Secret Transfic Autumn Anthology / #8
An Ace Breakfast
by Visual_Skirt
A succubus gets sent on a goodwill mission to a sex repulsed asexual's apartment. This is the ensuing chaos.
Mentions of and discussions of porn/sex and some internalized transphobia
Mark stared down at the stove, watching as the eggs sizzled and slowly started to cook. The butter in the pan crackled and popped slightly as the egg whites slowly started to congeal, the occasional drop splashing out of the pan and onto his sweatpants and t-shirt. Just as Mark was starting to get bored with watching his breakfast cook and the October chill began to seep through his socks, a loud poof rang out from behind him. Not even bothering to turn around, having long since gotten used to unannounced magical guests sent by his witchy friends from college, he spoke calmly to the magically appearing guest.
“Um, hi.”
He could feel their eyes looking him up and down, seemingly sizing him up. He felt his skin begin to crawl just at the idea of anyone looking at him like that as the click, click, click of approaching heels began to ring out. “Hello there, sweetie.”
He let out a quiet sigh as he collected his thoughts, rapidly concluding that this must be another attempt to “help” him and preparing himself to say what he knew he had to in a tactful and respectful way. After all, the only thing they had to do was snap to harm or kill him if what he had to say offended them. All demons had natural access to magic, after all. “So, you’re a, um…”
“A succubus, specialist class. She, her, and Tiamat. Or Tia for short if you prefer,” she finished for him as she leaned into the counter and into his space, filling his peripheral vision with her purple skin.
“Yep, that’s what I was afraid of.”
Her hand stroked up and down his right arm as she spoke. “Oh, honey you have nothing to be afraid of. I’m here to make you feel amazing.”
Mark could feel Tia's breath on his neck as her face grew closer and closer and her hand wandered past his arm. Mark threw his right hand onto his neck from the handle of the pan, his too shaggy hair tickling his fingers, praying to whoever would listen that the fairly small silver ring on his middle finger with a piece of black obsidian sitting in the center would at least make Tia stop for long enough for him to be able to say no. As he moved his hand, he muttered a quiet “I’m sorry for this, by the way,” to try and prevent spite-fueled succubus magic.
“Sorry for what?” Tia asked with just a tiny hint of nervousness as she pulled her head back from the sudden rapid movement. Finally bothering to look at what was right in front of her, Tia saw the ring sitting on Mark’s hand. “What, do you want your ring kissed first or something?”
Mark turned his head and stared at her dumbfounded for several seconds until his brain force rebooted and realized that he needed to respond. “It’s an ace ring! You know, asexual! AKA, not necessarily down to fuck!”
“Oh, huh. Well today I learned, I guess.” Tia said with a shrug of her shoulders. “But what’s your ring got to do with me doing my job anyway? I’ve had asexual clients before.”
Anger took over Mark’s face as he spoke. “You very well may have, but I am totally and completely sex repulsed. You will not be putting a single finger past my elbow or, God forbid, under my shirt if you plan on keeping it attached.”
Tia removed her hand as she slowly nodded before speaking. “Oh. Sorry. I, uh, guess I should’ve asked.”
“Yeah, you should have. Go sit at the table and we can talk like reasonable adults as soon as my breakfast is done.”
Tia’s heels clicked as she slightly backed away. “Sorry. Look, I’ll, uh, be right back. If I don’t have to seduce you, I’m going to go and put on some real clothes.”
Mark finally turned around and saw his surprise guest for the first time. Her cute purple-colored face was accented by impossibly black hair and small brown sickle-shaped horns that swept back nearly the length of her head. The light purple color of her skin seemed consistent throughout as he gave a quick glance down her body, seeing what she meant about not having real clothes on. By his estimate, there couldn’t have been more than one square foot of fabric on all of her body. He spoke again as he stared at the floor beside her.
“Look, if you’re gonna be poofing in and out again, let's just restart and not start off on the wrong foot this time, okay?” He gave her his best hopeful look as he finished and waited for her response.
Tia gave him a small ‘thank you’ nod before she spoke. “Thank you, that’s very kind of you.”
Finally looking back up at her again, Mark spoke up. “Before you go, how do you like your eggs and toast?”
“Um, over hard and black, please. I’ll be right back.”
Mark mumbled something that could be interpreted as “okay” if one was generous as the loud poof of her leaving rang out. He turned back to the stove and moved his now finished eggs onto a plate sitting beside the stove. He cracked two more eggs into the pan and grabbed another plate out of the cabinet along with a loaf of bread. His right hand set the plate down as his left opened the tie on the bread bag. He slipped four pieces into the toaster and pushed them down just as a third poof rang out.
He glanced back at Tia, now wearing a plain but pretty white dress that fit her perfectly. “Much better. Definitely far more comfortable than my typical work attire.” He shot her a small friendly smile as the toaster dinged, removing his pieces and putting hers down for another cycle.
He inclined his head towards the table for a split second before returning his attention to the food. “Feel free to sit down at the table and make yourself comfortable. Food will be done in just a second.”
The sound of a chair scraping mingled with the spatula and pans in an unsuccessful attempt to kill the awkward silence. After about another very awkward minute the toast popped up, black as night and ready for Tia. Mark put the toast on her plate and sat it down in front of her, setting his plate down as he sat. Reaching for the butter that had already been sitting on the table, he looked across at Tia who was staring at him. “Is there something wrong with the food?”
She shook her head vigorously as she spoke. “No, no, it looks great, believe me. I just don’t like taking the first bite before the host. It always seemed kinda rude to me.”
“Oh, well if that's all,” he said as he picked up his freshly buttered toast and bit down on it. He motioned for her to eat as he chewed, which she happily did. They ate in silence for a few moments before she spoke up.
Tia broke the silence as she cut a speared a piece of egg with her fork. “So, I have to ask. How come you’re not freaked out by me just appearing in your apartment? Most people scream and run, they don’t just stand there keeping on making breakfast.”
Mark rubbed his neck and looked away as he spoke. “Well, um, you’re kinda not the first succubus I’ve had just appear in my apartment. When I accidentally let it slip that I’m ace at work a few months ago, one of my coworkers tried to ‘help me’ by summoning a succubus for me. She thought it would, um, fix me as she put it. I tried to let her down gently, but she ended up poofing out of here mad as hell.”
“Oh.”
A small grimace crossed his face at the memory. “Yeah.”
Tia’s face continually shifted as she tried to figure out what to say. “Did you report your coworker? That definitely seems like harassment.”
Mark shook his head. “Uh, no, I didn’t. Don’t want to get her fired. She’s a single mom, you know? She really needs the job. I did tell her it didn’t work and not to do it again, though.”
Tia raised an eyebrow at Mark’s behavior. “Did that work?”
He shrugged. “Kinda, in a way. She thinks I’m gay and that’s why it didn’t work. She keeps saying as soon as she figures out how to summon a male succubus she’ll send him to me. Which is somehow even less appealing.”
Tia stifled a laugh at Mark’s reaction at the idea of a male succubus as she took a bite of her toast. She covered her mouth with her hand as she spoke while chewing. “So I take it you’re,” she swallowed and moved her hand before finishing her thought, “you’re only into women then?”
“Uh, yeah. I used to think I was biromantic, but eventually I realized that, like, what I thought was attraction to men really wasn’t. It was more like, I don’t know, the desire for male attention, I guess? If that even makes any sense.”
Tia nodded. “It does.”
Mark shot Tia a small smile as they returned to eating, both finishing their plates soon after. Mark got up and took their plates and started to clean them, along with the rest of the dishes. After about a minute, he spoke as he scrubbed the egg pan. “Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing here? I didn’t summon you, at least not on purpose, and I doubt if Kathryn would try the same exact tactic twice.”
“No, no, she didn’t summon and send me. I guess the simplest explanation would be to say that your soul summoned me?”
Mark swung around to gape at her, sink still running and hand stuck mid scrub. “Excuse me?!”
She continued unabated, although mostly to herself. “Although that is a vast oversimplification of the mechanics of true sight and essences. I’m sorry, I missed what you said.”
“Just what the hell do you mean, ‘my soul summoned’ you?”
She sighed. “I knew it was too much of an oversimplification. Look, Luc is sending a whole bunch of us out on goodwill missions to try and improve our, and Hell’s, image.”
“Gee, I wonder why the literal devil has a PR problem!”
Tia stood up as he finished and spoke in a louder, more defensive voice. “I’ll have you know that Luc is a wonderful demon after you get to know them!”
“I’m sure,” Mark deadpanned. He turned back around and put the dish down as he turned off the sink before turning to lean against the counter and look at Tia. “Look, just go back to the whole soul summoning thing. Why would my soul summon a succubus? Unless you’re going to tell me I’m not actually ace and my very fucking soul is horny, I can’t think of any reason for it to summon you.”
Tia sat back down, her anger at Mark settling and dissipating. “You do realize that succubi can do more than have sex, right? I can literally perform magic, both temporary and permanent. How do you think we always satisfy a summoner without it?”
Mark threw his hands out as he gave her an exaggerated shrug. “I don’t know, centuries of practice? I never exactly had an urge to look up the mechanics of succubus sex!”
“Fair.”
“Look, magic abilities aside, why would my soul summon you? I mean, weren’t you given a briefing on why you were being sent here or something?”
Tia shook her head. “No, I wasn’t. I was just on call and happened to appear in your kitchen. If I had been briefed, I wouldn’t have shown up in my first outfit. Or, more likely, a snuggubus would have been sent instead if anyone had bothered to read the case file.”
Mark gave a few shakes of his head as he took in this new information. “Oh. Well, still, there has to be a way for you to see what my soul is complaining about, right?”
“Oh sure, I can use true sight on you. But I won’t do that without your express permission.”
“Why, does it hurt or something?” Mark asked with a hint of fear entering his voice.
“Oh, no, no, nothing like that. I just always like to have consent for something that personal. After all, true sight bares your very soul and entire history and lays it out in front of me. ‘Consent’ is one of the three most important words in the English language for a reason, ya know.”
A look of disbelief crossed Mark’s face. “Funny, consent didn’t seem that important twenty minutes ago. I am curious, though, what’s the other two?”
Tia grimaced and had the good graces to look sheepish. “Yeah, sorry about that. The other two are ‘context’ and ‘butternut’.”
Mark tilted his head ever so slightly at Tia’s answer. “Okay, I get ‘context’, but ‘butternut’?”
“It’s my safeword.”
“Ah.” Wanting to quickly move on, Mark changed the topic. “Well, you have my, um, permission to use your sight.”
She nodded and held her right hand out in his direction, slowly bringing her fingers in to rest on the palm as she quietly spoke in a language Mark had no hope of recognizing. Her eyes became a fiery orange as she rested her fingers on her palm. A small smile appeared on her face just before she quickly released her fingers and her eyes returned to their normal color.
“Well, well, don’t see a lot of ones like you. You’re a bit of a special breed.”
Mark gave her a single slow nod as he contemplated how to respond to that. “Um, thanks I guess. So why did my soul summon you?”
Tia held up a finger. “Before I answer that, let me ask you a question. How’s your life?”
Mark shrugged. “Fine, I guess. My job is fine, I like this apartment, and I make enough where I don’t need a roommate anymore.”
Tia shot Mark a knowing look. “Okay, let me be more specific. How’s your body feel?”
“Good, I guess. I mean, I still need to lose a few more pounds and my hair is getting a bit shaggy, but it’s a perfectly fine meatsuit.”
Tia nodded at his answer, taking time to consider her next words carefully. “How would you feel if I told you I’m here to give you your dream body?”
Mark laughed at her hesitation to ask such a simple question. “I mean, just let me run out to get and eat a box of donuts before you help me lose those final twenty pounds.”
Tia laughed at his enthusiasm, but nodded her head no as she did so. “I’m talking about a bit of a bigger change than that. Have you ever heard of being transgender?”
Mark stood up straighter and crossed his arms at Tia’s mentioning of that word. “Yeah, I have. My best friend is trans and I’ve looked into it before, but it’s not for me.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Look, I mean have you ever worn a dress?” She looked down at the white dress she was wearing and looked back up at him. “Okay, yeah, ignore that, I’m dumb sometimes. I’ve seen trans women before and I just couldn’t do that. I mean, I’ve tried all kinds of that stuff and it just isn’t me. Dresses, skirts, makeup, and growing my hair out. It just doesn’t feel like me. I’m not feminine, therefore I’m not trans. It’s fine and I’ve made my peace with being stuck as a man.”
Tia sighed at Mark, a frown gracing her face. “Can I ask you just where exactly you’ve seen trans women?”
Mark shifted uncomfortably before answering. “If you’ve really seen my entire history then you already know the answer to that question and I don’t see any good reason for me to say it out loud.”
She gave Mark a small sympathetic nod before she spoke. “Because if I leave here without ever getting consent to perform magic on your body and you don’t admit this aloud, you’ll just rebury it in your mind for years.”
Mark’s face was beet red as he spoke. “My dad’s porn tapes. The sheer amount of trans porn he had was kinda impressive to be honest, especially considering it was all on VHS tape. The man was dedicated in the 90s.”
“You realize that they were just putting on a performance for the camera, right? Like, straight men want hyperfemininity in their trans porn to avoid their brains asking any uncomfortable questions.”
Mark nodded as he started to respond. “Sure, but you need to realize that those tapes were the only trans women I had ever seen until I was twenty and in college when Kara came out. I know it’s terrible to say, but whenever I think of trans women my mind’s first stop is those women from those tapes. Whether I like it or not, my mind associates trans women with porn and hyperfemininity. While I logically know the first part is just untrue and a terrible thought to have, the second part is still kinda holding on. I’ve been to Pride before and nothing I’ve seen has really challenged that. I know it’s a special event and obviously everyone’s dolled up and wearing their best, but still. The connection just refuses to be broken.”
“Despite that though, you still questioned if you were trans for a while?”
“Sure, Kara’s story felt like it hit a little too close to home. She helped me try on a whole bunch of stuff: dresses, skirts, bras, pronouns -- you name it. Did a deep dive into the community online too. That’s part of what scared me off, honestly. I mean, so many people were talking about how they had been basically celibate only to suddenly become a sex machine as soon as they started transitioning. I didn’t want that then and I still don’t want it now. I mean, what’s even the appeal of sex? People getting naked, mashing their food holes and tongues together, and just sweating all over each other…I nearly get sick at the thought! Not to mention how it just makes me think of those women from the tapes and I just feel even worse somehow. I mean, who wants to be touched that way! I mean, if I have to have sex I want as many layers on as possible and nothing going near me except from the neck up. Even that’s questionable!” Mark caught his breath and calmed down before continuing. “Anyway, I, uh, quit questioning not too long after I saw just how common that narrative was and, well, chickened out of any further exploration I guess.”
“You do realize that -- nevermind, it’ll just be easier to show you.” Tia shook her head to clear her thoughts before continuing. “Do I have your consent to use magic on your body to give you your soul’s preferred form?”
Mark considered the offer for a long moment before answering her. “Do you promise to put it back if I don’t like it?”
She nodded as she said “I promise.” Tia held both of her hands out at Mark and began chanting in the same language as before after he nodded. She moved her fingers into her palms on both hands, her eyes glowing the same fiery orange as before. She released her hands with a shout, Mark doubling over in shock as his body suddenly and instantly changed all over.
Standing back up, he examined his body for the changes Tia had implied by saying he was actually transgender. His arms seemed to be the same, give or take slightly less arm hair. He didn’t feel weaker like he expected; he seemed to actually be slightly stronger. His nails remained short and uncolored, just as they had been. His hair was gone from where it had been lying on his neck, a quick run through with his hand confirming its new short length.
“I--” Mark moved his hand from his hair to his throat, his new voice surprising him. It sounded practically the same to him, just a bit smoother and with his natural twang slipping out more. “I thought you said you were going to give me a woman’s body.”
Tia nodded. “I did.”
Mark tried to speak several times before getting his mouth to cooperate. “But I don’t feel any weaker and I sound basically the same.”
Tia shrugged. “So you’re a woman who’s strong and has a deeper voice. What’s wrong with that?”
Mark looked at her in disbelief. “I mean, nothing! It’s just not what I expected when you said you’d be giving me a trans woman’s body. Also, what is with this bra? Damn thing’s so tight I can’t even slouch an inch!”
“That is because it’s not a bra, actually. It’s a binder.”
Mark blanched at that. “A BINDER! Like -- like the one Tyler wears? I thought you said you were making me into a trans woman, not a trans guy!”
Tia held up and counted with her fingers as she spoke. “First of all, I didn't make you into anything. I just gave you your soul’s preferred form. Second, blame your soul for the binder. He keeps going back and forth between ‘Oh damn, top surgery sounds really nice’ and ‘No, I'm a trans woman, so I must have boobs’. So, I went with the option that was least permanent to let you figure it out. Honestly, you should probably deal with that sooner rather than later because it is just absolutely tearing your soul up at the moment.”
“Did you just call my soul him?”
Tia nodded. “Oh yeah, those are his preferred pronouns still.”
Mark lost himself in thought for a moment before starting to walk towards the bathroom. “I’ll deal with that in a minute, I’ve got something more important to check.”
“It’s gone.”
Mark stopped dead in his tracks and turned towards Tia. “Really?”
“Yeah.” A huge smile crossed Mark’s face as Tia’s statement seemed to be proven true by a quick jiggle of his hips. “So, you want that return you insisted upon?”
Mark’s eyes shot open as he tried to remember how to speak. “Uh, ho-how about a week trial?”
Tia smiled and nodded before snapping. “I just put a note with my personal summoning ritual on the counter in case you decide you’d like to change back. I’ll be getting out of here, unless there’s something else.”
“Wait, if you can see my soul’s pronouns, does that mean you can see my, like, real name? I could never figure out one I liked better when I was questioning.”
“Oh yeah. It’s Mark, or Marceline if you’re being formal or talking to your mom.”
Tears pricked at the edge of Mark’s eyes. “Thank you.”
Tia gave him a final nod and smile before she poofed out of the apartment.
One Week Later…
Tia appeared in the summoning circle and scowled at what greeted her vision, a slightly surprised Mark, dressed in jeans and a long sleeve shirt, holding the penknife he had used to draw the drop of blood needed for the summoning. Tia could barely hide the unhappiness in her voice at having to force him back into that terrible old form. “You know, normally I’m happy to have a repeat customer. Means that I did something right. But you? I was hoping I wouldn’t have to see you again for at least another fifty years.”
Mark shrugged his shoulders. “What can I say? I’d hate to make you wait that long.”
Tia sighed before she spoke again. “Look, I’ll put you back in your old body if you insist, but I assure you that you’re making a mistake and I wanted my objection noted.”
Mark shook his hands and head rapidly as he quickly spoke. “Oh, no, no, no. I didn’t summon you for that.”
Tia cocked her head to the side ever so slightly as confusion became obvious on her face. “Why did you summon me then?”
Mark shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly before he spoke. “I was just wondering if I could pick what my scars would look like with you?” A huge grin crossed his face as he finished speaking, with Tia’s face mirroring it almost one to one.
“I’m sure we can work something out.”
Thanks for reading y'all! If you liked this one, maybe consider checking out my scribblehub page. Might be something else you like there too.
— Visual_Skirt
amazing!
Ough. Funky