Mirror Mirror on the Wall


A/N: who's the transest of them all?


i forgot to mention it here on watt but both akito & mizuki are trans. transmasc and transfem respectively~ akito knows because of trans solidarity yk. mizuki noticed his binder once and they came out to eachother lol


also, rui's parents do not give two shits about him. they mainly just keep him alive but he does everything else on his own


also i don't know anything about fashion so most of this is just random bullshit ok-


In the end, Rui had agreed to pay for everything, so the rest of them didn't have to worry much. However, he noticed his sister purposely holding back from buying too much stuff.


So that's what it takes to quell the clothing monster. He hummed to himself absentmindedly, helping Mizuki decide what to get for themselves.


"Otouto-ku~un... how am I meant to decide what to buy if everything looks so cute on me?" Mizuki lamented, holding the two outfits in front of themselves in the mirror to make the illusion that they were wearing them, one after the other.


"That's what I'm here for, isn't it? You don't have to keep saying it." Akito flicked their forehead, earning himself a slight 'ow' from Mizuki. "Let's see... well, it's true they both look cute on you, superficially."


"Right?"


"But... This shade of pink really doesn't go with your hair. They sort of blend together and it just looks odd. If your hair grows or you wanted to wear this without your signature ponytail, it would be sort of a pain to look at." Akito pointed to the one Mizuki had in their left hand. "It could be fixed with some adjustments, but I don't think it's very convenient."


"As for the other one, blue goes really great for you, and it looks similar to your black sailor uniform but in white and blue, so it's definitely not a style you haven't pulled off before. Blue and white are very combinable colors, as well, so you won't have trouble finding other uses for the different pieces of the fit."


"Blue and pink are practically opposites, which tends to work out well if you do it correctly, and your hair and the dress are both pastels, so there's no problems on that front." Mizuki nodded along as he talked. "You may look a bit like a walking cotton candy, though."


"I see that! But also I could sew in different colors and details to make it even cuter, right~? If I add some darker accents, it won't look like that!"


"Yes, that's what I thought, too."


"We make such a great team, otouto-kun~!" Mizuki smiled, putting down the rejected outfit. "You're not going to get anything for yourself?"


"No. In case you can't tell, I'm good at styling other people, not myself."


"Hm, but you look pretty good today?"


"Rui helped. Two sweaters and a flannel weren't appropriate for the occasion, apparently."


Mizuki giggled. "Dysphoria fit?"


"Dysphoria fit. I'm fine with this, though. It doesn't feel bad." Akito looked at himself in the mirror, and for once, didn't feel like he was going to cry at it.


Rui's hoodie was a bit big on him, for sure, but not excessively, and it hid the parts of himself he hated the most. He decided not to dwell on the fact that he had so easily accepted Rui's clothes, mainly to avoid having an internal war.


"I'm glad! I know it can get pretty bad for you, so I'm happy that you feel good about yourself!" Mizuki held out their arms and did the 'grabby hands' motion, and Akito hugged them with an exasperated (but fond) sigh.


"Don't say shit like that, or you'll turn me soft, Akiyama."


"Ahaha, but you already are soft! Checkmate!" Akito could feel their grin from their position buried into his shoulder, seeing as Mizuki was perfectly at that height for him.


He was happy to be at least that tall. He's never going to forgive Touya for being taller than him.


"Yeah, yeah, sure. Now come on, Ena's gonna think I murdered you if we take too long."


"You would, though, so she's not wrong~"


"It's justified, but that doesn't change the fact it's annoying that she's always after you."



"Because you can't get a moment alone to kill me?" Mizuki stepped away from him, giving him a little playful nudge, before heading back to the main store to try to locate their friends once more.


---


"I was honestly expecting your card to decline. Actually, I didn't even know you had a card, Rui..."


"My parents send me money every month, how else would I receive it?" Rui was carrying the bags with the stuff they had gotten. Apart from Mizuki, Ena and Tsukasa had both chosen to get a few items from some stores they visited, so there were a few bags. Usually, Akito would be the one with that task, but everyone agreed Rui needed to do some sort of physical effort every once in a while. "And, I need somewhere to put what the park pays us for being ambassadors."


"Huh? They didn't pay you when you weren't?"


"Not really. Since the stage is technically Emu's, working there is more like volunteer work, unless we're the direct cause of an influx of revenue for the park. If our shows didn't get attention, we very well could have been shut down- they can't really do that now that we're official representatives for them, though."


Tsukasa's subsequent nod confirmed Rui's information, but he cut in before anyone else could respond.


"Well, my dear friends, how about I invite you all to lunch and leave Rui's poor bank account to rest?!" Tsukasa did some sort of cool pose to accompany his proposal, and Mizuki giggled at his antics. Well, he was probably the best option for paying, anyway, seeing as he was actually pretty wealthy.


"Sounds good." Akito agreed, flicking Ena's forehead to get her to look up from her phone.


"Huh? U-what?" She glared at him, before her brain processed the request and she looked at Tsukasa. "Yeah, yeah, fine by me."


"Do you two ever not fight?" Mizuki gave them both their best 'disappointed parent' look.


"If that's what you consider a fight, then you haven't seen anything."


"You scare me."


"Alright, alright! No more chit-chat! Let's depart onwards!" Tsukasa cut in before they could continue. "There's a cafe around here, no? Follow me!"


---


"Oh, Rui, how about this?" Mizuki twirled around in the mirror. They looked good, there's no denying that, but they didn't feel as happy as they wanted Rui to think they were.


"You look nice." He agreed, turning to look at them. "But..."


"But?"


"I may or may not have something I want you to try, but if you don't like it, we don't have to go anywhere with it."


"That sounds horribly suspicious but okay, sure. I trust you." Mizuki nodded.


"Aw, that hurts. I wouldn't bring anything dangerous to a clothing store... what kind of person do you think I am?" Rui sighed dramatically towards the end of his sentence, earning himself a little giggle, before he went back to the task at hand. "Okay, stand in front of the mirror, close your eyes."


They did as asked, feeling how Rui started doing... something to their hair.


"I think I did it. Go on, take a look."


Mizuki opened their eyes and almost let out a little gasp.


There was a bow, striped purple and blue, sitting comfortably atop their head. Somewhere they had been told many times it didn't belong; it was way too "girly", after all. But...


"It looks really cute!" They squeaked, turning around to face Rui. The bow went perfectly with the outfit they were trying on. "Did you make this for me?!"


"A friend of someone I know sort of did it for me as a favor, but yes. You seem to enjoy things like this, so I thought there was no harm in helping you express that."


"Aw, Rui~ You didn't have to! Was that why you suddenly wanted to go shopping?" Mizuki was practically bouncing where they were standing on their tiptoes to give Rui a well-deserved headpat.


"Well, yes, and, we haven't been spending as much time together lately outside of lunchtime so... I thought I may as well." He returned the gesture, gently combing his fingers through the longer part of Mizuki's hair. "Anything for my favorite rooftop buddy. You can consider this an early birthday present."


"My birthday's in 5 months."


"Did I stutter? You'll just get two birthday presents, then." He smiled, and Mizuki beamed even more.


-

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