FSE

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Aiden's eyes remained glued to the steak in front of him. The meat came fresh off the frying pan just a minute ago, and he could hear it sizzle. He was hungry, and it looked good. He could only focus on the grilled outside and how hot and tender it would be in the middle.

He could barely recognize his hands straining at the table's edge, contorting, growing claws. Sparse tufts of orange fur grew out far more numerous than before. He only faintly recalled that people above him would hear him if he dared to snarl. Those were all thoughts holed up in the back of his mind. Right now, he wanted that meat. He almost felt his breathing work up into a pant.

"Aiden?" asked his roommate in front of him, waving a hand gently to grab his attention. "You're still with me?"

Aiden nodded. "I'm here, I'm here," he said, but the words were struggling to come out of his mouth. They didn't want to form words. The words wanted to procrastinate and hide in fear. Emotions craved to rule. He tried to shift his body into it to convey those words. He did not know how to say 'I am here' with his body except to exist. He sat upright, leaning over. He was already a foot taller than when he first sat down.

His eyes drew back from the human before him to the food on their plate.

William sighed. "You want it?"

Aiden could feel saliva pool in his mouth. He wanted to snatch it and eat it right there, but William had done some trickery that kept him at least domesticated enough to wait. Even as he sat on the chair, the world around him became smaller, the steak filling his view. His ears twitched as the tingle of fur grew up on his head. He tensed and untensed as the changes moved little by little, creeping along agonizingly slow.

Shifting was always a challenge. Aiden wanted freedom but didn't want to damage things he had spent so long obtaining. However, if he held on too tight, the bonds holding the beast within broke free anyway. He had to let it out, lead it out, show it the way, and guide it to feel good without breaking his wallet.

William looked mournfully at the steak, then tried to shuffle it using a knife and a fork.

Aiden was getting impatient. The vestige of the tail that had started to grow in was already twitching in irritation at the speed. His eyes twitched, his ears twitched, his nose twitched, his fingers and claws fidgeted, and his toes burst through his socks as they wriggled around in near agony while trying to keep still. The human looked so clumsy and slow.

William put the steak on the knife, sliding one way as it slipped on the badly centered cutlery. He overadjusted, and the meat slipped from his grip, flinging the steak over by accident.

Aiden didn't have to think before muscle memory and instinct took over. He didn't have time to process the color or texture before opening his mouth wide. Mind-numbing and jarring pain blinded his senses as teeth burst into place, coupled with the agony of his muzzle stretching to the point it felt like it could snap. In the blink of an eye, his newly formed muzzle snapped shut.

He didn't crunch down on it. He didn't eat it. Something stopped him. It didn't feel right. His sliver of consciousness screamed so terrifyingly to the primal beast within that his whole body froze.

Aiden lifted his tongue to feel the item in his jaw. It wasn't steak.

William's hand trembled in the muzzle, teeth firmly holding the appendage. Aiden could feel the warmth of the human's hand, his teeth hadn't bitten down hard enough to draw blood, but the temptation was there. The skin was so thin. Just a little more pressure, and it would break. It gnawed at him. He could bite the human. He could pass the shifting genes that turned him into a ferocious fox every moon.

William spoke as softly and gently as he could manage. "Aiden... you are allowed to let go."

Aiden remembered that William spoke this way to force the brain to recognize commands a certain way. It wasn't a rebuttal, as the human didn't say 'no' or scream or yell as they did in the videos. It was quiet, calm as a shaking person could be. Aiden's foggy brain could remember that. He liked being allowed to do stuff. It felt like a reward to let go. Letting go was a good thing. He liked that.

Aiden let go gently, muzzle opening forcefully wide, fighting the opposing urge. His tongue lolled out as he stared at the human with a near-unblinking expression. The werefox pulled himself back, closing his muzzle as he restrained the anguished howls in his brain with the associated dopamine hit of listening to the human.

It was a good arrangement. William was probably the only housemate that had gotten so close to his fangs, and Aiden still hadn't bitten him. The human couldn't hide the fear every time it happened, but nerves of steel managed to stop a scream. Aiden would have bitten if there had been a scream. He'd done it before.

"You can have your st-"

Aiden didn't need to hear the rest of the permission. He snapped at the steak, eating it, tearing it apart with his muzzle as he held it with what little dexterity his paws could allow. The angry and barking madness in his mind felt rewarded too. He ate the meat--hot and tender. Juice ran down his muzzle as more fur started to grow out, close to engulfing his whole body. Frazzled whiskers began to twitch as they felt the air stir from his movements.

Aiden looked back at the human. The beast in him knew that William was important, but it only reluctantly agreed not to bite or claw at him. There was a price for that, though.

Aiden locked his eyes on the human as more fur sprouted from his back. He could feel his clothes tighten over his chest, impeding him. He pulled at them uncomfortably, then tore them off like wet paper. The sound, while not the tearing of a carcass, was still thrilling to hear.

He breathed deeply, filling his lungs with life fur sprouting up his arms and the small kitchen shrinking as he crouched to fit below the ceiling. He stared at the human, a silent demand that words could never articulate, not that he could use words at this stage.

William slid off his chair, having inspected his arm. "Aiden... sit," he said carefully.

Aiden knew the word vaguely. His mind could pull apart the tone to know William had asked a question. And the gesture was something he recognized. Aiden sat, powerful haunches bunching, bulging at the legs of his pants and splitting the seams. He held a mix of werefox annoyance and a bit of human exasperation, but he wanted something from the human more than that. Something more important. Something he owed to him right now. As the largest being of the household, of his land, he wanted the human to pay his dues.

The werefox leaned forward, eyes burning into the human's. He could see that they knew exactly what he wanted.

William reached a hand up to the werefox. Slowly, the fingers extended, reaching for the size of the muzzle, and then he scratched gently under the chin.

Aiden's enormous fluffy tail whipped around, knocking over a lamp. A low, guttural growl of pleasure overtook his mind. His body reverberated with delighted rumbles as he closed his eyes. Aiden leaned his head into the pleasurable scruffs just where he liked it. Pure bliss flowed through him.

Aiden wouldn't bite him today, it seems.