DetectiveRed

Late once again. I'm sorry everyone. My birthday was a couple of days ago and I got animal crossing the same day so I was pretty distracted. On the bright side, I have half of the next chapter re-written so that should be up on time if I'm lucky. For now, I'm going to say the aim is to get a chapter out every 4 days but that isn't fixed.

As always thanks to Trismegistus Shandy for looking at my work. It's incredibly helpful to have someone to catch the mistakes I don't know I'm making. Check out their work on TGstorytime here and Big Closet here.

The idea of calling James was one she was unsure of. It had been four days since the weekend, and the only contact they’d had was the brief exchange of smiles during homeroom. It was better than things could have been; Ben had been ignoring her and James seemed to be helping with that. Bigots tended to be quiet when they didn’t have any backup. She was glad James wasn’t giving him that anymore. Beyond that, though, she was worried about him. It was hard to imagine what he was going through. She’d suffered through dysphoria her whole life, and she had learnt how to cope with the huskiness in her voice and her broad shoulders. James had none of the time to get used to it. He was alone and trying to deal with sudden dysphoria he’d never had before. It was depressing seeing him so empty at school, even if it did mean he wasn’t trying to get a response out of her. Maybe he was getting used to it; he'd seemed to perk up after Tuesday. 

With only a day until the weekend, she figured it was time to call him. Even if it might be awkward, it would probably be good to know how he was holding up. She went to his contact details and hit call, hoping he wouldn’t find it weird.

"Hey, Katie," he answered. That was a good start. No ‘why are you calling me?’ that she would have expected when they used to be friends. His voice was still in that higher register from the weekend. That probably wasn’t good. 

"Hi, James, how are you holding up? Sorry, I haven’t heard from you since the weekend." She hoped that didn’t sound guilt-trippy. 

"I'm fine, aside from the fact that my dick is still gone, I still have boobs, and the fact that I'm having to avoid my friends at school." 

She breathed a sigh of relief. It was funny how his cynicism was such a good indicator of his well being. At least he was surviving. Even if things hadn’t gone back to normal.

"No one’s found out yet or anything?" Important questions had to come first, she thought. If she wanted to help him, it was important to know the crucial information. 

"Not yet. I had some trouble the other day with Mum, though. Like an idiot, I had a shower. I am not making that mistake again." Katie hadn’t even thought about stuff like that. She probably should have, considering all the things she’d had to hide from her mums and friends over the years. Hiding dresses was harder than you’d expect. She was glad her mums were supportive when she did come out.

“Shit, are you okay?” 

“She didn’t find out, but I’m not showering when she’s around again. This body is so annoying, Katie.” He sounded exhausted. “I’m not even going to tell you how the actual shower went. I had my eyes closed the whole time.”  

“I’ve done that before,” she said. She hoped knowing he wasn’t alone would provide some comfort. Even if it was only a little bit. Closing your eyes while showering was a classic for avoiding confronting the body you’ve been cursed with, whether that curse was literal or figurative. 

"How are you, Katie? Any news?" She was surprised to hear him asking her that. Since when did he care about how she was? He didn’t when they were friends before.

“Not much, I don’t think. Mum keeps asking if you’ve done something again. I tried to ask Adam about stuff that might be able to help.” Since the weekend, her Mum had been asking a lot about him. When the kid who has been attacking your child suddenly seems friendly again, it was bound to raise questions. Questions Katie had no clue how to answer.

“Sorry.” He sounded guilty. Had he been replaced with someone else? There was no way James would apologise. 

“It’s fine,” she reassured him. “He recommended working out and some voice exercises. I’ll send you the links.”

“That would be great!” There was something hopeful in his voice. As he had just found out he wouldn’t be stuck like this forever. She hoped he would be right; she hoped she wouldn’t be stuck in a stagnant body of her own forever either.

“How have you been coping at school? Have you been alone?” If he was, it should be fine to invite him to hang out with her and Adam. Adam would understand what he was going through, even if they likely wouldn’t get along at first. He might be one of the only people in the school that could give him some solid advice.  

"Nah, I don’t know why, but Nick has been sitting with me over at some weird tree near the oval. I can’t respond, but he’s been able to keep me company." He sounded almost embarrassed. She didn’t know why.

Maybe she could invite them both over; she had talked to Nick before. He was a sweet dude who was into the whole mystery stuff as well. He'd tell her about this force that kept tripping him or pushing him over. It was neat; she had never been able to figure out why he hung out with James and his friends, though. They tended not to take kindly to people who had hearts, or brains. Getting them both away from those toxic people would be good for them both. Maybe she’d even be able to stop seeing James as one of them.

"You should talk to him. He's more likely to notice you being incredibly quiet than he is to notice a slight pitch change.” Her idea would need to be brought up later. For now, focusing on him not isolating himself was a more important goal.

"See, Katie. That’s probably true and logical. It doesn’t change the fact that the only person I’ve had a proper conversation with since this happened, is you." 

“Really? Talk to Nick tomorrow, please.” Nick was probably freaking out. Based on the few interactions she’d had with him, he wasn’t the best at keeping his train of thought on track. From experience that led to anxiety. 

“I can’t.” His voice suddenly got a lot quieter. 

“You can’t? Why not?” Her concern was growing.

“Promise not to laugh,” he asked quietly. Her worries about him being replaced were starting to resurface.  

“I promise,” she reassured him. She needed to see where this was going.

“He keeps showing up in my nightmares.” That was less ridiculous than he had hinted it to be.

“You’ve had more?”

“Yeah, none as bad as the first one, but they keep happening. You and Nick are always involved somehow.” That was a little bit more embarrassing.

“In what way are we involved?”

“I am not going to say.” He was embarrassed which meant Nick and her were always involved in some way that’s embarrassing or uncomfortable. Now the question is should she ask more questions and embarrass him or leave it be?

“Then why can you still talk to me?” Embarrassing him was too good to pass up. After what he'd put her through, he could survive a little taunting.

“Because you’re a girl.” He paused for a second and she tried to let that sink in. “Oh fuck.”

There was a lot for her to unpack there. First, there was the euphoria of James acknowledging her as a girl. He had been using her name and pronouns but he hadn’t called her a girl before. Second, her being a girl shouldn’t make him less uncomfortable. James was awkward around girls, even on the rare occasion he talked to them. Thirdly, what would be happening in those dreams that he would find prefer with a girl than with a guy? James was straight, as far as she knew. Which meant he would... 

“You’ve been having naughty dreams about us!” she gasped. It was a shocking thought.

“What, no!”

“Then what is it, James?” She demanded answers. This was serious.

“Mostly like romantic stuff. He called me his boyfriend in one of them. Do you know how uncomfortable that is, as a straight guy?” he rambled. She wanted to laugh at him, but she was still in shock about the fact that he was having romance dreams.

“Katie, this is serious.”

“You are having romantic dreams! It’s not that big a deal. My question is, why am I in them?”

“I don’t know! You’re one of the only girls I know I guess?” Katie heard the faint sound of a door being opened and closed. “This is the first time I’ve been relieved to have Mum come home since this started,” he sighed. 

“You have to go?” 

“Yeah, it was nice talking to you, Katie. Please don’t tell anyone about this.” He sounded sincere. She knew what had happened to him, but what had changed his personality? She hoped it wasn’t a transformation effect.

“Talk to Nick tomorrow. Stay safe, James.”

“I will. Goodnight.” 

DetectiveRed

I like dialogue-heavy chapters. I'm not sure if I'm good at maintaining character consistency though. James has been changing pretty quickly but we only got a brief glimpse at what he was like before all this. Maybe I'll have to do a flashback side story or something to show what he was like? Would y'all find that interesting?