Title: Becoming Joan
Fandom: Bandom: My Chemical Romance
Pairing: Gerard/Frank
Categories: AU, Angst, Cross-Dressing, Not!fic, Romance
Length: Long (36,000)
Warnings: Cross-dressing, Homophobia,

Author on LJ: mrsronweasley and theopteryx
Website: Theopteryx's Masterlist of Art and Fics and Mrsronweasley's Fic Masterlist

Summary: The only sound in the dressing room was Frank's breathing and the gentle shhhk as she pulled a lace tighter.

"There we go," she said, stepping back. "Yes?" she asked, when he was still silent.

"Yes," Frank said, still watching himself in the mirror. Yes.

Review: Cross-dressing fics are always tricky beasts. Particularly when they include a romance involving a significant other who doesn't know that the character is cross-dressing. I usually go into them warily since there is a temptation to just hand wave the whole moral/sexual complications away. Being Joan does suffer from some mild handwaving, but the pacing of a Not!Fic as well as the excellent portrayal of Frank's realization that he isn't embarrassed about his cross-dressing, or going to give it up once he's got Gerard keep it from becoming completely unbelievable.

The in-story characterizations is spot on and the slow build up of Frank discovering who he is, first as Frank, then as his Wit-sec persona, then as Joan, keeps the story moving and helps bridge the gap of years from when we meet Frank in middle school, til he and Gerard get together.

My only word of warning is that this is a Not!Fic so it might take a little adjusting to, with the way it uses emoticons as descriptive representations in certain scenes.

Becoming Joan