The video was grainy. That was something. The first thing Maxine noted was the fact that it started a little after she’d already climbed out the window, so there was no way of figuring out which floor she’d jumped out of, and so, no way for this to come back around to Victoria. That was good. The building the whole scene had been shot from was a bit taller than Victoria’s, and while the angle wasn’t great, the fight she’d had with the thief was all there. Tiny, blurry images, stick figures almost, having a go at each other.

“This is bad, right? Is this bad? I think this is bad,” Max mumbled. Penny didn’t say much, seemed to simply be absorbing the footage. They seemed less concerned than Max, but hey, what else was new? 

“Maybe not,” Victoria said as she opened her laptop. Max scooted up next to her to get a better look, trying not to be too aware of the fact that this was very cozy and domestic. It clearly hadn’t passed Victoria without notice, because she turned her head and her face was now dangerously close to Maxine’s and there was a quick moment of gay panic and--

You literally already kissed her, Penny said with feigned exasperation. Oh, right. Max leaned in a little, scared she was pushing boundaries. Victoria proved those fears unfounded by closing her eyes and leaning into the kiss. See? Penny’s smug happiness fell on deaf ears. 

It took Maxine and Victoria a few seconds to reboot their brains, and both were blushing when the laptop became the center of attention again. A few tabs later, and they were reading comments on message boards, rapidly filling up with speculation, avid discussion, and graphic pornography. The latter wasn’t as interesting, but the former two were fascinating to see. There seemed to be two sides to the argument. A lot of people figured that the thief was a ‘villain’, going by the, well, theft, as well as the wanton destruction. However, he had more than a few supporters because of the religious iconography and the fact that his opponent looked bestial and aggressive by comparison. 

Maxine grumbled a few times. Some of the commenters had started to try and figure out her proportions and were wildly speculating. It was not a great way to be introduced to the wild world of being objectified, and Victoria grumbled along with her. 

“Well,” Victoria said with a huff, “at least nobody knows who you are or what you can do. Although for the most part they seem to agree that you’re a woman.” She glanced at the screen. “And fifty thousand of them think you and the angels should make out.” Maxine scoffed, then kissed Victoria on the cheek. 

“No thanks,” she said. “I think I’m taken.” She froze for a moment. Had that been too forward? She didn’t want to make assumptions. She became very aware of what she looked like, of the fact that she felt gross and large, and how repulsive she might look to Victoria. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until Victoria looked at her and she deflated a little. 

“Yeah,” Victoria said with a smile, unable to read Maxine’s mind and her immeasurable impact on it, and softly held Maxine’s face. “I think you are.” Max could breathe again, relief washing over her in waves.

Aaa, Penny said, and Max was reminded again that they were in there the entire time. She figured now might be as good a time as ever to bring that up to Victoria. 

“I know you’re like, consciously aware,” she began, trying to find the right words, “but Penny and I were talking about this earlier. Does it, yknow, bother you?” Victoria cocked her head, and Max struggled. She didn’t know how to bring it up. Penny offered to take over, which seemed to be as good a time as any. Maxine slid backwards. 

“That I’m here,” Penumbra said. Maxine could see Victoria scanning their eyes, and thought she saw a look of recognition. Could she really identify who was currently fronting just by looking in their eyes? Or was it something else? Regardless, she shook her head.

“No,” Victoria said. “As soon as I met Penny, I knew you were a package deal. I’m not going to demand that Penny ‘turn themself off’ or anything like that. Sure, there’s more getting to know you, but if I got your story right, you two are very… alike, in a lot of ways.” Penny nodded. Maxine agreed. Penny had, after all, developed mostly through their interactions. They were their own person, sure, but Penny without Maxine would have been a different creature entirely. “So yeah,” Victoria said. “No, it doesn’t bother me. If it doesn’t bother either of you, of course.”

“Does that mean that you consider the two of us as dating, too?” Penumbra asked, and Maxine couldn’t help but throw them a playful but small jab with how insecure they sounded. They wanted this, she could tell. They liked Victoria. If she had been more corporeal back there, Maxine would have been eating popcorn. 

“If you are,” Victoria said, “I am.” Penny blushed, and both Maxine and Victoria grinned. “You’re very cute when you’re bashful, Penny.” Blush blush. “You’re usually more collected, so this is a very interesting turnabout.” Other than the shy blushing and the slightly averted gaze, Penny was a lot more composed on the outside than Max would be. Inside, however, Maxine could feel them squirm, and it was wonderful and glorious and she was never going to let them forget it.

“A-anyway… I’m glad it doesn’t bother you. I can’t really, y’know, not exist.” 

“Good,” Victoria said.

Good, Maxine thought. Penny blushed some more, for different reasons this time. For all of their confidence, being appreciated was, well, appreciated. 

“I’m going to go now,” they said slightly awkwardly, but Victoria held up a hand. Maxine was curious to see where this was going to go. Then, Victoria took their face in her hands and planted a very soft kiss on their lips. Max felt the familiar tingle in their abdomen, though it was slightly muted. She enjoyed it, but it was… second-hand. Like… smell, instead of taste. That was okay. This wasn’t her sensation, it was Penny’s. Neither of them, it seemed, minded sharing what they felt. 

“There. Now you can go.” And with that, Maxine slipped back into the driver’s seat while Penumbra returned to being a literal and figurative pile of goo in her brain. Now they knew what it was like, she thought triumphantly. Penny made a noise like someone blowing bubbles in chocolate milk. 

“That was wonderful,” Max said with a grin. Immediately, she too was silenced by a kiss from Victoria, leaving her a stammering mess. “I -- I take it back,” she stuttered. “You’re much too powerful.” Penny agreed. Victoria just bit her lip triumphantly. 

“You two are adorable,” she said, and turned back to her laptop, opening a different tab. “I had a question, by the way. It’s okay if you say no.” Max took a breath and retrieved her brain from wherever Victoria had punted it, then nodded. 

“Go ahead.”

“Well, I was going to see some friends tomorrow afternoon. Around four. I was wondering if you wanted to come with.” Victoria paused for a moment. “Again, there’s no pressure,” she reassured Max, who was sure her trepidation was visible on her face. “I was thinking that, well… you mentioned not having many feminine clothes, and we can’t make Penny do all the work all the time.” 

“True,” Maxine grinned, then looked at the screen. There were a few tabs open, all different stores, brands and styles. “Gosh. I have no idea where to start.” She thought about the day after. “Yeah, I would like to meet your friends. We won’t have too much time to go shopping, though, if I want to be, well, Maxine the entire time.” She didn’t really want to have to turn back before meeting the people Victoria cared about. “I don’t want to meet your friends for the first time twice,” she added, half-joking. Victoria nodded with understanding. 

“Well, I’m not going to fall asleep any time soon, and I figured we could have a look before we go.” She kissed Max on the cheek when she wasn’t expecting it. “I know how scary this stuff can be. You might feel like you don’t belong, so if you know what you want beforehand we can be in and out in no time.”

Max could have kissed her. Max, obviously, kissed her. Victoria was amazing and there was no amount of lifetimes in which she could ever rack up the karma to deserve a woman like that, but somehow, here she was. 

You deserve this, Penny said. However, I too have no idea how you got lucky enough to meet her. She is one of a kind. Pause. I think. I’ve only met like ten people ever. Max suppressed a giggle and kissed Victoria again. And again. And again. Eventually, she did manage to tear her attention away from the beautiful woman and focus on the screen, and realized that she had no idea what kind of clothes she actually wanted to wear. She blinked once. Twice.

“Where do we even start?” she asked. Victoria chuckled. 

“I’ve been here too, Max,” she said with a smile in her voice. “How about we start with some less… gendered options? Sweaters and shirts and stuff like that?” Max nodded and Victoria showed her a whole new world of clothing. She used to think that tops came only in ‘sweater’, ‘dress shirt’ and ‘t-shirt’. Now she was being confronted with the existence of blouses, camisoles, crop tops, tank tops, bralettes and how were there even more of these? Sure, it was overwhelming, but it was overwhelming in the same way that rooting through a large bin of toys was overwhelming. It was full of things she’d never looked at for more than a second because those things had been Not For Her. 

Slowly but surely, she picked things out she liked, pointing things out. If they were in stock in the local store, Victoria made sure to open the items in separate tabs. A style began to form itself in Maxine’s head, and she realized she was leaning somewhere she’d never even imagined, liking the idea of being somewhat punk and butch one day and wearing sundresses the next. She also realized that she quite liked the idea of short hair, as much as the thought of long hair was validating. But the thought of being a cute girl with a side shave in a dress? Holy shit.

You are adorable. Penny said. Ask her to scroll back a bit? I want to see that skirt again. Maxine did as she was asked and made sure to include Penny in the conversation more. They deserved their own chunk of wardrobe, after all. Ironically, Penumbra seemed to lean towards a more femme clothing style, which was going to start confusing people if she ever came out to them as having a… a Penny. Maxine was going to be the butch girl, Penny the feminine genderless entity. And we’re going to be amazing.

They stayed up for another two hours like that, picking out outfits, until Max wanted to look at something and Victoria didn’t move, her head slumped over against the headboard, mouth open and snoring slightly. Carefully, Max closed the laptop with a smile and put it on the floor, before wrapping Victoria in her arms and dozing off too.

Elamimax

God, I remember having to reinvent my wardrobe.

So I've been trying to make writing my official profession, and while I'm also talking to publishers, I'm also relying on all of you through my Patreon. I want to do this for a long time, and I can only do that with your support. I also have a twitter (here).

Here are some recommendations, because us writers gotta look out for each other.

I also want to point people at the discord server of the ever-prolific QuietValerie (right here) where you can find her wonderful stories, like Ryn of Avonside, Falling Over and The Trouble With horns, as well as other authors' works, and talk about them with fellow fans, and even the authors themselves! I heartily recommend joining it and reading their works! 

Thanks again for reading, and I'll see you all in the next one. 

<3