Chapter Text
Wiladeen’s eyes glossed around the sickeningly pink mall store. The disgustingly feminine clothes decked in millions of bells and whistles were making her want to vomit.
“God Mum, why ‘I gotta buy clothes at this cruddy store?” Numbuh 4 shot her gaze to her mother, who was facing a rack full of shirts with Joey strapped to her chest with a koala themed baby carrier. Mrs.Beetles turned towards her agitated daughter with a smile,
“Oh light’n up, Wiladeen ol’ girl. Yew’ll have to get used to the colour pink soona or layda!”
Mrs.Beetles roughly rustled her daughter’s hair, leaving it a frizzy mess. Wiladeen let out a whiney “Muuum!” as she fixed it back to its rounded bob shape, Joey laughed as Mrs.Beetles turned to another rack, leaving Numbuh 4 to cross her arms and huff in annoyance.
“Ooooh, how's about this one, Chicky?” Mrs.Beetles pulled out a bright pink dress with a layered skirt, puffed sleeves, WAY too many ruffles, and worst of all- a rainbow monkey smack-dab on the chest. The sight was enough to make Wiladeen hurl on the spot.
“Bleugh! No way,” Wiladeen held her stomach as she stuck her finger into her mouth and gagged.
“Okaaaay…” Mrs.Beetles put the dress back on the rack as she pulled out a blue and yellow one,
“What about this one? It’s even got pockets~!”
Numbuh 4 thought it over. She hated it, but she didn't hate it as much as the other one. And surely Mum was just gonna start choosing stuff for her if she kept turning things down.
“Fiiine,” She said flatly with a shrug, looking away as to keep herself from upchucking the sandwich she had earlier. Mrs.Beetles hummed, she threw the dress into her tiny cart (which was also pink) and delved right back into the rack of dresses. Wiladeen walked off in a huff, pulling random clothes off the shelves in a displeased fury.
“Stupid girly store,” She grovelled, “we could have gone anywhere else but NO, we just HAD to go to the girliest store on the planet!”
Wiladeen knew how strange it sounded. Who's ever heard of a girl not wanting to be girly? Despite now being a girl the sight of femininity still didn't fail to irritate her, it couldn't be helped. She's hated pink for 10 good years and she sure wasn't going to change that any time soon.
In the midst of her rampage, she happened to notice a particular piece of clothing. Curious, the girl lifted the clothing piece off of the rack to get a better look. The garment was just a regular pair of denim overalls, with the only relatively “girly” thing about it was a purple flower on its front pocket. There wasn't anything special about it, really. But for some reason, Wiladeen just couldn't bring herself to put it back. It was simply love at first sight. She HAD to them.
Numbuh 4 surveyed the store before spotting her mom at the check out, clearly having done most of the shopping for her. While grunting at the display, she hurriedly scurried over to her mother, just in time before she had to pay. Once there, the girl timidly tugged on her mothers skirt hem, gaining her attention instantly.
“M-Mum?” Time seemed to slow down as Wiladeen’s mother stared at her, she felt a looming uneasiness grow in her stomach as she gulped,
“C-can I, uhm, g-get these?”
The girl was bashful to say the least. Usually she had no problem with making demands, but something was different this time. She really wanted those overalls, so much so that for some reason it was embarrassing to ask her mom to buy them outright. Luckily she wouldn’t need to dwell on that thought for long, because all she’d be met with was her mother’s warm smile and a wave of relief.
“Oh of course yew can, Chicky,” Mrs.Beetles said to her daughter, taking the overalls from her hands and placing them into her cart. Wiladeen couldn’t contain herself from forming a smile on her face, her mother giggled as she reached down to ruffle her daughter’s hair again making her smile disappear instantly.
“Ack, Mum, not again!”
…
“Bleugh…”
Wiladeen stood in the mirror of her parents bedroom wearing a pair of black Mary Jane's and the blue and yellow dress her mother had just bought. She'd already tried on most of the haul, the dress and shoes should have made up the last of it; God be willing. She could barely stand to look at herself, for a multitude of reasons. Wiladeen looked more than awkward in that dress- she looked awkward in all of the hyper girly clothes her mother had picked out. And she felt even worse. In all honesty, that girl she was looking at in the mirror might as well have not even been her. She felt like a fraud, an imitation, nothing but a poser trying to be something they weren’t. Was this what girlhood was supposed to feel like? Because It really wasn’t doing it for her.
“Cruddy dress!” Wiladeen ripped off the dress and yanked the shoes right off, throwing them off to the side of the room in anger as she turned to the mountain of slop that she’d previously worn, “Like I’d eva be caught wearing any of this trash!”
Numbuh 4 crossed her arms and frowned. Looking back into the reflection of the room in the mirror, she remembered a certain piece she forgot to try. The girl whipped her head around eagerly to the pile of shopping bags on her parent's bed. She rummaged through the bags with an ever growing smile and pulled it out, the cream of the crop, her precious overalls. Wiladeen wasted no time as she threw them on, excited to finally get to wear them. But as she turned to the mirror, she stopped.
What if she was getting her hopes up? What if looked as bad on her as the others did? What if she was just wasting her time? She didn’t know for sure, but what she did know was that she didn’t want to wait forever to find out. So without any further thought, Numbuh 4 took a deep breath and sharply faced the mirror. Her jaw dropped instantly.
Wiladeen softly walked up to the mirror, taken aback at the sight of her reflection. It was different, better- like how she should have felt from the beginning. She didn't look like those imposters she'd seen in the mirror before, she just looked like- herself. But now he didn't just look the part, she really felt the part too. Wiladeen gave herself a giddy twirl in place as her lips curled into a smile. She even began to laugh, giving herself a hug as the joy grew greater. After a long while of searching, she had finally found her missing piece.
“Hiya, Dingo, just thought I'd lob in to-”
Mrs.Beatles faintly gasped in awe. Wiladeen shot her head towards her mother, she nearly lost her footing as she halted to a stop. Shoot! She wasn’t ready to show her mom her new look yet. Her eyes were locked on her mom as she choked on her breath in surprise.
“Wow, look at yew!” Mrs.Beetles clasped her hands together as he stepped closer to her daughter, “ Aren’t you adorable in your little overalls!” Mrs.Beatles yanked the girl off the ground and into the tightest hug in the world, pulling her out of the trance she was in before.
“Ack- Mum, don’t yew eva knock?” Wiladeen popped her head out from her mom’s suffocating grasp, her face a ruby-red mess. Mrs.Beatles loosened her grip, she faced her daughter with a smile wider than life.
“Oh I’m sorry, Wila. Looking at yew dressed like that is just getting me all clucky, y’know? I’m just happy for you, ol’ girl!”
Mrs.Beeltes looked as if she was on the verge of tearing up. Wiladeen was at a loss for words, she’s never seen her mom when she’s about to cry before. It made the girl feel a bit off, but also delighted somehow? It was a confusing feeling for sure, but maybe that didn’t matter right now.
Mrs.Beetles knelt down to the floor as she hugged her daughter once again, whispering a soft ‘I love yew,’ to her. Wiladeen stayed silent for a moment, but soon she smiled,
“I love me too, Mum.”