Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“And what is this ? You shouldn’t have these!” Master Frown squeezes the pink venus symbol he nabbed out of a wave of otherwise masculine sparkle-matter and looks accusingly at Hawkodile. “Explain yourself, do-gooder! Who did you steal this from?”

Hawkodile puts a nervous hand behind his head, scratching it in confusion. “I didn’t steal it, it’s just… In there now,” he admits, a little embarrassed. “It’s been in there for like… A month?”

“It’s pretty , Hawkodile! Mom had one of those in her sparkle-matter!” Unikitty pushes him, eliciting a light exclamation of surprise and a little more sparkle-matter, out of which she grabs a second pink venus symbol. She squishes it excitedly. “Frowny-Head, you’re just mad you don’t have pretty sparkle-matter like Hawkodile does!”

Master Frown groans and crushes the bit of matter he is holding. “That’s not it at all! This is girl sparkle-matter! Hawkodile can’t make this because his sparkle-core isn’t pink!” He growls and crosses his arms, then yells, “Brock! Agree with me!”

“Well, it isn’t typical, but I don’t know that it’s impossible-”

“I said agree with me, not ‘beat around the issue’. He’s got the wrong sparkle-matter! It’s an issue !” Hawkodile twists about to look at himself, hunting for whatever a 'sparkle-core' is. Unikitty flies around him doing the same. Neither of them seem to care what Master Frown is saying at this point. “It’s just… Not done! He’s a… He’s… Sick! That’s it! He must be really sick, and going to die.” Master Frown laughs, “And then Unikitty will cry and cry and won’t have a big bodyguard to protect her from my attacks anymore.”

Brock tilts his head a bit, “Master Frown, I really don’t think that’s what’s happening here.”

“Shuttup! Come Brock, let’s go and plan our next attack while the virus stews!” Master Frown says with an evil laugh. He grabs Brock and speeds off.

Unikitty frowns, confused. “I can’t find anything that looks like a ‘Sparkle-Core’... And what does the color matter? Oh… I don’t get it Hawkodile.”

“I don’t either, Princess.”

Unikitty taps her chin for a moment, floating back and forth to pump up her brain for this important contemplation. She gasps loudly and suddenly, then squishes Hawkodile's cheeks together. “Dr. Fox! She's a doctor! And she made those potions we used on Richard! She'll know what a Sparkle-Core is!” She grabs Hawkodile by the wrist and starts dragging him, “C'mon! To the lab! Now!”

Hawkodile struggles a little, but accepts being dragged after a moment. “Do we really have to get Dr. Fox involved with this? I don't want to bother her unless it's important.”

“This is important, Hawkodile! You've got cute new sparkle matter and I wanna know how I can get some! I mean, Master Frown said you might be uh… Sick, right?”

“I think so? But I don't think he knows what he's talking about.”

“But what if he does? You could be in danger! And then I'd be in danger too!”

Hawkodile digs his heels into the ground, stopping both of them. “Oh no, you're right! If I am sick then I can't be a good bodyguard.” He bites his nails for a moment, thinking, then grabs Unikitty and carries her off towards Dr. Fox's lab. “What are we waiting for? Let's get this thing figured out!” Unikitty cheers as she’s carried, sending a little splash of pretty-glittery sparkle matter behind her with every “Woo-hoo” she lets loose.

When they reach the lab they find Dr. Fox taking notes while monitoring Puppycorn who is hooked up to a few wires and sitting on a table, humming to himself. “Well hey sis, why’s Hawkodile carrying ya?” he asks, tilting his head at them.

Hawkodile sets Unikitty down and catches his breath. “We came to see… Dr. Fox… About… Sparkle...Matter…” he huffs out between breaths before plopping down beside Puppycorn on the table. Unikitty grabs one of the bottles of sparkle matter samples from Dr. Fox’s shelves and shakes it around, peering inside.

“What’s a Sparkle Core, Dr.Fox? Is Hawkodile’s broken? Can you make something to make me make pretty pink little circle… Stick… Thingies?”

“What? No one has a broken Sparkle Core, they’d be leaking sparkle matter constantly. Who told you Hawkodile had a broken Sparkle Core.”

“Frowny Frown. He said uh… Something something, blah blah,” Unikitty switches to an impression of Master Frown, though it isn’t particularly good, “His Sparkle Core isn’t pink!”

Dr. Fox rolls her eyes and pulls down a blueprint, showing the pieces of Rascal separated with his arms, legs, hat, torso, and head separated and all linked up to a single square piece in the middle by dotted white lines. Behind the middle piece is a halo of glow. “This is a Sparkle Core, it’s not just a Sparkle Matter producing block, but the building block of all of our citizens. There’s this idea that there’s only blue or pink Sparkle Cores because there were only two dissections when the science started.”

Puppycorn interrupts, “Dissections…?”

Dr. Fox confirms, “Dissections! But we don’t need a dissection now, or at least I don’t. And it’s pretty widely known amongst academics that Sparkle Cores are a lot of colors.” She runs off for a moment and returns with a large machine that looks a lot like a novelty photo booth, except that it’s decorated with depictions of Sparkle Matter and single glowing blocks instead of the usual friendly snapshots. She pulls back the curtain. “Here, go on in Hawkodile, I’ll prove right now that your Sparkle Core is just fine .”

Hawkodile gives a nod and steps into the machine, closing the curtain behind him. “You hear that, Princess? I’m totally fine. I can get back to my body-guarding duties without any issue.” The machine gives a few camera-flashes, then a screen pops up from the top of it and shows a single square piece that is moving in a gradient between a dark green and a sunny yellow.

“I will concede that I don’t typically see Sparkle Cores that are… More than one color. Or changing colors. But this still isn’t broken , broken Sparkle Cores are cracked or chipped.”

“So there is something wrong with it?” Hawkodile asks, alarmed. He yanks the curtain off the machine as he steps out of it, misjudging his strength in his now nervous state.

“No, no! It's fascinating. It's… Hmm. Unikitty, what did you say the sparkle matter looked like that Master Frown complained about?”

“Oh! Oh! It was like mom's pretty sparkle matter bits! It was pink and there was a circle attached to a plus sign? Kind of like a hand mirror, maybe?”

Dr. Fox gasps, “A Venus!” She takes out a chalkboard and starts scribbling on ot fervently. Hawkodile and Unikitty try to look over her head at her notes, but neither of them can make sense of them.

“Is that bad? I mean. I've had them for awhile and they haven't gotten me yet, so I must be really tough or-”

“Bad? No, this isn't medical at all Hawkodile! If my theory is correct, I mean.”

“Oh, yeah. I knew that.”

“No, you didn’t. But that’s ok, because I do! Your sparkle core is reacting to a feeling you have, Hawkodile. Think about your crush, it's that, but this is about you .”

Unikitty thinks for a moment, then says. “Hawkodile thinks he's pretty?”

Dr. Fox shakes her head, “No. Well, maybe. But I'm saying that Hawkodile is a girl.”

“Whoa, whoa. Dr. Fox. I’ve got some pretty big muscles that say otherwise.”

Dr. Fox looks at Hawkodile, disappointed in him, for a moment. She then opens up a book and flips to a page depicting Master Doom winning an evil bench-pressing competition, with her stats on the opposite page, and hands it over to Hawkodile. He looks it over for a moment, then nods. “Point taken. But I’ve not been a girl before, and I don’t know why I would be now.”

“Well, you’re allowed to just… Be a girl now.”

“You can do that?” Hawkodile asks, genuinely curious at this point. “I mean, that doesn’t sound bad. But I didn’t know that was something you could do…” A few pieces of sparkle matter escape from his head, include several more of the pink venus-symbol pieces. Dr. Fox quickly captures the sparkle matter in an empty beaker and starts examining it.

“If Hawkodile is a girl can I be a dog?” Puppycorn asks, tail wagging.

“You’re already a dog little bro.” Unikitty responds, coming over and petting his head.

“I am? I am. Sweet!”

“Unikitty, will you watch Puppycorn for notable changes for me? I’m going to take Hawkodile somewhere with a little more information on this Sparkle Core thing.”

Unikitty gasps, then flies off for a moment, returning in a doctor’s uniform that is obviously a home-mades costume. The stethoscope has a big flower rather than a bell and diaphragm and her name-tag reads “Princess Good at Science” with the P written fairly large and the last e written tiny in the corner as she obviously ran out of room. She gives Dr. Fox an affirming salute. “Will do, Dr. Fox. You can count on me!”

“Alright, come on Hawkodile, I think I know someone who knows a little more than me.” She looks him seriously in the eyes and adds, “On this one subject, of course” to assert herself as the scientist in the Unikingdom. Hawkodile follows along, eager to get whatever this Sparkle Core issue really is amended so that he can properly guard the princess. And maybe so he can try out this ‘being a girl’ thing that is sounding better by the moment, even if he isn’t quite embracing it yet.

Chapter Text

“Who is this expert we’re going to see, Dr. Fox?”

“Oh, it’s just Feebee.”

“Feebee? But she’s a florist . What does she know about Sparkle Cores?” Hawkodile puts both his hands on his face and shakes his head, “Dr. Fox I think we should just let this go. I really don’t think putting flowers on my face is going to help me out.”

“Her job isn’t why she’s an expert. It’s… Well, you’ll see.”

They make their way to the watering can shaped flower shop, just right of the 134, without much more conversation. Dr. Fox doesn’t seem to be willing to give any more information about what makes Feebee an expert and Hawkodile is a little distracted by thinking about just what would change if he decided that he should embrace what his sparkle matter is saying and be a girl. It feels right, but it’s also confusing. He’s used to acting without thinking and this involves real, serious thought. Or maybe it doesn’t involve much thought and he’s just really, seriously confused.

Would he have to wear a dress, like he did for Puppycorn’s play? No, that’s not a necessity. Make-up? No, not every girl wears that. Even Unikitty foregoes her paint-roller of glitter some mornings. Tea parties? No. High heels? No. Science? Maybe. Nothing really stuck out to Hawkodile as a necessity of girlhood. Could he just say he was a girl and that would be good enough? What did he really have to change?

“Well hi there Dr. Fox, Hawkodile. Are you here for some flowers for the castle?”

“We can pick some up, certainly. But I kind of had a more… Personal request.”

Feebee tilts her head and hugs a bundle of flowers close to her, like a security blanket. “What do ya mean? You need a bouquet for a date? You pick that up before the date, usually.” Hawkodile blushes and shakes his head. A few hearts, dumbells, and more of the pink venus symbols pop out of his head. “Oh. Oooh! I see. Let me change the sign to closed, there’s a lounge in the back with some real nice bean bags, just head past the begonias.”

She carefully puts her flowers back down into their box, flips the sign on in the window, then follows after Dr. Fox and Hawkodile who are already on their way to a door with a bright purple sign accented with painted flowers that designates it as a lounge. The beanbags inside are, no surprise, flower shaped, and while Feebee and Dr. Fox sit on them comfortably Hawkodile sinks in a little too much due to the density of his muscles. He crosses his arms with a huff, but doesn’t complain aloud.

“So, Feebee. Are you okay with talking to Hawkodile about this? I know you don’t tell everyone.”

“It’s fine. Hawkodile saves me from danger all the time, the least I can do is help out with this little thing.” She takes a deep breath, preparing, “I didn’t always go by Feebee, Hawkodile. I moved here after I already transitioned so not many people know, but I had the same thing happen to me as is happening to you. My sparkle matter started having those little symbols in them and I had to look them up and then I understood. I was a girl. I always was a girl. I just had to… Blossom into one.”

Hawkodile tries to think about it, but can’t imagine Feebee as anything but a lady. “What did you look like?”

“ Hawkodile! ” Dr. Fox quickly reprimands him, “That’s rude. I’m so sorry Feebee. I should’ve really talked to him some on my own before-”

“No, no, it’s okay! You’re just wondering cause you’re thinkin’ about doing the same thing, right Hawkodile?”

Hawkodile nods, “Yeah I… I didn’t know it was rude to ask. Sorry.”

Feebee stands up and starts rustling some papers around in a drawer. “I think I might still have a picture around. Somewhere .” She pulls a somewhat faded, definitely wrinkled snapshot out of the drawer and hands it over to Hawkodile. He tilts it in front of him and stares, confused. He looks between it and Feebee.

“You uh. Have eyelashes now.”

“Yeah!”

“And you dyed your petals?”

“I dyed my petals before I got the eyelashes, but yeah. I used to like orange the best, but I think pink looks better with my face, you know?”

“So what do I actually have to do to be a lady?”

“Well, nothing.”

Hawkodile hands back the picture and stares down at the floor, thinking. “But the eyelashes, you got those.”

“I did. But they make me feel good and make it clear to everyone else that I’m a girl. They’re not… Necessary.”

“And if I want eyelashes?”

“I can teach ya how to draw them on, or recommend you to someone who applies permanent lashes. When you’re ready.”

“Huh.” Hawkodile taps his hand against his thigh a couple times. If it doesn’t take anything then does it matter? If it doesn’t matter then why does it feel important? Would eyelashes clash with his shades?

“Any thoughts?” Dr. Fox asks, turning to Hawkodile. He’s been thinking longer than he realized and Feebee has brought out tea for herself and Dr. Fox.

“Uh… Well. I don’t mind the idea. I mean. I don’t have to give up muscles or action or my shades.”

“That you don’t,” Feebee reassures him, “You only have to do what you’re comfortable with.”

“Do I have to change my name?”

“I don’t think ‘Hawkodile’ is indicative of any gender in particular,” Dr. Fox says after a sip of tea, “More of… Two species in particular.”

Feebee nods in agreement, “You can , but you don’t have to. This is for you , Hawkodile.”

“Can I… See what the eyelashes look like?”

Feebee grins and produces something that looks suspiciously like a marker, then comes over to where Hawkodile is sitting. “Could ya take your glasses off, Hawkodile?” He hesitates for a moment, then relents and removes his shades. He holds onto them tightly, though, like he’s afraid this whole thing was actually a plan to steal them off of his face. Two careful and artistic swoops on his face by Feebee later, the shades are back in place.

“Alright, now let me get a mirror out of my purse.” Feebee turns and starts fumbling through a pink bag that sits by her beanbag. She pushes a few stickers, receipts, and flower petals out with her rummaging before finally managing to come up with a compact mirror that she hands over. It has a daisy design, to no surprise.

Hawkodile takes his sweet time opening it and looking at his face in the mirror. Eyelashes. They don’t look bad. He reminds himself of the action ladies at the DMV that he thought were kind of cool, even if they didn’t know about the invisible guy. He doesn’t know why he had it in his head he couldn’t be a big, strong lady. He’s seen a ton. Maybe they just left his head in a moment of intense thought? Maybe he just put different standards on himself than on other women?

Than on other women .

“Hawkodile? Are you feeling okay? That comes off if you don’t like it.” Dr. Fox is standing in front of him, no her, with a tissue and a concerned expression. A tissue? Hawkodile puts a hand up to her shades and it comes back wet. She shakes her head for a moment and feels fine. She didn’t feel bad in the moment when she was crying. She doesn’t understand.

“No, no! It’s fine. They’re fine.” She hands Feebee the mirror back and wipes the leftover tears on her arm. “It’s fine. I’m keeping them.”

Feebee smiles brightly and sheds a wave of floral sparkle matter. “I’m so glad I could help, Hawkodile. You save me so much I just…”

“That’s my job as kingdom bodyguard.”

“Actually, Hawkodile, you’re only Unikitty’s bodyguard.”

“I am? Huh.”

Chapter Text

“Oh, Hawkodile, it’s so nice to have another girl at the castle,” Unikitty coos as she shoves her paws into a box of miscellaneous beauty supplies and pulls out a lip gloss. The packaging is coated in the sticky, sparkly product. She is oblivious to this.

Hawkodile squirms a little in her chair. She is already coated in blush, glitter, eyeliner, and a bunch of other products she can’t remember the names of. She asks, for the upteenth time, “Princess. You know I don’t need a makeover, right?” Unikitty grins wide and wild-eyed as she flips the chair around so that Hawkodile is facing her. She holds the lip gloss applicator menacingly above her head.

“I know, but I like makeovers and Dr. Fox won’t let me give her any.”

“What about Puppycorn? Or Rick?”

“I’ve given Puppycorn thousands of makeovers and Rick won’t hold still. Something about having duties,” she groans, then puts on a focused expression, “Now hold still and pucker your beak.” Reluctantly, Hawkodile complies. The lipgloss is gooey and smells like marshmallows but tastes like a tire.

“Princess this is... Disgusting. I also have reason to believe that Master Frown is planning an attack today.”

“What makes you think he’s going to attack us? He’s just a grumpy little frowny clown.”

Hawkodile sighs and brings out the note that was found on the castle doorstep earlier this morning and reads it off aloud, “Prepare, Unikitty, for your doom. I, Master Frown, am coming to attack you now that your bodyguard has surely fallen to his terrible, horrible Sparkle-Core disease. I will end you and make the world a better, sadder place. Mwhahaha. Ha ha. Love, Master Frown. P.S. I will be coming today, in case that wasn’t clear.” She raises an eyebrow at Unikitty, who shrugs and plunges her face into the makeup box.

Muffled by mascaras and blushes, Unikitty insists, “That could be from anyone . Besides, you’re here to protect me.”

“And I could protect you better if I wasn’t covered in sticky, glittery goop .”

“Oh, hush.”

The room rumbles and Hawkodile quickly wipes her face off on her arm, leaving a mark that looks like a smeared, glittery imprint of her face. “Princess! Hide, quickly. This could be dangerous.” Unikitty gives a nod before floating daintily away, leaving a sprinkling of her usual sparkle matter behind. Hawkodile sighs at the lack of exclamation points or sweat drops or anything that would indicate that the princess is actually worried about this and not just treating an attack like a game.

Hawkodile sprints to the window and peeks out only to get slammed in the face with a pillow. She stumbles backwards with a groan and then pulls the pillow off of her face, finding a note attached. “I’m here to destroy you. Love, Master Frown,” she reads aloud. Hawkodile hurries back to the window and scans the ground for the annoying doom lord. She soon spots him on the lawn in a tank equipped with pillow loaders. She shakes a fist at him. “Come up here and fight me like a man , Master Frown!”

“You’re still alive? How annoying, but I will prevail nonetheless. And there’s no way I’m coming up there!” He laughs maniacally before slamming a button on his tank and shooting three pillows up to Hawkodile in rapid fire. She catches the first one then hops out the window and lands on another, riding it to the ground.

Hawkodile cocks the pillow she is holding like a weapon. “You have five seconds to turn that tank around before I uppercut you into space .” Master Frown huffs and lifts up his hand to fire the tank again, then doesn’t.

“You seem... Different ? Did she replace you with a body double?”

“No!”

“Well why do you have eyelashes now? And your voice sounds weird. This better not be some trick.” He looks around suspiciously, scanning for a sneak attack. Hawkodile blushes, embarrassed about Master Frown pointing out her attempt to sound more feminine and calling it weird on top of that. She rears back and throws the pillow, smacking Master frown in the face and knocking him out of his tank. He lands on the ground behind it with a thud and a high pitched yelp.

“I’m not weird, I’m just a girl.”

“What?”

“I’m a girl!”

“This is a trick.”

“No, it’s not. That’s what was going on with my Sparkle-Core.”

Master Frown sits up on the ground and furrows his eyebrows, in deep thought. He taps his hand against his chin. He makes vague movements with his arms and mumbles under his breath. He mimics the motion with which he earlier crushed Hawkodile’s sparkle matter. Finally, his eyes widen with realization.

“So you’re the same bodyguard.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re a girl?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re not sick at all.”

“Not in anyway.”

“And you’re probably mad I told you that you were going to die.”

“For sure.”

“So this attack-”

“Big mistake, yeah.”

“Aw, man.”

Hawkodile grins and looms over him. She reaches over and grabs another pillow out of the loader on his tank. “Wait, wait,” Master Frown begs, covering his face, “Mercy, I’ll leave! I’ll totally leave!” Skeptic, Hawkodile tucks the pillow under one arm and offers her other hand to help him up. Master Frown slowly, shakily takes it, then stands and awkwardly just looks at Hawkodile for a moment. “Alright, well. I’m out. But I’ll come back! And you’ll regret this!”

“Just hurry up before I change my mind.”

With that threat in place, Master Frown yelps before hurrying off, leaving his tank behind. Hawkodile chuckles and drops the pillow to the ground, then starts walking back inside the castle. It has been an eventful week and she has learned a lot, but most importantly she has it in mind that her Sparkle-Core doesn’t matter as long as her core is still shredded enough to spook bad guys away from the princess.