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Shopping with Will was always an experience. He knew that someone had to possess ungodly amounts of patience to tolerate the way he moved through a store — they wandered through the aisles with no real purpose, they would dart off if something caught their eye, and they would start up conversations with the most random people if the whim struck them.
Noah was one of the few people who seemed to enjoy the aforementioned experience. He wouldn’t stick too closely to Will, but he kept an eye on him (which was smart, because Will tended to get in trouble if left unsupervised). He would step in if conversations with strangers got too long, but mostly he’d lurk in the background and scroll on his phone, occasionally chiming in with witty one-liners.
Today, though, it seemed Will wasn’t the only one who’d lost sight of the fact that they had come into the store for ramen. It was shitty store-brand ramen, Americanized and cheap, but it would have to do. Will had planned on talking their partner into getting some extra little things to make the ramen special as well, but the two had only made it a few aisles down when Noah got distracted.
Maybe Will had started it. He had seen a kid wearing a shirt from one of his favorite metal bands and had stopped to talk; they were having an enthusiastic conversation with the child, parents observing with visible amusement, and glanced up to find that a very conspicuous man that towered over six feet tall had somehow snuck off.
“Did you see where my partner went?” Will asked the parents. “This tall—” Reaching far too high above his head to be realistic, really. “Long hair down to here—” The place they indicated on their body was at least a more accurate length. “Real pretty?” And maybe that detail wasn’t necessary, but Will felt it was always important to mention.
The mother laughed and nodded, pointing off in a direction that Will did his best to hold on to. “They went that way,” she offered. A pause, a nudge of her child’s shoulder. “Tell the nice man goodbye.”
Will snorted. “Nice, loud, whatever works. See you, kid. Chill chatting with you.” They grinned and took off, moving far too quickly for traversing a store and nearly taking out an elderly person’s motorized cart (he would have probably ended up more injured than the cart, but he liked to think highly of himself — maybe too highly).
It wasn’t hard to find Noah. He was ridiculously tall, after all, and he cleared the clothing racks with half a foot (at least) to spare. He glanced up at the sound of Will shouting his name, offering a roll of nearly-black eyes and a fond smile that fought its way onto his lips. “Did you have a nice conversation?” Noah asked fondly, eyes lingering on Will’s face before drifting back to the clothes he was looking at.
“Yeah. Kid knew their shit,” Will answered easily. “I know what we’re listening to on the drive home, by the way. Hey. Don’t groan at me. You always get to choose the music.” Not that Will minded; Noah usually had good taste. “What’cha looking at?” It was a little difficult to hook his chin on Noah’s shoulder, and it involved stretching up onto his tip-toes to do so, but he managed it, peering curiously.
Noah’s long fingers were fiddling with the fabric of a dress. It was an almost-nervous sort of thing, somewhat thoughtful in how the pads of the digits rubbed against it, and the black played an interesting contrast with Noah’s pale fingers and the ink that decorated them. “Dunno if I’m really looking at it,” he muttered, as if there was any other explanation for it.
Will reached around Noah to twist the hanger, getting a better look at the dress as a whole. “This neckline is for someone with a lot more cleavage, but it might actually be long enough for you,” he mused, thoughtful as he squinted at it. “You wanna grab it?” They asked the question without any real thought, offering it carelessly and casually.
It seemed to be an unexpected suggestion, though, because Noah went completely still. For a second, Will was convinced he had forgotten that he needed to breathe. “I don’t need a dress, Will,” he finally said, voice a little quieter, a little tenser.
That earned a snort from Will, who stepped around Noah to grab the dress and drape it over his arm, hanger and all. “Doesn’t matter if you need it. It matters if you want it.” And, clearly, there was enough of a desire here for Noah to get hung up on it, so that was enough of an answer for Will.
Noah looked vaguely flustered, brushing long strands of hair from his face and frowning at Will. “We were here for ramen,” he argued, and Will swore the man was trying to pout at him.
“Oh, fuck! We were!” Will grabbed Noah’s hand and took off, dress still over his arm, to get the damn food before either of them got distracted again. And, maybe, they hoped that rushing through the rest of the store would prevent Noah from wiggling out of getting the dress.
(That latter goal was, in fact, a success.)
.
Noah hadn’t expected to like the dress as much as he did. He stood in front of the mirror balancing precariously against his bedroom wall, tugging on the fabric like he could change the way it fell from his hips if he tried hard enough. Will had been right: the neckline suggested a chest that Noah didn’t possess, but the dress fell about halfway down his thighs, so it was technically long enough.
He didn’t always hate being so damn tall, but sometimes Noah resented it. Now, he wished he wasn't built tall and lanky, that he was a more average height. More than that, Noah’s gaze kept getting caught on little details in the way the dress fit him, the way his body looked in it. The dress itself was cute, and there was something joyful that warmed his chest at the sight, but his attention was also drawn to the ways the dress was clearly made for someone with a curvier figure.
A sigh, soft but frustrated, and Noah brushed his hair from his face. He took a step back from the mirror, contemplated his reflection, and then lifted his chin a little. It felt odd to intentionally adjust the way he was standing, but Noah managed to stand in a manner that shifted his hips, made them look just different enough to settle the discomfort in his gut. Mostly.
But then there was a flash of pink curls, and Will was standing behind him, arms wrapping so tightly around his waist that Noah huffed. “Hey, beautiful,” Will greeted, leaning to the side to peer at Noah’s reflection. They gave a little squeeze, grinned from ear to ear. “I like the dress.” There was a question tacked on in the way Will met Noah’s gaze in the mirror and raised his eyebrows: did Noah like it too?
The question was expected but still one Noah was nervous to answer. He took a slow breath, looked at his own reflection again; after a pause, he nodded. “Yeah, I do,” he admitted, and there was a hint of something sheepish to the words.
It was hard to focus on the odd mix of shame-relief-fear-joy-euphoria that tumbled around in his ribs, though, when Will had that mischievous look on his face and his fingers were toying with the bottom hem of Noah’s new dress. “Would it break your heart if I got you out of it for a bit?” they asked, already lifting it a little. “You know how I get when I see your thighs.” As if Noah could ever forget how much Will appreciated every glimpse he got of any bit of Noah’s body.
Noah laughed even as he felt his body react to the heat in Will’s words, the way his partner was already halfway to undressing him. “I think you can make the heartbreak up to me. Maybe. If you try hard enough,” he informed Will, as if challenging Will in that respect was ever a wise decision. Well, it was, depending on how one looked at it.
.
Will had been expecting the conversation for a while. Noah hadn’t been subtle about it, though he seemed to think he was. The biggest clue had, of course, been the way Noah repeatedly asked Will how he’d known he was trans. When did you know for sure? How did you know? It was always some version of those questions, though the tone had shifted over time from a vague kind of curiosity to a sort of pressing urgency.
The answers Will offered were basically the same every time, but they tried to offer new insights. Clearly, Noah was going through something, and Will wanted to help. He hadn’t really had anyone to share their own experiences with him in person when he was growing up; it had all been internet stories and online forums where people talked about how they felt and what they were doing about it. Trans people had existed back then, of course. Trans people had always existed. But Will hadn’t known any other way to find them.
So when it was clear that Noah was contemplating his gender, Will decided to do everything they could to help. He never pushed or really initiated any conversations — he didn’t want to rush Noah — but he made sure to speak more about his own experiences. They would mention, offhandedly, some moment of gender euphoria. Even this far into his transition, a dozen years on testosterone and half a dozen past top surgery, he still marveled at the little moments of affirmation.
Noah brought it up at an odd time. They were marathoning an anime that was, frankly, a pretty big letdown compared to the manga, and an episode had just closed, the tone-deaf end credits song blasting out a few notes before Noah paused it. Will could sense in the way that Noah shifted his weight, sat up and twisted, put distance between them, that the conversation would be happening now.
It felt rude, though, to act like it was something he’d known was coming, even if it was. So Will just sat up a little too and raised his eyebrows. “What’s up, babe?” he asked Noah, wanting to reach for contact but refraining. Instead, they fiddled with a plug, tilted their head.
“I wanted to talk to you about something kinda serious.” That kind of start to a conversation was ominous, sure, but Will wasn’t the type to panic that easily. It probably helped that he knew what Noah was going to talk about, too. The curious but calm look offered made Noah frown, seemingly vaguely perplexed, but then he took a breath and pushed on. “I think I’m trans. Or—” He paused, considered his next words. “I’m definitely not cis.”
Will waited a moment, then another, but Noah never continued. In fact, Noah was looking at Will as if expecting something from him. “Okay. Not cis. Got it.” He smiled, something dimpled and easy. “Hell yeah.” The enthusiasm in the words was probably a bit much, but Will was genuinely thrilled that Noah had spoken up.
Noah laughed softly, a little incredulous. “I’ve been thinking about pronouns. I’m not . . . I don’t think I’m a woman. Well, not entirely. Not all the time?” An annoyed sound, and it was clear that Noah was about to get frustrated. For someone who had such a way with words, Will could imagine fumbling them or lacking the vocabulary to describe something would be annoying. Hell, it’d piss Will off.
“Focus, Noah. Pronouns. Labels can come later, if they come at all. You can just be Noah, you know. I’m transmasc, yeah, and calling myself that feels good, but you don’t have to pin yourself down as one thing now or ever. People who say you gotta choose a label and stick to it are full of shit,” Will rambled, and part of him caught the irony in telling Noah to focus and then getting lost himself in a tangent.
It seemed Noah had caught it as well. “We’re terrible at staying on topic.” When Will made a face, Noah just laughed again, airy but a little less taut. “I want to try she/her and they/them. I’ve tried them both out in my head, and they both feel good, I think. But no one’s said them out loud yet, so I guess we’ll see. I’m worried that it’s going to feel weird,” she added.
Will nodded. “I mean, it felt weird for me at first. Even though I knew I was a he/him, then a he/they person. The first time someone used different pronouns for me, even though they were the right ones, it felt weird. It doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Hell, it can be weird and good. That’s basically me, isn’t it? Weird and good?” Maybe a joke wasn’t the most appropriate thing to offer in this situation, but he wasn’t quite sure how else to loosen the tension lingering in Noah’s shoulders.
Noah did relax a little, and Will watched as they fidgeted with their hair before tucking it behind their ear. She had on one of those round pairs of glasses she put on for streams sometimes, and Will watched as she needlessly adjusted those as well. “As long as you know that I’m not, like, just a woman, that there’s more to my gender than that, you can call me a girl, by the way. Well. A woman, I guess. I’m an adult.”
Despite the urge to make a joke about calling Noah a female, just to get a cringe out of them, Will managed to focus on the topic at hand. “Okay, so, beautiful woman on my arm now. Got it. Are you my partner still, or do you want to be my girlfriend?” he clarified.
There was a pause that suggested Noah hadn’t been expecting the question, though Will wasn’t sure why it would have caught her off-guard like that. “I mean,” they started, “whatever you—” She blinked at the look Will gave her, sighed. “Fine, okay, I’d prefer girlfriend.” It was offered almost reluctantly, though Will couldn’t quite pin down why they’d be hesitant to offer that.
It didn’t really matter, Will supposed. He still gathered her in his arms, kissed all over her face -- gentle little brushes of lips, insistent and peppered everywhere until Noah devolved into laughter and squirming. “Got it. And does my girlfriend want to be called something else now too?” they asked, offering the words between little pecks to the tip of Noah’s adorable nose.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Noah started, and their lisp was a little thicker as they spoke now. “I think I still like Noah. I still want to be Noah, you know? I didn’t know if that was something people did, but I don’t want another name.” Her nose crinkled a little at the thought (or maybe the kisses Will kept offering the feature).
Will shrugged, the hands at Noah’s back wandering a little now. Yes, it was a cheeky thing, but he did it absentmindedly, not really thinking about it. “It doesn’t matter what other people do. It’s your gender, Noah. You can get as funky with it as you want,” they assured Noah, sealing their words with a firm kiss on the lips.
.
Noah knew she was being indecisive. It started as a genuine inability to choose, but now they were doing it to be annoying (mainly because Will was in that odd spot of still finding it all amusing while also growing visibly exasperated). While they waited in line at the movie theater, she had mused on what type of candy she wanted; at the counter, they confidently ordered sour worms, and Will had given them a look before ordering popcorn and sodas for both of them.
As he went to pay, though, Noah chimed in again. “Actually, can I get the clusters instead?” she asked, just blinking at Will when he gave her an incredulous look. There was a pause as Will and Noah looked at each other, leaving the cashier to frown and glance between the two of them, and then Noah smirked when Will gave in.
“Fine. Girlfriend gets what girlfriend wants. Can we swap those gummies out for the clusters for her? Sorry, dude,” Will apologized. He kept talking (that was what Will did, after all) but Noah wasn’t quite listening by that point.
All Noah could really focus on was the fact that Will had called her his girlfriend. In public. And the person behind the cash register hadn’t asked questions, hadn’t given Noah or Will an odd look, hadn’t argued. It had been as simple as Will’s girlfriend being fickle. Noah was Will’s girlfriend.
She had even be worried about going to the movies dressed like this. Noah hadn’t drastically changed their wardrobe since coming out to Will, finding it a combination of nerves as well as a tendency toward more comfortable and familiar clothing. It didn’t usually bother her, but she’d been a bit self-conscious about it today: the sweatpants and anime t-shirt had felt like the best option until they’d been in public and around other people.
(Will never had anything to say about Noah’s wardrobe choices — except, of course, their unfortunate tendency toward slides with socks. Will thought that was horrific, thanks.)
But Noah wasn’t dolled up, had no makeup on and had her hair loose, and this person had accepted that she was Will’s girlfriend. By the time they had processed that it had actually happened, Will was trying to balance everything in his own arms and hands, and Noah suddenly moved to catch a cup of soda. “You could have asked for help,” they sighed, trying to save the mess that was threatening to erupt.
“I did. You just blinked,” Will argued, though he didn’t sound angry. Once they had sorted out who was carrying what so that nothing hit the floor, the two drifted off to the side; Will worked on dousing their popcorn in extra butter, and Noah watched him go absolutely nuts with the dispenser. She laughed when he turned and presented her with the final product like he was proud of some brilliant creation.
Noah’s voice was teasing as they asked, “Do you want some popcorn to go with that butter?” She let herself be pulled in by a hand with more than a little butter on it, allowed Will to steal a kiss that set her stomach fluttering in the best way. “We’re going to be late for the movie if we make out in the lobby,” they pointed out, though they weren’t necessarily opposed. Getting Will to sit still through a movie would be a task in and of itself, after all.
Will stuck his tongue out at Noah and grabbed the soda he’d sat down. “Fine. I’ll behave until we get home.” And then they winked, sealing that remark with a cheeky little promise.
.
Learning all of the little nuances of Noah’s body had not taken Will very long. It helped that they had always been inclined toward slurking off into bed together whenever they had the chance, but Will was also exceptionally attentive. Despite being absentminded in daily life, Will took pleasure and joy in noticing the little details when being intimate with Noah.
Will knew all of the places on Noah’s body that would give, even a little, under gentle squeezes. He knew where they had softer bits, and his hands always drifted to those places, especially now that Noah was exploring and coming into her gender. Perched on Noah’s lap, Will allowed their hands to roam without restraint, finding the spot on her sides that he could squeeze. His other favorite spot to knead was Noah’s inner thighs, but he couldn’t reach those at the moment, so he settled for fondling her hips as they made out.
It never took long for Noah to get breathless. Will was a voracious person in general, and that came out in the way he kissed: heated, claiming, thorough. They always wanted more, and they were usually gentle in taking it, but they also had no hesitations about doing so. As they rocked their hips together, Will twined fingers through Noah’s hair and pushed it back out of their flushed face. “Can I get you off?” Will asked, a little short on air himself when he finally pulled away from the kiss.
Noah laughed softly. “I mean, can you?” she teased, head tipping back the instant she realized Will was moving to her neck. They gasped, tensed, and then relaxed with a sigh as Will bit down on the side of their neck, hips rocking with a bit more fervor now.
“Smartass.” Will pressed a quick kiss to the faint mark he’d left and then pushed at Noah’s chest. “I’m gonna take that as a yes, by the way,” they added, glancing up at Noah as she laid back on the bed. With how their hair billowed out around them on the pillow, Noah looked vaguely angelic — or would have, if not for all the tattoos and the wicked glint in their near-black eyes.
Another laugh, a nod of Noah’s head. “I mean, I guess I’ll allow it,” she teased, even as her own hands went to shove her pants down.
Will smirked right back at Noah, getting their pants and underwear the rest of the way off. Her shirt was still on, but Will just rucked it up a little to expose the bottom of her stomach and then allowed his hands to settle on her inner thighs. A soft, appreciative groan rumbled in Will’s chest as they squeezed and fondled the softness there, eyes drifting up Noah’s body to find her staring down at them.
“You forgot the lube again,” Noah remarked, reaching a long, long arm over to snag it from the bedside table.
As Will took the lube, he made a face. “In my defense, we never know what we’re doing. We don’t need lube when I bottom,” they pointed out, giving a slight wiggle. He popped the cap, drizzled more than enough to slick his fingers (and spill it all over the sheets, at which point he ignored Noah griping at him for it), and then leaned down to kiss at Noah’s thigh.
Noah always took him so beautifully. Her back arched up off the bed a little as one finger slid in, and the noise she made was perfect. As Will worked them open, Noah’s mouth stayed parted in a soft O, kiss-flushed lips parted and tongue peeking out to occasionally wet them. It was around the time that Will had slid in a second finger that Noah’s sounds became airier, more desperate, and her hands twitched at her sides.
Will nipped at soft, pale skin. “Are you going to rub yourself for me, Noah?” he asked, smirking against their quivering flesh. “I want you to cum on my fingers, baby.” A punctuating thrust of fingers, a crook of them to find the bundle of nerves that made Noah wail.
“You know, you could do it,” Noah muttered halfheartedly, already moving to start touching themself. Her hand was trembling a little as it moved, and Will got distracted by watching, to the point he almost forgot to retort.
When they remembered what Noah had said, though, Will couldn’t keep their response internal. “But I like watching you take yourself apart. I like seeing a pretty girl touch herself for me,” he replied, voice a touch raspier with lust now. They could tell Noah was getting close, and they wanted nothing more than to watch her make a mess.
A few thrusts into their own hand and Noah was throwing their head back, throat bobbing with a hard swallow. “I’m gonna—“
Will bit down on Noah’s thigh hard enough to make her jerk. “Look at me when you cum,” he ordered, delighted when they immediately complied. Eyes locked, Will grinned, and Noah fell apart on his fingers at the next thrust, now three digits and something so fucking wonderful for both of them.
Feeling Noah clench down on Will’s fingers gave them an aching sort of desire to really feel her cum on them, but this would have to be enough for now. And, god, wasn’t it everything? Seeing Noah so vulnerable and shaky, knowing they trusted him with all of themself? Even outside of how hot it was to finger her until she shuddered into euphoric pieces, there was a vulnerability here, a willingness to expose herself to Will and trust him to understand and love and accept all of her.
Once Noah had been eased down from that peak and Will had wiped his hand on the sheets (some more griping from Noah was ignored), Will laid down next to Noah and pulled them into his arms. They pressed countless kisses to Noah’s face, murmuring praise and sweet things between each, until she dissolved into laughter and shook her head.
“You’re ridiculous,” Noah informed Will, voice all soft and fond as she nuzzled his dimpled cheek.
Will twined fingers through Noah’s hair, tangled their legs up together despite the fact that Noah really did need cleaned up. “Too bad you fell in love with me, huh? Now you’re stuck with me,” they remarked, sounding vaguely smug about it.
Noah tilted and turned her head so the two of them were making eye contact. “I think I can put up with you for the rest of our lives,” she allowed.
One blink. Two blinks. Processing. “The rest of our lives, huh? I’m not a foster boyfriend?” Will finally asked, but the lightheartedness of the joke was a bit undermined by the surprise faintly audible in the words.
“I’m keeping you forever, Will.” And Noah sealed it with a kiss.