A ping from my phone drew my attention away from the homemade pizza in front of me, causing me to wince. Even though I was excited for what could be there, I was less excited about the attention the message drew from Luna.

  “Who’s texting you?” she asked, mirth and curiosity in her eyes as she took another bite of her food, humming in pleasure afterwards. She probably assumed it was my sister, the only person that texted me besides Luna, but there was no doubt she would be ready to tease if she knew it was someone I’d asked on a date.

  “Hmm,” I gnced at my phone face down on the table as it buzzed again, trying to infuse disinterest into my tone, “It’s probably my new boss – you know how it is.” Even if it would be the more obvious answer, I knew if I told her it was Madeline that had texted she would demand to see whatever teasing nonsense she’d sent.

  She raised an eyebrow, “Your boss texts you at six pm on a friday? What does a waiter need to do from home on a Friday night?”

  I resisted the urge to squirm, knowing she would catch on to my lie if I did. “Probably just asking me if I can cover for someone or something…”

  “Hmm… How is that job going anyways? Any cool coworkers?” she asked, seemingly letting me off the hook.

  I shrugged, “They’ve shown me around and given me some training, but I haven’t had my first day of work yet. The coworkers I’ve met have been nice, though,” I said, thinking of Mia, “the bosses… are a bit strange, but not bad – at least I think.”

  “That’s nice…” she let out, probably thinking about her own bosses that she hated. “How’s Sarah doing?”

  I froze, pizza halfway to my mouth, staring at Luna. How does she… What does she… What?

  In response to my bafflement, she eborated, flipping her palm up over her wrist in a casual motion, “I haven’t seen you working on your freence stuff for her since that one time. What was it… photography?”

  Oh. In her mind, Sarah is the pretty woman I met in the cheese aisle…

  “Um, we’re still talking… She does her work in bursts, so I haven’t been doing as much for her, but she’s thinking about another big project soon, so…” I rambled, unsure of how much I should say.

  “Neat,” Luna said, “Can I see a picture of her? You said you’d ask about it…” To my surprise, rather than sounding teasing about Sarah, Luna sounded sincere, like she just wanted to meet one of my friends.

  Or maybe she was just treating this as a Thing, something significant, even if I insisted otherwise.

  “Uh, sure,” I responded, picking up my phone. Even though I wanted to keep my identity as Sarah separate from Luna, I did want to share with her, and her pleading eyes were hard to say no to.

  Before I navigated to my pictures, I checked the message I’d received earlier.

  Mel: Hey Sarah, want to get lunch tomorrow? Another day is fine too, if you’re busy, it’s just that I was thinking about it and you

  Mel: whoops, I sent that before i was done typing! Let me know what you think, looking forwards to hearing back! :)

  I bit down a smile, already thinking of my response, and navigated to my photos. There was only one picture of Sarah on my phone, the one I’d taken on the subway, fox ears and all. I decided to just roll with it, improvising as I spoke. “So this is one of her finished pictures,” I said, turning the screen around to show Luna, “But that’s her as the base, under the effects.”

  Luna’s eyes widened, darting around the screen intently. I couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking, what parts of Sarah’s face she was most interested in.

  “That’s insane! It hardly looks like cg. If you hadn’t told me… Well obviously I would’ve known it was fake, but… Is she anywhere near that pretty in real life?” She grabbed my phone, scrutinising as she held it closer.

  I blushed. “Um, that’s– The photo is edited, but that’s genuinely what she looks like…” I said, not wanting to say that I, Greg, found a woman pretty, or alternatively that I, Sarah, found myself pretty.

  “Wow,” Luna let out, still not blinking.

  The both of us startled when my phone dinged again, Luna’s eyes darting to the top of the screen, while my pulse rocketed up.

  Oh no– Is this how I get revealed?

  Luna giggled, reading the message, oblivious to the dread forming in my gut. “Your sister says thanks for suggesting the garden, whatever that means.”

  I blew out a breath, feeling like a defting balloon as tension escaped me. I stared down at the table for a moment before regathering myself and responding, “Yeah, she asked about somepce to take a girl on a date – didn’t think she’d already managed to find someone though.”

  Luna continued ughing, “What’s it been, a month? That’s more than enough time for her…” She smirked, handing me back my phone.

  I grabbed it from her, setting it to silent and stuffing it into my pocket. “For the millionth time, if you ever date my sister…” I threatened, giving her an unamused stare and pointing my finger chastisingly.

  She rolled her eyes. “You know I wouldn’t…” she said seriously, before grinning and adding in a teasing tone, “Besides, if one of the Campbells was ahead on winning my heart it would be the one that feeds me, lives with me, and shares my bed.”

  My cheeks flushed red for the millionth time in a row, and my gaze fell as I was unable to form a response. We’d been jokingly flirty with each other before, but this time I felt different about it – not that she’d done anything different, but rather that my perspective was different, like I’d already gotten too used to being Sarah and was imagining what it would be like to live that moment as her.

  “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” Luna said softly out of nowhere. I couldn't see her face with my head down, but her voice was smooth and caring.

  “I–”

  I asked a woman out yesterday.

  I’ve been pretending to be a woman and I don’t know how to feel about it.

  I’m Sarah and I–

  “Thanks, but I’m fine,” I finally let out, standing and grabbing my pte without meeting what would surely be concerned eyes across from me. I dropped my dishes on the counter next to the sink, not bothering to go through the cycle of pretending to do them before Luna insisted on taking over. “I’m going to head to bed early, don’t worry about waking me up though – do what you need to do.”

  Luna didn’t call out to my back as I marched into my– our room and face pnted into our bed.

  Where did all these feelings come from?

  —

  I enjoyed spending time with Luna, and it was usually a shame that she had to leave so early to go to work in the mornings.

  The next day, however, I was guiltily gd she wasn’t anywhere to be seen when I got out of bed. I had a vicious knot of conflicting feelings tangled up inside me, and I was resolved to not deal with a single one of them. Going along with that, as I stepped out of the bedroom, I threw my clothes off and let my shapeshifting take over, instincts taking me to fox-Sarah.

  It’s probably just because that’s the st thing I used my powers for – no thinking allowed.

  I tapped into my phone for a moment and pulled it up to the side of my head, face scrunching up in confusion when I could barely hear the rings. I brought the phone in front of me, eyeing it suspiciously, before pinching my brow and turning on speaker mode, pointy ears twitching above my head as a voice rang through.

  “Hello? Sarah?” Mel sounded hesitantly excited, like she was waiting for permission to gush at me.

  And, in my go-with-the-flow mood, who was I to deny the wishes of such a cutie? “Hey darling, sorry it took me a bit to get back to you.” I leaned into my own burgeoning enthusiasm, imagining her squirming blush. “Are you still up for lunch today?”

  “Oh, yeah, of course!”

  I twirled a strand of my red hair around my finger, grinning. “Well you’ve just made my day so thanks for that.” I paused, searching my bnk mind. “I’ve heard there’s this wonderful Japanese garden – it’s got a koi pond and all of these gorgeous flowers – it won’t be quite in bloom yet, but there won’t be many people there and there’s a quaint sandwich shop down the street. How does that all sound?”

  Mel let out a breathless ugh, her smile coming through just as strong as if she was here. “That sounds great, meet there at noon?”

  “That sounds wonderful – I can’t wait.”

  A brief silence passed, me just grinning dumbly at my phone as my tail wagged behind me, imagining that Mel was doing something simir on her end.

  She finally spoke, breaking our silence. “So, uh… see you then?”

  “Yeah…” I responded, still waiting for her to hang up.

  “Goodbye Sarah,” she ughed, actually hanging up this time.

  I sighed, pushing back the doubts and the second thoughts, focussing on the excited girl inside me that was just happy to go on a date.

  I have a job now, I can afford to let myself enjoy one afternoon…

  I walked into the kitchen, ready to eat and spend the next three hours getting ready, but I abruptly stopped, my tail ceasing its movement behind me for the first time this morning.

  I never gave her the address, did I…?

  I grumbled, tapping at my phone’s screen some more.

  —

  My mind was never a silent thing. Even as I – the person inhabiting my mind – focused intently on something, the space my consciousness resided within would echo with worries and paradoxical desires: the dreams of my waking world.

  In other words, while I pyed with the fur on my tail, waiting for Mel to arrive, I couldn’t help myself from thinking about the things I desperately didn’t want to think about. I knew more than enough about the discourse on gender identity to know that the actions I was taking were… indicative of something.

  I knew enough about attraction to know that the feelings running through me were more than enough to warrant a reexamination of the box I’d pced myself in years ago.

  But I didn’t know what to do with the conflicting feelings I had every time a stranger walked by, eyes fixed above my head or behind my back, nor the simir emotions elicited by my impending first job at work.

  What are the chances that some stranger on the street recognises me from online?

  That thought sent a shiver down my spine and my hand redoubled its efforts, fingers digging into my tail’s fur and brushing through. My scattered mind quickly moved on.

  I had thought about meeting Mel as a human this time and making up something about the ears and tail being advanced costumes, but I’d rather stick with what I already had – in case she didn’t like human me – and I was resolved to, at least for one day, not overthink things.

  I’m here to flirt with a cute girl, and I don’t care about anything else.

  Finally, my eternal suffering ended when Mel arrived – I checked my phone to see the time – fifteen minutes early.

  Her head was twisting around, trying to see me past the people on the sidewalk, and I was given a few moments to observe her while unseen. She wore a white blouse above a short lic skirt, and even from afar I could see that the eye makeup she’d gone for today was simirly fshy – although the colours were purple, white and silver today. As her face lit up and she waved at me, walking forwards, I was able to see her legs. They were covered by tights – white above the knee and purple below, the cutoff point having a little cartoon bunny in purple – and sneakers, which were white with pink ces. It was adorable.

  “Hey,” she said, slightly out of breath, stopping right before me without committing to a physical greeting.

  I brought her into a hug without hesitation, holding her close and quipping, “Guess I don’t need to ask what your favourite colour is, do I?”

  She giggled – a wonderful sound – and slid out of my embrace, grinning. “Maybe not,” she shrugged and looked at my own outfit, including what I’d purchased the day before, “That looks much better on you than it did off,” she paused, “or wait – was I supposed to say the opposite?”

  I ughed along with her, giddiness bubbling up in me, and grabbed her hand to pull her towards our destination. “I’d prefer to keep it on… for now.” I gnced to the side, watching her reaction.

  Much to my delight, she blushed and squeezed the hand I was holding.

  Am I moving too fast? Do I even know anything about her?

  No thoughts – Sarah has no thoughts that aren’t flirty ones.

  Once we paid for our tickets – everything in the city cost money – and made it inside, Mel spoke up. “So, uh, I don’t know how to ask this but… your ears?”

  I turned to her, moving my tail to bat at her leg. “They’re real, wanna see?” I leaned forwards, tilting my head towards her.

  I couldn’t see her reaching up to me, but I could definitely feel when her fingers got to my hair, brushing over the smooth waves to my ears. She brushed the tip gently first, and upon seeing no reaction, she went in further, rubbing up and down the sides with her knuckles.

  My eyes closed and my mouth shut, desperately holding in escaping sounds. It was like her fingers were in my brain, massaging my thoughts with delicate motions and I never wanted it to end, but after a few moments, she backed off.

  “Wow…” she let out.

  I looked up and winked at her, pointedly brushing the hair from the side of my face to show the bare skin where human ears would be.

  “How?” she boggled.

  I led her into the garden proper, walking on the mostly empty paths sandwiched by carefully curated arrangements of pnts – tall, stringy bushes with a thick yer of moss below – and after a moment, answered, “My roommate is a witch. Whether she hexed me or I asked for this, you can decide.” I was already making up my personality as Sarah, so I might as well make up a backstory as well – it was all temporary anyways, even if it was fun.

  Mel gave me a curious look and shook her head. “I feel like I’m dreaming…” she muttered, then cleared her throat. “So, tell me about yourself: What do you like to do? What do you like to eat? What brand of catnip do you like?” she rattled off, stumbling on the path in time with her uncertain questions.

  I pouted at her, squeezing her hand and pulling her closer to me and the centre of the path. “I’m a fox – not a cat. And I like cooking and watching movies with my roommate. I’m not a very picky eater, but she doesn’t eat meat so I haven’t been buying it.”

  Mel smiled, “Hmm you sound too close for her to have hexed you… I’m surprised your foxyness doesn't extend to diet,” she pointed out, taking the first step up a narrow stone staircase framed by tall, thin trees.

  “Foxes are omnivores, so we eat fruits and veggies, and the most important food of all,” I paused, shapeshifting my teeth to be sharper as I opened my lips to reveal a wide smile, “innocent young maidens,” I finished.

  She giggled in response, pulling me up to the top step and stopping for a moment to take in the view.

  The ptform we were on was outlined by wood handrails and the ubiquitous pnt life, and a few dozen metres below we could see the rock garden with the area to view it from. There were two people below, separated by several feet, one with a camera and one without. It was as strange as it was beautiful, seeming more like we stood in the perfect pce to watch the people viewing the rock garden than looking at it ourselves.

  After a moment of silence, the two of us leaning on the rails to look into the distance, I spoke, beginning my own line of questioning. “So what makes Mel tick? Is that short for something? What would you be doing today if not coming here?”

  “My full name is Melody, and on a Saturday afternoon, I’d probably be drawing – or at least trying to and getting distracted.”

  Saturday afternoon… Why does that sound so wrong?

  I shook the thought from my head. “So you’re an artist? Is that a for-fun thing, a money thing, or both?”

  She sighed and took a step back to sit on the bench I hadn’t noticed behind us. “It used to be a for-fun thing, then it was both, and now…” she trailed off, gesturing vaguely out at the trees.

  I nodded along, searching for what to say.

  “It’s not that bad, but I’ve been struggling with some burnout at the same time that I’m getting tired of my retail job, which is frustrating…” she sighed again, “Sorry for bringing the mood down. What do you do for work – or are you in school?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, sitting next to her and patting her on the knee reassuringly. “I’m…” I hesitated, wondering if I should make something up, say I was unemployed, or… “I’m getting into adult films,” I admitted.

  “Huh,” she said, staring in front of her while I watched, waiting for her reaction. “I just realised you’re really bad at lying – that stuff about your roommate being a witch was made up, but just now…” She sighed, “It doesn’t bother me, if you’re wondering. I am kind of curious…” She reached up to scratch behind her head, turning away with a half-wince.

  “I can text you about it ter, if you want to look me up,” I said, too relieved to bother injecting teasing into my voice.

  “We’ll see… How did that come about?” she asked, genuine curiosity coming across.

  “Uh, I’ve been in and out of work for a while after I dropped out of college, and when I…” I gestured towards my body vaguely, leaving the important bits unsaid, “I figured it might work out. I kinda like the idea and my coworkers seem nice, but I’m worried that…”

  “Yeah,” she said, after I’d trailed off into silence.

  We rexed into the bench, the sun peeking through the distant treetops and warming our chilled faces.

  Melody stood, reaching her hand out for mine and pulling me up. “Let’s keep moving?”

  I nodded, following her down the steps and across another path, winding between endless seas of green, eventually ending up at the koi pond, standing on the wooden dock extending out into the water. We watched the fish swim past, contrasting colours swirling under the surface.

  “So,” she started, “tell me about your roommate.”

  I smirked, “You mean the witch?”

  “No,” she deadpanned.

  “Oh. Uhh, I’ve known Luna for a while, we met back in fourth grade, I think? We’ve been close for a while, and we went to the same high school and college – at least before I dropped out – but we only started living together when her then girlfriend kicked her out of her apartment. Oh, and she has a cat named Snuffles.”

  Melody rolled her eyes, “And the cat, is it a bck cat?”

  I ughed softly in response, knowing she wasn’t serious, and pulled my phone out of my backpack – still annoyed at not having pockets. “Here’s a picture of Luna and Snuffles,” I said, turning the screen towards her.

  “Cute,” she replied, although I had no way of knowing if she was looking at Luna or her pussy.

  “Yeah, she’s pretty chill – she’ll cuddle with me sometimes, but mostly she’s fine doing her own thing,” I said, brushing my hair out of my face when an unexpected breeze blew across the pond.

  Melody eyed me for a second, eyebrows raising and lowering in an inquisitive dance, but, either finding her answers or giving up on them, she turned away, looking off towards one of the red Japanese-style buildings in another part of the park.

  “So, do you live alone, or…”

  “No, I live with a friend too – Emily. We met in a discord server a few years ago and really hit it off, and when we both needed somewhere to live and I was moving to the city, we just went for it. It could’ve turned out terribly, but I like her, and other than the fact that she makes the apartment smell like weed, we get along pretty well as roommates.” She blushed, looking down, “She does– she’s in the same line of work as you, but I’ve never looked because it just seemed weird, even if she said it was okay.”

  I blinked, taking a moment to process all of that.

  She continued turning to face me again with earnestness all over her face, “How would you feel if Luna was looking you up online?”

  “Oh.” I let out. My tail flinched behind me and my ears waggled back and forth, squirming under the hypothetical gaze of Luna all over my naked body. I imagined walking in on her following along to the video I’d already made, her asking me to join in and… “I wouldn’t mind much,” I replied, attempting to keep my voice even and my face bnk.

  Melody stared with wide eyes. “Oh...” She turned away, taking a step back towards solid ground. "And the two of you are... roommates?"

  I squinted at her. "Childhood friends and, at least for n0w, roommates – yeah."

  She blinked, eyes darting up before quickly settling back on mine. "Um, okay... Let's move on," she stammered, walking away.

  I twisted my mouth and followed behind, curious what Melody could see in me.

  —

  I hummed to myself, stepping out of the elevator in my apartment building. Our date had gone wonderfully, the two of us talking almost constantly all the way through lunch until I’d had to finally leave so I could get home in time to cook dinner. Checking my phone, Luna wouldn’t get home from work for another hour and a half, so I had plenty of time, and even if she’d gotten off a bit early, there was no risk of her getting here before me.

  I opened the door, taking off my shoes – mentally noting that I’d need to hide them under the bed – and walking into the kitchen to start cooking. My humming continued as I searched the pantry for what to make, the noise muffling the sound of our bedroom door opening.

  As I spun around, a voice called out – but in my good mood, I refused the notion that it could be coming from inside until it was too te.

  “Hey, Greg, where’ve you bee–” Luna called, stopping abruptly and letting her mouth drop open when she came into view. “Sarah?”