Chapter Text
Layla held her sword like a baseball bat. Wanderer supposed a college student shouldn't have to know how to properly use a sword, but it was still a funny sight. The pointy-eared girl's sword hung still in the air in front of Wanderer's face. In any other circumstance, Wanderer would have obliterated her right then and there.
"Hat guy? How did you get in my house?!" The stressed, tired, and panicked voice confirmed it was 'normal' Layla. If it were the other one, Wanderer might have had to obliterate her.
Layla didn’t sheath her sword; she held it still in front of the puppet, waiting for him to respond. Panicked golden eyes fell down to the open photobook resting on her desk.
"I was... looking to see if you were a fatuus," he deadpanned after a moment of hesitation, careful of the sword that followed his movements as he leaned down to grab his hat that had fallen to the ground.
"Why would you think that?" The words came out quickly. As Wanderer moved away from the desk to put on his hat, one of Layla's hands left the hilt of the sword to slam the photobook shut. A shaky breath escaped.
Nahida wants me to make friends, and I've already screwed this up... The thought echoed in his mind.
"I'm sorry for the intrusion. I shouldn’t have..." The words left his mouth before he noticed. This wasn’t like him at all. He turned to face Layla, her back was turned to him.
A defeated sigh left her lips as she hung her shoulders low; her heels clicked their way to her all-too-tidy bed. Grabbing the plush cat, she sat herself down. She laid the plush on her lap, wrapping her arms around it with her chin resting on the top of its head.
"You saw, you know, and now everyone knows," Layla's tired voice cracked.
Wanderer was unsure of what to do in this situation; all he knew was that he wanted to fix it. Once again, he took off his hat and gently sat himself down next to Layla.
"I don’t know what you're talking about," he deadpanned once again, more negative than he had intended. The body next to him tensed up again.
"You saw that picture of me," a meek voice escaped Layla’s lips. Her grip on the plush cat tightened; it looked as if she were strangling the poor thing.
"Look, Layla—" Wanderer began, noticing his hand had found its way to her shoulder. "I saw a lot of pictures, and I only really flicked through them. The invasion was wrong of me, but I honestly don’t know what you are talking about. If I'm going to fix this, I need to understand what's wrong, and the almost crying girl beside me isn’t being much help."
At the statement, Layla relaxed a small amount; she lifted her chin from the cat. "Then you don’t know," a sigh of relief followed the statement.
"What don’t I know?"
"You don’t need to know—" Layla’s voice almost instantly collapsed in on itself. "Though maybe you simply would care," she mumbled, gathering herself together, taking the cat out of her lap and placing it rather aggressively on Wanderer’s.
"This is the first time I’m telling someone on my own accord, so you better take it well," the sudden change in demeanor hit Wanderer almost as hard as the plush cat had. Layla took in a deep breath, not looking into Wanderer's eyes.
"I was born a boy. I'm a girl now. I'm trans," she said quickly. "I was outed a couple of months ago by a fellow Redditor who had figured it out somehow…" Her voice trailed off. Layla turned her face to Wanderer’s, looking for confirmation in his eyes.
So that’s what those students meant when they said Layla was lying. Things finally made sense again. Wanderer's eyes went from Layla’s golden ones to his hand that still lay on her shoulder.
"Well, whoever did that should pay." Maybe the threat sounded more serious in his voice than he had intended, as Layla’s eyes turned to a shallow panic and a faint blush painted her cheeks.
"I don’t think that is necessary…" Her hands waved at the man who hadn’t realized he leaned in so close, quickly pulling back and clearing his throat.
"Well, Layla, you’re as much a woman as all the other lumps of flesh who identify as such," he stood up from the bed, still holding the cat. "And I, once again, am sorry for the intrusion."
In a normal situation, Wanderer would leave, but this didn’t seem like the time. maybe none of this was about the circumstance