Fey

Part 2

Akemi sat with his wings hanging limply over the back of the couch. "I thought he was different, Kara. He never bullied me. He smiled at us whenever we were cheering... But he's the same as the rest." Kara took a bite of her slice of pizza. "What did he do?" She had noticed that in a lot of ways, Akemi's wings were neurologically tied to his arms. When he wasn't paying attention, his wings often mimicked what his arms did. Akemi shrugged, his wings rising, furling, and unfurling as he did so. "Artie and his goons threw grass and shit at me, said they were helping me make a nest. At first, I thought Ben was going to defend me, but he..." Kara leaned forward as Akemi's shoulders sagged, and his wings did the same. "He... he poured birdseed on me..." For a Fey, it was the equivalent of a racial slur. Just because Fey had wings didn't mean they were even remotely related to birds. And to compare the two was seen as extremely offensive. "Oh my god... I can't believe Ben would do that... I'm so sorry." 

Akemi sniffed, grabbing a piece of pizza. "I really liked him, Kara... He seemed so sweet from afar." Kara smiled and moved to sit next to him. "I know, Aki. I thought so, too." Akemi sighed and took a bite, the sweetness of the pineapple juice splashing over his tongue and cooling the slight heat from the marinara sauce as he chewed. "So, what are you going to do? Now that you're not cheering anymore." Akemi shrugged, his wings twitching when there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it," Kara said, patting his knee as she got up. Kara scoffed as soon as she opened the door. "Is Akemi there? I really need to talk to him." Kara folded her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up. "Well, he doesn't want to talk to you." Akemi got up, crossing his arms over his bare chest as he walked to the front door. "What do you want, Ben?" Kara stepped closer to him until she was nose-to-nose. "You make him cry again, and I will rip off your arms, then your legs. Then, I'll kick you down a hill, and you will roll. Like a turd in the wind. Got it?" Ben looked extremely confused, and Akemi smiled at her. Her threats came from a good place, but they very rarely made any sense. "Y-Yeah, sure..." As she walked back to the living room, she told Akemi to let her know if Ben tried anything. 

"What do you want, Ben? I'm not cheering for you anymore." Ben looked down. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I know how much you love cheering, and I was hoping I could convince you to come back." Akemi sighed, sliding his hands into his pockets. "No. I can't cheer for a group of people who make fun of me for having wings. I can't do it anymore. I have feelings, Ben. And all you and your cronies do is hurt them." Ben looked down. "I didn't want to dump seeds on you... They made me do it." Akemi furrowed his brow, shivering at a cool breeze that pushed through the open door. Ben noticed and started taking off his jacket. "Here, take this." It took all of five seconds to remember that Akemi had wings and couldn't wear jackets made for Humans. "Just... come in." He turned around and walked into the living room, running his fingers through his hair. "Do you know what seeding is?" Ben stepped in and closed the front door, setting his jacket on the back of the couch. "N-No? Is that what I did to you?" 

"Yeah. And it's the equivalent of the KKK burning a cross in someone's yard. Used to be, back in the early 1900s, if someone left a pile of seed in a Fey's yard, they disappeared. Their..." He took a moment to steady himself. "Wings... were cut off and left in the town square, but the body was usually never found." He looked up, tears in his eyes. "Hundreds of Fey died, all over the world... Because people like you couldn't just... coexist." Ben had this look on his face. Like he'd just watched someone die. His brow was furrowed, his mouth agape, and his eyes looked like saucers. His hands were clenched at his sides, and it was like he was shivering. "I... I didn't know... I'm so sorry..." He sat down and hid his face in his hands. "Oh my god..." Akemi sat down, resting his wings over the back of the couch. "You really didn't know?" Ben looked up. "I swear, I didn't. I could never do something like that..." Ben was staring at the hardwood floor, his brow creased. He suddenly stood, and his voice cracked when he spoke. "I should go. I won't bother you anymore." Akemi looked down but didn't stop him. Kara looked up from her phone. "Do you believe him?" Akemi got up, grabbing Ben's yellow letterman's jacket. "I'm Fey, Kara... I can smell when people are lying. He had no clue. A lot of Humans don't know about the dark points in Fey history. Mostly because of the African-American civil rights movement. Why worry about people with wings when Humans had bigger problems?" Kara slowly nodded. "So... what are you doing to do?" Akemi smiled and shook his head. "What I'm good at. I'll be back. Feel free to hang out and... whatever." 

As soon as he was dressed, he tied the sleeves of Ben's jacket around his waist and jumped out of his bedroom window, flapping his wings as hard and fast as his muscles would allow. He landed and nodded to the football coach, smiling. "Thank god, Aki, I thought we were going to have to go with the default. Here's your mic." Akemi nodded, handing him Ben's jacket and smooshing the earpiece in. "Alright, ladies, we ready?" An announcer called out, speaking over the massive PA system. "Alright, it's halftime! Please join me in welcoming to the field: the Silver Falls Snakelets!" Akemi nodded to his group of women, smiling. He was wearing a matching uniform, not really minding the fact that it was women's clothing. He wore a skirt that fell to his lower thighs and a sleeveless crop top that came down to just below his wings, which he kept held high, towering above him. "Are we ready, Silver Falls?!" He yelled, his voice echoing around the field. There was an uproar of applause, and Akemi smiled at Ben, who was sitting on the bench with the rest of his team. His eyes were wide with wonder. He'd done this dozens of times, but it was like Ben was seeing him for the first time. He stood front and center, six cheerleaders in front of him. "Silver Falls, we're the best, only honor in our vest! We'll pin you down; we'll make you scream! To all others, fear our team! Gooooooooooo, Serpents!" He flapped his wings, pushing himself into the air and performing a backflip, before landing softly on top of a human pyramid and holding his wings outstretched, winking at the football team. At least, that's what it looked like. Really, he was only winking at Ben.

The human pyramid performed a controlled collapse, and Akemi remained in the air. "You toy with an angry serpent, you get bit. Go rattle 'em, boys!" He arced through the air, flying in a circle around the field, coming within feet of the fans in the bleachers. He came to a graceful landing next to the coach. "You really like doing that, don't you?" Akemi shrugged, taking out his earpiece and handing it to the coach. "It's fun. For a few minutes, people stop seeing me as a Fey, I'm just a cheerleader." Coach Brandley sighed, checking his clipboard. "You're the best damn cheerleader we have, Akemi. The crowd loves you. The Snakelets love you. When Benny told me you quit, I was worried. Don't you do that to me again, kid." Akemi smiled, taking Ben's jacket back. "You got it, coach." 

Just before halftime, when Akemi had arrived, the Serpents were behind. And Akemi had noticed that their star quarterback seemed to not be doing his best. But that was expected. Less than twenty minutes earlier, he'd told Ben that he'd unwittingly committed a hate crime. But as soon as Akemi had left the field, Ben kicked it into overdrive. And by the end of the game, the Silver Falls Serpents had completely and utterly crushed the Silent Hill Howlers. After every game, even after everyone else had left, Akemi stayed behind to clean up. He was under the bleachers, picking up plastic cups, beer cans, paper plates, napkins, and small handheld flags from both teams. He heard a knock on one of the metal support posts for the bleachers and turned his head. It was Ben, looking rather chilly in his plain tee. He'd just come from the showers. Akemi could smell his soap, which must have been some kind of generic four-in-one for hair, body, and car parts. But it smelled pleasant enough. His hair was still wet, sticking up in all directions. "Hey, Akemi." Akemi walked over, untying the sleeves of Ben's jacket from his waist, before handing it over. "You left this at my house." Ben smiled, pulling it on. "Thanks. I... didn't think we'd see you here." Akemi shrugged. "The others, I can handle. I can tune them out just fine..." Ben leaned against the post he'd knocked on, shoving his hands into his pockets. "What's so different about me?" Akemi thought for a moment before poking Ben in the chest. "You're kind. They aren't." Ben blushed, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "Listen, there's... sort of a post-game party thin at my place. You should come by." Akemi snorted. "And get bullied by Artie and his goons outside school hours?" Ben looked down. "Fair point... But if you're with me, they won't mess with you." Akemi's wings perked up a bit. "That's really sweet of you. But I should really finish cleaning up here. Humans can get pretty dirty when they're excited." Ben smirked. "Well, if you change your mind..." He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Akemi. "Here's my number and my address." Akemi blushed, accepting the paper. Ben started to walk away but stopped after a few steps and turned around. "And... thanks for coming. You were pretty great out there." Akemi beamed, his wings twitching happily.