"Come're Foxy!" Scott stood outside his large backyard, his breathe billowing out in the cool morning air. There was no sound and the dark haired man standing behind him grumbled something under his breath, arms folded tightly around his chest.
"Come on, man. You don't really have a pet fox, just quit the stupid act."
"Mike, who hurt you so badly you can't trust?" Scott placed a hand over his chest as if wounded. "I do have a fox and-"
"His name is Foxy," Mike finished for him, rolling his eyes. "I swear to God I don't even know why Jeremy hangs out with you."
"Probably because I'm awesome," the taller male laughed before calling for Foxy again.
"Can't we just go back to-ACK!" he jumped away from the house when a red fox came running through the dog flap on three paws, leaping straight at him.
"Foxy!" Scott crouched and held his arms out and the fox rushed at him, standing on his hind legs to place his paw on the man's shoulders. His claws were pretty sharp, so it was a good thing Scott wore a semi-thick coat. "Hi, buddy!" he spoke in a baby voice, rubbing Foxy's face with his palms, running his cheek fluff through his fingers. "Hi, hi, hi. Were you hiding in the house? You silly boy!"
The fox was fluffier than any pictures Mike had seen of one due to his winter coat, so instead of an obvious red color, he was more grey and white. His paws were still colored black, but he only had three of them. His other forearm was folded against his chest, ending abruptly where his paw would be. A yellow collar fit snugly around his neck without causing discomfort, and 'Foxy', along with Scott's address was imprinted on the name tag dangling from the collar.
As soon as Foxy's excitement about his owner returning wore off, his spun and sniffed at Mike's pant legs, occasionally nipping at the denim. "Uh..." he stumbled away from the animal, holding out a hand to try and swat him away or do something.
"It's okay," Scott pacified him, tugging on Foxy's tail to distract him momentarily. "He won't bite you. Just be careful 'round his claws. They're sharp and he might scratch you accidentally."
"Wh- is he like... a dog?" he hesitantly knelt down, allowing Foxy access to his face. Immediately he was bombarded with an onslaught of warm licks and a cold nose twitching against his skin.
"In some ways," Scott shrugged. "With a bit of cat mixed in. Either way he's an amazing pet."
"How old is he?" Mike asked, startled when Foxy suddenly took off into the backyard, racing laps around the yard, sticking close to the fence.
"Only two. He's pretty excitable." They watched while the fox paused, staring through the chain link fence at something in the distance, before doing three more laps, eventually returning to the humans. His tongue lolled out the side of the mouth and he let out small huffs of breath, regarding Mike with an oddly intelligent stare. "You can pet him," Scott motioned to him, and Mike reached out a hand, gently placing it on the top of Foxy's head. The fox loosed a loud, meow-like whine, and Mike removed his hand.
"It's okay," Scott chuckled, scratching the stubble on his cheek. "That's how he talks to people. I think he likes you."
"You think?" Mike muttered sarcastically, but tried petting him again, scratching lightly at his skull. Meowing again, Foxy started panting again, his chest heaving in small motions. He placed a paw on Mike's knee, attempting to climb up onto him. "Uh-no! Nono, down..." Whining, Foxy hopped down, snapping at Scott when he playfully tugged on his tail again. Licking his muzzle, the fox huffed another meow. Grabbing onto the fluff on his cheeks again, Scott teased his fox, tugging his head from side to side. Growling, Foxy snapped at him, and he grabbed onto his lower jaw, shaking his head as he gently knawed on his hand.
"That doesn't hurt?" Mike asked curiously, eyeing them as if his hand was going to be bitten off.
"No. He knows better than bite down hard. And anyway, he loves me too much to hurt me," Scott shook his pet's head some more. "I've taken care of him since he was a baby. I rescued him from the animal shelter I work at. He was injured and his mother killed. They wanted to put him down, and I admit that might have been the nicer course of action, but I just couldn't do it." he sadly pulled the fox closer, stroking a hand down the black fur on his spine. Foxy whined as if sensing Scott's dreary mood, placing his good paw in the crook of his elbow, licking the underside of his chin.
"Oh. Well...he seems happy here. It's better than killing him, or releasing him in the wild to be killed," Mike hoped to comfort the man.
"Maybe," Scott chuckled again, enveloping a twitching ear in his hand, running his thumb, feeling the velvety tips. "Don't you love it here, Foxy Fox?" he harassed his pet again, and Foxy latched onto his hand again, mewing as he chewed on his hand. "Yeah I thought so."
"Do you have any other pets other than like... a dog or a cat or something..." Mike trailed off and Scott shrugged.
"Not technically. I do take care of a couple other animals at the shelter by myself but I haven't brought them home. I got a few bunnies, three bear cubs, a fox cub, whom I'm hoping to take home but Foxy would have to get used to her...oh and two chickens."
"Chickens?" Mike laughed. "Among all those other animals...there's some chickens."
"I guess it's funny," Scott chortled along, shaking his head fondly when Foxy began to race around the yard again. "They'd seem a bit insignificant compared to the other animals, but I love them just the same. The pen I got them from had half their birds wiped out by coyotes and instead of selling them to someone else I'm just going to build a chicken coop in my yard," he pointed out at a small, half built hen house. "I'm trying to train Foxy not to eat them. Don't know how well that's going to work out, but it's not impossible.
Anyway. I might be able to bring the bear cubs here for a bit but they're never going to be able to go back into the wild. We couldn't find a surrogate mother when they were newborns so they weren't able to adapt in time. I could always try but it'd be easier to just send them to a better preserve somewhere.
If I were to bring the bunnies home I'd put them in my room. I bring Foxy back to the shelter some time to visit everyone who helped me take care of him when he was baby and he won't stop pestering the bunnies. He doesn't try to eat them or anything, he just bats at them and chases them around. They're starting to get used to him so hopefully I can set up a cage for them soon.
And the fox...she's going to need a bit more time to recover... We found her trapped in a barbed wire fence with multiple bite marks and gun wounds and even some injuries from smaller animals. She's too little to know how to take care of herself but Foxy seems to like her. Still don't know how he would react to sharing his space with someone else but it should be fine."
"When did you guys find her?" Mike interrupted his story telling to ask a question, petting Foxy's head when he came back to see what they were doing.
"Only a couple of weeks ago. When we found her some of the volunteers called her 'The Mangle' because she was injured so badly," he spat that sentence out like poison.
"That's awful," Mike said, knowing Scott would appreciate having someone on his side. Something told him people didn't like the way he handled the animals under his watch, but as long as they were all happy and well cared for, there was nothing wrong with it in Mike's eyes. He could tell Scott was very compassionate for them.
Opening his mouth to say something else, Scott was interrupted when Foxy whined a high pitched whine for attention, frustrated they weren't playing with him as they were before. "What?" his owner asked childishly, pulling his lips into a pout when the fox meowed again, "You are so needy," he mocked him, scratching at the fur on his neck, moving on to tap his nose when the opening arrived. In return Foxy growled a playful growl, catching his hand in his mouth a few times. He would gently chomp down a few times then let go, allowing the process to continue. Mike just smiled and shook his head.
A/N: Heyyyyyy my two favorite guards! Btw I mean Scott Cawthon in this fic as in my name for phone guy. Idk I just really wanted an AU where either Mike or Scott owned a pet fox. My inspiration for this was the youtuber Foxlabiazul and his pet fox RonRon. They're so cute. So yeah thanks to them and all.