“Oh fuck, I’m pogging! I’m pogging!” I called out in pure ecstasy. 

“Babe, it’s bad enough you say that during sex, do you really have to say it when you win at Mario Party?” Emma, my amazing girlfriend, groaned as I won my fifth mini-game in a row. 

“It’s not my fault you suck at this game.” I playfully stuck my tongue out at her. 

“Oh I’ll show you how to suck alright.” She shot back, right before I was tackled onto the couch.

As I laid there, locked in a face battle with my arch nemesis, but in a sexy way. I couldn’t help but think about how much my life had changed. No more hiding who I was, no more trying to keep everything a secret. Just being the slime-girl maid v-tuber I was always meant to be. Not to mention, it turns out all the kids who used to make fun of me were right; I was hella gay. Of course, it wasn’t all rainbows and impromptu makeout sessions.

I hadn’t talked to any of my old friend group all that much in months. Aside from the occasional chat with Brett here and there, everyone else had seemed to drop off the map. Not that I was super close with any of them to begin with. I was usually the one that was just kind of around. Like a franchise that lost all sense of self and was just pumping out a game every year in a sad attempt to recruit emotionally repressed, racist teenagers into the military.

Of course, there was also navigating the country's atrocious healthcare and legal system. I was still waiting on my documents for my name change to be finalized. Why couldn’t it be as easy as getting into homoerotic argument and yelling “Objection!” a bunch. Am I Wright? Luckily I had made enough money being a streamer that I could reasonably afford things, though none of it really compared to the reaction my family had when I came out to them. 

“Nat, you okay?” Emma looked down at me. 

She could always tell when something was bothering me. “I’m okay.” I wiped a tear from my eye. “Just thinking about everything.” 

She sat up, “Your parents?” 

My heart sank. “Yeah.” 

I waited until I had gotten on hormones and started therapy before deciding it was time to come out. I wanted to be sure of myself and sure about who I was before confronting them. I’m really glad I did, because they didn’t take it well. I hadn’t had a family meal that heartbreaking since my dad decided to serve us rabbit on Easter Sunday one year, and told me our house was the Easter Bunny’s last stop. 

Mom asked why I couldn’t just be gay. And when I told her I was, it caused even more confusion. Dad just sat there; he didn’t say a single word the entire time. He just kept eating and acted as if I wasn’t even there. Needless to say, I hadn’t heard from them since. You could’ve called it a Heavy Rain with how depressing the entire ordeal was, and with how much I cried. 

But luckily, I had Emma with me every step of the way. As well as my new friends. Getting into deep conversations about when they’ll stop deadnaming Birdetta in Mario games, and if it would be femboy erasure or not. You know, the important things in life. 

“You know what you need?” Emma asked.

I chuckled as I wiped another tear away, “A lot of weed and a giant pizza?” 

She nodded, “That, and a whole mess of cuddles. I’m gonna make some calls and we’re having a girls’ night tonight.” She kissed me on the forehead and got up to find her phone.

I felt like crying even harder. “How did I get so lucky to find you?” 

She turned and shot me a smirk, “Cause you’re such a good little pogchamp.” She turned her attention to her phone as someone answered, “Lacy, it’s sad bitch o’clock, what are you doing tonight?” 

Hauling myself off the couch and into my bedroom, I hopped on my computer and began placing an order for some of the dankest rare candy around. Weed just really seemed to help calm my anxiety, plus you could get it delivered right to your door now that it was legalized here. Once my order was placed I checked my Twitter and saw I had a message. It was done! It was perfect! It was everything I wanted it to be and more! It encapsulated all the things I, as a trans woman, wanted out of it. Just like Elden Ring. 

I jumped up and ran to the living room, right as Emma got off the phone. “Babe, babe! Okay, so remember that artist on Twitter you showed me?” 

She turned to me, “The horny one, the trans one, or the horny trans one?” 

“The one with the comics about a trans girl working through her past traumas.”

Emma sighed, “Nat, I really need you to understand how little that narrows it down.” 

I held up my phone, “This one, KenZdraws. I really liked her stuff so I decided to commission her.” 

She looked at the picture of her v-tuber avatar using a lasso to wrangle my slime-girl maid avatar on my phone. “Oh my gosh, babe, is that us?” she asked.

I nodded in affirmation. 

“It’s–it’s so beautiful!” She launched into me with a giant hug. “How did I get so lucky to find you?” Emma sniffled into my shoulder.

“Because you’re my pogchamp, Emma.”

We held our embrace for what felt like hours. There was no better feeling than the warmth of her, the smell of her coconut shampoo, the way her hands rubbed my back ever so slightly. I wouldn't trade anything in the world for the time we got to share. It was the poggiest.

Emma pulled back, wiping her eyes, “I love you babe. We gotta get ready, though; Lacy, Kim, and Alice are coming over. Unfortunately, Tabitha has to work.” 

I gave her a kiss on the forehead, “Okay, I’m gonna hop in the shower, the weed should get here sometime before everyone else does, and we can get this girls’ night started. Maybe we could play Jackbox on hard mode and ban the use of “cum” and “girldick” from being used in Quiplash.”

She just laughed as I made my way to the bathroom. I happily took a scalding hot shower. Not because I wanted the steam to block the view of my body. But ever since I started HRT I adored the heat of the water. Something about it just hit me the right way. Like a fighting game character I used to main, getting brought back and announced to be trans. 

After a long soapy shower, I flopped on my bed, towel wrapped around my hair, staring at my ceiling. I was never super close with my parents, but they were still my parents. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care what they thought of me. Lacy had come out just a few months before I did, and she talked about how her parents didn’t take things well either and had cut her off completely. Plus there was Kim who didn’t talk to her family at all anymore because they refused to be decent people in general. Was that my fate? To move forward with no one from my past? Except for Emma; and Brett, oddly enough, who would text and call here and there to check in. I knew people had different experiences, and lots of people had it worse. But it still hurt. It hurt to think that I’d never get the chance for them to really know…

“You’re my little pogchamp!” My phone’s notification went off. Was it cringe to have that as my alert tone? Yes, it absolutely was. Was that going to stop me from being a nerdy little gremlin? Absitively posolutely fucking not. I wore my Pogchamp choker with pride. 

I checked my messages and realized my Dad had texted me. My heart dropped to the bottom of the ocean floor. Nothing around it but darkness, deleted tweets from racist game devs, and the crushing weight of nine thousand pounds of pressure, the mathematical equivalent of pressure on Valve to release a third Half-Life. 

“Um, Natalie. I wanted to apologize for the other night. You poured your heart out and I was too much of a coward to say anything. I can’t even really begin to express everything I’ve been feeling and thinking since you came over. I’m sorry. You needed support and love and I didn’t give it to you. Your mother hasn’t exactly been the easiest person to deal with, and after what she said and has said since, I think there’s a lot of things that will need to happen moving forward. I accept you, and I love you with all my heart; it’s just, the things you said, the feelings you described. I thought everyone felt that way. I know I tried pushing you towards sports and “manly” things when you were younger, I’m sorry. I want to talk to you, the real you, my daughter. I hope you can find some way to forgive me. I love you, and I always will.” 

I thought everyone felt that way.

I thought everyone felt that way.

I THOUGHT EVERYONE FELT THAT WAY!

I would have been screaming if it wasn’t for the endless tears streaming down my face. There was no way my dad was a fucking egg right? Right?! That would have been the biggest fucking twist since finding out Emma was Serenitea. What the hell even was my life anymore? I had to tell Emma. 

I got dressed as fast as I possibly could. Before I could even open my bedroom door I heard Emma call out. “Babe! The weed’s here!” 

Oh right, the weed. Fuck yeah, the night was looking up. I opened the door and gave my biggest, “Poggers!” 

Everything was gonna be alright. 

RavenKane

Hi all! I really hope you enjoyed this little foray into Natalie's future. I'm working on the next series in the Poggerverse and will be releasing them on Patreon as each chapter is finished. I will upload them here after a while as well. Thank you so much for reading and I hope to bring you more fun relatable chaos gremlins.