CHAPTER 6 - Back to school

Chris and Claire were standing by the front door of their house, facing the street in front of them. The garden, the cobblestone driveway, the trimmed bushes, the autumnal tinted trees, the pale but radiant sun... it all looked beautiful and neat in that first day of October. Even they were just beautiful. All that beauty around them was such a contrast with their inner selves, with the dark mood they were sharing. They were scared. Scared to make a mess of their switched lives. Truth was their lives were already a total fucked up mess.

It was Monday and they were going to hit school again for the first time after the accident. A whole week had passed since that fateful day. They had spent the previous days "training" for that comeback but regardless that, now that they were there, on the front porch, door closed behind them, they were starting to feel nervous.

"Here we are, Claire" real Chris said looking up at her.

"Yeah..." she sighed with a hoarse voice, gaze scanning the street.

"It's gonna be a hard day, darling."

She nodded silently in response.

"Claire, are you ready?" he asked turning towards her.

"Wanna know the truth?" She said rising an eyebrow.

"Yes..."

"I'm not ready at all, Chris. I don't think I'd ever be. I just wish I could go back inside."

"We have the same wish then..." He said, looking warmly at her and squeezing the hand he was holding. She squeezed back, gently.

"I know what you're going to say, Chris. And you're right. Hiding is not an option."

"You know me, Claire." He smiled. Chris Redfield wasn't the kind of guy to hide his face in the sand in front of a problem. No matter how scary, he'd just not run, he would stand and fight.

Real Claire breathed in the chill air deeply and breathed it out loudly. "Stick to the plan?"

"Stick to the plan!"

And, once descended the few wooden steps, they started walking down the alleyway, towards their usual bus stop, holding hands tightly. Unaware of their mother's concerned and moved stare, standing right back the dining room's big window. Lily's heart was leaving the house and her chest along with her kids. That wouldn't have been an easy day neither for her, albeit she had taken a day off to be ready to dash to their school at the minimal call for help, Lily would've remained home holding breath and hoping the plan would just work fluidly. "Good luck, my babies!" she sighed, letting the white curtain fall back on its place.

The "plan" they had settled was plain simple: talk only when necessary, avoid tricky situations and get home alive.

A plan that simple could have only one possible outcome: being fucked up.

Real Chris could feel her grip tighten as long as they were approaching the bus stop. Another few steps and it would start aching bad. He stopped, forcing that human colossus of his sister to stop as well. They locked eyes and real Claire leaned down placing her forehead on his and her free hand on the back of his head, right under the ponytail.

"I'm scared, Chris."

"I know. I'm scared too. But we're strong. This is our biggest struggle in our lives so far, but I know we're able to fight it back."

Claire smiled and sighed, blowing her toothpaste scented breath on the below gorgeous face.

"I love you, Chris."

"I love you too, Claire."

They would be soon separated as they attended different classes but they'd never be really apart. Their respective hearts would be beating inside the other's chest. They just had to act normally. As normally as the other would.

They glimpsed their friends in the distance and, deep breath, they started up the secret show.

When they parted they were feeling a little stronger. A little more determined to kick that shitty day right in the ass.

They should've imagined that the only asses kicked would have been their own.

They arrived at the bus stop.

Real Chris soon spotted Jill and Rebecca in that small young crowd and went forward, right after the mandatory kiss that, with accuracy, was left on the temple by those male lips once were his own.

"Hey Claire! So nice to see you... again!" Rebecca shouted, joyfully throwing herself in her friend's arms.

Damn, he wasn't used at being called by his sister's name. At home they all just still called him Chris.

Rebecca looked startled at his eyes. Shit, had she already deduced everything? Girls must have superpowers!

"Claire, you healed completely, right? Or you still contagious?" She said smiling but not concealing a little worry.

"Easy Becky" - yes, Claire said she used to call her friend this way, he thought - "I've totally healed. You can stand by me safely." Even though I'd like everyone to keep distance today. He tried a little chuckle. If not to conceal his disguising as Claire, at least to put himself at ease in front of the petite brunette.

"Admit it" Jill intervened, with her typical unperturbed way "you just wanted a week off from that sexy human bore of professor Wesker, uh?"

Real Chris laughed. He knew that freak well as Wesker had been his teacher too in the past, obviously he disagreed about the sexiness but not about the boredom of his monotonous, tedious parlance.

"You got me, Jill! That was my plan all the time" fake Claire blinked.

"Who knows which teacher your brother was escaping from then!" Jill added keeping laughing along.

Real Chris took less than a second to find the answer, if he'd ever had to take a break from a teacher, it would have been of course because of that evil queen Miss Ada Wong was and was going to spell her name when he was interrupted by Rebecca's talking.

"Teachers? Naaaah... if Chris should run from someone it'd be all the girls drooling over him!"

She could've stopped there and that comment would have just gone unnoticed, but she had to be Rebecca, and Rebecca would never keep her tongue at bay, and nudging her friend's arm, she added "... girls like you Jill!"

The other just rolled her eyes and said nothing.

"Why so perplexed, Claire?" Rebecca asked "Oh, come on girl! You know it... Jill's crush is not a secret... well... except for herself!"

So, Jill had a crush on him? Nice. Irrelevant, but nice. He'd never date one of his sister's girl friends. No matter how beautiful she'd be.

"I don't have a crush on your brother. How many other times do I have to say it before you'll leave me alone?" Jill said face forward fake Claire with a bored tone.

"I know, Jill, don't worry" fake Claire said trying to kill the tiff.

Rebecca stared at her friend in disbelief.

They were texting about Jill's crush just the night before! Why wasn't she teasing Jill just like all the other times?

Real Chris somehow sensed her doubts and, trying to stick to the plan, he decided to shut up hoping the girls might soon pass to other matters. He didn't have to wait too long though.

"Oh my God!" Rebecca said, extending that last "o" as long as her jaw remained dropped, distorting her features into a funny grimace, looking past her friend.

Curious, real Chris turned and saw... nothing. Absolutely nothing that interesting to justify such an awe. There were just the usual people waiting for the usual bus to pass.

"See what?" He asked puzzled, still wondering.

"That ASS" this time she prolonged the "s", turning it into a hiss.

The ass she was referring to was actually Leon's. He had bent down to pick up a hat or something from the ground and his round buttocks were pointing in their direction.

Still nothing interesting, he thought, and looked back at Becky trying to keep his face neutral. She was still staring in total awe, utterly lost in that vision and, if she kept her mouth open that way a little bit longer, a small rivulet of saliva would have appeared for sure.

He laughed internally. He just couldn't believe that Leon's butt would cause such a reaction on that girl.

Oh come on! Mine's way better than that!

He looked at his butt, his ex beautiful perfectly shaped butt.

That's an ass worth the staring, girl!

His male pride was hurting a little. Just a little. Leon was an undoubtedly good-looking guy, even in Chris' opinion, but when it came to physique there were no comparisons! He himself had the body of an Adonis.

"Nah... come on Becky" he said grimacing "it's not that much of an ass... I've seen better."

"Oh please. You have no taste at all in male body, Claire" she responded, in a mocking manner "just remember Brad. I mean... that speaks for itself!" and clapping rhythmically her hands she added "You. Have. No. Taste. At. All."

Brad?! Vickers?! Did his sister have a crush on that asshole? He hated that guy.

Brad Vickers was one year older than Chris and the latter hated him since, three years before, that bastard huge piece of shit tried to humiliate him at the end of physical education class, in the school's gym locker room, because Chris had taken the defences of a poor guy that had been victimized by that half piece of a bully.

Back then Chris was fifteen and thinner but he succeeded to place a couple of well settled punches on the other's face, hard enough to make Brad slam violently on the lockers. But it was Vickers to almost have the best of him in the end, and he would've devastated him for sure if the other guys didn't intervene. Since that day Chris considered himself as a sworn enemy of Vickers'.

And now it turned out that the precious bloom of his sister was had a crush on that motherfucker? Unacceptable!

He was disgusted. And his disgust was showing plainly on his face.

"C'mon Claire" Jill said looking at the red-haired with an unimpressed gaze "don't do that face! Beck's right. We'll never understand what you saw in that idiot… maybe it was the bastard fashion that attracted you, who knows? and we all know you wish you never dated him, especially after what he did. But you can't deny you liked him… for a while. And, believe me, talking about beauty and butts, compared to Leon... Brad's nothing more than an ant in front of an elephant."

Real Chris had to collect all his self-control (and that was a very hard thing for him to do) not to lose his mind in that moment, on that sidewalk, in front of everybody, cursing the name of that motherfucker.

Not only he had just discovered his sister had dated that big bitch of Vickers, but also that he had done something to her. Apparently something not good. He had to know what. But he just couldn't ask them. Because, being disguised as Claire, he was supposed to know it already. He made up his mind to directly ask his sister later.

"Sup Chris". "Hey Buddy". "Look who brought his fat ass back to the liviiiiiing! Chris you bitch!"

Real Claire was granted by her brother's friend's strong pats on her. Fortunately Chris' body was pretty thick or she'd just get aching shoulders soon. There were Leon, Piers and Carlos. Only Kevin was missing as he had to hit a different bus to get to school.

"Hey guys, nice to see you too" she giggled, trying to impress the way Chris laughed and talked to his friends.

"How was the flu? Heard that this season one's gonna be pretty tough, uh?" Piers asked.

"I've been worse, man."

"Dude! You missed many things this week!" Carlos started blurting out loud " freaking Wong in a red skirt dude! Man! You should've seen that! And oh... when she bent... Jesus! That g-string! Almost came, man. Almost came."

"Carlos, cut the shit!" Leon said rolling his eyes in complete annoyance "stop talking about Wong's ass. You're not talking 'bout anything else since last Wednesday! You spammed it in every fucking group chat we're in! I've had plenty of that!"

"But Leon! Jesus Christ! She was wearing a g-fucking-string! You deaf or gay? - sorry Piers - A thong! And she bent!" Carlos was heating up.

"Come on guys, don't fight upon Miss Wong's back! It's not worth it" fake Chris tried to put an end to the squabble.

"Not worth it?!" Carlos had a sarcastic and upset look on his face "Not worth it! Ha! You say this 'cause you weren't there, dude! Ha! You wish you were, bitch!"

Fake Chris rolled her eyes and... stuck to the plan.

Piers pinched the bridge of his nose to focus and find the patience to speak. "Carlos, we are not saying that that wasn't a good sight, we're-"

"That was heaven, man."

"Call it what you like. We're just complaining about your obsessive talking. And texting. And who knows what else..."

"Oh... I know what else... eh eh..." Carlos winked suggestively at fake Chris "We all know... isn't it, Chris?" and nudged at her side repeatedly.

Real Claire wasn't expecting that. We know what? What was he referring to? Shit. She had to think of something fast or they would read uneasiness on her face. She decided to play for time.

"Do we?" She said winking back.

"Hahahaaaa! Of course we do! Who wouldn't want to hard fuck her?" Carlos said gesturing vehemently making Leon drop the baseball cap he had in hand and curse quietly while picking it from the ground.

"Yep, who wouldn't?" She said back, trying to laugh. It wasn't funny though. She didn't like to hear talking about a woman that vulgarly, evil teacher or not.

"Well, basically no one here, except for me. But I don't think anyone would have a chance." Piers said "You know they say she has an affair with Miss Birkin. I think that's true."

"Even better!" Carlos yelled "good old lesbian sex! Aaaahhhh... That would be a hell of a show! Oooh... man! I'd touch myself to death to such a view!" Again winking at her.

"Still no chances to fuck, dude!" Piers remarked.

"Then we'll jerk off on her again!" Carlos smirked beckoning at fake Chris "or we can hope to have the same blessing of a hot wet dream Chris over here had!"

Stick to the plan! Stick to the plan!

Chris had warned her saying that she might have found Carlos "a bit of a dirty mouth", yet she didn't expect to be talking about his brother having wet dreams or masturbating to his teacher. That was sick.

Hopefully, the bus would pass soon.

Real Claire was sitting at her brother's usual place in Maths class, thrumming her foot nervously on the ground. She had studied like a mad to prepare for the upcoming test. She could feel her heart racing and tiniest pearls of sweat popped up all over her forehead. She wiped it with the back of her hand, just in time to see professor Wong leaving the test sheet on her desk.

Here we go.

She looked at all the questions and exercises. A couple of them were pretty simple, another was surely harder, the last two were... what were they? She had no idea.

She put maximum effort in doing it and tried to recall all the explanations Chris had given her but she wasn't getting much. The sheet she was doing the calculations was full of erasures and it seemed to her that nothing of what she was scribbling was anyhow related to magical planet of Mathematics. The more time passed by, the more discouragement would rise up in her for not having been able to do the test well, despite all of her brother's effort into explain her logarithms. Her hands were shaking and she felt her eyes fill up with tears at the thought of her miserable failure.

The bell rang.

She gave back the answer sheets to Professor Wong and leaned despondently back in the chair. Her head was aching and her heart was falling apart. She had surely made a mess. She had ruined her brother's maths grades. For sure.

Fake Claire, on her side, had to deal with remembering his sister's classmates' names. Of course Claire had taught him all of them, but nervous as he was, many times during the breaks between classes periods he ended up not remembering how to call a girl that his sister had been knowing for years for sure. He walked the corridors with his head low, faking to read something on his phone but he couldn't avoid those annoying girls that attended Claire's same ballet school. Their names? Completely forgotten.

Fortunately, the following lessons went smoother for both of the Redfields. They managed to talk only if asked and not inspire too many doubts.

"You ok, Chris?" Piers asked while queuing at the cafeteria "You look exhausted man!"

"I'm fine, thanks" fake Chris lied.

"You ain't talked much though."

"I'm just... uh... A bit worried about the maths test. I mean I hadn't the chance to study that much last week… because of the flu, you know..."

"Nah... I'm sure you did great! I know I haven't read it but Kevin said it wasn't that difficult... and even if it was, you're one of the best in your class! Look at your grades!"

Fake Chris smiled to reassure Piers she was alright, but inside she only felt worse. The test had been so fucking hard to her!

As Piers started talking with some random dude, fake Chris felt a finger tapping on her shoulder.

"You were weird even before the test, man. You sure you ok?" Leon asked with a serious face.

Claire knew that Leon, even if was two years younger than Chris, had grown pretty close to him. He looked up at Chris. Her brother told her that once Leon said he considered him like the older brother he never had. Obviously he was concerned.

"I'm fine Leon" she faked a smile "I just felt unprepared for the test, unlike I wished I was, to be honest."

"I'm not talking about only this morning, Chris. You've been weird all these past days. I can show you the chats!"

Leon didn't know that the Chris he had been chatting with wasn't the one he was talking to. Because of the phone switch, during the past week, while they were home, him and all the other guys of the gang had texted the real Chris. A Chris inside a girl body with menstruation going on. Claire had actually no idea what they talked about. One thing for sure: he didn't say a word about the accident.

"I got pretty sick... I'm still in the aftermath. I'll recover soon."

Real Chris entered the cafeteria with the girls and immediately spotted fake Chris. He was worried. He wanted to ask Claire how she was doing. He might have texted her. He wanted to hug her though. But he had to stay focused on keeping playing his role. Even if real Claire wouldn't have thought twice about jumping on his back and hugging him from behind in the middle of the crowded room, he preferred not to interfere in her doing. He feared he'd make her upset. He also feared that being close to her might make someone elicit the differences and reveal the truth, standing up and shouting it in the middle of the room.

Silly paranoid fears.

After a while, they were all sitting in distant tables having their lunches with their friends. They just kept glancing at each other all the time, this making them feel a little better. A little closer. But it caused also few girls at the fake Claire's table to start wondering what fake Chris had much interest to glance at from the distance.

"You seeing it?" Ashley asked first.

"Seeing what?" Sheva said, being the only one without food in her mouth.

"Chris." Ashley said "He is looking at us!"

"And so what?"

"He's been doing it since he sat down… I think… I think he has set his sights on someone." she said smirking slyly.

"You seeing things, Ashley." Sheva replied waving her fork in the air as to wipe away that silly concept.

Real Chris was listening carefully at the conversation, being careful to keep his beautiful blue eyes on his food, avoiding his sister's from that point on.

"You say this because you're giving your back at his table, Sheva! You can't see him, but I do. He is watching repeatedly at us!" Ashley insisted.

"It costs me to admit it but..." Moira intervened, covering her full mouth with a hand "Ashley is right. I noticed it too. And he is looking right at this table! It's unequivocal!"

"Ok. Claire!" Rebecca jolly voice interrupted "spill the beans!"

Real Chris looked up speechless. What did that mean?

"Yes, Claire! Speak!" Ashley said pinching his arm.

"W-what? What do you mean?" He was confused and starting to panic.

"You know it! You're his sister! You surely know if he's interested in anyone at this table! And don't you dare say he's just glancing at you, we don't believe it. He is looking too much, too often, too intense to be just checking if his sister is having her veggies!" Rebecca said and, putting up her widest smile, she added "Spill the fucking beans, Claire!"

Damned Rebecca. Real Claire adored her. She said she is the nicest person. But now she was just annoying and putting him in a bad position. Stick... to the plan...

"Yeah! Becky's right!". "Come on Claire!".

Fake Claire looked at them for a while unable to process anything credible to say. He just couldn't pick a random name and say fake Chris was looking at that person. Best option: act dumb.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" he said, returning his attention to his food.

Oldest sentence ever.

"HA! YOU KNOW IT!" Rebecca shouted pointing her index finger straight at her friend. She knew Claire's face too much not to spot the truth on it, even if weren't actually Claire's the thoughts showing.

Why doesn't she just shut the fuck up?

"Girls. Chris is not doing what you think..." he started, struggling to muster a good excuse, before hesitating a bit as he had had a flash of genius "…maybe he's looking at us because some of his friends is telling him to do so..."

They awed loudly almost in unison. Then it was clear for all of them: he might be checking on a girl for one of the guys.

"So... you telling that it's one of Chris' friends to have set his sights on a girl, right?" Sheva asked.

Real Chris nodded in response.

"And you're telling this because you know it for sure? Did Chris tell you anything? Did he say the name?" Rebecca pressed.

Such a pain in the ass that girl is.

"No he didn't say anything."

"So this is your supposition then?"

"Well... uh..."

"You might be saying that because you know that it is Chris the interested one... maybe he told you but forced you to keep the secret... It makes sense..."

Oh stop it you Sherlock of my ass!

"OOOH! I just hope it's not Jill!" Ashley yelled laughing sarcastically, blonde eyebrows jumping up and disappearing under her golden bang "or Chris would have a hard time to make her realize he likes her, emotionally retarded as she is!"

Jill stuck out her tongue and raised a middle finger looking at Ashley in disdain. The other girls laughed, even Rebecca giggled a little. Except for real Chris. He was annoyed.

"Just kidding Jill" Ashley said in a fake sorry but playful mode, bending her head on one side and shrugging mockingly "anyway, whoever Chris may be looking at, lucky her!"

Many nods of approval, even Moira admitted that Chris was really easy on the eyes. And Moira usually gave zero fucks about boys.

"Yep! If I knew Chris would be interested in me I wouldn't think twice about throwing my panties down and myself in his sexy arms..." Sheva added clicking her fingers in the air.

"... And abs... And shoulders... And pectorals... everything!" Ashley added.

Damn. Those girls were talking about how thirsty they were of Chris right in front of what they supposed was actually Claire.

Even if hearing girls talking smutty was amusing... what a fucking relationship they have with Claire to talk like that of her brother in front of her?

His boy friends were not allowed to talk to him about his sister the same way those horny girls were doing! At all!

While thinking that, he saw fake Chris rise from his seat and coming towards him.

As fake Chris approached, the table fell silent. Then the tall boy bent down next to fake Claire and asked how her morning was in the sweetest voice. And fake Claire would just answer putting on a wide smile and talking softly. It was just a short talk, few words, but they needed it. They needed to be close even for just a bit. To see that the other was fine.

Fake Chris stood up and said something about catching up later, then turned his attention to the rest of the table and said goodbye to the girls. Leaving all of them wandering which one in particular he was waving at.

When his sister left, real Chris frowned internally, sorrow surfacing within himself, knowing by then for sure that Claire was deeply hurting and that her morning had been a nightmare.

In the afternoon they had only other two more classes to attend and then that hard day would be over. It was horrible. They felt both terrible, always trying to act cool and avoid difficult questions and those tricky situations mentioned in the plan. But they couldn't skip everything. More than once they'd ended up caught in uncomfortable positions, answers to give, things they didn't know existed to remember. The final bell ring was quite a relief. Even if it wasn't over yet: they had to face the whole bus ride. It seemed to never end.

When they arrived at their bus stop, quick waving at their friends, they headed home almost running. They soon locked hands. They were wrecked. Real Claire was broken. Real Chris was exhausted.

Once home, before getting into the safety of their rooms, they had to face their mother's storming questions about their day and, as they didn't want to give her more worries, they only told it went well even if pretty tough.

Real Claire threw herself on the bed in the Man's Cave, face down. Real Chris did the same in the Girly Room. They stayed that way for a while but after being separated all day, they needed to spend some time together. It was Chris the first one to get up.

He knocked at his old wooden door and waited for Claire to say to come in. He waited a little. No answers. He waited more until he was starting to doubt his sister was still inside. Worried, he opened the door and found that big body laying down, face sunk in the pillows, back rising frantically. His sister was crying.

He climbed hastily on bed next to her and, almost laying on that bulk of muscles, hugged her tight. He murmured sweet words to her ear, caressed her hair, kissed her head, uselessly. She wouldn't stop. Not that what he was doing wasn't right, it always worked in the past, but Claire wanted to hear those same words from her brother's voice, feel his brawny body cuddle her, wrap her, his soft lips nuzzle in her hair. Not just her own girl voice, not her own hands, not her lips. As far as she was concerned, those things were stranger's.

She didn't recognise her brother in that body, in that voice. She wanted Chris back. She needed him more than ever.

But he was there. She knew that. His soul was zero inches away. She knew it was her brother holding her. He was close and caring. She was happy for that. But she was missing the physical part of him. The one she needed in that moment. Because feeling his touch had always had on her the first effect to relent her pains, preparing her to receive the wise words he always had.

"I miss you, Chris."

"Oh, I miss you too, Claire."

Somehow it was similar to him. He missed his old body too. With it he felt stronger, he felt he could really protect her from anything. In this skinny one he felt he wasn't enough. Not enough tall or wide to embrace her fully, not enough strong to carry her.

This body was perfect only for Claire, because she didn't need to be physically strong to be a real force of nature. She didn't need a deep voice to be heard and respected by people. In this body he was lacking his weapons. He had only words. Only his love. And he feared it wasn't enough for her.

He managed to make her turn, face up. Just like that morning he rested his forehead on hers, this time being his the head hovering on, tendrils of auburn hair brushing his old sorrowful wet face. They stayed like that, just like that. Holding hands and locking heads.

"I wish I could fix it up" real Chris whispered.

"You couldn't."

"I know, but I wish."

Her breath was shaking just like the rest of her body, he could feel it on his cheeks and lips.

"I wish I could do more for you, Claire."

"You couldn't."

She was hurting so bad. Shaking more and more. She started panting hard and crying even louder. Clenching fists around her brother's wrists.

She was having a panic attack. A bad one.

She had never experienced panic attacks before. It felt awful.

She started raving, screaming that she had made a mess with the maths test, she had ruined his life, she had done so many mistakes with people during the day that now everyone would be thinking Chris Redfield was crazy or numb, that she was going mad and wasn't able to take care of him as she knew he was hurting as well, and that she just couldn't help it as she was losing control and surely going to die as her heart was pounding too fast and her lungs were shrinking so bad that her ribcage was surely going to collapse.

She screamed all those things in a single long heartfelt sentence. Even if real Chris was worried, he couldn't help feeling his heart melt as most of his sister's worries were about him.

The screams had attracted Lily's attention, that got in and tried to calm down her daughter. Lily had lots of sweet words for her and her gentle manners surely helped put Claire at ease again. It took a while but in the end the panic attack passed and her breath and heartbeats became steady again.

Chris offered to stay with Claire as Lily had to return to the kitchen to finish preparing the dinner.

"Claire..." real Chris said caressing her through the bearded cheeks.

"Chris... I don't want to go to school tomorrow" she said dispirited, but before he could speak she added "if it wasn't that it's about you, your career, I would never go back to school again!"

"You cannot spend the rest of your life at home, after all."

"Why do you talk like that uh?!" She started sobbing again and Chris caressed her more "why do you say it will be like this forever?"

"I don't think that... I hope it won't be like that. But we have to consider the chance that we might never get back to normality again. We must be prepared to anything might come. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, you know?"

Claire glared at him "... and spend God only knows how many days pretending to be someone we're not? Maybe for the rest of our lives? Me trying to be you and you trying to act like a woman?"

She was right. She knew it was her time to speak. So she did. "Do you want to be addressed as a woman forever, when you know you are a man? Do you want to wear clothes you don't like forever? Uh?"

She was unstoppable now, she spitted out some of the fears and worries that had been lingering in her pained mind for days "Would you have children?... Would you give birth? Uh, Chris?! You had problems with fucking periods how would you even manage pregnancy? And I... I don't want to be a man. I am a woman. I want that back. I want my life back! I don't want to be you! I AM CLAIRE!"

Chris had no idea what to say. Claire was fucking right. He had to help her, he wanted it so bad. He could die for his sister. But he was helpless just like her. There was nothing he could say or do. Their genders would remain swapped anyways.

He stood in silence, leaning aside and resting his heavy head on the pillow, downhearted.

For the first time in all his life he felt useless. For the first time he felt weak. For the first time he felt lost. For the first time he felt he couldn't be anymore the protective heroic older brother Claire deserved.

Poor Chris. Am I the only one that wants to hug him so bad?

They are holding on pretty bravely but… the first day of October isn't over yet :D