"Thank you for dinner," Alex said to William and Martha Anderson as Nate ushered him toward the Anderson family's backdoor after dinner ended, "It was quite good."
"You're welcome," Martha gave a polite smile, "We're glad you enjoyed it."
"And it was nice to meet you," William added and offered Alex his hand.
Alex slowly took it, and found William giving him a warm and friendly handshake. In a way, it eased a lot of the fears he'd had that the Andersons wouldn't accept him as Nate's date. After all, while they could accept that Nate was gay, they could have their own preferences on specifically who Nate spent his time with. But, Alex felt quite certain that his boyfriend's parents were perfectly fine with him. That made him feel a bit more comfortable.
"Just remember to never hurt our son," William said slowly, "He deserves someone who will make him happy."
"I'm sure," Alex answered as he shook the werefox's hand, "and I have no intention of hurting anyone... and we're both feeling our way through things."
"And you have our permission to feel your way through," Martha told him as she came to stand beside her husband, "Just keep Nate happy."
Alex nodded and noted Eric moving in the background. The younger Anderson brother gave him a polite wave as Alex heard Nate open the door behind the two older teens. Before moving to follow Nate out, gave one last message to the Andersons.
"I was nice meeting you all," Alex spoke, "I hope to see more of all of you... and Eric, good luck with Julie Stovall."
"Thanks," Eric said with a smile.
"It was nice meeting you, too," William and Martha said together.
With that, Alex then left with Nate into the Anderson family's backyard, each carrying a backpack with them as they began to walk toward the woods behind the Anderson home. He smiled to Nate as he walked along with some feeling of confidence and relief at how things had gone. They had gone well with the only concern being voiced from Nate's parents being Nate's happiness. And Alex did honestly wish to do that for Nate. Having a real boyfriend for the first time in his life made Alex very keen on keeping Nate happy, as it would be the prime mean to help keep himself happy.
"Well... that went quite well," Alex said off-hand as they passed out of the lawn area and into the woods, "And they didn't hate me..."
"I told you they wouldn't," Nate told him with a playful shove to Alex's shoulder, "and besides... they'd have no reason to hate you. It's not like they walked in on us having sex..."
Alex nodded, remembering his father catching them the previous day in his basement. That was a certainly embarrassing moment, though he knew that his own parents weren't going to just hate Nate for it. They had long known of Alex's sexuality, and had been very supportive, and as weres, they were also well aware of the high libido levels that Nate now had and that Alex had had all his life after his first transformation.
"True," Alex chuckled, "but they're both weres. Remember that. They're feeling the same new high libido that you've gained... and as such... sex isn't that as potentially shameful for us as it is for Normals."
Nate nodded, "But there's still the "right" way to do things. Weres may be more okay with these things and can accept them... I do still wish that when I met your dad that that didn't happen with my pants down... You know?"
Alex only chuckled and shook his head, "Just remember that if you met them at a Pack meeting, we'd all be in Wolf form... so we'd all have our pants down."
Nate nodded as they walked along, ducking under some low laying branches as they moved through the woods.
"I'd suppose both of us have gone through adventures with being nervous over meeting our respective parents," Nate chuckled, "Embarrassment for me...and nervous fear for you."
Alex stopped and turned to face Nate for a moment and shook his head. He placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest to the best degree that he could and gave a small smile. Alex hoped this made him look tougher for the moment.
"Hey... I'm brave and fear nothing!" Alex declared.
"Sure," Nate teased back, "saying, "what if they don't like me" was really brave."
"That wasn't fear," Alex answered, "that was just being a bit nervous, that's all."
"Sure," Nate smiled.
The two came closer and loosely hugged with their arms wrapped around their partner's waist. It held them together and allowed both of them to smile to each other. Things felt right between them, and meeting the Andersons had gone very well. Alex felt far better after having met Nate's parents and was more than ready to let their relationship continue to grow.
"Regardless... you would agree that the meeting went well, right?" Alex answered.
"Of course," Nate smiled, "and was quite a learning experience."
"Oh...? And what did we learn today?" Alex wondered.
Nate reached up and slowly ran his fingers along Alex's jaw and gave a smile.
"That my boyfriend knows his way around the kitchen," Nate smiled, "a big plus for me... about all I can cook is something you'd use in the microwave... with instructions that go along with what you'd put in the microwave."
"I could give you some lessons," Alex offered.
"That could be fun," Nate answered.
The two stood quietly for a few moments, and smiled to the other. Everything felt good and felt right. Nate even felt perfectly willing to let Alex give him some cooking lessons. He knew that his parents' marriage was rapidly healing. They could go out on a date some night and if he had some lessons, Nate could do the cooking for him and Eric. He also felt good in his knowledge Alex had gotten along well with his parents. It'd actually give him some more confidence in getting advice on helping his relationship with Alex continue to grow. After all, if his parents didn't like Alex, they wouldn't be supportive of the relationship. The fact that they did like him would allow their relationship to grow and would allow both of them to get advice, and that made their relationship feel even more "right" to Nate.
They gazed into each others eyes for a few moments before Nate leaned forward to kiss Alex. Alex eagerly returned it and the two of them held each other close. They were so engrossed in their own moment that they didn't notice the bushes rustle a little way down the hill from them. After coming up for air, the two smiled to each other again and resumed their walk through the woods to Alex's home. Eventually the lights came into view, though Alex also noted that the only room that had a light on at the moment was his parents' bedroom.
"I really did have a great time, Nate," Alex said slowly to him, "thanks for introducing me to your folks."
"It's no problem," Nate said back, "in time... you'll get to know them and will find that they are both pretty cool."
"I'm sure," Alex answered, and then added in a teasing tone of voice, "but I'll say that I think my parents are cooler."
Nate only shook his head at the comment.