The small café was filled with warm light from the now setting sun. it was quiet, only the sound of fingers tapping the keys of their laptops, or soft clinking of forks brushing against plates could be heard.
All the people here were different, but one seemed to stand out more than others. The one person who looked like they were a fragile doll; a white, frilly dress that went a little past their knees, pale pink flats to match, with white gloves to disguise the person's rather masculine hands.
This person is Lovino Vargas.
Lovino slowly stirred the coffee in front of him, his eyes darting around the room. Good, no one was staring. Weird looks and rude comments were apart of his daily life, since apparently a boy in a dress was a weird thing. That was one of the many things Lovino didn't understand. Why did people gender clothes? Why were girls the only ones who could wear dresses? It was dumb.
People always asked why he dressed 'like a girl.'. and he never could provide an answer people would like. He was comfortable, that was it. It made him feel good about himself. It made him feel pretty, and likeable. Men's clothes were boring, anyways. He always did prefer feminine things…
He tried to ignore the stares and mean comments, but they eventually got the best of them, and he started wearing a wig. A long, curly one that swayed when he walked. the Brightside of it? He felt even prettier. He still got a couple weird looks, but most people saw him as a girl. And he didn't mind.
People who weren't ignorant about such things always asked him if he was transgender, and he always wondered why. Just because someone doesn't hit the stereotypes for their gender doesn't mean they're trans. (it doesn't mean they aren't, either.)
But he didn't care what pronouns people used, or how they thought of him. If they thought about him as a girl, or a boy, or non-binary; he didn't mind. He did mind everyone trying to label his gender, though. 'oh, sounds to me like you're genderqueer.' 'you're just trans.' 'well sometimes you dress like a boy and sometimes you dress like a girl so you're bigender or genderfluid.'
He just wanted to be able to label himself instead of others doing it for him. Same was for his sexuality, but that's a whole other story.
The small bell on the door jingled, and a young man walked in. he had short brown hair and tan skin, and carried himself like he knew he was important.
The man's eye flickered around the room before his eyes landed on the 'woman' sitting at the table in the corner. The corners of his lips tugged into a smile and the tempo of his heart sped up. He knew he'd seen that girl somewhere before, but couldn't remember where. Maybe it was just déjà vu, or maybe his mind was just trying to convince him to go talk to her. Whatever it was, he was going to.
He walked up to the counter and quickly ordered his drink, glancing over at the girl every once and a while.
"put it on my tab," the man told the cashier with a smile before taking his drink and walking over to the table next to the girl.
Lovino glanced at him and smiled. He's pretty cute. he thought. He'd probably think I'm a freak though.
"I like your dress.." the man said softly with a smile.
Lovino nodded and looked down. He figured his voice would give him away. Although he wasn't sure why he wanted to keep his identity hidden, anyways.
The man let out a quiet chuckle and took a sip of his coffee, cringing as he remembered that he didn't give it anytime to cool off.
Lovino took out a small notepad and pen from his purse and wrote 'are you alright?' before he reached over and placed it on the man's table. Good thing he always kept a notepad around. Just for this reason, too.
The man frowned in confusion and glanced at the notepad before his smile returned. "yeah.. I'm fine. Thanks. What's your name?"
Should I? no.. Lovino thought with a sigh and gingerly picked his coffee cup up. He slowly stood up, a feminine demeanor more forced than usual. He pulled the chair opposite of the man's out and sat down. He took the notepad again, 'Cali.' He wrote. he was genuinely surprised he could finally put his middle name to use. Or at least part of it.
The young man smiled as Lovino placed the notepad in the middle of the table."Cali? pretty name. mine's Antonio."
Lovino waved shyly as a greeting, and forced his gaze to the floor.
"I don't want to come off as nosy or whatever.. but can you talk?"
Lovino bit his lip and nodded.
"oh, so you're teasing me?" Antonio chuckled and rested his chin in his hands. She's really, really cute. he thought.
'maybe.' Lovino wrote on the notepad. He glanced at the clock on the wall and his eyes widened in panic. His parents would be home soon. He quickly wrote his number and 'text me' on the notepad before quickly standing up and walking out the door.
"wai-…" Antonio frowned and let his gaze follow her before falling on the notepad again. "well..at least I have her number.." he sighed.
Lovino kicked off his flats and briskly picked them up before running towards his house. Half an hour. If he wasn't back before then, he'd be in some serious trouble. Really serious trouble.
He got a few weird looks; of course anyone wearing a fancy dress, and running as fast as they could, would get weird looks.
He finally got to his house and with a shaky hand took the keys from his purse and unlocked the door. He walked inside, pushed the door closed with his foot before briskly waking into his room.
He pulled off his wig and shoved it into the closet along with his shoes. With a bit of trouble he unzipped his dress and let it fall to the floor, then unhooked his bra, taking out the many tissues before letting it fall to the floor as well.
"c'mon.." he mumbled to himself, glancing at the clock as he sat on the bed. Ten minutes. That should be plenty of time, right? And then his cell phone rang. What if it was Antonio? Oh no.. he didn't have time!
He ignored his phone and worked on unclipping the garters for his stockings. Why did he even have these? Oh, yeah, adds to the cuteness. Even if no one saw them. Soon the garters, and stockings were off. And then went the gloves.
He scrambled to his closet to get his boy clothes, and quickly slipped them on. T-shirt and cargo shorts. Good enough.
He gathers up all his stuff and shoved it under the bed where the rest of his feminine things were.
Oh no. his make-up.
He rushed to the bathroom and grabbed a paper towel, running it under the sink and scrubbed his face with it. Eyeliner was so hard to get off without makeup remover… and so was lipstick. Five minutes.
"good enough." He grumbled, combing his hair down. Except for that weird curl he had…
He sighed and checked himself in front of the mirror, just in case he forgot something. Nope. He was good.
He made his way back to his room and flopped down on the bed. "Finally.. I can relax."
"Lovino!"
"What Mom?" he called back. really? he just sat down...
"can you walk down to the grocery store and get a few things for me?"
Why not make one of his brother's do it? Ugh. and they were just out. why didn't they just do it?
Regardless, he walked back into the hallway and was handed a piece of paper. A list, he assumed. He nodded and walked to the front door again. As he walked out the door he noticed Antonio making his way down the street. please don't recognize me.. Lovino thought.
Lovino walked down the front steps and walked towards the grocery store just down the street. Antonio caught up to him. No.
"have I seen you before?.." Antonio asked quietly with a frown.
"no," Lovino said hesitantly, and looked away as he kept walking.
"you sure?" he's cute. he thought to himself with a slight smirk, wait, no, I'm already interested in one person. And I think she likes me, too. I can't let her down.
"of course I am, jerk. Leave me alone. I don't even know you."
"well.. I'm Antonio. I'm your new neighbor." Antonio gestured to the house next to Lovino's with a smile.
Oh. Oh no. neighbor? This was bad. Really, really bad.