I've been waiting to do this one since the beginning. And I think I failed. unu But it was still fun. ^u^

Please remember that "Julchen" is pronounced "Yule-kehn," as it is a German name (of sorts). And I don't recall if it was mentioned in Kindergarten Cuties yet, but I know it was in Kindergarten Princess. Maddie/Mattie's last name here is Jones, not Williams. Thank you! :D

Day 14: Genderbent

Matthew sat quietly in his chair, meticulously coloring a picture of a polar bear. Beside him, his friend Anya admired his work. "You should draw a sunflower," she said, smiling sweetly. "The bear should have something pretty, yes?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, maybe…." But it was his polar bear. And polar bears didn't play with sunflowers!

"The awesome me is here!" A loud, high-pitched screech announced the arrival of Matthew's best friend, Julchen. He spun around and grinned at the silver-haired girl.

"Hi, Julie," he called, getting up out of his chair and hurrying toward her. He shot an apologetic glance at Anya, who gave him a small smile before picking up a yellow crayon.

"Prince Mattie!" the girl cried, flinging her arms around him and squeezing him. "I missed you! I hate weekends 'cause we don't get to see each other! Hey, is that a new vest? It's soft!" She released him and started running her hands up and down his black vest, giggling. "It's all…slippery! Awesome!"

"Yeah, it's new. Mama bought it for me yesterday." He stood up straighter, grinning. It was a nice vest. It matched his shiny black shoes. "She said I'm s'posed to wear it to my auntie's wedding, but I wanted to wear it today, too."

Julchen giggled again. "Well, it's really awesome! Now no one can doubt your princeyness!" Grabbing his hand, she pulled him over to their usual play mat, flopping onto it and pulling him down with her. She grabbed up a box of blocks and dumped them out. "Hey, Mattie! Let's build a castle! We can use all the blocks and make it really, really big! And it can be Jones Manor! Or Mattie Manor! Castle Matthew! Yeah!" Laughing, she began to build the foundation.

He smiled, sorting the blocks out by size and color. "Why not Julchen Manor?" he asked, handing her a blue block. 'Or Biel—Bielsh—Beil…." He frowned. He could never pronounce her last name.

"Beilschmidt!" she laughed. "And it can't be Beilschmidt Castle! Ya gotta name castles after the kings! And you're gonna grow up and be a king, so it's gotta be Matthew or Jones!" She took the blue block and carefully started the next level.

Matthew paused. "…But just 'cause I'm a prince, that doesn't mean that you can't be a princess. Right?" He smiled a bit. Julchen had claimed that Matthew was a prince since their first day of kindergarten, due to his perpetual wearing of vests, dress shirts, slacks, and spiffy shoes. He didn't really see himself as a prince—he was just a boy. A boring boy, too, if his sister Amy had anything to say about it.

Pausing, Julchen looked up at him, locking eyes for a moment before shaking her head. "No. I'm not a princess! I'm a knight. And a builder. Look at this awesome castle!" Grinning, she continued building the walls upward.

He smiled a little, handing her another block. "…But you're a girl, Julie. Girls can't be knights…."

She huffed at him, puffing up her chest and resting her hands on her hips. "Who says?" she asked haughtily. "Girls can be everything boys can be! I'm an awesome lady knight! I have a suit of armor and a sword and a big, fast horse and I can fight all the bad guys! The prince hasta have someone to protect him, you know!" She stuck her tongue out at him and continued building, shooing away the mean little Italian girl who tried to take some of the blocks.

Blinking, Matthew looked her over, frowning a little. "…Can you really do all that stuff…? I mean…." Matthew couldn't even do that. And weren't boys supposed to protect girls, and take care of them? Not the other way around. Julchen should be a princess. And he should be a knight.

She nodded. "Ja! My vati is teaching me to use a sword, and he's gonna start teachin' Monika next year! I'll be the best knight ever! You can make me captain of your royal guard! That sounds cool, huh? Awesome!" She started building the roof of the castle now.

Matthew smiled and nodded. It was true that he was the boy, and she was the girl. She should be the princess, the one he took care of. But she was good at fighting and horseback riding and all sorts of things he wasn't good at. So it was good that she was a knight, and not him.

He was better at stuff, too. He was better at reading and writing—he could write his whole name, plus the alphabet, plus some other words, too—and he was better at fixing arguments, and better at listening to their teacher. So maybe she was right. Julchen was a good knight, and Matthew was a good prince.

"There! The castle's all finished!" Julchen beamed proudly at the structure, which had indeed needed all of the blocks. Four turrets stood on top, one on each corner, and she'd found a little plastic flag somewhere an set it on top. It was a great castle, really. Matthew nodded, turning toward her.

"Yep! Because my favorite knight is the best castle-builder in the world! Now it just needs a name." He thought for a moment. "…How about Julie and Matt Manor? Or…the Jones-Biel…Beilschmidt…Manor?"

Julchen blinked. "…But Matt! Castles don't get named after knights, remember?"

He grinned at her, a sly grin. "They do if the knight turns into a queen."

"But I'm not—!"

"You can still be a knight if you marry the prince, right? Lady Julchen Jones."

She blushed. "I…! Oh, Matt! I'm gonna get you for that!"

Laughing, he leapt to his feet and ran off, as she gave chase. Julchen Jones. It had a nice ring to it.

I like the idea of Julchen being more of a hyper child than her male counterpart. And I didn't want to switch their roles around just because their genders were swapped, so you get Prince!Matthew and Lady Knight!Julchen. XD I decided to go ahead and bend everyone's gender so that it wouldn't be just them. uwu

Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed so far! I don't reply to all reviews, but I'm really glad you all like this and think it's cute. .

Feel free to leave me some constructive criticism, too! It's always appreciated! :D