Martha had shown William around the campus and showed him the museum that she had driven past earlier when she had gone to pick him up. He did agree with her that it would be something Eric might be interested in looking at, though he had actually seen the building before. Though, his schedule had been such that he didn't have time to actually go in. The big thing, though was the confidence that Jennifer Harper would have someone to turn to for family support. A part of him still couldn't believe any parent would try to be so controlling, but he and Martha would do all they could to give her a family should Jenny needed.
"So... you said you got everything for this costume that Eric needs?" William asked as Martha brought the car into park and they climbed out.
"Yes," Martha said with a smile, the comment bringing her back to her younger son, "with the hand-me-downs, it'll make him a very convincing Jacques Cousteau... and he and Julie will look adorable together."
William nodded as the two of them made their way out to see Eric walking up the path toward the front door with a bit of a smile on his face and actually looking rather dreamy eyed as he walked. Both adult Andersons were quite aware that Eric had had a good day. They smiled and their way out.
"Hey there, Eric," William said to his son, "Did you have a good day?"
"Yeah," Eric paused and waited for his parents to approach him. "Walked Julie home... and she was as beautiful as ever..."
William and Martha only smiled to him. It was clear that Eric had it bad with regard to his attraction to Julie and his love for her. Something in Eric's reply also indicated that, while he might not have known exactly what love was in the academic sense before moving to Moon Lake, he certainly knew he was love at the present time.
"Well that sounds good," Martha said with a smile as she moved to open the front door, "And you'll be pleased to know that I've made progress on putting together stuff for your Halloween costume."
"Thanks, mom," Eric answered as Martha opened the door.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Upstairs in Nate's room, both Nate and Alex looked up as they heard the door open along with some muffled conversation as well. They were just beginning to recover from their bought of passion as the Andersons came into the house.
"Someone's home..." Alex said softly.
"Yes..." Nate nodded, "Either Eric or my folks... and being weres... my folks might be okay and understand, but Eric's still a normal and might be a bit uneasy..."
"You did say he was okay with you being gay, right?" Alex asked back.
"Yes, he's okay with that," Nate told him, "but that doesn't mean he's going to be comfortable with how casual and open weres can be with regard to sex. It's wonderful... and I love it..."
"But you don't want to make your brother uneasy," Alex finished, "That's understandable. And while weres can have a high libido... that doesn't necessarily mean we engage in sex out in the open."
Under mutual agreement, the two began to transform back and try to clean up.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Eric told his parents a bit about what Julie had told him their walk home, concerning the Stovall's trip to Hawaii and how they swam there. It sounded interesting to the werefox and werecat, but something in the way Eric went about telling the story gave the indication that he wanted to ask if he could go with them once he was a weremer.
"It certainly would be a way to get a closer look at the ocean," William commented to Martha.
"Yes," his wife agreed, "Perhaps you could ask them if you could travel with them after you become a were..."
"Me... go with them on a family vacation...?" Eric asked.
"You would be older... and it would have to have their permission to join them," William answered, "and it is pretty hard for you to hide how much you're smitten with Julie."
"She's wonderful, dad," Eric gave a weak smile and headed for the stairs, "I can't fully explain how or why... but she is..."
"That's what..." William began as he heard a series of rushed footsteps and bumping going on upstairs. It included two sets of footsteps, and his nose could easily pick up Alex's scent as well as Nate's. So while he wanted to say, "being in love is like," William found he had to keep Eric downstairs. Alex and Nate had clearly come home together and had been enjoying a few afternoon delights while no one else was home. "Eric... why don't we watch a little TV for a bit. You can tell me more about your day... what dance steps you want your mother and I teach you after dinner... and so on."
Eric looked over his shoulder to his father, and saw that his mother was also looking toward the top of the stairs and nodding in agreement with William.
"Okay," Eric said slowly and moved away from the stairs to follow his father into the living room while Martha headed for the kitchen to get things ready for dinner.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Nate and Alex managed to clean up fairly well. Neither would be able to hide what they had been doing from William or Martha, but they also knew they couldn't just hide in Nate's bedroom. Once back in human form and dressed and once Alex had his things gathered, the two came downstairs. They found Eric and William watching television for the moment. They hadn't settled on anything and were flipping through channels at the present time. As they walked into the living room, William did look up.
"Hey guys," Nate said slowly and somewhat nervously.
"Hey," Eric answered and kept flipping through channels.
"Hey, son," William nodded, "Did you two have a good afternoon?"
"Yeah," Nate answered, sounding somewhat cagey on the issue as he didn't want to brag that he'd had great were sex to his father and brother.
"Got our homework done and everything," Alex added.
William glanced to his older son's boyfriend. He could tell by scent that homework wasn't the only thing they'd been doing, but after a moment he could only shrug. If they got their homework done first, it what they did after didn't matter all that much.
"Well... that's good," William gave a slow nod, "will you be staying for dinner, Alex?"
"No... I actually got to get going home," Alex said weakly, "Maybe some other time."
"Maybe," William answered and the assured Alex, "We'll look forward to it."
Alex nodded and Nate escorted him to the back door. The two hugged as they reached the door. They then smiled to each other.
"I did have a wonderful time," Alex said to him.
"I'm glad for that," Nate smiled back.
"And thank you for your help with the science homework," Alex said again, "and the advice on learning..."
"It's what I'm here for," Nate teased.
Alex then nodded and opened the door to head out and head home.
"See you tomorrow," Nate said to him, "Will you be needing a ride again?"
"My car should be good tomorrow," Alex answered, "but thanks for the offer... If something comes up and you need to ask Ben to change your carpool schedule, I'll let you know."
They shared a brief kiss and Alex then headed out.