Aubergine and Momoko #3: Turtleneck

 

Momoko had a date.

Sure, they had been on Meet&Greet for a few months now and had matched with plenty of people, but this was the first time Momoko felt safe enough to meet with the person. Being non-binary on a dating site causes enough trouble, but past experiences put them further on the defensive. They had to be sure whoever they went out with wasn’t secretly a religious creep out to murder them or was a Grincest shipper.

Julius seemed nice. He was accommodating and loved food almost as much as Momoko did. Heck, this was a lunch date!

Today was warm, but Momoko wore their big pink turtleneck. It looked odd since they also wore their short red skirt and sneakers, but they tried not to think about it.

Julius was already at a table when Momoko entered the restaurant-- just some random chain, nothing local like Momoko was usually interested in.

“Oh my gosh,” Momoko said, “You look just like in your pictures!”

The smile Julius gave was the same as in the pictures too. As was his outfit. Did he exclusively wear business suits?

The two ordered and got to talking. As Momoko expected, Julius was nice. He liked dogs and walks and Space Goats, as any sane person should. They got along well, if not for the way Julius kept looking at their neck.

“Momoko,” Julius eventually said, putting down a salad-filled fork, “Is everything alright at your place?”

This confused Momoko. Obviously, it was. In fact, home was better than fine. They were taken care of without even having a job, their roommate and best friend Aubergine being the one to pay the bills while Momoko got their life together.

“No, that’s not right,” Julius said after this was explained, “That mark on your neck-- the one you’re obviously trying to hide with the turtleneck. What’s wrong?”

Momoko flinched. It was true they wore the turtleneck to hide that mark, but it wasn’t anything bad. “Nothing’s wrong. Sometimes you just get a red mark on your neck. It doesn’t mean anyone was strangling you or anything.”

“Strangling? Do I need to call the police?”

“What? No! I just said it’s nothing.”

“Then what’s with the mark on your neck?”

Momoko sighed and pulled on the neck. “It’s a hickey. But I swear I’m not seeing anyone else!” 

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It had been another busy day for the two roommates. There had been at least five birthday parties at Benedetta’s Pizzeria for Aubergine to deal with and Momoko spent all day looking for the right restaurant to impress Cosmo for their date. This meant another night of the two passing out together on the couch.

In his sleep, Aubergine didn’t realize as he slid against Momoko, his face against the enby’s neck. Instead, it only registered as him holding a freshly baked bread loaf to his face. So he did what you would always do when faced with fresh-baked bread. He open his mouth and bit.