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It was night.
Well, sunset, actually. Nevertheless, it was dark. And Gaty was rummaging through her bedside table, looking for some tape. It was an awkward sight, for sure; Two behind her, a few feet away, as she tentatively searched through the wooden drawer with her foot, her other placed carefully on the bed underneath her. Two cleared their throat, staring Gaty down.
“You sure you don’t need help?” They asked.
Gaty didn’t answer, instead pulling out a picture frame with her foot.
“That… doesn’t look like tape. You remember we want tape to put up a drawing, right?”
Two could have conjured up a nail or a thumbtack to hang up said drawing 5 minutes ago, but Gaty had insisted on finding her tape. She always wanted to be useful, and who was Two to break her spirits? If she wanted to help, she could help. It was as simple as that.
Gaty eyed the wood-framed photograph with mild disgust, her eyes averting to look at Two.
Two blinked. “What’s that?”
Gaty tossed it to the ground without answering, digging at the trash and random stuff in her drawer again. The green integer stepped quietly over to the source of Gaty’s obvious discomfort, picking it up to examine it.
They paused for a moment — it was a framed photograph of a fence, similar to Gaty but surely not of the same type. Unlike her, it was brown, and had this big wonky smile on its face. Two couldn’t help but find it endearing, somehow.
“Gaty, I can’t do anything if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. Who’s this, anyway? A sibling?”
Gaty breathed out quietly, the way she always did when she got stressed.
“Hey, look. If you don’t wanna tell me, then I won’t make you. But if you do, I’m always real interested in what you have to say, eh?” Two smiled, placing the photo back on the ground.
“It’s me,” said Gaty softly. “It’s me, Two.”
Two blinked, their gaze unwavering. “Ok… and that’s… upsetting to you, somehow? Wanna tell me more?”
The periwinkle gate smiled. Two always did manage to get everything out of her. Lick the spoon clean, so to speak. “Yeah, alright.” She hopped off of the bed, sitting down next to Two.
“I’m really young in that picture. You know, I thought it was gone. I hadn’t seen it since I moved into the hotel, so I assumed something had happened to it. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.”
Two listened, like they usually did. That was easy for them.
“Back when that was taken, I wasn’t really… the me I am today. You know? Um, when I was younger, my name was Fence. I wasn’t comfortable with who I was, so I changed it. My name, my color, my… my gender.”
Two looked her in the eyes. “Hey— listen. You’re a girl through and through, eh? Lighten up. What matters is that you are who you feel best as.”
Gaty couldn’t hold back this wide grin, laughing softly as she blushed — hardly there, but Two could see it. “That feels great to hear, Two. Thanks.”
The numeral smiled brightly. “‘S what I’m for,” they announced happily. “You want a hug, too? I’m great at those.”
Gaty practically flung herself atop Two, nuzzling into them with all the force of a touch-starved bobcat.
“Woah there! Bloody hell, you’re happy now. I’m glad,” Two muffled into the gate above them, holding her tight with both arms.
Gaty sighed calmly into Two, just sitting there in their arms; she could stay there forever, held and loved like this. Two pet her softly, their voice quiet. “Gaty, we need to do this more often. …physical affection, I mean. It’s not like… it’s not like that’s solely for couples or something.”
“It could be. For couples, I mean. I mean. We could be a couple. Maybe,” Gaty murmured, quickly flustering.
Two, caught off guard, paused their petting for a moment. “Ah.”
They went back to petting. “I’d like that.
Gaty, I’d love that.”