College Days—
Geoff comes out to Eclipse and Infinite? :3
It had been three days.
Three days.
And already Geoff felt as though he couldn't imagine life without his new friends.
He and Eclipse lived together in the same dorm, and even though their quarters were pretty bare they had made the most of it. Eclipse had talked about his love of ducks, and Geoff had reciprocated with his love of cats. They'd taken turns on the old computer, playing totally not pirated copies of old Pokemon games. Reading through their small collection of comic books and giving the characters funny voices. Singing, horribly off-key, to random songs they'd think of in the moment. Obviously they had to split up for their studies but, with only fifteen hours in class each, they'd soon meet up so they could fool around again.
And, of course, there was Fin.
Geoff and Eclipse had remained true to their word. They had met up with Fin as soon as possible the next day, the shy jackal quietly pleased to see they had remembered, and hung out together for the afternoon. Like before Fin had been somewhat reserved, but had stayed at their side and listened as Eclipse prattled on about nothing (Geoff and Fin DID learn a lot about duck traffic safety). The jackal seemed very happy to be around them, just quietly doing his own thing while still managing to be involved. Geoff swore he even saw the guy’s tail wagging.
So it was the trio eventually found themselves retiring to Geoff and Eclipses’ dorm, Fin carrying a suspiciously large rucksack as he followed.
“So!!!” Eclipse jumped onto his bed, falling into a reclining position beneath his duck posters, “what do we do tonight, fam??”
“I dunno....” Geoff sat on his own bed, carefully removing his hoodie so it didn’t disturb anything beneath and depositing it on the floor, “how about we play more Pokemon?”
“OOH” Eclipse hopped up and ran over to his computer table, one arm swiping empty packets of beef jerky and soda cans onto the floor, “WE CAN TRY THE MEW GLITCH I’VE BEEN MEANING TO TRY THAT HOLY CRAP!!!!”
“Um... well...” Fin set himself down on the bed, catching the others boys’ attentions as he unzipped his bulky rucksack, “I... actually brought something round...? Thought you guys might be interested...”
Geoff and Eclipse exchanged a glance and watched as Fin reached inside his bag... and removed a spotless, pristine, brand new white video game console along with a pair of controllers.
“Oh, awesome!!!!” Eclipse chirruped, eyes going wide as he inspected the console, “you brought your Xbox???”
“Yup!” Fin grinned, showing off his pointed canines as he tossed his long hair out of the way, “and I haven’t used it yet... I especially haven’t... had anybody to play it with...”
“Cool!” Geoff spoke up from his place on the bed, “what you wanna play?”
Fin went still, before an evil, dark look fell over his face, one that the other boys couldn’t imagine the quiet jackal ever wearing. “DOOM.”
And so it was the boys spent their free evening tearing around, having a Hell of a time (pun intended) and blowing up demons. They only had two controllers but that was okay, the three of them would trade off and one would watch and offer support/unconstructive criticism. Energy drinks were pounded, and fun was had, right into the very late hours when they had to fall quiet.
Eventually the game was traded for Youtube, and the boys chilled out on the beds listening to random music on the small flat screen tv. Even though it was late, they weren’t very tired. They were enjoying themselves too much.
“Y’know, it’s funny...” Geoff said, hands behind his head as he reclined against the wall, “I never thought when I left home that my best friends would be aliens from outer space!”
“Yeah!” Eclipse cackled, busy (badly) braiding Fin’s hair, “and when I was a kid, I NEVER thought I’d be friends with a human! Let alone LIVING around so many of them!”
“Same....” Fin said quietly, eyes closed as Eclipses’ claws pulled at his hair, “I never thought there’d be a place with so many humans...”
Geoff frowned as Eclipse hummed in agreement. “What was it like?” he said curiously, “coming to a whole other world and being around a totally different species?”
Eclipse and Fin shrugged in unison. “Well... I was kinda stranded here when I was a kid...” Eclipse said uncertainly, his usual bluster evaporating for the moment. “I lived in the wild... humans would just scream and me and throw stuff at me if they saw me. So I stayed away. I was always told that humans were cruel and evil...” the Darkling went quiet, before shaking himself off and grinning. “But things got way better when I found my brother!”
“It’s not that different here from where I grew up...” Fin said, adding his own perspective to the conversation, “big cities... lots of people... but at least back there everyone else was Mobian. Coming to Earth and being around Humans was really intimidating at first... everyone around you is different, they all look at you funny.”
Eclipse snorted, slit nostrils flaring. “They stare at you, and talk about you when they think you don’t notice...”
“You’re always the odd one out...” Fin said wearily, before remembering Geoff was there. His ears went flat as he looked to the human. “S... sorry... I guess it’s hard for you to understand...”
Geoff merely smiled, jaw set. “Actually... not as hard as you might think.”
Eclipse and Fin glanced to one another before curiously regarding their friend. “What do you mean?” Eclipse said, cocking his head in curiosity.
Geoff bit his lip and looked away. “If it’s personal...” Fin said, ears raising as he noted his friend’s discomfort, “you don’t have to tell...?”
Geoff remained silent for a few moments, before looking over to the two aliens. “Well... it’s not really a secret, just something I’m a little reserved on when it comes to telling people...” he shrugged. “I’m trans.”
Fin’s ears perked with interest, while Eclipse cocked his head in puzzlement. “What’s that?” Eclipse said, wide-eyed and innocent.
Fin gave him a look and frowned while Geoff ran a hand through his hair. “Transgender...” Fin said, emphasising the second part of that phrase.
Eclipse screwed his eyes in thought for a moment before clarity hit him. “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooh!” he said,a light bulb igniting above his head, “sorry, brain fart. Oh, that’s cool! I had no idea!”
“ ‘s’okay,” Geoff waved a hand dismissively, “like I say, it’s not a secret. I just don’t... go out of my way to advertise it until I get to know people better.”
“I guess we have more in common than we thought...” Fin said quietly, ears flat as he played with his hair.
“Well, duh!” Eclipse stuck his tongue out at the jackal and grinned mischievously, “we’re best friends, ain’t we??”
The other two remained quiet, considering that indeed, they did seem to be best friends. They’d known each other only a short time and all three were different species, from different worlds and parts of the galaxy. They were each different and weird in their own way, but were more alike than they could ever have dreamed.
“Can.... I stay here tonight? With you guys?” Fin spoke up, “I kinda don’t wanna go back to my dorm...”
“If you like,” Geoff said, “that’d be cool.”
“Hey!! Why don’t you put in a request to switch dorms??” Eclipse spoke up, tail swishing excitedly, “we’ll get another bed and everything!!! It’ll be awesome!!!!”
“Okay...” Fin smiled, twirling the end of his hair around a finger, “I think I’ll do that.”
