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The birds were chirping, the Sun was rising, and Zhao Yunlan was happily curled up around Shen Wei in bed. All was well, and he was still smug about scoring himself a hot professor-cum-Envoy to bring to bed at night. He ran a hand up Shen Wei's abs-
Wait. Boobs?
"Shen Wei?" Zhao Yunlan asked, propping himself up on an arm to peer at his face.
"Hm?" It was still Shen Wei, muzzy with sleep, but now in girl.
Zhao Yunlan gestured expansively. "You're, uh, you know..."
Shen Wei looked down at the boobs that'd sprouted overnight. "Ah." He shrugged. "It happens sometimes."
"You turn into a girl while you sleep? Is this some common Dixing power you learned?"
Shen Wei sat up as well, woman-shaped and short-haired and pushing buttons in Zhao Yunlan's bisexual brain. "Please calm down," he said in a pleasant contralto.
Zhao Yunlan decided to take the advice and shut up. Okay. Shen Wei said it happened occasionally, so this was not worth being concerned over. Even if it happened before Zhao Yunlan had his brain on in the morning. He'd just breathe deeply and chill the fuck out until his brain was awake again.
Meanwhile, Shen Wei was fishing out his clothes from the pile he'd folded them into the prior night. The undershirt turned into some sort of sports bra as he put it on, and the rest of the clothes magically tailored themselves to fit this slightly shorter, noticeably curvier Shen Wei. The effect, coupled with the short hair and glasses, was somewhere between determined crossdresser and butch lesbian: hot, yes, but in a way not meant to attract men.
"Would you like noodles for breakfast?" Shen Wei asked.
"Sure," Zhao Yunlan said, trying very hard to keep his eyes away from those garter-encircled biceps.
He watched Shen Wei go off to bang up some pots and pans. Maybe there'd even be some unspoiled vegetables for Shen Wei to use while cooking.
As he dressed, Zhao Yunlan thought. He didn't know anything about Dixingian sexual or gender mores, and no-one had been interested in asking the Dixingians. For all he knew, this was all completely normative for Dixingians, and Chu Shuzhi turned into a girl the moment he arrived home.
Angle of approach chosen, he sat down on the couch to observe Shen Wei cook. "So. Is this sort of ... appearance-flipping common for Dixingians?"
Shen Wei paused. "To the best of my knowledge, I'm the only one who does it. It's an — unintended consequence, let's say, of something else."
Okay. Chu Shuzhi didn't exchange his dick for boobs when he went home; good to know. Zhao Yunlan chewed over the phrasing of his next question for a while. "Then ... internally, are you a man or a woman?" he hesitantly asked. It was probably the wrong way to ask, but all the resources he'd had had only dealt with gender and sexuality in humans who had zero Dixing powers related to changing appearance.
Shen Wei turned to frown at him. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"Uh, do you feel more like a man or a woman?"
"Sometimes one, sometimes the other, mostly neither." Shen Wei's lips twitched. "I enjoy both of my corporeal forms. For societal reasons, I mostly go around in my male one. I don't mind being called a man. Is that what you were asking?"
"Yes," Zhao Yunlan said, digesting the remark. "Thank you."
Shen Wei turned back to the noodles. He tossed the sad-looking cabbage into the soup, threw in some spices, and stirred.
"You mentioned some exceptional circumstances that led to this power?" Zhao Yunlan prompted.
Silence. Ah well; it wasn't like he could expect to have all his questions answered.
Shen Wei ladled the noodle soup into bowls. "When I was young, the tradition was to — disguise — girl children as boys from infancy. This dark energy construct would be removed just before male puberty so the girl could be married off." He set the bowls down on the table. "All my relatives died off and I was wandering about on my own, so I went through puberty with the — disguise. This seems to have installed it somewhat permanently as part of me. I did figure out how to access my other form around then, but as the world was even more sexist then than now, I saw no reason to face that full-time."
Zhao Yunlan had been nodding along absentmindedly. He swallowed a mouthful of noodles. "I guess that makes sense." And would explain the lack of other people who did it. "Does Dixing still have the tradition?"
"They don't do it," Shen Wei said. He looked like he was about to say more, but turned to his noodles instead.
They were excellent noodles, especially considering the limitations Shen Wei had labored under when it came to the state of Zhao Yunlan's pantry. Zhao Yunlan was happy to simply dig in.
Shen Wei really was like an onion, with secrets behind secrets. But now Zhao Yunlan had him by his side and could spend much more time unpeeling him. And Shen Wei had already confessed to his greatest secret, so their partnership could continue on unimpeded.
By the time Zhao Yunlan was putting on his coat, he was whistling happily. He led a once more man-shaped Shen Wei to the Jeep and looked forward to introducing the SID to their new consultant.