely. Eli kissed him on\nthe cheek. \"See, it won't be that bad.\" The two foxes went to bed\nsoon after. Eli wrapped his arms and tails around Soren as they\nfolded themselves into the sheets. They drifted off to sleep,\ntogether. "}