Declan got Faun's temperature down quickly enough which was a huge relief, he seemed to be sleeping easier now as well.
His shirt was taken off because it got wet and Declan didn't want him to catch a cold.
When he was all done, he cleared up and then sat beside the bed, just watching Faun sleep with a slight furrow in-between his brows.
Hybrids shouldn't get sick with something like the flu, right?
He really wished he knew more about them and the internet was useless because it was filled with incorrect information.
Reaching out a hand, he pushed Faun's hair away from his face; he was wearing nothing but the necklace that he had gotten him.
It had seemed too cheesy to engrave something on it, but now as he reached for it and traced his finger on the jagged side of the heart pendant, he wished he had written their names.
Faun rousing alerted him.
"Hey." He leaned against the headboard, amusement in his voice.
"Did I fall asleep?" Faun asked, leaning up slightly to catch a glimpse of Declan before falling back on the bed.
"More like a fever nap." Declan grumbled. "How long have you been feeling sick?" He raised a brow, a hint of anger in his voice.
Faun lifted a hand to touch his head, he still felt woozy. "I didn't exactly feel sick…" He trailed off like he was looking for the right words. "It's just… I've never been sick before…" He said carefully, looking at Declan to catch his reaction.
He was still worried about saying or doing things that were extremely inhuman, like not falling sick even once.
Declan's eyes widened briefly, his fears taking shape. "So how do you feel? Tell me everything." He prompted gently.
Faun took a deep breath; it wasn't that he didn't trust Declan but that he was scared of losing him. Declan could decide any time that he could keep up with his differences and decide to get rid of him.
"I just felt off last night." He tried to shrug while lying down but it just looked like he was squirming. "It got better after I slept and woke up but then it started again this morning, I felt warm after you left… I promise I didn't drink any more wine." He cut himself off to say.
Declan's lips quirked at this. "I know."
"I also felt a bit dizzy so I tried resting for a bit..."
"In my room?" Declan raised a brow but his tone held no accusation.
"It wasn't on purpose." He mumbled sheepishly, touching his ear.
That wasn't important right then anyway; he was pleased that Faun had napped on his bed, even though he nearly had a mental breakdown because he couldn't find him.
"It's fine, how do you feel now?"
Faun went quiet for a bit like he was doing a quick check of his body. "I actually feel a lot better, a little bit tired though, maybe I just need to sleep it off." He added optimistically.
Declan really wished it was that easy but he had a feeling it wasn't going to end there; He had to ask, although he would rather agree to a sleepover at Isla's than ask.
"Do you know about ruts?" He forced himself to ask, swallowing past a big lump in his throat.
Yet another reason to avoid having children, having this line of conversation with Faun was bad enough, he couldn't imagine trying it with his kids.
Faun sat up at this point, his eyes unfocused like he was trying to remember where he heard the word. "Yep!" He agreed cheerily, his eyes sparkly.
Declan had to fight the urge to facepalm. "You have no idea what it means, do you?"
"Is it something to do with hybrids?" Faun asked curiously.
Declan steeled his spine. "I guess, I don't know much either." He answered honestly.
"I don't know, I was all alone all the time." He mused like he was trying to dig up a forgotten memory. "Hybrids are wary of each other in the wild and for the brief time that I travelled with a bunch of them, they mostly kept to themselves and there were no fox hybrids like me." He continued rambling.
Declan gulped, mentally storing information away for later. It was almost terrifying how innocent Faun was.
Although, it made a vein tick on his jaw that he was forced to turn out this way.
If this was his first rut, which it most likely was, Declan was just clinging to a nonexistent hope.
It was a bit late for his first rut though, not that he knew better, he had no clue what the norm was with fox hybrids or hybrids in general.
"I see."
"So what do ruts mean?" Faun asked curiously, he sat down with his legs crossed, facing Declan.
Declan cleared his throat, hiding his nervousness with a serious expression. "It's breeding season for hybrids." He managed to say in the shortest sentence possible.
Faun nodded gravely, a serious expression on his face as well. "I see."
Declan took one look at the confusion in his eyes and gave up all hope. "You have no idea what that means either, do you?"
Faun puffed out his cheeks, not wanting to admit to his lack of knowledge on the subject. "But it sounds familiar."
"That's not the same thing." He pointed out.
It was almost ridiculous how Faun could easily recite cook books but had not a single clue about this.
He decided to start from the basics. "You know what it means to kiss someone, right?" He pushed off from the headboard with resignation in his voice.
The telltale colour on Faun's cheeks was the reaction he had been expecting to his first question about ruts but he should have known better.
"O-Of course." Faun blustered, averting his flaming face.
Declan came over and cupped his face to look into his soft green eyes. "Well, sex is kissing and more and ruts is your body making you do all that for the purpose of getting kids." He explained in simple terms, getting off the bed. "Are you thirsty?" He turned back to ask Faun.
Faun was staring up at him with wide eyes. "Yes." He blinked, touching his throat like Declan asking him just reminded him of how thirsty he was.
Declan turned away quickly; hopefully, because it was his first rut, it would merely be like a warning of sorts.
Faun sitting on his bed half naked with his pale skin out and his fiery red hair tousled was an image that was engraved onto his brain.
"Declan?" Faun's soft voice stopped him before he could leave the room.
"Yeah?" He replied, not turning around.
"Will you kiss me when I get my rut?" Faun asked innocently