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“I admit, even in Griffin Rocks, you don’t see that every day,” Graham blinked and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Quite,” the young lady by his side said in the same voice – a mix of disbelief and lassitude, as if she had seen too much already despite her young age to be surprised by much more.
Graham gave her a quick, embarrassed look. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her for too long or even try to truly detail her because then it would be like he was checking himself out and… Well, it was the case, wasn’t it? Because the young lady was him. Or at least a version of him. A female version of him. From another dimension. Who had popped out in Doc Green’s lab, alongside alternate of all the Burns family. And their own set of Rescue Bots.
And Graham had a headache already and wanted nothing more than to go hide in his room and under his duvet and try and pretend it was all a weird dream, perhaps induced by another of Mayor Luskey’s culinary discovery or Dani’s latest attempt at tuna surprise.
“Do you want some Tylenol? I always keep a few tabs in my bag,” his alternate, the she-him, offered helpfully. “You look like you need it.”
Graham nodded weakly. “Oh, yes, that’d be… nice. But perhaps you should keep it for yourself…?” he trailed off, remembering he hadn’t caught the she-him’s name. Too busy being in shock at seeing what his family looked like in the other gender – and he was pretty sure he wasn’t the only one to be shocked. Eck, the way Heatwave was twitching, he was having a loooot of trouble dealing with the female-him’s appearance too.
Funny, Graham hadn’t know Cybertronians could come in female form. Or whatever passed for female on Cybertron. Boulder had tried to explain the differences between frames and equipment and pronouns and how no-one on Cybertron was strictly male or strictly female like human beings, but a lot of it had gone over Graham’s head. To be fair, he had been awake for over 26 hours at the time and drunk on coffee, so he hadn’t been at his sharpest either…
The female-him gave him a rueful smile, handing him a tab and a small water bottle she had gotten from the backpack at her feet. “Grace Burns,” she informed him. “And it’s nice to meet you, I guess? You’re… Graham?”
Graham nodded. “Yes, that’s me. And… well, you know my family already, I guess,” he gestured toward the rest of the Burns – all of them. It was a bit chaotic there. Cody’s female variant was being held back by her brother, Dani’s male version, who was deep into an argument with Kade. Cody, Graham’s Cody, was sitting on Boulder’s shoulder and talking excitedly with Boulder and Blades’ female alternates, while Dani and female-Kade were busy trading barbs.
At least Graham hoped it was barbs and not plotting to drive him insane; he wouldn’t push it past either of them (yes, perhaps he was a bit paranoid but… one sister was enough for him, he didn’t want to have two, or three, or four of them looking at him and giggling).
Heatwave was looking ready to blow up, or throw it in with his alternate, who stood her ground and looked to be waiting for an excuse to use her fire hoses already. Boulder was busy talking with both Doc Greens, possibly to try and repair the machine that had created the whole mess and Blades… Uh, Blades was fretting and nervously tapping his fingers together as he looked at… Heatwave’s alternate?
Graham blinked. Surely, he was reading it wrong; it didn’t look like…
“Schoolboy crush,” Grace muttered next to him, and Graham’s hopes were quickly crushed. Damn. At least he wasn’t the only one seeing it – or hallucinating it. Because it’d better be an hallucination, he thought in despair.
All in ones, the only ones in the room who seemed to really take things in stride and very calmly were his Dad… and his Dad’s alternate (should he call her ‘Mom’? Oh God, that was so, so wrong!), who had removed themselves from the room on the pretense to get something to drink for everyone (albeit it probably wasn’t pretense; it was hot, and given how everyone was talking loudly or shouting at each other, they were bound to grow thirsty soon) and both Chase.
Who had apparently started a polite and earnest conversation on laws and wherever there was any difference in their existence and application depending on realities.
“Glad to know someone is taking it well,” the she-him… Grace commented.
Graham gave her a tentative smile. “I… guess it is,” he finally said. “Better than everyone starting a massive fist fight,” he joked, but it felt flat to him.
“Oh, that could still be an option; I don’t think Dan likes your version of Kate. But that’s alright!” she added quickly. “I guess he’s just ruffled he’s not the only alpha male in the family anymore, he’ll get over it soon enough. I just wish he’d let go of Carrie; I’m sure she’d like to go discuss with you little brother,” she waved at her younger sister, who definitely looked annoyed with the way Dan kept her behind him without letting her move.
Graham made a non-committal noise. “Well, for what it’s worth, I’m not too sure I like the way… Kate… is hanging around Dani? Though perhaps, if she has cooking tips to give her…?” he trailed off helpfully.
Grace looked sympathetic. “Sounds like some things don’t change no matter the dimension; Dan isn’t that great in a kitchen either,” she confided. “But Kate is… well, I don’t think you want to know what she puts in her sandwiches.”
“If she’s anything like Kade, I think I have a good idea already,” Graham chuckled, relaxing despite himself. “So… think you’ll be sticking around for long?”
“Hopefully not; can you imagine leaving Rescue Bots without a few Burns to handle the emergencies?” Grace pointed out.
“Fair,” Graham nodded. If their Griffin Rock was anything like their… What did it look like, anyway? Was every inhabitant gender-flipped as well? Or was it just the Burns and their Rescue Bots? Was there a female Mayor Luskey there (terrifying thought, he would NOT think about it again, ever) or a Mr Neederlander instead?
… What about Uncle Woodrow? Was he still an Uncle there, or was there an Aunt Wendy… Wanda… Wilma… whatever it could be.
He itched to ask but… No. No, he wasn’t going to. Graham wanted to keep his sanity intact, after all.
And if the way both Doc Greens looked grim was any clue, he was going to have plenty of time to ask himself traumatizing questions to which he didn’t want any answers…
End