"Are you sure that this'll work?"

Otto's skeptical tone makes Evie roll her eyes before he's even gotten the question out, but she grins.

"Does it matter? As long as I don't have to wear the dress, I don't mind getting caught – honestly, my money's on Eva noticing immediately. The team and your dad are going to think this is hilarious, so the only person we should really avoid is my aunt. She'll probably yell at us if we're anywhere near her, and I don't want to have to deal with that. Now stop twitching; I'm going to zip you up."

The dress Otto has slipped into is made of a black, gauzy fabric that sparkles when the glitter decorating it catches the light. Its halter top is neatly tied in back with a bow, courtesy of Evie's nimble fingers, and the long, billowing skirt trails the floor, shwish-shwish-ing softly whenever he twists to take in his appearance. Evie has done his makeup in mostly neutral colors, with the exception of her signature bold eyeliner and some shimmery powder on his inner tear duct. His hair has long been grown out, but today, it's curled and pulled back with a couple of barrettes. He's honestly a little awed. He had thought that such a feminine outfit might make him feel insecure or embarrassed, but he feels absurdly confident. Girly or not, he looks good.

Evie, on the other hand, is in a black three piece suit. Having finished zipping up Otto's dress, she's turned to buttoning up the sleeves on her suit jacket. The brocade of her vest shines like threaded gold when she leans further towards the nearby lamp, matching Otto's glitter. He passes her the fancy brass cufflinks engraved with compasses they'd bought in an antique store. They're her favorite of his, albeit very scanty, collection of jewelry, along with the gold pocket watch he passes her next. Evie finds the chain hanging out of her waistcoat pocket to be very dapper. Plus, it matches the delicate gold chain necklace and bracelet she had lent Otto for the evening, as well as their matching championship rings: thin gold bands, nondescript except for their initials and the year marked inside. She feels much more comfortable in this than she would in the dress, she reflects with satisfaction. Not to mention, this style suits her – pun intended.

When Evie pushes back off of the side table she was leaning against, she catches sight of the two of them in the mirror. Evie's also quite proud of both of their appearances. Her own makeup is intentionally meant to make her look more "masculine", and her hair is much more simply arranged than Otto's, with the top layer of her wavy bob pulled back into a loose ponytail. But the two of them match perfectly. So much so, in fact... 

"Jesus. Nobody will ever believe us again, when we try to tell them we don't look the same." Otto turns his attention towards their reflection at her words. Evie's the spitting image of Otto at their fancy graduation dinner, down to the suit, and they're so similar in height and build—both tall and broad-shouldered—that the dress Otto is wearing, intended by Evie's aunt for her niece, but fits Otto just as well.

With their practically identical haircuts and matching straw-colored hair, anyone who meets them has always said they look similar, but as Otto points out: "I thought they were kidding. You look just like me! How did you do that?"

"Don't you mean you look like me?," Evie responds, grabbing her cane.

"No way. I'm older!"

"And just so much more mature. Now come on, old man, we've got to get moving. It always takes me forever to get dress shoes over my prosthetic."

"Oh, I am so ready to put my boots on and be taller than you."

"We're the same height with your boots on, and you know it! I should have made you wear heels. If you're going to claim to be taller than me, you should at least suffer for it. Don't forget your purse!"

When they arrive at the championship party, Eva and Rishanth descend upon them immediately, dragging them off of a growing group of their friends, primarily their swim teammates, but also some non-swimmers from the university. Evie had taken great delight in watching Rishanth go from flirting playfully with "Evie" to slack-jawed when Eva had, completely deadpan, told Otto that she liked his dress. Of course, Rishanth is only deterred momentarily before a Cheshire grin spreads across his face, followed by an outpouring of truly terrible pick-up lines.

It's hard to tell to what extent the larger group noticed their brief foray into cross-dressing – Evie and Otto were so often together, being roommates and largely involved in the same activities, that the call that went around to the group when they joined its mass was, "Hey, the twins are here!"

Otto groaned. "You were right; we're never going to live this down."

 

"Of course I was right," Evie responded, striking a pose with her cane. "I'm always right. Like right now, I can just tell that you want to go get us some drinks while I figure out who we need to talk to."

"As long as you do most of the talking itself, I guess."

 

Evie laughs as she watches him take a few tentative steps before quickly becoming frustrated with the flouncing of his dress and gathering as much of it as possible into his arms. She goes to look for a chair to sit down on, pleased with how easily she can move in her suit pants.

By the time Otto comes back to her, Evie is also basking in a newfound ability to be left alone when dressed like a man. Beyond a few teammates calling out greetings, no one has tried to come up to her at all, even to talk about her cane.

"What took you so long?," Evie teases, gratefully accepting her glass of tonic water from Otto. He's gone for his usual as well: ginger beer, with a wedge of lime.

"I don't know how you get anything done as a girl! I swear to god, so. many. people. wanted to talk to me on my way to the bar. I mean, the girls were nice, at least. They all just wanted to tell me that they liked my dress and makeup. Oh, and the pockets! But three separate guys tried to ask me for my number. One of them was really pushy; it was so weird! I told him that I was a guy, though, and that scared him off."

"Wow, and here I thought I was the pretty one of the two of us. It usually takes me at least an hour to get hit on by three guys. Although I guess you're probably a pretty good deterrent, most of the time. I just tell them you're my boyfriend. I should start telling them I'm a man, though, it seems effective."

"If this is how it's going to be, then you're absolutely going to be a man tonight because I'm also going to start telling people you're my boyfriend. That guy was creepy. Now where's Coach Mack? I figure she's first on your list."

"Over there, talking to Coach Andy. Wait, shit, wave. There's my aunt. We can't let her get close to us yet; I'm not ready to be done with this trade. Let's go over to Coach Mack; she'll leave us alone if we're talking to a coach."

"Why'd she want you to wear a dress so bad anyway? Especially this one, since it catches on your prosthetic. Seems unfair to you."

"Apparently, pants aren't "ladylike" enough for a nice event. I should instead resign myself to getting my leg caught on gauze and collapsing to the floor in front of everyone, which is obviously peak feminine charm."

"Would that count as you... falling for me?"

"Dammit, I always laugh at puns. Unfair!"

"Better to laugh at that than you swan-diving—probably taking me down too."

"Yeah, because this is actually fun. We're looking good!"

"That, or we're just good-looking."