//------------------------------//
// Suit Up! 
// Story: Quills and Sofa's Speedwriting Anthology 
// by Atom Smash 
//------------------------------//

Octavo inspected himself critically in his full-length bedroom mirror, a recent purchase, and did not hate what he saw. That too was another recent development. In fact, Octavo had made a lot of changes lately.

Despite wearing nothing but underwear, he found himself intrigued rather than uncomfortable. Still looking at himself he raised his arm and flexed. It should have felt silly, but he was immensely proud of how his upper arm swelled with the movement. He glanced over at the dumbbells in the corner, all that hard work was certainly paying off. He relaxed his arm, letting it hang loosely by his side and was delighted to see that it still looked good, strong, manly and immensely satisfying. He would probably always have slim shoulders, there wasn’t much he could do about that, it was the legacy of Octavia, but he was still proud of the progress he had made. Flexing again he couldn’t help but smile at his mirror image as it took on a very masculine shape.

For the first time in his life, Octavo felt good about his looks, and that was worth everything he’d gone through to get to this point: all the exercise, the hormone shots, the arguments, yes even the lost friends.

His image wasn’t perfect though, not yet. He still had some work to do, and he looked forward to it.

First came the shaping undershirt which pressed his breasts flat, then the dress shirt. It was a long sleeved button down affair that he had custom made after he came out. The buttons matched the mulberry of his eyes and both shoulders sported embroidered treble clefs. These decorations were unnecessary, it wasn’t as if they could be seen under the jacket and tie, but he liked having them there. Clothes were all about expressing the real you, and Octavo wanted to do that on every level he could.

After the shirt was firmly buttoned down came the trousers, which he carefully tucked the shirt into and selected a belt that would go well with his shoes.

Every item of clothing added to his confidence and comfort and he found himself stopping to admire himself in the mirror several times. He looked like a real gentleman standing there in his slacks and button down. Had it been a normal school day he would have stopped there, but today he had a date and he felt justified in treating himself to his very best.

He selected a mulberry tie, reminiscent of the pink bowtie he had used to wear when he was still dressing like a girl. That old thing had been his first act of rebellion. It had been meant to be worn as a hair accessory, but he had clipped it to the front of his shirt instead. Even back then it had just felt more him.

Well, the mulberry tie was him grown up. It was wider, darker and almost completely hid the hint of cleavage that he was still working on getting rid off. The benefit of a plain tie was that he didn’t have to worry about pattern as he tied it into a simple yet functional knot.

Lastly came the jacket, it was a deep charcoal that fell somewhere in between the bright gray of his skin and the much darker tones of his mane, complimenting both. The real benefit of the jacket however was the extra structure. The stiff canvas front flattened out his chest and the discrete shoulder pads gave him a very masculine silhouette. Perfection.

Octavo gave his mirror image an approving nod. “That will do,” he said, doing his best to sound formal, but there was no hiding the huge smile on his face as he left for his date.