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Kingsly flopped bonelessly on the mattress, sighing fondly as Puddle lay beside him. They hummed, cozying up to his chest. He barely had the energy to pull a sheet over himself.
It had been a long day and an even longer night, the two were thrilled now that they had the time to rest. But even as their tangled limbs were weighed down by fatigue, neither could manage to close their eyes. A giddy smile met Puddle’s sleepy one, a wandering hand trailing up the length of their spine, soaking in the pleasant chill of their skin against his. Puddle giggled at the feeling, their hand reaching up between them to scratch under his chin.
“Aw, baby… Aren’t you tired?”
“Mh.. wanna—” he paused to yawn, “–wanna.. look at you forever..”
“Always such a charmer, you are!”
Kingsly purred, the pleasant rumbling in his chest almost enough to lull the couple to sleep, but as it seems, he wasn’t quite done admiring Puddle’s pretty face. He leaned in to kiss their cheeks, their nose, their neck, until they were pushing his head away, laughing all the while.
“Alright, alright! Go to sleep, silly!”
“I will. You’re just sso so pretty… I wish I could be pretty like you..”
Puddle ran their fingers through his hair, soothing him further, “Oh honey, you’re already pretty!”
“No, like..” he slurred his words, barely able to keep his eyes open, “I wishh… I could.. be a girl?”
That last bit made them pause, fingers tensing around soft tufts of red hair. That was sudden.. A lot to take in after such a day. Hell, they weren’t even sure they had heard him correctly, he was almost incoherent from the exhaustion.
“...What was that, dear?”
All they got in response was a quiet whine as they were pulled into a tight hug. Kingsly’s eyelids fluttered, and he twitched. Ah, he was asleep, if the hushed snoring that followed told them anything.
Puddle looked down at his chest as it rose and fell with steady breaths, deep in thought. They had a feeling they wouldn't be getting much sleep that night.
—
Kingsly groaned as the glare of the morning sun woke him up. His head throbbing, he begrudgingly sat up to greet the day.
He rubbed his eyes, mumbling under his breath, “Mornin’ Petal.”
Though he didn’t get a response, weirdly enough. They weren’t there. He hadn’t slept in too long had he? It sure didn’t seem like it was that late in the day…
After a moment of quiet consideration, he pulled himself out of bed. The fuzzy collar of an oversized sweater hung heavy on his shoulders as he left for the kitchen, seeking out the kettle.
To his surprise, the hallway light was on, as was the living room, and even further ahead he saw a warm glow coming from the kitchen. It was clear they were still in the house, but they had never left him in bed without at least leaving him a note. They must want to have a talk. He racked his brain for whatever that topic may be as he made tentative steps towards the kitchen. It had to have been serious since they weren’t in bed for it.. or maybe they had just woken up early and he was overthinking it all, he had a nasty habit of doing that.
But all the same he made it to the kitchen, where Puddle sat at the table. All that separated them was an intimidating pot of tea. That look in their eyes too.. They definitely wanted to talk, he knew that much. And as he stood in the doorway, something came to mind. An innocent comment, one he had forgotten about in his groggy state.
I wish I could be a girl.
His eyes widened, and he immediately rushed into damage control, taking a seat across from them.
“Ah, Petal, if this is about last night, just- forget I said that- I didn’t mean–”
“Kingsly, take a breath. You’re not in trouble.”
They reached over the table to hold his hands, thumbs smoothing over his knuckles.
“But…”
“Relax dear, have some tea. I don’t want you to be stressed so early in the morning.”
A dainty tea cup was placed before him, the floral patterns doing little to calm him as he gathered his thoughts. He looked to the wallpaper for comfort, then out the window where he saw rain soaking the backyard, everything but Puddle’s eyes.
The quiet was starting to kill him, so he broke it, starting to shrink in on himself as he did.
“I’m sorry if it made you upset. I really didn’t mean to–”
“Upset? No, no honey, I’m not upset at all.”
“I- I didn’t mean that, okay? What I said, it was an accident.”
“Are you sure it was an accident? You know you can tell me anything. I’ll love you no matter what.”
“Well…”
No, it wasn’t an accident. But he was too loopy to hold it back then, and too anxious to admit it now.
Noticing his hesitation, Puddle gave him a nod, a gentle but firm prompt to continue.
“Just.. I’m not quite sure how to explain it.”
“It’s okay dear, take your time.”
Kingsly took a moment to gather his thoughts, words sat on the tip of his tongue. Stars, this was a lot more difficult than he had hoped. He knew how he felt, but it was near impossible to express it verbally, certainly not in a way that made sense to him. It was all so complicated, but he still had to try.
“I like the way I am, being a boy. But sometimes I feel like a girl, just a little bit.”
Puddle hummed, “And would you like me to refer to you any differently?”
“Well, er.. I don’t know. I liked being called handsome and your boyfriend and all that..” he muttered, looking down at the ring on his finger, “But now I think I’d rather be your wife, you know? ‘Husband’ doesn’t sound quite right… I just, ah, don’t have the right word for all of this.”
He didn’t get a response, just another nod. There was a little more he felt he needed to explain, so it was better to get it out of the way now while they had the time. It actually felt nice talking about this now that the initial fear had left him, now that he knew just how understanding Puddle was.
“I want to keep my name as it is, and I like being called a he, it’s just sometimes things don’t fit right. Like I know I was a boy and I think I still am, but now I feel like I’m more of a girl. I can’t be both, can I?”
“Honey, you can be whatever makes you feel the happiest.”
Kingsly pondered that for a moment. As he searched inside himself for some sort of indicator, he noticed that everything felt warm and fluttery, like he used to feel whenever Mama made him his favourite food. And when he looked up from his hot cup of tea to meet Puddle’s warm smile, he felt one of his own forming, reaching his rose dusted cheeks.
“This.. yeah, this makes me feel happy.”
Puddle jumped up from their seat, raising their cup in a sort of toast.
“Then I’ll make sure everyone in town knows just how much I love my beautiful wife!"