"Hey babe?" I asked and turned around in my seat.

"Yes?" Sero asked back and looked up at me.

"So I'm going home this weekend to visit my parents." I told him and set my elbows on his desk with my chin in may hands. "Do you want to go with?"

"Really?" He asked, and looked shocked that I even suggested it. "Do your parents know about us?"

"My Mom does, but my Dad doesn't." I told him. "Dad's the old school one."

"He's going to kill me when he finds out." Sero said and put his hands on his face.

"No he's not, because he's not going to find out." I told him. "We've been dating for months now, and I haven't claimed you. Which I think I deserve a high-five for." I said as Mina was walking down the aisle and she gave me a high five just at the mention of it.

"What did I high-five for?" She asked and sat at the desk next to mine.

"That I haven't given in to claiming him." I said.

"Oh yeah." Mina said and gave me another high-five.

"I don't think it's a good idea." Sero told me.

"What's not a good idea?" Mina asked.

"Me taking him home for the weekend." I told her.

"Oh, yeah. Bad call." She said. "With what you told me about your parents, that's just asking for your parents to put his head on a stick."

"See." Sero asked and pointed to Mina. "She gets it."

"Sero I promise you will be completely safe." I told him and grabbed his hands. "I will be there the whole time, and my parents love you."

"Yeah when we were kids, before we started dating." He argued with me.

"And my Dad has no idea we're dating." I argued back. "Come on it's only like a day and a half that we'll be there, I'll be right next to you the whole time." He took a deep breath in and sighed it out at me, before he smiled. "Yay." I cheered and clapped my hands.

"So do you want roses or lilies at your funeral?" Mina asked Sero, and. I smacked her arm.

"I think lilies are more appropriate." Sero answered.

"Sero you're not going to die." I told him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I am totally going to die." Sero said as we stepped off the train. 

"You're not going to die." I told him and looped my arm through his as we walked towards my parents house.

"So what does your Mom think of all of this?" Sero asked.

"She supports it." I told him. "She doesn't believe in the silly, unnecessary traditions."

"And what traditions does she believe in?" He asked me, and we walked up the path to my front door.

"Hopefully the one's you'll never have to see." I told him and opened the front door. "Hello~!" I called out in the house.

"In the kitchen sweetie!" I heard Mom call back. I slipped my shoes off at the door and rushed down the hallway. 

"Hi Mama!" I yelled and we hugged in the kitchen. 

"Oh sweetie I've missed you so much!" She said, and rubbed my shoulders. "Oh look at you, you've gotten stronger!" She said, and we both laughed. That was until she looked behind me, and she lost her smile. 

"Hi Mrs. l/n." Sero said from the kitchen doorway and waved.

"Y/n, what is he doing here?" Mom asked me, and she looked a bit panicked.

"I brought him to visit." I said.

"I see that, but did you even think about your Father?" She asked me.

"Yes, I did." I said. "Dad likes Sero. It'll be fine."

"Your scents are all over each other!" She said.

"Well we're friends and we traveled together." I said and shrugged.

"I told you this was a bad idea." Sero said.

"Sero sweetie, I'm sorry." My mom said and walked away from me and hugged Sero. "It's very nice to see you again, and my you've gotten tall." She said as she took a good look at him. 

"Yeah, it's been a while." Sero said and rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's just . . . . . Has y/n explained everything to you?" She asked and looked back at me.

"I've explained the important parts." I said.

"And what to you is unimportant?" She asked me, and put her hands on her hips.

"We can talk about that later." I said, and heard the front door open. I walked passed my Mom and Sero and into the hallway.

"Hi Dad!" I said and ran to him.

"Kit! It's so good to see you!" He said and we hugged. "What's that smell?" He pulled away from me and sniffed me. 

"Hi Mr. l/n." Sero said from the hallway, and my mom stood next to him with a smile on her face. 

"Sero!" Dad called and walked down the hallway and they shook hands. "I didn't know that y/n was bringing a friend."

"I thought you guys would like a visit." I said and stood next to Sero.

"Well it has been a while." Dad said and pulled Sero into a hug. "How have you been?" 

They moved into the living room and sat down to talk, while my mom pulled me into the kitchen.

"What did you not tell him?" She asked me just quiet enough that Dad wouldn't hear us, and I started helping her with dinner.

"What will happen if Dad finds out." I whispered back.

"Are you crazy?" She asked, wanting to scream at me. "That's the most important part."

"Well it's not important right now." I told her.

"You should tell him." She told me.

"Well I don't think here is the most appropriate place to talk about it." I said.

"And here isn't exactly the most appropriate place for him either." She told me.

"Well it's not like I claimed him." I said. 

"And that's why it's even more dangerous." My mom said and held my shoulders. "If you're father finds out, Sero will be seen as a threat. If you claim him, it won't be as serious."

"Theoretically." I said. "It's only going to be worse if I claim him now, Dad will rip him to shreds."

"But if you claim him, you could fight for him." She told me.

"What do you think I'm doing here?" I asked her, and tried not to yell. "All I've been doing is fighting for him. Fighting to keep him, while still fighting to not claim him."

"And why is that?" She questioned me. "Why don't you claim him?"

"Because I don't want him bound down to me." I said. "I don't want it to be like that for him."

"Then make it different for him." She told me and held my face in her hands. "He's not a fox, so the claim will be different for him." 

"It will?" I asked. I didn't know that there were different rules that applied with non-fox claims.

"Yes. He'll be under your protection, but none of the serious stuff like what me and you're father go through." She laughed for a second. "I was like you once."

"What?" I asked her.

"Mhm." She hummed. "I was in love with a boy, who wasn't like us. But I was about to be arranged to your father. And in hopes to call off the wedding, I claimed him. But once your father found out . . . . . . Well you know what happened." 

"You never told me." I said, and I could finally see why she was so worried. With the look in her eye, I could tell that she was still in love with the boy.

"Claim him, before it's too late." She told me.