Chapter 15: Polyamorous
Pronouns: she/her – Lily and Mary; he/him – James and Regulus; they/she – Pandora
“Welcome to our coffee shop, what would you like to order?” Mary didn’t even bother to look up from her work while putting on her customer service voice. Her apron was already crinkled from the day at work, a coffee stain decorated the left sleeve of her white blouse and her dark curls were put in a messy bun. She hadn’t had time for any other hairstyle in the morning as she was already running late for work. “Just one large coffee please, darling.” Her head shot up and she immediately dropped the pen in her hand. Mary found herself staring at a girl, around her age. Her red hair fell over her shoulders and her green eyes matched the colour of her sweater. The girl gasped in shock.
“Lily!”, she exclaimed, “I didn’t know you were back! How was Athens? You have to tell me everything. God, I’ve missed you so much. It feels like you were away for years, oh my god.” Lily laughed and set her bag down, leaning on the counter. “You’re going on break in twenty minutes, right? Maybe we could catch up, if you know what I mean?” She smirked and winked at Mary, seemingly enjoying to see her blushing. “Lily!” The barista shouted at her girlfriend in an instant, hastily looking around the store to see if anyone had overheard. There were just a few people actually sitting inside this day, so Mary was relieved to see nobody looking at the pair. She reprovingly glared at the redhead before she handed her what she had ordered. Lily picked her purse back up and pulled out her phone to check to time.
“Meet me in the student corner when your break starts, okay?” After Mary had nodded in agreement, her girlfriend took the cup and chuckled. “See you then, love.” She blew Mary a kiss and walked out into the rest of the mall, leaving Mary burrow her head in her hands. The embarrassment about earlier was about to get to her, when the doorbell ringed, signalling another customer coming in and wanting to order. Mary looked up again, quickly putting on her best smile and greeting them. Her smile only widened when she recognized said customer as one of her regulars. “Welcome”, the barista grinned, already turning around to her work station. “The same as usual, Hestia?” “Of course.”
A few minutes later, Mary took off her apron, got her things from the back and turned to her co-worker to inform her that she was going on break. “I’ll be back in thirty minutes, that okay?” Her co-worker nodded and flicked her hand, signalling that it was okay for her to leave. When she stepped outside the calm coffee store and into the shopping mall filled with people, the sound quickly overwhelmed her. It was a busy day, people were running around, chatting and talking to each other. Some were hurriedly making their way past her, others had sat down to sort their shoppings.
This caused Mary to take out her noise cancelling headphones from her pocket. She was thankful for the big jacket, allowing her to carry the headphones around all the time when she went out of the safety of her own home. They were brown, almost matching her skin tone, with white music notes drawn onto them by one of her friends. Thankfully Mary was able to block out the most overwhelming sounds, so she shoved her hands into the pockets of her ripped jeans and made her way to the back of the mall. Located there was a small hallway, leading to a more hidden area of the shopping centre.
It was sponsored by the nearby university campus to create a spot for students to socialize and get a break from the busy everyday life in London. There were only two shops, a music store and a little flower shop that had recently changed management. Mary didn’t really know more about the alleyway as she wasn’t in university and without Lily there she hadn’t really had any connection to it for the past months. Her other girlfriend Pandora was an art student but they spent most of their time in the couple’s shared apartment instead of the campus. When Mary had reached the hangout spot, she entered the area and looked around, looking for her girlfriend.
She scanned the people with her eyes, when someone put their hands over her eyes. At first it shocked the barista. That was until she recognized Lily’s signature smell of flowers and old paper. She turned around in her girlfriend’s arms and relaxed into a comforting hug. Lily wrapped her arms around the tan girl, carefully taking off her headphones after she had quickly checked in to make sure that it was okay with Mary. “I missed you”, she whispered into her ear, before she pressed a light kiss on her temple and wrapped her arms around her once again.
“Why did you ask me to come here? We could’ve went to the lake or something.” Lily pushed her away a little to look at her when she asked that question. “I kinda really wanted you to see the new flower shop here. James started working there when they changed management and he reorganized a lot of things. I’m sure that you’ll love it.” Mary thought to herself for a moment and nodded. The overwhelming feeling from earlier had almost went away with her being in the quiet, secluded area now. And her girlfriend’s presence helped calming her as well. “Great! Let’s go! I’ve only seen the new store over video call until now, so I can't wait to see it in person!” Lily jumped in excitement and grabbed Mary’s hand, tagging her along.
“You know, I thought I could tell you all about Athens when we have a bit more time than this half an hour, so we’ll be using your break now for a little show around, if that’s alright, love? “Yeah, that’s fine with me.” The two girls walked for a few metres and then turned around a corner. There were a few tables shattered across the room with students sitting at them. Mary recognized some of them as customers from earlier. When she looked around, she saw the flower shop they had talked about. There were blooming flowers everywhere. A few band posters were taped across the front window and decorated with some ivy leaves. A big inclusivity pride flag was hung up over the door and the logo was written in the same coloured letters as well, making sure that everyone knew that the shop was a safe place for queer people.
When Mary saw a little trans flag sticker that was put up on the door, her smile grew even wider. She started happily flapping her hands around and turned to Lily. Her girlfriend grinned at her: “Did I promise too much?” “Absolutely not.” Mary also grinned, clapping her hands while she shook her head. “Let’s go, I wanna see the inside!”
When the couple walked in the store, they were immediately greeted by the intense smell of different flowers. There were bouquets everywhere, decorated flowerpots were on display and the walls were decorated with hanging vines. “Welcome, welcome!” Both girls turned around. A head popped up across an aisle and a man stood up, clapping his hands after setting down a flower pot he had been working on. His skin was a light brown, showing his Indian heritage and his dark curls fell into his eyes. He wore a green apron with the logo of the flower shop over printed on the front. His voice was warm, proving the smile on his face as genuine. “Lils!”, he exclaimed with a shout, rushing around the table and wrapping her in a tight hug. Mary took a few steps back, letting the couple have their moment. She smiled at the way her girlfriend leaned against her boyfriend and ran her hands across his dark curls. When Lily ended the hug, she looked at James for a moment before pressing a quick kiss to his lips. After another few seconds, she turned around, grabbed James’ hand and pulled him in Mary’s direction.
They smiled at each other for a second, before James pulled Mary in for a hug. “Long time no see”, he smiled as she wrapped his arms around him. “It’s really been too long, James”, she replied, pulling back and patting his shoulder in a friendly manner. James looked at her, scanning her with his eyes. Then he nodded in approval. “I love the dress, it’s amazing. It really makes you glow.” Lily scoffed in fake annoyance, although it was obvious to both of her partners that she was loving the way they got along with each other so well.
The two of them started a conversation, quickly finding a shared interest in gossiping about rude customer interactions they had. Meanwhile, Lily began wandering around the store. She had always loved flowers and she adored the way the ones in the store were organized. Lily roamed around the aisles, picking up bouquets here and there, taking her time to smell them. The redhead went on like this for around five minutes, when she found something.
“James?”, she asked. She put on an extra innocent voice, triggering his eyebrows to move up to form a sceptical face. “Yes, Lily, darling? What did you do?” “I did nothing! Why are you accusing me of doing something?”, the girl protested and pointed to the flowers she was just looking at. “How much is this?” James went over to her, turning the flowers around, quickly checking out the tag and then ripping it off. “Those are not for sale.” He pushed them back into his girlfriend’s hands. “They’re a present as a little welcome back.” At first Lily wanted to protest, but James’ stern look quickly led to her giving up.
Mary also went up to them and hugged Lily from behind, resting her head on her shoulder. She had to blow away some of her girlfriend’s hair in order to be able to look at James, making the boy laugh a little. “They’re beautiful.” “Just as you”, Mary smirked. “Oh my god”, James groaned and pretended to gag. “Stop flirting or I’ll feel lonely and then you’ll actually have to pay.” He pouted and gave the girls his best puppy eyes. “I just stole your girl.” Mary grinned and demonstratively kissed the shorter one on the head, looking James straight in the eyes the whole time. Lily chuckled at her partners and looked back down at the flowers, while James and Mary continued their banter. They were Lilies, white and blooming, mixed with a few pink tulips.
Time passed quickly and when James had showed the girls around the whole store, Mary’s thirty minute break had already almost ended. She quickly said her goodbyes to the boy, not wanting to have to explain to her co-worker the reason she was late. “I was looking at pretty flowers” wouldn’t count as a valid excuse, she supposed. Lily insisted on taking her back to the coffee shop to keep her company for a little longer. Both of them hugged James goodbye and Lily promised to call him as soon as she got to her dorm. Mary put her headphones back on and shoved her hands in her pockets as she went outside.
The couple walked back to the coffee shop that the brunette worked at, quietly talking about Lily’s flight back from Athens, where she had been spending the last four months as a history student. When they arrived, Mary could already see Dorcas, one of her co-workers, working on like four different orders. They had dark skin, neat braids and wore a black fishnet top under their apron. “I better get in there”, Mary sighed, “they look like they could need some help. We talk on the phone later?” “Sure.” Lily kissed her one last time, before they eventually split ways and Mary entered work again.
“I’m back, Dorcas, did you miss me?” “Oh my god, Mary, I’m so glad that you’re here. We apparently hit rush hour an hour earlier as planned and Edgar isn’t here yet. And Amelia called in sick, so you better get to work fast.” They sounded exhausted, when they pushed their hair out their face and handed a cup of coffee to one of the customers. Mary quickly waved Lily goodbye as she saw her leave and rushed to the back of the store, so she could change back into her work uniform. She set her back down at her locker and fixed her curls in the mirror. After some quick searching, the barista found her name tag in her pocket and put it on, before heading into the work area. A quick look on the screen told her the orders she needed to take care of, so she got to work.
After a few more hours, it was her time to check out. Dorcas had already went home and Edgar had arrived to take the late afternoon shift. “Tell Amelia hello from me”, she said him as she left and he nodded, saluting as a goodbye. She laughed and walked out in the mall again. There were a lot less people there now than midday, so she kept her headphones off this time. When she exited the building and went out in the cold air, she took a deep breath. Outside the mall was a small park and her and her partner’s apartment was right on the other side. Mary walked a few metres, when she spotted some pigeons hanging out around a bench. She jumped in excitement and carefully got closer to the animals.
She took out her leftover sandwich from her bag and picked a few crumbs of bread from it. Mary smiled at the way the birds flapped their wings when they ate the bread. She loved pigeons and always made sure to feed the ones in the park when she left for work. Her partner sometimes even bought her extra bird seeds and crocheted her a little pigeon that she had put on her keyring. Pandora had always adored the way Mary cared about pigeons, completely ignoring the way that society had labeled them as annoying and invasive in cities.
When she arrived home, she called for her partner and got an answer in an instant. Pandora emerged from the living room where they had been painting a new canvas for a university assignment. Their white apron was covered in green and pink speckles and her blonde hair was put in a bun and covered with foil to avoid any colour damage. “Hi”, she smiled and waved at Mary, “I don’t want to mess up your clothes, so I’m not gonna hug you or anything, sorry. How was your day?”
Mary put down her stuff and returned the smile. “It was tiring, I guess. Amelia was sick and the new staff members we were told we’re getting won’t work with us for another two weeks, so there were just three of us for the entire day.” Pandora smiled in sympathy. “That sucks. Do you want to cook dinner tonight or do you want to keep me company for a little while and we get take out later?” “The second option sounds great! What are you painting currently?” Pandora immediately emerged into an explanation about why she chose the motivate they were currently working on.
The couple moved to the living room and Mary was greeted with a bright coloured canvas. The floor underneath was covered in foil and the carpet was stood up against the wall to keep it away from the colours. Pandora sat down on the floor and picked up their paint brush. Mary was fascinated by the way she painted with her whole soul. In her eyes, Pandora looked like a Greek goddess in the golden sunlight shining through the window, blonde strands of hair falling out of her bun and over her shoulders. Her eyes were completely focused on the painting, scanning it over and over again to find the exact spots they wanted to add something. The way they bit on their lower lip in concentration made Mary’s heart skip a beat.
“You look beautiful”, she told her partner. Pandora blushed at the compliment and continued painting, which was enough of an answer for Mary. She went on to tell Pandora all about the customers she had that day and the Blonde listened and laughed or shook her head from time to time. It was relaxing for both of them as they were both just enjoying each others presence. Mary picked up a book and began reading, looking at her partner’s painting from time to time to praise Pandora for it.
When the sun had almost gone entirely down, Pandora called it quits and stood up to stretch herself. A few minutes later they had gone rid of their dirty apron and freed their hair, so now she turned around to her girlfriend. Mary, who was sitting on the sofa, opened her arms and Pandora immediately ran over and threw themselves at her. Both of them fell into the sofa cushions, making them laugh. Pandora placed her legs between Mary’s, so she was laying right on top of her girlfriend. They then wrapped their arms around her girlfriend’s torso and pushed their face into Mary’s neck. “I’m tired”, she mumbled. Mary smiled at her and carefully pulled her arms from under her partner, so she could wrap them around them.
She pressed a kiss to Pandora’s head, before she pulled her closer. “I can see that. Do you want me to order something to eat? Then you could go shower in the meantime.” “That would be great”, the Blonde yawned, while they burrowed their head deeper into the crook of Mary’s neck. “You have to let me get to my phone for this, love.” Pandora protested quietly and just hugged their girlfriend even tighter. “Just five more minutes. Please?” Mary sighed. “Only because it’s you.”
After fifteen minutes had passed, Mary finally had the heart to carefully shake Pandora and push them off of her chest. Ignoring her protests, she grabbed for her phone and opened it. “What do you want to eat, love?” “Can we order from that pizza place down the road? They have that really good lasagna.” “Of course. One lasagna for you, coming right up. I’ll take a small pizza I think.” Mary quickly put in the place’s number and called them, ordering the food for the couple. “And could you deliver that actually? Thank you so much. It’s Main Street 28 and the name on the door is Rosier. Yeah, R o s i e r. You got it? Perfect. See you then.” Pandora almost drifted off to sleep again, but when she had hung up the phone, Mary made sure to keep her awake.
“You’ve been sitting on the floor for hours, Dora, I’m gonna run you a bath, okay? Your back will thank me. Come on.” The Blonde groaned, but still got up and blinked at Mary. “Can you stay with me?” Mary’s face instantly softened and she nodded. “Of course. You stay here until everything is ready, okay?” Mary helped her sleepy partner lay back down and stood up. It warmed her heart to see Pandora being so at peace. They looked ethereal to her, with their hair splayed out on the pillow and their eyes closed, a soft smile on their face.
Mary quietly left the room to prepare the bathroom for her partner. She filled the bathtub with water, took out some bottles of scented shampoo and lit a few candles around the room. Pandora loved candles everywhere, so it wasn’t a challenge for Mary to find different ones already scattered across the room. There were candles in different colours, shapes and sizes, all from second hand stores or thrift shops, where Pandora loved to shop. Their favorite one was sat in a little Panda jar, shining through little holes in the Panda’s eyes. The jar was a gift from Mary for the couples’ two year anniversary.
When everything was ready, she went to wake up Pandora and bring her over to the bathroom. The blonde groaned in protest when they opened their eyes, but a quick glance of their girlfriend’s best puppy eyes was enough to make them comply and stand up without any further protest. They reached the bathroom and Pandora smiled at the sight. “You lit the Panda!”, she exclaimed and turned to her girlfriend to hug her. “Of course I did, Pandas.” The nickname made them blush, given that only Mary was allowed to call them that and she only did it when it was just the two of them.
They melted into each others touch, just enjoying their presences. Mary helped Pandora undress, carefully making sure to also take off her jewellery. “Can you stay with me?”, Pandora whispered into Mary’s embrace and into the skin of her neck. “Of course, darling. I’ll sit with you, okay? And then you can sleep. I know you didn’t get much yesterday.” “Mhm.” The Blonde nodded in response and let themselves be guided into the bathtub by ther girlfriend. With some help, she layed down and enjoyed the way her body got covered in foam. A smile formed on her lips as she watched the shimmery bubbles floating around them. Mary also smiled, sitting down on the counter next to the bathtub, so she was sitting next to Pandora’s head. After she had made sure that her partner was comfortable, she took a shampoo bottle and began carefully massaging their scalp.
The artist visibly relaxed against Mary’s hands and hummed contently. They let their hair be washed, while listening to Mary telling them about the rest of her day. “You know, Lily is back.” “Oh”, Pandora smiled, “that’s great. You really missed her, didn’t you.” “I did.” The brunette paused for a minute. “She came into my work today morning, because she wanted to surprise me. And she had this beautiful sweater on, and it matched her hair perfectly. Oh my god, her hair looked so good, she was like a goddess.” At that rambling, Pandora chuckled lowly, endeared by the way Mary talked about her loved ones.
After a few minutes Mary had cleaned Pandora’s hear and gotten rid of the shampoo foam. “We’re all done here, love”, she whispered softly. She helped Pandora exit the bathtub and carefully wrapped her in a white towel. A smile appeared on her lips and she pressed a kiss to her partner’s cheek, also bringing on to theirs. “Let’s get you to bed, okay? You want to sleep in yours or mine?” “Mine? If that’s okay with you. I’m really exhausted and need some alone time.” “Of course.”
Mary guided Pandora to their bedroom. It was a smaller room, decorated with lots of painting, lights and other stuff. There wasn’t a single untouched spot and the walls had all been painted in bright colours. Here and there were a few flowers and other plants, all in similar bright colours. Mary made a mental note to some day bring Pandora to James’ flower shop to get more inspiration for her “plant babies”.
Laying Pandora down on her bed, Mary wandered around the room and threw some comfortable clothes at them. “Go change and sleep.” The Blonde laughed tiredly and changed into her pyjamas, throwing the towel back at Mary, hitting the Brunette right in the face. “Thanks for taking care of me though”, they then mumbled under their breath and flashed Mary a soft smile, before they layed down on her side and cradled her teddy bear in their arms.
The barista returned it and went over to the window, closing the blinds and opening the window a little, so that Pandora would be able to breathe during the night. Her pillow thankfully was cold, so they could settle their head down without feeling uncomfortable the whole time. Mary went over again and kissed Pandora goodnight, hugging her from above. Her brown curls fell into the student’s eyes, to which she responded with a light laugh. “I love you”, she whispered into the crook of Mary’s neck as she pulled away.
“I love you too.” Mary exited the room, closing the door behind her and turning around to enter her own room. Hers was way more open than Pandora’s, everything sorted into shelves and boxes, all of them labelled based on their inventory. The walls were plain white and only decorated with a few pink and blue flowers drawn on them by Pandora. And a little misshaped butterfly that Lily had painted the last time she was over.
With a yawn, Mary flopped down on the bed, not even bothering to change out of her jeans. For a minute she just layed there, face in the pillow. Eventually though, the sunlight still streaming in from the window motivated her to stand up again and close her own blinds. While she was standing up, she quickly changed into a light nightgown and wiped the makeup off her face. She then went to bed and put on some chill music to go to sleep.
Mary groaned as her phone ringed not even ten minutes later, ending her music, but still picked it up. However her mood lightened when the Caller ID showed that it was Lily on the other end of the line. “Hi Lils!”, she greeted her as she accepted the call. They chatted about the buildings in Athens for a while, until Lily became a bit more serious. “I actually wanted to ask you something?” Her voice sounded unsure, so Mary began to grow anxious: “Yeah? What’s up?” “Oh no, it’s nothing bad, darling, don’t worry. I just talked to James like an hour ago and we wondered if maybe you would like to join us for dinner some time in the future? I wanted to invite you two for a little reunion date and when I talked to James about it, we had the idea of inviting Regulus and Pandora as well. So that we could all kinda get to know each other?”
Mary let that idea sink in for a while. She had met James multiple times and they got along well, but she has only ever once talked to Regulus on a late night discord call with Lily and him. And Pandora had met neither of them, just Lily when she had come over for coffee once. So it would be kinda nice for the group to finally meet properly, she thought to herself. “Did you have anything else planned? Or is it just an idea yet?” “It’s just an idea yet”, Lily answered, “but Regulus’ schedule has changed quite a lot in the last weeks, so I would probably let James and him decide when they are available and then check in with you and Pandora? As far as I am aware, you’re schedules both haven’t changed since I was away?” The brunette shook her head. “They haven’t. I have to ask them tomorrow though, if they want to meet their girlfriend’s girlfriend’s boyfriend and his fiance.”
Lily laughed at how that sounded, making her girlfriend smile as well. “But I'm sure Pandora will agree”, the brunette added. “Cool.” There was silence for a few seconds, until Mary changed the topic and started to tell Lily about the pigeons she encountered on her walk home. “Did you know that they are extremely loyal to one another? And they co-parent all the time! And people hate on them for no reason, when they’re such competent and social animals!” Same as Pandora, Lily loved the way her girlfriend talked about pigeons. Mary could talk to them for hours and hours, always knowing new facts or defending them from the way society viewed them.
Hours later, Mary woke up. She didn’t even remember falling asleep, neither hanging up the phone with Lily or picking up the food they ordered. With a yawn, she rubbed her eyes with her hands. She blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to the light in her room, given she hadn’t closed the blinds yesterday. Mary picked up her phone to see that the call had ended around an hour ago. A message from Lily told her that they apparently both fell asleep on call and the redhead had hung up when she woke up to let Mary sleep in peace. She smiled at that and sat up quickly tapping a reply. When she had the motivation to get up, she made her way into the kitchen, following the smell of fresh coffee.
Sitting at the table, Pandora already waited for her. Their hair fell openly over her shoulders and she was wearing a light green blouse, paired with a brown skirt and leather boots. She wore crystal bracelets around her wrists and the sketch book in front of her was being filled with quick drawings of those crystals as she nipped on coffee. “Oh hey”, she greeted Mary with a smile when they looked up, “I made you coffee, it’s still in the machine. And I took a trip to the bakery, so there are fresh bread rolls in the bag over there. And we completly forgot about the food yesterday, so I put that in the fridge too.”
During breakfast, Mary proposed the idea of them meeting James and Regulus for dinner. Pandora carefully listened to what their girlfriend was saying. She was a very social person, so they loved the idea of meeting new people, especially when they were people Lily trusted. They had only met Lily once but the way Mary talked about her, told Pandora everything they needed to know. Mary and her were like contrary forces, so when the darker girl trusted someone and even loved them, it meant that they were a good person. “Sure”, Pandora agreed while taking bite off of her bread roll, “I would love to meet them. What do you think about this drawing?” Mary let out a breath of relief at the way Pandora treated the situation. “I love it. It’s an onyx, isn’t it? Can I tell you the details about the dinner date later? Lily wanted to talk to them with the boys today.” “Sure. And yeah, it’s an onyx.” Their conversation shifted to them explaining to Mary what the gemstone stood for.
A few days later on a Sunday at 8 o’clock, Lily had managed to bring both her partners and their partners as well out to a nice restaurant on the east side of London. She had arrived first, James and Regulus following only five minutes after. “I’m so glad to meet you in person again!”, Regulus immediately greeted her and silently asked for a hug, before wrapping her in his arms. His dark curls tickled Lily when she hugged the smaller boy. “It’s my pleasure, Reg, it’s so good to see you. And your new hair looks absolutely fantastic on you.” “Thank you so much, love”, he grinned and hugged Lily closer for a moment before he let her go.
He was wearing a white blouse with a dark green tie and a black suit, finishing the look with some black eyeliner and a matching necklace to his earrings. It created a great contrast to James’ loose maroon red shirt. He had tried to look formal for Lily but the shirt stuffed loosely in his pants didn’t really help his case. The girl appreciated his effort though.
Now it was James’ turn and he playfully pushed his fiance away to wrap her in a hug as well. Lily blushed when he whispered a compliment about her outfit in her ear, causing Regulus in the back to laugh. Although it took only a glance from the redhead to shut him up. She was wearing a white summer dress and her hair was put in a neat braid. The colour of her earrings matched with those of her necklace and it was obvious to both boys that she had spent a lot of time picking this out and putting it together the right way.
James held the door open like a gentleman, letting Regulus and Lily inside the restaurant. They decided to get their reserved table and already order some drinks for the five of them, since Mary had texted them that Pandora and her were stuck in traffic and would join them in a few minutes. James also took the job of talking to the hostess and getting their table sorted out.
Meanwhile, Regulus and Lily started a conversation. They were both history students at the same university, but in different classes, so they barely ever saw each other. But nonetheless, they had mutual interests and Lily loved to hear about his last thesis that he had to write. They had talked over discord a few times, as he and James were engaged and lived together and Regulus often barged into the room when she talked to him.
When they sat down, it didn’t take long for the rest of their group to arrive. Mary grinned widely at Lily when she entered the restaurant, a shyly smiling Pandora in tow. She held the door open for her partner and let them in, guiding them to the table. “Hi!”, she grinned and pulled Lily, who had stood up to greet her, in a hug. Mary smiled at James and then nodded at Regulus. “Hi, you must be Regulus, I’m Mary.” The dark haired boy quickly stood up and shook her hand.
“Yes, I’m Regulus. So nice to meet you.” Pandora also greeted him, smiling brightly. “I’m Pandora. Her girlfriend.” “Nice to meet you, I’m Regulus. His fiancee”, he answered and nodded in James’ direction who waved at the Blonde. “Good to see you again”, Lily now chimed in and hugged her girlfriend’s girlfriend from the side. Then she clapped in her hands. “Alright. Those seats over there are yours and you can put the jackets on the pile there, next to Regulus.”
Once they were all seated and ordered food, Lily started to talk to Pandora about their classes and the boys turned to Mary. “You know”, Regulus started, “This may sound totally weird or something, but I overheard in one of James’ and Lily’s calls that you were trans and-” Mary raised her eyebrows, so Regulus immediately froze and covered his face in his hands. His cheeks were glowing bright red. “Oh god, I totally sounded weird. Sorry. I’m not good at talking to people.”
James layed a hand on his thigh to calm him down, motivating the boy to continue speaking. He groaned from embarrassment. “What I wanted to say: Me too. Like, the other way around. You boyn’t and I girln’t.” The tension broke in an instant. Mary covered her mouth to not laugh out loud and the raven haired boy smiled gladly, slowly turning back to his normal colour. “So I just wanted to ask you if you maybe wanted to have some of my old clothes? I kept a few boxes and Lily said that you really like pink, so I wanted to offer this?” The last sentence sounded more like a question. Mary started to speak, interrupted herself, starting stimming to calm herself and tried again.
“Thank you so much, oh my god, you are an angel, Regulus Black. Fancy name, by the way. I would love to! Good clothes are so expensive nowadays! And I think I also have some old pre-transition clothes, so we could trade or something. You could come to our place, we have a walk in closet in the hallway, it would be great for that!” The boy happily agreed and leaned back into James’ touch, who chuckled at the way his fiancee’s eyes lit up. He helped Regulus settle in his side comfortably, shooting Mary a thankful smile.
Lily and Pandora happened to overhear their conversation, smiling fondly at each other. “I’m so glad that Regulus finally has another trans person to talk to”, Lily whispered, “that’s also why I was so excited for them to meet, I knew they would connect over that. They’re so different but still so similar. I don’t know how to explain it. They’re like a black cat and an orange cat, if that makes sense.” “It totally does. Also they’re like the stars and the moon. Somehow.” An adoring expression was showing on their face as she looked at Mary. The moon to her sun. And something about Regulus also fascinated them, making her want to get to know the boy better.
“Hey, star-boy”, she whisper-shouted at him. He turned his head in confusion. “What?” “Regulus is a star, isn’t it?” His face lit up again and he nodded excitedly. “Yes! That’s the entire reason why I chose that name. I love stars!” Pandora smiled. “My second name is actually Nebula! You know? The fancy space clouds?” Regulus’ eyes sparked in fascination. Lily watched them talk for a while. James also engulfed Mary into a conversation, the two of them clearly admiring how well their partners got along. The redhead smiled at the four of them. She was relieved that everything went to plan.
Mary also smiled to herself, while she listened to James talk about some Indian food recipe his mother had gave him, that he wanted to try. She knew how stressed Pandora had been beforehand, so it made Mary extremely happy to see her talking to Regulus, eyes sparkling with joy and a wide smile on their face. For a few seconds, she locked eyes with Lily, who nodded at her. The brunette reached a hand out under the table and waited for her girlfriend to take it. When she felt Lily’s fingers against her own, she was entirely content.
Throughout their whole relationship, people had told them that it was bound to fail in the end. When Mary had first told someone about how she was no longer only dating Pandora, but Lily as well, she had gotten laughed at. And when it had come out that James was dating a girl next to his fiancee, he had to face those issues as well. Only the fact that both Regulus and Pandora were completely fine with their partner’s loving multiple people had seemed to calm people down. So having them all in one place now, after years of developing their relationships, Mary felt safe.
She knew that they would work out. All of them. She loved her girlfriends and she knew that she was loved as well. She adored James and loved him for the way he treated Lily. And Regulus was so sweet; perfectly getting along with her and Pandora as well. They were okay. And nobody could ever tell them again, that polyamory wouldn’t work.
And it almost felt like she was enchanted to meet them.