Chapter 15
Joan was quick to dry herself off and get dressed again. She had no interest in staying uncovered and unarmored by clothing. For the first time since her father witnessed her sisters forcing one upon her, Joan donned a bra. It was tight, the metal thing under the bust dug into her ribs, but it did help. It particularly helped her feel secure. Ever since the beginning of all this, Joan felt insecure and bare when it came to her chest. But, with the bra to cover and support her, things seemed notably better. A nice dress, makeup, and her heels also seemed to fit more and more as her body developed, as she began to match who she truly was. It was nice. And when in concert with getting to tell Cinder off, Joan felt much better about herself.
She felt much better about herself all the way up until Mercury came barging into her room with her lunch. "Alright Pussyboi- or is it Dickgirl? Not really sure with whatever the hell she's got going planning." Mercury announced gruff and cold, stomping his way in.
"I- what!" Joan's face shifted to reflect her disgust for both the terms.
"What's she callin you now? I know it's not Jaune no longer." Mercury answered and tossed the tray with Joan's lunch off to a desk. He was so careless, the top half of Joan's sandwich went flying off the plate and down onto the floor. "Oops, sorry." Mercury shrugged.
"It's- it's Joan. My name's Joan." Joan settled with a soft nod. It was the first time she had said it out loud; that Joan was her name now. It felt like a momentous step. She wondered how Ren and Nora would have reacted. Ren wasn't one to care, and Nora wouldn't judge, but Joan imagined that Nora would be delighted about it; that she had made a step forward for herself. For just a moment, Joan imagined another world where she had been able to discover this all on her own, where her friends could surround her through every step.
Ruby and Nora would go nuts about it all- overzealous as they often were. Nora would demand a celebration, and Ruby would assert it couldn't be a celebration without cookies. Ren and Blake would likely have nothing but a careless shrug for the whole event, but they would go along with it to make their teams happy. Weiss- well, she likely wouldn't care either- hell, she might actually have some opposition or bigoted thoughts about it, but Joan couldn't imagine Weiss being a dick about it if Ruby was accepting; and she failed to imagine a world where Ruby was anything but accepting. The heiress had always been head over heels for the red head even if she pretended to hate her. Joan could see that clearly ever since her petty crush passed.
She imagined that, to make Ruby happy, Weiss might make a thing out of it, be kind and help Joan find some clothes that were more her. The same for Yang- she was always a sucker for anything that made her little sister smile.
Then Joan thought to her own sisters. She snickered to herself when she thought about the abundance of hand me downs she would get just so her sisters could clear out their closets for new things. Her mother would likely do the same.
Her father? Joan… she knew he would be some kind of disappointed- but… somehow she also knew it wouldn't last; that her father would love her more than the idea of a son.
Oddly enough, it was Pyrrha Joan wasn't sure about. When she started it all, when she first got captured, Joan pinned more on the ace huntress than she should have. She knew that- even if she didn't want to admit it to herself. At the beginning, when Joan had time for nothing but being tortured, it was only good. Building up the huntress that taught her everything she knew only made things easier. If Joan could make Pyrrha some inhuman goddess that loved her against all logic, then taking whatever beating, whatever torture, whatever pain Cinder could dish out, it would be that much easier.
And Pyrrha was an inhuman goddess to Joan. Pyrrha was- in so many ways, Pyrrha was the woman Joan wanted to be. She wanted to have all of Pyrrha's confidence and kindness. All the love and empathy with all the strength. Maybe that was why she fought so hard to fantasize about Pyrrha? If- if Pyrrha's love could linger past Joan's gender, then she truly would be perfect. But… some part of Joan feared that might not be the case. Maybe the story she had told herself was a story alone.
There was nothing wrong with Pyrrha if she was straight and Joan no longer lingered on her radar for dating. There was nothing wrong with that, it just meant the story she wrote for this fictitious life might not be as plausible as she wished it to be. She knew Pyrrha would never be mean, or cold, or even anything less than an immaculate friend; she could only ever have the best of wishes for Joan as Joan. But not being Jaune might lose her that last piece she envisioned as being a part of her perfect life.
"Joan, huh?" Mercury sneered and drew the woman out of her ponderous thoughts. "You sure Pussyboi and Dickgirl aren't more apt?" He chuffed. "Or maybe just Fa-"
"Shut up Mercury." Joan cut off before the disgusting man could loose the abhorrent slur.
"Huh, fine, fine, Joan it is." Mercury threw up his hands in quite the show. They fell again rather quickly however. He produced a sizeable bottle of lotion "So, Joan." He introduced and spun the bottle in his hand. "I can promise you, I am even less interested in this than you are."
"Less interested in what than me?" Joan squinted defensively.
"Look, Cinder… she wanted me to…" Mercury looked down to the bottle of lotion. "Ah shit. I didn't grab any gloves."
"Gloves?"
"Yeah, 'parently this shit will burn off my hair if I use it or something?" Mercury looked over his palms and then the back of his hands. "Eh, just don't squirm and I'll try not to get any on my arms, alright?"
"Why would I be squirming?" Joan retreated further back on her bed. Scared, she pulled her legs back and under the floofs of her dress.
"I don't think this stuff is supposed to hurt, but my hands aren't particularly the softest- callouses from training with my weapon 'n all, and to my understanding, this is gonna require I touch some very… ahh… intimate-"
"Just give it to me, I'll give it myself!" Joan held her hand out.
"No can do Boss." Mercury shook his head. "You really think I wouldn't have started there if I could have?"
"You have got to be kidding me."
"How about you just give her whatever the hell she wanted, and we can skip all this gay shit?"
"I- it's not ga- uugh. No, I'm not selling out Pyrrha."
"Ah, I guess that makes sense if that's what she wants." Mercury sighed. "You're really deadset in not giving up, huh?"
"Pretty much." Joan affirmed.
"Well, fuck then. Guess you've gotta take off the dress."
"What?! No! I am not taking it off!"
"Jaune- Joan, whatever- fuck she's gonna kill me for using your name." Mercury murmured to himself. "I gotta do this. Now, we can have you strip down like a man, or I can go march back out, get the remote to your shock collar, and you'll be all shuttering and shaking and your junk will be all be floppin around in my face and just… I don't want that, do you?"
"Just let me do it myself. I'll lotion everything she shaved, alright." Joan desperately grabbed a pillow to cover her chest as she felt his eyes lingering on it.
"Did- did she give you tits- like, real tits?"
"Oh my- Brothers Mercury! Just leave the lotion with me and go." Joan pulled the pillow in tighter for what defense it could offer.
"Damn, can't tell if I'm jealous of you always having tits to squeeze or if I for sorry for you man." Mercury smirked.
Joan felt her skin crawl. That was never what she cared about. The only aspect to touching her breasts that she ever enjoyed was how they felt and how it reaffirmed her gender. It was never about being able to be a perv and getting to touch a pair of breasts.
"Eh, I promise I won't cop any more of a feel than I have to, alright?"
"Mercury!"
"Now, strip and let's get this over with. I have a lunch to eat too."
"You- you can't be serious."
"Joan, you can either take off your clothes now yourself or I'm gonna have to go get the remote and shock you n'-"
"Fine! Fine!" Joan shuttered and turned her back to Mercury.
"Thank you." Mercury settled.
"Just… just look away." Joan peeled her clothes off and felt her blood go cold at every patch of flesh laid bare.
"Oh come on, I know we weren't in the same training classes, but it's not liek this is all that different from the locker rooms. Frankly, you're the one makin it weird by being such a girl about it." Mercury huffed.
Joan wanted to scream that there was an obvious reason she acted how she did. She was a girl! Didn't he see that?! How could he miss that?!
"Well, thanks for not makin me shock ya I guess." Mercury offered earnestly. Joan wasn't a fan of his, but she could tell that he was honest about his disinterest.
"Just… just get it over with." Joan shivered from the cold glare she imagined on her bare body.
"Panties too. She said I had to get all of what she shaved." Mercury almost audibly cringed.
"Brothers." Joan murmured to herself. She slipped them off and kicked them to the side, trying to hide whimpers of discomfort and shame all the while.
"Ok, Umm… I guess I'll start with your arms and back, ok?" Mercury offered. "It'll be less bad if we aren't looking at each other."
Joan hated that she agreed, but she did and she nodded something distinctly less than her consent, but her alright all the same.
Mercury was right, his hands were calloused and rough in a displeasurable way. Thankfully, the lotion didn't burn. It had a slight cooling sensation, but it soaked in quickly. "Ok, I'm gonna work up from your ankles now; while you've still got your back to me. I don't need your junk in my face any longer than it has to be."
"Ok." Joan agreed.
Mercury's hands worked faster. He clearly didn't like it, but he lathered it on thick so everything got covered. "She shaved your fuckin ass didn't she?"
Joan nodded without a word.
"Fuckin damnit. Did she want me to finger you while I was at it?"
"Please don't."
"Not in the cards pal… even if your ass is rounding out- did you always have a fucking dump truck back here?" Mercury's tone turned on a dime, but to Joan's relief, he still didn't seem interested.
"It's a side effect of the hormones and dust she sneaks into my food."
"What?!"
"She drugs my food?"
"That fucking cunt! She knew I'd steal your cookie."
Joan snickered.
"I don't know who I'm gonna kill if I start growing tits, you or her."
"I didn't give you my cookie. Plus, I think it's mostly in the water anyways."
"Ok, well, tense up and spread em. I want this done quick."
Joan obeyed, eager to get it over with, but when Mercury didn't proceed, she grew horrified of what he might do.
"Don't you have a lick of pride?" Mercury questioned accusatorily.
"What?"
"Seriously? She has you wearing a fucking butt plug? Come on dude, no bitch is worth all this."
"Pyrrha isn't some- I- I don't even think she would want me now- now that I'm-" Joan bit her tongue.
"All the more reason to sell her out."
"She is my friend."
"You really don't have any pride as a man, do you?" Mercury huffed, but didn't seem to have much else to say as he moved ahead to lather up Joan's ass.
The captive nearly tried to kill him when Mercury pulled the plug out to get even down her crack. She didn't because she didn't feel like getting shocked or harassed by him any further.
"Sorry, had to get there."
"The least you could have done was warn me! Or let me take it out myself."
"Whatever, turn around, I'll get your face and chest then… ah god, I'm gonna strangle her for this."
Joan turned around to see Mercury already standing again. "If you were going to lay a finger on her, you wouldn't be bitching about it to a naked me."
"Well, you got me there." Mercury nearly slapped the lotion onto Joan's face and began to work it down.
Joan just looked away again. She gritted her teeth and tried to wait it out. If she just waited it out, it would be over soon and she would not have to deal with it anymore- hopefully this would not be a regular thing.
"Ha! No wonder you ain't got no pride. Look at that tiny little thing. Microdick- more like a fat fuckin clit." Joan had never been more appreciative of an insult in her life. She knew it was an insult, but having it called that, even by a dick dude bro like Mercury? It was far more validating than it had any reason to be. "Fucking hell, she really turned you into a chick."
"Just- just get it over with."
"Yeah, whatever, Joan." Mercury rolled his eyes and quickly slathered Joan's undercarriage in the lotion. "Welp, there we go. Don't piss her off like that again. I don't wanna have to come back here and do that again."
Joan crumpled back down into her bed and covered herself shamefully with her covers.
"She did tell me I could leave this with you when I was done tho, so, I guess that's a good sign." He tossed the bottle to Joan's side.
Joan curled into her blankets tighter.
"Well, g'night then." Mercury threw his hands up and he was off.
End of Chapter 15
