The X-Project

Back on Monday, Shiro lends Clarice some clothes and they actually are pleasant to one another. Some wounds may be healed.

Clarice was a fantabulous boy, if she did say so herself. A little lip gloss and some eyeliner and she was ready to face the malls! Unfortunantely, she had to wear something to aforementioned malls and her clothes, in addition to being mostly in Maryland, we very much girl sized. And she was not girl sized anymore. She was taller and significantly more masculine where it mattered.

As tempting as it was to go raid Shiro's closet without his knowledge, she was going to knock and be polite. So clad in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt she'd found in Terry's room, she knocked on his door. And hoped he wasn't in so she could just enter.

Nothing is ever as easy as hoped. If helping to arrest a dozen Kick-addicted mutants wasn't traumatizing enough, waking up to find that your boyfriend (a confusing enough situation already) was suddenly your girlfriend certainly did not make readjusting any easier. So Shiro was just diving into the rich, fake life of Final Fantasy 7. Even though he'd played through it at least a dozen times since it was released, the struggles were familiar and calming.

The knock at the door and the familiar purple if newly masculine face that waited at the other side pretty much killed any sort of tranquility he'd managed to attain. "Uh, hi," he said lamely.

"I'm here to raid your closet," Clarice said without preamble. She'd bought Shiro enough clothing in the course of their relationship to know that he owned a few decent things other than the usual jeans and t-shirts or sweatshirts he normally wore. "Because I am not going out in public like this." Was it wrong to be so excited about shopping for guy clothing for herself? Pronouns sucked.

Shiro stepped aside to let her in. Not like she was giving him much of a choice. At least he hadn't been at a crucial part in his game. "Anou, I do not know if my clothes will fit you. But you can try." He'd lost a lot of weight from his already small frame because of Kick, and though he'd managed to put some back on, he'd had to buy a lot of new clothes since. Alex's clothes might have fit her better, but he knew better than to suggest that.

"Did you get rid of the clothes I bought you?" he asked, heading straight for the back of his closet. Wow. She was almost as tall as him as a girl and now she was taller as a guy. Thank goodness she was almost as thin. "And how are you and Alexandra?" he asked, conversationally. He was mostly over the shock of their relationship and was in fact actually concerned given that both of the Summers brothers had turned into women and Shiro had not. It must be odd to find your ex-girlfriend a man and your boyfriend now a girl. There was something very Freudian about this.

He followed her (him?) into his room and folded his arms across his chest. "They might be in one of the boxes there. I packed up some belongings after . . ." He hesitated briefly. "After Kick. There was little space for some things." Like anything that reminded him of her.

Digging through the first box he was pleased to find a couple shirts and a couple pairs of dress pants. Fitting them against his waist he was pleased. They seemed to fit well enough. "I'll bring these back later. And you never said h ow Alex was."

Shiro almost told Clarice to just keep the clothes, but stopped himself. She might be offended by that offer. And besides, he wanted to see her again, because she was disturbingly attractive even as a man. And that clarified absolutely nothing. "Um, he is well, I suppose. He is always the one you can trust to quickly find the silver lining."

"He still attractive to you then?" she asked, innocently, although there was some cattiness behind it. She couldn't decide if she'd feel better or worse knowing the truth, but she had to ask. It wasn't just any girl that 'turned' a guy gay. Maybe she wasn't as over it as she thought. "Never mind. Thanks for the clothes."

It wasn't a question that Shiro could answer easily, either. It was still mostly a yes, but there was a but. He didn't think he could put it into words, so he gratefully took Clarice's out and just nodded at her. "You're welcome. Uh, I hope this does not put too much of a damper on your plans," he added in what he hoped was a casual and friendly tone.

Clarice shrugged, "I'm missing finals, but Jean said she'd send written notes, so hopefully I'll be able to retake them. I had everything except my actual tests done before the weekend so hopefully that will help. I'm trying to transfer to NYU too..." she missed living at Xavier's. Even if he stayed at Maryland, he would move back here. He had hated the dorms with a passion, but he had stuck the year out to make his father happy. Now he was free to do what he wanted to make herself happy.

"Oh shit, I can't call my father like this," he realized. They had a weekly phone call, "I guess I'll email him and tell him I'll call him after this week is over..." being a baritone was not something she wanted to explain to her father. "And I guess I'll pack up my dorm room next week...fuck. I'm going to be cutting everything really tight."

"I could help?" Shiro offered. "If you would like an extra hand. I am sure that you have a lot to pack." He bit his tongue to keep from saying more.

Well, that was surprising. Almost as surprising as turning into a boy was initially. "Sure," she agreed, smiling. "Whenever you want, I can give you a key. Really, it's a lot of put stuff in boxes, teleport it back here and repeat. I just have to be present when I check out with the RA. They do room inspections."

Shiro nodded and smiled back, just the least bit awkwardly. "I do not have my finals scheduled until the end of the month, so I can come with you whenever you would prefer."

This was progress. Progress indeed. "Great! Thanks. I'm, um....gonna go back and put these on. Have a hard day of shopping ahead." he decided to leave before either of them said something really stupid. And there was shopping to be had.

He waved at her as she left his room, and stood at his doorway for a minute before snapping himself back to reality to return to his game. There was something rather reassuring about Sephiroth sliding his katana through Aeris.

~*~

And on Tuesday, Shiro finds himself dragged dress shopping with his new girlfriend.

Alex looked through her closet, frowning. She still wanted to go to prom...but she really didn't have anything to wear. And the idea of borrowing something for a dance seemed weird to her.

It was odd it took so long for the idea to hit her. Grinning brightly, she turned and moved to stand next to Shiro's desk, where he was working on something. "Hey Shiro, you're done for the day right?"

There really were not words to describe exactly how disturbing this all was. Shiro's boyfriend was now his girlfriend, and any confusion he'd had about his sexual orientation was now about a thousand times worse. He looked up from his manga when Alex addressed him, eyebrow raised in a curious, wary manner. "I am," he answered. "Why?"

She gave him a bright smile and tugged him out of his chair.

---

"So, do like this one or the blue one?" Alex asked as she twirled around in the three paneled mirror, looking at herself in a wine and cream colored dress. Normally, he hated clothes shopping...but shopping for female clothes was fun! Not that he aspired to be a cross dresser or anything...but he was going to make the most of this opportunity!

Shiro looked at Alex liked he'd grown three heads. "Whatever." This was worse than the times Clarice had taken him shopping. At least she was naturally a shopper. That Alex was gleefully taking on this role was disturbing on an unimaginable level. "My tuxedo is black, and everything looks good with black, ne? But the blue one does go better with your ey . . ." He stopped himself before he said something that could possibly be interpreted as even remotely enjoying this situation.

Hey, when it comes with the territory, might as well enjoy it! That was Alex's thoughts and she was sticking to them. Still she'd caught that comment and grinned over her shoulder at Shiro. "Oh relax. You have a smoking hot girlfriend to take to a formal dance. Least you can do is compliment her."

"At least this will be easier to explain and I will not have to endure any of Richter's snide hints," Shiro muttered darkly. He sat down on the chair placed there specifically for weary significant others. "'No, she is my best friend. This is absolutely acceptable.'" He snorted.

Alex rolled her eyes laughing as she did another twirl in the mirror. In doing so, another dress caught her eye and she immediately went over to it, ignoring the voice in his head pointing out that it was something Lorna would have picked out. "What about this one?" He asked, as he picked up the purple halter topped dress.

"What about it?" Typical guy response. "Alex, can we please just finish this and go . . . anywhere else? How about ice cream? Girls like ice cream. I'll buy you a cone."

"Let me try it on, kay? Last one I promise!" She gave Shiro a quick peck on the lips before retreating back into the changing room. When she came back out in the purple dressed, she looked in the mirror for just a moment before saying with a bright smile, "This one."

The familiar rush that came with any sort of bodily contact with Alex was still there, and it mildly reassured Shiro. Just a week, he reminded himself. Then things would be less confusing/more confusing again. "It looks very nice. It compliments your, uh, hips? And very perky breasts?"

Laughing, Alex turned to him. He knew how hard Shiro was trying and would take it for what it was. "Thanks. Let me go slip into my normal clothes and buy this, then I'm taking you up on that ice cream!"