Connor POV
I'll admit, the first thing I thought when I saw Nathaniel was that he was small. Now you're probably thinking, "well no shit Connor not everyone is taller than you, you insensitive prick!", but that's not what I meant by small. In height he was probably only half an inch shorter than me, but he was thin, like mega unhealthily thin. His clothes hung off of his thing lengthy limbs, and he seemed to be hiding behind Adam. I heard his breath hitch as he let out a semi quiet gasp.
"Are you alright Hun?" Mrs. Black asked him as she moved forward and reached for Nathaniel's hand. I saw him flinch but he didn't pull away from her. "Do you have a form of apnea?" He shook his head.
"No? Well why don't you step on in and we can give you a checkup. How's that sound Hun." Cleo didn't wait for a response as she pulled him into the room by the hand. "Adam dear, why don't you take Connor and Milo back to our place. The guest houses aren't fully cleaned and set up yet." Nathaniel looked at Cleo, then to Adam, then to me.
"Are you sure Mom?" Adam asked keeping his eyes on our nervous soulmate. "Maybe we should stay. Get to know each other a bit."
"That can wait until dinner Adam." She told Adam giving him that look all mothers have.
"But-" He tried to reason with her, but got cut off.
"I didn't ask Adam." Her face was firm and it kind of remembered me of my own mom.
"Sorry Momma!" Adam said with a red face. Aww he is defiantly a Mama's boy. He turned around to face our fathers.
"Um, Milo are you going to follow me back to the house?" He asked my father, who just shook his head.
"Actually kid, I am going to help your father with a few things here," Dad explained. "But you can take Connor back to your place. Maybe you two could work on making dinner and get to know each other." He winked at us and nudged Stephon. Stephon caught on to what Dad was implying and nodded in agreement.
"Yes, um, we have things and stuff, so go on and head back home." He encouraged. "Nathaniel will be brought back to the house when he is all done here." I looked back to Nathaniel. He was staring at me with what I assumed was confusion.
"Are you alright?" I asked. His face lit up red and he turned away, and I finally heard him speak for the first time.
"I-I'm sorry," His voice was quiet and soft. "y-your just kind of handsome. Oh! I'm sorry!" It was my turn to turn red. No one had ever called me handsome before, I had only been a male, physically, for a few hours. It was then I noticed that everyone in the room had gone quiet and was watching our interaction. Thankfully It didn't take but a second for someone to speak up.
"Did you just apologize for complementing someone?" Adam chuckled. "You don't need to be sorry for telling the truth. He is quite handsome." My blush darkened and Dad shot me a teasing look, but before he could say anything, a high-pitched squeal rang through the room.
"You kids are so cute!" Cleo shouted as she bounced up and down with glee. "You will all be a wonderful couple, but first I need you to leave so I can give this cutie his checkup." She said as she stepped away from a flinching Nathaniel to push us out the door.
"Well," Adam started. "May I escort you to my car?" He asked me, and I couldn't help but laugh at that dumb ass sentence.
"What are you, dude? 80?" I said through mylaughter. "But sure, my good sir, lead the way."
Adam POV
He had a cute laugh and looked cute face while laughing. Honestly I was damn proud of myself for being able to make him laugh, it was so worth it. I couldn't help but stare at the way his eyes crinkle and his nose scrunches up, and how a little dimple forms near the right corner of his mouth, his eyes sparkle with amusement. It made me beam with happiness.
"But sure, my good sir, lead the way." He joked as his laughter turned to tiny unconcealed giggles. We started to walk towards the elevators and made small talk. I learned a bit about him. I learned that his favorite color was green, but blue was a close second. By the time we made it to the ground floor I also learned that his best friend was named Emilia, and the two of them have a tradition of eating spicy foods and watching horror movies on Thursday afternoons. By the time we reached my car he told me about how his uncle was a drag queen. About half way home he told me about how he felt while trapped in a female's body.
"It sucked man." He told me. "I didn't feel like me. I was always disgusted with the way I looked. I got really depressed during my monthly cycle. I was always misgendered." He looked so sad while he explained his past problems to me. I could tell that he seemed uncomfortable half way through our conversation.
"Hey, Connor?" I asked. "If talking about this makes you feel unsafe, or you're not comfortable or something, you don't have to tell me." I told him looking away from the road to face him. He smiled appreciatively.
"It's not that I feel uncomfortable about telling you," He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's just that you're the first person that I have really talked to this about." He looked out his window. With a sad smile.
"What am I supposed to say to my mom Adam?" He asked. I was confused as to what he was asking me. Didn't Milo's ex know about the experiment? "How do I explain to her that I am a boy? That I was never actually a girl in the first place? How do I explain my body changing or why I can't come home tomorrow?" I could feel Connor starting to tremble next to me. His voice cracking as he rambled on. How could I make this better for him? I didn't know anyone who went through the same problems as him, but I knew I couldn't let him continue to have a panic attack in my car.
I took one of my hands off of the steering wheel and put it on his shoulder, but he didn't stop the rambling and had started to hyperventilate. So I moved my hand down to the hand he had bunched up into a tight fist in his lap and started to rub circles on the back of his hand and over his knuckles.
"Look, I know we just met," I told him in a calm voice. "but I am here for you okay. I need you to calm down Connor. We are almost back to my place, and once we get there we can call Milo if you need to. But first you need to chill out man." I felt his hand slowly unclenching and his breathing started steady out. I just continued to rub the back of his hand as he stayed silent the rest of the way back to the house. Only when I parked did I take my hand away from his.
"Thank you." He told me as we both stepped out of my car. "That has never happened to me before. Thanks for helping me." He had calmed down plenty, but his face was still a bit red.
"It's no problem, really." I promised as I unlocked the door. "Do I need to call your dad or do you think you'll be fine?" I asked him. We both took our shoes off at the door and I walked him to the kitchen to grab him a glass of water.
"I feel fine." He took a sip of water and smiled at me. "You really were a big help; I don't think we need to get ahold of him." His smile made me feel a bit more assured about the situation, but it faded as he had a thought.
"Speaking about problems," He announced. "Did you notice that Nathaniel flinched a lot?" He asked me. So he noticed it too?
"Yeah, I noticed that when I went to get him from the waiting room." I said. "I may have had a bit of an over dramatic reaction to finding out he was also my soulmate. He flinched when I yelled, then he looked like he was going to cry, so I went to go and comfort him, but he curled in on himself and covered his face."
"You made him cry!" Connor yelled
"Why is that the only part you heard?" I asked and crossed my arms. This was an important and serious conversation.
"I did hear the rest," Connor stated. "I was just surprised that you made someone cry. You just seem like a good boy is all." He teased before he gained a serious expression on his face.
"what do you think happened to him?" He asked me. I could tell he really was hoping for a nice answer, and I felt horrible for not being able to provide him one.
"Honestly, I think he was abused at home, maybe bullied at school, or maybe both." I admitted with a frown on my face. It really hurt to think that this whole time my family had been under the impression that Nathaniel was growing up in a nice home with loving parents, while he was actually being hurt for no reason.
"I don't understand how people can do that to their kids." Connor said as he wrapped himself in a hug. "What would push someone to hurt a child?" He leaned against the counter.
"Many things, Connor," I told him. "Drugs, Alcohol, mental illnesses all of that stuff. It's stupid but it's true." I walked up and leaned against the counter next to Connor. He sighed.
"How do we help him? I don't know what to do." He asked me in a quiet voice. I shook my head clueless.
"I don't know man. I'm about as lost as you are." I pushed off the counter and faces him. "Lets start dinner. I'm our parents and Nathaniel will be here soon. So do you know how to cook?"
Words: 1772
What two chapters that aren't 5 months apart, no way! I home that you all enjoy the new chapter.
-Setta