Laced By Love

Chapter 5

Very soon after escaping his younger self, Boston woke up, saved by his alarm clock. Of course it was a dream, that sort of thing always was. He groaned as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. Monday. He got out of bed and approached his mirror dreadfully. Looking at himself, he couldn't help but see that same youthful hope he saw in 27. 27 was still in him, no doubt about it. He tried to push that down though. Because 27, to him, was dead. It died in the war.
He was Boston. Confident, happy, friendly...
Stop lying to yourself.
Quickly, he went to change into his clothes. He'd decided that day he wasn't feeling very dressy, so he quickly threw on his favorite purple hoodie and navy blue sweatpants. Of course, he used the pair that didn't have a tail hole in them. For most of his pants, he had two pairs. One for his human form, and one for his lacey form. Just another downside to being a lacey. He changed back into his human form and rushed outside. He was in a grumpy mood, but he knew he had to be in a good mood for Amber. And seeing her by the bus stop did that naturally for him.
"Ah! Hello darling!" He hugged her excitedly. He was happy to be dating her, but was a little nervous at the same time. Regarding... that. She hugged back with a tight embrace.
"Hii! Oh my gosh I'm so excited to see you... babe?" She was questioning the pet names she was allowed to call him. She was used to lighter pet names like darling and dear, as established earlier, however babe was... new.
"Babe works.. Anything you wanna call me, sweetpea." He kissed her on the head, rubbing her back. What am I doing? Boston thought, a little bit worried.
"So.. How was your weekend?" They broke the hug and Amber smiled warmly at Boston.
"Uh.. Normal weekend stuff, I guess." He said. It wasn't quite normal. Regarding the pepper spray incident. He contemplated telling her about that.
"Oh fun! Well I know how most of your day went on Sunday~" Amber joked, since they were together on Sunday. Boston nodded and chuckled.
"Yeah.. You're right about that." His laughter faded and he released a small sigh. Amber noticed the saddened look he wore.
"Hey, what's with the look?" She asked sympathetically. Boston perked up a little, seeing that Amber noticed.
"Nothing, nothing, I'm fine." He forced himself a smile. Amber put her hands in his.
"You don't look fine." She looked into his neon green eyes. Boston shook his head.
"No, no, truly I'm okay!" The nightmare shook Boston up a little bit, but he obviously tried to hide that from Amber. What would he even say, 'I had a nightmare where I met my younger self in war'? He had to keep it a secret.
"Mmh.." Amber let go of his hands. "Are you busy tonight? I wanted to try to take you out or something.. Like boyfriend and girlfriend do."
Boston laughed. "Or something? What a way to ask your boyfriend out!" He had a wide toothy smile on his face.
"Oooh.. you've got your fangs out.." Amber forced Boston to look down at her so she could get a better look at him, since he was a lot taller than her. Boston stopped smiling. "Oh come on. I like them."
"Well, I don't." He said with a pessimistic tone to his voice.
"Why'd you get them done, then?" She asked curiously. Everyone just assumed he paid to get his teeth done, including Amber.
"I didn't, I was born with 'em. Everyone calls me a vampire for it." He sighed. "I'm human... but... Some days I feel like I'm not treated like one."
Amber looked at him doe-eyed, her eyebrows furrowing. "I'm so sorry..." She quietly apologized. Boston shook his head.
"It's not you, dear. You treat me like a human. It's the school. I'm tired of being called devil's son and sorts. I'm not as bad as I seem."
Amber nodded sympathetically. "Right you are. If anything, you're a pure Christian white boy. Too white boy. Seriously, you need to get some sun!" That wasn't a lie, Boston was very, very, pale. He got enough sun, no doubt about it. His human disguise just didn't absorb the rays the same way that normal humans did.
Additionally, too much sun wasn't good for laceys. So Boston had to avoid the sun. He couldn't put on sunscreen because it got under his scales and could create an infection.
"Haha, well, I try." He half-lied. Most of the time, he did enjoy time in the sun, but he knew he had to limit it. Like a plant, Boston's internal structure required sunlight to function, but with too much of it, the vitamins and chemicals in the rays could fry his internal workings and he could dust. Laceys didn't turn into corpses after death, they just turned into a white powder- a mix of their liquid magic and the physical makeup of the hardened magic and bone. He remembered the first time he had contact in the sun for a few thousand years... It was nightmarish for him, and new. The warmth of the rays startled him and made him feel tingly.