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"Aren't you supposed to be in flight class right now?" Poke asks as he sits down next to him, raising an eyebrow. He just looks worried, though - and well, it's not like he has any reason to care if James goes to class or not.
"Don't wanna wear that stupid-ass uniform," James mumbles, looking down again. His wings kind of fold in closer on himself.
"Why's that?" Poke tilts his head a little.
That's about the response James was expecting. He knows nothing about avian society's fixation on gender roles, of course.
"There's two different uniforms," James explains, "based on sex. It's not even like the uniform is particularly feminine or anything, it's just that it serves as yet another fucking reminder." He scoffs.
"I'm sorry, dude," Poke says quietly. He's not sure what to say to try to comfort his friend.
"Some dude in my class tried to hit on me the other day. As a joke to his friends I guess," James says after a moment of silence. Then a dumb grin grows on his face. "I told him I was gonna kick his ass. I got in trouble, but it was awesome."
At that, Poke bursts into laughter. "Yeah, that sounds about right for you," he replies, shaking his head. "You should've actually kicked his ass."
James shoves his shoulder, giggling like a madman before returning to his original train of thought.
"I did buy both uniforms, so technically I could wear the male uniform," he hums thoughtfully, looking down. "I dunno if I'd get in trouble, though. And the last thing I need is to get in even more trouble."
"Can I see?" Poke asks, his uncovered eye lighting up suddenly.
"Huh-?" James chirps in surprise. "See what?"
"The uniform! On you, I mean," Poke smiles at him. "I bet it'd look great."
"I dunno," James mumbles, looking away again. "It's a bit too big on me. And my wings look stupid with how dull they are. The boys in my class have cool colorful wings."
"I think your wings are nice," Poke interjects. "And I want to see it on you anyways," he adds, nudging James with his shoulder.
James huffs and rolls his eyes, but stands up anyways, walking towards his small makeshift base to change.
He must have been overthinking last time he tried it on, because it seems to fit him perfectly fine. He zips the back carefully after slipping his wings through the holes, careful to not catch his feathers in the zipper as he does so.
It's red, made out of a shiny, plastic-y material. He's not super happy about how closely it hugs his body, but it's definitely better than the female uniform. And he's happy to have leggings covering him more - seriously, why do only the dudes get leggings? Fucking dumb as hell, he thinks.
...He realizes suddenly that he's been absentmindedly looking at his reflection for the past 3 minutes and Poke's still waiting. He makes a mental note to himself: he actually is pretty fond of this uniform.
He awkwardly clears his throat as he walks back out, looking away. "Tadaaaaa," he says in a deadpan, waiting for Poke's reaction.
Poke's big dumb tail starts wagging behind him as he looks James up and down not once, not twice, but three (three!! what?) times. And then a grin grows on his face.
"I told you, dude!" He says cheerfully. "You look great!"
"You're just saying that because you're my friend," James retorts, not looking up from the ground. (He's admittedly just a little embarrassed.)
"No, really!" Poke insists, laughing a little. "It fits you really well! Maybe customizing it a bit to suit you best would help your confidence? Are you allowed to do that?"
James sits back down beside him, thinking for a moment. He's not really sure if it's allowed, but he's definitely seen people in his class do it and no one's ever been told off, so...
"I think so?" He says, looking over at Poke. "What kind of thing were you thinking?"
"Well, it's a little plain, isn't it? Maybe you could add a design to the front." Poke takes a stick out of his inventory and haphazardly draws a lightning shape into the dirt in front of them. "I've always associated you with lightning. Fast, unpredictable, and airborne, y'know?"
"That's stupid," James says.
"No shit," Poke shoots back, "do you know who I am?" He grins.
"I kinda like it though," James replies. "Yeah, I'll consider it."