Page 3 (Lu POV)

//cw: transphobic slur//

viewer discretion is advised

Lu looks at his screen for a long while trying to figure it out, had he done something that made her think he was into her? He easily could have, he was bad at social cues and stuff. He knows they've talked alot (that's not enough to make people think you have feelings… right?), pretty much any free time he can spare goes to messaging her. But that's just because she is pretty much his only friend, he's a very self isolating person by nature and Alice is one of the only people he shows his true self around. Anyway why it's thought doesn't matter, he has to think about the right response. Whether or not he likes her, he knows he wouldn't *do* anything, *she doesn't even know he used to be trans* nonono. Hell even if he was a perfectly cis man it wouldn't change the fact he's so lame, she's way too cool for him, in fact he thinks she's probably too cool to be his friend, she's the coolest person he's ever met (it's kinda intimidating tbhon). After a bit more thought he finally responds…

trashbag_minister (Lu): "don't worry, i'm not looking to date for the moment, so i'm not gonna try and get with you or anything"

…

Tranny Mona Lisa (Alice): "cool jc"

He did it!... even tho it was a bit stretched considering "the moment" was *forever* but as long as they stayed friends it's fine.

After this, alongside their usual talking about their day and Lu telling her about this or that thing he loves, they gained a new topic of conversation, if Alice looked good. She would send him pictures "so she wouldn't go out in a bad outfit" "to see if it might get a guy's attention" or even after a while "because it's funny how you respond". She in fact often said that he took 5 minutes working on a response (he didn't… always) which usually amounted to "you look nice" at which point she'd ask for something more specific (now that… that took him a while). These pictures proved Lu's worst fear, she was gorgeous, like truly stunning, out of this world genetics she had only been on hormones for a bit under a year, and she had started later than Lu had but she still passed better than he ever did. He had to use all his power to not just blurt out that she's the most beautiful woman on the face of the planet, unrivaled by even goddesses and sirens. It's hard to keep his attraction under wraps, but he somehow managed.