Le Madame Red

So you like a woman with brains?...

Grell stared at the pinball machine and then back at his classmate. Had she dressed up fancy for nothing? Well, this was disappointing. "Pinball?" she looked at him.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted this to be a date. But then you showed up here, looking like that, with a fancy dress and everything. You're totally restaurant ready and I'm an idiot. I'm sorry. I just figured you weren't that interested in me so obviously this wasn't a date. You also seemed kind of mad at everything so I figured you could annihilate me in pinball, since I suck at it, and cheer up a bit," he sighed. Grell looked at him a bit closer. He didn't seem anything like the type of guy that would spend his time playing pinball in the back of a comic book shop. He didn't even seem like the kind of guy that read comics.

"It's fine, I'm wearing this for me, not you," she lied. She had spent most of the night trying to figure out if she wanted to be fancy or casual, and now here she was having picked the wrong choice. Why didn't she just check the address he texted before deciding what to wear? She was an idiot. Almost just as stupid as Adrian.

As much as Grell hated to admit it, she was having a good time. She was the competitive sort, and loved putting people in their place, that much was obvious. "My name is William, by the way," he said after a while.

"Grell," she replied.

"Oh, I know who you are," he said. "You're kind of hard not to notice," he chuckled.

"You've noticed me?" Grell was almost flattered. Almost, because well, who wouldn't notice her? Heads turned when she walked in the room. It was a talent.

"Of course," William smiled, slightly, he wasn't really good at looking approachable. "I've always enjoyed the comments you had in class. Then you started showing up late more and more often, it was a bit depressing, honestly," he confessed.

"Oh? So you like a woman with brains? I wasn't expecting that," Grell said. The two were now drinking milkshakes outside the comic shop. Grell had annihilated William in pinball, obviously and was treating him to make him feel better.

"What were you expecting?" William asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Grell shrugged. "Not that. Most guys are, you know, after the looks."

"I'm not like that," William sighed. "There isn't any easy way to say this, but I was born a female," he smiled, albeit sadly. "Never looked right, though, of course, so I saved up and, well, now I'm here."

"You?" Grell leaned back to take a good look. "Really? Impossible."

William laughed. "I'll show you the top surgery scars another day. In any case, now that we're on the same page, you don't have to be so distant with me, you know? I was only looking to be your friend, honestly, but I'm not going to deny that I'm attracted to you."

Grell started crying. She wasn't sure why, but tears began to flow. No one had ever said that. No one had even thought of her as a person. Well, except for Adrian. Adrian was the only friend Grell had and she'd fucked that up in high school. She needed to apologize to him. She cried. She continue to cry. William frantically gestured, trying to find his emergency pocket tissues.

"Here," he handed them to her. "I'm sorry, I don't know if it was me or not but...I'm sorry," he apologized.

"No, no, it's not you," Grell sobbed. She rested her head on his shoulder and continued drinking her milkshake. "I've spent my whole life trying to cope with my dick. I wanted to be a man. It just didn't work. I'm terrified of committing myself to being a woman, even though I know I'm not a man, but being a women is so shit. You know? So, I'm stuck with this," she gestured to herself. "I'm stuck being an awkward in-between piece of shit that terrorizes men for a living. Sorry, you probably don't want to know any of that," Grell sighed. She wiped her tears with a tissue from the tissue pack.

"What do you do for a living?" William asked.

"I'm a dominatrix," she said. "I allow men to be released from their constricting masculinity. I'm a hero, I know. How does that make you feel?"

"I don't know, actually, but if that's what you want to do it's your choice, isn't it?"

"Do you want to be dominated, William?" Grell laughed. The edges of his ears turned red.

"I'm sorry," William sighed. "I've never been very well versed in the sex area. So, I'm just...trying my best to be helpful."

"My God, you make it so easy for someone to want to violate you. Do you know that?" The redness traveled down his ears and managed to make it to his face. A proper blush.

William stood up and offered his hand. Grell accepted. "Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked, a proper gentleman.

"Yes, I think I'd enjoy that," she smiled.

The two walked off into the night, hand in hand, like a couple. This had only been their first date but it felt as if they'd been together for years.