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“Huh?” Evil Pomni got up from the floor, finding a reason to pay attention to the game again as Ragatha’s ball flew right towards her. “Oh, check this [BLEEP] out,” she said right before catching the softball in her glove without any effort.
“You’re out, dumb[BLEEP]!” she yelled.
Ragatha threw her cap to the floor and stomped her foot, “[BLOINK] it.”
Jax laughed at her. “Get owned!” he yelled.
Evil Pomni responded immediately, “[BLEEP] yeah, that’s what I’m saying!”
“Ah, she’s cool,” Jax said to himself. Despite being another NPC, Evil Pomni was like a breath of fresh air. The rest of the circus crew were so optimistic, and for what? They’re stuck in a digital nightmare for all of eternity and their only escape is going insane from it. You might as well poke fun at each other, otherwise you’ll lose your mind from all the useless positive reinforcement.
A vote appeared behind him.
“Wait, what’s that?” Jax asked. Zooble voted yes. Ragatha voted yes. Even Kinger voted yes. Pomni and him were the only ones who went against it.
A chime rang, and Jax’s outfit was transformed into a maid’s dress.
“What the heck?!” He screamed, “Who did this???”
A fit of laughter came from the one person who didn’t get a vote..
“YOU!” Jax launched himself at Gangle, who ran around Zooble as she was being chased.
“Jax, you’re up to bat!” Kinger called out.
Jax stammered, “I- I look like this, though!” he managed to spit out.
“But it suits you, doesn’t it?” Zooble teased, “I figured you’d be into this.”
Jax could hardly think. It suits him? That's what... “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I’m just having fun. I forgot you hate fun.”
That bastard. This wasn’t comparable to that– this is a completely different thing. He wasn’t just in a maid dress, it was different. They could’ve chosen any other embarrassing outfit, they could’ve changed anything about him—hell, they made him fucking vegan, who knows how else Caine could alter them? Clearly when he said that he had no control over their minds, he was lying, so they could’ve done anything else. They could’ve made him mute for the rest of the day since they seemed to hate every time he opened his mouth. They could’ve made him as fake and positive as Ragatha! But why this? Why did they have to put him in a dress?
“I DON’T WANT TO WEAR THIS!”
He hadn’t worn a dress since… since…
.
.
.
“I’m not letting you wear that , honey,” his mom said. “I understand you’ve always been more of a tomboy, but you can’t wear pants to a prom! You’re a girl.”
“Well then, I’m just not going!” Jax retorted, crossing his arms as he looked away from his mother.
“There’s no way you’re not going! You’ve never even gone to a prom before and it’s your senior year!” she said, “On top of that, I paid money for you to go there, and I bought this beautiful blue dress for you, and now you’re being ungrateful!” She huffed. “You’re wearing this dress to the prom and that’s final.”
And he did. He wore a blue evening dress and black slip-ons with a black crossbody purse to his prom. "It suits you!" his mom had said, which made him hate it even more. He wanted to bring a backpack, that way he could try and fit a different outfit in there, but no bag big enough to carry a change of clothes was deemed elegant enough for a school event, in Jax’s mom’s opinion. Jax looked at the mirror before he left and didn’t recognize who he saw. Was that really his reflection showing? Was that really him? It made him cringe. This was bad enough, but he was going to go to a school event like this. All of his classmates would be there, all of his friends would be there, and they’d recognize him. His friends would see him like this. They’d see him in a dress, they’d see him without his binder, and they’d know. He couldn’t play it off as some sort of joke, either. With the way his upper chest was exposed, and his mom even made him wear a push-up bra for fucks sake—there’s no way they wouldn’t know.
Jax managed to pass as a boy at this school without anyone but a few teachers knowing. He had switched schools for 11th grade, and since he got a clean slate he decided that he’d try to go stealth. As his mom said, he’s always been more on the masculine side of dressing, and others have confused him for a guy before he even knew he was trans, so it wasn’t too difficult. He’d get to school early and change into a binder in a bathroom stall before anyone had time to notice him, and on days where he was running late (which was more often than not, considering that he was fairly lazy and didn’t care much for school) he would just put on binding tape he’d buy (or steal) from a store and wear a baggy shirt or hoodie over it so his mom wouldn’t notice that his tits were missing.
He told everyone that his name was Jax, and no one questioned it. People assumed he was a boy, so he didn’t even have to correct anyone. And no one knew he was trans, so no one tried to purposely misgender him or make his life hell for no reason. He could be friends with other guys without worrying that it was anything more than friendship or having to prove himself as being equal to them and not just some accessory. People would actually find him funny and wouldn’t laugh at him instead of with him. When people made fun of him for being shitty at certain things, it was actually bearable because there weren't any gender stereotypes behind it—if he was playing basketball and missed the hoop horribly, he wasn’t shitty because he was a girl, he was just naturally shit.
If people knew he was trans, it would change everything. He knows his friends and their less than preferable qualities. He’s heard the ways they objectify and dehumanize women. He’s seen their mistreatment of the few gay kids that go to their school. If they not only found out that Jax wasn’t cis, but was lying about it the whole time, he’d never recover. For the few weeks they have left at this school, they’d bully him relentlessly. He’d lose all of his friends and everyone would see him as some crossdressing freak instead of him. They’d stop using his name and he’d graduate without a single acquaintance.
Sure, his mom didn’t know about any of this, but she was a part of the problem! She’s always been critical of Jax being a “tomboy,” so there’s no way she’d understand, much less support the idea of Jax being a guy. Of course he didn’t tell her about it.
He arrived at the prom in that sparkling blue dress. He didn’t even look for his friends, but he already saw a few people looking at him weird. He sped away to look for a bathroom, but he ended up running into his friend group before he could make it.
“No, see, look! I told you it was Jax, man!”
“No way, is it really you, man? Or should I say girl?” a guy said, his voice barely comprehensible as he was speaking with a mouth full of corn.
He froze. What should he even say? Should he confirm it? Deny it? No, that would be pointless. Should he try to explain?
“It’s, uh–” he could hardly speak, “it’s me, guys.”
“Shit, it really is Jax!” One of the boys exclaimed, laughing.
“What’s all this you’ve got going on now?” another boy asked, waving his hand over his own chest. The rest of them just laughed harder. Jax was mortified.
“Guys, stop it—” he asked, trying to speak over the group’s laughter, “seriously! Stop!”
“Stop what? You’re the one who decided to out themselves as a tranny,” one of the boys said.
“Yo, get over here! Get a look at this!” another boy said, calling some other people over.
Jax couldn’t make out anything they said after that. People circled around him and he couldn’t leave. They were laughing, saying things he couldn’t understand, and he was helpless. All he did was stand there hyperventilating, feeling his face heat up, unable to do anything but take the torment and—and…
.
.
.
“Jax! Bat.” Kinger said, shoving the softball bat in Jax’s face and forcing him to snap back into reality. He took a moment to recollect himself. He wasn’t in high school, he wasn’t at prom, he was 22 years old and in a digital land where no one would ever know his secret. He was supposed to be playing softball. And thanks to Gangle, he was wearing a maid’s dress.
At least it wasn’t blue.
He snatched the bat and walked over to the field, but not before giving Zooble a death glare.
“I’m going to kill you when this is over.”