Genderbent

Chapter 1 ~ Morning

  Yugi woke up the next morning with a killer headache. The noise of last night still boomed in his skull. He sat up slowly and noticed a ton of glitter all over his pillow. Anzu and Mai had glitter-bombed him last night onstage and the shower he took seemed to have little to no effect on getting rid of it from his hair. He couldn't help smiling though; it had been a lot of fun.

  Anzu and Mai, of course, led the whole thing. They told jokes, clean and dirty, they danced and sang to music, and somehow Mai kept managing to come back and squeeze Yugi's face into her chest. The crowd loved them. He sang and danced along, even as he stumbled, the girls would giggle and pick him up on it.

  "Next time, though, I wanna actually know what we're doing." Yugi muttered with a smiling, sweaty, glitter-covered face.

  "There'll be a next time?" Anzu asked in disbelief and then hugged him, "Thank you thank you so much!"

  "Well, yeah, I mean, I had fun."

  "Even though you had to parade around like a girl?" Mai asked with a sly smile.

  Yugi shrugged, "I mean, why does it matter? These clothes are actually pretty nice, and acting like a girl is sort of...fun. Even though I still feel like a guy."

  "We'll practice the routine for next time, promise." Anzu said, and smiled fondly, "Thanks again, Yugi."

  "Yuki~" Mai teased.

  He hadn't expected this to be how he spent the summer, but he didn't mind. His cut of the pay sat on his nightstand. The job paid pretty well, and if he could do something fun that pays well over the summer, he was more than happy to do so.

  He suddenly wondered if anyone from his school had gone to the event. His hair was pretty hard to miss. He pitched up his voice when performing and the makeup basically made his face unrecognizable, but it was pretty unethical to think this would trick anybody. At least one person would maybe notice? He tried not to think on it any longer. The night was over. It was time to get some breakfast.

  Yugi tried once more to shake out the glitter in his hair into the bathtub before heading downstairs, hopping two steps at a time. He was in a good mood, aside from the lingering fear. He chalked it up to, hey, he was bullied anyway, what's another reason to add to the list? Who cares anyway? I'm probably freaking out over nothing.

  The smell of pancakes immediately calmed his nerves as he poked around to the kitchen where his grandfather was making breakfast.

  "Hey Grandpa!" Yugi exclaimed happily, sliding onto a seat behind the counter.

  "Goodmorning," Grandpa said and handed Yugi a plate of two golden pancakes and some scrambled eggs. Yugi drowned everything is syrup.

  The phone rang and Yugi hopped up and grabbed it from the wall, "Kame Game Shop, how can I help you?" Yugi said with a mouthful of pancake he quickly swallowed down.

  "Hey, it's Anzu. Are you available later, in the afternoon? We wanna discuss our next show."

  Yugi realized he would also have to keep this a secret from his grandfather. He knew the old man would just assume it's the new teenage fad for boys to dress as girls but he'd rather spare himself from his own embarrassment. However, he was free today, and was excited to plan the next gig and maybe talk to them to get some of his paranoia out of the way.

  "Yeah, I'll be free."

  "Great! We'll meet up at Mai's apartment, okay?"

  "Okay."

  "See you then!"

  "See you."

  Yugi hung up the phone.

  "Who was that?" Grandpa asked.

  "Anzu," Yugi said, sitting back at his meal, "I'm going over to hang out with her."

  "Is it a date?"

  "No Grandpa, I t-told you, we're just friends." He stuffed a forkful of eggs in his mouth. He thought he'd stopped stuttering when he was embarrassed but lately he was being proven wrong.

  "Mhmm," Grandpa chuckled and sat down with his own meal.

  Yugi gulped down the rest of his food and put the dishes in the sink, before saying a thank you and rushing off to his room again.

  "How did you guys figure this job out anyway?" Yugi had asked the two last night on the way home. It wasn't like Anzu and Mai were really even friends at first. In fact, Mai barely hung around for the longest time. What had changed?

  Mai began telling him the elaborate story of their friendship. It boiled down to the fact that they were both low on cash and high in good looks, as Mai summarized. She was the one who got them the gig and convinced Anzu to ask Yugi to fill in for the missing third to their trio.

  "You could've been a boy I suppose," Mai sighed, "But that would make you much more of a toy, I thought you'd have more fun as a performer instead of the one being performed upon. Plus, I think Anzu would've been embarrassed," She winked and Anzu stiffened but focused on the road as she drove.

  Yugi remembered blushing again and he blushed at the thought. It was as if to suggest Anzu had feelings for him, but he assumed she'd just be embarrassed to do that to a friend. Around her, he felt he was trapped in the friendliest of friendzones, so there was no way. He decided not to ponder on it any further.

  He looked in his closet, the outfit sat on the dresser in a plastic bag. He put it on and stood in front of his full-body mirror. He looked a lot different without the makeup, but he still barely recognized himself. He twirled to the side and the skirt flew with the movement of his hips. He did it to the other side and giggled at himself. This was ridiculous, but sort of fun. He hopped up and down with the balls of his feet, lifting up the heels. The skirt floated up and down, and air lifted under and brushed his thighs. He threw up a piece sign, like the poses cute girls always do and then stumbled backward at his own embarrassment.

  He didn't feel like a girl at all, despite the girl that seemed to be looking him back in the mirror. He understood why crossdressing was such a big subculture in Japan now. He slipped the skirt off and the vest, bow tie, and shirt, and put them all back in the bag when the phone rang again. He quickly got dressed in his normal outfit and hopped down the stairs.

  "Yugi, it's Anzu on the phone," Grandpa said, handing it over.

  "Thanks," Yugi said and put the receiver to his ear, "Hey."

  "Hi! Um, I was just wondering, if you could wear the outfit when we come meet up? Or bring it with you, you can change into it in my car."

  "Uh, sure...why?"

  "No real reason...so I'll pick you up, in like, an hour, okay? I mean, if you're okay, I know I said this afternoon but-"

  "Yeah, I'm ready whenever." Yugi said coolly. She seemed stressed out.

  Anzu sighed deeply, "Thanks Yugi. You've been great about this whole situation. I wish I'd just asked instead, though."

  "It's fine, really, see you in a bit then?" He replied honestly.

  "Yeah, see you soon."

  "See you."

  He hung up the phone and turned to his grandfather, "I guess Anzu's coming in a little while to pick me up."

  "Couldn't wait, huh?" Grandpa chuckled, "Alright, good luck!" he winked.

  Yugi rolled his eyes and hopped back up the stairs to his room. He wouldn't be caught dead wearing it in front of his grandpa, but he wasn't against bringing it along and wearing it to Mai's apartment. Now, however, he had an hour to kill.