The Birds

It was 3 am. The world was asleep, but for the harsh blue light of Oliver's laptop. He was stuck on the pink and blue of GC2B, hovering over 'Purchase.'

Oliver was transmasculine. And he was very closeted. He sighed, shut the computer and pulled a pillow to his chest.

He awoke to the soft call of a robin, sitting on his pillow, curiously staring at his half-asleep face. The robin skipped off, headed to the window, and paused, looking at Oliver as if beckoning for him to follow. Ollie got up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and slowly walked over to the window, climbed up, and sat in the window with the robin. "I can't fly, you know. I'm pretty sure that's just a bird thing." The robin looked at him suspiciously as if unsure if he was telling the truth. They could see the wings right there; they were just a bit scrawny. Oh well. The robin gave a screech!

And the sky was filled in black. Getting closer and closer and closer until he could see. They were birds. Sparrows and crows and ravens and geese and bluejays and owls and herons and eagles and ospreys and pigeons. Millions of birds flocked to his window, all led by this cocky robin. The great owl sunk its claws into his shoulder, and the rest of the birds followed, carrying him up and away, into their realm of the sky, past the sleepy drudge of suburbia and the faint morning lights of the city. Away, past fields of wheat and barley, Away, over forests and herds of bison.

After an hour of flying, they reached the biting cold of the Rockies, the tips of the pine trees stained orange by the cold grip of fall. The birds flew, weaving through snow and rock, into a cave. A deep, dark cavern that, Ollie realized, was full of lanterns and bridges and farms and houses embedded in the rock face.

The birds flew past and carried him up into the cave before finally setting him down on the wooden porch of a home. It looked very much like a hobbit hole, with a large, circular red door with peeling paint and a small window on the side next to the stairs. Ollie looked at the birds, rather in shock of the events that had occurred in the last hour and a half, and then watched in horrified dismay as the robin turned into a person.

At about 5ft, they were not very tall, but with an oversized flannel, ripped grey jeans and doc martins, they were very stylish. Their short chestnut hair was fluffy and pinned back on the left with a clip resembling a robin's wing. They had DIY earrings that appeared to be made of dried maple leaves.

"Hi! I'm Robbie, my pronouns are they/them."

"He/him- You were a bird?!" Ollie Replied, utterly flabbergasted.

"Yep. you'll get your animal soon, I'd give it a week."

"By the look of this guy, I'd say... A raccoon. You look like you just crawled out of a dumpster! When was the last time you showered?!"

"Oh- hi, Willow! This is Oliver, Oliver, this is Willow." Robbie introduced.

Contrary to her name, Willow was not willowy in any way. Willow was a spectacular misnomer in that she was easily the most muscular person Ollie had ever met. At 6ft 2, Willow towered over both of them, and was quickly joined by her wife Lena, who was 6ft, making both Robbie and Oliver feel very short.

"She/her, the best person you will ever meet, and brilliant with the ladies." Willow smirked and extended her hand for him to shake. Ollie accepted, taken aback by her confidence. Lena smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Ok, thats about enough with the welcome party, lets let Ollie settle in, and then we can annoy him relentlessly." Robbie shooed off the two, who left holding hands. They were very cute.

Oliver turned toward the red door with the peeling paint, and pulled on the brass handle.