[Aug 14] As pretty as you are, you know you could've been a flower | for Rosie

[shadows_have_offended]

Waking up was a strange experience. There's something, upon waking, that isn't quite right, and Neil's not sure how to put it. Like the bed has gotten larger, or he's gotten smaller. He's alone--and it strikes him that he knew that. Since Nick's disappearance, Neil's been doing his best to not have Caleb over, not wanting to upset the quiet sanctity of his and Rosie's apartment. When she's ready for friends over, they'll come. But it will be up to her, and not him.

He stretches a little, and it's that that really starts to clue him in. How his shirt and shorts move against his body. Weird. But he's still mostly asleep, and it doesn't really mean anything except that he's tangled up in clothes and sheets.

So, blinking sleep out of his eyes, he clambers out of bed and to the bathroom, intent on going through the regular sleepy motions of waking up. Toilet, shower, brushing his teeth, all of those sorts of things. Except--

He doesn't scream, exactly, when he reaches down and doesn't find his dick. He does make a noise. He definitely falls on his ass, scrambling to both look at what's going on and urgently pull his shorts back up so that he doesn't have to. Now that he's startled awake, he's aware of being, well, small. Small shoulders and small waist and small hands. Of breasts under his t-shirt. He doesn't want to look in the mirror, like seeing his reflection makes it more real.

Maybe he can just go back to bed?

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[shadows_have_offended]

Neil starts for the door, then circles back. He pauses to press a kiss to Rosie's cheek, a little mumble of thanks pressed into the gesture before he scurries out.

"I can get breakfast started," he promises. He's not a very good cook, but he's gotten a bit better about things, and he can at least scramble some eggs and make toast. And Rosie is putting herself out to take care of him, so he should take care of her as much as he can.

In any case, he leaves her to it, heading to the kitchen.

[forthsofar]

Rosie smiles at the kiss, the affection and gratitude contained in it and the accompanying half-mumbled bit of thanks. "Alright," she says when he offers to start on breakfast. She would have understood if he'd left it all to her, if even the simple work of starting toast or putting the kettle on was beyond him after waking up in a body not his own--but he offers, and that's one bit of normalcy she isn't about to take away.

It doesn't take her long to change, picking out a light, summery dress--with pockets, thank you very much--and setting aside a pair of sandals for when they actually leave the house. Going down the hall and into the kitchen, there's still a quick, internal moment where she expects to see Neil as Neil when she gets there. This bit of Darrow trickery is never that fast, though, not for anyone she's known.

Giving him a smile, she goes to the cabinet, getting down two plates for the eggs and toast.