~Achilles~
"Hey, Sunshine." I said, when I picked Sunny up from band practice. She clobbered into the back seat with her trumpet case and strapped in noisily. "Everything alright?"
She kissed her teeth, something I didn't really hear her do very often. "I don't know, Lee. Is everything alright? We're just spinning on a rock in the middle of a galaxy. No. Everything is not alright."
I started driving towards a Dairy Queen since I knew Sunny could use a sweet treat. It was nearing November and the local Dairy Queens were normally closing around this time of year.
Sunny was pursing her lips and glaring at the window.
I looked at her through my rearview mirror. "Should I even ask?"
"I want to cut my hair." Sunny started. "And start wearing flannel. Maybe then my parents will finally realize I'm a lesbian."
Sunny's home situation had been somewhat chaotic since she came out. She talked about how when she went back home her parents had just pretended nothing had happened, and given her an extra rosary so she could pray on it. Sunny's Filipino mom and step dad could be pretty religious. Sunny told me how they just pretended not to hear her when she came out. The next time she came home her mom made lumpia, pancit, and chicken adobo with white rice. Sunny's confession hadn't been mentioned.
I drove into the parking lot of Dairy Queen and we moved past the drive through where I yelled our orders into the little machine. We crawled along in the pick up line and my heart started beating hard and painfully against my chest. I opened my mouth but it felt so dry. Shit, I should've brought a water bottle.
"Lee." Sunny looked at me through the rearview mirror. "You can go."
I looked up at the line seeing the wide gap between me and the next car. "Oh. Yeah. Right." I drove up to the pick up counter, got our stuff and handed it over to Sunny. She immediately set up her fries and burgers on her lap and, putting her blizzard in the cupholder without completely missing.
Sunny had lost her eye as a child due to severe macular degeneration and partially because a serious infection had set in. The eye hadn't survived but Sunny compensated with a bit of intuition, her nose, ears and by swivelling her head more than a normal person would. Because she'd lost the eye so young it hadn't affected her confidence too much.
"Lee!" Sunny said loudly through chewing on her fries. "You're coming to my Winter Wonderland recital, right? We're playing Tchaikovsky's ballets, you should invite Xander, too. I have solos in almost all our songs."
"Wow, solos, Sunny? That's great." I'd gone to every one of Sunny's performances, sometimes taking off work. Her parents went to about one performance a year, so I had to make sure I went to all of them. I didn't know a lot about music but I knew Sunny was seriously great at her instrument. I felt bad sometimes that I couldn't read sheet music and I didn't know much, if any, musical lingo. But , I tried to support her the best I could.
"Yeah. I beat out Justin, Anya, and Daniel. They were good, but I was better." She made eye contact with me through the rear view mirror. "Can I go to your place? I'm tired of my parents looking at me like they wish I could've turned out like kuya."
Xander was currently at my place. We were trying to make Thursday date night and we were planning on having an evening in. Not exactly Netflix and chill but close enough. "Sure." I said, unsure how to explain that to Sunny.
The next few minutes were torture as Sunny wolfed down her food. I needed to tell her. I needed to tell her. I needed to tell her. I drove home on auto pilot trapped by my own inner mantra and somehow without realizing it we were already in the garage.
"Lee, is something wrong? You look...Tense." Sunny's eyes were boring into mine through the mirror and I covered my face with my hands, lowering my head.
I couldn't do it. Just like when I always got overwhelmed my senses opened up and I started noticing everything. The purr of the engine, the way my legs were vibrating with anxiety and tension, the garage door opening up as another car peeled into the garage and the awful sensation of my heart trying to break out of my chest.
I heard Sunny leave the car, and open up my door, leaning into my space and trying to pull my hands off my face. "Hey, Lee? Are you okay? You're scaring me." Her hands were large for a girl her size, long and slender fingers that were warm.
I let her take my hands off of my face and stared at her. Up close Sunny's prosthetic still looked real if a bit unfocused, like she could look through you. Could she see through me?
"I..." I took a long slow breath, looking at Sunny. "I'm seeing someone."
"Oh." Sunny said, face moving into an easy smile. She sounded relieved. "Is that all? Are you worried about telling the pack because she's not a wolf, or something?" The smile left her face as I just stared back at her in silence.
"Kind of." I bit off the rest of what I was going to say.
She took a step back, moving away from the car. "If you don't wanna tell me, then I guess it's whatever. Maybe I trust you more than you trust me." Her tone was bitter but she looked a bit sad, crossing her arms across her chest and looking down at the ground.
I got out of the car, letting the door hang open and walked closer to Sunny. She was pushing her shoe into the concrete, looking anywhere but at me. "I do trust you." I said quietly. "I think of you like my sister, Sunny. Maybe Anders and Harrison are blood but you're family, Sunny. I'll always trust you. And—" Sunny was looking up at me now, her arms down at her sides and all her attention on me. "And, I'm telling this because I trust you. I'm bi. I have a boyfriend and you've met him, it's Xander."
Sunny's head shot up, her high slicked back pony-tail bobbing almost comically. She looked surprised, her mouth open as she said. "Oh." We stared at each other for a while and then Sunny took one of my hands into both of hers and squeezed. "Is that supposed to make me love you any less?"
The pain in my chest eased and I had to laugh. It sounded breathless and broken. Sunny was embracing me, her head mashed against the middle of my chest. I closed my eyes and hugged her back, enjoying the scent of sunshine.
#
When Sunny and I got to my unit, Xander met us at the door. They both seemed surprised to see one another and then looked bad for feeling that way.
I cleared my throat. "I told her."
Xander looked between me and Sunny. "Really?"
I nodded, feeling a little unsteady on my feet.
Xander smiled, gesturing for us to come in. "That's great. It's nice to officially meet you as Achilles' boyfriend." The words came so easily out of his mouth.
After taking off our jackets, shoes and changing into lounging clothes, we met again in the living room and Sunny immediately started telling Xander about her day, except she went into more detail on the musical jargon about notes and mutes for trumpets.
As soon as I sat down on the couch, Xander got up to get us some waters. He was wearing a thin, long sleeve sweat shirt that conformed to his body nicely. I got the urge to strip off his shirt and map the plains of his body with my tongue. I hadn't had a chance to count all of Xander's freckles, yet.
Sunny shot me a look when Xander went to the kitchen. "Dude, you're like blasting pheromones over there. Can you cool it?"
"Shit." I said, not really meaning it, "sorry."
Sunny was shaking her head but she had a small smile on her face. "I'm going to the movies with Erica, Shu, and Alex. I'll be back around ten."
I frowned. "Sunny."
"I'll text you when I get there, and when the movie ends." She was holding her hand out. "I need money for snacks, Lee."
I gave her a twenty dollar bill and she frowned. "Take some snacks with you from home, you know all that stuff is overpriced, and don't forget your keys."
Xander came back into the living room and Sunny slugged down one of the bottles of water Xander was holding before disappearing into the guest room she used at my place.
Xander plopped down beside me on the couch, his thigh pressing into mine. He leaned into my shoulder for a moment, the scent of vanilla wafting off his skin. "I'm proud of you, Achilles."
"Thanks." I mumbled.
Xander kissed me on the side of my neck, lips featherlight against my skin. "You smell different today."
I flushed, turning away. "I don't know. I think maybe I'm shooting out signals or something."
"Signals?"
"Pheromones. Not on purpose obviously, but sometimes that happens."
Xander took my hand, playing with it in his lap. "Why can't I ever see you shift? Your wolf is a big part of you but I've never seen him."
I felt distracted by Xander's hands, tracing out mine and it took me s second to respond. "Well, shifting takes a lot of energy and it makes me a bit more primal when I do it. Around you, I don't know if I could control myself."
"Control yourself how?"
"My wolf thinks of you as mine, he wants to claim you and mark you so everyone knows that. But I'm human, too, and we've been going out for a couple weeks now, it's too soon."
Xander pouted, and I tilted my head towards his mouth, sucking on his bottom lip until he laughed.
I laughed, too, pulling back. "You pout way too much."
"I don't." He said, frowning, pouting just a bit.
Sunny came out of her room dressed in a snug turtle neck sweater and flared jeans. Is that what kids wore nowadays? "I'm going now." Sunny called, quickly pushing on her shoes, taking a small back pack and leaving.
It was after the lock snicked closed that I immediately began pushing off Xander's shirt. He helped me along the way.
"Fucking God, Xander. Do you know what this shirt looks like on you? It's basically a glove.
He was breathing heavily, as he sat beside me on the couch, half on my lap and half nude. His skin was such a gorgeous brown, with freckles strung like stars in a disordered pattern across his chest and speckled across his arms. I'd been too overwhelmed by his body before to notice them.
I touched his chest, spreading the pads of my fingers across the little dark marks. I took stock of his chest then, circling around his pecs, down his stomach, pushing my thumb around his belly button and leaning in to inhale him.
I kissed him then, gripping the back of his neck with one hand and slipping one hand between his legs but over his sweats. He jerked for a moment but then he relaxed, pushing closer against me. And then Xander moaned, the throaty, raspy sound heating up my insides and making me kiss him harder.
Xander broke the kiss, a light sheen of sweat making his face glow. He whispered against my throat. "I'm not wearing underwear."
I laughed at that, squeezing him to a responding groan. "Oh, I know you aren't, Xander."
#
How was Achilles' first coming out scene?
So. Things are heating up a bit. Pretty sure the story still hasn't crossed any boundaries. Have I gone too far?
I really wanted to finish this story for Tuesday (April 2) but I feel like there's five more chapters left so...I don't know.
Also, I appreciate you guys so much, thanks for reading.❤️