A few more weeks go by and show after show, day after day, the crowd at Pizza Time continues to grow. Dave has to set out more tables just to fit more seating space so people wouldn’t be standing around dropping pizza everywhere. I can barely keep up with ordering new merch as the customers, new and old, keep clearing the table. At this rate, I have to set up a website for on-demand sales or there’s no hope I will be able to get people what they want. Well, actually…I’ll have Anon do it, he’s got the time and the skills to whip up something quick.

With every show’s end, I know what I’ll have to do is coming up whether I want it to or not. Anon has been contacted by a couple of venues, a few in Volcaldera proper instead of here that had taken an interest in having our band play for them a few nights a week. We would be stupid not to accept—more money in the city than down here in Skin Row—but it also means doing something I don’t want to do…telling Dave. He is so damn happy these days, making money hand over fist with a huge poster of my band on the front of the pizzeria with a sign: Birthplace of Strands of Silver. There is just no way my dream can take off if I stay here forever, though. I have to move on.

Today is a rare day off—everyone hanging out with their families—but Pizza Time is still open. We decide to head over there, especially since Dave promised to bring something from home for us to make it special. I’m sitting in one of the booths with Anon, idly picking at the pizza Dave had brought out for us. It’s my favorite one that he made, covered in meat and cheese, but I still can’t get myself to take a bite. Anon notices I haven’t done anything other than roll meatballs around and speaks up.

“You okay, Fang? You haven’t eaten a thing since we got here.” I can feel his gaze on me, but I can’t lift my head. I just keep staring at my plate, a sullen frown on my beak.

“I have to let Dave know we are leaving, and I don’t fucking know how to do it.” My eyes mist over as I struggle to come to grips with what I need to do, my wings shuddering as I bury my face in my hands. “He’s the only reason I even had a chance to start with and now I have to leave him.”

Anon reaches across the table, taking my hands in his as I finally lift my eyes. “I know this sucks, Fang, but you have to do it. I mean, you won’t be leaving him completely; Fridays are booked up for most of the places we are going, so you can still give him that.”

“One day a week for the guy who gave me a job when no one else would, who has supported me every step of the way and never once looked down on me…it doesn’t seem like enough, Anon.” A single tear runs down my cheek, dropping on the table.

“It’s the best we can do. The only way we are going to get this band off the ground is through bigger venues with more people and I’ll be honest, a far less dangerous clientele. If nothing else, Dave will be able to proudly hang that poster forever. People will come from all around to see where you got your start when you’re famous.”

“True…. It still sucks, though. I hate doing this, especially to him.”

Anon squeezes my hands gently before letting them go. “I know you do; it’s why you deserve everything that’s been happening so far. You’ve got a heart of gold and that’ll see you through all of this.”

I sniffle, drying my tears off with my sleeve. “Thanks, Anon. Guess we better eat this before it gets cold. I don’t want to waste his hard work.”

He smiles at me, picking up a slice from his plate then stopping for a moment and looking back and forth between me and the slice. I roll my eyes, taking the slice right out of his hands before flinging it into the air, catching it in one bite.

“Hell yeah!” He cheers with a giant grin on his face. “You still can pull that off. You really should do parties sometime.”

“Not on your life, dweeb.”

Slowly but surely, we eat away at the tasty goodness before us. We had just settled into food comas, spread across the booth, when Dave comes out, picking up the pizza pan and chuckling at our splayed-out selves. It is nice to have the place to ourselves. Nobody really shows up on holiday weeks. In Skin Row, most are still working if they’re not with their families, but Dave opens up anyway with just him in the back for anyone who wants to stop in.

Recovering from our comas, we steady ourselves upright and I stare off into space, still trying to find out a way to do this without destroying Dave. Benji and Jacob already know I am going to talk to him. They left it to me, figuring I will be able to break the news the softest, the jackasses. Sure, send the ptero girl to soften the blow, as if I can somehow not break his heart considering how much he cares about me. Fucking hell this blows.

I sigh as I stand up from the booth, putting a hand on Anon’s. “I gotta go tell him. If I don’t do it now, I’m gonna fucking back out and hide. Stay here, okay?”

He nods somberly and I lean over, giving him a kiss, before heading to the back. Dave hasn’t seen me come in yet, still working on preparing dough for the rest of the week, covering it in shrink wrap and sliding it into the giant fridge. How the hell am I going to do this? I fidget in place, making circles on the floor with my boot. I don’t see a way out of this that doesn’t hurt someone I care about. Son of a bitch….

I tiptoe closer to him, passing by the brick oven he had just recently put in. The band’s success made him enough money to finally afford it and the pizzas are better than ever. Dave no longer has to use a conveyor oven that nukes the crust into oblivion, he can make top-quality stuff with the same ingredients. Every step is harder than the last, my pace becoming shaky as the reality of my situation grows as I get closer. This is going to suck.

I tap him on the shoulder. “Hey Dave? I need to talk to you if you have a moment.”

He turns to me after putting down the dough he was working on, dusting off his hands on his apron. “Sure Fang, what do you need?”

I can’t speak at first. The moment I have been dreading since our popularity started kicking off is right here in front of me and I still don’t fucking know what to say, goddammit, I don’t want to do this. “I…” I choke on a knot in my throat, struggling to clear it. “I…I have to leave in two weeks. T-the band has got some new venues in town a-and I won’t have as m-much time anymore s-so I-I-I…”

I can’t finish. The sobs overtake me and choke out every word I try to get out as I give up and cover my face with my hands. This is the shittiest thing I’ll ever have to do and I can’t even fucking finish my sentence. My band is going to make it, we are making money like crazy and places that wouldn’t have touched us with a ten-foot pole now respond almost immediately, but fuck me…is it worth it if I have to hurt him?

Dave doesn’t say a word at first, he just cradles me with both arms and hugs me tight, pressing my face into his chest and rocking me side to side. “Shhhh…it’s okay baby girl. I knew this day was coming. This place is far too small for a talent like yours and I am lucky to have had you for even this long.”

I wrap my arms around his back, burying my eyes into his apron as tears stream down my cheeks. Here I am trying to leave, and he is still being so nice to me, I don’t know what to do.

I don’t get much time to think before he eases back from me, placing his hands on my cheeks and tilting my face up to his. “Ever since you walked in that door, I knew you were special. As much as you tried to bury it in apathy and misery there was a spark in you, a beautiful flame waiting to be lit and I only wanted to be there to see it happen, and here you are proving me right.”

“B-but I have to l-leave, Dave. The only night I-I got free will be Friday and I don’t even know how long I’ll be a-able to keep that open. I don’t want to abandon you here.” I manage to stammer that out before he shakes his head, still gently holding my face.

“Doesn’t matter, Fang. You chase that dream, and you build that wonderful future of yours. The future you deserve to have. I’ll still be here, every night, making food and cheering you on as your star rises. You’ll always have a home here.”

He pulls me back into a hug, gently brushing his hand through my hair. I weep in his arms, tears of joy to have someone like him at my back even as I am going to leave. I don’t know what I did to deserve him in my life, but I’ll be forever grateful for whatever luck or force put him here.

A few minutes pass as he supports me in his arms, the soft hum of the A/C the only sound besides my sniffles to fill the room. With one last sniffle, I let him go and step away, my eyes red and puffy but with a smile on my face.

“Thank you, Dave. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think this would go so well. I spent a whole damn month trying to figure out how to break the news and stressing myself out, and you go and just be sweet on me the whole time!” I throw my arms up in frustration before letting them fall back to my sides. This is not even remotely like how I thought it would go.

He chuckles to himself, those red eyes of his still misty with tears of his own. “You weren’t the only one who prepared for this, Fang. Like I said, I already knew you were going to leave, just didn’t know when.” He shrugs, putting a claw tip under my chin. “You knock ’em dead, Fang. You show the whole damn world who you are, how talented you are, and how fucking hard you’ve worked to earn this.”

I take his hand in both of mine, my two combined barely big enough to cover one of his. “I will, I promise I will. Thank you so much.”

He pulls me in for one last hug before giving me a slap on the back. “Good, now get on out of here, Fang. You got work to do and a boyfriend to hang out with.”

Goddamn he can hit hard when he wants to! I suppress the urge to yelp. “Okay okay. I’ll see you later, Dave.”

“Goodbye, Fang.”

Well shit, guess I wound myself up for nothing. I should have known better; Dave never once did anything but support me. He never stopped trying even when I gave up on myself, always there to prop me up when I fell. My biggest fan from day one and the father figure I needed to steer me right.

I leave the kitchen in a glow, the fears I had unfounded as I slide back into the booth beside Anon, who looks surprised to not see me moping.

“So, how’d it go?”

I smile at him, my wing pulling him closer to me. “It went great! Seems Dave knew before I did what was going to happen. We’re here for a couple more weeks and then boom! Off to new heights in the streets of Volcaldera. And we can still come back here when we have time, if we want.”

He wraps an arm around my waist, determination beaming from his grin. “Then after that…the big stop, the stadium, thousands of faces looking at you and their voices calling your name. Fang, Fang, Fang!” He lowers his voice, pretending to be an audience all on his own until I jab him in the side with my elbow.

“Stooop dweeb. We got a lot more work to do before we even start thinking about that. Gotta keep building our audience and our brand, so you keep running that noggin of yours and I’ll keep practicing.”

“You got it, babe.” He winks at me, snapping his fingers, then some realization washes over his face as he stares at the wall.

“What is it, Anon?” I shake him to get his attention as he comes back into reality.

“You know…we’re going to be back in your neighborhood with these places we are going to.”

“Yeaaaah?” I tilt my head to the side, a spark of worry in my heart wondering where he is going with this.

He puts his hand under his chin, deep in thought—or trying to figure out how he was going to word what he had to say—before turning back to me. “We should…we should probably go see your parents.”

“I—I don’t, I-I can’t yet, I—” I stammer out as the thought of seeing them so soon sends me spiraling into a panic. I’m still not sure if I can face them. There is so much that can go wrong. I still don’t feel like I look good enough to go yet. All my tattoos…my hair is still too short…fuck me, this is not a good fucking plan.

I stagger out of the booth, nearly tripping over my boots as I push toward the window as Anon sits in the booth dumbstruck by my sudden freak out. I sigh as I stare out at the snowflakes falling from the sky. My hands crawl up my shoulders before my claws settle on my scales, the tips nearly piercing through. He cautiously makes his way to me, putting his hands under mine, preventing me from impaling myself.

“Sorry, Fang, I didn’t mean to upset you I just thought—”

I cut him off with a shake my head, sighing as the shock wears off. “It’s alright, Anon. I’ve thought about it myself. I know I want to see my mom again but my dad…I’m still scared of what he’s going to say. What he’s going to do when he sees me again. I’m not his little girl anymore…just look at me.”

He lets his arms fall to his side as I run my hands across my scales and all the tattoos that cover my body. The years of abuse I’ve done to myself have left scars, not all of them physical. I barely look like anything he’d remember, my hair only just reaching the top of my neck. What if he’s upset? Disappointed to see what I’ve done…what if he shouts me out of the house? I wouldn’t be able to take it…I can’t—

My thoughts are cut short as Anon reaches under my arms and pulls me close, gingerly resting his arms across my waist. I softly exhale, stress flowing from me as I lean into his embrace.

“It’s going to be alright, Fang. They love you and your dad might be an absolutely terrifying fucking hard-ass but I’m sure he will be happy to see you, no matter what.” He gulps down the fear in his throat before he continues. “I really hope he doesn’t try to beat my head in with a golf club when he sees me, though…”

I squeeze his hand in mine, attempting to comfort him. “He won’t do anything to you, not with me at your side. He won’t try anything with me in the splash zone.”

“Well that’s comforting? Terrifying? Terrimforting?”

“Stop trying to make new words, Anon, you’ll blow a fuse.”

“Alright, alright. Well, did you want to plan to see them before or after we get touring around this town?”

“I suppose it’s best to get it out of the way…plus, it’s the holidays. That’ll earn me some points just for showing up. I know Mom will be thrilled. It’s been years since we spent a winter together as a family…”

He leans down and kisses me on the snout. “Then that’s what we’ll do. Guess I better shave and get my good clothes out, can’t go showing up at your parents looking like a fuckin bum.”

I want to smack him for kissing my snout, but I’ll let him get away with it…for now. “Yeah, I’ll need to see if I can’t find a nice dress to wear or something festive…if I show up in my all-black outfit, it’s just gonna start a fight.”

“You in a dress? Well now, that’ll be a sight to see.”

I jab him in the ribs. “Shut up, dweeb. Not a lot of opportunities to get dressed up for anything down here in Skin Row and I’m gonna fucking take it.”

He rubs his impacted ribs with a laugh. “Hey, I’m not knocking it. I think you’ll look gorgeous in a dress and I’m looking forward to it.”

“You fucking better. We start making real money and we are gonna start going out to the fancy restaurants, and your ass is gonna need a dress shirt and tie.”

He reaches up to his neck, the thought of a tie wrapping around it causing him to gulp. “I always knew this day would come…formal attire has found me at last.”

A snort escapes my beak as I pull out from his arms, turning and putting my hands on his shoulders. “Not that formal. Could you really see me dining in anything other than a gothic slit dress? Think about it…I’ll be your queen and you will be my handsome dark prince.” I slowly drag a claw tip across his cheek, causing him to shudder. “That’s a good boy. Now come on, let’s get home before the snow buries us in here.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice, my queen.” He lowers himself to his knees before kissing the top of my hand as I pull him back to his feet.

“Come along then, my prince. Our castle awaits.”

We huddle close together for warmth during the long walk home. A massive cold snap is turning the whole of Volcaldera into an ice box with no sign of ending. His apartment is a bit farther away than mine was, but with none of my old memories to haunt me it’s worth the walk. The snow has started to fall hard and already has buried some of the people sleeping on the benches, who shoot awake in a puff of white snow before grumbling and hiding under the awnings.

“You know, it’s fucking weird…” Anon looks around at all the snow piling up. “I thought it never snows in Volcaldera.”

“Not normally.” I flick a snowflake off the tip of my beak. “It’s one of those once-in-an-age cold snaps plus a bunch of storms rolled in with it. Probably the only time we’ll see it in our lives here.”

“Guess we are lucky then. Ya know, minus the freezing to fucking death part of it.” He shudders as he nudges me closer to him.

“No shit. Let’s get home before my feathers snap in the ice.”

As we get home, I shove open the door to the welcoming burst of hot air from the heater. “Oh, thank Raptor Jesus for heating…” The snow melts off my scales and wings as feeling returns to them before I plop down on the bed kicking off my boots. Anon throws his shoes in the corner before landing beside me as I scoot up to absorb any warmth he had left.

“So, we go see them tomorrow?”

I nod, better to get it done rather than putting it off any longer. “Yeah, let me call them real quick. I really hope it’s mom who answers, even though she’s gonna blow out my ear.”

Grabbing my phone, I dial the number. It barely gets past one ring before I hear my mother’s cheery voice on the other end. “You’ve reached the Aaron residence!”

God, she needs to get a cell phone someday. “Hey Mom, it’s me, Lucy.”

As soon as the words finish leaving my mouth, I temporarily lose hearing in my right ear from her screech of joy. The din of tinnitus makes my vision blur before I can hear her again. “Oh honey, it’s so good to hear from you! What are you up to for the holidays, anything special?”

“Actually…about that, Mom…can I stop by tomorrow? I want to see you guys again. If it’s not any trouble at least, I—”

I don’t get a chance to finish my sentence. “Of course, Lucy! We’ll be glad to see you. I’ll have a place set for you at the table and everything. Oh, I get to see my Lucy again!” I can hear her bubbly cries of joy bleeding across the room, even catching Anon’s attention as he smiles.

Though, of course, here comes the hard part. “I’m…going to be bringing someone over too, Mom.”

“Oh? Who is coming? It’s no trouble, I can make space for another!”

“It’s…it’s Anon, Mom.”

The silence is almost deafening. I hadn’t told her much about what happened, but I never needed to say anything. She knew the moment I shouted at her the night it all went down. It seems like forever before she finally speaks again. “Are you sure, dear?”

“Yes, Mom. We’ve been patching things up for a while now. Trust me, it’s okay. Promise me you’ll keep Dad from hurting him. I don’t want to come back and then need to leave for a funeral.”

Another moment of silence passes with the awkwardness not lost even on Anon, who is staring intently at my phone. “Alright, dear. I’ll make sure he is welcome. You two just come with your appetites…you won’t be leaving here hungry.”

A tremendous sigh of relief passes through my lips as I smile. “Thank you, Mom. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you too, Lucy.”

The phone call ends with a click as I drop my phone on the bed and look over at the somewhat-terrified Anon. I put a hand on his cheek, gently rubbing it to comfort him. “It’s okay, love. My dad is more terrified of my mom than anything in this world. Nothing will happen to you, I promise.”

He nods silently before finally recovering from the terror. “Alright, I trust you, Fang. Though I need to get to work! No rest for the wicked when my beautiful ptero love is this close to her dream.” He gives me a kiss before hopping off the bed to hit up his laptop.

“Oh hey, Anon, can you put together a website for us, please? Going to need a place to sell our shit after we leave here.”

He turns the screen to me—a fresh site with our logo and pictures of all of us with bios and a link to the merch webpage. “What you think I’ve been doing all this time? Not just picking places for you to play! I’m making sure you guys make a profit.”

I blink in surprise as I look at what he has made. “Well…holy shit. I feel like I need to start paying you soon.”

“Just give me all the wing hugs I ask for and we’re even.”

I stand up and sidle in beside him, wrapping a wing around his shoulder. “You got it, dweeb.”

He runs his fingers through my wing with a grin on his face. “Soft feathery goodness…what is life without it?”

“You mumbled again.”

“Oh, son of a biiiitch.”

We spend the rest of the day going over plans for the band and the website he has made for us, with me putting my own spin on his work so it speaks with both our voices. Tomorrow is going to be fucking difficult. I trust my mom and I know the power she has over my dad, but it’s still scary going back home. Another thing I desperately need to not fuck up, and nearly every part of it is out of my hands. I just have to hope it’ll all go well and Anon won’t be leaving in an ambulance.