Not All Men Are Wolves (Chapter 2)
Ello everyone! I meant to have this chapter up much sooner but my old computer ended up finally kicking the bucket and I had to start all over since I didn't upload this to my Google Drive. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I'll be working on the next one very shortly. I won't make any promises on when it'll be uploaded because anything can happen but if you all end up really liking this series then I'll try and put a bit more focus on it (and not spend too much time playing Dark Souls III)
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Chapter 2: Expectations
Changing my shift from 8 p.m. - 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. is not a change my body took kindly. My mind was screaming at itself and asking why I even did this to begin with, and my only response was "I thought he was attractive." No matter how many cups of coffee I make, my eyelids felt the need to close and my legs the need to collapse.
Since it wasn't night time, I wasn't paired with Germaine and her colorful personality. Today I was put with Robert, a tall lion with a long mane, green eyes and square glasses. He was usually quiet but had a tendency to talk to himself when no customers were around: quipping sarcastically and just generally bitching out at the ones he didn't like. At times it was entertaining but mostly it just sounded like pointless whining. I didn't dream to be working at a diner either but I'm here anyway so I can make a living and reside in the town that's made me happy. In fact, when I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher more than anything. I like helping people and I thought that would be the best job for me, but I wasn't in the best financial situation so I couldn't afford to go to college. Eh, maybe in another a few years, I can consider the possibility.
While having that thought, I pictured Tristan walking down a school hallway and then myself walking towards him from the other direction and then we ran towards each other and prepared for an embrace, and then I snapped out of my fantasy and realized Robert was staring at me, shaking his head in disgust. "You people and your silly fantasies."
"How do you know if I was having a fantasy? Maybe I was just happy because of nice weather."
He scoffed and combed his massive and barely kept mane. "You seem as lovesick as Germaine."
"One, I'm not lovesick. Two, don't make fun of Germaine, and three, I just met someone and I thought he was attractive. It's just an attraction, nothing more."
"So you saw one attractive person and you're already jumping on board?"
"I didn't say that." This oversized feline really wasn't a pleasant person to be with.
"Even so, you're in a town full of potential mates. There's no need to be desperate anymore."
Desperate? "What do you mean by that?"
"Well," he began, marveling at his own claws. "Back in your little hometown where you'd have a 1/10 chance of finding someone who was homosexual, you'd almost be afraid of losing an opportunity for love by not taking them in."
"I never resorted to that, I was patient." Most of the time.
"Maybe, but I'm sure you can think of a few who weren't that patient." His grin was irritating but what he said wasn't completely wrong. When you live in a small town and you're as gay as Rob Halford, you don't have many opportunities to be picky. Not a very fun factor in small town life.
The day went on and Robert just kept repeating his shtick, and I kept preparing for the moment that a certain dragon would come by, but that time didn't come today. Germaine came by and asked if I wanted to stay around but my legs and eyes convinced me to say no. I hung my apron and moseyed on home with a noticeable sense of disappointment looming over me. Who knows what could have happened, but I'll try to stay optimistic. I was stupid to expect the best to happen on the first day he said he could "possibly" be around. Maybe things didn't go well at the school, which is not hard to imagine.
Back home, my school wasn't exactly the most accepting place if you wanted to flaunt your sexuality. There was an LGBT club but it was small and the problem with being a teenager in high school was that as soon as you showed any sign of being "weird", you were automatically penalized for it by the less intelligent, self-confidence deficient students who had nothing better to do than berate you for one aspect of your person. I wasn't one to be open about my sexuality, only telling close friends but apparently I showed it quite easily. How the hell do you show off your sexuality? Especially bisexuality? It's not like I was wearing rainbows, streamers and taking after Elton John impersonators. I was a wolf with extremely well kept fur, black attire and a quiet demeanor. I wasn't roaming the halls telling everyone I liked it both ways and was looking for someone to experiment with. Of course when you're young, everyone assumes that you're experimenting and will get over it when you're in college. Well I'm 25 and still finding attraction in both, so I guess I won that argument because you don't hear of experimentation nearly as much in your mid-20s.
So even with that news going around the school, it's not like I was having every gay fur leave their numbers in my locker. As a byproduct of my species and lack of speech, I was just seen as the scary gay wolf (of course they just saw me as gay and not bi). Wolves were not the most common folk back home but my parents wanted to be part of the town because they felt it would be a nice place to raise three children. My type were somehow seen as predatory or sexually deviant to everyone else, male or female. Just dating other townsfolk was never easy because the parents of potential partners were always suspicious of my intentions, thinking I would use their daughter for sex once and leave. No thanks, I've already seen enough screw ups at my high school, I really don't need to contribute to that statistic.
Reminiscing on those awkward times makes me wonder what Souhou is like for Tristan, then again assuming he liked males might have been a terrible mistake on my part. No, wait, it was a really dumb mistake that's going to potentially make my hopes inflate and crash like the goddamn Hindenburg. I was ready to pull at the fur on my head until I heard my phone ring; it was Germaine.
"Ello?"
"Leon, have you reached your apartment yet?" There was urgency in her voice. Germaine almost never panics about anything.
"No, I've got a little while to go. Why?"
"There's been a storm of people here at the restaurant and the fryer isn't working. I need help while I fix it! Please!" My legs ached still but I knew that if I said no my heart would ache more in the morning for not helping out a friend.
"I'm on my way back now."
"Thank you! Please hurry!"
Slamming my heel into the ground, I turn and dash back to the diner. My legs scream and protest, probably wanting to call me an idiot if they could. My heart raced as I turned corner after corner through illuminated streets and partying folk. Discarded glow sticks and spilled drinks were my biggest hazards but I managed to jump, slide and pivot in an almost rhythmic fashion, giving a sense of adrenaline before finally reaching my destination. I recovered my breath and realized one galling thing: there was virtually no one at the diner. I couldn't even see anyone inside. My eyebrows lowered as I opened the door and gazed around inside my workplace. Then I looked over to my right and immediately jumped when I saw a familiar face. He chuckled as he drank some coffee and rustled his clothes. Instead of wearing a suit, he was only wearing a collared shirt with the tie slumped over his shoulder and the top buttons undone. I tried to regain my composure and waved as best as I could. He gestured for me to sit down; I looked around to see that Germaine was not around. I nodded to the dragon and grabbed a cup of coffee before sitting down. We may have been across from each other before but never this close. Before, I was standing behind a counter and he was sitting on the violet stool. Now we were sitting across from each other and my legs could touch his. Calm down Leon, act natural.
"Another hard day at work I presume?" I muster before drinking my coffee a bit too fast.
He let out a long sigh and tilted his head back. "Oh you don't know the half of it."
"Well you haven't even told me, so tell of your adventures today." Coming off as snarky to hide my lack of confidence.
He gave a small chuckle and cracked his knuckles. "The meetings went ok but reporting that news back to the school didn't go as well as I thought it would."
"What happened?"
"Some of the older staff accused me of trying to lure children into gay propaganda and sexual deviancy."
"Seriously?" They're not children, they're high school students and a gay pride parade doesn't guarantee deviancy.
"One of them was trying to get a cheap shot on me for being a gym teacher, saying I didn't have the authority to dictate what the students should learn outside of school. Then they accused me of being gay and wanting to 'convert' the kids to my 'side' as they put it."
"That's bullshit."
He tugged at his collar, and his face reflected the frustration in his voice. "They can't just let personal beliefs get in the way of their jobs. These are not kids, they're teenagers and school needs to be able to influence them in a positive way. This period of four years could be the most influential time of their life before adulthood."
I extended my hand and covered his free one. "I'm sorry...I wish there was something I could do. What happened afterwards?" If I had no fur, everyone would see the red on my face.
He gazed at my hand for a second but didn't move. "Well the principal was fine with my proposal but asked me a lot of insulting questions anyway, regarding my sexuality and intentions."
"I'm surprised she was accepting at all."
"Me too. So since the trip is my own idea, I'm paying all the fees and if the trip ends up being a flop, they might never consider it again."
"Can you afford all of that?"
He sighed and tensed up the hand I was covering. "I don't think so. In other words, I got permission in the most minimal of ways, so I'm responsible for everything and the school won't back me up."
I unintentionally squeezed on his hand and he pulled away. "D-don't worry, I'll figure everything out...eventually."
"Tristan, I know that I can't possibly understand all the weight that must be on you, but that doesn't mean I can't try and help."
He crossed his arms on the table and stared into his coffee. "You're awfully quick to want to help me. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful, but you only met me last week." A small smile came across his face, a nice contrast to before when it seemed like he wanted to rip out his non-existent hair.
"I'm not from Souhou, but I've seen many kids never get the experiences that you want to give them. Experiences to be themselves and feel honest and free."
He raised his head, that smile becoming more prominent. "You're a kind soul. Germaine told me a lot about you and she seemed to be right."
I chuckled but was internally bugged by the myriad of things Germaine could have told him.
"Where is that cat by the way?"
"She said she had to go and get more supplies for the inevitable midnight rush."
"Reasonable enough." Bullshit, Germaine. You set me up! Thank you though!
"So you're sure about wanting to help me?" He said, packing up his suit into a backpack.
"Of course. When do we start?"
"How about this Saturday?"
"Sounds good." He smiled and walked with me outside before gesturing towards his car. "Need a ride?"
"Sure." Without even thinking about it, I sat in the front seat with Tristan in his black Pyrus, a box style car with beat up seats and non-functional seatbelts in the back.
"Yes, I know, quite the fancy car." He said sarcastically.
"Hey, as long as it doesn't fall apart on the way there, I'm good." I replied with a forced chuckle.
Synthpop played on the car stereo, being the only noise outside of me pointing where to go. Along the way, I saw Germaine walking on the sidewalk, waving her fingers and adorning the biggest grin I have ever seen on her. Tristan honked his horn at her and arrived at my apartment shortly after.
"Thanks for the ride, Tristan." I said as I undid my seatbelt.
"My pleasure, Leon. Here." He handed me a piece of paper. "Phone number and email address. Call me on Friday so we can discuss more before we initiate our plan."
"Alright," I said, nodding my head eagerly. "You can do the same or even earlier if you get impatient." My voice almost sounded giddy as I handed him my contact information while he kept his cool demeanor throughout.
He looked at me and I could almost see a glimmer in his eyes. "Good night, Leon. I'll see you soon."
"Yeah...see you soon. Sleep well."
He smiled and drove off into the night. While looking into his eyes I almost wanted to invite him to my apartment for more time together but my common sense kicked my stupidity in the gut and told me to keep it in my pants. I wasn't even thinking of that, brain! To which my brain replies that I thought of such possibilities since he invited me into his car. Shut up! No I didn't!
I sigh and cease argument within myself and drop into bed early that night. It was only 7 but I felt like ending the day on a high note.