Jeffrey Woods

You had only lived in the mansion a few weeks, but you'd already found yourself in messy, complicated situationship with a guy you were 99% sure couldn't even feel love.

You met Jeff on your first day there, he didnt seem too interested in your arrival. He stared at you a little longer than socially acceptable, but you figured it was because you were new. He didn't try to talk to you, not when you came downstairs to eat, not when you moved in to the room next to his. He just stared at you, occasionally. After about a week you felt comfortable enough to ask someone, some guy named Jack who seemed to had lived there for a while, if Jeff was always like this. And apparently, no, he was not. Jack described him much differently, referring to him fondly as a "loud obnoxious parasite". So why was he so particularly observational around you? It was unsettling.

A couple days later you were hanging out downstairs in a common room with a handful of other proxies. It was a semi-orginized movie night. Something that they did once in a while. They had some sense of community, even if most of them hated eachother. Jeff was hanging around too, on the other side of the couch from you. There was someone in between you though, much to your relief. Ben, or whatever his name was. Short guy.

You sat around awkwardly for a while. You werent exactly immersed in the social circle yet, didn't know anyone well enough to strike up conversation. You eavesdropped on Ben and Jeff's conversation for a while, they were just bickering like siblings. Mildly entertaining at best. Their conversation hit a stalemate after a while, causing a beat of silence. Ben was too antsy to sit still and watch a movie though. He was like a child, it was annoying.

So, he turned to you, introduced himself briefly, and began asking questions. Prying, really. How you got here, what you did, where your family was. He didn't remember to ask your name untill way later. He was obnoxiously nosey, but he was the first person who was willing to talk to you so you really couldn't complain. He rambled on for a while, then he paused. Perhaps unsure if he should really ask this, but his curiosity overrode his better judgment.

"So, like..what are you."

The question was uncomfortable to hear. You'd had hoped you could avoid this topic, but this idiot was way too dense to understand how uncomfortable it was. You looked..rather androgynous. You were assigned female at birth, but you never fully aligned with it. You didn't have everything figured out yet, but you knew you weren't a woman. You werent necessarily sure if you were a man either. It was still sort of new. After a prolonged moment of contemplation, you spoke up. Informing Ben that you were sort of..gender ambiguous.

You could've sworn you felt Jeff's eyes lock onto you in that moment.

Ben looked interested and began prying even further, uncomfortably so. He was begining to ask quite invasive questions about surgeries when a hand hit him on the back of the head. He rubbed the back of his head and glared back at Jeff.

"Can you shut up, you fucking idiot. Stop prying into his business."

Jeff remarked, only briefly glancing at you. You were suprised. It was the first time he had directly acknowledged you. And he had..defended you? If you could call it that? More than that, he had affirmed you. You stared at him blankly for a moment. It was the first time anyone had used masculine pronouns for you, and he did it so easily. You felt weirdly seen, like someone actually understood and was treating you normally regardless. You felt very warm inside.

After the movie, you began to walk back to your room. You were suprised when Jeff caught up to you, walking in the same direction. He started to talk to you, casually. You couldnt deny he was charming. Intentionally so, you suspected. You two talked for a while, it was surprisingly easy. Topics were light, he didnt mention anything from earlier. You were a little sad when you reached your room and said goodnight. Laying in bed that night your mind couldn't rest. What was that? Where was this going?

Over the next few days he bothering you more and more. Well, you couldn't truly call it bothering. You were starting to really enjoy it. His personality came out more, yoy started to get why people referred to him as an obnoxious asshole. But you thought he was funny. And he wasnt ever cruel to you, well, only playfully. Things started progressing rapidly. About a week into talking, you started staying the night at Jeff's room. You two hadn't actually like..gone all the way..yet. It was sort of uncomfortable for you, considering your dysphoria. Jeff was always very comforting and affirming. Almost weirdly so. He would always let you borrow his baggy clothes, saying it would help you feel comfortable. He offered to cut your hair if you needed it. Bought you masculine shower products when he went shopping for you two. And he would always use correct pronouns. Well, sort of. He always used masculine pronouns. You only referred to yourself with gender neutral pronouns, but he wasn't making you uncomfortable or anything. It's not like he was using feminine pronouns, so, it was fine.

At this point you two were spending an obsessive amount of time together, getting moderately sexual, and were implied monogamous. Atleast you figured, since Jeff seemed to loose his shit any time he saw anyone else talking to you when he wasn't present. Though anytime you mentioned putting a label on anything he smoothly changed the topic. It did sometimes get annoying how effortlessly charismatic he could be. Manipulative might be a better word for it. Sometimes you wondering if he was as much of a sociopath as everyone else claimed he was.

This morning you had woken up in your room, since Jeff had been out since yesterday, serial killing and whatnot. Well, technically it was 4pm, but it was morning for you. The mansion was rather nocturnal. You got dressed and headed out your bedroom door. You figured you should go check Jeff's room, see if he was home yet.