greatamazingfeelingsboy

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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Caleb laughs a little at that mental image, and suddenly, talking to Michael is easy again.

"No, I mean. I can do the dumb, little lies. Like, saying I'm okay, when I'm not, or something. But doing what you did out there, those were big lies, with, like, really tenuous root systems in little truths. Ugh, does this make sense? Like, you probably could've been into her, if you weren't with Alex. But I don't think you totally liked her personality, and that would've made it really superficial? So, a little truth. But the things you were saying, I mean, I couldn't hear them, but they were mostly lies. You didn't mean them. Those are the ones I don't think I could do."

Adam's always said that Caleb's a terrible liar, too, and maybe that's because of his ability, or maybe that's just the way he is.

"Her? Doubtful," he scoffs. "And into her? Okay, this is definitely getting complicated," he admits, because it's not like he's saying it couldn't happen, it just wouldn't be romantic. "I guess yeah, if Alex weren't here, I'd keep a woman like that around, in case I got desperate, you know?"

"And yeah, I didn't mean 'em, but I wanted her to stop yelling, so the intention was there and clear."

"I mean, I get that, I guess," he admits. He shrugs a little, then hands the tablet over to Michael so they can resume the choosing of wheel rims.

It's still weird to think about. Caleb had liked Caitlin, back when they were kids, and he's happy that they were going to be friends, if he hadn't been brought to Darrow. But he can tell he'd never want to be with her like that, especially after the Sadie Hawkins dance. Caleb's not sure what Michael means by 'got desperate,' and he isn't sure he wants to ask, but he does wonder how Michael can be comfortable enough to sleep with someone he admits he wouldn't even really like.

But he's not brave enough to ask. Not right now, when things are finally getting easy. So, instead, he points at the rims he'd picked out and ask Michael what he thinks.

Michael takes the tablet back to keep swiping through the options, giving Caleb a chance to look at them. He's basically dismissed the incident out of his mind, mainly because to him, it's not a big deal. He used to do it all the time, and the housewives of Roswell had been plenty open for it.

He glances at the rims, nodding. "Yeah, those are good. I'm not gonna order them, mostly cuz I'm trying to scavenge, so you got a second choice, just in case?"

"Oh, sure," Caleb says, and looks through the tablet again so he can pick a second option. "Whichever one works the best, y'know? I'm just happy the car's green." He's happy there's a car at all, honestly. Michael offering to do it for him, just for the sake of it, is huge, still. And, yeah, Caleb's working on it, too, and working at the shop to make some extra money, but it's still a big deal, and he's still grateful for it.

He needs to do something to properly thank him.

Michael grabs his notebook to make a few notes about it, knowing that he can definitely hit up the scrapyard and find something. "I'll try to get them all matching, but if I can't, I'll make sure at least both front and both back match," he promises.

He settles in, making those notes, and glancing up to Caleb. "So what're you doing after you get out of here?" he asks. "Gonna go out with friends?" he teases.

He rolls his eyes at that. "No way. I want as few people seeing me like this as possible. Right now, the only people that know are my friend Rosie, and you. And Rosie only knows because she's the only girl I could think of when I woke up." But he didn't want to just... not show up for Car Day with Michael, and have Michael worry.

Michael feels a flush of warmth for that. He's not used to really being the first that anyone thinks of or that they trust, so for Caleb to admit that he's on a short list of two when it comes to knowing about this makes him feel amazing.

"If you don't care about a third, then swing by," he offers. "Bopp doesn't care what you look or smell like so long as you pat her, and Alex won't mind either. Definitely don't pat him," he quips with a smirk.

Caleb blushes at Michael's warmth. He hadn't realized how big of a deal that'd sound like, but now that it's been said, and Michael's reacting, yeah. That makes sense. Michael's had kind of a shitty life before Darrow, and it sounds like he had few friends, few people who valued him. And Caleb does. He sees Michael as one of his closest friends here — or maybe one of his closest friends ever.

"I promise I won't pat your boyfriend," he says, grinning for the first time since he'd come into the shop that day.

Michael can't help the way he lights up. If Caleb thought that was warmth before, it's nothing on the way he completely radiates suddenly, beaming away. "Fiancé," he says, helpfully, because Alex isn't just his boyfriend and he turns away to put the tablet back in its home.

Caleb already knows, but damn, it feels good to say it out loud like that.

Caleb beams right back. "Fuck, I knew it!" he declares, and goes in for a hug. He's not nervous about hugging him now, because he knows Michael likes them.

He shrugs, as if asking what else he can say before dragging Caleb in for a tight hug. "Thanks, man," he teases. "I mean, it was a pretty disastrous night, but you can come over and eat dinner with us to get the whole story," he quips, because he has the feeling it'll be something they're talking about for ages.

"Yeah, totally," Caleb says, relaxing a little more. It's exciting, and not just because Michael's excited about it. Caleb's only heard snippets of the events of New Year's Eve. He'd stayed in, and he's glad he did, but that means he's in the dark about a lot of what went on. He wants to know everything.

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