Change of Dress

Dave looked through the clothes, realizing very quickly that there was something very, very, horribly wrong.

A moment later, Dirk popped his head through the doorway.

"Hey, Dave."

Dave looked over his shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Has anything, you know, unusual happened yet?"

"You mean the dresses?"

Dirk's face paled a little. "So they got to you, too, huh?"

"Yeah." Dave said, trying not to sound as disturbed as he was.

"I think the girls decided to pull some kind of practical joke and switch all our clothes with the dresses. John and Jake's, too."

Dave sighed. That did sound like them. There wasn't a lot going on right about now, and they got restless from time to time…

"We have to put them on." Dave said with resolve.

"What?"

"We can't let them win. If we let this bother us then they win. We've got to show them that we're man enough to wear a dress."

Dirk stared at him for a moment, seemingly in shock.

"You know I never, ever, ever thought I'd hear that sentence come out of your mouth."

"Me neither, Bro." Dave replied, pulling out a dress. "Me neither. Go tell John and Jake."

~~~~~

"I can't believe we're doing this." John said quietly, trying not to fidget, but failing miserably.

"You better believe it, chap." Jake muttered dejectedly. "We're all sitting here in women's clothing."

In fact, they were all sitting there in women's clothing. Sitting on the couch in front of a computer monitor they now used as a television. The Striders were obviously more comfortable with it than their friends.

"I don't know what you two are complaining about." Dave said. "I, personally, am quite enjoying it. What with the whole ease of mobility shit and stuff."

"Well of course you're fine with it," John shot back. "You're Mister Cool Ironic Guy."

"And I feel like Tinkerbell." Jake mumbled. "I look like Tinkerbell."

"I don't know, English," Dirk said. "I think it suits you."

Jake reddened a bit, but quickly looked away. "You're really not making this any less awkward."

Dirk smiled a little. "Wasn't trying to."

"How long do we have to do this?" John asked, obviously becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the garment.

"You only have to wear it until the girls realize that they've lost and give us our clothes back." Dave replied, as if this were a simple matter of fact.

"What if they don't?" Jake pressed.

"Then we all wear dresses for the rest of our lives."

John made an altogether inhuman sound and Dirk looked over at him.

"Come on, it's not that bad, is it?"

"John," Dave said before John had a chance to answer. "I will give you twenty boonbucks to stand up and twirl around in that dress."

"No!" John squealed, sounding terrified at the very thought.

"Twirl, John. You know you want to."

"If it's so fun, why don't you do it?!"

Without a single word, Dave got off the couch, and spun around in a neat little circle before sitting back down.

John and Jake stared at him in shock, Dirk more in a dazed confusion.

"Your turn." Dave said.

"No." John said firmly.

"Jake, twirl." Dave continued.

"I will do nothing of the sort!" He cried.

Dave leaned back into the couch. "You guys are no fun. Kill-joys, all of you."

"You don't see anyone else leaping up to spin around, now do you?" Jake asked. "You're quite obviously the only one who has profound amounts of joy in this situation."

"I have profound amounts of joy in this situation," Dirk countered raising his hand.

"Then you twirl!" John said.

And then, just as Dave had, Dirk stood up, spun around and sat back down, the two brunettes staring at him with open mouths.

"Well, it appears we have been proven wrong," Jake muttered.

"We've twirled, now twirl, you pansies. You'll like it." Dave pressed.

"I still fail to see what spinning around in a little circle in these ridiculous clothes could possibly accompl-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Dirk stood up and pulled him off the couch. "You're gonna twirl even if I have to make you do it myself."

Looking embarrassed and terrified and just a little angry, Jake scoffed. "Alright, then! You want me to twirl, I'll twirl! Look! Twirling!" He said, spinning around.

Dave began snickering and Dirk looked altogether triumphant.

"You too, Egbert." Dave said.

"What?! But I don't want to–"

"You can't just sit and watch us all twirl and expect to be able to sit there without twirling yourself." Dave continued. "You are going to twirl. You can do it the easy way, or the hard way, it's up to you."

Looking like he had seen a ghost, John got up very slowly, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. He shifted his weight on his feet nervously a few times before he took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, and spun around. When they saw his face again, he looked like a little kid on Christmas morning.

"That's weird!" He exclaimed, clearly pleased. "It's all…billowy. There's like a breeze."

Everyone stared at John, the Striders much more pleased with the result than Jake, who seemed more disturbed by this than when Dirk had spun around.

"See, what did I tell you," Dave said. "I said you'd like it, and you obviously do."

John spun around again, still amazed at the sensation.

"Maybe this isn't such a bad thing," Jake murmured.
~~~~~

"We should go check on them, see if they're freaking out yet." Jade said.

"I'm surprised they haven't come begging for their clothes back yet," Jane put in.

"It's not entirely like them to grovel," Rose pointed out.

"I kinda hope they put on the clothes we left," Roxy slurred. "I'd like to see 'em all in dresses."

They were walking through the hallways, trying to locate the boys.

"I can imagine Dave might," Rose muttered. "What with his irony and all."

"I don't think Jake would." Jade added. "I don't really see him being entirely comfortable with the idea. Or John." She said as an afterthought.

"Dirk would." Roxy said, taking another sip of her martini. "Dirk would totes be in that dress."

"Where are they?" Jane wondered.

After a few more minutes of searching, they passed by the door, hearing low conversation and what sounded like television.

Rose opened the door, looked inside, as the others behind her did, and froze, her mouth hanging slightly open.

What the girls saw went against everything they thought they knew about their friends. Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was shocking nonetheless.

They were all sitting on the couch, each in a dress. Dave was leaning back, as comfortable as if this were any other normal day. Dirk was beside him, looking equally content, and arm draped around Jake's shoulder, who was smiling despite looking shockingly like Tinkerbell. John was sitting beyond him, playing absentmindedly with the hem of the skirt, grinning like he did when Ghostbusters was on.

The girls stood there in shock, unable to quite comprehend what was going on. After a moment, the boys seemed to realize they were standing there and looked at them.

"'Sup," Dave said casually. "How are all you today?"

~~~~~

"Let me get this straight," Jade said, holding her head in her hands. "You all, you actually…enjoy wearing those?"

Jake cracked a small smile and John nodded vigorously.

"Looks like your little plan back-fired, ladies." Dave said cooly. "I can't speak for the others, but I've grown attached to this," he added, fingering the hem of the skirt.

Roxy was trying not to laugh, and failing, making odd little gurgling noises. Rose was watching them the way one might watch a bug they were fascinated by, and were debating whether or not it was safe to touch. Jane was a little more obvious in her reaction, staring at her friends, one eyebrow arched.

"Well," Rose began. "It's safe to say that that certainly didn't work the way we planned."

"You're really gonna keep those, aren't you?" Jane asked.

"Yes." John replied not a moment later. "Yes we are."

"Just face it," Dirk said. "We won. You lost. We got some dresses, you've been scarred for life. End of story."

"Well." Jade murmured. "I guess we'll just go then."

The girls cleared out very quickly and Jake laughed.

"This is a lot more fun than I expected it to be."

John looked forward, staring ahead blankly. Finally, he spoke. "I want to twirl again."