Bambi Eyes: A Pride Month Special (BxB)

Bambi Eyes

     My heartbeat matched the thudding of my feet as I ran. I ran. I ran like I’ve never run before. All this time they had been practically harmless, but today was different. Today I had decided to fight back.

That’s what made them really mad.
“Come out here, you–”

     I found a hollow tree somewhere in the middle of the forest and shoved myself inside. I could hear their footsteps approaching, thankful for autumn and the crunch of leaves beneath their feet that told me they were nearby. I tightened my scarf around my nose and mouth, pleading that they wouldn’t hear the echo of my breaths against the walls of the tree. To add to my fright, there was an awe-inspiring construction of spider webs above me which made it even harder to keep quiet – especially as one decided that it would hang down from a shiny gossamer thread.

“He’s not here. Let’s just get him next time.”

     They crunched away, and, as soon as I could no longer hear their voices, I scrambled out of the tree and lay on the grass outside, heart beating a storm against my chest.

I peeled off the offending rainbow sticker on my cheek and stood up.

     Coming to my senses, I began to walk home the longer way. As my feet kicked their way through the leaves, I welcomed familiar thoughts: “Why are they doing this to me?”, “I’m only human” and the well-known “I don’t deserve this”.

     I stopped by a coffee shop on my way and went in, deciding that I would need something warm as I was beginning to be able to see my own breath. The very first thing I noticed was the larger-than-life barista that was now watching me expectantly. I for one could not imagine the type of gym machine that gave you those kind of muscles – sort of subtle, perfect, and real. He had a sweet, strong face and I was immediately made nervous when I thought of approaching him.

     The smile that grew on his face quelled my fears and I was greeted by a new surge of confidence. He seemed so sweet. “Hey there, Bambi Eyes.”

Voice like honeycomb – smooth but full of strength and confidence.

I started nevertheless. “What?”

“Oh, sorry, I just call all of my customers some kind of nickname.”

“That’s – that’s okay.”

He grinned. Sort of crunched up, handsome and loving, it was.

“So, what’ll it be?”

“Just one hot chocolate, please. To go.”

“Coming up.”

“Don’t you need my name?”

“Do you see any other customers here?”

“Oh.” I knew I should have felt embarrassed, but he just didn’t make me feel that way.

     He was... delightfully informal. He never looked away from me for all the time we spoke, even as he punched my order in. It seemed that the cup was in my hand within seconds. I glanced at his name tag.

“Ambrose.” It was a name that the mouth wrapped itself around and purred against.

“Yeah, that’s my name.” He smiled. “May I know yours?”

“Oh, um, it isn’t anything fancy. I’m just Jude.”

“Jude, hm?”

Something about his rich, upper-class sounding voice saying my name made me shudder – although not in a bad way.

“Yes,” I breathed.

“Will I see you here tomorrow then, Bambi Eyes?”

“Oh,” I suddenly lost all sense of functionality, “I – I – I might be here, yes.”

“Please do.” He smirked, and I was unsure of whether or not the breath I sucked in was audible.

“I will.”

     As I left, my heart began pounding again, even though I was not running. Later, I saw writing at the bottom of the cup – ‘He didn’t take my name before he wrote on it...’ – then I saw it, clear as daytime.

Bambi Eyes.

~♡~♡~♡~♡~

     After my daily escape from the people that decided that my existence was, frankly, not worth it, I found myself taking the longer route home, and consequently found myself back in the coffee shop. Ambrose looked up and I could have sworn that I saw his eyes brighten. This was a fairly secluded area, and Ambrose’s only other customer had just walked out the door before I had entered.

“Bambi Eyes!”

My heart made its way to my cheeks.

“H-Hi.”

“Same as yesterday?”

“Yes, please.”

“Good on you, I like a well-mannered customer. Most don’t bother with that.”

I laughed nervously.

     I watched as he began pouring and mixing, wondering what I was even doing here. As I took it from him, the bell above the door rang and three long shadows were cast onto the floor.
“Well, look who it is.”

My heart stopped.

     Ambrose frowned and looked at them. I’d never seen him frown. It was threatening. “May I help you?” – a phrase nearly growled. The tallest sneered, eyeing him up and down before his eyes settled on me and he stepped forward. I hoped that Ambrose hadn’t seen me flinch.

     “Oh, we just need to have a word with Jude here. Mind giving us some privacy?” he placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed so hard I had to fight to keep from crying out loud. His voice was suggestive. I knew what “a word” meant. I was so dead.

      “I don’t think I want any strange guys alone in a room with my boyfriend.” Ambrose purred.

His what?

     In an unseen motion, Ambrose appeared next to me and slid an arm around my shoulders, pulling me flush against his side. “Especially if I think he’s going to get hurt.”

     He kissed the top of my head and heat spread across my body. The spectators’ eyes widened. “Now, since you’re not buying anything, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” He casually brought his hand up to his hair as though absentmindedly brushing away his hair –

And flexed.

     His arm bulged, and so did their eyes. They backed away, one even with his arms up in surrender, slowly exiting the shop before running away the second they were outside. I was, to say the least, awestruck.

     Ambrose chuckled and turned around, scribbling on a spare receipt and handing it to me. “There’s my number,” he began, “Now, you call me any time you need me to be your boyfriend, and I’ll be there. Do you get it, Bambi Eyes?”

It was then that I noticed the miniscule rainbow flag sticker on his wrist.

“Of course I will.”