Beautifully Blue and Black
A thirteen year old Oculus lay across the un-made, messy bed in his unkempt room.
Damp, stolen posters stuck by lime-green nymph goo on the holed walls, various items strewn across the floor for someone to trip over someday. He didn't mind it at all, though. If someone tripped over his belongings, he always saw it as being their fault for entering his domain. Well, that was what he referred to his room as.
And that's just the way he saw it. Nothing more, nothing less. Well, unless one of his friends (which he barely had any) even bothered to set hoof in his house. Those were pretty much the only times he'd spiffy up his room, just a little. But in truth, there really wasn't much to spiffy up.
"Hive damn it... why the hell is it so hot in here...?"
Oculus gets up and opens his room window, letting the cool, moist air roll in and fill the room with its pure, windy bliss. Oc couldn't help it. It just made him calmer than what he usually would feel. Letting the breeze caress his face was like a refreshing reminder that there were better things out there. That he didn't have to spend all that time suffering in his room with all that hot air.
"Mmm..."
But then, other things started invading. And it was the aroma that really bothered him. Those pesky emotions clogging up his receptors.
Ever since the Hive's reform, everything's been so different. Oculus had always felt so overwhelmed by the changes when he decided to give his love away and change for the better.
Even so, his attitude sure didn't.
Especially toward himself.
The delectable aroma of sweet, sugary joy filled the air, caressing Oculus' open receptors and causing him to flick his tongue in response.
Pulsing warmth spread through his body, just enough to get him to loosen up a bit, and reveal a sensitive part of his physical changes.
His wings.
As his elytron slowly lifted, the pair of hard, royal blue pieces of shell revealed a pair of thin, shimmering butterfly wings, with blue on the inner gossamer, and black on the borders.
Little flecks of white made it look like his wings were sparkling in the light, looking beautiful and elegant as ever...
...and then Oculus caught himself in the middle of his freedom, slamming his elytra shut and doing the same with his window.
"Bah! Damn it- can't those faggots just give it a rest already?!"
He sat down, turning his neck so that he could pat down his elytron and make sure they were secured properly.
The thing Oculus hated the most about moving into a new home was that it was right next to the place where the "Feelings Forum" was designated. It infuriated him to open his window and have all those overwhelming flavors come and pester him the whole time.
Sometimes, he'd be led on by the sweet, rich, sweet saccharine of love and joy. Other times, he'd be pushed into anger. And, everyone knows how feelings can spread like wildfire. It made Oculus dread living where he was living.
In conclusion, to escape the overpowered flavors of many participants in the Feelings Forum session, Oculus decided to leave the house in search for his friends. Maybe they'd want to hang out at some point in the day.
It'd distract from his insecurities.
"...And you're saying you don't like it," Pentagon asked as he hopped on his third or fourth log on the way to cross the lake. Oculus just sat at the base of the tree across from him, hooves behind his head as he nodded. Pentagon furled his brow. "But why not? It's a Feelings Forum. Just because you don't wanna talk about the fact that you have a problem doesn't mean nobody else can."
Oculus huffed, thunking his head on the trunk of the tree. "Yeah, I know that," he replied to the cherry red nymph, with a glare, "I just wish we could've moved to some other area. You know, an area that isn't right next to the gay club."
Pentagon gets caught off guard by that last statement, tripping on his front hooves and falling into the lake. "Pfffft- hahahaaa!" Oculus guffawed and pointed his hoof at the glaring Pentagon, who stared at him from his rather wet predicament in the water. His strawberry pink mowhawk dampened and hung off the side, some of it even covering his eyes. "You know- about that last thing you said... It ain't a gay club, Oc."
Oculus gains back control of himself, and his kicking hindlegs from all the excitement. "Whew... yeah, you got me there... heheh, if it were a gay club, you'd be there twenty-four-seven...AHAHAAAAAAA!!!" The light grey nymph continues to kick his legs up and down in joy and laughter, further annoying the other- and frankly, much, much more red -nymph in the lake.
Pentagon steps out of the pond and sits next to Oculus, nothing showing very well that he's annoyed other than his screwed up facial expression. "Y'know, you're a real dick."
"At least I ain't the one suckin' em'."
Pentagon huffs, leaning in and pecking Oculus on the cheek. Oculus grows pinker than the red-chitined nymph himself, as the latter rests his head on his shoulder. "You're way more lovable when you're quiet."
And there, they sat, until it only got darker in the evening time. The two fell asleep at the pond together, there, against the very trunk of that tree.
"Hey! Hey, Oculus! Pentagon!"
The two woke up next to each other, with an abrupt jolt awake. Pentagon looks a bit groggy from sleeping against the rough trunk of that tree compared to Oculus' soft chitin. As the two look over yonder, they see a yellow changeling nymph with curly, black, gossamer hair and one horn on the front of his head. He also had black and grey elytron, with maroon wings underneath. His eyes were also a maroon color, too, and his name was...
"Yo, Wasp," Oculus smiled, waving his hoof so that one of his other best changeling friends could know where to run, although he looked like he was already right on the mark.
"Hey! What're you guys doing over here, I was lookin' for you guys all over the Hive!"
The two teens blush furiously, not knowing what to say to him that would be a good enough excuse. So, they just let go of the subject, Pentagon taking up the topic from then on.
"Well, we were just kinda hanging out here, that's all," he lied. Wasp was a very gullible nymph, so anything anyone could tell him, he'd believe easily, no alliby needed. Nearly every nymph in the Hive knew that much. Still, Wasp continued.
"You guys wanna hang out today? Murder Hornet wants to race. Ever since last week, she's been showing off her new wings... it gets on my nerves, but I guess it's good she likes the new changes..."
Pentagon looked at Oculus. Oculus looked very weary.
He wasn't the most flighty nymph in the Hive, namely because, well... he thought his wings would be weird to look at.
He couldn't imagine the kind of grief he'd get. A boy like him? Having butterfly wings? Think of the stories. The changeling boy with the wings only a girl should have. What, did he go through some kind of birth accident? Why was he the way he was, anyway? What would everybody think?
"Um... Oculus? D-Do you wanna come, or no?" Wasp asked.
"Wait, like... with wings? And... and flight?" He asked instead. Pentagon and Wasp looked at him like he was stupid, but of course, Pentagon was the more straighforward out of the two, so he was the one to speak up first.
"You're an idiot. What else are we gonna race on, hooves?"
Oculus found his heart rate increasing, his anxiety beginning to take form inside of him as he tried to come up with a good enough answer. "W-Well- W-Well, sure, you can! D-Do you guys know how much I walk all the time? N-No!"
This isn't good, he knows. He's getting really defensive, right now. Wasp and Pentagon took a few steps back as Oculus looked like he was about to throw up, or something. Wasp spoke up. "W-Well, sure you walk a lot, Oculus, but... but you know, we just tend to fly more. And racing with flight would be just.. a little bit more practical, y'know?"
Oculus lunges forward, pressing a hoof sharply on Wasp's chest and nearly knocking him over the way he loomed over him. "Screw you and your practicality!"
Pentagon stepped in, pulling Wasp from the sticky situation. "Woah, man... chill out, you're scaring him... what the hell are you so pressed about?"
Oc was breathing hard, now. He didn't know what else to say. He was backed into a corner, all because he didn't like his stupid butterfly wings. It felt like the sky was crashing down onto him. "I-I... I-I... I-I..."
"Dude, all he asked was if we wanted to race him and Hornet. What's your problem?"
"I don't have a problem, you're both just... just... argh!!!"
Oculus turned around and ran home, tears just barely catching themselves from letting loose on the soil. And he ran. Faster than his four legs could carry him.
And he would've been able to get home faster, if he would just come to terms with who he really was.
Oculus practically rammed the door open to his house, catching the attention of both his mother and father as he ran inside and slammed the door shut. His mother, Axilla, stepped down from her dish-washing position at the kitchen counter and turned around to a tight, warm embrace from her son. Surprised and concerned for Oculus, she hugged him back, opening her elytra and hovering over to the couch, where she sat down and stroked his gossamer, royal blue locks. "Oculus.. Oculus, what's wrong...?"
Oculus laid across the couch alongside Axilla, blinking away fresh tears. "M-Mom... they... they're gonna make fun of me, aren't they...?" Axilla looked even more confused, but still kept stroking her teenaged son's blueberry-bangs, looking down at him and watching him quiver.
"Oh, honey... why would anybody make fun of you...?"
"Ain't it obvious, Ma..?"
"Hm?"
"M-My wings... they're... they're... they're not the k-kind of wings I-I should... should..."
Axilla hushed her son with a hoof, planting a gentle kiss on his forehead as she continued to stroke his mane. "There's nothing wrong with having wings like yours, Oculus. Those wings of yours? They help you stand out from the crowd because you're unique, son."
Oculus sobs into Axilla's carapace. "B-But... B-But only girls have butterfly wings, mom..."
And that was true. For as long as the changeling generations have been going on, there hasn't been any word of a male changeling having butterfly wings. It was only the females that had wings like that, if they turned out to be a butterfly-type changeling, that is. That was usually determined so that they could use their wings to attract a mate, or something like that. Oculus didn't want to accidentally attract a mate every time he opened up that shell of his.
Everyone would think he was girly. And he wasn't girly; not by a long shot.
"Oculus."
Oculus looked up, thoughts racing around his head like the race that he was probably missing out on at this very moment. But he couldn't think about that now. The way he made a fool of himself in front of two of his closest friends. He couldn't even bare to think about that incident again.
"Every time you think something like that, just let me remind you, honey... there's a first time for everything. There was a first time for love to be shared, remember? And- and there was a first time for me to fall in love with your father, right?"
Oculus nodded solemnly, not quite getting what his mother was getting at.
"So, then... there's a first time for a boy to have butterfly wings, baby. And all the kids and poke fun, and joke, and kid around with you if they want. But in reality, they're just showing more and more how jealous they are... of the beauty that you have. In you."
Axilla playfully poked Oculus in his chest, smiling down at him with the warmest, most supportive grin she could offer. "I-I love you, ma," he cried, hugging his mother tighter and tighter with each coming second. Axilla giggled.
"I love you, too, honey."
And that was it.
Oculus woke up feeling peppier than usual the very next day. And today, he had a plan. A plan to confront his friends and apologize for the way he had been acting the other day.
As he brushed his teeth and washed his face, he stared into the mirror, opening his elytra and exposing the black and blue butterfly wings he had been harboring for so long. And today, he was going to go out and own them.
As he exited the house for the first time that day, he opened his elytra once again, allowing them to bask in the sunlight as they pulsed and quivered with overwhelming joy.
Oculus had girl's wings.
And he was proud of them.
