RP: Shopping Time, if we must Who: Frankie Markham, Penny Ahuja What: Shopping trip When: Tuesday 22nd June Where: Warnings: TBC Completion Status: Ongoing
The thing with shopping trips is that Frankie had been dragged on a lot of them by their mother, during which she would inevitably convince them to try on the sort of dress that made them distinctly uncomfortable. Floral, frilly and frou frou dresses that skated the edge of fashionable and fell rather more into the range of looking far too old or far too young.
Since taking over large amounts of their own non-uniform shopping Frankie had strayed gradually closer and closer to their current preference for trousers that were mostly jeans or not busy patterns and tops that leaned heavily into dark grey, black and the occasional pop of brighter colours. It tended to read somewhere between goth, punk, and grunge depending on the day. Sometimes it was a little more femme, mostly it wasn’t. Mostly they liked things that weren’t so much ‘on trend’ as ‘their style’, which made a lot of regular shops like running a gauntlet. The men’s section could be handy, but it could also be a nightmare when you had hips and tits.
And that was just part of why they were apprehensive about this shopping trip with Penny. Penny clearly loved shopping, and apparently had some game up her sleeve to keep the two of them entertained. Frank suspected it would be inappropriate, which was sometimes funny, but they didn’t want to lead Penny into false assumptions about their level of interest in an actual relationship.
They met a vintage clothing store, Witch Way, and Frankie gave Penny a smile that said something along the lines of ‘I like you but this may be somewhat tortuous for me, please be kind’.
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Penny knew that Frank didn’t have a terribly large budget, but she knew how to work with that. She wasn’t someone that had always had money, it was a relatively new thing to her. Her job acquiring artifacts and oddities had brought her a nice bit of wealth. Still, she knew how to be thrifty when needed. Witch Way was her absolute favorite shop, their slogan was “A clothing store for all genders to get your magic on” and so Penny thought this might be perfect for Frank, if only because they housed such a variety of styles that she was certain they’d find a beautiful leather jacket, maybe some plaid punk pants from the 80’s, something truly Frank’s style. Or, at least what Penny perceived to be their style.
She had arrived early, only so she didn’t torment poor Frank by her endless hours browsing the store. She liked to think she was always working, looking for a new treasure that no one else had. What would she find at this shop? She wasn’t sure, but she had browsed the racks for at least an hour before Frank was due to show up. Once her watch ticked closer, she left where she was at the back of the store and made her way to the front. She was just in time to see them walk in, giving them a full smile to their apologetic one.
“I’m glad you trusted me to help with this,” she said, already on the move towards a section she had thought screamed Frank. There was a distinctly 80’s London feel to the section, with pyramid belts, band t shirts, leather pants, and lots of plaid in various colors. It took her all of two seconds to pull a Beetlejuice-esque shirt from a rack. “I saw this and thought it screamed Frank, feel free to tell me if you hate it. I just had to show it to you though. Shopping is sort of my thing,” she teased, giving a playful eye roll. Her mother had once compared her to a personal shopper, it maybe stung a little.
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Frank, who tended to favour the general option of scouring through a variety of magical and muggle shops with a semi-scowl almost permanently in place, got the sense that Penny had a very different approach. They were glad Penny had suggested this shop, and although it did vintage wear it didn’t always swing too hard into the ‘vintage means expensive’ realm from previous experience. They acquiesced to being dragged around the shop, sure that Penny had a better eye for visual items than their own poor showing when unrelated to spellwork.
“You were pretty persuasive, and honestly it couldn’t be worse than me going on my own,” they said as they approached the area Penny had apparently staked out. As they saw the options on display they suppressed a small smile. They were a little too overwhelmed to look properly at first, although did immediately dismiss more leather trousers as an option.
They swung around from a preliminary flick through some band tshirts when Penny called out and looked at the shirt. It took a couple of seconds to process, but their mouth spread into a smile. It was joined almost immediately by a pressing together of their lips between their teeth and a glint of moisture around their eyes. They had had hints of the sensation before, and read about it, but the wash of gender euphoria was somewhat overwhelming and they nearly staggered on their feet. Merlin and Circe they felt so seen. They nodded vigorously and one hand came up to cover their mouth, trying to hold off the undeniably happy tears that threatened to spill over.
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There had been hundreds of reactions that Penny had imagined while wandering the shop looking for items for Frank. Out of all of those reactions, actually liking it hadn’t been one. She had gotten herself so wrapped up in the thought that since Frank hated shopping, they’d hate anything she showed them. It had been ridiculous, but it had never felt so ridiculous as now, when she could see just how happy they were.
“You really like it?” she asked, practically beaming. One of her favorite things about Frank was their style, and the fact she had been able to pick out something they liked, well she was tickled pink. “I’m buying this for you, so don’t argue with me. I’ll let you buy whatever else, but just… Your reaction alone says you need to take it home with you,” she said in a rush, her cheeks flushing. “Please,” she finished.
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Frank, despite being a pretty well spoken person, was almost at a loss for words. They nodded again and drew their hand slowly from their mouth. “Really do,” they said with a bit of a rasp of emotion colouring their voice. The overwhelming sense that Penny got them was intense and somehow still somewhat unexpected despite only having positive associations of her reactions to their gender.
They wanted to deny Penny, really they did. Especially since they didn’t want to feed any narrative of a potential relationship between them beyond friendship and some fun. There was something about the insistence though, and the feeling this shirt gave them that made them want to agree. “Let me check it fits first?” they said with a small voice, utterly unable to be loud for the moment.
With a quick glance down at the self-altered (now sleeveless) ‘If you aren’t angry you aren’t paying attention’ t-shirt they wore under an open navy plaid shirt they shrugged and whipped off their bag and shirt. They took the shirt Penny had proffered from the hanger and slipped it around their shoulders. It took a few seconds to do the buttons up, which they took as time to look around for a mirror.
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“Of course,” she said, happily taking it off the hanger. She then held the shirt out to them, that smile only growing as they buttoned it up. “I don’t know about you, but I think you look very handsome. I could see it paired with a leather jacket or something. Either way,” she said, waving her hand to wave away her words. “You look fantastic.”
Penny turned away then, letting her eyes move over the rack to see if there was anything else of interest. She wanted to give Frank the privacy she liked to have when trying on clothes. Penny enjoyed being the center of attention, but there were times that she knew were more private. “I’ll let you check yourself out, I’m going to see if they have this leather top in my size,” she called out, pointing to a halter top that would hold up her breasts, expose the midriff, and loop around her neck. --------------- “Thanks,” they murmured at the compliment, both pleased and mildly shy. They nodded absently as Penny wandered off in search of a top they faintly registered as attractive. Once they had finished buttoning the shirt they moved over to the nearby mirror they had spotted. Walking over with a touch of trepidation that the shirt on wouldn’t match up to the image in their mind they smoothed down the front of the shirt before looking up.
They had swallowed as they looked up, ready to be disappointed. Thankfully, however, they were hit with another wave of joy. It wasn’t quite so overwhelming as the previous time, and they didn’t break out into tears as they had feared they might. Their heart was full still, and they ran a hand gently down the swell of their chest and the slight softness of their belly. They tugged the shirt a little to neaten the edges, unable and unwilling to suppress the curl of a smirking smile on their lips. It was a good fit, and it felt and looked good.
They did a happy little wriggle and turned around to find Penny. It was definitely coming home with them, although they might have a debate about whether to keep the longer sleeves or get Molly to shorten them. They were technically meant to be finding summer clothes after all.