The Witching Hour

CW: Aphobia, transphobia

I know it's Pride- but... Kinda remembered something so... This is now a thing.

The wind blew softly, coming from the open window. I smiled softly watching her lay there, ensuring she was covered from such wind knowing she hated the cold. I watched her as her chest rose and dropped as she breathed. The smallest tilt of her head as whatever her brain was playing inside her head occured. I tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear before leaning forward, kissing her forehead. 

I inhaled the sweet fluffy yet thick and heavy smell that always seemed to surround her. It reminded me of dark chocolate, but muted and twisted. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's her: my Alyse. 

Eternity seemed to pass within a few minutes and before I knew it, it was morning. I was greeted with a wonderful poke on the forehead. I chuckled, eyes sleepily opening. Her bedroom window was still open, but the Sun shone bright on us. Especially her, she looked like an angel. 

"Morning Luca." She whispered leaning forehead, kissing where she poked. I let out a sigh wrapping my arms around her. 

"Morning beautiful. How did you sleep?" I mutter, hiding my face in her long hair. Her shoulders shaked a little with a tiny laugh as I did.

"Alright, you?" She asked stretching a little. I frowned a little, pulling away as she readjusted. When she pat her lap, I quickly returned to the snuggles.

"About the same." I sigh. She playfully rolled her eyes and being the dumb butt I was my heart dropped. This moment, her looking away, that adorable smirk on her face, perfectly describes her. Gorgeous and not a toy.

"You hungry?" She asks combing her hand through my hair. The back of my neck tickled a little. "I was thinking we could go to like-" She paused. "I dunno… What sounds good?" She asks looking at me. I stare into her eyes, and only register she was waiting for a reply a few seconds later. I let out an awkward nervous laugh before finally answering her.

"I'm not sure-" She likes sweets.. "Donuts?" I offer, I felt my stomach be all 'Hell no!', but my girl gets my girl likes. Her eyes lighten up. 

"Really?" She asks surprised. I smile and as if it knew, my stomach shut up.

"Of course hun." I say softly, patting her on the head. "Anything for ya." She grins.

"Let's go then yeah!" She exclaims, grabbing both of my hands. I squeak as she climbs off of her bed, pulling me with her.

"Alyse!" The two of us burst into laughter as we hit the floor. "What the heck?!" She merely continues her glorious laugh before pulling me into a tight hug. 

"Sorry Luca dear." She says a bit quick, landing a kiss on my lips. My jaw clenched a little, but I return the peck. 

She  shifts around a bit before the two of us use each other's weight to pull each other up, us both standing. I sigh softly before pulling a hand away to ruffle her hair. "Let's go get your donuts, hm?" I ask with a tiny smile. She smiled.

"Yep!"

We walked down the sidewalk hand in hand. The Sun was out, surprisingly and because of this my girl decided to hum a tune. I smiled, leaning against her. "Do you wanna head to our cafe or to that new place near Enterwood?" I ask staring at the sidewalk. Her hum shifted as she thought about it.

"How about the new place?" She replies with a question. The downside of being indecisive queers. I let out a long hum as I myself thought about it. Lately I've been thinking about going to the cafe again as it's a comfort place of mine, but then again.. She's been wanting to go somewhere new..

"Yeah, that sounds gut." 

"Woo!" She cheers, raising a fist. I chuckle but couldn't help but think that she'd do her usual thing of quietly complaining if I said otherwise. My heart dropped a bit as I realized that, but being optimistic I shoved those thoughts away.

My girl continued her humming tune and within a few minutes my eyes widen. I glance upwards and immediately smile. It was starting to sprinkle. Alyse groaned, pulling me closer. Mostly to keep herself warm. I wrapped my arm around her, ignoring her quiet complaint. 

The clouds darkened by the second and with that my smile grew. It quickly started pouring and while I enjoyed it, I felt a bit conflicted. Alyse didn't, and while I had a jacket, I didn't want to get soaked(like your mom last night), but my girl hated the cold more than I. "Aw jeez.." Alyse groaned to herself.

I let out a small sigh before pulling away. "Here ya go hun." I say taking off my jacket, putting it on her shoulders. She looks at me and her face glows. 

"Thank you!" She says, her face glowing like the Sun this morning. I chuckle feeling my chest fill with gay warmth. It's probably not good, but masculine stereotypes gave me so much gender euphoria. 

The two of us entered the new mini mall. I gulped seeing the size of the place. It was so much bigger than I expected. "Woah- this is so cool!" Alyse said in an excited whisper. I smile a bit. 

"Yeah." I agree. While I didn't like the size of the place, it was neat. Just from what I saw there was a huge food court, the usual Hot Topic and Spencer's, Claire's and Earth Bound. 

"So, Luca, where do you wanna go?" She asks whispering in my ear. I clench my jaw, not loving how the hairs on my neck stood up. My stomach churned a little.

I shrug: "Ich weiß nicht." She sighs.

"Come on- you go to the mall every time with your dad, you seriously don't know where to go?" She frowns. I give her a look. 

"Just because my Vati und Ich gehen zu-"

"Luca. English." She snaps. I blink, feeling my chest tighten.

"Just because my dad and I go to the mall doesn't mean I want to or know where to go, Alyse." I say tiredly. She's in German too, why is she so upset?- "Where do you want to go?" I ask looking around once more. I hated how dry and tight my throat was becoming. I didn't want to cry, not now, not here and not in front of her. See, boys don't cry. Popped into my head and I took a deep breath ignoring the words of the past.

She let out a long sigh. "Let's go to Hot Topic." She says after a few moments. I nod and soon our hands come together once more. 

We enter our go to place to shop, splitting ways. I headed towards the tee shirts and her towards the jewelry. I bit the inside of my lip staring at the various anime shirts, shirts with snarky comments, etc.

I inhaled sharply feeling lips at the base of my neck. I immediately played it off as a laugh of sorts. "Hey Alyse.." I say quietly, reaching my arm around to scratch the top of her head. 

"Come on," She says happily. The girl I love to death grabbed my hand, gently tugging me to the jewelry. "I want to show ya something." I meet her eyes and a feeling of guilt comes over me. I should be happy a girl like her wants to kiss me. Maybe I just don't like receiving? That's normal, right? I wondered as she showed me the various chokers, necklaces and earrings.

I chuckled. "You want a few?" I ask smiling, looking over at her. She looks at me with wide eyes. 

"Yeah-" I ignored the obnoxious laughter nearby as my girl beamed. I walk over, pulling out my wallet out of my jacket. She giggles, setting a hand on my shoulder. I open my wallet grabbing a few bucks, thumbing through them and counting.

"We can spend thirty somethin' here, luv-" I start.

"Oh she has her thinking they're together!" A voice laughed. I ignored it them. I look up at her and freeze. Her eyes flicker back to their usual light and a smile graced her face. My heart fell. I felt like vomiting. 

"Misgendering and manipulation." I say coldly. Her eyes darken and look behind me. My eyes follow her gaze to a bunch of kids from our school. My jaw clenches. I nod carefully putting my money back. "Okay." I comment, facing her again. I keep my jaw tight as I nod. 

"Please, don't do it." She groaned, rolling her eyes. Just like that, something I found sweet and confident was dark and cruel.

"I'll see you in fourth period, Alyse." I turn around and imagine her folding her arms.

"Alright, fine with me." She replies. "I'll find someone who actually likes kissing." I stumble to a stop.

"Like a normal person!" One from the group says. I felt my throat tighten.

"Not to mention- maybe an actual guy.." Another comments. Bile climbed up my throat.

"I told you giving Lucie that note was a bad idea.." Alyse whispers. I felt my cheeks get wet, and quickly, I made my way out of Hot Topic. 

How can everything seem so loud yet so quiet?

How can someone, one who I cuddled, talked to, trust- I make a sharp turn entering the hall to the bathrooms. I hit my back against the wall. I found a choked sob push through, attacking my throat and eyes. I looked down forcing my eyes to stay wide open. I clenched my jaw. 

Don't cry.

Don't. Cry.

Don't- I slowly fell down the wall. Cry…

"Crap!" I whisper. And just like that, the dam broke. My chest tightened. My wallet fell out of my hand. 

My hands hid my eyes.

And all their words repeated in my head.