Emma's Dorm Room, Empire State University, NYC, Marvel-616. Saturday Morning.

[icecoldfrost]

Since Jack didn't really have anywhere else to stay, they had gotten back to Emma's dorm late last night. Emma had checked to make sure the coast was clear before sneaking him in, since she didn't want to have to deal with signing in a visitor from another universe.

Jack had taken the spare bed, and they'd collapsed into them like two teenagers grateful to be back in the modern era.

That, however, was last night. Now the sun was starting to peek through the windows, and the sounds of people returning from winter break were echoing in the hallway outside their room.

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

The first thing Jack noticed was not the breasts or the hair. It was that he somehow, indefinably, smelled different.

But when he opened his eyes a crack, as if the light might hurt them, he realized about the breasts and the hair soon enough. And, unlike the last time this had happened, he couldn't even try to blame it on magic.

Of course. His only consolation was that it was this weekend and not the next; simultaneous transformations were a bit much to ask of any one body.

He crept out of bed and went to touch Emma on the shoulder. "Fandom's welcoming us back to this time."

[icecoldfrost]

"Mmmm?" Was the muffled response, and Emma tried to nestle down in her pillows farther. "Mmmm-mmmm."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack considered the problem for a minute. He'd seen Emma in the morning enough to know his options for an immediate response were a caffeine infusion, shaking her, or ... something else.

Impulsively, he went with something else and stretched out on the bed next to her, on top of the blankets. "Open your eyes."

[icecoldfrost]

"Jaaaaaaaaack," she whined, rolling over and --

-- huh.

"Well, you're taking better than Karla did when she was a boy." THAT had been an experience. "I don't think I saw you last time you were a girl."

[bitten_notshy]

"It's not going to change back if I throw a fit," Jack said, though he sounded disgusted.

"And you did. But you said my mind was the same so we didn't talk about it much."

He considered it. "Maybe I look different than I did that time."

[icecoldfrost]

"Your mind is the same," she agreed, propping herself up on her elbows to regard him. "Same face, I think, maybe just a bit older. Is that a gray hair?"

[bitten_notshy]

"What? Where?"

Now Jack was going to be combing through a hank of blonde waves looking for the offending hair. Sigh, vanity.

[icecoldfrost]

"Vain," Emma teased, waking up the rest of the way. "Do you know what this means, Miss Priest?"

[bitten_notshy]

Jack made a face at that. "Jackie would be fine, if you must," he suggested.

"And it means ... that even if you get in trouble for smuggling a visitor in, you won't get extra demerits for it being a boy." A beat. "Would it even matter to them that I'm a boy? Or are you going in a totally different direction?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Oh, no one will notice an extra girl on this floor," she said dismissively. "Not that at all."

She pointed one finger at him gleefully. "Shopping. And all the free drinks we could possibly want at one of the campus parties, or we can hit the bars and I'll just zap them to think we're old enough."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack levered himself up on an elbow, thinking about it.

"You honestly want to make me your dress-up doll."

Though a completely frivolous day or two would go a long way toward alleviating the horror show of the last month. Even if Jack had to do it in a bra.

"It's ... not the worst idea we've had lately."

[icecoldfrost]

"I want you in clothing that fits and doesn't leave you looking like a homeless girl, and I am not loaning you underwear," Emma pointed out. "You can wear jeans and a sweater for all I care, but a mini-skirt would not be remiss if we're going out."

...this was totally revenge for the corset, Jack. Emma hoped you understood that.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack went a bit pale at the notion of borrowed underwear. "I'd be fine in my regular things," he grumbled. (It was another advantage of his slight frame -- he simply didn't have much height or breadth to lose.) "And I'd feel naked in a miniskirt."

That was not actually a no.

[icecoldfrost]

"You put on a skirt for the evening, and I'll let you pick my outfit," Emma wheedled. "Come on, we deserve a fun night out, and we won't have to pay for a bit of it if we're two pretty girls."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack sighed a long-suffering sigh. But he knew he owed Emma quite a bit, so he acquiesced. One night in a skirt making conversations with idiots for free Cosmopolitans wasn't such a price to pay.

"Fine," he said. "Though don't blame me if I get so drunk I decide making out with you in public is an excellent idea."

Two pretty girls at a shady bar ... it made sense in his head.

[icecoldfrost]

"We don't have to make conversation with them, we just keep taking the drinks direct from the bartender and don't acknowledge the troglodytes that think buying a girl a drink means they'll get laid." Sorry, Jack, Emma was awake now, but not quite awake enough to differentiate between verbal and non-verbal narrative. She'd need coffee for that.

"Besides, you're not that much of a exhibitionist that you'd grope me in public."

In a coat closet, sure, but not right at the bar...right?

[bitten_notshy]

Jack was reassured by Emma's description of what they'd actually do. He had enough problems -- if one considered them problems, exactly -- with unsuitable people flirting with him in his usual body.

"Probably not," he agreed. "For theater I might, but not unless I knew what reaction I'd get."

From Emma, and from the intended audience.

[icecoldfrost]

"Naughty, Jack," she laughed, falling back on her pillow. "You're a horrible influence, you know."

"Oh, I'm still going to call you Jack, if you don't mind. You're still the same up here--" and she reached out to tap his forehead, "-- and I'll just get confused if you have another name today. If people ask, it's short for Jacqueline or something."

[bitten_notshy]

"That's fine," said Jack, who hadn't been terribly enthused about Jackie to begin with. "And I think you like me being a horrible influence. Anyhow, you have your own wicked effects on me."

He yawned and stretched against the sheets. "We don't need to start shopping anytime soon, do we?"

[icecoldfrost]

"God, no, it's too early," she answered. "I wouldn't even be awake yet if someone hadn't climbed into my bed."

[bitten_notshy]

"It was that, go find coffee, or telepathically scream at you," Jack said, and tried to steal a bit of blanket. "This was the least annoying choice."

He could have just waited, too, but where was the fun in that?

[icecoldfrost]

"You have your own blankets," Emma complained, but scooted over a bit to allow him room and covers. "Ugh, I'd forgotten how crowded two people in a twin bed was."

She hadn't exactly had time for company, with two majors, two minors, and the occasional Fandom Fuck-Up.

[bitten_notshy]

"I'm smaller than you are," Jack said complacently, as he settled in next to her. "Besides. You have to admit the warmth is nice."

He hadn't been much for company these last several months either, not counting when they were staying with Ronan.

[icecoldfrost]

"With that, you just volunteered for pillow-duty," Emma quipped, curling up to tuck herself in next to -- him? her? -- Jack. "I feel like I'm never going to thaw out from Russia. Even my fingers still feel cold."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack snuggled in and reached a hand over, trying to grope for Emma's fingers to hold them. "Poor girl. You were amazing there, you know. Thank you."