Chapter Text
Amir's brand new shiny gender had become open knowledge much faster after his night of honest talks and playful experimentation than either of his partners had expected. It was hard for him, honestly, to keep it a secret despite the fact that he's the one that said to keep it secret in the first place, first because he genuinely was excited to talk about it and second because everyone was just so… Nice about it, even if they didn't totally understand.
Eleanor was easy— of course she already knew, and of course she was automatically supportive, partially due to a detail that Amir genuinely forgets occasionally; "Amir, dear, of course I'm supportive of you, silly girl. I'm also transgender? And I'm fairly certain I told you that a long time ago."
Right. Right. Luckily she mostly seemed to think it was funny he forgot and not like, upset in any way.
Aoi confirmed that some suspicions of hers were why 'Girls Night' had pretty much always been 'Girls Night (And Amir)'.
"I like.. Didn't know, not super well versed on that kinda stuff, but like.. I could see it, I guess?" She laughed, "And Eleanor agreed with me when I brought it up a couple times, so I figured I was barking up the right tree, y'know?"
Quincy was surprised, but definitely took it well; "Damn, really? Good for you, cuz." He grinned, "Lemme know if you ever wanna try anything on the look front; can't imagine you have the same taste in makeup as your sweethearts unless you're also secretly the sunniest goth I've ever fuckin' seen."
Lettie took the information very casually, as somewhat expected; "¿En serio? Tsk. I owe Aoi then, damn." Wait— they were betting on this somehow?! Was this whole little identity crisis of his as blatantly obvious as his crush on Drifter was?!
Finally, everyone else kind of found out at once, thanks to Velimir's considerable volume; "Heeey, congrats, kid! I always wondered if you were like Flare and Drifter, you three always have fit in like a trio of weird puzzle pieces."
Minerva raised an eyebrow, dragging a box out from the bar's back storage, "What's the congratulating about?"
"Turns out our little hyper squirrel here's a girl!" Vel practically yelled proudly and very bluntly to her, pointing with a thumb to Amir at the bar stool in front of him who was now exceptionally blushing.
"I-I mean it's a bit more complicated than that but yeah.." Amir kicked his feet bashfully off the side of the bar stool, looking away towards a very interesting spot on the ceiling. "I'm more like Flare and Drifter? Uuuuh god this is still so aaaawwwkward.. Pronouns are the same, names' the same I just. Having other people know something's a bit difference is. Nice." He coughed awkwardly.
Minerva rolled her eyes at Velimir, walking up and setting the box in her hands up on the bar. "I wonder sometimes how you ever made it as a spy with that mouth of yours, love.." She affectionately scolded, before turning her attention to Amir, giving him a smile. "Glad to hear Varleon's been a good influence on you, them and our largest local enigma. Seconding my husband's congratulations, Beckett. No need to sound embarrassed! You should be proud of it like they are."
Awww that's. Probably the sweetest thing he'd ever heard Minerva say that wasn't directed at Velimir. "Awww.. Thanks, Min—"
With a weird pop of energy, suddenly Kaya was on the stool directly beside Amir, "What are we talking about?"
Amir yelped in surprise, "Aesejsdhfjdl you think I would have gotten used to that by now—"
Entirely ignoring what he was saying, Kaya continued, staring up at Amir curiously. "Something about you being a girl? Do I owe Aoi that set of holographic On-Lyne Peely Pix?"
"You were betting too?!" Amir said, looking utterly bewildered.
"Yeah, Lettie and me thought it'd take you at least like, two or three more turns around the temporal loop before you realized you had yourself locked in a closet— fuck, and now I'm realizing Eleanor probably cheated!" Kaya frowned, staring out the door behind her towards Eleanor's furniture store.
"Probably, good luck getting her to nullify whatever deal you made, though, Velasco." Arthur chuckled, stepping in just in time to hear Kaya say that. "What were you betting on?"
"How quickly he'd realize he's a girl, apparently?" Velimir blurted out, pointing at Amir. Again, not a secret, but gods, dude.
"Vel." Minerva sighed, turning to Arthur, "That's not him screwing up Amir's new.. Terms, I suppose? Immediately, to be perfectly clear."
Arthur looked very surprised, turning to the now very red-faced Amir. "Really? Well. Congratulations. To confirm; same name as well, or..?"
Amir nodded. "Yup, still Amir Beckett-Varleon, not a thing's changed there.. Thanks, man." He didn't know why he saved Arthur for last, now that he was thinking of it.. If Eleanor was also trans of course he'd be supportive.
After that whole tour around the mall; Amir was feeling quite overwhelmed, positively, thankfully. He only had planned to tell a couple people, but it just kind of.. Fell out of his mouth, every time he bumped into another protoframe, and then Velimir kind of finished his round for him, not that he minded that. He was happy the weight of that temporary secret was off his shoulders and now everyone knew and accepted him, but..
Blargh.
Amir faceplanted into a couch the moment he arrived in the backroom, squishing his face directly into a pillow.
"How'd it go, babe?" Flare said with a smirk, setting down their journal of song lyrics to address Amir. They knew him well enough that a crash like that didn't necessarily mean that it was bad, just that he'd perhaps gone a bit far. "Who'd you tell?"
"Eeeeveryone." Amir somewhat groaned out, muffled by the pillow, gesturing widely with a hand. "Soooo I guess it's like, official official now?" He chuckled, pulling himself back up to sit and correcting his sunglasses. "And it went.." He let out a big, relieved sigh, "Really, really well, actually! Like, really really well?! Everyone was pretty cool about it, though Vel was kinda.. Blunt? And I think Lettie and Kaya owe Aoi and Eleanor for some kind of bet?"
"Damn, fast as ever.." Flare laughed, "Congratulations, sweetheart. Not that I'm that surprised it went well; no one here really fucks up talking about me or our Angel, so.. I'm guessing your little dramatic entrance there was you getting overwhelmed by all the attention?"
Amir nodded. "Yeah. Yeah you could say that, heh.." Usually socializing didn't bother him that bad? But reciting his little spiel about 'hi I'm a girl now but also you don't need to change what you call me really other than these words and even then you can use the old ones too sometimes because it's kinda complicated, I'm not really like, just a girl, either, etc etc etc' was really really embarrassing even if he was proud of it and himself and was admittedly way too wordy and clearly didn't help the definitely not trans and/or genderqueer or whatever folk understand exactly what he was saying— oh. Oops. How long has Flare been staring at you, Amir?
He had been kind of spacing out vaguely into a corner, but he refocused his vision on Flare the moment he noticed they had been oddly quiet for a bit too long.. They're staring him down with that devious smile of theirs, tapping their foot on the pavement to the beat of a song only they could hear, and clearly deep in some kind of thought that amused them..
"Uh.. Liz is quiet!" Mild distraction, give him a moment to adjust, not that he expected that to work..
"Yeah, I tired her out jamming out some ideas for our next song.. She's awake, just staying quiet all curled up around my brain for now getting a little rest.. And she's so proud of you. So am I, of course, and I'm sure Drifter will be, too.. Hells, we're so fucking proud of you, baby.." It was obvious now that Lizzie's state was affecting them a bit, as they spoke in a mildly slurred, dreamy tone. "Hey.. We should celebrate this! Be a big shame if we didn't.. Nothing huge, just.. Something between the four of us? Drifter should be home soon, I think. I can page them to make sure."
That celebration is what's got Flare staring at him like they've got a plan, isn't it. Uh oh. "S-sure! I'd like that, what've you got in mind?" He said with a slightly flustered smile. If Flare's giving him that look and Lizzie's a little on board— Oh god yeah she really is, their pupils are dilating the more and more they get excited about this— then that probably means they're about to proposition something.. Intimate.
Very, very intimate in a way that got the part of him that was a little afraid of his spouses in a very horny way going, if he knew anything about his partners, and he knew a lot.
"I know you're a bit overwhelmed, I don't wanna push that too far and really stress you out, but.. What would you say to us melting that big sweet brain of yours by spoiling the hell out of you?" Flare grinned, resting their head across their hands as the leaned forward towards Amir curiously. "Pop your leash on, drag you upstairs and have some fun with our good girl, in honor of you coming out to everybody? You wanna be our dog tonight, baby?"
Amir's eyes went wide and he squirmed in his seat, glancing away from Flare's very intense stare, "Hhhhhhhhhh— shooooouldn't we wait for Drifter?" Not a no, definitely not a no, if anything was definitely a yes, but,
Flare hummed in thought, "We could, but.. Last time we went at you at the same time with your collar you got a little too flustered, starting off.. So maybe if it's just me and a little bit of Liz, We can warm you up before they get here? You're adorable when you start just kind of vibrating in place all excited but I know that's a lot less fun for you than it is for Us. Especially given you're already a bit overstimulated by people being nice to you."
Never ceases to amaze him just how sweet they are even talking about doing something so. Very, very. Kinky. "Thaaaat is a good point, yeah.. Uh.. Yeah, I'd. I'd really really love that, actually, um— ooooh.. Heh. Heheh.. Oh god you three are gonna go really heavy on the girl thing, aren't you?" His face must be so red right now with how hot his cheeks are getting thinking about his collar and everything Flare had in mind to do with him while he had it on.
Flare burst into a laugh that definitely confirmed Lizzie was currently in the co-pilot seat, as it were. "That's right! Smart girl!" They cooed, already proving Amir's theory right, as they got up and laid a kiss to his forehead. "You stay right here, I'll go grab it. Here, in an effort to start the brain melting.." Flare picked up Lizzie, who immediately went limp in their arms like an exceptionally relaxed cat, very quietly for once giggling away as she was draped like the world's strangest blanket over Amir's shoulders. "Keep our pretty wife company, Liz, I will be right back."
Amir let out a dreamy sigh, holding onto one of Lizzie's little hands as he watched Flare leave their practice corner and head upstairs. Already, their affectionate words and now the weight and warmth of Lizzie on him was a combo of so sweet and soft and comforting and so fucking overwhelming, but that was thankfully equalizing out into the start of the blissful, fuzzy static brainspace that Flare was aiming to place him in..
That being said, though..
"We hope Our lightning pup is reeeeady~" Lizzie purred, tapping her claws across Amir's chest excitedly, "Because Our celebration dessert for Your most special occasion is You, sweetness! And.."
She pulled herself up so that the source of her voice around her pick-ups was right at his ear,
"We do not intend on leaving a. Single." A tap to his chest,
"Bite." To his neck,
"Left." And right onto the tip of his nose.
She giggled as he continued to squirm adorable at the imagery she just put in his head, whether he took it in a sweet, loving way or a gory, cannibalistic way. "We will share with Our Precious Demon, Of Course, buuuuuuut.. We Do Not Think They would leave ANY of You left either, pet!" She twirled a lock of his dark hair around one of her claws and put on a fake sad, pouting tone, "Not even a single crumb will be left of poor, sticky sweet, pretty Amir, so sad.."
Whoooooo boy, he is in so much trouble!!!