(Remmy the panda, from zoo Atlanta.) 

He wasn't sure how, but he'd managed to sleep in... way longer than intended. When Pyre finally opened his eyes, he expected to see Gin, his arms still around him and snuggling tightly. Except, he wasn't there. 

Turning sleepily, he reached for Fen... but he, also, wasn't there. His mind immediately pushed past the obvious signs that the other two had just gotten up to get work or school tasks done and had decided to let him rest longer. He ignored the alarm clock on the night stand that was flashing one in the afternoon, which would make it illogical for most people to remain in bed so long. He also didn't even consider the scent of something cooking floating in the air around him. 

All his mind allowed him to process was that he was in a large room, in a bed, by himself. 

By myself. 

It had been a long time since he'd been by himself. There was always someone. Fen, Gin, and even Blake a couple times. 

I'm by myself now. 

He didn't like that thought. Shaking his head against the pillow, Pyre looked around the room again, silently wondering if he just wasn't awake yet. Maybe he just needed to wake up, and then everyone would be there again. 

 I can do that. 

His eyes focused on the flashing alarm clock as he slowly sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. With just a simple tug, he had the cord free from the wall. It weighed almost nothing in his hand, but that was fine. It was strong enough. 

I just need to hurt myself. That always wakes me up. 

He looked up at the ceiling fan as it rotated slowly above him, considering his options. 

The cord might not be long enough... or the fan strong enough, but this is a dream. It should work. 

He was just about to stand up on the bed when he heard the door open. The moment he saw Fen his eyes widened and the cloudiness in his mind cleared. 

"I am awake..." he whispered as the guy practically scrambled across his bed and tackled him into a painfully-tight hug. 

He was kind of surprised that Fen didn't try to take the alarm clock cord out of his hand, but was, instead, holding him tightly as they both fell back onto the soft blankets. 

"If you're ever not sure about something, about anything, call for us. With your mouth. With your phone. With your mind. Asleep or awake, we'll come for you," Fen said as he sniffled a few times between words. 

"I... didn't think," Pyre eventually whispered as he slowly wrapped his arms around Fen. 

It was several minutes before the guy was finally able to calm his breathing and push himself up on his elbows, allowing him to look down at him. 

"You're never going to be alone anymore now, even if one of us can't be there right away, you always have that little guy inside you who loves you more than you know," Fen said, drawing a curious expression to Pyre's face. 

He was about to argue that the little brat didn't seem to care about him at all, but he found that the words wouldn't come out when he tried to speak them. He'd only even known about his shift for a short time, but in those few weeks it had honestly just become a part of him. 

It was even letting him have most of the control recently, and rarely pushed itself out when it wasn't appropriate... except for yesterday, but at least he'd been close enough to home that it didn't really matter. 

That day also ended pretty well, since I got to give Gin a b—The bright red color that spread across Fen's face had Pyre cut off his thought a bit early. 

"Wait a minute..." he mused, drawing one of Fen's eyebrow upward slightly. 

Pyre reached up and grabbed the guy's bottom lip, startling him into a quiet gasp. 

"You're not venomous anymore." 

Fen's blush, which had been desperately trying to vanish from his face, immediately came back in full force. 

I-I'm actually in a conference call for work... I just had them take a short break. 

Pyre couldn't help the smirk that spread across his face. The guy leaning over him was buff as hell, with muscles in places he knew he'd never get them, even if he tried for a hundred years, yet he was so embarrassed about possibly kissing him that he couldn't even say the words out loud. 

"How short?" he eventually asked after beating back a bunch of other, less appropriate things he wanted to say. 

Fen's face burned brighter, and instead of replying, he pressed his forehead to Pyre's chest, making him release his lip. 

Come to think of it, he is dressed up pretty nicely. 

He was just about to start thinking about how fun it would be to take that suit off with his teeth when he caught himself, just barely, and reached up instead. After messing up his gelled hair just enough, Fen leaned back, then pushed himself up and off of him. 

Haven't gotten to stare at him in a suit in a while... fucking hot. 

"I-I'll just go finish that meeting. There's fish sticks and french fries in the oven that should be done in a few minutes, if you're hungry," he said before hurrying back to his office. 

Fish sticks...

Even his inner panda wasn't happy with the those two words. 

"We really are the same," Pyre mumbled as he walked into the kitchen. 

The oven timer went off a minute later, so he just took the trays of food out, then turned off the appliance before hopping up to sit on the counter. He definitely wanted to go into Fen's office and bother him, perhaps even in panda form, but he knew that he should only do that every so often. It was cute the firs time. He might be able to get away with a second time, but he didn't want to use that card up so soon. 

Wait a minute...

Looking toward the living room area, he saw the huge boxes of clothing that Fen had bought him pushed off into the far corner. 

hmm...

Hopping down from the counter, he walked over and opened the first box. It was completely jampacked with different things. 

Holy crap. 

He quickly began sorting through everything inside, taking out several pairs of black, blue, and khaki cargo pants before finding a few pairs of beautiful dark blue and black jeans. Some of the sizes were spot on, while others would be a bit too big... unless he gained a few more pounds, which was highly likely. 

Twenty minutes later and he'd sorted out the giant box and refolded everything to sit on the coffee table. There were at least eight full outfits and two pairs of shoes already, but as he moved to open the other box, h realized that Fen might have had a slightly ulterior motive. 

The second box was completely full of stuff, too, and as he removed five cool looking belts and another four sets of clothing for himself, with some added sweatshirts and hoodies, he noticed something else. Well, two something's else. 

Pulling out the first box that had been buried in the much larger one, he noted the label on it and grinned. 

"For Gin bear, huh?" 

The elevator chimed as he finished speaking, drawing his attention over his shoulder as the doors opened to reveal the man he'd been talking about. 

"Hey Gin, Fen got you something," he said, earning a surprised expression as Gin set his laptop and bag on the table before hurrying over. 

"He did? I thought these were all for you," he said as he took the box Pyre offered him. 

He waited patiently as Gin cut it open with his keys, then tugged up the cardboard flaps. The excited sound that came out of him when he saw what was in it was absolutely adorable. And so was what was inside. 

Gin quickly pulled out a big sweater that had a fluffy orange cat printed on the front. It was sitting in a cardboard box, its ears perked up as it eyed them suspiciously from just above the rim. 

"That's freaking adorable," Pyre said as Gin quickly folded the sweater and set it on the coffee table so that he could pull out the other items. 

Fen had gotten him two whole outfits, as well as a brand new pair of dark red and white tennis shoes. Considering that Gin was a college student and busting his ass just to afford to keep up with his bills, it was so freaking sweet to help him out, especially since, Pyre noticed, his current pair of shoes were already duct-taped, yet still falling apart in several places. 

When he looked back at Gin, Pyre felt his heart flutter a tiny bit. He quickly looked away so that he could get it under control, then turned back to Gin and leaned over, tugging him into a hug as he began to sniffle. 

"He's so nice!" Gin said as quietly as he could as tears began to streak down his face. 

He couldn't argue those words. Fen was the nicest person he'd ever met. They hugged for a few more minutes before Gin got ahold of himself and looked back into the box. 

"What does this box mean?" he asked as Pyre leaned over with him, eying the second smaller box that had been hidden within the second big one. 

It said don't open right on top. 

They looked at each other, then the box... then each other again. 

"You did it if he asks me?" Gin said right before Pyre replied, "and you did it if he asks me?" 

They both nodded and said "deal" at the same time before turning back to the box and cutting it open. 

"Oh?" Gin mumbled as Pyre pulled out two long sleeved shirts that were definitely not going to fit anyone else but him. Except, the sleeves weren't just long, they were extra long, and probably not the most logical thing to wear if you intended to use your hands at all. There were also ties all the way up either side. 

It was really, really cute... for a girl. 

He folded the two items and set them aside, then looked into the box again, a little more nervous than he had previously been. The next item was definitely not for a girl. Or at least, it wasn't normally bought for one. 

"Boxer briefs?" he questioned, eying the package curiously. 

They, too, looked pretty nice, but also appeared to be a tiny bit too small for him. They would show off quite a bit of certain bits. He set those aside a little slower than the shirts, then watched as Gin leaned in and held up something with a huge grin. 

That box is definitely for me...

Reaching out, he took the beautiful set of earrings Gin offered him. They were little red pandas with tiny diamonds set for eyes... that somehow matched the color of his own to a T. 

"Wow..." 

He wanted to put them on immediately, but instead, he decided to put everything back in the box and, after luckily finding a matching roll of tape beneath the counter, retaped it shut. 

It was good timing, too, because they both heard Fen heading their way a few moments later. Pyre quickly stood up as Gin hopped up onto the couch. 

"Oh? Thanks for going through those, I got so tired last night that I just passed out again," he said as he walked over and glanced in the first box. When he didn't find anything in it, he quickly looked in the second one, then gave a quiet sigh of relief as he picked up the little box and tucked it under his arm. 

"Thank you for all of the new clothes. They all look great," Pyre said before Gin hopped up from the couch and pulled Fen into his arms for a quick hug. 

"Thank you so much!" 

Fen returned the hug with his free arm, patting Gin on the back when he began to sniffle again. 

"You're welcome, I'm glad you liked what I found on that site."

Gin leaned away, his face shining with new tears as his smile beamed at the man before him. 

"I love all of it! I'm going to go try something on right now!" he said before running around the corner with his armful of items. 

Pyre watched him go, then turned his attention back to Fen as the guy turned to him, a warm smile on his face. It was hard to keep his mind from thinking about that little box tucked under the guy's arm, but thankfully he'd gotten more than enough things to be honestly excited about. Hell, he loved all the stuff Fen had picked out for him. 

"Do you, uh, want to try some of your stuff on, too?" Fen asked after neither of them spoke for a few moments. 

Tilting his head, Pyre considered the guy's words carefully. He didn't want to overstep his boundaries, and he knew that that was highly possible with how much Fen was honestly dealing with right then. He had to tell himself so many times to not try to kiss him, too, even though he'd gotten his venom glands removed. That didn't mean that he would just be open to having his face sucked off. 

That sounds like so much fun though...

"O-oh? Then you should try some on, too," Fen said, snapping Pyre out of his thoughts and back to his current situation. 

Right, trying on clothing. 

Since Fen hadn't told him to go anywhere to do it, Pyre decided to just shrug off his shirt right there, then removed his sweatpants before looking down at the stacks of clothing. He could feel eyes on him, but that was the point. 

Deciding on trying the darker of the outfits, he tugged on the black jeans first. They fit perfectly, but to his surprise, weren't the skinny variety that he normally used to scavenge from the stuff the local thrift stores threw away because this reason or that. 

The pants were boot-cut, and hugged his hips quite well since he'd already gained some weight in the past few weeks. He was about to reach for one of the hoodies, a maroon, white, and dark blue one, when cool fingers settled within the hem of his pants, adjusting them this way and that until they fit perfectly. 

"I'm glad I got these. They look great on you," Fen said as he ran his fingers around the waistband, then had his hands pause on either side of his hips, his pointer fingers tucking hesitantly into the belt loops. 

Since he wasn't letting go, even after Pyre counted to ten, he reached forward, himself, and slid his thumbs into the waistband of Fen's suit-pants. 

"I don't even have a shirt on yet," he mused playfully as he gave the guy's pants a tiny tug toward him. 

That seemed to snap Fen out of his daze, because he inched his foot forward to stop himself from actually taking a step, sending a clear signal. Pyre removed his hands at the same time Fen did, then reached down to grab that hoodie he wanted to try on. 

He was just about to lift it over his head when he felt another set of eyes on him and noticed Gin leaning against the wall behind Fen with his new clothing on, including his cat sweatshirt, and his arms crossed over his chest, clearly intent on enjoying the show. The guy even gave him a grin, then a wink. 

It was odd seeing him act in such a way, but also really cool. The guy used to be really nervous around him, but also not really take him seriously as a possible candidate in terms of a lover... but now. 

I got a wink from Gin bear! 

He evidently really needed to learn how to control his thoughts better, because his shout made both of the guys jump, then look over at each other before returning their attention to him. To avoid having to see their expressions in response to his slip-up, Pyre quickly tugged the sweatshirt over his head, but made sure to tuck the hood over his face so that they couldn't see his reddening cheeks. 

"Someone's showing a rare glimpse at his embarrassed side, hmm?" Fen teased gently as he tugged Pyre into his arms, then pressed a kiss to his forehead through the fabric of the hoodie. 

Pyre refused to lift his head as his blush continued to darken, making his face ache a little. 

He felt Gin's hand settle atop his head a moment later, then muss up his hood just enough to make sure that his hair would look worse than the bed head it already was. 

"It's okay, our little Spitfire, you'll get used to it quickly," Gin said as he reached down and actually tapped Pyre's backside, making him jump closer up against Fen. 

Both of the guys laughed quietly as Pyre tugged his hood up just enough to scowl at a grinning, yet-still-blushing, Gin. 

"I don't need to get used to it. You guys are the ones who are gonna have to get used to my awesomeness," he said, but allowed his voice to fade to near nothingness by the time he'd finished speaking. 

When he heard Fen chuckle, he finally looked up, only for his eyes to widen and his brain to freeze up. 

Fen's... kissing me. 

It was only on the absolute edge of his lips... and most people wouldn't have even considered it a kiss, or even a real show of affection, but... fuck. 

Fen's kissing me. 

"Oh hey, you guys made fish sticks. Heck yeah," Gin said cheerfully as he headed for the kitchen.

Fen leaned away, his face tinting a warm pink as he slipped his hand into Pyre's, then tugged him toward the kitchen, too. 

"Yeah, I figured you guys would be hungry and my meeting got done early, so let's eat," he said, earning a nod from Gin and a one-shouldered shrug from Pyre. 

He could eat... though he was really craving something a lot longer than a fish stick. 

Maybe Gin will let me suck him off again tonight.

He realized his mistake the moment he caught Fen, right as he tripped on his own feet. 

"Oops, sorry. I'm still working on keeping the volume down," he said with a cheeky grin that earned him a shake from Fen's head as he straightened back up. 

"By the time you do, I'll be completely immune to it," he said, making Gin chuckle as he nodded while getting the ketchup out of the fridge. 

"Can not argue there."