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"Egg, where did you go?" Wemmbu calls out, his voice tiny against the walls of the vast, desolate building.
He inches foreward, restraining a flinch as his shoes clack a little too loudly against the checkered marble floors.
"Please, come out! He- he didn't mean it, Egg."
It's the sinking realization that Eggchan, his best friend, is hiding, hiding from him and Spoke, that jolts him to a sudden halt. What have I done?
With a glare that can can slice through steel, Wemmbu swivels his head towards Spoke, who is apologetically flailing his hands. Despite the convincing act, the man seems completely unconcerned about what he has just said.
"Wemmbu, listen. I'm so sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't know he'd react that way!" Spoke hisses, his large ears folding flat against his head and his wide eyes locked in a stare at everything but Wemmbu. "I thought it was a harmless statement- what's it called? Uh, a joke! Like...I probably...shouldn't have though..."
He trails off as Wemmbu's tail flicks in annoyance and a quiet, dry groan escapes his lips.
"Dawg, what's done is done. I'm gonna go search for him," Wemmbu sighs.
Ignoring Spoke's incessant offers to help, he bends down, examining a frail white puff on the floor. Eggchan's feather. He always leaves a little trail of breadcrumbs, or, more precisely, feathers when he wants to be found.
And Wemmbu will follow them to the ends of the universe if that's what it means.
Wemmbu cradles the delicate thing in his palms and stretches back upright, already looking for the next clue. And there it is, glimmering in the falling sunlight from one of the large windows. The colors strike it in gold and pearly white, soft and angelic, framing a single feather in their spotlight. A small smile tugs at Wemmbu's lips. He'd spent countless beautiful sunsets with Egg, each somehow more stunning than the last, but Egg had always been the star of the show. The harsh light that mistreated almost everything else caught the right angles of Egg's eyes, his hair, his lopsided grin and matter-of-fact statements.
God, let him be okay.
…
With a few feathers tucked in his breast pocket, Wemmbu taps his foot at the entrance to the women's bathroom.
"Egg, are you in here? Are you okay?"
No response, only the faint hum of the ventilation to keep him company. But the trail ends here, where else could Egg be? Nobody else could be in the bathroom; the building is near-vacant, but a pang of doubt strikes Wemmbu as he peers behind the divider wall. He should't be here. Egg shouldn't be here.
He feels his heart tug against his ribs, an aching pang that only grows louder and more painful by the second.
"You know I'm worried, Egg!"
Then, like a response, he hears a strained sniffle from within those plastic walls. Without a second thought, Wemmbu dashes inside. The stark fluorescent lights burn his pupils to slits as the faint stench of cleaning products slams against his nose.
"Holy- Why are you in here?" Wemmbu splutters.
In the furthest, smallest stall, there's a rustle, a shift of white under the door. Eggchan, calm, stoic Eggchan, curled up, at the end of the women's bathroom.
"Hey."
That single word, spoken so quietly, so feebly, is enough to twist Wemmbu's heart into shreds. His fists clench at his sides, tremble from the emotions consuming his body.
"Eggchan!" The name escapes as a sob. "C'mon. Let's get out of here. Let's go get ice cream or books or fish- whatever you want!"
Click!
The sharp ring of a stall door unlocking, and Eggchan is staring back at him. Dark trails tumble from his eyes, and his lower lip is split and torn and bleeding. Tear stains darken his collar. His hands glisten where he tried to claw them away. Even those pristinely kept feathers are dirty and matted.
Wemmbu wraps a hug around that small, spasming body, feeling the wild hammering of Eggchan's heart against his.
"Oh my god, you look..."
He trails off as Egg hiccups and his cold, numb fingers wrap around Wemmbu's hand in a tacit plea.
"I'm so sorry...do you want to talk about it?"
Eggchan seems to shrink into himself even more, bracing his shoulders as he contemplates. Then he nods. A slow, somber gesture. Wemmbu tightens his grip on Egg's hand for just a moment before letting it slip away.
They sit beside each other in the corner, their backs pressed against a clammy white wall, Wemmbu's shoulder pressed against Egg's to channel him at least a drop of warmth. He must be freezing.
Egg opens his mouth reluctantly, then closes it again as if his existance itself is taboo. "I- everything hurts. When Spoke said that, I just- couldn't breathe...I felt wrong. So I ran away."
Wemmbu doesn't reply. He only listens with an expression of growing worry as Egg begins to cry again.
"I- I'm tired! I'm tired of this body. I'm tired of sounding like a girl, of looking like a girl despite everything I try. And when he..." Egg looks up at Wemmbu, "I guess I couldn't take it anymore...I'm sorry to have been such a burden to you..."
"You're not a burden. You were never a burden, Egg."
"They only see me as something- something I don't want to be. Like my parents...it's my fault they- i- it's my fault they hate me now. I was a burden to them too. Maybe I'm just a girl. I shouldn't have listened to myself. It's unfair."
Wemmbu's gaze softens. He rests his hand on Egg's arm and lets his friend lean into the touch.
"You're right. It is unfair," he whispers. "You have to fight to be yourself, and…You trusted them. You showed them who you are. And they just-
they shut you out for it."
Eggchan nods again, hugging his lanky knees close to his body. "Yeah."
"That's messed up."
Steadily, Wemmbu reaches up and wipes the fresh tears from Eggchan's face. Carefully, as if taking dew off a flower petal. Egg's already been shaken up enough.
Lowering his arm, Wemmbu continues, "Eggchan, you're you. You're a man. It doesn't matter if you were born a woman or whatever, y'know? And if anybody claims otherwise-" Wemmbu smashes his fist against his palm. "I'll punch them in the fucking face."
Eggchan laughs. He laughs. It's a quiet, repressed sound. But a laugh nonetheless.
"Y- you don't have to. Please don't. I'm sorry," he chuckles.
Relief floods Wemmbu's bones. Egg is better now. He's no longer a crying mess. That's all that matters.
"Okay, okay! Dawg, whatever you want."
Egg pauses, takes in the rough angles of the austere bathroom with tired, red-rimmed eyes. "I want to get out of here, Wemmbu."
He sucks in a wavering breath and slumps to his feet on shaking legs, dusting off his pants. Wemmbu follows suit, making sure Egg doesn't collapse with a hand on his back. Their footsteps echo in the cramped enclosure until they funnel out into a splattering of evening light and are again ambushed by musty building air.
Playfully, Wemmbu ruffles Eggchan's white mop of hair, tangled in sweat.
"It's okay, brother. You're gonna be okay."
Spoke's dark silhouette nears them, a blended look of confusion and amazement painting his face.
"You found him!"
Wemmbu narrows his eyes at the man but Eggchan takes a step foreward and mumbles, "I'm sorry for storming off."
Spoke, panting from the sprint, brushes his tail against the ground. "Nah, Egg. I'm sorry. That was stupid- delving into a somewhat sensitive topic. Like- what was I thinking?"
While letting down his hair, Wemmbu mutters, "That was stupid."
The deep purple cascade falls onto his back, bringing relief to his throbbing temples. Eggchan seems to take interest in Wemmbu's hair, his blue eyes trailing along as it sparkles pink in the golden light.
Egg jumps and his massive wings unfold slightly as Wemmbu turns to face him and pulls him into a second, tight embrace. But quickly Eggchan relaxes, melts into his friend's pleasant warmth.
Into his feather-tipped ear, Wemmbu whispers, "Let's go get dinner, okay? We can go anywhere."
"I never told you I was hungry..."
Wemmbu raises an eyebrow. "You haven't eaten all day, Egg. How could you not be?"
Eggchan grimaces. "Can we go fishing?"
"Fishing?" Wemmbu pats Eggchan's forearm. "In your dreams."
"But you said we could go anywhere..." Eggchan drums his thumbs against each other and wiggles his fingers, probably to help recede the numbness.
"Except fishing!"
Pouting, Eggchan buries his face in the crook of Wemmbu's neck. He's so close that Wemmbu can smell the tinge of lavander and leather on his rumpled clothes.
"Aww man."