Chapter Text
The day Fa Mulan realized he was a cute child and often mistaken for a girl was when he was eight years old and his aunts commented on his rather soft looks.
His mother had wanted him to learn how to cook, clean, and sew clothes... take care of the household. His father never once rebuked it. Mulan truly was a soft young man.
*++++++++*
The day started out as any other. Fa Mulan woke up, fed Khan, and went for a ride... something he rarely ever got to do due to his parents' overprotectiveness. He grinned as he urged his horse to run faster.
The only time Mulan felt he was able to breathe and laugh like any other young man in the village.
He slowed his horse to a trot before heading back home. He sighed softly as he leaned forward and patted Khan's neck.
He smiled as he rode through the gates, he froze slightly when he distantly heard his grandmother's voice.
"Fa Mulan! Fa Mulan! You should hurry! We need to make you stunning!"
Stunning? What?
Mulan quickly got off of Khan and brought him to the stables. He sighed heavily as he pressed his forehead on the family's horse before pulling away and gathering himself as he started to walk to where he heard his grandmother calling for him.
He immediately paled as he stared at his mother and flushed when he realized his hanfu was dirty on the hems. His mother looked bemused as she smiled and walked towards him as grabbed his hand. They were roughly the same height.
"Mulan... come you need to take a bath and cleanse your body. We're seeing the matchmaker today."
Mulan blinked once. Twice. Thrice before he stared at his mother and gasped loudly, "But I'm not a female, mother! No man will accept a male wife or a concubine!"
Fa Li smiled gently as she patted her son's hands, "That is why we'll... well, you'll be going as a female, Mulan."
Fa Mulan gaped at his mother as he shook his head, however it was pointless as his mother and grandmother both grabbed his arms and dragged him to the bath.
*++++++++*
After the bath, the makeup, and a light blue hanfu with a red bodice... gifted to him by his aunts who had stopped by. A jade necklace, a cricket behind him... well the cricket was rather... cute. His hair had been put into a bun; he grimaced when he felt the flower comb holding it together. He knew his hair was longer than most males hence why he looked softer and somewhat more feminine.
He was already regretting his life choices. Why did he have to be born as a weak male? Wait... what if he accidently botched the matchmaking counsel? That would work... He grinned and hid it behind the sleeves of his hanfu.
His mother gave him a fan, a ceremonial umbrella, and he was told good luck... He didn't feel like he had any luck as he quickly got behind the other females in line to meet with the matchmaker.
How do girls even walk? Like a dainty flower waiting to bloom...?
*++++++++++*
In the next hour or so... Mulan made trouble... wasn't entirely his fault, truly. The cricket he was given by his grandmother was a little too much of a handful and incredibly helpful in ways he wasn't bold enough to do himself.
First that tiny blue thing almost jumped at the matchmaker before he caught it. Then he stuffed it into his mouth, disgusting... he was never doing that again.
Then, the written ink that didn't dry on his forearm, made it onto the matchmaker's face. He held back a laugh.
Then, that cricket made an appearance again and treated the hot tea like it was a hot spring. He tried to take the cup back...
Then, the matchmaker fell into the hot coal and she caught on fire and finally... well, safe to say, Fa Mulan will bring dishonor to his family.
He can't wait to get out of this makeup, the clothes, and jewelry... he wants to be himself again.
*++++++++*
Upon coming back home, his father had sat with him by the family's pond near the pavilion and before the ancestral hall.
His father had comfort him in ways that made Mulan smile as his father wiped the makeup from his face.
"Do not worry, Mulan. Your name would have been Mulan whether you were a male or female. If you want to take profession in healing or be a housemaker... then do so. We, as your family, will honor whatever you do."
In the distance, he could hear grandmother Fa call out, "He can be a wife, too! Nothing wrong with that!"
Mulan laughed loudly as his father chuckled softly and shook his head.
Yes, Mulan loved his family.