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Charles was used to just walking in any room without a thought, trusting anyone who happened to be in said room wouldn't be able to see him anyways. But barging into Niko's room, while the girls were in there, doing god knows what, seems rude, so he knocks.
"Come in!" Niko yells through the door, and Charles steps through.
Niko's sitting on her bed, laptop on her lap, while Crystal is sitting slouched behind Niko's desk, fiddling on her phone. A modern pop song comes out of a small speaker on the desk, to which Crystal is softly humming along.
He plops down on the other side of the bed. "Edwin's locked himself in your room, Crystal, with a wicked amount of books. Says he needs to do research. So I think it's best if I leave him alone for a bit."
"Oof, yeah it sounds like it." Says Crystal.
"You're always welcome to hang out here." Niko reassures him.
"Thanks." He turns his head towards Niko's laptop. "What are you looking at?"
"Oh I'm just online shopping." She turns to him with big eyes. "Do you know what that is?"
"Is it like shopping with a catalog?"
"Ooh, I think so." She nods.
He looks at the pictures Niko is scrolling past. Young women, posing in all kinds of different skirts. Some long, some short, flashy, or more conservative.
He thinks back to the Cat King. He was a knob, of course, but Charles had to admit that he looked kinda... Good, in his skirt. Not like the girly women on the screen, but quite rugged.
An image of his grandparents flashes to his mind, wearing traditional clothes in honour of some special occasion. His grandmother wrapped in a pretty cloth with many pleats, and his grandfather wearing a long jacket, almost looking like a dress. He looked nice.
Those were his maternal grandparents of course, as his dad's side of the family would not be found dead in anything not conforming to traditional British culture. They would also make sure he would be found dead if he did. But he's already dead. And his dad is not here.
"Do you... How do you think I'd look like in a skirt?" He asks, somewhat softly.
Niko's eyes light up, and she gives a light gasp.
Crystal looks up from her phone to look him in the eye. "You would slay that."
Niko jumps up from her bed. "Do you want to try on a skirt of mine?"
He looks down at his fidgeting hands, and suddenly finds himself nervous. He looks up at Crystal, who is looking at him expectantly, but smiling. "Maybe," He sighs. "maybe. But don't laugh!" His tone serious.
"Of course not." Niko skips to her closet. "Oooh, what about this one?" She holds up a short, shimmery, pink skirt.
Charles gulps.
"Maybe try something more in line with his normal fashion choices?" Crystal chuckles.
"Hmmm" Niko runs her finger across her clothes. Then it catches on one, and then another skirt.
She takes them off of the hangers and lays them on the bed. "Maybe one of these? The left one is called a tube skirt, it would be pretty tight around your knees. It's more elegant and neat." The skirt is black and would reach Charles around the mid-calf.
"And this one's more flowy. I always feel like a princess running away from a dragon through a meadow when I wear it." She points to the one on the right, which is dark red, and more ruffly, with layers.
He stares at the two options. "Well, I like to be comfortable. And I have to be able to fight off all sorts of creatures, don't I? Seems like my best bet would be the flowy one."
"Well, try it on!" Niko smiles, and hands him the garment.
Charles looks around the room for a second and there's an awkward look between him and Crystal. He walks through the wall to the bathroom to change there instead.
While he's changing he can hear Niko through the wall telling Crystal "Don't you dare be mean to him, when he shows us. It was probably way more taboo in his time than it is now, we gotta be supportive!"
"Of course! He's my friend! And also, guys in skirts are hot."
He smiles about their exchange and looks down at himself. Oh boy. The skirt is on. He can't look in a mirror anyways, so it's best if he just gets back to the girls so they can tell him how it looks.
Guys in skirts are hot, guys in skirts are hot. You are a guy in a skirt, which must mean you're hot.
A tiny peptalk, to give himself the courage to step through the wall.
"How do I look?"
"Oh!" Niko squeals, and claps her hands together. "You look so good!" She almost sings the last word.
"Damn, Charles, you look cool." Crystal smiles at him, encouragingly.
Charles can feel himself blush a little, and almost becomes shy. He smooths out the skirt. None of that.
He swishes the skirt from left to right with his hands, trying to get a feel for what he's actually wearing. He walks around, kicking out his legs to move the fabric, which feels soft against his skin. "Feels breezy." He nods, still unsure, but trying to hide it. "Does it look too feminine? I can't really... Tell from here."
Niko and Crystal share a look.
"We wanted this to be a surprise for the both of you, but..." Crystal starts.
"We went to Tragic Mick's a couple of days ago, and Mick feels very guilty for selling Esther the parts for that torture machine, even though he was left no choice. So he gave us a bunch of goodies from his store!" The other girl chirps.
Crystal stands up and gets something from Niko's bag in the corner of the room. She holds up a small pouch to Charles, and takes out a shiny purple stone. "This gem turns any mirror into one that ghosts can be reflected in. It's usually used for regular people to communicate with the supernatural, but we figured that you guys would like to see yourselves once in a while."
"Oh." He says, eyebrows raised. He had not expected to see his reflection again, after seeing it in Hell. "Yeah, let's give it a go."
Crystal places the gem at the base of Niko's standing full length mirror. It sticks to it by magic, and a purple shine passes over the surface and then dissipates. And there he is, standing next to Crystal in the reflection.
He's seen his reflection only weeks before, in the mirrored walls of Limbo, but it's still a shock to see himself, after 34 years of never being able to at all. He stares at himself for a while, taking in what he's seeing.
He sees a guy, a 16 year old lad, in a skirt.
And he doesn't look too feminine at all! The dark red skirt colors nicely with his red polo, and the waist of the skirt only accentuates the broad lines of his shoulders. A smile creeps onto his face.
The girls have been quietly waiting and observing Charles, giving him time. But this smile indicates something is happening. "What do you think?" Niko asks.
Charles face breaks into a wide grin. "Oh, but this is brills!"
He twists his hips side to side admiring his reflection from all sides. He even turns around on his toes to make the skirt flare out. "I look fit and I could still kick ass!" And he actually kicks his leg high in the air. "Maybe even more than usual."
"Yay!" Niko claps her hands together again. "You can borrow my clothes anytime. We can even get you your own skirts, if you want!"
Charles has turned his back to the mirror, seeing how he looks from that angle. "A wardrobe upgrade, never thought I'd do that anymore."
He turns his head back to the girls. "Only, maybe... Let's not tell Edwin-"
Just as he says his name, Edwin appears through the wall, as if been summoned.
"What should you not... Tell... Me..." Edwin's voice trails off. His jaw slacked in shock, as he looks his best friend up and down, eyes widening. "Charles, wh-"
Charles turns on his heel to face him. "Oh, uh, nothing." As if Edwin can not see the change to his regular appearance.
Edwin closes his mouth and turns very, very red. Possibly the reddest Charles has ever seen him. Then he promptly turns around and walks back out the room through the wall.
Crystal and Niko give eachother a look and both start chuckling. "I think you have Edwin's approval." Niko says.
Charles badly supresses a smile, and says "I guess I should wear skirts more often, then."