"So what do you think? Should I go with the black shirt, or the blue one, maybe the pink button up." Anakin held up the three options swinging them in Fern's face.

"Aren't they all button ups?" He pushed them out of the way so he could clearly see Anakin. He was wearing khakis but somehow when they were on him they seemed fitted hugging his legs without seeming too small. He wasn't wearing any shoes but potential shoe options were lined up by the dresser.

"They are but the pink one is a button up button up."

"Adding emphasis to the word button up doesn't make it any more of a button up." Fern pointed out. Anakin shrugged and set the blue and black buttons up down.

"And it has a collar, so that makes it even more of a button up." Anakin set the pink button up over his shoulder and took black shoes. He hummed under his breath as he looked around. "Aha!" He picked up a different pair of khakis.

"Aren't you already wearing khakis?" Fern asked bringing his feet up and resting them on the edge of the bed. He rested his chin on his knees.

"Yeah, but these ones look better on me."

"How is that even possible?" Anakin shrugged and picked up a bottle off of his desk.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." Fern blushed a little and shrugged letting Ani take it as anything he wanted. "I'll change in the bathroom."

"I can just leave your room if me being here makes you uncomfortable." Fern offered sitting up straighter prepared to get up. Anakin waved his hand in disregard.

"Oh no, it's fine. I'm going to brush my hair and stuff anyway." He went to his door and winked at him before he left, shutting it behind him. Fern let out a breath when he was gone, he finally let himself look around Anakin's room. He stood up and slipped his hand into his pocket. He figured that maybe that was just Anakin, intense for unknown purposes.

He felt a little nosy but he poked around his room, not opening anything that wasn't already left to his open view. What he found odd was that there were no posters of any kind hanging in his rooms. He wasn't huge on posters himself but he did have a couple, just enough to add a touch of him to his otherwise pre-painted room.

Anakin's walls were white along with a lot of his furniture. On the Wall opposite the bed was two large black arrows. As Fern inspected Anakin's decor closer he noticed a lot of gold accessories like lamps. Bins were also gold. He stood near the door so he could look at all of the room all at once. It was incredibly aesthetically pleasing, even the black and white striped bed was accented by gold colored pillows. Fern could argue that it was neither masculine nor feminine but it did feel very much Anakin.

The longer he looked and stared at Anakin the more he felt like he knew him. Texting and jokes aside.

"Speaking of texting..." He pulled out his phone, he searched through his contact until he found Quinns.

<Me: Hey look this is me texting you, now tell me what Anakin said about me to you>

He tapped the side of his phone waiting for a reply. He looked to his left, through his peripheral was a spot of color that contrasted the white, gold, and black of the room. He turned off his phone slipping it into his back pocket. Fern walked towards Anakin's closet, the door was slightly ajar and peeking out of the door was red feathers. Fern squatted down trying to remember if there was a scene in the play that required red feathers. He touched the feathers pulling gently.

The door behind him swung open, Anakin cleared his throat forcing Fern's attention. Fern turned his head trying not to look as guilty as he was.

"Hey...Anakin." He had to turn fully and scan Anakin's entire outfit. Anakin was right again, the new khakis he wore looked even better than the last. They were a darker shade of brown and fit him perfectly. He wondered if they were even khakis with the way they seemed to bend to Anakin's will. Anakin also wore a pink collared button up that accented Anakin's thin frame in a way that made it more endearing than negative.

"Hey...Fern." He gave him a weird smile and squatted down next to him. "If you were curious you could just ask." He opened up his closet more. Inside there was a different color of paint, it was a bit jarring but it wasn't the only thing that caught Fern off guard. Amongst a jargon of other things including a blue sewing machine, and a table, there was a large costume. Fern wasn't an expert but he thought it was fair for him to assume that it was of Native American inspiration. Anakin pulled the item with feathers out first. Even when Ani laid it out in front of him, he was still unable to discern what it was. It looked like a brown jumble of cloth with splashes of color in the form of feathers or other prints.

"Um...what is this?" He asked waving his hand over the general mass. Anakin leaned over and took the feathers in his hand turning them around, it was only then that Fern could see that they were attached to a cloth band.

"I know it's hard to believe right now but this is a traditional Pueblan Native American outfit." Fern raised his eyebrow not saying anything, Anakin sighed. "Okay, not that traditional. But it's based off a lot of what my Edudu described to me. It looks a little funky now, but it'll look awesome when I'm done."

"Oh, well what are you going to do with it when you're done?" Anakin face brightened.

"Well, Edudu said that when the times right he'll take me to New Mexico and we'll stay at the Acoma Pueblo for a few days." Anakin picked up the confusion on Fern's face. "It's this village that is completely all traditional Pueblan things. They have the food, the huts, the clothing, the celebrations. And Edudu will take me right to the edge of the Grand Canyon and we'll dance together there." Anakin closed his eyes dreamily like he was already there, and dancing with his grandfather.

Fern smiled and let him have his moment. When Anakin opened his eyes again he was blushing a bit.

"Hey let's get going, don't want the animals to wait forever for us." Ani placed the parts of his outfit back into the closet and shut it properly this time. He stood up and extended his arm towards Fern. Fern took it and was pulled up, standing close to Anakin again. He took a quick step back and let Anakin get to the door.

They walked down the stairs the same time the front door opened. Anakin froze a silent horror on his face as it slowly creaked opened. Fern slowly walked back up the stairs not wanting to be accused of entering his parents home without permission.

"Yeah, yeah he is so freaking hot I thought I'd tear his clothes off." A feminine voice rang out. Fern stopped his pursuit up the stairs and paused peeking down. Anakin looked to have relaxed as well. He crouched and peeked over. "Yeah? Oh yeah, I'm home now. Finally, have the house to myself." She threw her bag down and stretched looking around. Fern looked over to see Anakin's face widen into a smile.

"Oh, loving sister of mine!" He called loudly walking down the stairs grandly. Anakin's sister looked up with a look of pure disgust. She rolled her eyes practically into her head and slammed the door closed.

"Aren't you supposed to be in some intervention meeting or something?" She said her voice dripping with malice. Fern stuck closely behind Anakin ready to push him out of the way, just in case his sister decided to pull throwing knives out.

"Well, I began to miss my lovely sister." He said, he had reached the bottom step and was leaning against the beginning of the railing, one leg crossed in front of the other. Dakota rolled her eyes and moved past him towards an open doorway. Fern leaned over behind Anakin to see that she was heading for the kitchen.

"Hey, so who's this guy that is oh so incredibly dreamy?" Anakin sung, he had a look Fern wasn't able to put a name on. Dakota froze in her tracks, she slowly turned around staring Anakin hard in the face.

"No Anakin."

"No what? I just want to be supportive." Dakota's eyes narrowed and she put a hand on her hip.

"If you flirt with another guy that I bring into this house I'm cutting your dick off. It's not like you use it anyway." Her voice was a menacing growl that didn't seem to phase Anakin, but Fern found himself hiding as much as possible behind Anakin.

"How am I supposed to stop them from finding me attractive? If they were strictly yours would they even be looking to your brother for action?"

"Well, it sure does help when my brother dresses up like two cent whore. And steals my dresses and makeup."

"It's not my fault that mom won't buy me my own." Anakin scoffed he crossed his arms his body becoming more rigid.

"You'd just steal mine anyway! Why don't you go find someone your own age to flirt with, older guys will only break your sensitive little heart." Fern saw Anakin's eyes narrow.

"You're only two years older, and I am not sensitive."

"Oh? Then why did your teachers drag mom and dad to a meeting to talk about you crying because you can't handle all the stress? Oh, poor Anakin he's taking a college course when he's an idiot."

"Don't go around calling people idiots when you can't even pass your own freaking classes, junior."

"It was a C!"

"Minus! Face it you're just jealous because you're not the smart one anymore. Maybe if you weren't so busy chasing around guys that stare at your brother's ass so often you'd actually do well!" Fern felt the intensity in the air, he looked between the two of them expecting one of them to summon some sort of weapon and commence in combat. Their looks were similar enough it was scary. Despite the subtle differences in their features, Anakin succeeded in looking like a lighter version of his sister.

"Maybe if you didn't have an ass in the first place we wouldn't have these problems you freaking slut!" Dakota yelled they were both yelling at that point.

"It's not my fault that I'm so fucking hot!"

"It totally is and you know it!"

"We have the same ass idiot! If you just wore the right outfits it'd exemplify your features! Besides you have boobs that's a one up on me anyway!"

"Maybe I don't want to use my ass to get a boyfriend!"

"Fine, you're smart enough anyway. Use your big smart brain to charm boys like a loser." The argument was getting to a point where Fern wasn't sure if they were really fighting, or just having a conversation really loudly.

"At least I'm not a whore!"

"At least I'm not a...double whore!" The room was silent, Anakin's words hanging in the air. Dakota's face broke into a smile.

"Double whore, really the best you got?" Anakin suddenly smiled as well and shrugged.

"I have some more colorful words but we have company." He stepped aside revealing Fern who was awkwardly hunched over the railing. Dakota made an oh with her mouth and nodded.

"Is that the guy who thought you were a girl." Fern avoided her eye contact and nodded, guessing he was the only guy in recent to make that mistake. Dakota nodded and took her hand from her hip crossing it instead. She looked at Anakin and jutted her chin. "Anywhore what do you want,"

"We want to go to the zoo, can you drive us please?" Anakin asked sweetly, a complete contrast the name calling that had taken place before.

"Do you have to go to the zoo money?"

"No...but I have mom's debit card that she gave me for safekeeping." Dakota raised her eyebrow not buying the whole thing.

"And you don't think she'll be the least bit suspicious when some of her money is gone?"

"I'll reimburse her, besides she loves me. I'm the sweet sensitive one."

Dakota gave him a deadpanned look. Anakin sighed giving up the sweet look. "Come on please?" They looked at each other, a sort of secret messaging being passed along. Dakota broke and let out a sigh.

"Get in the car brats." She sighed, Fern pointed to himself. He wanted to be sure that he was included in this package. She just rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen. Anakin was smiling like a madman. He gestured for Fern to follow him. Fern obediently did as he was told, he wondered if all brother-sister relationships were like this. It made him glad to only have Rodo who was always practically an adult in his eyes, even at a young age.

Anakin stopped at the door, he bent over to adjust his shoes. As Fern peeked at him, as was customary at this point he saw in his peripheral a figure. He tilted his head and made eye contact with Dakota. An eyebrow was raised and keys dangling in the other hand. Fern's cheeks burned bright enough to be seen on his skin.

He braced himself for any number of scenarios. Her calling her brothers attention to the perversion. Possibly call him or Anakin a two cent whore. Or just a dirty look in general. Instead, she surprised him more by continuing walking casually like she hadn't seen anything.

"Alright, twerps get in the car." She said pushing past them. She grabbed a jacket before heading out the door. The boys obediently followed. 

"So what is this a date or something?" Dakota looked up in her rearview mirror to make eye contact with the two boys. They were both at opposite ends of the car with the window right next to them. Fern froze up a little and glanced at Anakin letting him answer.

"No, we're just two guys hanging out at the zoo, not in a gay relationship." Ani clarified.

"Wouldn't it not be a gay relationship anyway because you're not gay?" Fern asked relaxing as soon as Dakota's eyes drifted back to the road.

"I mean it'd still be homosexual since we're both guys," Ani said, he crossed his legs and tilted his body more so that he was facing Fern.

"Oh, Ani's is so not, not gay." Dakota scoffed, turning into the entrance of the zoo. Fern didn't get a good look at the sign or the name before they had turned inside.

"I am in fact not gay, it's called bisexuality Dakota. Look it up maybe?" Ani crossed his arms, directing his attention towards his sister.

"Anakin you haven't ever had a single romantic feeling towards a female in your entire life. The only semi loving relationship you've ever had with a girl is me, and I'm your sister. And I hate you, by the way."

"Well Junior, you're not me. And just because I'd probably never sleep with a girl, doesn't mean in the near future I won't be magically enchanted by the beauty of a particular girl." Fern looked between them, he wasn't sure whose side he should be on. But he figured it was better to take Anakin's word for it, no matter how much he to doubted it at times.

"Whatever you say," Dakota grumbled, she pulled up to the sidewalk leading to the entrance of the zoo.

"Edudu believes me," Anakin said, he glanced outside and began unbuckling himself. Dakota put the car in park and turned to look at them.

"Grandpa believes anything you say and gives you anything you want. Are you really surprised?" She scoffed, there was a slight change in her tone.

"Well, are you really surprised he feels that way, the rest of you treat him like he's crazy." Anakin rolled his eyes, he leaned over towards Fern and unbuckled his seatbelt for him.

"Well, he is." She shrugged and unlocked the car doors. "The rest of the family loves me more anyway, so get out of my car." Fern didn't need any more prompting, he was afraid they'd start to yell fighting again. He opened the door and quickly stepped out, he stepped away and stood on the sidewalk.

Anakin didn't come out right away, Fern was forced to stand on the sidewalk alone as parents with children passed him. Inwardly he understood that no one was questioning his legitimacy to be there, but his body tensed a little more with every new face.

Anakin's door opened and closed, he walked around the car to Fern. One hand was in his pocket and the other was holding a piece of paper.

"That doesn't look like money, what is it?" Fern asked he turned around so that they could continue to walk to the front entrance.

"Uh, just a coupon. Dad must have left it in the car, he took me here last." Anakin didn't look at him like he usually did, his gaze was dead set on the entrance. Fern shrugged his possible thoughts away and followed him.

They reached the gates, it was wide open and there was a booth built inside of the wall. Anakin nudged Fern's arm into the right direction.

They stood in front of the booth. The man inside was wearing a polo with the zoo logo on the shoulder of the shirt. He was looking lazily at his phone, his face resting on his elbow.

If situation handling was left to Fern they would have stood there until the employee happened to look up at them. Anakin not being Fern knocked on the glass of the booth and cleared his throat excessively loud. The man didn't look up from his phone yet before he began talking to them.

"Welcome to the Grayden Zoo, where the wild things and the wilder things become one. How many tickets would you like, and for which age groups?" The man finally looked up, he looked impassive when his gaze fell on Fern. He shifted to look at Anakin and actually smiled.

"Back again Skywalker?" Fern finally got a good look at his face, he had more wrinkles then he noticed before, and his voice was deep and worn. Anakin smiled and leaned an arm against the wall.

"Aren't I always, I have to see my brethren." He shrugged and slid the coupon into the semi-circle open area near the bottom of the glass. The man whose name tag read Tod took it and smiled a bit more.

"First time since you were knee high that I've seen you without makeup. Does it have something to do with your new friend?" Tod and Anakin both looked at Fern then back at each other.

"Sorta. I decided I didn't want to show him up, not yet." He shrugged and pulled out his mom's credit card ready to swipe. Tod scanned the coupon, the cash register automatically opened but he shut it again. Anakin gave him a knowing smile and put his credit card away.

"Huh, are you going to bother giving the other animals the time of day?" Tod asked him. Anakin shrugged and glanced at Fern.

"Maybe the elephants on the way back, but we're going right for the best part. See you later Tod." Anakin took Fern's elbow and began leading him away. Tod tipped his hat towards Anakin and let them continue.

Ani lead Fern down a cobblestone path surrounded by different exhibits. Fern waited until they were a good enough distance away from the booth before he asked.

"Skywalker? Didn't you say something about a certain godforsaken trilogy?" Fern looked at Anakin, Anakin looked back at him. His eyes were narrowed turning his entire face into a grumpy pout.

"Oh stuff it, Fernando, he's old and I've known him since I was little. He can get away with shit like that."

"Oh that's not fair, I would love to call you Star Wars related nicknames." They passed by a couple exhibits, Anakin didn't stop at any of them so Fern was forced to follow him. He didn't entirely mind, he had been to enough Zoo's to not be too blown away by any of the exhibits. He was most anxious to learn what Anakin was steaming towards.

"I'd give your props if you came up with five." Anakin scoffed, he slipped one of his hands into his pocket.

"Well, I already have Ani..."

"That doesn't count it's not Star War related."

"Fine," Fern grumbled, he ran his hands through the tuft of his hair. "How about Burny? Or the Dark One or....well...I'll get back to you on that." Anakin rolled his eyes at Fern and bumped his side.

"You're so creative Fern, I swear." He shook his head, "Can't wait to hear about all my new nicknames soon." He looked ahead of him, his eyes widened and his face lit up. Fern matched his gaze and saw a stone building. It had pretty fancy looking pillars, but the most interesting thing was the statues in front of the building.

They were of different semi-aquatic birds, they were all made of different types of stone. There were greyish ducks, a few cranes, a couple more birds that stood on one leg. But the animal that stuck out the most to him were the flamingos. They seemed to have the most amount of love put into their craftsmanship. There were two, at either end of the door. They probably weren't the right proportion, they seemed drastically bigger than the cranes and other marine birds.

"Hey, those look pretty cool." He looked next to him to speak to Anakin but he was already gone. Fern looked in front of him, Anakin had drastically sped up his pace and was heading towards the door. Fern shook his head and jogged to catch up with him.

Fern met Anakin at the door, Ani's hands were holding tight to the handle, he was smiling wide.

"Ready for the best exhibit in the zoo?" Anakin was nearly vibrating, his words no longer flowed he was just a gush of emotions. Fern shrugged but thought better of such a passive response.

"Yeah, I guess so." Fern slipped his hands into his pocket. Anakin's excitement wasn't phased in the least. He opened the door and stepped inside. Fern was hit with a wave of humidity and a musty smell. A mix of a hot wet barnyard, and a swamp. Fern tried not to make a face as he stepped inside.

"Come on hurry." Anakin took his hand yanking him through. Fern's eyes widened, the building was much bigger than he had assumed. The area that a person could actually walk was limited to a three-person wide walkway in the middle of the room. On either side of the walkway was a mix of water and dirt that was occupied by various types of semi-aquatic birds. A good portion of which Fern didn't recognize.

As he panned the room his eyes were drawn back to Anakin. He looked like a kid in a candy shop. Anakin's eyes flicked around not able to stop on any one exhibit. He turned back around and squeezed Fern's hand.

"You can look at this stuff later, I'll show you my favorite exhibit." He tugged Fern's arm forward, and down the walkway. Taking up the biggest area in the entire building was an exhibit with eight to twelve pink flamingos. The exhibits in this room didn't have glass to keep people away, but they did have high railings designed to keep people under 5 feet from bothering the animals. Anakin let go of Fern's hand and placed both of his hands on the top of the wooden railing, leaning over the best he could.

"This is your favorite exhibit?" Fern joined him, standing next to him both hands clinging to the railing. Fern glanced behind them, the building was mostly empty. There was only a little boy and his mom lingering around the ducks. He turned back around, Anakin was looking at him. There was a soft look in his eyes. His eyes were searching like they were trying to figure out what to say by looking into Fern's eyes. He turned away after a moment. Fern faced forward, it was silent he didn't know what to say so he waited.

"Yeah, it is. I've loved flamingos since I was really young. This was the only place I wanted to come to when I was little. We came here so often, that my parents had to sign me up for passes that were exclusive to schools that had annual field trips here."

"Who were we?"

"Anyone I could get to take me, my mom, my dad a lot of the time, my Edudu when he was around." His fingers were tracing a pattern into the wood. "I was a really annoying kid, I guess things didn't change much but I was a real pain." Anakin turned to look at Fern, Fern slowly tilted his head until they were facing each other.

"Where you?"

"Yeah, most of the extended family hated me. Except for my grandparents, they knew how to calm me down. I'd steal my mom's makeup, I'd wear my dad's clothes, I'd cover my sister's room with mud, I'd cry all the time."

"Do you remember why?" Fern asked carefully, not wanting to judge especially not something as old as childhood. Anakin's lips moved like he was thinking with his mouth.

"Sounds weird but I felt like I didn't belong. I'd swear up and down that I was adopted, I told anyone who'd listen. My mom used to carry a copy of my birth certificate around in her wallet. She might still have it if you look hard enough."

"Isn't childhood a little young to have an existential crisis?" Fern teased, Anakin smiled slightly.

"I guess I liked getting things over and done with from a young age." He turned back to the flamingos taking out his phone. "My parents never even wanted to take me to the Zoo, they thought I would throw a tantrum. But it was my sister's birthday and they had always spent too much time with me anyway."

"Did they have a hard time getting you away from the exhibit?"

"Shocking, but they didn't. When we got to this area it was just newly built and there was a ton of people. When we got to this exhibit there was this guy there, I don't remember his name but I know he had bright fiery hair. No one was really paying attention to me, I probably did something to piss them off. He bent down and he told me that, all flamingos were white when they were born and they only became pink after eating a ton of pink food." Fern liked watching Anakin as he talked, he looked like he was back in that moment. His face looked a lot softer than it usually does, not only in attributes but in demeanor. "I asked him, boys and girls? And he told me yeah." Anakin smiled wider and looked at Fern. "Three very important things happened that day."

"What were they?" Fern asked he doubted he needed to prompt but he wanted to let Anakin know he was still listening.

"When we got in the car, I told my family I loved them. Which I guess made my dad cry."

"Your dad?" Fern asked Anakin nodded a chuckle in his voice.

"Yeah, I guess he thought I really hated all of them and didn't want to be part of the family."

"What else?"

"Well secondly, I only ate pink food for a month."

"Only a month?" Fern raised both eyebrows, with a person as stubborn as Ani he would have at least thought a year.

"I would have gone longer, but the child psychologist I was seeing told my parents they were enabling me. That was the third thing." Fern and Anakin both nodded for a moment.

"Huh, did you at least get a flamingo stuffed animal at some point?"

"Yeah, I did, for every birthday until I was eleven."

"What happened when you were eleven."

"I specified that I wanted lipstick, not stuffed animals. That was entirely new set of worms. It was back to the child psychologist for me. We had him on speed dial at that point."

"What did they need him for, you just asked for lipstick." Anakin laughed at that, he sighed and shook his head like Fern was a small child.

"Well, it was the lipstick and the horde of pillaged makeup I had hidden under my bed, and the dresses. They basically wanted to make sure I wasn't trans or anything. After I explicitly assured that I wanted to keep my dick then all was well."

"At least it all worked out."

"Well sort of, they'll probably make me go to a therapist to deal with the whole school thing." He shrugged and held on to Fern's arm. "I just wanted to not be, Ani the guy you thought was a girl."

"No no of course not. Now you're Ani, the guy I thought was a girl, who wears makeup, is the lead actress in the play, loves flamingos, needs a therapist, is a prostitute slash therapist named Pound Cake, and is the mother of my unborn child. Plus something or other about Catherine Kuze Kuze. Am I forgetting anything?"

"Probably one or two, but I'll let it slide. Now take a selfie with me, no one besides my parents and grandparents come here with me. And I have enough selfies with Tod to become an actual concern." He tugged on Fern sleeve until they were both standing pushed next to each other with their back pressed against the railing.

Fern did his best to smile casually not exactly the picture pro that Anakin seemed to be. The range of faces he was able to make was pretty impressive, at least to Fern.

Anakin snapped the last picture and immediately began flipping through. He gasped and showed one to Fern. Fern looked like his regular self, but Anakin was smiling wide like he was having the best time of his life. His hair was covering a part of his face making him look cuter. But peeking up above their heads from the background was a flamingo head.

"That's becoming my home screen," Anakin announced, he took the phone away and began playing with the settings.

"Yeah, it looks pretty good."

"Pretty good? It's like a dream shot, I'm sending all of them to you by the way." He finished up and showed Fern the picture one more time. He slipped the phone into his pocket and looked at the flamingos another time. "You can look at other exhibits if you want, I've seen them all anyway." Fern looked behind him at all the other exhibits then back at Anakin who looked as relaxed as he ever could be.

"I'm fine here." He stood back next to him their arms pushed together.

"Mkay," Anakin mumbled, his focus almost completely away from Fern. Fern looked at both Anakin and the flamingoes, the room didn't smell as bad, and it didn't feel as musty when Anakin looked so happy. 

Authors Note

Hello hello lovely readers, I hope you are enjoying the story. And if you're really enjoying it I do have a Pinterest board for 11/10 on my Pinterest account. You can check it out if you want more content, I have listed it on the websites on my profile page. Enjoy and keep!