"Ready to feed the cubs, Tiegen?" Tarren asked as he poked his head in through the door.

Tiegen was sitting next to the incubator, head leaning against the warm glass where his babies rested just inside. When he saw Tarren his ears perked up, a steady rumble starting up in his chest.

"That's my boy."

Tarren quickly got his hands cleaned in the sink near the surgery table, then dried them off with a towel as he walked up to the incubator. Since they had no other patients that needed the spare incubator his boss had allowed him to hook it up and even let Tiegen stay in the large surgery room as long as he stayed out of the way. Granted, it was hard for a huge tiger to do such a thing, but Tiegen had been religiously guarding his babies so he did generally stay away from anywhere the doctor needed to get to. They had come straight from the hospital to the vet Tiegen worked at.

"Alright, get yourself comfortable and I'll get your babies."

Tiegen immediately did as told, carefully resting his body down atop the blankets that had been set out for him. Thankfully, he was able to feed his kitten on his own. His body had changed to accommodate taking care of the cubs.

Taking one tiny kitten into his hands, Tarren carefully knelt down and waited for the little boy to attach himself before getting back up to retrieve their girl. She was quite a bit smaller than her brother but thankfully drank just about the same. Both, however, made quite a big mess as they did so.

"Alright, you're good to go, just let me know when they're finished."

Tiegen gave him a deep rumble before resting his big fuzzy head on his paws and closing his eyes. Tarren flicked all but one of the lights off in the room, then headed into the break room to grab some lunch. He'd tried to feed Tiegen several times but he always preferred to wait until they get home to eat.

A soft tap against his window had Grayson sitting up in bed, arms stretching over his head as a small grumble echoed from his belly.

"Wonder who could that be... at my bedroom window."

His lips quirked up into a smirk as he quickly slid from his tiny twin bed to go open the window for Erin. Well, for Erin's elephant.

"Hey, what are you doing here? You know I'm grounded."

But it's stupid. She grounded you for getting home late when we were out.

Rolling his eyes, Grayson chuckled.

"Yes, and I forgot to tell her where I was and my phone was dead. She nearly had a heart attack, so the least I could do was not argue with her decision. Besides, it is just for today."

His elephant's trunk nudged Grayson's chest once, then began wrapping around his waist.

"H-Hey, no! I'm grounded."

Grayson smacked his trunk away, the action resulting in the most adorably awkward-looking puppy face on an elephant.

"I can't go out today. I'm in trouble."

If his mother even caught him talking to Erin he'd probably get another day added onto his grounding.

But it's my fault you stayed out too late. Will she listen if I talk to her?

Sighing, Grayson shook his head, mussy gray hair swishing in front of his eyes with the action.

"No, she doesn't care if it was your fault or mine because it was my responsibility to contact her."

His elephant blew out an upset snort and swung its nose about as he turned in a circle, ears flaring in frustration.

"You can just come back tomorrow. I can still come out on Sunday."

He gave a sad grunt but slowly shifted back to his human form.

"Back away from the window for a sec," Erin suddenly yelled as quietly as he could up to him.

"Huh?" Grayson mumbled.

"Just do it, kid!"

Scowling, Grayson took a few steps back, only realizing what Erin was going to do seconds before he swung through the window. Darn that tree's placement is annoyingly perfect to get into my room. As soon as he landed with a thump on the bedroom floor Grayson ran over, shoving at Erin's chest as he whispered frantically, "you can't be in here. Mom is still home!"

Erin extended both of his arms to block him from shoving him right back out the window. On hindsight, Grayson realized that it would have been very bad for his health if he had succeeded. His attention, however, was much more focused on the sound of footsteps walking up the stairs.

"Sh, get in quick!"

Grayson shoved him across his messy room, nearly tripping over Erin's own jacket that he still hadn't returned yet. The second Erin was in the closet Grayson turned around, ready to jump into his bed and pretend like nothing was going on, but of course, his plans never went the way he wanted. Erin didn't wait three seconds before yanking Grayson backward, right into the cramped closet with him and shutting them both in darkness together.

The bedroom door creaked open seconds later, but an arm tightly wrapped around Grayson's waist and a hand clamped down over his mouth made it impossible for him to do anything but hold his breath and wait. He was trying to stay focused on his mother's footsteps, but Erin's strong scent was beginning to blur his thoughts when he did finally take a breath. Everything started feeling hot as his scent filled the tiny closet, not letting any other smell reach Grayson's reddening nose. At some point during that time, his mother sighed and left the room, but he was much too busy enjoying Erin's hands roaming beneath his pajama pants.

"Erin..." The word should have been stronger, and not gasped, but the guy was definitely not being careful about where he was grabbing. In fact, a moan quickly followed Grayson's hushed mumble.

Erin mimicked it immediately, then jerked his hips forward, pushing Grayson against the door. The resulting rattle had them both freezing, expecting to hear his mother coming back upstairs, but when nothing happened, Grayson faintly remembered hearing the door shut a minute ago.

She left the house, Gray.

Having Erin's voice in his head brought him right back into what they had been doing... or what they definitely shouldn't be doing.

Grayson.

A soft breath warmed his ear before teeth gently skimmed along the outer edge.

"You smell so good right now," Erin whispered as he gently grasped Grayson's length and gave it a light pump, making him groan against the door. Erin started nudging his hips against his backside again, making Grayson's legs begin to shake and his breath come in short gasps. He felt like rolling over and just letting Erin have his way with him, but they really shouldn't be doing what they were doing. They weren't even officially going out yet.

"Erin..."

His nose nuzzled against the back of Grayson's neck in response, tongue gently lapping at the skin there.

"Erin, we need to stop," Grayson rasped.

Hmm?

His hips began to pick up speed, rubbing Grayson against the door and making him second guess his want to stop. It felt amazing and his mother wasn't home.

He was so focused on the feelings building up in his lower half that he hardly noticed when Erin began to slip his pajama pants down. He did, however, understand that they were about to start making elemouses or mousephants soon if he didn't snap himself out of the haze they both seemed to be in.

"Erin!"

The yell finally got the response he needed. Erin snapped his head up abruptly, accidentally slamming it against a rack Grayson had put up to hang his clothing on... not that he ever really did.

"Shit!"

Grayson grabbed the handle to the closet and shoved the door open, taking in a deep breath to clear his head before turning around to see Erin rubbing the back of his head.

"What the heck happened? Wait..."

He stepped out of the closet and paced for a moment as Grayson yanked his pants back up and threw a pair of shorts at Erin.

"Gray," Erin finally said when he stopped and pulled on the borrowed too-small shorts.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Gray," Erin tried against hesitantly.

"Get out!"

He knew that he shouldn't have yelled at him, but something was seriously messing with his head. It was like his body wanted to run to Erin and shove the darn guy down on his bed and ride hi—No!

"Just go, please."

Erin slowly raised his hands in surrender. The look on his face made Grayson's belly hurt. He was glad, though, when Erin walked to the window and carefully began climbing back down the tree.

"I'm going to call you tomorrow. You better pick up, Gray! We're going to talk about this," Erin yelled as he descended the last few feet to the ground.

"O-Okay!" was Grayson's response before he shut the window, then fell back onto his bed. He gave a tired sigh and thought about what had just happened. he was a bit weirded out by whatever the hell it had been, but he wasn't going to just ignore Erin because of it. They could talk about it tomorrow, after they both have some time to chill out.

And why is it so hot in here!