As it turns out, we were in the closet for well past the hour necessary.

When we finally stumbled out, we were breathing heavily and with clothes only slightly mussed--I didn’t want to mess up Sawyer’s work, after all, even if she assured me that she’d be able to sew it back together, no problems.

By that time, the theatre folks had cleared out, off to whatever else they had to do on a weeknight. I carefully tiptoed out, hanging onto Sawyer's hand as I pulled her behind me. Or, well, I couldn't actually pull her anywhere she didn’t want to go, but she seemed perfectly happy to gamely follow along behind me, and holding her hand made warm fluttery things happen in my stomach, so it worked for both of us.

Anyways, we were heading to where I had unwisely left my clothes--which, now that I thought about it, I didn’t even really want anymore, but I didn’t want to leave here either--when suddenly I heard someone else in front of us. I crept closer, crouching behind some scenery.

A very familiar catgirl was poking through the backstage area. And she had found my old clothes.

“You idiot,” Grace whispered to herself, sounding sort of horrified. “I know you told me not to come, but what was I supposed to do when you never came back? What happened to you? What did she make you do?”

I relaxed, letting out a breath of relief, and accidentally bumped something with my foot in the process. Suddenly, Grace looked up, her eyes doing that weird glowy thing that cats do in the dark.

I let out a ‘eep!’ sound, but Sawker wrapped an arm around me protectively and that helped slow my heart back down. 

...Only now Grace had seen Sawyer. She didn’t hesitate a moment, she just marched right up, her tail sticking straight up behind her.

“You!” she spat, reaching out to poke Sawyer right in the chest.

“W-wait,” I murmured, trying to reach out and soothe Grace. She absentmindedly shook off my touch.

“What. Did. You. Do. To. My. Friend!” she growled, punctuating each with another poke.

Sawyer just raised an eyebrow, smirking as she looked down at Grace. She didn’t seem particularly fazed. “Oh, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she drawled out.

“Grace,” I tried again. “Hey, wait, I can explain.”

She glanced over at me, and then blinked as she saw me and registered what I was wearing. She looked me up and down, and I felt a blush forming yet again. But then she frowned. “Um, sorry? I don’t know that we’ve met, and I’m kind of busy here. I really need to find my friend.”

Sawyer snorted to herself, and Grace shot her a look that would strip paint off a wall. She gathered herself up to her full height--wow, wait, hold on, was I even shorter than Grace now?--and made a hissing noise that had such fury in it that even Sawyer took a step back in alarm.

“Um, little help here?” Sawyer said, giving me a glance.

“Yeah, uh--”

“Don’t hide behind your girlfriend,” Grace snapped, and my own mouth slammed shut, now my face going scarlet. She thought I was…?

“My girlfriend is trying to tell you something relevant here,” Sawyer said in response.

Sawyer thought I was……??? Which meant…? I was???

I gulped, covering my face with my hands, and my tail started wiggling back and forth on its own.

“By the way, that’s sick, you know?” Grace continued. “I can’t believe you’d torture my friend and then go make out with your girlfriend. Sorry, but those hickeys are not subtle.”

“Grace!” I finally yelled, the words only coming out a bit strangled.

She stopped, turning back to me again, still looking furious.

“Um,” I said. “Hi.”

“...Hi?”

I fiddled with the hem of my dress. “I think I figured out the shifting thing, after all?”

She stared at me. And then the light dawned, and her eyes widened to what seemed like double their normal size.

“Wait. Y-you…”

Sawyer slung an arm across my shoulder, pulling me in close to her. “Yeah. I talked with your friend. We came to an understanding. No torture necessary. But some making out, yes.”

I nodded, my face still burning. “Um. You… you don’t need to speak at my funeral after all. But it does kind of feel like I might have died and gone to heaven.”

Sawyer smirked at me. “You’re fucking adorable, you know that?”

“...Mow,” I whined.

Grace was looking from one of us to the other. “No no no,” she said. “I can’t believe it.”

I wrung my hands together. “I… I know it might be difficult to understand, but I just… just feel like being a girl is... um...” I gulped. “Really nice?

“No,” Grace said, shaking her head. “I believe you’re trans. That makes total sense. I mean I can’t believe you got a girlfriend before I did! How could you!” She thwapped me lightly, and I squeaked in alarm.

And Sawyer just laughed, the traitor.

“So… so this is okay?” I nervously said, once Grace had calmed down a bit and Sawyer had stopped laughing and we had an opportunity to explain in full.

She smiled at me. “Of course it is. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”

In a body I like, getting to be with my strong, protective girlfriend and steadfast best friend? 

“I’m so happy,” I breathed out.

“Good,” Grace said. 

We shared a moment of silence, and I could feel all that happiness bubbling up inside of me. Yes, everything about this was perfect.

“So just one question,” Grace spoke up again. “...Why exactly are you wearing a maid outfit?”

rooibos_chai

And that's the end of this little story, at least for now. Thank you for reading!!

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