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oh boy . how had mapicc gotten himself in this situation?
what had gone from a serious meeting between the void ponies had somehow turned into jumper lamely attempting to force all of the team into dresses (minus zam, who was already wearing a dress).
“pleasee?~” jumper begged, looking up at pentar as she tugged on his shirt. pentar was so close to giving in, mapicc could tell just from one look at his face. mapicc considered himself lucky (for now), as jumper had gone straight to trying to convince pentar to wear a dress - mapicc couldn’t blame the kid, they were the one who was most likely easiest to crack and get into a dress.
mapicc knew that his luck would run out as soon as pentar gave in, so he had been spending his time looking at his communicator, hoping that maybe, just maybe, someone would log on.
roshambogames joined the game
and it appears that today was his lucky day.
<Mapicc> rRO
<Mapicc> HEKP ME
<Mapicc> JUMPERWHO IS TRYING TO FORCE US ALL INTO DRESSES
knowing ro, they would come and save him like always. ro was a good person like that.
<roshambogames> L
roshambogames left the game
well fuck.
“yeah i don’t know why you thought that one would work, mape.” bacon snickered. mapicc glared at the shorter, who was currently having his hair styled by zam as he lazily looked through his inventory menu, most likely reorganising it all while he waited. “oh, come on, don’t tell me you’re jealous that zam’s styling my hair and not yours.” he remarked, glancing up at mapicc before going back to sorting his inventory out.
“no, i’m not.” he retorted, crossing his arms and looking away. “why would i care?” he cared a lot, actually. he was incredibly jealous of bacon. zam had never styled his hair before, what about bacon was so special that they’d style his hair?
that wasn’t the only thing that he was jealous over, though. bacon had immediately agreed to wearing a dress, seeing it as just some fun. he didn’t care about what anyone would think, seeing him, a man, wear a dress. he didn’t care about dressing so feminine. he happily let zam get him into an oversized dress, and put on some random heels they found, and he looked so pretty in any type of clothing; mapicc was jealous of that .
bacon was comfortable in his own body, comfortable expressing himself however he wanted without a care in the world about what others felt. mapicc could only wish he had that confidence. the confidence to dress femininely despite the fact he’s a man. sometimes, mapicc wished he was a woman like zam and jumper, because then he’d be allowed to wear a dress without the overwhelming fear of judgement.
“mapicc, you have not once ever asked me to style your hair,” zam spoke up as if she could read his mind, “so don’t give bacon that attitude. he only asked me to do it because he doesn’t know how to do locs.”
mapicc groaned. “i hate when you speak to me like that. you sound like an older sister who’s scolding her younger sis- sibling.” he joked, stumbling over his words slightly.
“mapicc.” mapicc turned to zam. “i literally am your older sister and i will scold you like one.” mapicc bit his lip, having somehow forgotten the two were quite literally siblings. though, something was off about the way zam looked at him. they looked at him as if he had said something that made them question something.
“mapicc!” jumper shouted, running over to him. “ jesus christ,” mapicc thought, “ is it “call mapicc’s name day” today?” he joked to himself before having something collide with the lower half of his body. he looked down, seeing that jumper had begun to cling onto him with absolutely no sign of ever letting go. “get in the dress.” jumper grinned at him with that mischievous smile young teens give people when they want something.
he looked over at where pentar was, now noticing that he no longer stood where he used to be. instead, he now was curled up, with his knees pulled close to his chest, next to jumper’s dress box with a dress lazily tossed onto the ground beside it. zam knelt down next to him, a hand softly rubbing his shoulder as they went through the dresses, presumably trying to find a dress that fit him (mapicc had no idea when zam had gotten over to them, he was convinced that woman could teleport sometimes).
“but…” mapicc said, trying to think of a valid excuse to get him out of wearing a dress. he didn’t even know why he was so against the idea. he thought wearing a dress would be cool, was it just the idea of wearing one in front of others? yeah, that was probably it. “i don’t think i’d suit a dress?” it came out more like a question than a statement. it was a lame excuse anyway, it wouldn’t have worked either way.
“oh come on, mape! it’ll be fun!” jumper was practically begging on her knees at this point, looking up at him with the widest puppy-dog-looking eyes ever. he didn’t doubt them, he knew it was all for fun, yet he still felt something unfamiliar at the thought of him being in a dress. he knew it would make them happy, and he knew he’d only feel guilty if he made them upset, but he just couldn’t bring himself to muster up the courage to put on a dress (the more he thought about it, the more he wondered why he was even making a big deal out of this all).
“jumper, don’t pressure him. if he doesn’t want to, you can’t exactly force the man into a dress.” bacon piped up, walking over to jumper in the heels zam had forced him into as if this was a regular tuesday for him, his dress being a size way too big for him but he seemed not to be bothered. something about what bacon had said made mapicc feel so wrong. was it the thought of him wearing a dress? of course that was it, it had to be.
“hey, listen, how about this,” zam spoke, not even bothering to look away as she brushed all of the dust off of pentar’s dress (with pentar trying their hardest to stay still, they were still incredibly ecstatic that zam managed to find a dress that fit them), “what if we just pop a skirt on you, over your clothes? easy to put on, easy to take off. plus, saves you from having to wear one of mine and jumper’s dresses that are specifically tailored to fit our body types.”
mapicc looked at the ground, why was he so against this idea? he had never tried it before. was the thought of dressing feminine just so unnerving to him, or was it something else? “but... i’m a guy, i don’t wanna wear feminine clothes.” he hesitated (why did he hesitate? why was he so unsure about this all?)
bacon laughed, wrapping an arm around mapicc’s shoulder, “dude, seriously? trust me, wearing a skirt is NOT gonna make you any less of a man than you already are.” something about that sentence felt like a spear to mapicc’s heart, yet he still didn’t know why. “i mean, i thought the same thing, but look at me now. still as manly as ever!” as he spoke, he grabbed his dress, bobbing a curtsy to mapicc.
mapicc laughed, shoving his hands in his pockets, “alright, alright. i’ll try on a skirt. but trust me now, i’m gonna hate this.” some part of him truly believed that, that he would hate this, but as for the rest? he felt.. excited. maybe it was the way jumper lit up.
it took a little while to find a skirt that matched mapicc’s outfit, but once they had picked it out, mapicc knew it was too late to turn back. it’s just a piece of clothing , he told himself, why was he so nervous to put it on?
it was more simple than he thought, really. it was like putting on a pair of trousers without the struggle of making sure each leg was through the right hole. the difficult part was trying to get jumper to not rip his hair out as she put it into small pigtails (imagine having to hear “please, mape! your hair’s long enough for it! it’d look soo cute!” from beside you for 20 minutes straight and you’d have what felt like mapicc considered to be hell)
jumper hastily rushed him to the mirror, practically dragging him there. he was the last one to get changed, so everyone was mainly looking at him. he didn’t want to look in the mirror. he wouldn’t see that same man. it’s just a piece of clothing , he told himself again, over and over, yet he still was nervous.
“damn, mape, you are rocking that skirt.” bacon grinned, giving him a little thumbs up to try and boost his confidence, which didn’t help at all. mapicc didn’t want to see himself in the skirt, though, he pulled himself together and looked away from jumper, looking at his reflection.
except, he didn’t see himself and jumper. he saw two girls. jumper, who was still just as excited as before, and another girl, who was shocked to see him. “woah…” he muttered, taking a small step closer to the mirror. “is.. is this some sort of joke? that- there is no way that’s me.”
zam appeared from one side of the mirror, leaning on mapicc’s shoulder, “yeah. i thought that too when i first looked in a mirror after putting on my first skirt.”
“zam, this doesn’t feel real. that- that doesn’t even look like me. she looks pretty.” mapicc muttered.
“hey, mape! pentar said you’d make a pretty girl!” bacon yelled, teasing pentar, who elbowed him in the side. the two began arguing, but that’s not what mapicc focused on. the words rung in his head. “you’d make a pretty girl.” why did those words make him so happy? why was bacon and pentar’s joke making him so happy?
“mapicc,” zam said, snapping him out of his trance and grabbing him by the shoulders, “who do you see in that mirror?”
mapicc hesitated, looking at the mirror. “...two girls. you, and another girl. a girl who looks.. confused. but.. she’s also happy.”
zam smiled, leaning her arm back on mapicc’s shoulder and now resting her head on it. “and who is that girl, mape?”
“...it’s me, isn’t it?” mapicc spoke, mapicc’s voice soft, soft in the same way zam and jumper’s voice was.
“do you want to be that girl?” zam said. mapicc looked forwards, mapicc’s eyes meeting the girl in the mirror’s eyes.
“i already am that girl, aren’t i?” tears were swelling up in mapicc’s eyes, mapicc’s hand instinctively reaching for zam’s. zam didn’t reply, letting mapicc squeeze her hand as she nodded at mapicc. “oh…” mapicc looked down at mapicc’s void stained hand, glancing at zam, who looked up at mapicc with friendly eyes, eyes that told mapicc that zam was here for mapicc, always.
“jumper,” mapicc called out, making all of the heads in the room turn to face mapicc (mapicc wasn’t afraid of their looks anymore), “i wanna put on a dress.” mapicc grinned, seeing as jumper’s face lit up as she dug through her and zam’s pile of dresses.
zam rubbed mapicc’s hand with her thumb, smiling at mapicc, “we told you that you’d like the skirt.” she snickered, mapicc sending a threatening glare her way.
then, mapicc’s face softened, “yeah.” mapicc spoke, “i guess you did.”
“i guess i did.” zam smiled as mapicc leaned on her, wrapping an arm around the younger demon. “are you my sister now?”
mapicc hadn’t really thought about it yet. i mean, hell, mapicc had only just put two and two together - only because zam held out a hand to mapicc, guiding mapicc out of the eggshell it was trapped in.
“i think we both know the answer to that one, zam.” mapicc said, leaning into zam.
“it’s nice to finally meet you, mapicc.” zam said, watching as jumper pulled out a rose themed dress, turning to face mapicc and zam.
“yeah,” mapicc paused, “it’s nice to meet you too.” she smiled.