A/N for previous readers: I have added a scene with Kommissar in this chapter, seeing as before editing this chapter was incredibly short and not interesting at all. Hope you enjoy!
As the two had departed from their mother's house the next morning, seeing as they were allowed to move into the dorms the following day and their father lived closer, Aubrey had convinced Beck that there was someone that he would need to see. Well, two people seeing as the previous night he had received a text from Kommissar telling him to meet her at a bistro nearby. He, of course, had accepted the invitation, at least a bit happy that she wanted to see him so soon, seeing as at times he would wait a week or two just to get a text back. Aubrey dragged a very tired Beck out to the hair salon the next morning. Beck almost couldn't believe that this was the place that Aubrey had been dying to drag him to, that is until he walked through the threshold and was automatically attacked.
Well, attack is a strong word, but he did let out an audible "Oof!" As three figures were rushing to hug him, running right into him. It took him a minute to respond, seeing as he truly was not the hugging type, before he realized just who was crushing him. The first person that had reached him was his best friend and ex-bandmate Kolio. Well, they had grown apart a bit when Kolio left to go to some beauty school Beck couldn't remember, but he was relieved that Kolio was back, seeing as he was one of the only people that always kept it pretty real with Beck. He was a bit hurt for only a second that Kolio hadn't texted him when he had returned, but that was pushed aside when he recognized the tallest, most long-legged of the bunch. Stacie Conrad had been the second one to reach him, her off to his left side. This was the girl that he had come out to the very first time he told anyone that wasn't Aubrey. Stacie was his main confidant and someone that he viewed as another sister. She was also incredibly close to Aubrey, which brought on some interesting inside jokes between the three of them. Lastly, you had another tall girl in the form of Emily Junk. She was almost the one that got away in the sense that when he had met her, he had a bit of a crush on her. That did fade away, however, rather quickly after she had come crying to him about a boy one night. His first instinct was to protect her, but almost as a brother would do instead of like a romantic interest would. Beck wasn't sure who would come into his life in the future, but for right now he was perfectly fine with the friends that were around him.
"Okay, guys! I am so happy to see you, but I need some air here!" Beck was able to gasp out, the grip of the arms around him finally getting to him. He could hear the three laugh, as well as Aubrey as they all pulled away from him. Kolio finally looked Beck up and down, and from what Beck could tell his friend was not impressed by his choice of outfit. Not that his taste in clothing mattered much, seeing as Barden had uniforms. Currently, Beck had just settled for a purple flannel over a loose black t-shirt, his jeans framing his hips just right. Stacie always teased Beck, saying that he had a better ass that Aubrey did, which very much offended the blonde. Beck, of course, had completed his outfit with some dark purple vans. But, Kolio still seemed to be picturing how to upgrade Beck's look (this could either end up with a very good look or a very odd look). The boy did want to be a fashion designer one day, after all. Instead of saying anything about his clothes, the first thing he heard from Kolio was about the mop on his head.
"I can't let you go to Barden with that hair." The words were to the point, and before Beck could even say anything in response, he was being pulled by Stacie to Kolio's station. Beck sat down with a bit of a huff, glaring at Aubrey for no particular reason than she brought him there.
"I take it my wonderful sister told you about the plan?" Beck inquired, seeing as he had only learned about going to Barden less than twenty-four hours beforehand. Aubrey could be a bit of a cunning girl, and Beck swore that she would be in Slytherin if they were in the Harry Potter universe.
"Of course she did! Who else was going to squeeze his favorite twins in on such short notice?" Kolio teased as he wrapped the bib around Beck's neck, ensuring that his shoulders were covered completely. "I know exactly how you want to look, and nobody at Barden has met the Mitchell siblings. We have to ensure you two leave a lasting impression! Mainly you, my short friend." Beck allowed the crack at his height to slip as Emily started to ask Beck a few things about the new school he was going to attend, even though she knew that he didn't know much about it. Soon, the topic went to soccer, because both Emily and Stacie had been on the girl's team. Back before Beck was out and proud as himself, he played alongside them, ending with them being close and bringing the girls to his side now, when he most needed them.
"Have I ever told you guys how much I love you?" Beck asked as Kolio got to work on his new haircut. Beck knew that he should just let the man do his thing, but he saw in the mirror the wide smiles that the three girls were giving him. He didn't exactly say the 'L' word very often, so whenever he let it slip, they all felt very special.
"Of course you do, we are flawless." Emily's tone was joking as she spoke up, a hair flip accompanying her words. Beck could only roll his eyes in response, knowing full well the younger girl was not serious. She had actually started coming out of her shell a lot more this past year than he had ever seen, and he was incredibly proud of her.
"Finished!" Kolio announced as he turned Beck around in the chair, smiling proudly. Beck had to admit that he was enjoying the new, slicked back style of hair. Well, most of it was, a few parts of his hair refused to be tamed and stuck up in retaliation, but that was a small price to pay. He noticed that this haircut took a bit of weight away from his face, or at least it looked like it did, and showed off his cheekbones and defined jawline a bit more. Maybe not he wouldn't get misgendered so much, his hair was finally not so long that he could have put it into a ponytail if he had liked. He actually looked a bit masculine now, and he hoped that people at his new school would agree.
"Whoa. You look hot!" The shocked tone in Stacie's voice as she spoke up didn't go unnoticed by Beck, he just chose not to comment on it. Beck looked in the mirror, for once enjoying what he saw. He could hardly believe the guy that he was looking at was his own reflection, though it was probably the best thing ever.
"You don't look too bad yourself." He teased Stacie lightly as Kolio turned him around in the chair, Beck finally facing four of the most important people in his life. He noticed that a light blush had taken over Stacie's cheeks, clearly not having expected that he was going to say anything like that. "Now what?" He loved the people standing there, but he also knew that they were way too good at surprising him and that these surprises didn't always fare well for him.
"Now, you come with me." Kolio motioned for him to follow as Kolio walked to the family restroom that was in the back of the small salon. Beck was a bit hesitant at first but followed, shutting the door behind him as the two boys were in the small, enclosed room. Kolio was smiling, but that still mad Beck nervous as Kolio reached into his back pocket, taking out the small vial and a needle. "I'm here to administer your first shot of T," Kolio said proudly, uncapping it. While Beck hated needles, this was one reason that he was more than willing to let someone inject him with something. This, he was hoping, was going to change his life even more than the haircut and the clothes that matched his identity. This was a big step for him, albeit something that he was going to have to get used to.
"Seriously. What else is everyone hiding from me?" He asked, smiling wide. He finally understood those moments in movies where someone yelled 'I want to kiss you right now'. Well, in the one or two movies he actually watched, seeing as he hated most movies. He could think of about a million other things he wanted to do than sit down and watch a movie with the same plot as so many others.
"Nothing!" With that, Beck shot him a look that said There is no way in hell I am going to believe that lie. Kolio smiled a bit of an innocent smile, following with, "That I know of at least. Ready?" Beck nodded as Kolio was able to administer the shot quickly and as painless as he could.
Beck and Aubrey had spent a few more minutes in the shop before returning to their fathers, who asked how everything went. Beck explained, and with the promise that Beck would be getting top surgery soon, Beck went into his room to change into something that he was going to wear to meet Kommissar for lunch. This was the one part of his day that he had been dreading above anything else, and he just wanted to get it over with. He was probably not even going to order any food, seeing as he would want to get out of the situation as soon as possible. He insisted that the two drive to the little bistro separately, claiming that he would have to drop Aubrey off at some bookstore or something. It was believable enough, his sister was quite the nerd at some points, so Kommissar agreed.
Beck had snagged a table more in the middle, the French feel was a bit of a funny irony in itself, seeing as he was about to dump his girlfriend in a place that surrounded around love. It was a very lovely little shop, golden walls with baskets that held fake grapes and things of that like. There were also many paintings surrounding him of either the Eiffel tower, some sort of streets in France, or people kissing underneath the Eiffel Tower. He was never really the lovey type, so most of this stuff made him roll his eyes. It was honestly a wonder how he had gotten a girlfriend in the first place, but as a shiver moved up his spine as someone had approached him from behind and placed their hand on his shoulder, he knew one thing. The ice queen had arrived. This was a name for his girlfriend that his sister had given her when the two had first started dating. Of course, at first, Beck didn't see it and scolded Aubrey many times for using it, mainly insinuating that his sister was actually the ice queen in their world. But, now that he was starting to see her true colors, he knew what she was talking about.
"Bonjour, Beck baby," Kommissar said in the sweetest voice she could muster as she took a seat across from him. He tried his hardest not to roll his eyes as the little nickname, wishing that this whole ordeal was going to go as painlessly as possible.
"I was beginning to think that you weren't going to show up." Beck pointed out to the girl as he glanced down at the time on his phone, She was about half an hour late, but he figured that she was going to show up eventually, and this was going to be worth the wait. There had been previous other times when he had attempted to break up with Kommissar but to no avail. She would always bring him right back in if it were making him jealous or swearing that she was going to change her ways. He recalled that one time she had even tried to get close to Aubrey just to get back into his life, which clearly had worked seeing as that's why they were sitting where they were now. He knew that this time, however, this breakup was going to stick. It had to, for the sake of his happiness and freedom.
She brushed off his comment, her smile only faltering for a second before she spoke up again. "If you weren't avoiding me, maybe we could have seen each other sooner." She had a fake smile on her lips he finally noticed, knowing that there was no way that she would be happy if she truly thought that he had been avoiding her. But, it had been the other way around, which made a big of anger well up inside his chest that he had to keep under control.
"You have got to be kidding me. You have been avoiding me since you went to that little party at some kids place - Scooter, was it?" Beck inquired, and Kommissar laughed, knowing exactly what he was talking about. There had been a party that Kommissar had gone to without telling her boyfriend, having lied and said she was staying in sick. After the fact, of course, Beck had found out that she had lied to him so that she would have the freedom to go without him holding her back. There were many accounts from that night, many of which had to do with his girlfriend and plenty of other people, but innocent until proven guilty he guessed.
"Ah, you are mistaken. We both know I'm right, sweetie-pie." Kommissar stated as she reached over, stroking the arm that Beck had laid on the table. Beck automatically stiffened at her touch, but that went unnoticed by the blonde as she gave him the sweetest smile she could muster. "Why don't we just forget about that and get back to what we are good at?" She propositioned, and he knew exactly what she meant.
He finally pulled his arm away from her quickly, laughing as he shook his head. "You have got to be kidding me. This is the last straw. I don't want to be with you, Kommissar. I haven't for a while now, and you know that you haven't as well. I am done being used, and I am done playing these games. You and I, we are done. I am leaving for school in the morning anyway. This is goodbye." Beck didn't even let her say anything as he turned away. He was only stopped when she grabbed his arm, her nails digging into his skin. It was much different than the touch not even seconds before, surely she was going to draw blood if she didn't let go soon.
"What about all the stuff of yours I have? The hoodies and that?" She asked, knowing that she could just worm her way back into his heart when he came to pick up his stuff. That had worked during a few of the last times, seeing as his clothing was very sacred to him because it was some of the first male clothing he was allowed to own.
"Tell you what." He hadn't even turned to look back at her as he pulled his arm away from her, rubbing the spot where her nails had dug in, looking at the angry red marks in his flesh. "Burn it." And with that, he walked out of the bistro, silenced his phone, got into his car, and drove home. He felt very proud of himself, and even more free than he had ever felt before. It was almost as if a fifty-pound weight had just rolled off of his shoulders, and that felt fantastic.
