Bare Your Fangs

Part Two

It had been three days since... what should I call it? The biting? Yeah, sure.

It had been three days since "The biting", and Tal and I had never been closer. Literally, everyday we met was snuggle time, and I was okay with that. Getting use to these arms was something I would have to overcome no matter how hard it was. Flinch! It would happen a few times. If he yawned and revealed those gnarly chompers, my body would go all fucky wucky.

"You know Tal," I said, balled up in his arms like a pillow. "I've never actually heard your hyena laugh."

"What?" He got a bit sleepy as his voice deepened.

"I said I've never heard you hyena laugh."

"Why? Do you wanna hear it?"

"I guess when the time comes, but I'll wait though."

My vision began to fade as I fell asleep in his arms. "Do you wanna try to get me to do it?" So close, but, worth it to talk to Tal.

"You know what, sure." I got up, crossed both of his arms, and sat on his stomach. "Can I show you something?"

"Yeah, what?"

"Okay, so my friend showed me this once. She said if you cross your arms and someone pushes hard enough, it makes you laugh your real life."

"Oh, do you think your strong enough?" He teased.

"Shut up, at least let me try."

"Okay,"

He breathed out, settled his arms, and relaxed his chest. PUSH! As hard as I possibly could, and yet, nothing. I could barely get him to compress his torso, let alone get him to laugh. But he still did. It started off as a small chuckle.

"What?" I asked giddy.

"Your just trying so hard,"

"Oh come on, that's not fair!"

No matter how hard I pushed, it wouldn't do anything except have him laugh at me more. And laugh more. And more and more until he erupted into a spontaneous laughter.

It was... ugly, I can't lie.

That was probably the other reason he kept it at a chuckle and nothing else. Hyaenidae have what is probably the ugliest laugh of all time. It's squeaky and made sound like an evil witch. But, I loved it nonetheless. I wanted him to laugh like this all the time. Probably the best quality about it was how real it felt. Being able to tell what he was really feeling made being around him that less nerve racking.

"I love you Tal,"

. . .

Everything had been going so well between me and Tal. That hurricane of emotions that had trapped me in first moment we kissed still had a hold over my mind. The thought that me and him are together. Together.

I had never had a boyfriend, or girlfriend, up until that point. It almost felt unreal. Death, a very real outcome of our relationship had loomed over my head with every single moment we shared. The possibility may had been zero, but even that 0.01% chance left me in a state of restlessness as I begged for my body to sleep.

He loves you, he would never hurt you. I drilled into my brain as much as I could. We are in love, he would never, ever hurt me. But no matter how hard I tried, it always hit me like a brick.

RUN! RUN! RUN!

God, I wished were just the same species. Things would've been so much simpler if I wasn't so weak. And even at that I still hurt him.