(The Owl House Fanfic(Raeda)) Raine's Gender Journey chapter 4: Family dinner

Previous chapters

Chapter 1: The Egg Cracks

Chapter 2: mom

Chapter 3: Our Secret Place

Eda walked me home, she was holding my hand. She's done this so many times, but it still gives me butterflies, it's not that I don't like making out with her that's amazing, but this is more pure and loving.

"Hey, Cadence," she asked, giving my hand a squeeze, "can I give you a goodnight kiss?" they always do, but she asked this time, I could probably count on my fingers how many times she asked for one with her words. She listened to me and what I didn't like. I looked around, there was no one around so I gave a nod of approval, and turned to face my much taller girlfriend, who leaned down as I stood on my tiptoes for a quick chaste kiss. I hoped that I'd get my growth spurt soon, so the height difference wouldn't be so drastic.

"Hi, mom!" I cheerfully called out as I entered my house, I needed to tell her when I got home so she knew that I made it home on time.

"I'm in the kitchen, honey, dinner will be ready in a little bit," she responded.

"O-ok, I'm going to my room to read," I informed her as I headed up to my room, I put my bag down by my desk. I took out the "Mystery at Sea" book lay down on my bed and started reading. It wasn't long until my mom called me down for dinner. I haven't gotten very far in the novel, they only just finished introducing what the big mystery is. In this series, there are always several mysteries that reveal themselves, needing to be solved before they could figure out what really happened in the first one. Some mysteries are there to mislead you, but even those give hints as to what really happened. The solutions are always convoluted and sometimes even contradict itself, so the ending is never exactly what you'd expect when you start. The first mystery is about a man's soul leaving his body. I whistled on the corner of the page to change its chemical makeup so I could find my place while I put my bookmark farther into the book. I had to read this one first because my parents would expect me to read this book as soon as I could.

When I came down, my dad was sitting at the table, he was still covered in sawdust, so he must have just stopped working. He makes musical instruments, I was raised as a musician. I started playing as soon as I had enough fine motor skills to play one. No matter what I wanted I'd end up in the bard track, luckily for me I like music and bard magic and the culture that seemed to revolve around the coven.

"So Barron, how was your day son?" I did my best not to show it, but my mood dropped at the sound of my name and being called son. All afternoon I was a girl, Cadence, now I'm back to being a boy named Barron. I had only been Cadence for one afternoon, but now being Barron feels wrong.

"I-it was fine, we have until the end of the week to pick out what instrument we wanted to focus on, and will get split up based on that," I helped myself to some of the squid casserole and assorted steamed vegetables that my mom prepared.

"I take it you're picking your flute," my dad spoke with confidence. I do like playing the flute, it was one of my favorites to play. I had always been good with woodwinds, I did have a lot of practice with breath control from whistling. I did want to pick my flute, but the kid that picked on my stutter and anxiety, I knew was going to pick the clarinet, as it was the only instrument he knew.

"I-I was a-actually going to pi-ick the violin," I looked at the food and took a big bite and chewed it slowly, I was afraid of their responses. It's not that I didn't like or wasn't good at the violin, I'd say it was in my top five, and I could play over twenty instruments.

"I thought you liked the flute, Barbar?" my mom asked with the silly childhood nickname, which I guess I liked more than Barron, but it still was not Cadence.

I couldn't tell them the truth. The last time they heard about someone bullying me they made a big deal out of it, calling a meeting with principal Bump and the other kid and their parents. That worked when I went to St. Epiderm, but at Hexside it just made it worse. I chewed very slowly, I had come up with this lie, but I needed them to believe it. "I realized a-all of the potential of string instruments, the pressure of the bow, how firmly you hold down the strings, and how you can play a note just a little off to make interesting sound combinations and frequencies," I mentally rehearsed this. It wasn't really a lie, I do see a lot of untapped potential whit string instruments.

"I'm glad to see that you're branching out and getting out of you're comfort zone, good for you son, and so creative with sound, I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up head witch of the bard coven," he let out a proud laugh.

"Thanks, dad," I forced a smile at his compliment, even though I chose the violin to stay in my comfort zone, and there was no way I'd ever want to be head witch. It required too much peopling. "I am comfortable playing the violin too."

"Oh! we know I've heard you play before, you are quite talented with that thing," my mom praised. I wasn't sure if talent was the right word, it was years of practice that brought me to that level. I didn't want to say anything so I just focused on my dinner. My parents spent the rest of the meal asking about my day. Some of what I told them was the truth, some lies and some were a mix between the two. I kept track of the lies it told them so I could build on them and not contradict myself.

After dinner, they insisted that I play for them so they can be sure I was making the right decision on not picking the flute. I summoned my new instrument of choice and started playing, my dad also insisted that I didn't use any music sheets because I may not always have them. I couldn't say no. I counted my breathing to steady myself, trying to pretend my parents weren't there, so I could focus on the music. I didn't know what to play so I just started playing some notes that I knew went well together and soon I was lost in the music, I was playing my feelings and the notes just came to me. I don't know what I played and wouldn't be able to play it again if I tried. I am capable of reading music in any key and could memorize them without too much trouble, I also could up with and write my own melodies, and songs. No one but Eda, and possibly Lilith, knew that I could write songs, I wrote her a few love songs since we started dating and before we started dating, when I need an outlet for my feelings for her.

Luckily my parents liked my impromptu performance. They told me I made a stunning light show. That is how I view Eda, she is my beautiful light. She had been since we met and hopefully always will be.

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-----Ben