“Missing dinner with us tonight?” Mike asked from the couch as I was coming back in from the garage with a full plate.
“Yeah, I agreed to do a clothing thing with Molly and Ivy, and I will run out of fuel if I don’t eat before.” I answered while closing the door.
“No worries, it was probably gonna be something lazy anyway.” He said as I went to take a seat at the dinner table. “So, is it like you have no reserves at all?”
“Mmph?”
“You say run out as a hard stop but is it that extreme?” He clarified while I finished chewing, giving me a moment to collect my thoughts too.
“Probably?” I answered uncertainly. “I haven’t done it yet but once I run out of fuel I believe it’s just down to whatever pressure is left in my system. That won’t last for more than seconds or a minute before its lights out, even if I were sitting still my power turbine uses a good bit of steam on its own.”
He grimaced as I continued. “While I won’t die, I really, really don’t like the idea of just being a static object waiting for someone to find and refuel me.” I hesitated a second before I finished. “Its up there with knowing I have an on-off switch.”
“Fuck really?” He startled looking over towards me. “You have a switch?”
“Yep.” I nodded. “If someone had the key and say found me when I was sleeping, I would just remain there unthinking and unable to react. Even if I could be woken, it would take twenty minutes or so for me to be able to respond, which would be way too late.”
“That’s a genuinely terrifying concept, fuck I hadn’t even been thinking of how vulnerable you are when sleeping.” Mike said his game forgotten and a look of horror on his face.
“I would say it keeps me up at night, but…” I trailed off with an uncomfortable smile.
“Fuck, I’m not letting anyone by when you’re sleeping.” He said with a hard expression. “No exceptions.”
“Relax, I don’t want you that paranoid about it.” I said a bit warily, wondering if I should have told him.
“But what if-“ He started.
“Mike, please.” I interrupted. “I agree with being cautious just…”
I sighed.
“I don’t want you changing your lifestyle because of me, I know it makes you happy and I am willing to take a few risks for that.” Then I snorted with a puff of steam. “Nothing has happened in the year and a half we have lived together, and I know a few of your guests have… rather aggressively hit on me before the change but you’re pretty good about picking them.”
He got a sheepish expression. “Sorry about the time with Alie and Josh.”
I laughed while waving him off. “While I can’t say I was overly pleased with a couple of entirely naked and, er, aroused people hitting on me on the way to the toilet, they happily took no for an answer.” I shuddered thinking back. “I’m just glad we have hardwood floors.”
Suddenly a thought struck me about what hadn’t happened in the last few weeks, prompting me to lean forward to fix him with a narrowed gaze. My thoughts were derailed a bit when I noticed how different the squint was from what I remembered, my vision just becomes a slit with none of the blur from before.
“Uh sorry, just noticed squinting is weird looking now.” I admitted when I realized he was looking at me confused, then tried again to question him. “Have you been avoiding having people over? You really shouldn’t stop just because of concerns about me.”
“What if they judge you or do some-“
“I just said I don’t want you changing your lifestyle.” I interrupted, again. “If they are an issue, then you learn they as individuals are issues.”
“Plus, I will be honest and say I haven’t really had any bigotry or anything against me yet. Most people seem too startled or confused to be assholes in passing encounters so far.” I finished with a shrug.
“If you say so.” He said shifting in his seat on the couch.
“Come on,” I grumped. “I’m sure you’ll find or already know someone you’re comfortable to bring by tomorrow night to bump uglies or cuddle.” I said before grabbing a piece of coal to continue my meal.
He blinked at me for a moment. “You’ve been really blasé talking about this stuff, you used to get antsy.”
“Am I?” I said after swallowing, then thought about it for a second. “Eh, I guess I don’t really associate sex itself with anything anymore, it’s just a thing people do for pleasure.”
“Shit, that’s a hell of a way to put it Sam.” He said stretching out the first word while I ate some more.
“I am still gonna object to orgies in the halls, so don’t be getting ideas.” I said while wagging a finger.
“Ha, I wouldn’t think of it.” He said with a laugh, then turned serious. “Do you have plans for if your current relationship gets… stressed by that?”
“Not really worried about that.” I answered with a shrug “We chatted a bit on the subject last night, and I am pretty sure I am not going to have issues with enjoying the experience even if it’s not for sexual reasons.”
“Huh, well that’s more than I expected out of you two so far, to be honest.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, pausing before throwing another piece of coal in my mouth.
“You two are such big dorks I wasn’t even sure if you had kissed yet before yesterday morning.”
“Ok, yeah, I concede to your point,” I said before defending ourselves. “Pretty sure we aren’t as on dire straights with this stuff as you think.”
“Sure, if you say so buddy.” He said with an eye roll but relented so that I could finish my meal.
----------------------------------------
I was watching houses and trees go by while on the first bus of two needed to get to the mall when I got a message from Molly.
Ex4ctPlac3: Hey, on the way
Ex4ctPlac3: Warning, apparently my friend dragged her roommate with
Ex4ctPlac3: Supposed to be friendly but shy and needs stuff for dates
IndustrialCat: Cool
IndustrialCat: No worries
Ex4ctPlac3: Gonna add Ivy to this so I can drive
---- AmethystBread was added to the group chat ---
AmethystBread: Hi Sam!
AmethystBread: I think this is the first time I’ve directly talked to you lmao
IndustrialCat: Hi Ivy
IndustrialCat: Sorry about that
AmethystBread: Don’t be!
I took a second to add labels to both of them to help remember whose who in the future.
AmethystBread (Ivy): I already can’t call people without texting them
AmethystBread (Ivy): Cause you know I can’t think down a phone line
IndustrialCat: Oh hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense
IndustrialCat: If you don’t mind me asking, how is using the phone for you?
AmethystBread (Ivy): Pretty easy for me actually, my cute little mouth tentacles work great for it
IndustrialCat: Rad
IndustrialCat: I’m glad to hear it
IndustrialCat: Give me a bit to get off the bus
.
.
.
IndustrialCat: Back
IndustrialCat: Do not like busses jerking to a stop
IndustrialCat: I don’t want to become a chunk of free-flying metal
AmethystBread (Ivy): Yikes
AmethystBread (Ivy): Is that something you gotta worry about much?
IndustrialCat: Not really
IndustrialCat: I have insanely good reactions but like
IndustrialCat: I don’t want to damage the bus by grabbing a bar too hard lmao
AmethystBread (Ivy): Oh lol
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
IndustrialCat: Next bus is here
I guessed she was probably talking to Molly for a bit as she didn’t send any messages while I was boarding.
IndustrialCat: Where should I meet you two
AmethystBread (Ivy): Weird statue entrance if you know what I mean
IndustrialCat: Yep
IndustrialCat: Should be there in like 10
AmethystBread (Ivy): They are already there
AmethystBread (Ivy): Don’t feel rushed though
AmethystBread (Ivy): Just parking, TTYS
IndustrialCat: See ya
Dang it, I’m locked to the bus schedule, so I hope they aren’t too upset. Hopping out of the bus when it finally arrived, I worked my way through the quiet bus terminal trying to ignore the usual stares, glad the mall would probably not be in full swing for an hour or two yet. Once I was out in the open air again I walked towards the entrance Ivy had indicated, it only took a few minutes for the statue to come into view, it was a semi-abstract thing that appeared to be a person formed out of dishes and fruit. I couldn’t immediately see them, but the plinth was huge and had seats on the other side from here, so I wasn’t too surprised.
I did a quick check of my skirt and shirt to see they hadn’t gotten messed up on the bus, then made my way over. Rounding the plinth, I encountered a grinning Molly facing me while standing in front of the benches. There were a couple of people on the benches in the midst of turning away from Ivy floating in front of them towards me.
“I thought I heard you!” Molly said. “Let me introduce you. This is Reiko and-”
Wait I know that worn coat and light blue hair.
“Anna!” I called cheerfully causing her to startle, Reiko had a suspiciously wide grin on her face from her seat nearest me on the bench.
“Sam?” Anna asked stunned but standing up anyway.
“Wait, you know each other?” Molly said glancing between us, but I was already going to give Anna a hug.
“I wasn’t expecting you!” I said cheerfully to her while she returned it just a bit uncertainly, then to Molly. “She’s my girlfriend!”
“Wait, are you fine with me saying that?” I asked looking up.
“Um yeah...” She said with just a bit of hesitation before a smile started spreading on her face. “Yeah!”
“You don’t say,” Molly said while turning to give Reiko a meaningful stare, prompting laughter from her. “Reeeeiko, did you know?”
“I wasn’t certain, but you talked about a recent changee who had also just gotten a girlfriend.” She answered then shrugged. “Worst case I thought it could be fun for Anna anyway.”
“Hi Reiko!” I said a bit belatedly as I released Anna, who reached for my hand which I of course offered.
“Hey Sam.” She answered with a cheeky grin. “Ready to play dress-up?”
“Sure, but it had actually been my plan for our date this weekend.” I admitted sheepishly.
“Jumped the gun then.” Reiko said with a grimace.
“Don’t worry about it, we can figure something out. Right Anna?” I said looking up at her uncertain expression and gently squeezing her hand to try and reassure her
“Ah, yeah.” She agreed smiling back at me.
Molly clapped her hands together drawing our attention.
“Well, Ivy wants to remind us that time is a wasting and now we have two blank canvases to decorate!” She paused listening. “Ah good point Ivy, I don’t suppose either of you had a specific starting point?” Our sheepish expressions said enough. “Then let’s start at Ivy’s suggestion first…”
-------------
“Ok Sam, I have an important question.” Reiko asked me as we were walking.
“What’s up?”
“For Anna, skirts or pants?” She asked around Anna who looked bewildered.
“Gotta be pants, her butt is too nice to hide.” I declared after a dramatically suitable pause with a nod.
“Eep.” The subject squeaked.
“But I haven’t seen her in a skirt so I won’t rule them out entirely.” I continued as Anna continued making noises.
Reiko made an exaggerated nodding motion with a hand on her chin. “Very well.” She said solemnly. “Any other commands?”
“Oooh, I would like to see her in things I can’t wear!” I suggested. “My joints restrict my options pretty heavily, so I don’t really have experience with a lot of things. You know loose clothing, things with sleeves, coats, and stuff like that!”
“Oh yeah, Ivy likes that idea.” Molly relayed with a grin. “How about you Anna? Anything you want to see on Sam?”
She blushed and looked away.
“Come on Anna, I’ll happily wear anything you suggest.” I said with a squeeze of her hand, then I leaned closer.
“An-y-thing.” I repeated dropping my voice an octave, causing her to whip back to looking at me.
“Something with a midriff, I like her belly button.” She squeaked, before starting to list things in a rush trailing off into a mumble. “Or a sundress, maybe a tennis skirt, leggings are hot too, I liked seeing her shoulders…”
“You have a belly button?” Reiko asked, to which I nodded. “How interesting.”
“Oh yeah Anna,” I said a thought crossing my mind as I gave her a cheeky grin. “Absolute territory with a short skirt?”
She nodded furiously, while Molly rolled with laughter beside me.
“Sounds like we have a plan!” Reiko declared.
----------------------------------------
“Hey Anna, did you already know Ivy and Molly before today?” I asked while glancing through some shorts for some that might be the right size for her.
“I have encountered Molly once or twice at our place, but I can’t say I knew her really, I uh don’t come out for parties much.” She admitted from nearby. “I recognized Ivy from your description the other day, I feel bad you can’t hear her as her voice sounds really neat in my head.” She paused for a second. “They both seem nice.”
“We are nice!” Molly declared emerging from around a display with a bushel of socks in her arms. “Yo Sam, you can’t try em on, but check it out they have like a million varieties of thigh highs.”
“Oh that’s awesome,” I said accepting them as Molly passed them before a thought distracted me. ”Hey wait, you can do these with shorts too right?”
“Hey, Anna you seen any short shorts?” I called excitedly. “The combo would look awesome on you, and we could do a matching thing with me in a skirt!”
There were vague noises of embarrassment from a fleeing Anna.
“Aw, I scared her.” I moaned.
“You’re getting really into this aren’t you?” Molly said with a chuckle. “I can’t say I expected that, I knew you were handling this stuff well but wow.”
“Eh fuck it, there are enough things for people to opinionize on me about me anyway so why not,” I said with a shrug. “Besides I like how I look in cute stuff and did you see Anna’s reaction to the tennis skirt?”
“Totally worth it.” I concluded with crossed arms full of socks and a dramatic nod.
“You relentlessly tease her you know?” Molly commented. “Don’t think I didn’t notice some of your timings for adjusting clothes.”
I got a guilty look and started steaming up.
“I uh um, like having her look at me… and the reactions are c-cute.” I stammered out, then covered my face by burying it in the socks in my arms. “Fuck I must look like an idiot.”
“Ha! It’s fucking adorkable is what it is, that girl can barely get her eyes off you as it is.” Molly said with a laugh. “I ain’t judging just don’t be surprised if she jumps you when you take it too far!”
“Mmm, you think she would?” I asked considering the possibility while looking up.
“Fuck yeah, you could cut the sexual tension with knife.” She said with a grin as I placed the socks with the other stuff I had. “You really like her don’t you?”
I nodded while straightening up, then hesitated for a moment to collect my thoughts before answering.
“Yeah, it sounds odd, but she really makes me feel human in a way.” I said looking away from Molly to the floor, not wanting to meet her eyes. “I have so many things about me that aren’t but her enthusiasm for those differences and seeing me as attractive because of them lets me feel like I’m not just a thing that happens to have a mind.”
“Don’t get me wrong I am surrounded by wonderful people, including you, but it’s different I guess.” I hastily added still looking away uncomfortable, then continued my original thoughts. “It’s like I have these gaps that formed because of the change, but she shows that I can fill them. So, I can’t play games anymore, fuck it I can make and hopefully one day wear cosplay. I don’t even have an organic body and she can love me for it. Fuck now I’m rambling and being weird…”
I shuffled around a bit to stare at the little pile of clothes that I had placed on an empty display area.
“You really think that about me?” Anna’s voice asked quietly nearby, and I looked up startled to see her having been guided back by the shoulders by Reiko. Molly was standing back with a bit of a sad smile while Ivy floated near her shoulder.
I choked up a bit.
“Y-yes.” I said as tears filled my eyes, and I looked at the floor again. “Sorry I h-hope that’s O-ok…”
“Sam…” I heard her start before trailing off, then I heard the sound of her shoes on the hard floor approaching before I was pulled into a hug. With reluctance I looked up at Anna’s face, worried about what I would see.
“Sam, how can you think so highly of an idiot like me? Fuck, I love you Sam, and I’m here for you.” She said as her own tears came down her face. “As long as you need me, I’ll be there for you.”
I sobbed into her shirt for a while, I’m pretty sure I heard Molly threaten the poor shop employee if she dared to interrupt but I was a bit distracted.
Eventually, my sobs faded away, and I felt Anna gently release me.
“How are you doing Sam? Ready to carry on?” She asked softly, and I nodded, she then produced a battered package of issues from a pocket in her coat and offered them. Accepting one I tried to dry off my face, realizing as I did so how weird it felt to not have a runny nose or anything despite all the tears.
“Thanks, Anna… for everything.”
“Anytime.” She said with a smile, then a little hesitantly. “There’s a dress over there I thought might look good on you, do you want to try it on?”
“Of course I do.” I said without a pause returning the smile a little awkwardly. “Lead the way, Anna.”
----------------------------------------
Having already eaten has its advantages, notably that I can spend the whole time Anna is eating nuzzled into her side. The food court was busy with people but most to were too preoccupied to notice Ivy and I, so our group got surprisingly few stares from what I could tell.
“Hey Reiko?” Anna asked considering her noodles a moment.
“Mmm?”
“How did you know to bring me, earlier I mean. I know you were out of earshot too and I didn’t hear Ivy say anything.”
“Ivy did call for me though?” Reiko said with a frown of confusion pausing from taking another bite of her burger.
“I can answer that actually!” Molly said cheerfully, stir-fry ignored for the moment. “Ivy doesn’t just have to speak at everyone like she usually does, even that’s actually her choosing to do include each individual around her consciously.”
Ivy bobbed next to her in confirmation a fry slowly being pulled into her small circular mouth and being torn apart.
“It’s also a two-way path if she wants, she can listen to what people are thinking if it’s something they would want to be heard. It’s how her translation works after all.” Ah, I guess that’s what she’d be doing with the tentacled people. “I know a trick to get her attention too, fortunately, Sam spent just enough time thinking for her to hear the good stuff.”
I steamed up in embarrassment, and Anna dropped her left arm around me at the sound.
“Thank you.” Anna said softly.
“Gonna be honest, I thought it was gonna be a less heartfelt answer to my question than that.” Molly admitted guiltily. “I mostly was just looking to keep the rom-com atmosphere going.”
“Well, you got the romantic part of it at least.” Reiko commented wryly and got a dry chuckle in response.
“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable Sam, I didn’t intend to but that isn’t an excuse.” Molly said after a moment.
I blinked a couple of times surprised.
“Don’t worry about it Molly, I don’t mind at all.” I said softly dismissing her concerns while laying my head back against Anna’s torso and resting my eyes.
There seemed to be a bit of movement in the quiet moment that followed, but I was too engrossed in just being with Anna to worry about it. I felt Anna take her arm back and return to eating, and I enjoyed the sounds and motion that brought to her. I let time drift away and just focused on listening to her breathing and, admittedly accelerated, heartbeat.
Yeah, humans sound wonderful too.
After a while my contemplation was interrupted by someone calling my name, it took a moment to bring my brain back to what was around me.
“Sam, are you ready for another store?” Molly asked again gently with a smile.
“Mmm, sure, yeah.” I mumbled back disjointedly.
“I just need to go wash my hands, then I’ll be back Sam.” Anna said softly.
“Mrmm, ok” I mumbled disappointedly but sat straighter to I wouldn’t fall over, my brain still catching up as my vision resolved itself again while I blinked. Reiko and Molly both had grins and Ivy’s little mouth tentacles were doing gentle circular motions individually, that must take some concentration.
“What time is it?” I asked trying to orientate myself to something.
“Around eight.” Reiko answered after glancing at her phone.
I frowned a bit.
“Already? I didn’t think we had been here that long.” I said a bit bewildered.
Reiko giggled, while Molly answered with a grin. “That’s because you’d achieved nirvana or something judging off your expression.”
Ivy’s phone floated over with a message on the notepad.
Very Cute. Would watch again. :3
I nervously laughed while steaming up. “Sorry if I delayed us.”
“Not at all,” Molly said dismissively. “We had a nice chat about stuff we were watching, and the entertainment we were getting here.”
She gave me a wide grin to indicate the subject, and I looked down at my lap and corrected my skirt with my hands while I steamed, this seemed to prompt some amusement too.
“I’m ready now.” Anna said while arriving, before stopping to kiss me on the forehead. Startling me a bit, but it was wonderful anyway.
I collected our bags together in my left hand and stood up, accepting the hand Anna offered.