You may be no good at lying, but you are even worse at stealing.
And of course this, of all things, is what Momoe wants for the second ingredient to make her transformation... formula… potion. She needs something belonging to Abe. And not just anything, either — she wants something important to Abe, or the spell won’t work, she said. There has to be a connection. You think? It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to you, magic is weird. But you know exactly what you need to steal, and the worst part is, it will be easy. You think Abe will probably give it to you without question, because he trusts you, if you only ask. And that makes it so much harder. “This is it?” You ask with your hands, hesitant, reaching for the soft leather. “Yeah. I mean, it’s not a big deal, I can’t even use it anymore, it’s all worn through here, look.” He gives you the old baseball glove, just drops it in your hands, and you can smell the leather and feel the soft texture of it against your fingers. “I want… to play a game,” you say, your hand shaping the words before you can stop yourself. Abe chuckles. “What, on land? I don’t think that would go so well for you, with a tail and all.” “If… If it was p-possible. For me, to walk. Then, we could play. Together. For real.” Abe hums. “If it were possible, huh… Well, with your arm, you’d definitely be a pitcher. And I’m a catcher, so that would work out pretty well. I’d have to teach you the rules, so I’d probably be calling all the plays until you got the hang of it.” Abe seems to space out for a minute, thinking about it, before making a face, his nose all scrunched up, and looking back at you. “Nah, it’s more fun out here, by the water. I like how unpredictable the wind is, it makes it more of a challenge.” He grins crookedly at you, and you feel your heart rate stutter and increase. “Maybe we can make up a new game, with swimming instead of running. I’ll just have to practice until I can keep up with you.” “That… could be fun,” you sign at him. It’s a little slower with one hand, the other still holding his glove. “You can keep it, if you want,” Abe says, and you realize he’s been watching you, and you’ve been holding on to it very, very tightly. “Oh, I c-couldn’t,” you say, feeling a deep regret, almost sick with the knowledge of your deception. What were you thinking? “I’ve got a new one, it’s fine. I want you to have it,” he says, a little mumbly, his glance sliding off to the side as he rubs at his hair. “It might fall apart in the water, but it’s not doing me any good now, so. It’s fine.” He clears his throat, crosses his arms, shifts a little where he’s sitting on the rocks at the edge of the water. “Thank you,” you say, unable to give it back after all that, the fondness and guilt clashing angrily in your chest, your throat nearly choking off the words as the emotions crash through you. You hate lying. But you want to be with him, and this is the only way you know how, and you’ll do anything. You think about having a glove of your own, keeping it somewhere dry and sunny, and throwing a ball across the sand instead of over open water, and you hope it’s worth it, in the end. It has to be. |
Before heading home, Abe frowns a little, studying you again. You immediately worry that somehow he’s figured you out, that he knows everything, and he’s going to hate you for it.
But all he says is, “Hey, are your eyes a different color?” |