My eyelids flutter open to the sounds of freshly cooking bacon, the aroma sending my nose into overdrive as I take in the scent. Anon obviously woke up first, somehow getting untangled from the blanket and me without waking me up.

I take a deep sniff, a content grin spreading across my beak as I sigh. “Holy shit that smells delicious! I haven’t had bacon in years.”

Anon smirks and flips an egg in the pan with it landing with a satisfying sizzle. “I got up an hour ago and thought, fuck it, let’s celebrate. Walked to the grocer and snagged a few goodies for us.”

I get up from the couch before sliding up next to him, resting my head on his shoulder, rubbing my cheek against his. “Only just started dating again and you are already being good to me, huh, Anon.”

“I’ve got a lot to make up for, Fang. It’s the least I can do.” He leans his cheek against mine while still masterfully flipping eggs onto freshly melted butter while dodging grease from the splattering bacon.

“Well, I’ll grab some plates—don’t want to get you scorched with me leaning on you.” I plant a quick kiss on his cheek before popping open the cupboard. Boy, I need to get some new fucking dishes. I’ve got maybe a couple of plates left, good enough for now, though. Fishing through the drawers for a couple of forks, I set them down on the table. A minute later, he walks over with a toasty frying pan before scooping out the goodies onto both plates. After setting the pan back on the oven, he settles down next to me.

He picks up his fork before letting it rest on the edge of his plate, sighing and glancing at me from the corner of his eye. “You know, Fang…I never let myself hope we’d have a chance again. I mean, I wanted it, more than anything…but if there was someone out there that didn’t deserve a second chance, it was me.”

I am mere inches from taking a bite but that caught me off guard. Letting the morsel land back on my plate, I put my hand on his knee. “Anon…you fucked up, it’s true, and me lying to you about it wouldn’t do shit. But you came back and apologized. You didn’t have to; you could have left me here and never talked to me again, but you made that choice. You, same as anyone else, deserve a second chance. Hell, even I do.” I gently take his hand into mine as he slowly turns to look at me.

“You mean it, Fang?” He intertwines his fingers with mine as he searches my eyes for hope.

“I do, and I am giving you that chance. We can’t undo the mistakes we made, but we don’t have to let them rule the rest of our lives. This is our chance at a new life for us both, and we can’t waste it.”

He nods, a smile growing on his face as he takes in my words. “I don’t know what kept me here after seeing you. I thought I didn’t deserve to try again. But after I saw you, I couldn’t leave. Every fiber of my being refused to get out of that seat. I’m fucking glad I didn’t.”

I smile at him, kissing him on the cheek and squeezing his hand before letting it go. “I’m glad you stayed too, Anon. I don’t want to think about what I would have done that night if you hadn’t. I love you.”

“I love you too, Fang.” He tears up as the weight of what he just said settles in. It’s something I can tell he thought he’d never get to say or hear from me. All those years must have weighed heavy on his heart, even if all he thought he wanted was to be alone.

After a few more moments he takes a deep breath, letting out a sigh of joy before turning back to his plate. “Breakfast with my hot ptero gee eff. How I’ve fucking missed this.”

A hint of a blush flushes across my cheeks as I shake my head with a giggle. “Dweeb…”

“I’m your dweeb.”

“Damn right you fucking are.”

Breakfast is fucking delicious. The eggs are cooked perfectly, and the bacon is that right level of crispy with enough give that it melts in your mouth. It is a welcome flavor after weeks and weeks of pizza and scavenged protein bars. Anon turns the tv on to some Saturday morning cartoons, the old ones back when no one cared if a cartoon character literally tried to decapitate a mouse or shotgun a rabbit. I laugh like a little kid again, seeing them get flattened like a pancake by an anvil while I eat. Anon just stares at me for a bit, a smirk on his face as he watches.

“What ya staring at, dweeb?”

“Fang. The most beautiful ptero I never once deserved in my life, but who I’m so fucking grateful for.”

My face turns bright red as I desperately and futilely attempt to cover my face with my hands. “God, still have to be that cute doofus, don’t you?”

He smiles smugly with a wink. “I sure fucking do, this day and every other day I get to spend with you.”

I jab him in the side with my elbow, a favored tactic I am quite glad to bring back. “Dork…I’ll get you back for that.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” He twirls his fork in his hands and taps it on his chin before looking over at me again. “I have to ask, though, what do you mean by a second chance for you? What exactly happened with you after I left?”

I sigh and set aside my plate, pushing it back across the table before resting my head in my palm, tapping the side of my beak with my claws. “I basically fucked off from my family. A few weeks after graduation, well…after you disappeared, I packed my bags and told them I was leaving. I didn’t tell them where I was going and I never had any intention of going back. Mom was hurt, Dad was pissed, and Naser just sat there as I walked out the door.”

A wave of concern washes over Anon’s face as he gives me his undivided attention, only speaking up after I stopped talking, my eyes focusing blankly on the wall. “Shit, Fang. Sorry, didn’t mean to bring up raw memories.”

I blink and lean back into the couch, lazily waving off his apology. “It’s fine. It’s better to get everything out in the open if we are going to be together again.”

He reaches over, taking my hand in his and gently caressing it with a confused look on his face. “Why didn’t Naser say anything? It’s not like him to be idle, especially not when it comes to you.”

“Because I didn’t want him to.” That takes him by surprise as both of his eyes shoot wide open. “I had told him I was leaving, and I told him not to fucking try. If he had, I would have severed contact with him. I needed to know I could trust him, even a little bit, and he proved it. We talk still, every week whenever he’s got time and I’m not passed the fuck out.”

“Well, that’s good at least. Never known him to be unreliable…naïve as fuck and sometimes shoving his nose into shit he shouldn’t, but he cares a lot about you.”

“He does. Always asks if I’m living the dream. As if you can have much of a dream in Skin Row outside of not getting fucking stabbed.”

He leans closer and turns my snout to face him, a serious look in his eyes I did not expect to see. “What is your dream, Fang? What do you want out of life?”

The question hits hard. This is far more serious than Anon ever acted when we dated in school. He really has changed so much, hasn’t he? All for the better, it seems. I look away as he holds my face gingerly in his hands before settling my eyes back on his. “I…I didn’t really have much of one anymore. I mean, I came down here trying to start over and I ended up nearly fucking dead and penniless. I guess my dream still is the same thing it’s always been, to be in a successful band. I don’t need to be rich, hell not even world famous, just good enough to be seen as a musician instead of a back-alley fuck-up.”

Tears slide down my face, but Anon wipes them away before they can hit the ground as he keeps my gaze locked in on him. “Then that’s what we will do, together. I can’t play music for shit, but I can be a hype man if I need to be. Someone to spread the word and get people to the shows, because you deserve it. You are not some back-alley fuck-up, you are fucking Fang, the punk rock badass that I love.”

His words hit home, nearly causing the dam holding back my tears to break. This is so different from before. Supportive and caring. If there was any sign of him doing this just to score an easy lay, I can’t find it. He truly has changed. He believes in me, and that’s all I need to push forward and stop living here wasting my life away.

Tenderly grabbing his face with both my hands, I stare directly into his eyes, the fire in them burning in a way they hadn’t since I was back in high school. One spark is all it takes to start an inferno, and he struck the match. “You are fucking right, Anon. I can’t just spend my life playing tiny shows in this backwater. I could take this town by storm, and I fucking will.”

His grin grows wider as he stares back at me with an intensity in his eyes that rivals my own. “Fuck yeah, you will. And I’ll be right at your side the whole way, as I always should have been back then.”

I gently shake my head as I peer into his eyes. “Back then doesn’t fucking matter now, what matters is this right here, and we are gonna make it count.”

With a stern nod he lets go of my face, our hands meeting together as they fall, both of us still gazing intently at each other. Then my stomach decides I have been fucking around too long and lets out the loudest grumble I’ve ever heard in my life.

My face turns bright red as he snickers at me. “Uhh…after breakfast, though…”

He keeps laughing to himself as he smiles. “Of course, the rest of our food first, the town after.”

Takes me a moment to get my face to stop looking like a ripe cherry as I poke at an egg with my fork and flip it into my mouth, earning a smirk from Anon. I was so prepared not even a couple months ago to waste away to nothing—not doing a thing to stop it—but now I feel like I have something to fight for.

My eyes drift over to Anon, who’s in his own world, probably already planning what he is going to do to help push my band to new heights. A smile curls on my lips as I look at him, this dweeb, the one who admittedly set me on this path to start with, is now here, doing everything he can to make up for lost time. For a lifetime of mistakes. I can’t lay it all at his feet though—I didn’t have to leave, I could have stayed with my parents and made something of myself. Not that it matters anymore…I have what I need now to start again, and I won’t let it pass me by this time.

A memory sparks into my mind as I look at him, memories of a time long ago with us in my room failing horribly to study but instead finding something new in ourselves. I finish off the last bits on my plate before getting up and sliding the plate onto the counter. I walk to my guitar case. The dust and cobwebs have built up after years of neglect. He watches me closely, his eyes lighting up as I pick up the case and blow the dust off it, swiping away the webs. I make my way back to his side before placing the case on the table, popping it open and pulling out the very same guitar I had used to teach him how to play. I can see the tears in his eyes as he watches my hands lift it out and place it on my lap, twisting the pegs as I tighten the strings and tune it, slowly bringing it back to life.

“Man…not a day went by when I didn’t think of that moment.” He rubs his eyes with his sleeve and sniffles. “You showed me something beautiful, something I believed I’d never see again.”

I say nothing, only smiling at him as I finish tuning it, giving it a few last strums with my pick. Before I begin to play, I gaze into his eyes, searching for any reason at all to hold back, finding nothing in his but wonder and hope. There is nothing left to fear—my Anon is back, repentant and filled with the desire to be where he always wanted to be, by my side.

I start slow, gliding my hand across the fretboard, plucking a few soft notes from the strings. It didn’t take long for him to realize what I am starting to play as he leans against my shoulder, the memories taking him back to better times. A time where we had been all we needed, two souls trying to find meaning in our lives and to have someone to share our dreams with. I hum along with the notes, my tail swishing to the tune, Anon silently reliving that moment on that bed where he said the words he never knew he said out loud: “All that matters is her.” I could have held onto the hate, I could have told him to fuck off when he came back that night on the beach, I could have become a miserable hateful bitch never letting anyone in ever again. If I had, we both would have been lost forever.

Finishing the last note, I rest the guitar against on the arm of the couch and look at him. He slowly pulls back to reality, sitting back up straight, his cheeks stained with tears. I can see from the look on his face that he can’t find the words to say, which doesn’t matter…there’s no need to say a thing. It is written across his face and his entire body. He has hope again, just as I do. I reach out with my wing, pulling him closer to me and wrapping my arm around his waist, his arm reaching under my wing to hold me close.

We both silently embrace one another, the sound of our heartbeats in unison the only thing we can hear. There are so many ways our lives could have gone from the point we reunited on the beach. It could have been our last meeting, going our separate ways until one day we were found dead in our homes. It could have been me tearing him down until nothing but shards remained. But instead, we both made a choice that night, to try again, to live where it would have been so easy just to give up. Now here we are, sitting on a couch in each other’s arms, hopeful and once again in love. I don’t really believe in fate, but it seems we were never meant to be parted and that the universe refused to let our story end so painfully.

A soft chuckle escapes my lips, causing Anon to perk up and look at me. “What’s got ya laughing, Fang?”

I flick away a tear from my eye, smiling down at him. “Just the absurdity of it all. How you ended up back in Skin Row, coming to one specific pizzeria out of the dozens scattered around to find me on that stage. How you didn’t leave when you had no reason to stay…” I pull him in closer, resting my head on his shoulder as I close my eyes. “Anon, thank you. Thank you for coming back.”

He gulps down a knot in his throat as he presses his cheek against mine, tenderly caressing my back and keeping me close. “Thank you, Fang. For giving me another chance to do this right, to love you like I should have. I don’t know what the future holds but all I know is I need you in it. Life isn’t worth living alone.”

I quietly nod in agreement, rubbing my snout against his cheek in return. I could lie…I could say I didn’t need him to be okay, or that he didn’t need me. But that’s exactly what it would be, a fucking lie. I don’t want to lie anymore, I want to live, and here is my chance right in my arms.

I pull away, gently letting his arms fall from my back, my wing settling behind me as I hold his hands in mine. “So Anon…I know you can’t play guitar and I think if you are going to hype up the band you should know a bit. So, I think it’s time for another lesson.”

He has no time to react before I pick up the guitar and slide it into his hands, guiding him down onto the floor before I sit behind him, settling in close. I can feel his heart quickening as my hands once again guide his to the strings. Just like before, all those years back, and the feelings come rushing into my heart. A tear falls from my cheek onto his shoulder; I never thought I’d get to do this again.

Anon’s body stays perfectly still against mine, his hands following my movements as I teach him chord after chord. My hands correct his anytime he loses his place, and each time he gets a little better than the last. Barely a word is said beyond me giving instructions and him sometimes dropping an expletive when he misses a string. The years of me neglecting to play my guitar hasn’t dulled my abilities; it is like riding a bicycle, each step coming back to me naturally. With our bodies so close, we are blushing the whole time like we are kids in school again. The hours whittle away to the ever-improving sounds of my teaching paying off. After seeing his fingers getting raw, I stop the lesson before he loses any blood.

“Not bad, dweeb. You forgot everything but you are picking it up again quickly.”

“Like I said before, it helps when you have a good teacher.”

Another wave of crimson stains my cheeks as I smirk at him. “Well good, ’cause you are going to spend a lot of your time here learning.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Fang.” We sit there for a while, just cuddling on the floor before he shifts a bit, a question burning in his eyes. “You know…since we are currently digging through past memories, I have to ask. What happened to everyone else?”

I tilt my head to look him in the eyes. “Who do you mean?”

“You know…Stella, Rosa, Trish, Reed, all of them. I haven’t seen them once anywhere, not that I went looking, but it’s strange that I haven’t caught sight of them at some point.”

A sigh escapes me. A couple of those names are not something I enjoy thinking about, but I can’t sit here and say nothing. “Stella and Rosa…I have no idea. I hadn’t really planned to keep in contact with them. I mean, the only thing we had in common was me going to detention all the time in gardening club. I figure they’ve gotta be out there somewhere, probably living the dream. Those two wouldn’t have ended up here.”

He puts his hands on mine, and I know what he wants to know next, but it doesn’t suck any less. “And…Trish and Reed?”

A frown spreads across my face thinking of those two. I don’t hate them, but it didn’t end well, either. “We drifted apart. After you disappeared, Trish tried to elbow her way back into my life. Trying to take control, as she always seemed to fucking love doing.” He grips my hands tighter, trying to comfort me as my body starts to shake. “One day, she pushed me too far and I slapped her so hard she slammed into her locker. Reed just stared at me in disbelief while Trish was crying on the floor in a heap, and that’s the last I ever saw of them.”

“Shit, sorry Fang. I seem to be really good at digging up old wounds.”

“It’s alright, Anon.” I sniffle hard, drying a few tears on his shirt. “It doesn’t matter now. Wherever they are, they’ve gotta be doing better than I have been. Not that I want to see them again anyway…if Trish saw you, you know exactly what she’d want to do.”

He taps his chest with a smirk. “Impale me with those nubs of horns she’s got?”

“Yep. Right through your chest without stopping. But who cares about them? We don’t need them. We’ll make it on our own just fine, I know it.”

“You’re right, Fang. I guess I just wanted to know how it went for everyone else. Suppose I’ll never know, but we’ve got work to do…gotta build up your image so one day it’ll be your name hanging over Volcaldera Stadium in lights.”

I smile, the dream on my lips, my band’s name up there…it is almost too good to believe. But after everything I’ve gone through, I can see it being reality for the first time in years.

“Well, let’s get to it, dweeb! Start telling me your plans, and I need to tell Benji I’m gonna start playing my guitar instead of my bass.”

We spend the rest of the weekend going over all the details. He is going to go around and print out some posters with our logo on them and details about the nightly shows at Pizza Time. Every spare moment he has he’ll be hitting the message boards of local talent scouts, anyone seeking new bands to play in their venues. The rest of the time, he’ll just be hanging out on the corners of Little Troodon, spreading the word to the locals at the stalls. For my part, I’ll be practicing my ass off, writing new songs, and bringing new energy to my performances. Gone are the days of me writing the most depressing crap I can come up with. Instead, I’ll focus on bringing some warmth to this dreary backwater pile of crap. Though I probably shouldn’t refer to it as a crap heap if I want to endear anyone to the band.

I text Benji about me playing guitar and he is ecstatic; he has been hoping for this day for ages. He is way better at the bass than me and had been waiting for his chance to shine, as well as mine. As the pieces fall into place, I feel good. Better than I have in years. I have a plan, I have hope, and I have someone by my side who I never thought would be in my life again. But with him here again, there’s nothing in this world that can hold me back. Not anymore.