The woodz

Not the beginning

( To set the mood)

"Maybe you should go to bed, my love." Ashido lovingly said to Paisley.

"But I don't want to! This is the first time we've talked to each other in a long while! You've been so busy with your job lately." Paisley slowly closed his eyes and leaned into Ashido's touch. He was right. It had been some time since Ashido had come home early enough to catch Paisley before bed. He was swamped with work, not to mention his drag queen side gig. Between the two it took up all of his time. He was never home till after dinner. Paisley would have already been asleep by the time he came home. It made sense, of course;  Paisley was a college student and heavily relied on the mornings for his classes. However, when everything calmed down and the two's schedules aligned, they would have slivers of moments where they could just be in each other's presence. It was nice to just have a calming moment between the two lovers. Everything has been chaotic since they moved back home. It was Ashido's hometown: The place where they met in high school and fell in love. Everything seems a bit duller nowadays.

"Come on paisy, you need your sleep..." Ashido continued to lightly lecture Paisley. He started classes tomorrow and would need his energy to get around the entire campus. From the pictures they looked at it was pretty big.

"Ashido Red Woodz! This is the first time in a long time since we've had a moment of peace together! Just let me enjoy it, won't you?" Paisley gave him the biggest pout he could possibly muster. "For me, babe?" Ashido stared at his lover for a bit before he gave in. Paisley's puppy eyes were just too much to resist.

"Ugh, fine. But I get to say I told you so when you don't wake up early enough tomorrow."

"Of course you do!" And so, Ashido and Paisley stayed up too late, talking about their days and how they felt about the big move until eventually, Paisley fell into a peaceful sleep. Ashido looked upon his husband. He stopped his rant on his new coworker and sighed.

"I truly love you, Paisley Woodz. I would do anything for you. I hope you know that. I know it's been especially rough for you, moving to a new college and still not finding a job. But don't worry, I'll take care of us. I'll make sure that you get your dream job! And then we'll adopt. Just like you wanted." Ashido once again sighed. Knowing his small speech wasn't heard, he decided to finally go to sleep too.

When Paisley woke up the next morning, Ashido was gone. Small reminisces of his morning routine was scattered in the apartment they owned: a wet towel in the bathroom, clean clothes in the living room (That Paisley knew he would have to pick up because Ashido would never.), dirty dishes in the sink from him cooking, and a small warm breakfast with a note beside it that said, "Hey, sorry for leaving so early. The boss called me in and I had to go. I made your favorite breakfast. I love you, sweets! Hopefully, see you tonight! Love Ashido~”

Paisley took a few more seconds to look over the note again before looking at the breakfast. The breakfast was amazing. It was blueberry waffles with some fresh raspberries on top. To the side was syrup and his coffee with a touch of milk - just how he liked it. From how the coffee was still steaming, Paisley guessed that he had just missed Ashido. He didn't think too much of it and sat down to eat.

After Paisley was done, he got ready for the day - today was a big one. Who knew how Paisley would handle this new college? Paisley already had horrible anxiety around others, and now he had to do this without the help of his husband, Ashido.  “He better be proud of me after this! Lord knows how hard this will be.” Paisley took a deep breath and walked out of the apartment. It was a good thing at first that he only needed to walk down the street to reach his college, but right now, he regrets not having more time to think over what to ask the administrators and if he would need to talk to other students.

Overall, the supposed ‘peaceful’ walk was one for terror and panic. Paisley soon reached the building he had to go to and paced back and forth at the door. His nerves were getting to him again. Paisley thought he had gotten over this at the end of high school, but it seemed that moving back to Lake Selsaut only brought his nerves up again. Paisley stopped and looked at the building again, before looking away and muttering that he couldn’t do it.

A loud screech of the rusted doors rang out into the courtyard and stopped Paisley from his mini panic attack. “Paisley? Is that you? I haven’t seen you in years! How have you been?” Paisley recognized that cotton candy-filled voice from high school. It was Charlotte.

Charlotte was a friend of both Paisley and Ashido since middle school. She taught Ashido all she knew about crossdressing and the ways of the Queen in his time of crisis. Even though Paisley was entirely gay, he couldn’t help but admit that she grew to be a very beautiful woman. Charlotte's fair white skin pairs well with her striking yellow gaze and black-as-night hair. It was a complete contrast to Paisley’s own olive complexion, his light blue eyes, and natural purple hair. When he thought about it,  her appearance really suited her personality. She was an amazing friend and an even better adviser. She had a businesswoman casual look to her, and would tear you a new one if she didn’t have her way. The only question was: What was she doing here?

“I work here as an accountant if you’re wondering. I saw you stalling and assumed you needed help. Is big strong Ashido not here to help his beloved? I ought to beat him! I’m sure I taught him better than to leave you out to dry on your own…” Charlotte’s eyes became a piercing glare as she continued to interrogate why Ashido wasn’t with him at the moment. Paisley felt himself get smaller and smaller until he finally mustered out a squeak of a reply.

“He’s at work, I’m sure Ashido would be here if he could…” Charlotte sighed and looked over Paisley. Once she concluded that Paisley wasn’t lying, she nodded her head and led him inside.

“I guess you’re right, you probably wouldn’t be able to get him off you if he was able to be here.” As they both walked in from the fall frost outside, Paisley had reminisced of the past. Before, when things were fine - before Ashido being forced to an orphanage out of town, before the CPS, before everything that had happened. Paisley started to tear up at the memories he held. Charlotte noticed and hugged paisley, “It’s been a long time since that, huh? Hard to believe that it’s been seven years.” Paisley nodded and wiped his tears away. He felt a rush of love and confidence from the situation. Sure, it was bad at the time, but it only made he and Ashido’s love stronger and their bond even closer.

“I still remember what he said before he was dragged out of this town.” Charlotte looked at the boy with curiosity.

“Oh, yeah? What was it that he said?” Paisley stopped walking for a moment and looked Charlotte in her eyes with confidence, an emotion that he barely held.

“He told me that as soon as he was out and free, he would find me and marry me.”

“He kept well to that promise, then,” said Charlotte. Paisley turned and kept walking to the administrator's office with a newfound passion to do right for Ashido. He had gone through so much in life; Paisley wanted to make Ashido proud.

“Yeah, he definitely did.”