Sullivan was reading a Modern Mechanics magazine in his room with the door open. He'd left Haben and Robin sleeping down the hall, still keeping an ear tuned toward them protectively. When Basil walked by and then paused in the doorway, Sullivan looked up with a frown. "Wendell said you'd be around. What do you want?" Sullivan spoke unkindly, but not threateningly. He didn't have it in him to threaten the new kid just then.

A few steps behind Basil came Austin and he put his hand on the small of Basil's back as he moved to walk around him. When he saw Sullivan sitting in there he stopped and look at him from around Basil. "We are going downstairs to get something to eat. Did you want to come down with us?"

Surprised to see Austin touching Basil at all, Sullivan frowned, then closed his magazine. His initial impulse was to say he wasn't hungry, but he wanted to go see what was going on. "All right." He stood up and went to follow them. Basil was surprised that Sullivan was going to come with them. He sort of didn't want him to go.

Moving from around Basil, Austin started down the steps first. He smelled strongly of the other wolf after having slept several hours pressed up against him, wrapped up in the blanket his mother had made.

Sullivan watched them go, smirking ever so slightly. Basil caught the smirk and didn't understand it, but he moved a little closer to Austin because Sullivan made him uncomfortable. When they got to the kitchen, Sullivan started to make them all something, forcing himself into some sense of good will, even if he was greatly frustrated by this. Basil sat down. "You're Sullivan? It's nice to meet you."

"Sullivan this is Basil, he's new around here. Obviously." Austin went to get some sodas out of the fridge for them and then he wandered over to sit at the table, motioning for Basil to come and sit with him while Sullivan started to cook.

Sullivan nodded just a little, making some indecipherable grunt at the introduction. The grilled cheeses didn't take long, but they were a tad burnt. Still, Sullivan was improving his cooking because he'd been trying to cook for Robin and Haben. Setting the tray on the table, he sat across from them.

Austin had actually gotten used to having burnt food as cooked by Sullivan. Cutting the sandwich in half for himself he leaned back and ate one whole half in two bites. Then he glanced over at Basil to see if he was going to eat the sandwich or not.

The silence was almost comical, and Sullivan sat easily in it. Basil, however, did not like it so well. "It's nice weather here. I like the cold." He forced some meaningless chit chat and Sullivan looked at Austin as if to say: really?

Austin just looked at Sullivan as if to say 'what? Because really he thought that Basil was slightly charming. Of course he still didn't know how to take the boy entirely. "Go ahead and eat, it'll get cold. Then it will be cold and burnt and it's not the best combination."

"You don't have to do everything he says. He thinks he's the boss, but he's not." Sullivan laughed a little, offering Basil a grin. Basil looked back and forth between then two and chewed his lip. "He's been really nice to me. He isn't bossy." Basil stuck up for Austin and Sullivan smirked again. "Oh, I'm sure he's very nice to you."

"You don't have to eat it, Basil. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. You have to acquire the taste for burned things if you want to eat anything that Sullivan cooks." He tipped back in his chair a little bit.

Sullivan might have been offended by that if part of him didn't feel like there was fondness behind Austin's barb. "So have you fucked him yet?" Sullivan didn't even seem angry, just being blunt. Basil, on the other hand nearly choked on the bite of sandwich he'd politely taken.

"No, but I am not like you. I don't fuck every new comer that makes their way into the house." Not that Sullivan did either but he certainly had plenty more notches on his belt than Austin did. "Maybe after we finish eating you can ask Basil if he'd like to join the rakns among the people that have been on their back in your bed. I don't know though, Basil doesn't strike me as the sort to want to get any disease you might be carrying." not that he could.

"You fucked Lewis. That's the only newcomer that's been fucked lately." He looked right at Basil when he said it, but the boy was already gathering up his plate and taking it to the sink. He felt sick to his stomach at the tension between them. He thought he'd shared a moment with Austin the other night, but now he wasn't positive.

"Sex with Lewis wasn't like what it is with you and all your lovers." He got up and went to put his plate in the sink so that he could go upstairs. Whether it was with Basil or without him was up to the other wolf.

"And what was it like?" Sullivan said calmly, not allowing this conversation to rile him. Basil just stood there, looking at them, knowing it was rude, but wanting to hear it.

"It was sweet and it wasn't just for the sake of getting off. We enjoyed each other. All of the time spent together not just the time we spent in bed together." He pushed his chair in. "But I don't think you know what it is like to spend time with someone that doesn't involve sex or bullying."

"Is that how you really think of me?" Sullivan didn't care that Basil was there listening. "Fuck you if you don't think this is killing me." And his words were utterly bare, a waver in his voice. "And if Lewis wasn't just about the sex, then you fall in love with someone way too fast. Watch out, Bas." He stood up and left, slamming the back door behind him.

Austin hadn't said that Lewis was love, he just said he wasn't only sex. When Sullivan was gone he shook his head and looked over at Basil. "It's complicated.  I'm going upstairs. I'm sorry you had to see that."

Basil wouldn't look at Austin. "It's okay." He said quietly, not moving from where he stood. It was probably foolish to be disappointed, but he was.

Austin shook his head and kept on going, walking up the stairs and down the hall towards his bedroom because he wanted to lay down. He knew asking Sullivan to join them was wrong.

Basil didn't follow, instead leaving the mess of lunch and going to find something else to keep his mind off of everything that was going on.