Blankets were so amazing. They were soft and warm and felt restricting in the right ways, like getting a hug from someone who understood your boundaries. They didn’t feel terribly oversized like comforters, which was great because for once in my life I felt small. 

I felt myself slowly come to consciousness, though the world was still so far away compared to my wonderfully soft and fuzzy blankets. I kept my eyes shut and pulled more blankets onto me (Sorry Austin.) as my brain began to register how chilly it was in the house, but one of them felt weird. I couldn’t remember getting anything this fuzzy before. Weirder still was that as I touched it it was like I felt it, like it was some part of me. I pulled i— 

“Ow!” I yelped, in a voice that wasn’t my voice. 

I opened my eyes and oh my god. It wasn’t a blanket it was my tail why did I have a tail and oh god were those boobs? I jumped out of bed immediately and everything was different. I was so small. My night shirt felt more like a dress, which made up for the fact that my pajama bottoms immediately slipped onto the floor. My tail was frantically moving around behind me, which only reminded me that I had a fucking tail. 

Okay, I needed to breathe. I let out one deep breath after another to calm myself, to clear my head and pull me from my still tired state and into reality.

After only a few seconds, my panic began to subside. This was what was supposed to happen. I drank a potion to make myself resemble Sable, the character from one of my stories. Sable had white foxlike ears and an incredibly fluffy white tail, so it made perfect sense that I shared those features. I even double checked to make sure my ears were like hers, and the surge of joy I felt as I felt the furry ears was all the reminder I needed. 

Obviously, and most importantly, Sable was a woman. If my body had to be a lot more feminine for the moment to help me stay in character as her, I was more than willing to make that sacrifice. 

Not that it felt like much of a sacrifice. I was so small and soft and when I touched my face there wasn’t the slightest hint of facial hair. It was like I was given the perfect body, and this was before even looking in a mirror. Nothing in the world, especially not the prison that was my old body, could ever compare to this. 

I needed a mirror. 

As soon as I was in the bathroom I shut the door, turned on the light, and basked in just how amazing the woman in the mirror looked. Her beautiful, silky hair was so much longer than I’d ever risked growing mine out, her green eyes shined with a life that felt unrecognizable to me, and the smile on her face was so completely full of joy that it seemed almost supernatural. She felt alive, more alive than I’d ever been, except I was her.

I got to be her!

 Even if it was only for a few days, that still meant a few days of undeniable joy and light and comfort that felt so, so far away only a day earlier. 

I couldn’t help it; the energy and excitement was overwhelming and I needed to move. I spun on the spot in the bathroom, which felt so amazing right up until my tail hit something and I panicked as I watched our toothbrush holder clatter in the sink. It didn't shatter, thankfully, but I didn’t want Austin waking up and worrying about the sudden loud noise. 

As soon as everything was back in place, I turned off the bathroom light and quietly peered into the bedroom. Through the dark, I could vaguely tell that Austin was still on his spot in bed, breathing softly. In case he hadn’t been woken by my noise, I snuck as quietly as I could across the room and took my place lying beside him. 

Sleeping wasn’t possible, I knew that immediately. Even if I had managed to get over how much better and softer the world felt in this body, there was no way in the world I was going to be able to keep control of my tail enough to keep it from thwapping Austin while I slept. It was hard enough to keep it still while I was awake.

Despite sleep being a faraway thing, time passed fairly quickly. I was able to keep myself fairly well distracted for the hours I needed, and more than once killed time by admiring how amazing everything felt. Somehow blankets could feel even softer if you were a girl. I couldn’t begin to fathom how that worked. 

Austin had woken up to the sun for as long as I knew him, so it was no surprise when he started moving around as sunlight bled through our curtains. As soon as he did, I took the initiative. I wrapped my arms around him from behind (and only slightly relished in our new size difference) and held him as tightly as I could. He was so warm and firm and felt better to hold than he ever had before. 

“Hmm?” he eventually muttered, after more than a few minutes of me getting to bask in his warmth. I let go in time for him to start moving around and oh goodness.

He had a small gray tail. And his ears looked like smaller, gray versions of my own on top of his head. It was adorable. I wanted to scratch him behind the ears to see what happened because I couldn’t imagine that feeling anything but heavenly. If he wasn’t so obviously groggy I might’ve tried something, but instead I chose to be nice and let my sleepy boyfriend wake himself up the usual way.

We locked eyes the moment he left the bathroom, and I couldn’t help but giggle (giggle!) at his look of confusion. “Morning, babe,” I said with a wink and a smile, as I waited for everything to dawn on him. 

And dawn it did. Austin opened his mouth once, with the confusion still evident on his face, before something seemed to come to him and he tried again. “Morning, uh, Jay?” 

Nope. No way. Ew ew ew. I scrunched up my face in displeasure at the sound of that name. “Sable, please,” I declared, as forcefully as I could. Yes, I knew I’d have to go back to hearing that other name later, but for the moment I could bask in living the wonderful life of Sable.

For the split second it took Austin to respond I felt a hint of worry, but I knew he could be trusted to be good about that. After all, nobody knew how awful it was to hear a wrong name better than trans people. “Then good morning, Sable,” Austin said with a smile so warm it could have melted the polar ice caps. 

Before either of us could say anything else I pounced. I jumped out of bed and ran into my boyfriend’s arms. In my old body we might have been the same height, but I always felt awkward, like my entire body was in the wrong position for everything. But this? I was at least half a foot shorter than I used to be, and I took up nowhere near the space I used to, but somehow that only made things feel better.

It was as close to perfect as anything could be. For our entire relationship I had always felt odd, like I was a puzzle piece that had something broken off. Physical affection felt nice, but never more than that. This, though? This was amazing. Someone found the broken piece and made it whole, in a way that finally let the puzzle come together and form a beautiful work of art. 

I didn’t ever want it to end. 

“Babe?” Austin whispered, causing me to hold on tighter. I couldn’t, wouldn’t let go of this yet.

“Yeah?” I said into his shirt.

“I, um,” he sounded nervous. What was there to be nervous about? “I think, after I wake up more, I should go to the store and buy you something to wear.”

I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. Obviously I needed clothes, yes, but it was still incredibly early in the morning. Even if he was supposed to work he wouldn’t have been leaving for another hour. Why was he thinking I would need clothes so early, especially when my shirt-dress did just fine on its own?

 “It’s just,” he was only getting more nervous. What was causing him so much trouble? “Hon, you need pants or underwear if your tail is going to constantly mess with your shirt like that.”

Like wh— oh. My face heated up so quickly I thought it was going to explode. “Y-yeah. Do that. Please.”