i'm a good friend

[autokinetic]

Things go back to normal. Pretty much.

Aegis's thirteenth birthday approaches. She is slowly acquiring the promised features of adulthood, little by little; she's issued a new set of uniforms after she grows two inches. Boys begin leering at her, although she has not yet been outright propositioned. There just aren't enough girls to go around. Even a barely-pubescent one who has demonstrated no indication that she even knows what her sexual orientation is going to be when she grows up gets attention.

Meanwhile, Sue -

Her bird is kind enough to bring boys (both regular- and space-gay-or-bi) home only while she's in classes, but she can tell when they've been there - they leave things, there are hairs in colors that don't match her or Sue on his pillow, xenobio let out early once and she saw one leaving. Sometimes he's gone a long time and doesn't react when she bird-bird-birds at him and comes back walking funny or refusing to make eye contact.

He flirts with everyone.

He flirts with her, and she hasn't the slightest idea what to do with that, and he always backs off after a little while, but he doesn't seem quite - happy. He isn't fully unbroken, and she doesn't know how to help.

On the day she turns thirteen, she says, "Happy birthday to me."

Comments

[autokinetic]

Yeah. Well, I've been helpful so far, let's - She sighs a small sigh, and turns back to her desk. Let's have a helping of gross to dissect.

[pythbox]

She can have a helping of gross, all right. He's got plenty to spare.

[autokinetic]

She shudders with borrowed unpleasantness, loses her handle on the birding for a moment, but she has enough to work with. Typetypetype stare draw type draw stare stare draw type.

You think your - your wanting is broken, that you must want things incorrectly if you could be at all ambivalent about what happened, she concludes. You've been ignoring what you want because you think your wanting is - fucking with you.

[pythbox]

That's on backwards, he says. I know what's fucking with me, and it's not that. He sighs. But you're right, that's what it feels like.

[autokinetic]

She reaches out and touches his shoulder, runs her hand down to his elbow. Did he catch you at exactly the worst possible time, or do you have memories of wanting the same stuff and not feeling like it was fucking with you?

[pythbox]

...well, he says.

[autokinetic]

Mm?

[pythbox]

The first time she kicked his ass, it was... kind of like that. Kind of a lot like that. Definitely without feeling like it was fucking with him.

[autokinetic]

Aegis goes rather still. She's so constantly in motion that this is noticeable at once.

...okay, she says. Well, um, so, you know he didn't... cause it or anything.

[pythbox]

Yeah, he says. Hey, I'm sorry, I know you're not—you don't like it when I flirt with you, I'm sorry.

[autokinetic]

It's okay, she says after a silence. ...If you knew I didn't like it why did you - I mean, you usually backed off after a little bit, but you still started up again. I'm younger than you, you know.

[pythbox]

I usually don't think about it until I've already said something, he says. I flirt with everybody these days, it's hard to remember to turn it off.

[autokinetic]

She's loosened up again, she's swaying with the timing of her passing thoughts again. Mm. Well, it's okay. I'm fine and everything. And you know that mister creeper didn't - I dunno, psychically implant being all kinky into you. He just said shitty things about it. He said shitty things about me too and you don't feel weird about being my bird, do you?

[pythbox]

No, he says. I like being your bird.

[autokinetic]

Good, 'cause you are. She looks at the symbols on her desk. Is there anything else I should decipher for you? Did it even help or did it just - reopen the wounds?

[pythbox]

No, it's better to know what's going on, he says after a moment.

[autokinetic]

She hugs him again. Good. Let me know if there's anything else you want me to look at. Or anything else I can do. I want my bird to be okay.

[pythbox]

He hugs back, silently, because he doesn't have the words to express how much this means to him.

That's what links are for, though, isn't it?

[autokinetic]

At least in that direction, yes. Hugs hugs hugs.

[pythbox]

Hugs hugs huuuugs. Aegis is such a good friend. She is the best.