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Berdly sat in the study area of the library, watching the remaining seconds of the day tick down. Noelle was beside him, tapping her pen on the hard cover of their pre-calculus textbook. Every so often she would look between her graphing calculator and her notebook, jotting something down, before glancing back at the computer screen, slowly parsing out the notes. Up until this year, she had usually deferred to him when they did math homework together, however this time it wasn’t like that at all. He couldn’t help but notice she insisted on doing it all on her own. There wasn’t any reason to say anything about it, but it wasn’t quite like her. Glancing at her paper, he could even see that she was doing some stuff in ways he hadn’t really thought of, or would want to do the problems the way she was. It seemed more complicated than just doing them the normal way that Alphys had showed them. Looking at the window, the sun was going down.“Noelle, I think-”“I only have one more problem.”He faltered a moment, then looked at the book they’d been assigned for English. “I just haven’t started on my book report, since usually you’re good at-”Her eyes flicked up from the page to stare at him, past the lenses of his glasses. Her expression was hard to read, like at that moment she was hollow except for the focus on her assignment.“Oh. I thought we were doing that ourselves?”“I just… figured the reason we met at the library was to help each other do the assignment, was all!” He chirruped, eyes looking away from hers.“I just like the quiet.”He faltered. What did that mean exactly? The quiet from it being a library, or… the quiet from him not talking? Something about her tone was off. Something about her was off… in general. She hadn’t been acting normal after the incident with Dess, but Berdly had been trying to make sure their schedules were still on track. At first it’d seemed like she’d gotten over it smoothly, but lately… he’d been questioning if that was true. Sometimes she was abnormally to the point, or she’d wear a neutral expression even if he could tell she was glad something was happening. She didn’t smile as often as she used to… sometimes going days without it happening.He replied evenly, though, patient. “I’m just interested in maintaining my grade is all, I know you’re quite skillful at weaving descriptions of literature of all types.” He complimented. “I couldn’t bear it if my grade slipped below Susan’s, or that Dreemurr.”Finishing the last math problem, Noelle put the paper into her school bad before turning to him on the metal chair.“How would you feel if your grade fell below mine?”It was an open secret that Berdly’s grades were always just a hair above Noelle’s, something that the whole classroom understood well enough. Glancing at his backpack a bit uncomfortably, he tapped his wing-like hands together.“Um, I suppose it’d still be higher than most, but..”Noelle tilted her head to the side, expression still neutral as she observed his reaction closely.“But…? What?”“Well, our grades are like this, because we work together on our assignments, is all!” Berdly voiced his thoughts. “I used to show you how to do the math problems, and you’d show me your notes on the mandatory reading for English!”Noelle blinked at him, pursing her lips a moment, then looking away. He could see her thinking about something, before she looked back to him, asking the bluebird.“But, what if I don’t need your help with math?”Piecing together what she was saying, Berdly quickly gave a sheepish, nervous smile.“N-Noelle, I believe firmly in the idea of meritocratic grading of all stripes! However, by allocating our limited resources cleverly, we preserve the most valuable resource in the known universe, which is time itself. Usually, we ended our study sessions far before this. However, as you can note, the sun is about to set.”Noelle leaned forwards on her seat, the taller doe crossing her arms.“You haven’t done a book report in three years. You don’t remember how to do them, do you?”For a moment he looked offended, then tilted his beak upwards slightly. “Why, of course I’d remember a task as basic and trivial as a book report and shorthand notes session. How could I forget?”“Then why didn’t you do them in all the extra time you had, after you finished your math work? While I was working on mine?”His expression sank, eyes looking up at hers as he felt a cold sensation in his core. Like an ice cube had just been dropped into the pit of his gizzard.“I, er… I… just, expected you to help me, was all.”She quietly began to put away her books and pencils, shutting her notebook. She didn’t comment on the idea that he was taking her efforts for granted. Or the idea that their combined efforts were in some way symbiotic, which was his point of view. Instead she just packed her things into her bag, while Berdly watched, realizing quickly that he wasn’t getting help on this assignment. As she was about to put her third, and last, notepad away, he looked around, seeing everyone else had since gone home, before he asked her.“Please, Noelle. This is due in two days, and I didn’t read the book, since I thought you were going to do this portion the homework for the week. I promise I wasn’t taking you for granted or anything, it’s just how it’s been for so long, you know? I didn’t know something had changed. I can’t take a hit to my grade like that!”The doe watched him lean forwards on his seat, placing his hands together in front of himself in a pleading manner. The look in his eyes was rather desperate, he seemed actually remorseful about the idea that maybe he’d given off the impression he was just taking her for granted. After a second, she let out a long breath, and leaned forwards a bit herself. A bit of her long hair fell from behind her shoulder to dangle from the side of her head, as she told him, in a soft but somewhat chilly tone.“I think I just want to have the highest grade in class for once, Berdly.”The bluebird was left speechless as he looked up at her, opening his beak to find something to say. Then looking at the table, clueless as to how to reply. In a voice that was equally emotionally hurt, and pathetic in a way, he stammered to her.“I… I can throw my math assignment a bit, if you want! I um, we can calculate out what the difference is between ours, and then, uh, you can be ahead by a few percent! That way, I can still have a high grade, just-”“Berdly.” She interrupted him, her eyes like polished ice with how still and cold her expression was. “I’m going to have the highest grade in class. The book report is worth five percent of our grade in English. The only reason you have the highest grade is because of me, and now I can do the math assignments all on my own and get hundreds on all of them. I deserve to have the highest grades. Why do you look like you’re about to cry when your grade will be still in the top ten percent of the class?”Silently, he looked back at her, unable to answer her. Did he look like he was about to cry? He did feel himself getting emotional, but this was his grades they were talking about! Unaware of how flustered he looked, but starting to hear his own voice crack slightly, losing his composure.“Noelle, I… I’m sorry if I made you upset.”“I’m not upset Berdly. I just think that I deserve to have a bit of time in the spotlight for once.”With a loud clatter, Berdly got off his seat, falling to his slender avian knees and clasping his hands in front of himself.“I’ll do anything for your report notes, Noelle! I can’t do a book report on a three-hundred page book on top of all my other homework in two days! What can I do to get you to help me, if only just enough to secure my future with an academy of enlightenment in the upper echelons of education!”It took every ounce of willpower for Noelle not to roll her eyes in that moment, but… a pang of something she hadn’t felt before went through her, watching him act like this. She hadn’t really ever felt that way before, but something about it felt… nice, in a way? It felt like she had something that nobody else did. Maybe this was how Berdly felt about his own grades? If so, she should have started doing all her own assignments sooner… even if it took much longer, it came with this odd sense of satisfaction. One that actually made her smile a little. The bluebird saw her smile and couldn’t help but feel confused. It was sort of like the smile he was used to, but in this context… and the way her eyes were still coldly observing him was making him feel… off.“Okay, fine.” She said almost lightheartedly, crossing her arms as she stood up. “Just come by my place tomorrow and you can use MOST of my notes. Okay? But I need you to help me do a few chores. I think that’d make us even.”Berdly felt a bit debased by the idea that he was doing her household chores. However, he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Swallowing his pride, he nodded.“Of course, a few chores are hardly a challenge.” He stood up, brushing off his knees, then crossing his own arms, avoiding her gaze.Turning heel, Noelle walked off with a spring to her step, pleased with herself as she exited the library, leaving Berdly to lock up with his spare building key. Leaning on the table again, he bowed his head. No more free rides, he had to do all of his assignments himself… or sacrifice a bunch of time doing stuff for Noelle. Why did it have to be him? She’d changed, since Dess had gone missing… in a way that felt more cynical, colder. This was something else. Still very frigid in her demeanor, but it had something more to it. Berdly just couldn’t figure out what it exactly it was Noelle was getting out of this. She could do all her own chores… couldn’t she?

Berdly stood in front of Noelle’s mansion the next day. Ignoring the apprehension welling in the pit of his gizzard, he unlatched the gate, having to put a large amount of his weight into the large iron barrier to get it to swing open on its well-oiled hinges, before gripping it tight to pull it backwards, stepping aside as he watched it latch. Noelle had clearly left it unlocked for him. As he walked forwards on the path, he could see the small birdhouse that actually was a key drop. As he suspected, the key was set inside, invisible from the gate itself, and much too far to reasonably get at from the gate even with a ten meter long hook, as it’d also require reaching fully around the trunk of the tree, blindly. He doubled back to the gate, locking it as he knew she’d instructed, before returning the key to its resting place.Looking up at her house, Berdly swallowed the lump in his throat. The Holiday estate was a large one to be certain, and the house atop the hill was nothing short of gigantic. It sat mostly empty these days. Mister Holiday was off on frequent medical visits, and Mrs Holiday had begun to immerse herself in work to the point where even Noelle hardly saw her. That wasn’t a topic that his friend was particularly open about, but was easily inferred by the fact that nobody ever saw the woman outside of Town Hall, and Noelle did her utmost to avoid the topic in conversation.His avian feet clicking on the cobble path up to the house, Berdly found his way up to the enormous double doors, looking up at them, then down at the large iron knocker on the door handle. He hadn’t been there since before Dess had disappeared, and it looked just the same as it had before… almost to an eerie degree. Had anything even moved? Gripping the handle, he gave three heavy thuds of the metal against the wooden stop, and waited.Noelle answered about thirty seconds later, wearing a maroon turtleneck that was oversized on purpose, with what seemed like a pair of track shorts that barely peaked out from under the lower hem of the sweater. Exchanging a smile with him, she motioned him inside, not exchanging any words as Berdly stepped into the foyer. His initial observation that everything looked uncannily like it had just before Dess had gone missing turned out to be correct. The stands, the statues, the art on the walls, and even the tapestries that used to be changed once per season, hadn’t budged an inch from where they sat. The tiled marble floor was clean, but… the fact that nothing had been changed out at all said something, to him.Noelle walked past him, her cloven feet clad in socks meant to give her proper grip on the tiles, before she turned around, hair shimmering as she looked back at him, folding her arms across her middle.“Ready to do some chores?”He sighed, seeming a bit subdued about the whole thing. “Well, given I have no choice for the sake of my grades, I guess?”“That’s the spirit!” She giggled in a way that felt deaf to his current emotional outlook.She began to walk up the stairs directly ahead, able to athletically prance right up them as if on winged hooves. Berdly, despite being an avian, did not particularly like stairs or flying, even though he technically could if he so desired. It was just that it was so exhausting that one had to have a very good reason to, or otherwise be in such good shape it wasn’t much of a bother. For the rest of the birds around, flying was great recreational exercise, but one had to be prepared to be tired and sweaty by the time they reached their destination, and this was no different. He slowly walked upstairs, joining her about half a minute later on the second floor. Another, smaller staircase awaited them if they wanted to go up another level, but that was mostly empty guest bedrooms, storage space, and the occassional room dedicated to dehumidifiers and air conditioning units.Noelle turned heel and pranced away into the hallway off the left of the main foyer, and he was greeted with the familiar sight of the rows of thick doors, labeled with names over them. Most of them were of Holidays that didn’t live there anymore and only visited on special occassions. Noelle’s stood at the further end, directly next to the suite that capped off the end of the hallway. The suite belonging to her missing sister, Dess. Stepping onto the hallway’s plush carpet, he did his best to ignore the name engraved overtop the nearby doorway as Noelle walked into her own room.Her room wasn’t quite what Berdly had been expecting from someone as usually organized as Noelle. Stacks of books littered the area, covering every topic from cold case murder mysteries to magical subjects like divination. The general theme of it all was simple enough though; trying to find something buried in the unknown. Searching for something lost. Just looking around the space, Berdly felt bad. Her usual expansive wardrobe was neatly folded, but nonetheless crammed into her dresser, the drawers clearly up to the brim trying to contain all the fabric.Adding to the sense of organized disorder was the huge amount of caffeine products laying around her large desk. A recycle bin full to the brim with cans of brand-name coffee, and she’d even managed to fit in a coffee maker onto the table against the wall beside the desk too, with a pot of stale brew, only a quarter of the way full, still remaining. Several notebooks and other things were all open on her desk, brimming with flowcharts and arrows pointing every which way, before she walked over to start shutting them all, shoving them onto the shelves that rested atop the study desk, then pulling the covers down over the shelf.As she did that, he took in the rest of the room. A dirty clothes hamper that was full to say the least, though only with her usual schoolwear and not much for athleticwear. He knew this semester she’d quit sports entirely, and last semester had only just barely been participating, but that made sense. She at least still went on runs, he knew. He recalled her bed used to be a large queen-sized, but she’d since downgraded it to a slightly longer than normal twin bed, given her height, and maybe so it took up less space in the room. Otherwise there was just a large amount of general clutter. Pages of notebooks, what seemed like used ‘AAA’ batteries, what looked like a gray plastic bag full of more cans of coffee that was tied shut, and plenty of stray pencil shavings.He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t at least a little concerned for his friend, but he wasn’t about to say anything to her face. It was true that Noelle was usually a good sport about these kinds of things, but with how she’d been lately… maybe she didn’t need any further commentary on her life, at the moment.Finishing up putting things away at her desk, she stood up and turned to him, motioning at her dresser.“So, first thing is first, I need you to take the clothes I don’t wear anymore upstairs to storage room 23. Then, my dirty clothes basket down to the basement so I can wash them later. Then come back here once you’re done.”He visibly deflated as he heard these requests. This was outright humiliating in how he was all but being her maid… however by the looks of things around the place, her mother had neglected to purchase the services of one around the house itself, leaving it mostly up to Noelle herself to spend the occassional weekend in cleaning up the manor-home. He swallowed his pride, then walked up to her dresser, asking her.“So… just, all of it?”“All of it.”“Even your-”“Yes.” She answered him in a manner that sounded patient, but she was audibly putting effort into being so.Sighing deeply, he opened the top drawer, full of what was very certainly old clothes. Everything from socks with holes popped through the heel-hoof due to simple wear, to under-clothes that obviously wouldn’t fit her anymore and hadn’t fit for years now. Usually he didn’t really feel comfortable handling women’s laundry like this, but most of it was from whene Noelle was much younger, so he felt fine taking an armful of the folded material and dropping it into the large box beside him, only making sure it was neat insofar that the garments stayed folded. After a few armfuls, he weighed it with his arms to assure it was still manageable, before taping the lid down, and moving on to the next drawer.Most of the next drawer was topwear of varying types. Blouses, tank-tops, and more. As he began to fill another box, he could hear her typing away at her own computer on the side table, causing him to glance over. Open on her desktop was a typical word processor, looking at her notes, and then… what looked like one of Berdly’s old book reports? His name was on the top of the document...“Noelle… I don’t mean to pry at your business, but-”“I’m typing your paper while you do that.”Blinking at this revalation, he cleared his throat, stopping what he was doing. “That’s not necessary, I’m perfectly capable of typing my own-”“No you’re not.” She said, not even taking her eyes off the screen, fingers still tapping away.He winced at that, feeling like he had just been hit directly in the stomach.“I don’t think that your Mom would want you to-”Before Berdly could properly react, Noelle swung around in her seat and stood up, the doe towering over him as she took one long step in towards him, eyes locking on to his. Instinctively he shrank back, holding up his hands as he did so.“I haven’t seen my mother in a month, except for her to walk in the front door, walk upstairs, and go to bed! Unless you can magically make her stop working herself to the bone, you have as good a chance of telling her about this as I would, if I even wanted to.”He swallowed loudly, looking directly up into her face. It’d gone cold again, the small smile from when she’d been typing vanished. The neutral, steely expression that hid her actual emotions was all he could see. Eyes as still and laser-focused as they’d been in the library when she’d proposed her homework ultimatum.“S-sorry. Understood.”She turned and sat back down again, leaving him reeling from her sudden mood swing. He didn’t like how quickly that had turned on its head, and worse, now she was just typing out his assignment for him against his wishes. Should he tell Alphys? Probably not, that’d likely not only make Noelle even more upset with him, but also get him in trouble, too. Quietly, he resumed emptying out the dresser.As the minutes carried on, box after box filling, she sighed slowly, regret spreading across her face. “I’m sorry Berdly… I didn’t mean to yell at you. I just don’t like talking about my Mom right now.”“I won’t bring it up again.”Eventually he began hauling the boxes upstairs, the dresser fully emptied. It wasn’t very tiring so much as it was tedious, having to take six whole trips, before he got to the easy part of what she’d assigned him so far. As he put the boxes into the storage room, he could see many old pictures of Noelle’s parents at varying stages of their lives, as well as a few portraits of what looked like Rudy and Asgore at several locations on vacation, both men wearing stylish summer shirts, always matching.Finishing that up, he took her dirty clothes basket downstairs to the first floor, grumbling as he did so. All of them smelled of sweat from her runs, and even though as an avian he had a species-typical olfactory sense, they still struck him as stinking more than could be expected of just wearing them once. Did she wear one set of clothes to work out in per week, just changing into the same dirty set until they became like this? That was the only way he could assume these had gotten so eye-watering. Once he made it to the laundry room, he dumped the clothes onto the floor beside the washer. A part of him wished to leave the basket there as it still stunk, but he dutifully returned upstairs, setting the basket where it had been.“Okay, your sportswear has been placed in the aforementioned garments cleansing room.” He said, sitting down in the spare chair at the table.“Don’t get too comfortable yet, I’m only halfway done. You use all the big multisyllable words, so I have to keep adding stuff to the word processor dictionary…”“It would be easier if I just typed it…”“Not with that attitude.” She sassed him back playfully, smirking mischeviously at him.He knew better than to test her patience again, so he just avoided her gaze. “Was there anything else you wanted me to do?”“Yuuuup!” She chimed in a sing-song note, turning to him, eyes glittering with a sense of… was it jest? She wasn’t taking this all too seriously, even though Berdly wasn’t having all that great of a time. “I need you to pick up all the trash in the room and either recycle it, or toss it into the wastebin near the front gate. Oh, and I need you to tell me your student code!”“You know we aren’t supposed to give our student code out to anybody, Noelle…”“Well, you know that when we type out and print our papers, since she can’t see our handwriting, Alphys asks us to put our student code on it. So I have to know it.”Conflicted, he looked down at the table, then at the computer she was typing away on, feeling her waiting expectantly for him to turn it over to her. To divulge what was easily the number one thing that a student was not supposed to tell any other student, ever, otherwise it’d be extremely easy to impersonate one another. Sighing deeply, he realized he’d tank five percent of his grade with no recourse, if he didn’t tell her, so… he said it just loud enough for her to hear. He didn’t know why, it wasn’t like anybody else was there, but it felt wrong of him to be saying it within earshot of another person.“Great!” She said, quickly punching it in with the numpad at the top of the page, then continuing to type. “Tell me once you’re done with the garbage and recycling, I have just one more thing after that.”Getting up, he quickly gathered all the cans in the room into the waste-basket and walked downstairs to the kitchen, the many stainless steel, large appliances around the place shimmering as he hit the lights. Walking past everything, he got the garbage in there too, and recycling, before taking it all to the bins outside. Once done, he returned to the bedroom and got any further garbage, and also sending that outside. By then Noelle was putting his name at the bottom of the four-page report, humming to herself.“Okay, let’s just get this last thing over with please.” He sighed, not even bothering with a long-winded declaration or his usual grandiose, over-decorated diction. The bird just wanted this to be over with.He heard the nearby printer whirring to life as she printed out the book report. She looked to him once more, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap in a way that reminded Berdly of her mother, with how collected she seemed. The difference being her completely unserious expression, a smile still playing at the corners of her mouth.“For the last chore, I need you to give me permission to do your math homework too.”At last he just couldn’t take it anymore and groused, loudly. “Why?!”The doe let out a lighthearted giggle at him, waving a hand. “I just wanna help a friend out is all!”“Why? Why, Noelle? I don’t understand, where is all this coming from? At first you made it seem like, or at least you felt like, I was taking advantage of you by relying on you for our English class book reports! But now you want to not just let me borrow your notes, not just type my paper out for me with even my student code on it, but now you want to do my math homework too?! I thought you felt like I was taking you for granted, but now it’s like you feel the complete opposite! I don’t understand what’s going on with you!”Her expression lost energy, tilting her head to the side, as her eyebrows pulled together. Curiosity and a helping of disappointment on her face. Again he was completely thrown for an emotional loop, not understanding even more, now. She’d gotten upset at his small quips back at her to the point of anger less than an hour go, that was why he’d just yelled! But now she was acting like the situation was just… very mildly not meeting her expectations.“I just wanted to help out a friend, was all.” Noelle said, looking away from him a moment, then back to him. Her voice steeped in disappointment.It felt like a gear slipped in Berdly’s head, the internal rhythmic ticking in his brain skipping a cycle at that response. He didn’t understand, he didn’t know what to do or say or ask her to make her thought process clearer. One moment she was an ice queen at the drop of a pin, the next he had just shouted and she just looked slightly nonplussed. One day she was grousing at him not to just expect her to do things on his behalf, the next she was asking to do something as critically important as his homework on an ongoing basis, for the two most technical classes they had at the moment.“Noelle… I don’t understand.”“Just… please say yes?” She asked, smiling at him in a slightly sad way, as if she’d be crushed if he rejected this.Taken aback again, he didn’t know what to say in the moment. He needed time to think on it? She might just assign him another chore to have him think about it, but he had his paper, it was just sitting on the printer right next to him. The way she was looking at him made it feel like he’d be a jerk for denying her, but he knew in a factual sense he had no obligation to. More than that, emotionally he just didn’t know how to orient himself. Berdly had no idea which way was north in this conversation, in terms of expectations or anything else.After a couple seconds feeling torn between telling her no, feeling like she was emotionally whipping him around like he was tied to an office chair, and agreeing, as she truly did look like it meant a lot to her for her to be able to do this for him… he relented, and nodded.She gave a gleeful laugh and clapped her hands together, pleased as could be! In that moment he felt his frustration dissolve for a second, his confusion being shoved aside as he heard a true, genuine laugh of jubilation fill the air. Like the silver sleigh bells of her favorite season, it felt whimsical and made him feel like he’d made the right decision. Quietly, he took his book report off the printer and passed it to her, watching her happily staple it together and beam at him, kicking her legs a bit as she met his eyes. Hers glittered with satisfaction and happiness, giggling to him.“Thanks Berdly… you can trust me to it!” She said, giving him a playful salute, then spinning around in her seat, standing up and putting her hands on her hips, looking around at the room.He just nodded, not knowing what to say, as he stood up too, walking towards the door.“Did… you want anything else, or…?”Noelle looked back over her shoulder at him, shaking her head, her long hair shifting from side to side. She seemed elated that everything had turned out prettymuch perfectly for herself, as she turned on her heel-hoof to look at him.“Nuh-uh, you’re free to go. I’ll see you tomorrow at school okay?”Looking at the paper in his hands, he gave a small nod, not quite knowing what to think or say… but still, he nodded, turning and walking from the room, heading downstairs to leave. He couldn’t believe he had actually just done that… it was just that in that moment, she’d looked sad, and he wanted to see her happy more than anything else. She didn’t smile so often, so even if it felt a little bit like she was flightly and all over the place, especially in terms of what her actual reasoning was, he would still take being a bit in the dark as to what was going on in her head, than to have her be disappointed and glum. Even if there was a pinch of academic dishonesty at work… as much as he didn’t like that. It was for her.At least that was what he told himself, exiting her house and leaving via the front gate, same as before. Given it was later in the afternoon, he knew Mrs Holiday would be along in less than an hour to lock the gate behind her anyways, so he just focused on hurrying home rather than locking it, still looking down at the paper in his hands, every so often. Wondering what was going on with Noelle… and what his own thought process had even been, back there.

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Berdly was utterly silent as he received his grade, two days later. He had been certain she would fumble somewhere and perhaps render his grade less than what it’d otherwise be, or maybe do too well and accidentally push one of their grades much above the other. He had been proven… wrong, by the paper set into his feathered hands. Emblazoned at the top, in red ink, was a ‘A-’. Glancing over, she received an ‘A+’. Perfect marks for her. While he received just a bit wrong for the work shown fumbling a few arithmetic errors.Noelle gave a beaming smile as she looked over at Berdly. As that happened, Catti couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder to look at what was going on. This caused the feline to arch her eyebrow and quickly tap out a message on her phone. The bird wished to sink into his desk at that moment, but this had been the agreement at the end of the day. She had to win… in exchange, he never had to worry about his grade again. In a way it felt… wrong, the way that she had been doing his assignments the last few days, but he wasn’t about to throw it away. Especially if it made her happy.Soon enough the entire class had some idea of what had just transpired. The longtime reign of Berdly as having the highest grade had just been taken by Noelle. Only be the slimmest of margins. Roughly a single percentage point. However it was the difference between an ‘A’ and an ‘A+’. Noelle had a 98.7%… and Berdly just a 93%. Putting him firmly in the realm of an ‘A’ and well outside of being rewarded the ‘+’ back anytime soon.In a way he felt bad… however it wasn’t a bad grade. It wasn’t even a slightly bad one. Just enough though, knowing he was essentially throwing for Noelle’s sake, to hurt his pride. He didn’t want their arrangement to continue. However, his reasoning that felt selfish. It was driven by ego and his need to feel special, but… he couldn’t help it. He wanted to be the best, he wanted to be equal with Noelle. Not sit underneath her.Not that it mattered in the eyes of everybody in the class though. Even Monster Kid, who was never included in any group text if possible, was peering over towards Berdly to catch a glimpse at the paper on his desk. The bluebird quickly flipped the page over to conceal it, resting the chin of his beak on the desk afterwards, eyes towards the chalkboard. The last thing that Berdly wanted to do was clue off the two biggest loudmouths in the peanut gallery in the back-right corner of class what was going on… but it seemed that even both of them knew what was up already. Had Catti included them or had somebody else tossed the information their way? Berdly swore if it had actually been Kris, he would… well, he wouldn’t do much, but he could probably tell Toriel that Kris was hurting his feelings. That would be best, because Toriel would then lecture Kris for at least an hour on being a good friend, which Berdly knew deep down Kris hated more than anything.However, Berdly doubted it had been Kris. It certainly hadn’t been Catti, as she avoided so much as acknowledging Snowy or Monster-Kid’s existences. So… who? Brain cycling around, he couldn’t get a grasp on exactly who could have done it, so he gave it a rest and just focused on class for now. He still had to take tests and things, so it was critical he at least could do that proficiently.The bell rang at the end of the day, and surprisingly Alphys was the first one out of the classroom for once. She supposedly had some sort of date, something the class had met with arched eyebrows and silent questions being exchanged between them all in the form of glancing at one another. Who on earth would date Alphys…? The certified biggest weirdo (at least among the adults in town), and no doubt had the most niche/obscure interests of anybody? None of them dared ask of course, everyone was mostly just happy that she was happy.However this left Berdly as the last one to leave, as only he had a spare classroom key to lock up after everybody left. As everyone shuffled out, carrying their things, Snowy and Monster-Kid remained at their seats, both wearing insufferably smug expressions that Berdly could identify immediately. He did not want to talk to them… in no universe did he wish to talk to some ‘C+’ students like them, who always had some snide comment to make. However it was just his luck, he couldn’t leave until they did… so as Noelle strode out of the room, he waited by the door. Still, neither got up, causing the bluebird to wave his arms towards the door.Still, both sat there. Snowy pulled out a handheld video game. Clenching his beak, Berdly’s annoyance quickly grew. Seeing this, Monster Kid started.“Guess we gotta find something else to call him besides ‘Nerdly’ now don’t we?”Snowy didn’t look up from the video game, but laughed back. “Sure we can find some otha kind of bird-related puns, my family’s got dozens!”Berdly’s expression fell further, from annoyance to resigned disapproval, knowing very well what was happening. They did not appreciate his chiding over the years that they needed to focus on their grades, and his own comments about them being academically unworthy of him so much as looking their way. So this was their petty revenge.“My grade is still two and a half letters higher than yours. If you’re going to pass comments like that, maybe secure your own glass house.”Monster Kid sat up in their seat more, rolling his eyes. “Yeah but mine’s been a ‘C’ since I was in middle school. Yours was an ‘A+’ for ages, but now it’s just an ‘A’. What’s next dude, an ‘A-’? ‘B+’?”Berdly hissed at them through a clenched beak. “If I ever received anything other than an ‘A’, I would personally march up to Alphys’ desk and ask what the meaning of such a thing was! I will never get anything other than that sweet, top-most, highest-shelf letter, the first one, Alpha, and I will not take this much lip from a bunch of barely passing to-be Ice-E’s employees.”That actually caused Snowy to put his game down, glaring up at Berdly. The bluebird knew he’d actually managed to touch a nerve with that one, smirking and crossing his arms.“Though, I’ll spare you both the ridicule if you get up and go do… whatever it is you two do when you’re not at school. Eat worms, or dirt, maybe.”Both got up and passed Berdly as they walked out of the room, though not before Monster-Kid extended a leg and kicked the bluebird square in the shin, causing him to hiss and shake his leg, glaring at them as they quickly snorted and jogged away.

Not in the mood to actually confront them, he shut the classroom door and locked it, only to be greeted by Noelle the moment he turned around. He nearly slammed beak-first straight into her, almost jabbing her right in the shoulder with his beak, but stopped just short of doing so. She looked down at him, blinking slowly, smiling in a collected, calm way.“Want to come to my place? I was going to watch some movies, sorta like old times.”Berdly fumbled with his composure a second, stepping back away from her so he didn’t have to crane his head so high to look her in the face.“Er… um…” He didn’t have much else going on this weekend, but he also didn’t want to slack too much on his own studies. Though… she was mostly taking care of his homework now, so maybe… he could relax on that, a little? “I suppose… I could.”She gave a beaming smile, her front tooth showing as she turned and all but pranced away. “Cool! But first is it okay if we go shopping? I need to get a few things from the store.”Berdly actually did not like shopping in the least, and was about to say he didn’t want to, however the sight of Noelle spinning around on her hoof, scratching sound filling the hallway as she did, looking back at him, made him reconsider. She looked happy… happier than he had seen her in a long time. Letting out a long, deflated breath, he walked after her, choosing to stow his books in his locker so his backpack was light.The bluebird regretted agreeing to do this almost immediately. There was no words in Heaven or Earth that quite made Berdly want to vanish into a hole more than walking into the women’s-only section at the store… but to be in a store that was literally only the women’s section… the bird wished he could simply crumble to ash and blow away in the breeze. He couldn’t put his finger on why exactly he felt this way really, and he didn’t even want to explore the feeling. It felt too strange to address… and he didn’t want to feel creepy.Noelle however was having a great time. Prancing between the aisles, her doe legs springing her effortlessly along on the short shop carpet, she ping-ponged between topwear and sections that had socks specifically for hoofed monsters like her. Berdly just tailed her by about five feet or so, holding a bag or two for her and wishing he could teleport somewhere else. After a while of just ignoring Berdly’s disquieted expression, Noelle walked to the back corner of the store and paused on a bench meant for trying on footwear.Naturally, the bluebird was perplexed about why they were sitting there… as neither of them wore shoes. He had talons, and she had hooves. Nonetheless he understood the situation, and he sat. This caused the doe to whisper to him, quietly.“Could you look a little less like you wanna die?” She whispered in a playful tone.“Are you telling me to suppress my true feelings?” He countered.“… what’s so bad about being in the women’s clothes store, Berdly?”He was silent… looking away and down at the ground, his talons balling up a bit, the claws on his feet tugging at the fabric of the dingy paneled floor. However, she was still sitting… staring at him, eyebrows raised, expectant of his answer.“… I just feel like, I’m creepy.”“… creepy? But we’re just shopping, Berdly…” She replied. “Why would you be creepy?”“Because I’m a guy.”“… do you think guys are creepy?”He tripped on his logic, not liking talking about this. He had never talked about this feeling before in his life, so Berdly didn’t really know how to navigate this conversation.“Well, no, just in women’s sections. Er, I mean… um… like, it’s sort of… what if others, think that I’m being weird?”Noelle tilted her head to the side, further not understanding… though she could start to see some clear flags appearing on the horizon to help guide where she was going to go from there. Smiling at him, she shifted and put an arm over his narrow shoulders, smiling at her friend.“Unless you’re staring into the changing rooms, I don’t think anybody is going to think you’re weird, Berdly. What are they gonna think about you just walking around? At most they’ll just think you’re shopping for women’s clothing, like everybody else in here!”“Well, but I’m not! It’d be weird, for I, a male by all accounts, to be shopping for women’s clothing.”Noelle’s smile grew a bit wider, and though Berdly didn’t see it, she rolled her eyes slightly.“Okay… and… what if, and hear me out… you WERE shopping for women’s clothing. Despite that? What makes it weird?”This was the point of no return for Berdly, the unbreachable barrier inside his own mind that he had not moved past at any point in his life, so far. He hadn’t ever thought of this ‘what if’ at any point. Quietly, he just tilted his head down to look at the bag of clothes he was carrying, and mumbled.“… I… uh… I guess, nothing… but, I don’t know, uh… what if, a store employee thinks I’m going to wear those clothes later? For some reason?”Noelle quietly nodded. “Okay… yeah.”“Wouldn’t they think I’m weird?”“Well… not really.”“Huh?”“Really.” Noelle shrugged. “Lots of people do that. For their own reasons. I think all the store employees really care about is if you’re buying clothes or not.”“So… I would not be weird, if I, a male blue avian bird guy dude… bought a dress, and walked out of the store with it, in a bag. And then went to my residence, and garbed myself in it.” He said, uncomfortable with the idea.“Nnnope.” She shook her head. “Not weird.”“Then why does it feel so uncomfortable, thinking about something like that?”“Maybe it’s a ‘masculinity’ thing?” She said, looking down at him from her seat right next to Berdly. “Y’know, the idea means you’d be less of a dude-guy.”He scoffed. “Of course, I would never be less of a guy, just because I bought or wore something! That’s silly, gender is not determined by such superficial attributes!”Noelle smiled wider still. “Yeah! So, you wouldn’t be any less of a dude if say, I walked you to the dress section and got you something in your size.”Berdly’s expression went from sureness to immense discomfort immediately, hand dropping limply to his side as he stared ahead of himself.“Noelle… though you have logically explained to me it is not weird, nonetheless my ancient reptilian cortex within me sends signals of distress at the thought of such a thing.”“I won’t question your emotions.” She shrugged, using the arm around him to squeeze him a bit, reassuringly. “But I gotta ask you to give a look at the ‘why’ you feel that way. What’s got you scared?”“…” The bluebird was silent as he introspected on this matter, not meeting her eyes. However, at the same moment he felt like he glimpsed something in the shroud of his own emotions and perspective, Noelle leaned in close to his ear.“You’re afraid you’d look good.”Berdly’s blood turned to ice in his veins and it felt like he had just been struck by lightning, talons balling tightly enough she could hear the individual digits pop and crack. Smirking, she stared down at him. She had him… this was perfect.“I think I n-need to just… think about this, Noelle.”She just shrugged, taking her arm out from around his shoulders and standing, stretching. She sounded as chipper and excitable as always, motioning for him to get up and continue their circuit around the store. He was still reeling from the conversation they’d just had, so she stepped around behind him, picking up a measuring tape from the bench and holding it up to him, careful not to touch him while he sat in a seemingly catatonic state. His shoulders, neck, torso width, and then kneeling down she got a measure of his hips across, but then began to do it more obviously, putting it around him.Still, he didn’t react for a second, letting her get what she needed, before he shook his head, coming back to reality. Flicking his head around almost completely, he looked her in the face, clearly questioning what she was doing. She sheepishly smiled and shrugged, setting the tape measure aside.“I’m gonna go try a few things on, you can just stay sitting here if you want.” She said, taking the bag of clothes from him and walking happily towards the changing room, leaving him to ponder his emotions regarding women’s clothing for however long he wanted to introspect about it.In reality she walked over to the smaller sizes, consulting a sizing guide on the side of the shelf for what his sizes would be in women’s, and then eyeballed her mother’s credit card. Two additional outfits and a bit extra probably wasn’t going to raise any alarm bells… especially not if she put one of her outfits back to make it as much as any other usual clothes purchase she made every couple months.A quick journey to the smaller sizes and back again, she visited the changing room before returning to Berdly, still sitting there, looking somehow even more harrowed than before, eyes staring straight ahead, beak on his hands.“Not to interrupt, but I think I’m ready to go.” Noelle chirped at him.He slowly got to his feet and walked with her to check out. While leaving the store the thought actually did strike him, the moment his mental defenses dropped and he wasn’t keeping it at bay. What if… he did look good? What if it felt good? What was wearing clothes like Noelle wore like? Huffing a quick gust of air out of the nose-holes of his beak, he quickly gathered those thoughts, jamming them into a lockbox at the back of his brain and slamming the door shut. He couldn’t think about that, he couldn’t… it felt weird, it made him feel weird… but…Noelle stepped through the door of her manor-home with a twirl on her hoof, sighing as they both stepped into the carefully climate-controlled space after their walk across town. Beaming, she pranced upstairs, likely to her room, leaving Berdly to use the bathroom and also order pizza like they’d planned. Once he had done so using her mother’s credit card, he started to walk upstairs to join her, but paused.Did he really want to spend the night there? He had already texted about it and it didn’t seem like his own authority figures cared, so… he could, if he wanted to. But after today there was just so much going on in his own mind. He could barely think straight with how many things were clattering around. His grades, Snowy and Monster-Kid’s comments, his status as head of the class, the vague feeling he was maybe… just a bit too low-class to be hanging out with a girl that lived in a mansion… and now, what Noelle had said in the clothing shop.All of it led to him feeling emotionally very tired, and unsure of himself. Uncertain about if he even wanted to stay over. He liked Noelle, she was a kind person and seemed to always want what was best. She barely ever asked for anything much. Her doing all his homework had been all she’d really requested in ages, outside of little temporary things like chores. He’d feel selfish if he were to tell her that she was just too much to deal with in his current head-state. So, despite feeling overwhelmed, he continued to walk upstairs, soon stepping into the doorway to Noelle’s bedroom, leaning on it as he looked at the state of the place.Once more Noelle’s room was in a state of just slight disarray, however it seemed this time it was more for productivity. All of their homework assignments for next week were already finished, laying on the floor of her bedroom where she’d fanned them out around herself and solved everything, before providing an altered, just slightly less rigorous answer to Berdly’s pages. Imitating his handwriting astoundingly well. She was in the process of scooping all the papers up and putting them onto her desk, separating them with a red paper-clip.Once done with that, she quickly stood up, reaching out to pick up the bags of clothes on the bed, and got out the ones she’d bought for herself. He sat down in the swivel chair at the table with her computer on it, and now a television that was plugged into a CD/DVD player, its huge bulk thankfully handled well by the sturdy table it was set upon. He watched her hang up each article of clothing, crossing his legs. A blouse… standard fair. A school skirt… that made sense, she’d spilled an entire plate of pasta on one recently and the stains had never come out. Panties… he averted his eyes upon seeing them, embarrassed to so much as have them in his sight.She then threw the rest of the bag into her closet, causing Berdly to tilt his head to the side. She was the sort of person to always, always hang up or at least fold her clothes. So to see her callously throw her belongings into her closet in a plastic bag still, was enough to make him curious. Not that he’d get any answers out of her; Berdly knew better than to try and get Noelle to answer anything if she didn’t want to reveal what she was doing.Once done though, she quickly gathered up some spare pillows and blankets from the other rooms and built them up into something to lean on, before turning on the television and starting to get the movies ready. Berdly rolled the swivel chair over to sit beside the bed, but Noelle gave him a look, patting the spot beside her. He… really felt like, he needed the space, but… he heeded the call and sat down on the bed, leaning on the big pile of blankets and pillows behind him, as she started the rather crummy, sappy Christmas movie. It was only September…It only took about ten minutes for Berdly to begin to find discrepancies in the storytelling of the movie, quietly tallying them to himself as he could note that not only was there many historical inaccuracies with this movie, but he also could note that there was even several characterization plot-holes regarding the order of events that took place. The main protagonist claimed that they were actually working in their field since the decade prior, however that would preclude them from being a journalist for several years as they claimed. This of course caused Berdly to read further into the plot of this extremely mediocre bargain bin Christmas movie.Of course while this occurred, Noelle basked in the vibe of the holiday season through the lens of the movie, her hoofed feet swiveling cheerfully as she sat on the bed, munching a bit of pizza once it arrived and bobbing her head happily whenever a season staple song would play. She was primarily into the movie for the tone of it, glancing over at Berdly, who seemed to be scrutinizing the movie rather closely by his expression. It was enough to make her giggle a bit when they reached the halfway point, stretching and yawning. Reaching to the remote, she hit the pause button.“I’m gonna go make some cookies real quick… need anything from the kitchen?”He stretched on the bed, yawning himself as he shook his head. Glancing at the window, he could tell that the sun was starting to set. Berdly went to the bathroom before she’d left the room, pausing to look at himself in the mirror. Somehow, he looked even more tired than usual. He’d probably use the term ‘haggard’ or ‘ragged’ to describe how he felt, but it showed minimally on his face. Mostly manifesting as his eyes being lidded more than usual for this point in the evening.Splashing some water on himself, he also drank a quick glass of water and went back to go wait for Noelle. Ready to bake cookies only took a dozen minutes or so to bake he knew, so she’d be back sooner rather than later… though she could make more than one batch, and that could probably change that to more like over twenty minutes. Pausing in the door frame, he glanced towards the closet… curiosity getting the better of him. Glancing down the hall, Noelle was nowhere to be seen or heard.Opening the closet door, he reached down and opened the bag… to find it… empty? The bird tilted his head to the side, then moved to shut the closet again. He could have sworn that more clothes had been inside it, an hour or so before this. Turning around, he was greeted with what he was looking for, just folded neatly and set on the bed.The clothes were folded too well for him to tell exactly what they were at a glance, but Berdly knew how Noelle folded her clothes, reaching out to what he believed to be a shirt and unfurling it… only to be met with further confusion. It wasn’t a shirt… it was nightwear. An elastic tank/tube-top with thin straps for the shoulders, mainly meant to be held in place by how it hugged the torso. This wasn’t the element that struck Berdly as out of the ordinary, though. It was that it was in his size… not Noelle’s.Realization dawning on him, his gaze shifted to the remaining clothes. Re-folding the tank-top quickly, he plucked up a pair of rather short shorts, to find them just similar. Simple volleyball shorts. Probably intended to be nightwear. Fitted perfectly for his waist size. That was what Noelle had been doing in the store with the tape measure… figuring out what his size was in women’s. Moving to the next article of clothing, it was actually day-wear. Spandex shorts, meant to me worn with the article accompanying it, a pencil skirt, sized correctly that Berdly could assume would descend to just above his knees. Accompanying this was a simple dress shirt… actually seeming like it would be something Berdly would wear of his own according. The only thing cluing him into the fact that it was women’s clothing, was that it buttoned the other way, and the tag showing it was a woman’s size.Silently, he re-folded everything exactly how it had been and sat on the edge of the bed, reeling. He didn’t know what to think, or say. However, that wasn’t even the part that made him feel the weirdest. That was owing to the pack of correctly sized underwear and knee-high socks that Noelle had also purchased, sitting on the bed next to the clothes. Panties were something Berdly was flustered to so much as look at. Weird, flustered, and… though the feeling of himself being ‘creepy’ had subsided, with Noelle having reassuring him he wasn’t in any way, now he was just left with a collection of bizarre emotions that equal parts intrigued and distressed him to the point of not knowing what to do with himself, being confronted with this.The minutes waxed onwards… why did the clock on the wall sound so loud to Berdly now? Clicking away like a monotonous march that somehow was expanding, prolonging each moment out to its maximum extent. Clenching his beak, the stressed bird looked at the clothes on the bed and bowed his head, looking at the clock directly. She for sure had to be baking a double batch of cookies, so he had at least another fifteen minutes. Scooping up the clothes, he bustled to the bathroom and set them on the fanciful counter-top.Unbuttoning his shirt, he couldn’t believe he was going to do this… it barely felt like he was controlling his own hands, but he couldn’t take the conflicted emotions burning him up. Why did it feel so weird to think about himself in girl’s clothes? Why did it make him so… upset? The sensations in his chest were tight and anxious. He wanted to be free of them. Once he’d pulled off his usual button-up shirt, he stared at his torso in the mirror. Skinny… flat as a board. Utterly devoid of nipples. Quickly, he got the dress shirt out of the stack of clothes and put it on. Mentally, he had to do some recalibrating, pushing the buttons through the opposite side, but once he was done, he looked himself in the mirror, going through the trouble to transfer his pocket square from his button-up shirt to this new one.Nearly no difference, to his usual outfit. Except… the knowledge that it was a women’s shirt made the feelings in his chest sear harder, more hot and burning than before. He felt his chest tightening and his breath struggling to come in and out evenly. He was transgressing, this felt like he was weird, like this was maybe wrong, or creepy. He valued Noelle’s input more though, and wanted to be rid of these sensations if he could. He knew Noelle, even if she walked in right at that moment, might tease him, but she would never spread rumors or anything like that. So, he quickly unbuttoned his cargo shorts, shoving them down his slim waist and barely looking at the pencil skirt as he took it off the pile and put both his feet inside it, pulling it up.Berdly didn’t dare to look in the mirror until he had pulled the skirt up and tucked the dress shirt in properly, adjusted the collar of the shirt, and brushed any creases in the clothes out… before shutting his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. Whatever he felt like when he opened his eyes, he would accept, he told himself. He had to listen to his own instincts at some point, and if giving this a shake to see how it made him feel did nothing to assuage his anxieties about it, it clearly just meant it was a quirk of his personality. Nothing to read into.However, when Berdly opened his eyes… the burning stopped. The tightness in his chest eased, and the tension left his shoulders. In the full-body bathroom mirror, what was technically the same bluebird stood before him. The anxiety had subsided though, as he leaned in, looking himself up and down, stepping from side to side, turning a small circle, seeing his tail feathers comfortably fit through the opening at the back of the skirt. Blinking, he actually sort of… liked the way the skirt accentuated his hip, the way that the dress shirt folded into it, and how the subtly off-white cool tone of the shirt complimented his plumage. He actually looked… good. Not creepy, or weird, but… good. For just a second Berdly imagined himself sitting in class with these clothes on. An exact mirror to his usual outfit, merely feminine in officewear fashion.Slowly, Berdly’s eyes descended to look at the other clothes on the counter. Then, he peeked out into the bedroom to glance at the clock. Three minutes. He didn’t have enough time. Quickly, he shed the skirt and folded it neatly, adding it back to the pile, before doing the same with the shirt, putting his shorts and dress shirt back on before setting the pile of women’s clothes back on the exact spot he’d found it.By the time Noelle rejoined him he was sitting on the bed again, heart thumping in his chest as he looked at the television screen, at what the protagonist lady’s whole outfit was. His friend rejoined him with a plate of cookies, the doe humming a Christmas tune to herself as she set the platter between them, and resumed watching.Berdly found himself more at ease the rest of the film, glancing down at the clothes at the end of the bed. Maybe… he actually didn’t think it was weird at all. If anything, it had felt nice, to him.“Something on your mind?” Noelle asked him, as the movie approached its end credits. “You look more chill than when I left.”He gave a small laugh, shrugging his shoulders and hands. “Er, it’s… just something I realized, was all. It’s nothing, but it let me relax a bit more.”Noelle nodded slowly. The rest of the movie passed without incident, though Berdly felt more at ease simply enjoying the presentation of the film. Seeing the credits start to roll. Clicking the movie off, Noelle scooped up the clothes at the end of the bed, transferring them to the table with the other clothing items, and asking him.“Did you want to sleep in a sleeping bag, in the guest bedroom, or…?”Berdly, oblivious as to what that ‘or’ could possibly mean, replied calmly. “I’ll take the guest bedroom to give you the space you need.” He said, standing up and stretching.She nodded, looking him up, then down as he stretched, before she got under her covers, turning the television off once it started to play static. As Berdly walked down the hall, she smiled, getting back out of bed and walking over to the neatly folded clothes, inspecting each one. Then, plucking his pocket square out from the women’s dress shirt, her smile spread into a smirk.“You’re so smart Berdly, how did you mess that up?” She giggled to herself, shaking her head, before setting it aside. “Well… at least, now I know.”Prancing back to her bed in a jubilant way, feeling as if her hooves were as light as air as she fell onto her bed again, she mumbled to herself.“We can talk about in in the morning.” She sighed, pleased at her progress. “I love being right~"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Berdly woke up the next morning with a yawn in the guest bedroom, rolling over to nearly fall out of the bed, unused to sleeping on a single-wide mattress. Catching himself, he slid out from under the covers and quickly put on his shirt and shorts again, the same ones from yesterday. He had a spare change of clothes, but he figured he wouldn’t use them until after he’d gotten a shower. The guest bedroom was quaint and sparsely furnished, with mostly just a dresser, a closet with clothes hangers, a full height mirror mounted beside the dresser, two single-wide beds separated by a few feet of space, and a lounge chair.Talons sinking into the gray-white speckled carpet, he sighed as he picked up his bag and walked out of the guest room. The guest bedrooms didn’t have bathrooms, so he just had to deal with using the shared one on the upstairs level of the building. Supposed it saved on plumbing and routing pipes everywhere, so that was likely why. However it also meant that he had to use the huge open shower too. Grumbling to himself, he did, at first, check to see if Noelle was awake.The moment that he stepped into the other wing of the manor the floorboard under the carpet gave a subtle groan, and he clenched his beak, eyes focusing in on her bedroom door, which he could see was open. A moment later, a pair of antlers appeared, followed by her face, a beaming smile on it. Some part of him felt happy to see her, like usual, but another part could feel there was some less than sweet notes to her being aware he was awake. Either way, she beamed at him and called out in a chipper, energetic tone.“Hey Berdly! You look like you could use some coffee… want some of mine?” She asked, leaning against her doorframe, stepping into the hallway.Berdly could see she was in a typical ‘Noelle’ type of outfit. A gold-yellow long-sleeved shirt with an extended collar that covered most of her neck, and thick cuffs around the wrists. Accompanying it was a simple skirt with a plaid pattern, as she crossed one leg over the other, tapping a hoof on the floor as she did so.“I guess I could go for some coffee.” He said, moving to walk past her and into the room.As he did he could see the pile of clothes she’d bought on Berdly’s behalf the night previous, but also… his pocket spare, neatly set beside it. Slight panic flooded Berdly as he immediately told himself to play it cool, it wasn’t like she knew for sure he’d tried it on, right? Maybe he’d just dropped that while changing? It hadn’t been in the shirt, right…? He ran through these possibilities as he approached the coffee machine she kept in her room, and poured himself a mug of it, putting some mediocre powdered creamer into it (with no idea why Noelle preferred that type, when her family was as affluent as it was), before turning to lean against the table.Noelle in the meantime entered the room, leaning on the doorframe again and glancing at the clothes folded there, commenting.“I found your pocket spare in the shirt.”Berdly sputtered on his coffee and began to cough, setting his mug down as he recovered his breath for a few seconds. Noelle watched with raised eyebrows as he struggled to right his breathing again, eventually watching the bluebird come to his words once more.“I-I’ll have you know, I did not-”“Berdly, it’s okay. I bought the shirt for you.”He blinked as she saw right through him, crossing his arms in a motion like he was hugging himself, in a way.“You didn’t have to do that. Besides, it isn’t even the right kind.”She smirked, raising her eyebrows higher.“Then… what’s your kind?”“Men’s.”“I mean I’m personally a fan of men’s shirts too, but I don’t wear them myself. Didn’t know you were into women’s fashion like that!” She teased, giggling.Berdly turned red under his blue face feathers, twittering in a way that actually caused his voice to crack in a slightly pitiable way.“D-don’t be like that!” He whined, causing Noelle to giggle even more. “Really! Believe me, please!”She stifled her laughing enough to breathe a bit, calming herself and forcing herself to not revel in how very caught he was. There was no universe where she hadn’t one-hundred percent played him like a freshly tuned fiddle. Still, she offered.“Well… then, convince me that it’s not what it looks like.”He was silent, giving her a pleading expression. If he had lips he would be pouting, in all probability. Frustrated, and embarrassed, his face red under his feathers, and no real hope of convincing her, because he’d have to be a much, much better liar than he was to successfully guard his pride at this moment. He just avoided looking at her, hugging himself.“… remember what I told you in the store? It’s okay, really. You know what that sort of thing is… you know the word. Don’t pretend like you don’t, miss spelling bee.”He remained stubbornly silent, pretending as if he didn’t hear her.“Do I have to spell it out?”Silence, still.“Transge-”“I know what it is!” He squawked, glaring at her. “And it doesn’t mean, because I tried on those clothes, that I’m totally, one-hundred percent… like that… it, just means, I was curious.”Noelle nodded, crossing her own arms. In a subtle way, she was actually standing directly between Berdly at the door, so if he did try and avoid this, she could very easily step into his way. She wouldn’t, but what mattered was that she was physically blocking his view of it, in her mind.“Well… did it satisfy that curiosity?” She asked, sipping her own cup of coffee. “And, most guys aren’t usually curious or cagey about trying on women’s clothes, just by the way~”He glared at her. “I do not need this tone right now, Noelle.” He groused at her. “… but, for your information, I actually think I looked quite good in it. As I do with all clothes, as I am an attractive bluebird in any bodily furnishings.”“Uh-huh.” She said, smirking at him. “But really, how’d it make you feel?”Seeing he couldn’t keep this up forever, Berdly seemed to visibly deflate a bit, before mumbling, quietly.“I… I felt good. It was nice.”“Did you try on just the shirt? Be honest.” She pressed, though had a feeling she already knew. Mostly she just wanted to see if Berdly would be earnest with her.“I tried on the business-casual skirt and dress shirt, as it is a part of my typical uniform. Or, would be... if I was a girl, of course.”Noelle arched an eyebrow at Berdly, her tone equal parts smug and inquisitive. “Well, are you sure about that, though? Really?”The bluebird faltered, avoiding her gaze, sipping more of his coffee and setting the mug down again, before returning to his comforting hug he gave himself with his wings.“Well… I’m just trying to think about it right now Noelle. I can’t just decide something like this, overnight.”Noelle quietly nodded, her head bobbing up and down, before she set down her cup of coffee and walked over to her notepad on her study desk. Pulling it out, she flipped the page over, and moved to lean against the table next to Berdly. She reached over and plucked a pen from his pocket, the fancy steel one he always had in there, and began to make a bulleted list.“Well… let’s start with, why I got those clothes.” She began, writing ‘Why I think Berdly is an Egg: A Thesis’. “Firstly, you have always wished that you had breasts. Yes, or no?”Berdly held up a feathery finger. “Well, it’s more about having nipples, but you are correct that without mass behind a nipple it isn’t of much use, so I guess you could say-”“To have a nipple, you have to have mammaries… so, breasts.”Berdly looked away and grumbled… not able to get out of that on technicality. To have nipples, one did have to have mammaries, and thusly, breast tissue, and thus, breasts. Even males, technically had breasts.Noelle continued, writing that down. “Next, anytime you’ve ever played any video game, you always play as a female character. True?” She asked him.Once more, he nodded, letting out a long sigh… unable to refute that. He always made his character in one very specific way, too, with the same name.“Okay. Next, you had a bunch of unresolved and strange feelings about both being in, and potentially being thought to be wearing women’s clothes. On top of that, you were prettymuch shell-shocked by the idea that you’d look pretty in them. Right?”Berdly looked like he wanted to sink into the floor… but nodded, arms crossed defensively.“Next point, you have always been my best friend and you’ve always done any and all ‘girly’ activities with me even when other dudes wouldn’t. Asriel totally wouldn’t go shopping or anything with Dess, but even when you were uncomfortable with it you always stuck with me, and even enjoyed yourself. Plus, you’re great at painting my nails, polishing my hooves and horns, and you actually have a good sense of fashion. But, only for women’s wear, I’ve noticed.”He couldn’t really debate against any of that, as she was completely right on every account, instead just nodding and avoiding the smug look she doubtlessly wore.“Last but not least, you tried on, with zero prompting, women’s clothes I bought you, by just leaving them out, on the same day you were questioning if you’d look pretty in them or not. Then, you said you feel like you looked good in them, before quickly tacking on that you’d look good in anything to save face.”She leaned a bit into his space, a knowing smile on her face, as she wrote down on the notepad ‘Conclusion: Berdly = Egg’. This caused him to turn red with embarrassment again, shifting away from her slightly, but… also not denying anything she was saying.“So, how right was I? Oh, and did you try on the shorts? Or the tube-top?”Stepping over to the window to look at the autumn leaves falling from the trees, Berdly sipped his coffee and replied, in a slightly meek way.“You’re… pretty right, about all that. I didn’t try on the shorts or top though, I just tried on the dress shirt and skirt.”“Did they make you feel good, at least?”She couldn’t be more laser-accurate with him than she had been, as the avian monster bowed his head, almost dipping his beak in the coffee cup, but nodding in a resigned way.“Aw, don’t look so down!” She walked over, patting his back a bit, kneeling a bit due to her height to do so. “It’s okay Berdly, I’m not teasing you at all, really. I mean it. I’m… well, I’m more just teasing how resistant you are to the idea. Like, you’re embarrassed, but really there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Plenty of monsters are trans… and humans too! At least, I think… I’d have to ask Kris, maybe.”“I’d rather you didn’t bring this up to anybody at school for now, Noelle.”Pausing, she grew serious, nodding. “Understood.”He let out a sigh of relief at that. “I just don’t know what to think right now is all, it’s really sudden, but you make a lot of good points, and I did feel pretty nice in that outfit.”Noelle gave a beaming smile, satisfied with herself. “Of course! And yeah, I figured you would sort of just want a woman’s version of your usual type of outfit. Glad I picked a good one.”Berdly was utterly quiet, smiling. Noelle had always wanted what was best for them, so it made sense that she actually would know what he’d want. How to move forwards though? Did Berdly just… ignore all this happening, or…?Noelle noticed him getting lost in thought and used her hand to gently rub his shoulder, before dropping it away, commenting.“So… for now, I know maybe it’s a little sudden, but if you wanted, maybe we could go upstairs to where all my old clothes are stashed, and you could look through them?”Berdly looked at her, blinking slowly. “Is… would your mother be okay with me keeping those?”Noelle just rolled her eyes a bit at the mention of her mother, shrugging. “Well, it’d be more like… she’d never notice? She never goes up there. And besides, it’s just our old clothes, not like we’re using them anyways. They’ll just end up donated to charity or something after ten years or so, anyways.”He was quiet for a second, then opened his beak, then shut it again, looking down into his cup of coffee. Mind turning over again and again as he tried to figure out exactly how to format this question. Glancing over at the clothes on the table, then at her again, before asking.“So… I just wanted to ask one thing. If that’s okay?” He said quietly, and upon seeing her nod. “Just to see how I feel about it, could you maybe call me a… well, y’know, a… She?”Noelle’s eyes glittered, face lighting up as she nodded eagerly, hair bouncing slightly behind her shoulders as she had to resist the urge to hug Berdly. She’d love nothing more! But she contained her enthusiasm for the newly minted girl in front of her, stepping over and taking the clothes on the table, and offering them to Berdly.“Well, if you’re going with being a ‘She’ for now, then you’ll need these. Okay? Go drink your coffee in the shower, get dressed and we’ll go rummage through our old stuff. I’m sure Holiday size clothes from when we were younger should fit you.”Berdly quickly took the clothes and hurried to the showers on the other side of the manor, not wishing to get feathers in Noelle’s drain. Mumbling to herself, she quietly kept using her new proper pronouns, feeling an odd tingle somewhere deep inside her head, and a butterflies-like feeling in her gut. Smiling as much as her beak could possibly allow her, she got into the shower and stared down at herself, thinking about how she would continue all this. Shower… then, the dress shirt, and the skirt, too! It’d be great! And besides that, Noelle would call her… well, Her.Looking down at her body though, she could note that unlike her mother, she was startlingly lacking in the hip department. Maybe, as she thought of herself this way more, that could change? That, and maybe… a bit of help from modern knowledge of monster biology and a little hormones. It wouldn’t require nearly as much as it’d likely require for a mammalian monster, but it’d go a long way! Finishing up her shower, she figured she could work on the waist and hip thing later… and the voice… for now, it was important to at least feel good about herself.Quickly pulling on her clothes,she looked at herself in the mirror. The shorts, the skirt, the dress shirt… it all just felt so… her. Like she could’ve worn it her entire life and it likely would’ve all clicked just the same. If anything, it felt even more comfortable than her usual cargo shorts. And the fit of the shirt and her chest plumage, if she omitted the top button being closed, did give off the subtle illusion of a chest, even if Berdly knew it was just feathers. The appearance of it was enough to make her happy, for now.Once she was put together enough to leave the bathroom, she headed upstairs to the proper storage room to meet Noelle. She didn’t quite know what she would find up there, besides old clothes that probably wouldn’t fit her, but thankfully the Holidays did sort their clothes by how old their original owners were when they put them up there. That alone would make the process easier. Since while she could never hope to fit into anything Noelle currently wore, she could maybe hope to fit into something from perhaps four or five years ago.Meeting Noelle at the door, she looked into the room to find it was almost entirely clear plastic containers stacked to roughly waist height everywhere she could look. There was only one small window in that room due to it just being meant for storage, so the overhead light was on. Noelle already had one of the shelves labeled for Berdly, stepping over to it.“This was probably about as close to your proper size as it could get. Holidays aren’t exactly known for our… uh, gracious proportions, so, most of these should fit a bird Monster.”Berdly knelt to her knees and began to dig through the clothes within, noting that most of these were likely Mrs Holiday’s old clothes, or maybe they had belonged to Dess? It was hard to tell exactly what had belonged to who and when, given they all believed pretty firmly in passing clothes down. Combing through, she managed to pick out plenty of volleyball shorts and other sportswear that had quite variable sizes anyways, that would fit her. Then plenty of smaller button-up shirts that were primarily intended for something decent for Noelle or Dess to have worn to special occasions or events.More than those were the sheer number of pencil skirts that Mrs Holiday had worn throughout her life. Somewhere in what had to be the upper seventies or so worth of the things, all neatly folded and worn at varying times throughout her life, by how the sizes went. Had she just been born to be formal? Berdly somewhat knew the feeling, given her own parents had dressed her quasi-formally for most of her life too, even when she was quite young. So Mrs Holiday and her had that small connection with one another.She picked some of the less worn down ones and then set the others aside, but it seemed that she had a decent wardrobe now of women’s clothes that matched her general sense of business-casual style. Of course she also needed casual clothes and relaxing clothes, and that would be harder. She would have to actually try on things like nightgowns or the like to see if they actually fit, as eyeballing them wasn’t as much of an option, and women’s clothes, as much as Berdly was coming to enjoy them… genuinely had some of the least consistent sizing and quality that she’d ever had the misfortune of experiencing in any type of product, ever. Some ‘Medium’ sizes were the ‘Small’ sizes elsewhere, and some ‘Large’ sizes were the ‘XXL’ option in others.As she picked through for those, Noelle increasingly hovered around her, eyes examining her choices, eventually sitting down beside her on the carpet to help. Pulling out a rather nice nightgown that looked just a bit small, she held it out to Berdly. It was mostly just a tee shirt that was extra long at the bottom forming a sort of dress, and had thin fabric… causing the bluebird to just shrug, not very enthusiastic about it, but figured it would probably fit. She put it on the pile, and over the course of about twenty minutes they assembled roughly seven days worth of clothes that Berdly could conceivably wear around normally, and about two weeks worth of clothes to wear at home or while relaxing.Once done, Noelle stood up and leaned against the doorframe, asking.“So, did you want to try any of these on? Some of them looked like they could be tight on you. Oh, and did you pick out any bras?”Berdly pushed her glasses up on her beak slightly, not meeting her eyes at the mention of bras.“Noelle, I don’t have… y’know… breasts? So wearing a bra would be a bit of a moot point.”The doe just shrugged, replying back in a clever tone. “Well yeah, but if you did wear one, you’d feel more like a girl, right?”The bluebird paused at that… tapping a feathered finger against the end of her beak. She… wasn’t wrong, on that one. Even if she didn’t have breasts really, it would certainly make her appear feminine. That, and maybe the definition to the area the bra would provide would enhance the illusion of her having them?“I am tempted. However, to my knowledge braziers are actually one of few articles of clothing, much like underwear, that one doesn’t hand down once they have worn out. The elasticity that aides them in their primary purpose will have been reduced, anyways.”Noelle couldn’t argue with that one. “Well then, we’ll get you some sports bras the next time we’re at the store. In the meantime, don’t you want to try some of these on? Make sure they fit?”Berdly nodded, scooping up her pile of casual-wear she had selected and moving to the door. Noelle however didn’t budge, shaking her head with a small laugh that reminded the bluebird faintly of jingling sleigh bells.“I have to see you wear them silly. You don’t know how girl’s clothes are supposed to fit you, so if I don’t see them on you, how do we know they’re on you like they’re supposed to be?”Berdly faltered, setting the clothes down beside the door and putting her hands on her thin, skirt-clad hips.“Noelle, I don’t think I… I don’t think we, are really on that level, where I could show myself changing. It’s… not something either of us has done in front of one another before, and besides… it’s embarrassing.” She said, already putting herself in a vulnerable spot with all of this.The reindeer doe could see Berdly hug herself, arms crossing across her middle. Stepping over to her, she used her height advantage and set her hands on her shoulders, shaking her head.“Aw, c’mon Berdles… what’s there to keep a secret between us now, anyways? We basically know everything about each other. You know all my clothes, and where I sleep and live and everything else. I’m sure you’ve seen me changing, at some point or another…”Berdly clenched her beak, then answered. “That was one time, over three years ago Noelle. I did not mean it, and all I saw was your bra.”Noelle shrugged her shoulders, giving a small giggle. She was being oddly playful for this sort of moment.“C’mon Berdly, I’ll change too, if you want? I just don’t want you to go in front of other girls and get laughed at. If the clothes don’t fit, they’ll be able to tell and they might make fun of you.”The newly cracked egg in front of her faltered, expression going from defiance and uncertainty to slight shame and wariness at the idea that she could be called out for that. Was that true, would other women be able to tell just at a glance? Berdly wouldn’t be able to know of course… as Noelle met her gaze, looking quite adamant about what she’d said. She repeated, in a caring tone.“I just want you to be able to pass easily, and get a feel for how to do this. Really.” She assured her.Squirming a bit, Berdly felt pressured… uncomfortable, but also not wanting to make a fool of herself. One of her greatest fears had always been embarrassing herself in front of others, as Noelle obviously knew, as she pressed her friend to do this. She couldn’t hold the doe’s gaze and looked away, hugging herself tighter.“If… others really can, I just don’t want to… look like an idiot.”Noelle dropped her hands from Berdly’s shoulders, letting her palms run down her upper arms before they fell away, then stepped back to stand in the doorway again.“Then, go ahead. No judgment, really.”Face quickly turning red under her feathers, causing her cheeks to look almost purple, Berdly unzipped her skirt and began to pull it down, revealing the tight shorts beneath. Noelle’s eyes were trained tightly to her body, expression neutral, though her eyes told a different story than that. Internally Noelle couldn’t be more pleased that Berdly had actually bought that. Knowing of course the bluebird was plagued with so much insecurity, she just needed to bring up potentially making herself look like a fool in front of others to herd her into making the decision she’d wanted.Berdly’s hips were as slim and slender as she’d always remembered, but it was nicer seeing them so bare. The tight shorts were next to fall down her stick-like avian legs, dropping to the ground, leaving just her panties, a pair of white and blue striped ones that made Noelle feel like her heart was beating in her throat. So cute… adorable, even. Her hooves dug into the carpet beneath her, letting that take the tension she felt from keeping her face torturously stoic. She couldn’t betray the satisfaction she was getting from this… Berdly trusted her, she had to keep this going.Berdly stood in front of a mirror Noelle had brought in there as she tried on four or five different pairs of simple hip-hugging sports shorts, ones with a drawstring that could be adjusted to fit her better. Three-inch inseams abound, showing off her twiggy thighs and calves nicely, while Noelle chewed the inside of her cheek as subtly as she could. She knew that she had always been waiting to break out of that egg, and just like she’d thought… now that she was a girl, she was hot. Hotter than she could’ve imagined. So slim, and light. Practically weightless avian body showed off in a tight tube-top she put on next, hugging her chest neatly, and stopping just at her midriff, showing off her fluffy stomach. The doe had to really squeeze her tongue between her teeth to keep her face entirely neutral. Painfully, agonizingly neutral. Even as her heart thudded in her ears and she felt herself begin to sweat.She was so perfect, she was so glad she had her.Once Berdly was done, setting aside a few that simply were too tight or Noelle vetoed on account of them just not fitting her proportions, Noelle excused herself to go to the bathroom. Walking into her room, she picked up a pillow as she walked past her bed and walked into the washroom, shutting the door behind her. Flicking on the overhead exhaust fan, she pushed her muzzle into the pillow and let out a loud groan that turned into a bleating yell, thankfully inaudible from outside. Dropping it afterwards, she shook her head, hair jostling on her shoulders as she went over to the sink.Turning it on, she threw water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror. She had this, she had her. Her best friend was out, and she had her right where she wanted. With her. The best possible place Berdly could be, in her mind. They’d grown apart, and she’d hooked the bluebird back in nicely by doing her homework for her… and sooner or later she’d be reliant on that, just to keep her grades up. All to plan, all to perfection.“You’re a Holiday, you’re the boss, you’ve got this.” She told her reflection, before toweling her face off and walking back out.Berdly had since filled an old duffel with her new assortment of clothing, zipping it as she stood up. Noelle rounded the corner while she was still kneeling over in just her undergarments, causing her eyes to go wide and heart to seize in her chest like she was about to feel it stall in place. Her hand near her leg, she pinched herself hard enough to bruise, refraining from commenting or whistling or blushing, jaw clenching. The doe couldn’t handle how cute her petite bottom was, the white and blue striped fabric squeezing it making everything about twenty times as attractive to Noelle.“Hey!” She said with the most self control she had exercised in her whole life. “I can take that to your guest bedroom for you. It’s just between us for now, but… I’m really glad that you could come out to me. It means a lot, and if it’s anything, you look more confident than I’ve seen you in a long time.” She said, channeling her desire to tell Berdly she had the sweetest, cutest backside she’d ever seen into a more acceptable compliment.Berdly pulled on her cargo shorts and gave a wave of her hand at the compliment, laughing lightheartedly. “O-Oh, it’s nothing Noelle, I… I guess, if anybody was going to be the person to figure it all out, it was you. Thanks for sticking with me on it, I didn’t really think about it much until you brought it up, I guess I was a bit too bird-brained to see it.”She smiled ear to ear and picked up the duffel, walking towards the stairs with Berdly. Once she’d retrieved her backpack, the bluebird turned to walk downstairs and leave, having a few things she needed to do at home and also get done around town. As they walked to the door though, Noelle turned on her hoof on the tile floor of the main entrance, holding her arms open.Berdly wasn’t usually too much of a hug person, but… figured it couldn’t hurt, and their friendship had come a long way just in the last two weeks. So, she opened her arms and moved to reciprocate the hug. What Berdly wasn’t prepared for was Noelle to kneel slightly to grip her lower around her middle, and lift her up, twirling the bluebird around in her arms once, then squeezing her in place, pushing her cheek into her shoulder for a couple seconds…. taking in a deep breath, then letting it out, before she set her down, looking sheepishly at the ground.“See ya at school sister.” She murmured, glancing up to meet her eyes.Berdly felt her heart swell a bit at that term, nodding happily. “Y-you too.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Throughout the next week the two friends met with one another after school to discuss homework, though mostly just to chatter about their classmates and how things were going in general. Usually meeting up at the Holiday home, to the extent that Noelle just went ahead and made a spare key for Berdly to use. It was only for the front gate, but it at least meant that anytime she at least wanted to come onto the grounds, she could. Not that the couldn’t technically fly over the fence, but that was its own issue in how much of an ask that was.Noelle throughout the week was pleasant and kind, always supporting Berdly whenever she informed somebody of her coming out. First to the most easygoing classmate of them all, that being of course Catti. She had just given a small smile and said ‘Cool’ before agreeing to not tell anybody else yet. Next had been Kris, though the human had mostly just given a thumbs up and a nod. Part of why both of them felt like telling Kris would be fine was simply because… neither really expected them to communicate to anybody, anyways. It wasn’t like the human was a person of many words. They didn’t really know who to tell after that… Jockington was cool but wasn’t exactly known for being able to keep a secret, or be subtle.Temmie of course was Temmie. Susie would probably just agree so she could bully Berdly using her new preferred pronouns. The real problems came in trying to tell Alphys… since it would technically mean telling everybody else by extension. That included the ones that nobody ever told anything, for good reason. Snowy and his utterly insufferable and unfunny ‘jokes’, and Monster Kid. The latter of which having one of the most notoriously questionable upbringing in Hometown. Unlike Toriel and her fairly moderate devotion to the Angel and going to church, Monster Kid’s family was more to the letters of matters. That was to say, they were much more literal and quick to judge based on their interpretation of texts, and that included sometimes being very, very rude, to use mild terms.Thusly Noelle and Berdly stuck with what they had for the time being. Catti and Kris would gender Berdly correctly for now, and it could be like that for the time being. Neither wanted to push the envelope too fast or hard, and besides that, what mattered was that the most important friends knew. Berdly had always been closer to Kris and Catti than say, Jockington or Temmie.A subtle shade of disappointment had been in Berdly’s family’s reaction. Despite being accepting and even gendering Berdly correctly, they had been mostly dismissive. Not seeing it as either a big step or anything to really write home about. The bluebird’s enthusiasm at having her new pronouns and choice of clothes around the house had quickly soured to disappointment, as it seemed that her parents weren’t very interested in her at all even after this, and more than that, seemed to just ask about her grades, the same as ever.So while the validation of having her pronouns accepted was nice, it did not fundamentally change the family dynamic at home. She was still a grades dispenser more than anything, and that hadn’t changed because she had come to terms with herself. They still… didn’t really care all that much. Not that it came as a big shock when Berdly thought about it deeply. Her parents had barely had the presence in her life to so much as push her on the swing when she was young, this would hardly be any different.As the days waxed on, a ritual was developed between Berdly and Noelle. The bluebird would go to her home, they’d meet, chat over homework and school events once Berdly had changed into something comfortable, then relax. Surfing the internet, watching a movie, digging through their old things and telling stories, and so-on. Both were just happy to spend time together. Eventually, Friday arrived, and Berdly informed her family that this weekend she would be spending all three nights of the extended weekend at Noelle’s mansion. With all of the rousing response of a single letter text back of ‘K’, the bluebird just rolled her eyes and walked towards her best friend’s house.Noelle had just left the Library to return a book as she spotted Berdly, quickly jogging over to her, hooves clicking on the pavement, as she fell into stride beside the bluebird.“Hey! Glad I could catch you. Heading over?” She asked, smiling at her.Her friend beamed in response to seeing her, nodding. “Of course! I wouldn’t miss my academic maestro’s sleepover for anything.” She tweeted.Berdly was happy to get to spend time with her best friend, and more importantly not think about school at all for a few days. Or really, less than she even had been… given she had started slipping into the habit of only really studying for the test. The extended knowledge that she had always pursued had begun to seem less important, with Noelle doing her assignments anyways… so she’d simply started to not bother. It was easier, and besides that… Noelle had it covered, anyways.Noelle in the meantime was ecstatic to have her best friend over at her house, with no real prospects of supervision or oversight, for three whole days. No double homework for her to worry about, and nothing to distract her from spending all her time with Berdly. The bluebird had started to pitch her voice up in a subtle way she had quickly grown to find cute, and it showed Noelle she really was getting into this. She couldn’t wait to see what she’d look like a year from then, or maybe two, or three? Who could even say… just the thought had her heart quicken in her chest.Throughout the last three weeks Noelle had not been entirely earnest or up-front to Berdly about her reasons for doing things. Why she’d quit doing her book reports, and volunteered to do all of her homework. She had noticed she wasn’t studying at all these days except to memorize answers for her tests, and that was perfect in her book. It meant that the bluebird wouldn’t be able to function academically if she would ever quit doing her homework for her, so they couldn’t drift apart again.The youngest Holiday of course held all of her recent memories with Berdly as precious, treasured deep inside her heart. Watching Berdly accept herself, watching her accept her new style of clothes she wore anytime she wasn’t in public, watching her stop studying so much and let her take on that work so she could focus on being happy. It was enough to make Noelle smile anytime she saw the bluebird. She wouldn’t admit to it outright, but watching her try on all those clothes in front of the mirror… she’d never, ever forget that.She opened the front gate to her manor and beckoned Berdly inside, as both of them walked to the front door and into the building. Once it was locked behind them, Noelle watched Berdly sigh and unbuckle her belt, walking towards the stairs as she did so. Eyes stuck on her tail feathers, Noelle watched as, at the foot of the stairs, she kicked off her cargo shorts and slid them across the floor, towards the clothes chute where she’d probably get them later. Now in just her dress shirt and a pair of solid sky-blue pair of panties, the doe’s eyes were fixated on the backside of her friend, rooted to the spot with a blush on her face.Berdly noticed that she couldn’t hear her friend walking behind her and flipped her head around almost completely, seeing her staring at what she’d just done. Stuttering a bit, she apologized.“O-oh I’m sorry Noelle, I didn’t mean to just throw my dirty clothes around your house, I didn’t mean any disrespect or anything. I just figured I had all weekend and nobody was going to be around but us, I was going to put on some shorts up in the room was all, and-”The doe piped up once she heard Berdly start to apologize, laughing in a faux-shy way. “O-oh no, it’s fine! I just didn’t expect it was all. You’ve just gotten so uh… comfortable, is all. Undressing around me.”Berdly gave a meek smile, as she walked the rest of the way up the stairs… suddenly aware that Noelle was staring very, very intently at her legs.“Um… I figured, that since I’ve changed so much in front of you, it was just… to be expected as normal?”Noelle nodded, walking after Berdly. “Yeah, normal. From now on, it’s totally normal that we change in front of each other.” She said, as she walked up the stairs after her avian friend.Berdly couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but the way that Noelle was looking at her today wasn’t quite the same as all the previous ones. It didn’t quite feel like the doe was supportively complimenting her with her small glances and her typical expressions. She had a smile that didn’t seem neutral… or respectful. The slightly lowered gaze and the way she was drinking her in wasn’t how things usually were… and although the bluebird was doing her best to simply dismiss it, she felt vaguely like Noelle was undressing her the rest of the way with her eyes.Berdly arrived at her room and quickly put on a pair of athletic shorts, her favorite pair of faded navy blue ones with a white stripe down the side and a three-inch inseam, and then put on a simple white v-neck shirt. The soft cotton fabric was pleasant, glad she’d managed to get it from the store with some extra spending cash she’d had. Once done she exited the room to go to Noelle’s, pausing in the doorway as she saw Noelle there, just catching her pulling her vest off, followed by the sweater she typically wore under it. Just her tight-fitting sports bra remained, causing Berdly to quickly flick her vision away, but she had certainly gotten an eyeful of the slim doe’s whole torso.Seeing the motion in the corner of her vision, Noelle glanced over, smiling.“Oh, Berdly. You got changed fast… sorry, I’ll be a sec, then we can watch that movie I was talking about.” She chimed, as she pulled on her favorite night-shirt.The baggy, faded shirt was much too large of course, but she actually liked that aspect of it most. On it was a printed ‘Thing From The Swamp’ logo, a movie that actually used to be Dess’ favorite, as that had originally been her shirt, given to her by Asriel ages ago. It certainly explained how big it was on a Holiday, as Asriel was well into the seven-feet tall range. At one point it had probably actually been black, but it’d been worn and washed so many times it was more of a tone of gray.Slipping her arms inside the shirt a moment, she removed her bra beneath it, then slid it out one of the sleeves, tossing it aside. Berdly’s eyes went wide with wonder, pondering how she’d actually managed to do that underneath her clothes with such minimal movement. That was, before she realized she got distracted looking, as Noelle pulled her skirt down, facing away from Berdly. The bluebird got a heavy eyeful of completely white panties and her doe tail flagged high, bobbing a bit back and forth, causing her to blush brilliantly red as she diverted her gaze away once more, astounded by the sight.The spots on and around her bottom! The cute movements of her tail! It was… adorable, enough to make Berdly outright envious. She had hips, she had curves, even if modest ones due to her frequent jogging tours through the forest. Curves she herself didn’t have. In a way it bummed Berdly out, but in others it was nice to appreciate that her friend did have something attractive that she was sure that plenty of others liked. She was less attracted, than she was simply envious.Noelle pulled on a pair of baggy basketball shorts that trailed to her mid-thigh, the reflective fabric catching the light of the room, as she sat down on the bed and patted the spot beside her.“Okay, movie time. There’s canned coffee in the mini fridge, and I already have some popcorn.” She explained, reaching down beside the bed and pulling up a big bowl of the stuff.Berdly could see she had even drizzled a bit of caramel over it, just like the bluebird always loved. Quickly hopping onto the bed, she watched as the doe turned on the large television and then switched to the other remote, turning it on and hitting play.At first,, everything was normal. Typical of a night in between the two friends. Though this time… as the sun set, and the amount of popcorn in the bowl grew less, and Berdly just took to cracking the kernels in her well-adapted beak, she felt Noelle’s hand shift from resting just beside her, or on her hand, as she sometimes had done, and rest against her hip.The bluebird didn’t comment on it, at first… just doing her best to focus on the movie, but… Noelle wasn’t going to be satisfied just pushing her palm against Berdly’s hip. She felt her squeeze, fingers causing a small tensing of the muscles in her abdomen, as she trailed her hand up her side, over her ribs through her shirt. Still, Berdly didn’t comment, though did glance at Noelle, wondering what she was doing. Why was she being so… touchy? What had gotten into her?The doe of course was just doing what she had been intending to do for a while… since she’d started pulling Berdly into her web weeks ago. Leaning over to lean against Berdly, her shoulder pressed against hers, as she wrapped her arm around the trans girl’s slender shoulders, her eyes still forwards. The bluebird shifted a little, unsure of the contact, but… relaxed, after a moment. This wasn’t so bad. They were just… cuddling.The movie continued on, and as a long, suspenseful scene played out of the Swamp Thing searching for another hapless teenage victim that had wandered into its peaty domain, Noelle’s hand over Berdly’s shoulder began to trace the hem of the v-neck shirt she wore, her finger sliding down towards her chest, fingers combing through her feathers.Berdly swallowed dryly, talons squeezing tight under the blankets. She didn’t know what to say… if anything, as she just… continued to try and focus on the movie. She had to say something… anything, just acknowledge what the doe was doing in any capacity. That was her only task at that moment! Eventually, she looked towards Noelle, asking.“Um… Noelle, why are you… why are you putting your hands, on my chest?”The reindeer just kept her eyes forwards, focusing on the movie. The real answer was she didn’t feel like she could control herself… or more than that, didn’t need to do so anymore. She didn’t have to hold herself back from what she wanted now, and that was okay, since Berdly was exactly in the spot she needed her to be in, in exactly the head-space she needed her to be in.“Since you’ve started to come out, I’ve just started to see you as a little… pretty, is all.” She confessed, glancing over to meet Berdly’s eyes.Not a moment later did her hand slide down Berdly’s shirt to press her palm against the bluebird’s chest, soft plumage slipping between her fingers. Her friend made a choked sound, almost squeaking like a rubber duck toy, face turning red. As the Swamp Thing on screen found its latest victim on screen, Noelle leaned in, slowly, and planted a kiss on the top of Berdly’s beak, shifting to set her other hand on her shoulder, guiding her to lay down.The trans girl didn’t know what to do, with her best friend bearing down on her like this. Pressing her cheek against the side of her face, one hand down her shirt, the other on her shoulder. Soft plumage being squeezed like she had a lovely set of breasts that weren’t there, and a look that Berdly just couldn’t place on her face. An expression that looked somewhere between lustful and deeply possessive. Noelle didn’t feel like she needed to deceive anymore, or hide her actual feelings or reasons for this any longer. She had Berdly now… and she could stop pretending.“N-Noelle, you’re my best friend, I just don’t really look at you like… like this, is all.” Berdly said, nervously meeting her half-lidded eyes.The doe didn’t even respond, her slender, long fingers pulling out of Berdly’s shirt as she placed both her hands on her shoulders, and she athletically swung herself overtop of her friend, placing a knee firmly on either side of Berdly’s slim hips. The bluebird swallowed dryly, not knowing what to do. She felt herself blushing, but in the pit of her stomach she felt nauseous. The salty-sweet food she’d just eaten and her friend bearing down on her now, she couldn’t keep her stomach from getting upset already.“Noelle I-”The moment she opened her beak the doe placed a gentle, but very swift finger right into it, silencing her. Berdly’s eyes went from wide to the size of saucers, the taste of salty caramel and butter heavy on the tip of her finger, as she just rested it just inside her mouth, pressed firmly against her tongue. Using her other hand, she reached down and gripped Berdly’s wrist. While the bluebird was still just trying to collect her wits, Noelle pulled her hand up to her chest, and forced her palm against her breast through her shirt.“I just… am having a hard time controlling myself Berdly… since you told me you were a girl, it’s like seeing you in a different light. You’re… a whole different person. More confident, pretty… hot.” She all but purred out the last word, feeling Berdly’s heartbeat pick up through the firm press of her finger against her tongue. “I guess, I’ll come out to you, too. I’m actually just into women, and… I think you’re one of the prettiest girls I’ve ever met.”Berdly was about to respond but the moment she went to do so, Noelle slid her finger a bit deeper, almost making the bird gag, tongue spasming against the digit preventing her from speaking. Noelle’s chest was soft, and felt good against Berdly’s palm, but she didn’t actually want to be touching it. She didn’t look at Noelle like this… she didn’t see her as hot, or sexy. She envied the body that Noelle had by being naturally born a girl, but she didn’t want to be with her, sexually. Not that Noelle would ever accept that as an answer, though, forcing Berdly’s palm to cup against her chest through the faded fabric of her shirt.Instead the doe was content to fluster and press her into arousal until she felt like she was attracted to her, however much that took. She’d already pulled Berdly along into accepting her gender, she’d already dragged her along with her grades, she’d happily drag Berdly into being into her, and girls in general. Whatever did the trick, whatever made Berdly perfect in her eyes. Because although Noelle wanted Berdly to be happy… she viewed the bluebird she was sat on top of as hers, at the end of the evening. Possessively, zealously, looking to press the monster underneath her into the shape she wanted most.Withdrawing her finger from her beak, she gripped her other hand and rested her other palm against her chest before leaning in, tilting her head to the side. Squawking in a desperate plea, starting to beg, Berdly spoke in the tiny bit of time she had to do so.“N-Noelle I promise I won’t tell anybody anything about this I just want to know what prompted all this to happen, I-I don’t think this-”And then, silenced, as Noelle opened her muzzle to press to her best friend’s beak, sliding her long, dexterous caprine tongue over her avian one. She couldn’t muster the energy to speak with how stimulating it was, not realizing just how much tongue that Noelle actually had inside her muzzle, until it slid so far back into her beak it almost touched her tonsils, making her gag subtly for a moment, before Noelle clearly realized she had pressed too much and retreated backwards, instead taking to sliding it underneath Berdly’s, making the bluebird’s eyes roll upwards just slightly, before she blinked, forcing her gaze forwards, making her eyes stay open.It was equal parts beautiful and haunting. Seeing Noelle overtop of her, eyes shut with passion as the light of the television screen framed her whole body and head like a halo. At no point did the feeling of this being sexy or hot cross Berdly’s mind, only stimulating… overstimulating at that, and sensual. There was no passion in this for the bird except for what Noelle was forcing into her, pressing her, forcing her to reciprocate if she wanted to just stay afloat in this interaction. Every time that Berdly attempted to drop her hands away from the reindeer’s chest, she would grip her wrists harder, enough to feel the pressure on her fragile avian bones. Every time she attempted to shift her head back to make space by pressing herself into the pillows, Noelle would chase her and force her long tongue almost back into her throat, causing the tight inside of her neck to spasm around her tongue and gag, making the bird’s eyes water and her keenly aware she couldn’t breathe during that.There was no getting Noelle off her, there was no escape, and there was no justification from the doe either. She was just… doing this now, and she had the authority, the power to do it, and Berdly was taking it, with no recourse. She didn’t even understand how this had happened. This had just been movie night, like any other night last week. It had been normal, it had been calm, peaceful… perfect. Now she was being forced to grope at her friend’s chest while she pressed her to reciprocate her completely overwhelming kisses.Of course though, Noelle saw it differently. This was the prompting that Berdly needed in her mind, the sort of conditioning that the bluebird needed to just give her that extra push to realize how much she loved her. Not like a friend, but as a girlfriend. Maybe more than that. Berdly had never really known what she wanted… always full of herself and that fake smart-girl persona she’d put on, not even mentioning the way she’d always been using those huge words to make herself sound clever. She’d thought she was a guy, until she’d come along and revealed the actual truth to her, and now she was ‘unsure’ about liking this… and just like before, she’d be proven right, and she’d come around…Opening her muzzle wide, she pushed her tongue deep, a strangled, wet sound filling her ears from Berdly, as she pressed it deep into her throat, tasting the popcorn and caramel. Tears streamed down the bird’s face as she struggled to shift her head in any way to prevent any more, but it was useless, as she felt Noelle curl and flick the length of her caprine tongue inside her neck. Pulling back so Berdly could breathe, she sat up, panting. Berdly could only pant, vision blurred as she stared up at the doe on top of her. A bit of drool dripping off her chin, a she licked her lips, smiling down at her. Noelle reached up and wiped the tears off her face, then asked.“Was that good?”She didn’t know how to reply, she didn’t know how to respond after all of that. She felt like she’d just been violated, deeply… but she also didn’t know if being kissed like that counted as something that’d justify her calling Noelle awful. What did something like that mean between friends? She’d always thought about it as something done by strangers and cruel boyfriends, not anything her very best friend would ever do, as she attempted to look away, only to see that anywhere she looked, she would be greeted by the situation from another angle.Noelle had, cleverly, taken the time to actually angle mirrors around the room so that whether Berdly looked to the side, turned her head away, or any other direction, there was a mirror that had a perspective on the bed. Every single direction, there was an eyeful of Noelle pressed on top of her, resting her weight lightly on Berdly’s midsection.“It was nice.” Berdly choked out, then coughed lightly, turning her head to do so, eyes still watering slightly. Submissively accepting what had just happened even as she was fighting back tears.Noelle gave a beaming smile, a lighthearted giggle escaping her despite the situation. It was enough to make the bluebird’s composure crack, expression shifting from numb and confused to distressed. How could she be laughing, doing this? After that, of all things? Berdly’s chest hurt, her vision was blurry from her eyes watering so much… and she was giggling like she’d just made a groan-worthy joke…As the movie continued on to the next scene, Noelle shifted, turning around to face towards the television screen, and releasing Berdly’s hands at last. The bluebird wished that there was anything in reach that would be of even the remotest bit of help, but there wasn’t. A bowl of popcorn wasn’t assisting her in any capacity, and Berdly didn’t even know what was in the bedside stand drawer… some part of her was scared to figure out what would be in there.Berdly watched the silhouette of Noelle framed by the light of the TV screen as the room grew darker every second, as the sun at last plunged below the horizon. No sooner was it gone, did the doe glance backwards, smiling down at her friend. In one fluid motion, she removed her shirt, causing at first Berdly to gasp and look away, but then quickly realizing that once more, that was futile. Every single angle of her was provided by the mirrors in every corner of the room facing the bed. She had every angle of Noelle’s firm, athletic chest, as the bluebird rapidly struggled to find somewhere, anywhere to look that didn’t involve viewing her mostly nude friend… only to fail, the image of her emblazoned into her mind forever.“C’mon Berdly… put your hands on my hips. It’ll be okay. We’re best friends, remember? Well, maybe more now, right?” She laughed a bit dryly, and then directed her attention forwards, towards the screen.At least that was what the bird beneath her thought at first. Only a moment later, the drawstring of her shorts was pulled, and she felt her heart begin to thud in her ears. This couldn’t happen, Noelle couldn’t… she wouldn’t… Noelle had been the one leading the class on the day they’d talked about sexual assault… she knew better, she was better than this, she…Berdly didn’t know what to do, shutting her eyes a moment to try and gather herself, or maybe to space out and tune away from the situation. That wasn’t happening though, as the bluebird felt a sudden, uncomfortable grip between her legs, and the reminder surging through her that she was the opposite of flaccid. As much as she hated herself for it, as much as she pretended to dislike it, as much as she’d told Noelle she didn’t view her this way, as much as Berdly repeated in her head that touching Noelle’s chest like that hadn’t had any affect, she was stiff… hard, aroused. And painfully reminded of how very male her anatomy was…“Hey.” The doe said in a soft voice, looking back at Berdly. “Don’t be so shy… just because you have this doesn’t mean you aren’t a girl, Berdly… I’m only attracted to women, and if I’m attracted to you, then… y’know?” She winked back at her friend.Despite everything that actually made her feel just the slightest bit better. It made her feel like even if that part of her was about to be touched, and used possibly to its fullest extent… at least no matter what, Noelle didn’t think of her as male. Not anymore.Then, she unceremoniously pushed down Berdly’s shorts, easily shoving them past her ankles and off the bed, leaving her completely bottomless. Then, grasping her usually concealed shaft, began to stroke… looking down at it while she bit her bottom lip. Berdly could see her other, free hand down her own shorts, moving rhythmically in time with exactly what she was doing to her. It was enough to earn Noelle a twitch between the bird’s legs, seeing that from several different angles, as she tried her best not to get excited, to not be aroused by Noelle pleasing herself to the sight of her vulnerable body. It was no use though… as suddenly, every muscle in Berdly tensed, and she let out a high-pitched, warbling squawk.Noelle felt it before she saw it, and angled Berdly’s tip away from herself, forwards so that it arced into the air. She’d only been touching her for maybe sixty seconds… but after such an intense make-out session and plenty of foreplay, she forgave Berdly being a little bit premature. Instead, she turned around, looking own at Berdly as the bird struggled to catch her breath, heart beating in her ears.The doe overtop of her leaned over, one hand down between her legs still, angling her hips so that Berdly could see between the athletically modest chest she sported and down into her shorts. At the blonde-furred bush above her sticky, wet sex she was in the process of working off, fingers in a firm ‘V’ around the top of it and sliding quickly back and forth. Her panting breath smelled intensely of the caramel they’d been eating, as she felt Berdly’s stunned eyes hone in on her body, unable to look at anything else, while her arousal kicked up again, whether she wanted it to or not. Sex appeal was sex appeal, Noelle knew… and deep down, she knew Berdly loved her body. She just had to get her to accept that, first.Biting her bottom lip, Noelle thrust her hips against her hand, eyes locked on to Berdly’s as she lasted only about another thirty seconds working herself that hard… before she groaned, eyelids fluttering as she finished, panting and bracing herself up on her elbow, face not even an inch from the helpless bluebird beneath her. Finishing to the sight of the teary-eyed girl beneath her looking up at her with equal parts helpless confusion and despairing attraction… not wanting to accept that what Noelle was doing did, on some level, stir something in Berdly. Whether she wanted that, or not.As soon as it started, Noelle let herself roll over, laying on the back-rest of pillows. She took her fingers out of her shorts and reached over to her nightstand for some tissues, wiping them off, before passing the box to Berdly. Her friend could only stare at the box in confusion for a moment… until it clicked that she needed to clean up the mess she’d just made, having shot a all over the end of the bed and onto the floor. Trembling, she sat up, bare bottom in the air as she reached down, wiping it up with shame. Knowing every moment she took to do this, Noelle was staring and her slender, petite ass with lust, until she set the tissues in the wastebin beside the bed, and pulled up her shorts.Noelle put an arm around her shoulders again, as the movie continued… the doe still entirely bare-chested, adorned in only her shorts. The entire event not having taken more than ten minutes, even as Berdly teared up and pressed her face into her hands, struggling to take in what had just happened… while Noelle just rubbed her back gently, but said nothing, letting her cry… knowing that Berdly would come to accept her feelings, in time.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next morning Berdly woke up to Noelle sitting at the edge of the bed, a cup of warm coffee in her hands as she looked down at her friend buried under the blankets. Reaching out, she gently brushed a few feathers away from here eyes, smiling sweetly. Once more in her long faded shirt, the doe looked like she’d been up for a while, enough to make herself a pot of coffee and dress herself at a minimum. The television was off, and Berdly could feel the inside her shorts being a bit stiff… dried release stuck to the inside fabric of her undergarments. Setting the coffee on the stand, the doe watched Berdly sit up, her eyes clearly showing how infatuated the former track star was with her, even now.Berdly could only fold her knees up under the blankets, picking up the cup and taking sips of her coffee. She was completely quiet as she sat there, not knowing quite what to say. Not knowing what to do. Last night, Noelle had crossed so many barriers. So many lines, she could barely think through them all. Her personal space, her dignity… she’d touched so many parts of her body she barely even did. Fingers and tongue in her mouth, just remembering, was enough to make her subconsciously swallow a bit harder than normal.But could she even bring it up? Could she scorn Noelle for this at all? What would she do afterwards? If she told Noelle that was terrible what would happen? She couldn’t… she wouldn’t, even. The bluebird could remember just how stimulated she’d felt throughout it all. The way Noelle had pressed herself against her, pulled her into groping her chest, how stiff she’d gotten in her shorts before she’d… Berdly blinked, mentally pushing away the instinct to relive the events to figure out how she felt about it. She knew how her body felt about it, already. She needed to think logically about this, and there was no other answer besides that she couldn’t do anything.Noelle controlled her grades. Noelle’s home was where she stayed most of the time. Half her clothes were second-hand Holiday clothes. The reindeer monster did her math homework, wrote her book reports and her papers. The doe determined whether Berdly passed or not, whether she got to enjoy her new lifestyle or not. She’d gained control over so many aspects of her life over the last month. Now… it felt like Noelle had free access to her body. What other alternative did Berdly have? She couldn’t tell Noelle ‘No’. She couldn’t tell her off or distance herself. She’d already told her parents she was staying at Noelle’s all weekend, too. Heading home early would rouse suspicion. There was only one real option… swallowing her pride. Her stomach turned only to be placated by the coffee.“I’m… sorry I reacted like I did last night. It was all just so sudden, I was in shock.”The doe had watched the emotions parade across Berdly’s face clear as day, one after the other. At first upset, then thinking, analyzing the situation… then disappointment in herself, and then frustration… embarrassment, before the bluebird tilted her head to look up at her and apologize to her. It was the most perfect way it could have gone for Noelle. For the girl she’d violated the night previous to apologize to HER for the audacity to shy away. She just smiled, nodding as her slight bedhead shifted with the movement.“It’s okay Berdly, I’ll admit I got a little too carried away.” She accepted her apology, standing up and walking over to the table with the coffee machine, topping off her own mug. “The looks on your face were cute, though! I think you realized I wasn’t trying to hurt you or anything, I was just really into it.” She said with all of the playful nonchalance of if she was describing a friendly game of playing cards that’d gotten too competitive.Her light-hearted tone was almost enough to make Berdly falter. It was such a light-hearted way to put it… that she’d just gotten a little carried away. That she had just seen her making cute faces and couldn’t help herself. Cute language dressing up something so heinous, so manipulative. Standing up herself, her legs shook as she righted herself, then drank her coffee down to the halfway mark of the cup before setting it aside. As she did Noelle also put her mug down, striding over to Berdly.The bluebird cringed subtly as Noelle reached out and wrapped her arms around her middle, the whole head and neck of height difference letting her lean in and plant a kiss on her beak with minimal effort, noting Berdly kept her mouth firmly shut, so she kept it brief, then shifted her head back.“I won’t tell anybody we’re friends like this until you’re ready, don’t worry… but, can you keep my secret too, that I’m just into women? I’d really appreciate it.” She whispered, then stepped back, giggling as she folded her hands in front of herself. “So! We still have all weekend, do you want to head to the store? Go roller skating near the lake?”The helpless trans girl could feel her heart drop down into her stomach when she was reminded that she still had all weekend with Noelle… three days yet, and three nights. Her voice cracked subtly as she replied.“I… w-wouldn’t mind going shopping, or maybe we could do more investigating upstairs?”Noelle beamed at that idea. “Shopping and more storage searching it is. Let me get a shower and I’ll be right out!” She said as she pranced over to her bathroom door, not bothering to shut it as she stripped her shirt off again, and quickly her shorts and panties in one motion. Berdly averted her gaze quickly, saying.“I… I’ll go shower, myself.”“Okay~!” She chimed musically, as she turned on the shower and stepped in without waiting for it to warm up, feeling it jolt her even more awake than before.Berdly retreated to the shower all the way across the mansion and sat down on the tiles, turning it on and letting it run over her freezing cold until it turned steaming hot. Burying her head in her knees, she struggled to get a grip on her situation. There was… truly no hope of escaping Noelle, now. She was basically her girlfriend… she couldn’t say 'No' to Noelle this was all too fast, that this was all too much. That she’d… raped her, last night. All she could do was cry in the shower and wish she’d realized sooner that Noelle wasn’t just being her friend.From the start the doe had wanted her, had wanted her body for herself, had wanted her fashion for herself, had wanted her friendship all to herself. Now that she had it, Noelle had functionally won control over her life. What was more, was that Berdly in all her cleverness couldn’t even see a way out. The reindeer’s hugs, deep-mouth kisses, and forcing herself on her lighter friend was going to be every night, wasn’t it? It wasn’t like Noelle to be ‘normal’ about something she wanted badly enough. Moderation wasn’t in her vocabulary when she craved something with enough intensity. And the deliriously aroused expression on her face when she’d gotten herself off overtop of her best friend wasn’t something that she was going to skip nights on… not with her mood being as good as it was this morning.A tiny whimper escaped Berdly as she sat there. It was over… she was Noelle’s… thoroughly stuck in her web, and there was no escape. She’d be happier to just accept Noelle as her girlfriend, and whatever reasons the doe pushed onto her as the reasons Berdly actually wanted this. She could just be happier to accept whatever she used to gaslight her from now on.Because this was her life now.