Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

Not Your Average Teen Pop Star (DarkDreamer9110 x MsBloom)

Reader mode
"Not to mention Aretha Franklin," Ellie added in her usual music geek manner while shooting a look at Cassie.
Hopefully she hadn't ruined everything now that they had a full band. In her mind though Ellie was already envisioning the twins walking out with Ember between them, maybe a big Fuck You comment or two for goodbye.

Looking at the trio, the twins with their arms around Ember to protect and comfort her Ellie began strumming her guitar and softly sang aforementioned singer's perhaps biggest hit: Respect.
(oo) All I'm askin'
(oo) Is for a little respect
R E S P E C T
"And you've got ours, even if perhaps my girlfriend was a bit clumsy in trying to boost your confidence."
She paused and then just sat there looking at the trio waiting for their reaction.
"With your voice you would crush that song by the way, like totally give Aretha a run for her money. But only if you want to of course. I do hope that day comes though. And also, whatever you might have been told Ember, you're not fat. Stocky perhaps, butch definitely, but there are plenty of guys and girls out there who like that."

Léon looked up at Ellie and glanced at Cassie before focusing back on Ellie.
"Look. I get what your girlfriend wa trying to do but ... as André told you before we started recording Ember doesn't do lead, and now you know why. It took us weeks to pick up the pieces after that disaster of a talent show at our school. It was ... almost like that scene from Carrie where she has her first period in school and the other girls throw tampons at her, or at the prom where they drop pigs blood on her. Well; without the ensuing fiery vengeance of course. Instead Ember just sank to the floor in tears. Instead Ember just froze and we had to get up there to lead her off the stage."
"Fuuuuuck Meee," Ellie said and putting her guitar down stood up.
"I mean I know high school girls can be cruel as fuck but that's a whole new level," she added as she approached the hugging trio, sensing that Ember was about to start crying.
"I am sure Cassie meant nothing like that with her little stunt."
Ellie smiled and held out her arms.
"Mind if I give you a hug too?"
 
Cassie listened as Léon explained some of what Ember had been through, nodding her head. "Again, I am so fucking sorry for what I did. I honestly didn't consider that it would be triggering. I know that doesn't make it okay, but I promise I will never do it again." She said.

André nodded. "Ember's always been there for us, standing up for us, protecting us." It began. "After that talent show, we had to protect her, be there for her. Because you know mean girls. They didn't stop making fun of her for weeks. You fucked up here, but you fucked up from a place of good intentions. I'm sure you know what it's like when an ally accidentally does a transphobia or something."

Cassie nodded. "I do." She said. "I'd tell them that it's okay, they just need to do better in the future. And I will do better."

Ember smiled at Ellie, nodding at the question about the hug and opening her arms for it before looking at Cassie and motioning her over as well to pull her into an embrace

"It's okay, Cassie. I understand why you did it. And I forgive you. It was just a shock. André's right, what it said about comparing what you did to when an ally accidentally does something harmful.

Cassie nodded. "It had a point. I still fucked up."

Dusty looked around at the group. "We all good? Band not gonna break up today?"

Cassie chuckled. "Not today. Funhouse Sweethearts forever." She said with a grin.
 
When Cassie said their pep motto: Funhouse Sweethearts Forever, Ellie mumbled along and then look up over Ember's and Léon's head at Dusty and motioned him over a well.
"It's kind of our thing," she explained and made sure everyone was head to head in a circle.
"Funhouse Sweethearts Forever."
Everyone followed, even Ember and there was a brief silence to follow.

"Anyhow," Ellie broke the silence a few seconds later.
"I still think we go with take five and simply mute Ember's voice in the verses. Cassie can always add the last verse later. However ..."
She took a deep breath and a step back from the circle.
"I don't want anyone to feel like they don't have a say when it comes to the creative process so if anyone has a different idea don't be afraid to speak up."
She now looked at them one by one and Léon gave a nod when she looked at him.
"I agree," he said.
"I really like the way the piano changed the texture of the song but I'd like to record my bass again. And I also think we should drop the rhythm guitar during the solo. The piano I feel more than fill that purpose."
Ellie nodded.
"How about we do all of that in one take, new bass, guitar solo and Cassie's last verse and chorus. Can you queue it up for us."
She looked over at Andi who gave a thumbs up and over the intercom asked for a few minutes.
"You want a bit more reverb on your vocals?" she asked Cassie.

A few minutes later, during which both Léon and Ellie both adjusted the tuning on their instruments, with everything queued up they did the first overdub. with the other three having joined Andi in the recording booth.
 
Last edited:
André smiled at Ellie's explanation of the ritual, exchanging glances with Ember and Léon as Ellie gathered them all together and led them through it. "Cool." It said to Ellie. "Every band has their things, those little good luck rituals. Thanks for including us."

Cassie smiled. "You're part of the band now. Of course you're included." She said, then nodded at Ellie's suggestions. "Yeah. Sounds good to me." She agreed. "We can definitely try that."

As Ellie and Léon started tuning their instruments for the overdub, Cassie walked over to Ember, drawing a momentary side eye from André before the keyboardist smiled and nodded, seemingly satisfied that Cassie wasn't about to do another dick move. Cassie smiled as she approached Ember. "Hey, Ember, I wanted.to apologize again for earlier, and to ask a favor."

Ember nodded. "I accept your apology. I get what you were doing. We're okay. So, what's the favor?"

"I want to use your vocal track as a guide when I record the final verse and chorus. I promise we'll delete it, you can even be the one who deletes it. But I would like to use it just so I have something to go off of." Cassie said.

Ember's eyes widened for a moment. "Oh. I, uh, yeah, I guess you can." She said.

Cassie smiled. "Thanks." She said, heading back over to talk to Andi for a moment to let her know she wanted to use Ember's vocals as a guide. And with that they were ready

Of course, most of the recording would be Léon alone, since there were only a few pieces the two girls needed to contribute. As they went through it, Cassie noticed Ember and André in the back of the booth, the two leaning against each other and smiling at her.

When it got to where she was supposed to do her vocals, she'd already figured out how she was going to do them.

After they finished it up, Cassie smiled. "Yeah, Léon, I definitely think the changes you made to the bass there were good calls. And Ellie, you were great on that solo."
 
Léon's bass line was slightly different from the original one. It had a bit more punch and he had added just a hint of fuzz to it. In their headphones they could of course hear the other instruments as well and had any one looked they'd catch Ellie tapping her foot silently in the air and bobbing her head along with Dusty's drums. Cassie might recognise that she was planning the solo in her head while counting the measures.

As the solo neared she activated her multi-FX processor, put her left foot on the built in Wah Wah pedal and with her lips moving in a silent count in she then began to play and, almost as if they had actually planned it, Léon added a bit more fuzz to his bass which together with André's piano quite perfectly replaced Ellie's guitar. This would of course make it much easier to recreate the song live.

Four bars later Ellie let the last note of the solo hang for a moment until the rhythm guitar came back in and it was time for Cassie to add what she had skipped during the first recording. It was obvious, at least to Ellie, that she had found inspiration in the way Ember had sung them. They were slightly different from the way Cassie usually sang and as she listened to the final verse and chorus a big smile spread across Ellie's face. Yea this was a good match. This was what she had subconsciously imagined Funhouse Sweethearts evolving into as a full band where she and Cassie were not the only ones to influence the music.

As the three of them joined Andi and the rest of the band in the booth and they listened back Ellie nodded.
"I don't know about you guys," she said as the song ended.
"But I think this is fucking awesome. Like ... I've tried to imagine what we might sound like with a full band but I never imagined this. It was always still mostly my own vision of the song but like ... you guys totally transformed it with your bits. I can't wait to see what you will do with the other songs we've planned on recording."
"Out of curiousity," Léon said and chuckled.
"Would it be alright with you three if we could hear what it sounded like before. I mean with the bass and keys you guys did. I get why you left it out when you presented the song to us but like I said ... just curious."
Ellie nodded and leaning across the mixing table queued up the complete original version which in that moment she realised was significantly shorter, a full 35 seconds shorter than the version with André and Léon.

"Interesting," Léon said after having heard the version with just Ellie, Cassie and Dusty.
"Not bad at all of course but quite a difference."
Ellie nodded and then, having heard Cassie's conversation with Ember about using her vocals as a guide for recording the final verse and chorus, nodded at Ember to join her at the mixing table.
"Those two tracks are you singing. Just right click on them and choose delete and they're gone. We can always add new backing vocals later."

Ember nodded, looked at Cassie and then followed Ellie's instructions.
"I was thinking though. When it's just us, the band and maybe Andi as well, would it be alright with you to actually sing along the way you did on this. I don't know what you did but you somehow managed to change how Cassie approached her vocals and it came out fucking amazing. Anything you don't want to keep you now know how to delete."
 
It was clear that Léon, André, and even Ember had all added their own flavors to the song, from things as simple as Ember's indirect influence on Cassie's singing, to how André and Léon had reshaped the song entirely by altering their tracks. And that felt right. Funhouse Sweethearts was meant, at its core, to be about a whole group working together to make something amazing. And now they were. It was a watershed moment, to know that Funhouse Sweethearts was now no longer just her and Ellie, but was now ready to move into the next phase, where they would hopefully hit it big.

She nodded in agreement with Ellie. "Yeah. I really appreciate how you two were able to add a whole new flare to it. That's the big thing to me and Ellie, we wanted bandmates who could synergize really well with us, and so honestly I gotta say, Andi proved herself as an agent putting us in the same room. We're cooking with gas here."

When Ellie made the proposition to Ember about continuing to sing along in the privacy of the studio, the other girl shrugged. "Yeah, that's doable." She agreed, glancing at Cassie, who smiled.

"Yeah. In fact, I'd like to actually do another take, though. Just me and Ember recording, with the last cut as our backing." She said, smiling. "And then ..." She glanced at Ellie, nodding knowingly, "And then I'm thinking we can see about letting you three work with us on NYATG." She said, pronouncing it "Nigh-Uh-Tag,"

That led to confused looks from those in the room unfamiliar with the abbreviation of the title of Cassie and Ellie's long in-progress passion project. "What are you talking about?" André asked.
 
"Not Your Average Teen Girl," Ellie interjected.
"It's this monster of a song we've been working on for a while about being a teenage trans girl. Perhaps a bit less straightforward than most of our other songs so far. One might even describe it as progressive. Still to a large extent a work in progress even though it is at the same time structurally finished. We just need to put all the pieces together."
She stopped and nodded at Cassie before continuing to explain that there was a follow up to it.
"... that we so far call Out of the Closet and Onto the Battlefield. I am fairly certain you heard about the debacle when Cassie officially came out to the entire school. That was what inspired it. Both are quite lengthy as is and there still a lot of work to do. However that's a job for our next rehearsals. For now I think we should use the time to work on songs that are already finished, as finished as they can be before you guys add your stuff to them."

Ellie put down her guitar which she had been fiddling around on while talking and subconsciously played some lines and riffs from NYATG.
"I'll be in the booth with the rest," she told Cassie and gave her a quick kiss before joining the others.
She almost immediately huddled with Andi over something or other on the mixing board.
"Ready when you are," she then told Cassie and Ember over the intercom bout half a minute later and gave them the thumbs up.
 
Last edited:
André smiled at Ellie's explanation. "Passion projects, then. Those are some of the best."

Cassie nodded. "Yeah. We started working on NYATG when we were, what, twelve?"

She looked at Ember as they started getting ready. "Before we do anything, I had an idea. When we're done with this take, would you mind it if we listened to it both ways? With just my vocals, then with just yours?"

Ember paused, her expression one of deep thought. Finally, she nodded. "Just to see what it could sound like if I were singing lead?"

Cassie nodded. "Just that. We wouldn't use that version in anything that anyone who isn't the band or Andi will hear."

When they were ready, Cassie nodded at Ellie's thumbs-up. "Let's get rolling." She responded.

As the first bar played into the headphones, Cassie smiled. She couldn't wait to hear Ember sing again. There was something about Ember's voice that intrigued her. And the girl was fairly attractive.

Momentarily distracted, she nearly missed her cue to start singing, only noticing when she realized Ember was counting herself in.

She managed to stay in sync with Ember, though. As they sang together, Cassie found herself frequently glancing over at the other girl, who was getting more and more physically active while she sang, clearly enjoying herself and letting the music flow. It was infectious, and Cassie found herself moving along, soon enough, dancing in place by the first chorus, and then moving a bit more. She caught Ember's eye, and the two started dancing towards each other as they sang, the energy between them intensifying as the distance closed.

By the third verse, they were very clearly singing to each other, their voices playing off each other in a synergy that only grew. By the final words, the two were barely a couple of feet apart (their mics thankfully equipped with sound deflectors), and the room was almost glowing with the electricity between them.

As the final notes faded, though, the mood dissolved, both girls backing away and blushing at each other awkwardly. Cassie broke the silence first. "So, I think we should see how all three versions come out. Me singing, you singing, both of us singing." She said to Ember as they headed towards the booth.

Ember nodded. "Definitely." She said as they entered the booth.

It was pretty obvious that none of the others had missed the chemistry that had gone on, given their expressions. Cassie decided to ignore that elephant for now, and get on with the reason they were here. "Can we hear it with both of us singing, then Ember muted, and then me muted?" She asked Andi, then turned to face Ellie, who she had avoided looking at since the song ended.
 
Ellie gave Cassie the thumbs up back and began recording, giving the girls a four beat count in before the music began. Ellie was tapping her foot along with the beat and smiling as she heard those two voices together. It was such a perfect match. But then as Cassie and Ember started getting into it and dancing around to the music, moving towards each other and then back and forth like that, she looked at Andi and raised an eyebrow.
"Yea I hear it too," Andi said and was about to tap the window between the booth and the studio space.
Ellie stopped her though.
"Let them finish," she said suspecting that Cassie had some kind of ulteriour motive with this, in Ellie's ears, unnecessary vocal take. The vocals ha been good the first time around.

When Cassie and Ember came into the booth as well, making it quite crowded with now seven people in there.
"Maybe we should all go out into the other room and listen through the monitors," Ellie suggested and so the band exited the booth and sat down on the chairs that were scattered around the room.
Ellie pulled Cassie onto her lap and gave her a quick kiss at the nape of her neck while Andi queued up the music.

As the latest version of the vocals came on it became apparent to everyone, hopefully to Cassie and Ember too that the volume of their vocals went up and down due to how they had moved around and danced while recording them.
"You realise we can't really use this," Ellie whispered into Cassie's ear. when Andi restarted the song with now only Cassie singing, or so it might at first seem but there were tiny hints of Ember coming through whenever the two of them got their mics too close to the other's.
"But I also think I know exactly what you were doing," she added when the third version got to the part where the issues began.
Embers vocals were absolutely stunning when she was just having fun with it.

Léon had sat down next to Ember and was giving her encouragement.
"It was so good to see you actually enjoy yourself singing," he said and wrapped an arm around her which she playfully shrugged off.
"Yea it was fun. I really like how my voice and Cassie's work together," Ember said and glanced over at Cassie.
"But ..."
"No buts about it Em," Léon, who had probably figured out what Cassie had tried to do, said.
 
Cassie smiled as she was pulled into Ellie's lap. She nodded as Ellie mentioned it being an unusable take. "I know. It was never supposed to be usable. But it needed to be done." She whispered back, then nodded again when Ellie said she thought she knew why Cassie did it. "I had to make up for my bungle earlier. And what better way than to show her that someone could be into her?"

André settled in beside Ember, nodding. It leaned in next to her and chuckled. "And did you see how into you Cassie was? She was eating you up. Worshipping you. Not your voice. You." It added quietly.

Ember blushed. "Yeah, she didn't have eyes for anyone but me there, but—"

André put a finger to her lips. "No buts, Ember. You were the center of attention there and you knew it, but you weren't bothered. Because you never doubted that Cassie was seeing all of you."

Ember sighed, nodding. "Yeah. You're right." She said.

Cassie nodded. "I think we can all agree everyone sounds amazing. Let's keep this going, people!" She said excitedly.
 
Last edited:
After having listened to the new vocal takes they decided, as a group, Ember included, that they couldn't use them due to the variations in volume and the overlap between the mics, Andi suggested they should take a break before the next song.
"Clear your heads, get this one out of your heads and fingers and voices so you can start fresh on the next one. There's a coffee house just around the corner. Back in shall we say 45 minutes to an hour?"

At the coffee house they found a couch with a few arm chairs around it and a big table where they sat down.
"No offence meant what so over, or any sort of attempt at misgendering, just curiousity and a desire to understand," Ellie said and turned to André.
"But like how does it work as a pronoun for a person? Isn't it in a way suggesting you feel more like an object than a person?"
 
As the group went to get coffee, Cassie noticed Ember and André animatedly whispering back and forth, the two occasionally glancing over at her. She caught Ember's eye, smiled, and then found herself blushing the same as Ember was.

As they got settled, Ellie asked her question, and André sighed. "I'm agender. Without gender. I do not identify with gender on a fundamental level. I am genderless, not gender-neutral. 'They,' as a pronoun, is gender-neutral, not genderless. 'It,' as a pronoun, however, is genderless. I think that's part of why it's considered dehumanizing, because so many people see gender as an intrinsic part of being human, so to not ascribe gender, not a gender, but gender as a concept, to someone feels like you're denying their humanity. But for me, it's like ... To insist I must have a gender because I'm a human being is like a TERF insisting Cassie is a boy because she was born with a penis."

Cassie chuckled and nodded. "Misgendering is misgendering.'

"Anyways, that is why I use 'it' as my preferred pronoun. I tolerate 'they/them' being used since most people don't know or understand about it/its pronouns. And the dehumanizing connotation makes a lot of people feel uncomfortable despite the fact that it's actually the opposite because it's respecting my wishes." André finished. It smiled at Ellie. "Do you have any other questions?"
 
It made sense that, even though Singular They didn't specify gender, It felt more appropriate for someone without a perceived gender since Singular They was so closely associated with perceiving oneself as both genders, or at least somewhere inbetween. Singular They came with an expectation of gender of some sort, while It did not.

Ellie struggled a bit with the idea of not identifying with a gender of any sort but also realised that it was probably as difficult to explain to someone who identified with one as it would be to explain to an AMAB what menstruation felt lik. It was a conversation she had attempted to have with Cassie a few times when she had had her first. There was simply no common ground to stand on for such an explanation. There was however one other thing she couldn't help but wonder with regards to someone who identified as genderless.
"That all makes sense," she said and bit her bottom lip.
"What about sexuality then? I mean, do you have one despite having no gender?"


After André had answered Ellie's follow up question the band returned to the studio and recorded Heart of a Dreamer. Though as they left Ellie felt it needed something more, horns perhaps or just a single alto saxophone as a counterpoint to her guitar. She had asked Andi if she knew someone that might add such a track.

All in all during these second recording sessions, their first as a full band, they recorded two more songs; Talking to the Moon and their cover of Be My Baby. Ellie also scheduled an extra session with Andi to help with mixing the songs just a few days later because she wanted to get them out to the public as soon as possible. For this reason she and Cassie created a Spotify Artists account and just in time for Cassie's operation they released the first (eponymous) Funhouse Sweethearts EP.


Meanwhile Adrienne had taken the bull by the horns and addressed the elephant in the porcelain factory by sitting their parents down to lay the next level of non-normative identity on them. They had (as Adrienne had suspected) reacted less accepting to them coming out as non-binary. Perhaps when push came to shove it was all about them not really understanding the concept of perceiving oneself as both male and female. They had asked several times if they were a trans man but Adrienne had said that no ... even though they did for the most part present masculine they did not identify solely as a man. They did not have any dysphoria regarding their anatomy as such.

It had been a long evening which ended with Adrienne knocking on the Clayton's door some time just before midnight. They had no idea really what had in the end caused their parent to become upset enough over their gender identity that they had asked them to leave and not come back again. They were effectively no longer welcome in the house they had known as home for almost their entire life.
 
André had chuckled at Ellie's question about its sexuality. "I'm agender, not asexual or aromantic." It said. "Gender isn't sexuality. Nor is having a gender a requirement to be attracted to genders. I'm panromantic FINsexual. Feminine In Nature. Basically, I can develop romantic interest and attraction to anyone, but sexually I am only interested in feminine individuals. Cis women, transfems, fem-presenting enbies. The occasional cis male femboy or trap. But again, all of that's just me. There are agender people who use they/them. There are agender people who use neopronouns. Some even use he or she and are more adjacent to gender than me. There are ace agender people. There are aro agender people." It said. "We're not a monolith, same as any group. I can only speak for myself. Which reminds me of another thing. It/its pronouns are a very ... Delicate area. Precisely because, as you mentioned, it can be seen as dehumanizing and is often used as such by our enemies. More than any other pronoun, absolutely do not use it/its for anyone unless they explicitly tell you to."

The next couple of days proceeded apace, and on Thursday, while Ellie worked with Andi to finalize some things for the sound, Cassie was working what was functionally a crash marketing campaign over social media, advertising the impending release.

That night, when Eric Clayton opened the door to Adrienne, it was immediately clear something was wrong. So, after calling Cassie and Ellie down from Cassie's room, they all gathered in the living room and the story came out. It didn't take the Claytons long at all to offer that Adrienne could stay with them as long as necessary, and Madison made a cryptic reference to "long-term plans" that might need to be discussed sooner than expected.


Friday morning rolled around, and Cassie found herself awake before either of her partners and standing in front of her mirror naked, staring at her body. She lifted her penis out of the way with one hand while the other cupped her testicles, feeling the (admittedly light) weight and trying to conceptualize the impending reality of their removal. It was hard to believe that they were going to be gone in a few hours, after years of waiting. Admittedly, it was still strange to her that she wasn't getting the full vaginoplasty yet, but recent events had made her realize she wanted to wait a bit longer on that. She still definitely wanted it; the timeframe had simply moved.

"I'm getting my balls cut off today." She said softly, smiling as she imagined how she'd look once they were gone.

After getting dressed, she headed downstairs to find her parents already up. When they noticed her, they both smiled and came over to hug her.

"Today's a big day, darling. How are you feeling?" Madison asked.

Cassie smiled. "Nervous. Excited. Relieved. I just ... I can't believe it's finally here. The past eight years, waiting, working towards this ... And now I'm finally getting these things gone. It's ... Hard to process that the wait is over."

Eric nodded. "Do you think you need a quick phone session with Sabrina?"

Cassie shook her head. "No. I'm fine, Dad. I just ... This is gonna be emotional. That doesn't mean I need my therapist."

Eric nodded, taking Madison's hand. "We're so proud of you, Cassie. Of the woman you've grown into. I think back to when you first came out to us, that little girl having the courage to say "listen to me, I am not your son, I'm your daughter," and being so scared we were going to reject her. And now you're out, loud, and proud, and taking on the world. I'm so proud to call you my daughter and myself your father, and I'm so glad we could make today happen for you. I love you, Princess."

Cassie nodded. "I know. And I'm so grateful that you two have been the best parents a girl could ask for."

Madison smiled. "And you being our daughter has been a privilege. To watch you grow up and become this beautiful, confident young woman has been ... Amazing. I love you so much, and I am so, so proud of you and happy for you."

Cassie smiled, tears forming in her eyes. "I love you both so much." She said.

Madison smiled, then nodded towards the stairs, where Ellie and Adrienne were just coming down. "Why don't you go share some of that love with your partners?" She encouraged.
 
Last edited:
For about a week before they even went into the studio to make their first recordings with a full band Ellie, Cassie and Dusty had been busy setting up platforms for the release, Spotify, Deezer, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, even iTunes. Neither of them had perhaps expected to have four finished songs as quickly as it turned out but since everything had run as smoothly in the studio as it had they had decided to try releasing their first official EP in time for Cassie's surgery.

Because of this Ellie had booked another session with Andi for mixing and mastering, things she was sure would bore most of the other members but something she wanted to learn. The two worked all through Thursday and Ellie learned a lot from Andi. Between each song the two took a short break, to clear their heads, and bonded over their shared geekiness when it came to music, and studio equipment. Ellie revealed to Andi that she perhaps felt more at home behind the mixing table than she usually did on stage.
"That was always Cassie's thing. I just tagged along really but I love making music, writing songs and like ... producing them."

After they were satisfied with each song and was waiting for the finished songs to download into files Ellie took the opportunity to ask Andi if she knew anyone who could do remixes of the songs.
"There is this Dj I really like that I think would be right up your alley. They just go by the name X and you can find some of their original stuff on Spotify, among other platforms. Check them out. I don't have their number but I believe their contact information is in their artist's profile."

Ellie and Cassie had written the artist's profiles and with the decision to release sooner than anticipated it had fallen to Cassie to rewrite them to also mention Léon and André. Dusty had volunteered to do the cover and had presented a black and white close up silhouette of Cassie and Ellie about to kiss with the band name in a small discreet font at the bottom. At first he had not even wanted to put the band's name on the image but had thought the better of it.

They had decided to not give the record a title even before going into the studio. It had been Ellie's idea and whether it was her endlessly long list of debut records that shared their title with the name of the band or the fact that she had actually convinced Cassie and Dusty that it was a good idea that eventually had them agree with her was perhaps still up for debate.

Before leaving the studio on Wednesday evening they had shot some scenes for a video to go on their YouTube channel to announce the release of the EP, which it had also fallen on Cassie to edit. Léon, André and Ember all went on their social media to promote the record.

Slowly everything was coming together and as soon as Ellie got back home she and Cassie began uploading the record to every platform they had chosen to release it on.
"I can't believe it," Ellie said and lay down on Cassie's bed.
"We actually have a record out."
For some reason this made her giggle happily but the happiness wouldn't last very long as it was just moments later that Adrienne arrived to ask if they could stay the night, or a couple of nights, or ...

After a brief talk with Eric and Madison, in which they said that of course Adrienne could stay as long as she needed and then made their mysterious remark about long term plans that might need to be discussed sooner than expected, the three lovers headed up to Cassie's room and spent most of the night talking, not just about Adrienne's situation but also about Cassie's operation the next morning and of course also the record.


The first thing Ellie did when she woke up spooned up against Adrienne with Cassie nowhere to be found in the room was to log on to all their artists accounts to see how many, if any, times their record had been played. It wasn't many of course but all in all, in just the few hours it had been available to the public, it was nearing triple digits. When she checked the geography of where it had been played she found that they had reached both Asia (with 8 unique users having played it in Japan) and Europe (with 12 unique users, 8 of which were in the UK).
"That's not bad for a debut by a basically unpromoted band," Adrienne said with a yawn as they sat up hugging Ellie from behind.
"I think a lot of our followers on YouTube, at least the ones that were still awake sort of rushed to play it. I just didn't really think it would be as international as it is."
Adrienne nodded and kissed Ellie's neck.
"I'm starving though," they said.
"What time is breakfast around here."
"Just about now," Ellie said and checked the time at the bottom of her laptop.

So the two made their way downstairs and walked in on Cassie's conversation with her parents.
"Now that's how I wish my parents had reacted," Adrienne said.
"Cassie really has been lucky to have such understanding people in her life."
 
Cassie smiled as she saw Ellie and Adrienne, rushing over to hug them both. "You're up! Excellent. Hang on; I have something for you two." She said, then rushed upstairs before returning with a small gift-wrapped box. "I wanted to get something for you two, and a little for myself, for our relationship. And well, the gift in question ..." She smirked. "You know that Clone-A-Willy novelty dildo thing? I did that. So maybe sometime one of you can fuck me with a dildo modeled off my own dick."

Eric had made a quick breakfast for everyone except Cassie, who was on a standard pre-surgery fast, and then the six members of the expanding Spencer-Clayton clan were on their way. When they got there, they went through the sign in, and had a brief wait before Cassie's name was called. During the wait, Cassie recorded a quick TikTok quite cheerfully announcing her "impending testicular yeetage," which she also put on their other social media accounts. The rest of the family were given the choices to either come back and watch the surgery from an observation room or stay in the waiting lounge.

From the pre-op prep, it was only another half hour or so before the surgeon came for Cassie. She was wheeled back on the gurney and into the operating room, and the anaesthetic administered. Cassie smiled as she drifted off, knowing when she woke up, things would be very different for her.
 
The sight of Cassie's present, and the possible usage for it she suggested, had Ellie burst into a fit of giggles.
"Or, I could use it to fuck Ellie," Adrienne suggested.
"Or you could," Ellie added wiping a tear from her eye and taking a deep breath.
"Y'know ..."

Breakfast, as quick as it was, was still quite substantial. Crispy bacon, eggs (over easy and scrambled), toast and of course coffee. As it was a big day for the Spencer-Clayton family group Joan too had come over for breakfast. She too would be accompanying Cassie to the hospital in the capacity of second mom. When she arrived she gave Madison an affectionate kiss, and Eric too. Now that the cat was out of the bag (at least within the family group) there was no need for the Spencer-Clayton parental team to hide their affection for one another anymore.
"Kind of weird, after all these years," Ellie said between a piece of bacon and a mouthful of scrambled eggs.
"To see them kissing openly like that."
"You two really have the coolest family," Adrienne commented.
"And now that you are dating our daughters so do you," Joan said and sat down across from the track star.
"You are as much family as any of us."
"Spencer-Clayton-Moore ... That's quite the name," Adrienne said and chuckled.

At the hospital there wasn't much to do but wait and once they had wheeled Cassie off to surgery Ellie decided to check out the DJ Andi had recommended for doing remixes. With such a short artist name it was hard to find but when she searched for their full name a good dozen videos popped up on YouTube, all of which were of live DJ sets from a club down town that was popular among the queer community. She listened through one of them and found the music to be ... interesting. It was hard to actually discern any specific individual songs as X added a lot of loops and effects on them making it more their own music than anything else. The video she watched lasted about an hour and at the bottom there was a link to their Bandcamp site which Ellie clicked and found five original songs. She clicked the first one Gender Crisis.

It began with a heavily altered voice, which she figured was the result of a vocoder effect, that kept repeating the phrase: "X X X Gender X X X Gender X X X," with a gradually increasing delay and reverb until it grew into feedback which then stopped abruptly and was replaced by heavy drums, that sounded more like someone beating on a large sheet of metal.

As she listened to the song, her head bobbing along with the increasingly complex rhythms, she tried to hear Funhouse Sweethearts' Ep filtered through the mind of the person who had created it. The next song began with burst of harsh noise and it took her a good half minute to identify it as a cover of Depeche Mode's People are people as the easily recognisable drums and metallic percussion eventually appeared along with the bass riff, heavily distorted as it was.

She nodded along as she took in the radically different version. It was definitely a song that was still important, perhaps more so now than it had been back in 1984 when it was originally released. Back then it had probably mostly been about racism and xenophobia in general but it could just as easily be interpreted (through more modern ears) as being about the very situation Cassie had addressed in her last speech at the Q&A live stream, about the very problem that Keith had so perfectly demonstrated when he attacked Cassie ... This was made even more obvious in X's version because the only thing in it that wasn't angry, distorted or sounded broken was a beautiful falsetto voice singing the slightly altered phrase: I can't understand - What makes a One - Hate another One - Help me understand, on top of the controlled chaos X had created to back it. Ellie definitely liked what she heard and she was sure Cassie would love it too.

At the bottom of the page there was, as Andi had suggested, an email address: xcrissxwhitex@email.com and Ellie was about to send off a message to ask if the person behind this music was interested in remixing their EP but then realised it was not her decision alone to make. She would have to talk to the band about it first. She kept listening though and the third song Salmacis was slower, more ambient, but at the same time darker. She did send a text message to Andi though saying that the music of X was interesting and thanked her for the tip, even if it didn't lead to any sort of collaboration.

About two hours later when Cassie was waking up from the anaesthesia Ellie had booked them for another two days in the studio just before they were to leave to visit Ellie's other family. She had also booked the rest of the band for rehearsals at Dusty's place since it had been a great space for it.

"Hey there sleeping beauty," she said and smiled as Cassie opened her eyes.
She then gave her a gentle kiss.
"Hey," Adrienne also said and like Ellie gave Cassie a kiss.
 
Cassie smiled at her partners as she came back to consciousness. She returned the kisses with a smile, then glanced over at her parents, who were standing on the other side of the bed. "They're gone." She said dreamily. "I don't have balls anymore." She held out her hand and Madison and Eric each grasped it with one of their own, smiling at her.

"That's right, darling." Madison said. "How's it feel?"

Cassie chuckled. "Like a fucking weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Or my groin, more accurately." She said. Eric held up a clear plastic bag with Cassie's personal effects.

"Here you go. We'll give you some privacy to get changed. And then we'll get you home. We, uh, have some business to sort out about you three's future. Particularly ... Living arrangements. You're all legally adults, and it might be a good idea to give you more space and privacy to yourselves, especially if Adrienne is living with you."

As she changed, her phone dinged, letting her know there was a new message in the band's group chat. She checked it, revealing a voice clip from Dusty.

"Hey, y'all might want to check the album's performance like right now. I don't know what happened, but we got a huge spike in unique users in the last couple hours, like since about when Cassie announced her surgery. I mean well into the quadruple digits. We blew through 2000 not long ago, and it's still climbing."

Cassie gasped. "Holy shit." She said in disbelief, quickly moving to check the numbers herself.
 
Their ep had indeed spiked in the time Cassie had been anaesthetised and with a quick cross reference to their YouTube channel Ellie knew why.
"Look," she said and showed Cassie the comment on their release video.
Loving the record girls xoxo KP
The brief message was followed by a link to Kim Petra's own channel where she had further promoted the ep. This was huge, certainly more so to Cassie than it was to Ellie but still. The record's unique views actually rose as she watched.
"At this rate we'll hit five digits before the day is over."
She almost climbed onto the bed with Cassie kissing her.
"Can you fucking believe it?"


As soon as Cassie ha dressed herself back in her own clothes, the six members of the Spencer/Clayton - Moore family rode back home together and all gathered around the Spencer's kitchen table over a light lunch Eric had whipped up from leftovers.
"So. Myself, Madison and Eric have been talking about this ever since we came out to you as a throuple," Joan began.
"Now that you girls know there is no need for us to live separately from each other and I intend to move in with my partners and the three of you can move in here."
 
The squeal of joy that escaped Cassie when she saw the message from Kim Petras resulted in a very concerned nurse making sure everything was okay, which left Cassie quite embarrassed as they made their way home.

Once they were all settled and Joan started talking about the plans, Eric and Madison nodded. "We were already considering it for when you girls graduated after you got together, but with Adrienne joining things and all of you being adults, plus Adrienne being disowned ... It seemed like the time was right." Eric said.

"This way, you all have your own space, you'll be able to save money, and there's no risk of anyone walking in on anything they don't want to see." Madison added.

Cassie smiled, taking one of each of her partners' hands. "That sounds like a really good idea." She said. "So I guess we're going to be doing that this weekend? Moving stuff?"

Eric shook his head with a gentle smirk as he pointed a finger at Cassie. "You're not doing anything, missy. You just had surgery, you're taking it easy. No strenuous exertion, remember?" He said lightly.

Cassie suppressed a chuckle.

"We're probably going to get started on some of the easier stuff this weekend, but the full move could still take a while. This is gonna be a big adjustment. Madison and I also want to go to get your things from your parents' house, Adrienne. If you want to come with to make sure we get everything, that would be appreciated, but not necessary if you don't want to go." Eric said
 
Ellie was as overjoyed as Cassie by the news their moms and dad put forth. The three of them would get a house all to themselves. Adri (as they had decided was their gender neutral name) showed a lot more emotion than they usually did and almost cried from gratitude. They had of course hoped that the Spencer-Claytons would take her in now that they was no longer welcome in their parent's house. When Eric then offered to go with them to get their things she stood up and gave him a hug.
"I don't know what to say," they said and letting go of Eric hugged both Madison and Joan in turn.
"Thank you so very very much," they said and wiped away the tear that had formed in the corner of their left eye.

That weekend the entire Spencer/Clayton-Moore family group was busy moving things between the two houses. All of Cassie's personal stuff was packed up and moved to the Spencer house. She helped pack but mostly directed her partners on the heavier lifts. At first they crammed most of it into Ellie's room to not have it mixed up with Joan's things as she packed them and moved them to the Clayton house. Joan left her king size bed for the girls. It wasn't like she would need it at the Clayton house anyway.
"You can't all sleep in Ellie's bed in the long run," she explained as she pulled the sheets off it to put in the laundry.
"Meals will be at our place," Eric said.
It was the most logical solution since the girls didn't really have any income of their own, at least not yet.

Come Sunday morning five of the Spencer/Clayton-Moore family group got into Joan's car and drove to the Moore family's residence while Eric went to rent a van and then join them there. Adri had called their brother in advance to give the family notice that they were coming to get their things. When the first five Spencer/Clayton-Moores arrived there was a lot of tension but Madison and Joan dealt with Adri's parents while Ellie, Cassie and Adri (aided by Stanley) went about packing and bringing some furniture down to the curb where Stanley and Eric loaded everything into the van.

"Just so you know," Stanley said as all of Adri's things were in the van.
"I will miss you at least. I mean who a I going to tease now? Right?"
Adri gave their brother a hug and nodded.
"Yea. I'll miss that too. See you around I guess," Adri replied and as they got into the car even waved at their parents who watched from their bedroom window, both shaking their heads in disbelief.
Perhaps they had expected their daughter to come crawling back ready to conform and beg to be let back home. Perhaps in that moment they regretted having disowned her.
 
It had been practically a foregone conclusion that the Spencer-Clayton parents would be accepting of Adri's gender and open their home to the teen. Eric and Madison assured them that they were part of the family now, and that meant the family looked out for them.

That night, while she changed the gauze padding on her incision, she paused to examine herself and the doctor's handiwork. It was strange how flat and empty her scrotum looked, almost deflated. Bruised and ugly right now, with the stitches along the midline. But it would heal. The change in appearance definitely brought a wave of euphoria, and Cassie imagined what it would be like when she finally went ahead and finished the vaginoplasty.
The rest of the weekend passed fairly uneventfully as they started the move and then went to get get Adri's things. Their EP had finally slowed down it's climb, and Cassie had done a post thanking Kim Petras for the support, which had gotten another response, suggesting that Kim had further ideas that might help promote the band and who knew what possibilities the future held

Ellie had, over the weekend, informed the others of her lead on someone to do more remix work for the band and shown them some of the work. The suggestion had been met with enthusiastic approval to go ahead and either set up a meeting or at least find an opportunity for the band to see them live. With the plan being to get another set of songs ready for release, including NYATG and Out Of The Closet, the band had decided they were going to try for rehearsals at least a couple times a week up until their next studio sessions, currently scheduled for right before Cassie and Ellie left to go spend a while at Ellie's father's.
 
After having moved all of Adri's stuff into the Spencer house the extended family went over to the Clayton house where Eric had whipped up a late lunch. While eating Ellie had texted Andi about the band wanting to meet this mysterious X first, or at least see them live.

After a few texts back and forth she looked up at Cassie and Adri.
"You too tired to go clubbing tonight?" she asked.
"X is DJing at The Flowerpot. It's this club that tens to draw a Queer crowd. Andi can meet us there to make the introductions."
She pulled up the band's group chat and asked the others the same question and got all positive responses.
"So that's settled then," she concluded when both her partners nodded.
"I think we might need a nap first though," she added and having finished her hash-browns was about to head upstairs when she remembered that Cassie didn't live there anymore, that they had a house all to themselves now.

Three hours later Ellie was in the shower planning what to wear. She didn't have that much in her wardrobe to signal an LBTQ affiliation, yet, but in the end she went with the same outfit and make up she had used for their live stream.
"Hurry up you two," she said when she stepped out.
"We're meeting Andi and the others at eight, that's in like less than 3 hours."
 
Last edited:
Cassie had heard about The Flowerpot. It was a popular queer spot, notable for being divided into a section for 18- to 21-year-olds, and another for 21+, something which helped keep it fairly incident-free. It was, of course, doing Pride events all month long. Cassie was looking forward to the chance to check it out. It might even prove to be a networking opportunity. Maybe even a chance for a gig.

When the trio had decided they were going to go out, Eric had held Adri up. "So, Adri, I don't know if you have any clothes that you would want to wear out that reflect you, if you want to do something more masc, but if you want, we can see if I have something that fits you or go shopping for something." He suggested.
Later, when Ellie got out of the shower, Cassie chuckled at Ellie's comment, then took her own shower. When it came time to choose her outfit, she had settled on the dress she'd worn for their birthday party.

They arrived on schedule, quite easily, and noticed the twins and Ember already waiting near the door, with someone else that Cassie didn't recognize, a Black girl who was leaning against André with their arm around its waist and their head leaning on its shoulder. As the trio approached, André smiled, raising a hand in greeting before starting to walk towards them, the girl coming along.

"Hey, I see you brought company!" André said with a smile.

Cassie chuckled. "So did you." She observed.

André nodded. "Fair. Right, introductions. This," it gestured to the girl, "is my girlfriend, Melinda. Melinda, this is Cassie, Ellie, and someone I don't know yet, but will probably be introduced next."

The girl chuckled, extending a hand. "Please, call me Mel. She/her pronouns."

Cassie smiled, shaking the hand. "Cassie. She/her as well." She gestured to Adri. "This is Adri, mine and Ellie's girl— shit, sorry— partner."

Mel smiled, extending her hand to Adri and nodding. Suddenly, her phone started to beep, and she chuckled. "Time for the titty skittles." She said, pulling out a prescription bottle from her purse and shaking a few of what Cassie immediately recognized as estradiol pills into her hand before André handed her a bottle of water. She downed the pills with a swig, then glanced at the others. "So we're just waiting on y'all's agent, then?"
 
Last edited:
Once everyone had been introduced and given their preferred pronouns, and Dusty had appeared from within where he had not had to face the otherwise very real conundrum of which bathroom to use because there was only one bathroom with no gendered symbol on it, just a big rainbow coloured toilet, Andi arrived and they all went in together.

The music was quite loud and on the harsher side, perfectly matching what Ellie had heard on X's Bandcamp channel though it took her a while to identify the song as Blondie's X Offender, presumably in parts chosen for its title, at least that's what Ellie figured once her musical mind had cut through the added thumping drums and bass and caught Debbie Harry's voice singing how she was going to perpetrate love, perhaps not exactly politcally correct but at the same time something of a feminist statement in that she was not a fucking victim.

She looked up at the DJ booth at this person of indeterminable gender, with their face painted white with a black X across it, was completely immersed in the music, leaning over their equipment as if it was the single most important thing in the world and she recognised much of herself in that pose. There had ben so many times when Cassie had basically had to physically shake her to snap her out of such a state when she was hyper-focused on some minor musical detail, a tweak of an effect, or balancing bass vs drums. She liked them already. This was someone who took their music as seriously as she did.

X Offender was the followed by Depeche Mode's Master and Servant which had everyone on the dance floor.

Momentarily forgetful of why they were there Ellie bounced around with complete abandon to the beat not giving a rat's furry ass whether her equally bouncing breasts drew any attention. There was in that moment nothing but the music, the feeling of joy it filled her with, the way all music did one way or another, even the angry or sad songs. It was a feeling that was above and beyond the emotions conveyed in the music.

When, a few songs later, the DJ, in an unexpectedly soft voice, announced they would be taking a break, Andi managed to gather the band together and brought them back to the secondary bar which was down stairs and away from the dance floor and the thumping music.
"Criss," she said and gestured towards the band.
"This is the band I was telling you about who might be interested in you doing a few remixes for them. They wanted to meet you first though.
Criss looked up from their large coke on ice.
"Sweet take on Be My Baby but the one that really caught my ear was Heart of a Dreamer."
"Could you do all four?" Ellie asked envisioning a sibling ep with remixed versions.
"Also ..."
She suddenly felt a bit awkward but taking Cassie's hand she managed to ask if it was possible that she could sit in and just observe their process.
"Usually I do this kind of stuff on my lap top at home but I suppose I could come by Andi's studio and we could do it there."
They attempted what Ellie supposed was intended as a smile and finished their drink.
"Now if you'll excuse me it's time for my second set. Anything in particular you'd like me to play?"
Ellie thought about it for a moment and then suggested Poppy's anthem Am I a Girl.
"Right, the one you two played at that q&a event. Gotcha. Quite a big deal that was. Loved your speeches Cass."
 
Reader mode
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom