WAYO'S POV
Now that the competition is over, I need to sit down and talk to Ming and Forth about my new-found heritage. Pha has told me repeatedly not to stress over it and that my friends care for me and will accept me no matter what. I already know that, but I'm still nervous and stressing over this.
"Yo! Are you paying any attention at all today? Where is your mind wandering off to?" My uncle asks.
"Sorry, uncle. I was thinking about what I'm going to tell my friends when I meet them for lunch."
"The wolves? You're going to tell them today about what you are?"
"Yes, uncle."
"Well, I wouldn't be too worried. From what I understand of your friendship with them, they will accept it just fine." He says confidently.
"Uncle, how do you know so much about my life? You never explained."
"Oh, that's easy, your butler. He knew me from when I'd visit your mother. He would give me updates on how you were doing when I asked."
Ok, that's a little creepy. "Alright, well, that was nice of him, I guess." I say out loud though.
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I'm meeting the boys for lunch, just the three of us. It was hard to convince Pha not to come. He finally gave in, but only because I agreed to let him drop me off and pick me up.
I'm sitting at the table now, waiting for them to arrive, and I've already ordered all their favorite foods, so they'll be in a good mood for when I tell them.
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FORTH'S POV
Pha texted to warn us about lunch today, and Yo's intention to tell us about him being a siren. While Ming and I already knew, we needed to handle this situation very carefully. We weren't going to lie to him and act all surprised and crazy, but we were going to shift around a few of the facts about the way we found out. I keep telling myself that we're not protecting the leech by doing this. We're protecting Yo's feeling, that's what matters here.
When we walk into the restaurant we look for Yo, but can't find him. We ask the waitress about him and she leads us to a small but private room.
He's sitting, but jumps up when we enter the room to run over and give us hugs. He then turns and begins pulling us back to the large table that is practically groaning under the weight of all the food he ordered. He must really be worried if he's trying to bribe us with food. Our Yo is not very subtle, thank goodness.
We all sit and start to eat, but Yo only picks at his food. When I can't stand watching him anymore I catch Ming's gaze and give him a nod.
Ming being the master of subtlety he is, begins, "Ai'Yo what horrible thing have you done that you need to tell us about? Did you kill someone? Do we have to help you hide a body? 'Cause I'll help you, but you're definitely going to owe me more food if that's it."
If I could reach him I would definitely smack him right now. Instead I can only be irritated at him, but Yo's head popped up when Ming started talking. At first, he wore a surprised expression, but then a long-suffering look washed over his face. I silently agree. I feel the same way.
"Ai'Jerk, I didn't kill anyone... yet." He smiles, but then it falters as he starts to fidget. "but I do have something I need to tell you both." He says seriously.
Ming opens his big mouth again, "Well hurry up and spit it out. The food is getting cold."
"Guys I'm... uhm, well... you see my mom... Argh! I don't know how to start. Look, I found out before the competition that I'm part Fae and then I didn't have a chance to tell you because we got so busy and I didn't want to blurt it out, but I was also worried you might not want to be friends with me anymore, so I waited. And now it's time to tell you and I still didn't know how, but now you know."
He had stood up at some point during his rant, but dropped back into his seat in relief when he finished. He's eyes are shifting rapidly between me and Ming, not lingering on one of us for more than a second. Waiting for our responses.
I glance over at Ming and we share a look before I turn back to Yo, "N'Yo, we already know."
He's standing again, "What! How? Why didn't you say anything?" He's making himself upset. Shit! His eyes are filling with tears and his bottom lip has started to quiver.
Ming and I have no defenses against this look and we both move from our places and go to comfort him. We envelope him in a double hug and just let him cry as he releases the built-up stress he's been hanging onto over this. I didn't know it was causing him this much anxiety.
"How did you know? I didn't know. I just found out. Why didn't you say anything? I was so worried." He babbles out his questions between hiccups and trying to catch his breath.
"Sshhh, alright. How many times have we told you we aren't going to stop being friends over something like this. We're not going to stop being your friends no matter what. When will you believe us?" I lift his face and use my shirt to wipe his tears. "Now, we'll tell you how we know, but you have to calm down, alright. Come on, let's sit back down, and we can eat and talk." We both lead him back to the table and resume our seats.
When he's calmer, I start, "Shorty, I saw your eyes flash once right before the competition. I was surprised and shocked, because you had never said anything about being Fae. I thought you were trying to keep it a secret, and I wanted to give you a chance to tell us instead of confronting you about it."
Ming jumps in, "Right. Then P'Forth told me about what he saw, and I did a whole bunch of research on the internet. We figured out from the color flash that you had to be a siren. We also wondered if maybe you didn't know since your mom died when you were so young, and a siren's powers don't come out till around age 20."
He looks back at me, tossing the ball back into my court, "Ming and I talked about it and we agreed to not say anything to you about it for a little while to see if you would come to us. But, how and when did you find out?"
He explains about his uncle and his training and what's been happening for the last couple of weeks.
"So, that had to be weird getting a letter from your mother and meeting family you never knew you had." Mr. Obvious strikes again.
"It was, but it was also nice. My uncle seems like a good guy. I want to introduce you two and Pha to him soon."
"We'd like that, Shorty." I tell him.
We carry on talking and catching up with what is going on in each of our lives as we finish up our lunch. When we leave the room, we see Pha waiting impatiently at the front of the restaurant. Yo runs over to him and gives him a hug and a smile, but he blushes when Pha leans down and plants a kiss on his cheek.
While Yo is talking to Ming, Pha and I exchange nods, so he knows everything went well. I'm just glad this is over and done with, I hate secrets.
Which makes me remember something else, "Shorty can you swing by my dorm and help me pick out something to wear for this evening?"
"Sure P'Forth, but wear for what?" he asks.
I tweak his nose and smile, "For something I forgot to tell you about earlier. I have a date with Beam tonight."
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FORTH'S POV
It's a quarter to 6pm when I pull up in the parking lot of Beam's dorms. I head upstairs to his room on the fourth floor. I'll be using the door, thank you very much. I don't have his flair for entering through balconies.
When I knock, he answers wearing a pair of tore up jeans, a sleeveless t-shirt and an apron. He is certainly not dressed for going out, at least I hope not.
"Good you're here on time."
"I thought we were going out?" I ask. I'm pretty sure that's what we decided before the competition.
"We were. I changed it. We're staying in now. I cooked dinner." He gives me a cheeky smile.
I'm a little irritated, but not too much. At least he made reasonable plans for us instead of just shooting down mine. Besides, I've been wanting to see his room, since we're always in mine. Plus, the idea of him cooking intrigues me. "Alright."
He gives me another smile as I enter his room and kick off my shoes. He shuts the door, locks it, then turns to faces me he leans his back against it.
He examines me thoroughly before moving towards me, "You look good tonight, Forth. Good enough to eat."
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A/N:
So what do you think about the beginning of this ForthBeam date? :-]
See ya tomorrow!
12.14.2017 9:57 am US CST