greatamazingfeelingsboy

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early Jan

Being in a feminine body is... different, but not bad. Now that he's been assured that, yes, this is a thing Darrow does, and, yes, he's going to change back, Caleb's taken the time to sort of... get used to the idea. He's still pretty tall, though not over six feet anymore. Rosie had helped him get his hair into a ponytail so it's not in his face, and then she'd blessedly helped him buy clothes so he didn't feel totally weird.

He doesn't really want to talk about the bra experience.

But it's Saturday, so now he has to face Michael. He hadn't been anticipating that. He'd ended up trying to call him, but, of course, it went to voicemail. He was the worst. So, dressed in his new, much better fitting clothes, Caleb makes his way to the shop.

Tim greets him like always, with a smile and a "Hey, Kid," and doesn't seem to think there's anything weird about Caleb being girl-shaped. That's... kinda weird.

"Hey," he greets, still a little thrown off by the sound of his new voice. Then he makes his way back to the car he and Michael have been working on.

He braces himself for Michael's feelings, squares his shoulders, and calls out another "Hey," loud enough for Michael to hear him.

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Michael squints at him. "Seriously? Are you sure you're seventeen?" he demands, "Because if I were seventeen and suddenly I woke up with a body that was a girl's, I'd be going to town," he admits, smirking at him, though maybe this is a question that he should've asked first.

"...or, not bisexual? No interest?" Michael wonders. "Because, like I said, if that were me, I don't think Alex would wanna touch me like that for a while."

Fuck, everything from his navel down feels really weird, and he's really glad that Michael can't feel his feelings, because he'd be getting a lot of mixed, warm, aroused, confused sensations. He swallows and rolls his eyes, still blushing.

"No, I just. I've had a lot on my mind! No one warned me this was a thing, and I've been freaking out! Then I had to get clothes, Dude— do you know how weird it is to try on a bra? I mean, I knew the basics, but—"

Michael ducks back to the car, hiding his smirk, but there's no hiding how he's still just happy from Caleb, because of the emotions thing. He's kind of hoping that maybe Caleb will take it as meaning that Michael's just amused by this whole event.

"You could've gone braless. I would've," he deadpans, because he's pretty sure he wouldn't have gone to the trouble. Yank on a hoodie and a t-shirt, a shitty pair of jeans, and he'd just go about his life.

"Are you kidding me? No way. These things are the worst." He hugs his chest now, pouting, but also trying a little not to laugh. The longer they talk about it, and the more he feels Michael's feelings, the harder it is to be upset. He walks around to the opposite window so he can see Michael's face.

"What are you so happy about? This isn't something..." He trails off, realizing that Michael isn't happy for him, or amused. It doesn't feel like that — like that cotton-candy sweetness dancing over his tongue. It feels like sunlight, bright and beaming and warm.

He thinks back to the past few days, of something that would make Michael so happy. Only Alex really brings that out in him, and he's not here right now.

Michael feels like he'd definitely give less of a shit, but then, that's basically his life. He presumes that he'd throw on a white t-shirt and a uniform, head to work, and let things be. His hair would probably be a disaster, but hey, when's it not?

"This is pretty damn amusing," Michael says, leaning against the car, smirking. He doesn't have a ring because his left hand is mangled, and he hadn't bought one for himself, but he doesn't need to.

He's engaged, that's really all that matters.

"No, this isn't 'laugh at Caleb' happy, this is something else. This is the kind of happy you feel around Alex. It's way warmer and less, like, targeted." He narrows his eyes, then widens them again. "Oh, fuck. New Year's Eve!" He gasps and rounds the car so he's closer to Michael again. At least his legs are still long. "Did you—? Did he—? Fuck, Dude, tell me everything!"

Michael's making a face like he has no idea what Caleb is talking about. "It was a good date," is all he says, because he's having a good time having this just to themselves, at least for now. "We'll have you over for dinner, okay?"

"So, this..." he says, gesturing to Caleb's general person. "What exactly do you need, here? I mean, I doubt it's advice."

"Ugh," Caleb protests, but doesn't push the matter. Fine. Michael can bask, and Caleb will quietly bask with him.

"What? No, I do not want advice about any of this from you," he says, making a sweeping gesture at himself. He doubts anything Michael has to offer would be helpful, anyway, beyond serving to make him blush and feel weirdly hot.

...At least he isn't popping an awkward boner.

"I just... it's Saturday. Car day. I figured... something a little normal would be good to take my mind off of this... weird, fucked up thing the city apparently did."

Michael smirks at him, and it's not that he doesn't want to share it, but he also thinks it'd be better if he and Alex got to tell Caleb together, just the way that they're going to be for the rest of their lives. "And hey, I'm okay for advice!" he protests defensively.

"I mean, I guess I'm not the worst person in the universe of advice," he maybe clarifies, and shrugs. "It's...yeah," he says, and okay, yup, maybe he is. "And yeah, it's car day, but clearly things are uh...different for you," he quips. "You can take the day off."

Caleb tries not to look as disappointed as he feels, but it probably doesn't work. "Are you sure?" It's not like he has anything else to do, and he is not going to try to hang out with any of his classmates today, not looking like this.

Michael feels a little bad, but it's not like he wants Caleb to just go away. He rubs his hands off on the towel. "I'm just saying we don't have to stick around here, if you wanted to go somewhere else," he offers. "We can head out anywhere you want, or I can hand you an elastic band for the hair and we can do this."

"Up to you, kid."

Caleb takes a breath and pulls all of his hair over one shoulder, doing a quick, messy braid. It's awkward, because he's never braided hair from this angle, but he manages, and makes a grabbing gesture for an elastic.

"I want to do car day," he says.

"Okay," he says, and smirks. "But before we do car day," he says, and gestures for Caleb to wander over. "I had a sister-type person who made me braid her hair and let her practice makeup on me," he says, and yanks Caleb's hair out of that messy braid, shifting behind to start doing one of Isobel's complicated fish-tail braids that she'd made Michael learn.

He has to ignore a few fingers to do it, but he has his powers to help keep it in place where necessary.

"Unless you're going for the messy aesthetic, in which case I can give it a few yanks, put it back."

"A sister-type person," he echoes with am amused snort. He reaches back to touch the braid when Michael's done. It's way more out of his face than before, and feels kinda cool, actually. "You'll have to teach me how to do this so I can braid my sister's hair."

"I don't know if she's my sister, she just acts like an annoying older sister would," he says, though deep down, he knows that Isobel is the most precious person to him in the world outside of Alex, and if he and Max hadn't had a falling out, then he would be the next person on that list.

"It's a fishtail. Iz made me do all sorts of complicated hit to her hair when we were growing up, because Max refused."

Caleb's quiet as he turns around to face Michael, now that his hair is properly tended to. "You really love her," he notes, eyes going a little soft. "Sorry, I, I don't want to make you sad, I just. It's nice."

"I'd do anything for Isobel," Michael admits, because he knows that he's already gone further than most people would (after all, not everyone takes the brunt of blame for three murders, not unless you really love someone).

He shrugs, because that's just his life. He's not sure that she'd do anything for him, because he's not Max, but it doesn't matter. "You wanna work on the tires today? Get them on the rims?"

"Yeah, yes," he answers with a nod. He sheds his jacket at last, dropping it into the back seat of the car so he doesn't have to worry about it. It's still his usual jacket — no point in buying a new one — and it'd done a pretty good job of hiding his changed body shape.

He's wearing a long sleeved shirt that's a little more fitted than he would have liked, especially now that Michael's teased him about pleasuring himself in this different body. It shows off his new figure, and he quickly focuses on the car instead of on what Michael's reaction is going to be.

Michael gives Caleb an amused look, pieces clicking together. First, there'd been the bra thing, and now there's the clothes. "So, I take it that you went shopping at some point today?" is his guess, which he feels like is the pretty normal thing to be judging.

"Seriously, I definitely would've thrown on sweats. It's a teen thing, right?" he asks curiously, popping the hood. "Caring about all that?"

"None of my clothes fit," he argues, hugging himself again. "And... these were way bigger than I expected. Heavier, I mean." He blushes and looks away. "It kinda hurt to, like. Do... anything."

"So, your tits are too big and that gave you the chance to go on a shopping spree," he deadpans. "You should ask Alex if he wants to go out. He's got opinions about fashion," he says with a knowing nod, even if he's proud.

"Don't worry, I don't care. I'm in a committed thing, remember? I'm all about the responsible adult life now," he says, waving his hand as he grabs some tools, getting the lift in place. "Come on, crank this baby up, we're getting new tires and rims on."

Caleb steps over to the lift control to hold the button. He gives Michael a look. "Even if you weren't in a committed relationship, ew, you're, like, ten years older than me." There's no blush this time, because Michael isn't an ugly guy, but he's definitely got an older brother vibe to him, and Caleb likes his feelings, but he isn't drawn to them the way he is to Adam's.

"Oh, fuck off, I'm not coming on to you," Michael protests, wrinkling his nose, because yeah, he is a lot older, and that's the point. He doesn't want this to suddenly get weird, and it's starting to verge close.

He nods towards the tires. "Come on, you wanna be helpful, drag these over. We're installing the rims I got, cuz they're way cooler," he says, because the ones he found have a great design that'll show off while spinning.

Caleb makes a face. He hadn't been trying to make it weird, but he's glad to learn that Michael feels the same way about it that he does. They're friends first, and unless Michael were suddenly a teenager, Caleb doubts he'd really be interested in him that way.

He grabs a tire off the stack—

And yelps, nearly dropping it onto his own foot. Either it's much heavier than he'd thought, or this frame is a lot weaker than he'd expected. His arms are slenderer, but he'd still seen muscle when he'd flexed, so he'd thought it would be the same.

Michael glances over in time to see the tire slipping, towards Caleb's foot. The yelp had given him enough warning that he can use his powers to steady it before the whole thing slams down on him, rushing over to grab it and set it down.

"Hey, easy," he warns, giving him a concerned look. "Look, just shove them over," he says, not wanting to say that Caleb can't, but he doesn't want them being dropped either.