Lesbosian Mistake

Xander looked, shocked, at the person before him. They’d managed to find a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt, unfortunately each with the Sunnydale High School logo on it, and the… the boy’s hair had been pulled back at the nape of his neck to keep it out of the way. “I… I just don’t believe it.”

“You think I do?” The tone was Willow’s. He could even imagine her panicking voice saying it… but this voice was just a bit deeper, smoother, masculine. It fit the fact that he was looking at a boy. “I… I don’t know what… I mean… How could it… Do you think someone cursed me?”

“It’s possible. I mean… Willow, you’re a guy.” Xander’s usual tact was, of course, in place. He still couldn’t believe it. Giles was currently making himself some tea, boggled as well. The boy grunted and looked down at himself again, the reaction a bit different than he would have pictured on Willow. Girl Willow. Willow who was a girl. Instead of crying, softly and in fear, the boy was just glowering down at his body, baffled and aggravated. It probably had to do with testosterone vs estrogen levels or something. Wow he must have absorbed that through his napping in Bio. “How…”

“That is quite a good question, Xander, of which we have yet to answer. Now, if you would please…” Giles interrupted, gesturing the chairs and trying not to stare at the boy that had been Willow. “Now Willow, if you could please explain to me, again, what happened?”

“I was feeling a little sick after the lunch we had, and thought it was something that I ate.” The boy turned confused, yet still panicked, eyes to the librarian. “My entire body felt… strange… though. Like my skin was too small, and all of my muscles ached. I figured that maybe it was some weird food poisoning that I hadn’t read about yet, and went to the bathroom when it started messing with my stomach. I was going to ask you if you were feeling anything strange when I got back. I… I think I was in there for about an hour?” He looked at Giles to confirm it.

“More like thirty or forty-five minutes.” Giles corrected, cleaning his glasses.

“I guess you got concerned… cause that was when Ms. Calendar found me in there. I… After I started throwing up, there was pretty much just pain, for a while, and eventually my clothes just felt uncomfortable and kinda small.” His voice quieted in embarrassment, his flush not quite reaching his cheeks as it had done when he was a girl. “I… don’t know how it happened…”

Ms. Calendar returned then, having gone to call Buffy as she’d been asked, concern still lacing her features. “Buffy’s on her way, it took me a few minutes to reach her. Are you doing okay, Willow?”

“No… no I don’t think so.” The boy’s voice was a little quiet, but still with a hint more at panicked aggravation, than the teary fear that Xander, and even Giles, would have expected.

“Well, the first thing we should do is attempt to detect if it is a curse or dark magic of some kind.” She replied, her voice firm and certain as she laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. It seemed to comfort him greatly. “I know two spells myself that should work, though we’ll need ingredients. The Magic Box should still be open…”

“Right. Good idea.” Giles looked at Xander, expecting the boy to go with her, on an ingredient run, as was usually his duty.

“Actually, why don’t I take Willow with me? It’ll keep her busy, distracted…” Ms. Calendar offered, raising her eyebrows meaningfully, and it make Giles cough and nod, agreeing. The boy stood, frowning, but grateful. Distracted was good. “And maybe we can pick her up some better clothes, for while we’re looking for a counter-spell.”

“Hey, those are my gym clothes you’re talking about.” Xander replied indignantly.

Sneering, the boy picked at the shirt with his fingers, “Perhaps that’d be a good idea.”

“Hey!”

~

Buffy stared, outright stared, at her best friend. Xander and Giles hadn’t been kidding. When Ms. Calendar had called her, and said that there was an emergency, and that she was needed at the library, she’d come straight over. Then, she’d arrived to find only Xander and Giles there. They’d told her that, somehow, Willow had fallen under a spell or something of the sort, and had turned into a guy. She’d stood silently, staring at them, and then she’d laughed. They had to be joking. Then, Giles had told her that they were ‘quite serious’, and that it wasn’t a laughing matter. Apparently, Ms. Calendar had taken Willow with her to pick up spell ingredients, and some more appropriate clothes, so that they might determine if it was dark magic or a curse of some kind.

Now, the two had returned, and standing before her was… well… a boy Willow. Something inside of her, she didn’t know if it was the best friend or the Slayer, knew without a doubt that, yes, this was Willow. Willow, however, had always been a girl, that she knew. She couldn’t quite reconcile what she knew, what her instincts told her, and what her eyes said. The boy was an inch or two taller than Willow was supposed to be, and though lean, not nearly so scrawny, even Buffy had never really thought of her as scrawny before. The face had become a bit more masculine and chiseled, though still with those elfin features that she could somewhat recognize, and the exact same eyes stared out of a nervous face at her. The hair was even the same. Same shade, same cut, same length, just pulled back at the nape of the boy’s neck to be out of the way. Ms. Calendar had bought him a cheap pair of jeans and button-up t shirt while they were out, so that he didn’t have to wear Xander’s gym clothes, and Buffy blushed hotly when she realized that she was assessing Willow as a “cute” guy.

“I… It’s… really you… You’re…” Buffy’s eyes were wide still, both from the fact that she’d caught herself thinking that, and from what was happening. The nervousness and panic in Willow’s face seemed to deepen, and Buffy lunged forward to hug him comfortingly. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean… Um… Wow, we’ll figure this out, Will. It’ll be okay.”

“Of course it will.” Ms. Calendar said with a smile. “How about we try doing a little bit of research. I can’t do the spell until twilight, so we still have a few hours to wait.” Giles cleared his throat and nodded, moving toward his trusty books, while Xander looked helpless, and still a little shocked. Willow just sat down, staring at the books, blank, while Buffy sat in the next seat over.

The day didn’t seem to produce a great many results, though they did find one or two references to spells regarding appearances. None of these panned out, as each seemed to deal with superficial changes, usually as a deal with some form of super-natural entity where you got the lesser end of the deal. Nothing referenced something changing a person’s gender at random. The spell managed to narrow their search only slightly, and gave little insight otherwise. According to the ritual and spell that Jenny performed, twice to be sure, neither a curse, nor dark magic had affected Willow to make her turn into a boy. That left, well, everything else.

“Are you sure it’s not a curse?” Xander asked, poking gently at the boy’s chest, to assure himself that it wasn’t an illusion, yet again, and that it was not in fact hiding a pair of breasts. “Cause really, it seems like it would at least be a curse.”

“I’m sure it’s not a curse, Xander. I did the ritual twice. A spell doesn’t have to be a curse to be used to negatively affect someone.” Ms. Calendar said, getting frustrated and slapping his hand away from Willow. “In fact, spells used to benefit people who desire a certain effect, may be seen as a terrible burden, and indeed, a ‘curse’, by others when they are forced into them. There are other spells that I can perform, to help narrow down just what might be affecting her, and a few generalized counter-spells that I can attempt… but for something to have changed her this drastically, and effectively, I’m not sure if it’ll work.”

“I don’t know if I want you just performing spell after spell after counter-spell on me, without knowing what they’ll do.” Willow said, eyes wide, voice squeaking just a little in male adolescence. It seemed to sooth Xander just a bit, as the squeak was much more like the Willow he knew, and it made him less self-conscious about how smooth his own voice was. “After all, we don’t know how the spell, or whatever this is, will react to a counter-spell that doesn’t work. It could get worse. I could grow a beard! I don’t want a beard! Or worse, it could become permanent! Then I’d have to get a sex change, and we’d have to explain to my parents what was going on. They wouldn’t believe us. And if we tried to show them magic they’d think we slipped them drugs. What am I going to tell them? They get back in a month! And school! Oh my god.”

Buffy took hold of Willow’s hand as everyone stared at the typical-Willow babble emanating from the boy’s mouth. “Breathe, Will. Deep breath. It’ll be okay.” Buffy assured, still trying not to stare. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure something out. We always do.” It took several minutes of just deep breathing before the boy-Willow was calm again, though he seemed to have reverted to the same, shocked-silence of the afternoon.

TBC