—— RE:ACT OVER ——

Darling : Hey, Guinevere?

Darling : Are you there?

Darling  : I'm almost there.

Queen  : im okay. i just had a panic attack. but im okay. splashed some water on my face in the sink

Darling : I've got your cheese you like. And some wine?

Queen : that would be righteous at the moment 

Darling : I swear, I'm almost there.

Darling : Actually I'm here now.

Darling : I'll be at the door in a second.

—— LOG OFF ——

I knocked on the door with my shoulder as my hands were full of shopping bags. I know I should’ve been here sooner, the traffic was just awful tonight. I hope she’s okay. 

I heard the rustle of the door unlocking and once it had opened, I was greeted with a giant hug around my neck from a head of blonde hair. 

“I missed you darling!”, Guinevere shouted gleefully and I stumbled back a bit almost falling over. 

“I missed you too.” I whispered through her neck crushing hug. 

“But I also have a lot of bags and um I need to put them somewhere.” I said.

She hopped down from hugging my neck and smiled. 

“Come on in, I’ll show you the kitchen.” 

I went inside, shutting the door behind me, and put the shopping bags down on the kitchen counter Guinevere showed me to.

“Hey.” I said and she paused after I had put everything on the counter.

“Hey.” She said back

“I need your honesty. You’re smiling but your eyes are red.”

“I’m…” she trailed off. Biting her lip, she turned her back to me.

“You need to tell me what’s going on.” I said.

“I know I do. I’m… not very open about my past because I’m still getting used to the fact that it happened. And I’m afraid of telling you everything - you being the one person I enjoy being in person with - and then it’s gets too real and you walk away. It’s why I stopped opening up to people.”

I put my hand on her shoulder and gently turned her around to face me, then said, “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me everything, but if it’s affecting you this badly; I’d be more worried if you didn’t. I’m not walking away from you.”

She smiled and gave me a soft warm hug. Enveloping around my body, molding to mine, she breathed slowly.

“You understand me Marcus. I’m a gay woman with a shit ton of trauma and an unhealthy anime figure addiction. I’m too much sometimes and other times I’m too little. I should probably invest in something before I die. Overall, I’m kind of a mess. So I emphasize, you are my best friend for a reason. You don’t expect anything noble of me. It’s refreshing.”

I petted her hair.

And then she proceeded to tell me everything. All of her past. Jennifer. Riley. The fall that changed everything. And I felt tears roll down my cheeks as I held her. My Guinevere was much stronger than she appeared. 

When she was finished I broke our hug and wiped my tears with my sleeve and stared into her eyes. 

I wish I could stare into those eyes every day. But I can’t tell her. Not yet. Especially after she’s poured out her past trauma to me. So I patted her shoulder, made her a sandwich from the groceries I brought over, and poured her some wine. We settled on a blanket on the floor  and began to talk about mindless topics while we watched Netflix together.

“So did you hear about that mafia funded horse girl anime?” She asked me.

I paused.

“Not at all.”

“So they made this isekai about race horses that die and get reincarnated as anime girls. Weird premise but whatever. So the internet catches a whiff and the internet of course is gonna do what the internet’s gonna do. So they attempted to rule 34 it. But there was a catch.”

“Rule 34?” I inquired.

She sighed and patted my head.

“Marcus, I’m gonna need you to research those keywords I sent you with every chapter. They will help I promise. Rule 34 of the internet: If it exists, there will be inappropriate content of it.”

“Oh my goodness…”

“Yep, it’s everywhere. So anyways- the catch. The race horses the shows protagonists are based of are real race horses and they’re owned by powerful Japanese mafia syndicates. These guys provide a boost to the Japanese economy. So if the show or anyone tries to fanservice these horse girls up, they will be found. And bad things will happen as a result. Blah blah. Anyways, I think it’s funny that the Japanese mafia is such a force to be contended with, that they can prevent rule 34 from spreading simply from existing in a certain medium.”

“That’s actually a genius idea.”

“Amazing, huh? Maybe I should write something intimidating.”

“You? Intimidating?” I joked.

She pouted and poked my side. 

“I can be!” She protested. 

“Yeah right, you’re getting all huffy but you’re close to passing out right now.”

“No I’m not…” she trailed off. 

Then she rested her head on my shoulder and began to drift off shortly after. 

I am content.