Chris tugged anxiously at the collar around his neck. Thanks to Nathaniel, he now sported a customized glamour that approximated how he’d look without certain devilish characteristics, something far more “standard human”. This meant that he could pass more easily in regular society as they made their way to their meeting. The downside was that his human form was still incredibly hot, and people kept staring at him. The black bodycon dress that Cailyn insisted he wear didn’t help matters.

A couple of college guys climbed aboard the bus, undressing Chris with their eyes as they passed. Disgust turned to a flash of anger, and he felt the spark of magic run through him as he whispered a clumsiness hex, casting it upon the frat bros. Instantly they were a tangle of limbs tripping and stumbling back the aisle to an open seat, earning them a number of insults and more than a little laughter.

“Maybe you boys should keep your eyes on where you’re going instead of on my chest,” Chris taunted. 

Aiden laughed, turning in the seat to face Chris. “Nice, but you’d better be careful or you’re gonna get caught and fined.”

“Tch. Totally worth it, those creeps were staring at me.” Chris folded his arms under his bust and slouched back into the seat, pouting.

“I hate to say it, but a lot of people are going to stare at you as long as you look like this, Chris,” Aiden said.

The idea of all that attention made him blush with embarrassment. “That’s so not okay though, I’m not some window display to gawk at, I’m a gu– girl!” It was still strange to call himself a girl, but out in public looking like this it was much less awkward.

Besides, it made him feel kinda good, though he had no idea why.

“Yeah, you’re a beautiful woman, Chris, which means as much as it sucks, society is going to treat you like eye-candy.”

Chris only heard a bit of what Aiden had said. Particularly the ‘you’re beautiful’ part. His heart was fluttering and his body felt warm.

Wait.

‘How… How can I be warm? How can I feel my heart beating faster?’

“This is our stop,” Aiden said as the bus slowed. He took Chris’ hand and stood up, leading him towards the doors.

Chris’ heart was pounding. He followed Aiden’s lead more on muscle memory of walking than any conscious effort. 

‘What the fuck is wrong with me that just him holding my hand sets me off like this? Do I actually like him?!’

Caught up in his thoughts and feelings as he was, Chris barely noticed the short walk from the bus stop to Three Card Monty.

The bar was something of a local fixture. It cropped up somewhere in the 1950s when booze and cheap magic tricks were the big buzz around town, and it’d stubbornly hung on over the decades, overcharging for drinks and putting on nightly stage shows. Chris had been here before with Cailyn and Aiden a few times, and he’d never really been impressed. The drinks were well made, but certainly not worth double what he could be paying at another bar to get sloppy drunk.

Some of his resentment might also stem from the fact that outside of evening bar hours, it served as the locus for local magical bureaucracy.

The sign on the door read ‘Closed’ and listed their hours of operation. Aiden ignored it, grabbing the handle and pulling it open.

“Ladies first,” he said, smiling his charming smile.

“Th-Thanks,” Chris stammered, quickly walking inside. ‘Fuck, he needs to stop doing that, before I completely lose my shit and jump his bones.’

The idea of jumping Aiden’s bones - or one “bone” in particular caused him to squirm a bit.

“Hey, we’re clo-” the bartender began.

“We’re here to see Daphne Turner, we have an appointment.”

“Oh,” the bartender deflated slightly in the face of Aiden’s confidence. “Lemme just check the book.” He pulled what looked like a small composition pad from his vest pocket and flipped to a page, followed by a quick glance at the clock, then back at the page.

“Oh,” the bartender said. Embroidery on his vest dubbed him ‘Craig’. 

“There’s no problems, I hope?” Aiden asked.

“No, none. I’ll take you back to see her right away.” Craig stepped out from behind the bar and led the way to a door marked ‘Staff Only’.

The hallway beyond was much different than the atmosphere of the bar. A long, professional-looking hallway that put Chris in mind of the back rooms of the Underground, though these were far less impressive in his opinion.

They passed a number of doors with labels such as “Magical Fission Research Lab”, “Familiar Daycare”, and “Numerology Complaint Department” before finally reaching a door labeled: 

Daphne Turner

Department Head of Great Transformations

 

Craig knocked twice, then swung the door open slowly. “Your two o'clock is here, ma’am.”

“Thank you,” said the severe-looking woman behind the desk.

Craig motioned for them to step inside, quickly.

Aiden confidently crossed the threshold, taking Chris’ hand in his again.

Chris stepped in after him, gasping when he realized that the ceiling appeared to be a vast, open sky with rolling white clouds and a distant gently-glowing sun, and the floor appeared to be an aerial view of the city of Charlotte with real-time traffic and everything.

“Woah,” he mumbled.

“I’m glad you find it so fascinating, miss…?”

“Gray,” Chris said absently, still watching the city below as he nervously took a seat beside Aiden. 

“I’ll keep this brief. Nathaniel already informed me of your history, so remove the choker and let’s have a look at you,” Daphne said.

Chris tore his attention from the enchanted floor back to the woman behind the desk, who seemed agitated by his slow response. He pulled off the collar and felt the magic fade.

“Oh,” Daphne gasped, her eyes going wide behind her half-frame glasses. “This is certainly unusual. Nathaniel’s description did you little justice.”

“Yeah, I’m a hot devil girl, I get it, c-can we fix it?” Chris asked, fidgeting with his tail. 

“I am certain we can remove the demonic corruption, and get your ‘KT’ back in order, Ms. Gray,” Daphne said with a self-assured nod.

“Uh, KT?” Chris asked.

“Oh, yes. A new acronym that some people have been using. Supposedly they are made uncomfortable by the use of the word ‘Knot’. Since they were unusual transformations like you, I believed you might feel similarly.”

“N-no, I mean, well, I guess it’s kind of weird, but I get it… KT kinda works,” Chris mumbled in reply, tripping over his own thoughts about being able to undo this finally.

“Now, I need to make some preparations so that we can take care of this problem before you unravel. Come back tomorrow at the same time, and we’ll sort you out.”

“That’s it?” Chris asked. “You’re not going to lock us up for breaking your fancy magical laws or anything?”

“Not today, Ms. Gray. I owe Nathaniel a favor or two, and he has asked to cash one in to aid you and keep things quiet in the process. You would do well to thank him.”

“Gotcha,” Chris said, blushing slightly. 

‘Nate did this for me? He called in a favor just for this? Wait, how did Nate of all people earn a favor from the magical paper-pushers?’

“Tomorrow at two then,” Aiden chimed in. He’d let them talk quietly without interruption until now.

“That’s correct. I cannot promise this will work - your case is very unusual, after all - but we shall try our best.”

Aiden stood and held out a hand for Chris, who quickly took it and stood up as well. 

“Er, thanks I guess,” Chris said. 

“You are welcome, ‘I guess’, Ms. Gray.” Daphne looked between them, then at their point of shared contact. “You two may go. Do not be late tomorrow.”

“Right. Have a good one,” Aiden said calmly before leading Chris out of the office.

Craig was waiting to escort them back out of the office hallway and into the bar proper. The trip passed in awkward silence as Chris didn’t trust himself to talk around the bartender, and Aiden seemed to be holding his counsel as well.

With the collar firmly back on, they stepped out into the afternoon sunlight once more.

“So, tomorrow then…” Chris ventured.

“Tomorrow then,” Aiden nodded. “We’ll finally get you straightened out.”

“Good,” Chris smiled. “I can finally go back to being a guy.”

That thought for some reason sent a wave of unease through his body.

Aiden must have noticed, because he put a hand on Chris’ shoulder.

That touch felt so comforting, Chris had to fight not to lean into it, not to lean into Aiden and just hug him, touch him, kiss him…

Chris shook his head slightly, trying to stop that train of thought.

“Hey, since you’ll be turning back tomorrow, why not enjoy it today?” Aiden proposed.

“Huh?”

“You know, you’re already out and you look amazing and we haven’t had lunch yet so… why not join me for lunch?” Aiden asked nervously.

“Huh!? Like this? A-as… as a girl?” Chris felt his face heat up and his heart fluttering.

“Well, uh, yeah, I guess, if you don’t mind. It can be like a lunch date or something. Uh, but not like, a date date, you know?”

“Oh,” Chris felt that tingling fluttery sensation in his chest mixing with disappointment. “Yeah, just pretend, right, not like a real date,” he laughed awkwardly.

“Yeah, definitely not a real date,” Aiden agreed, joining in the awkward chuckle.

When the awkwardness grew too heavy to stand, Chris was the one to cut through it.

“Sure, uh, let’s do it.” He smiled, doing his best to hide the pangs of sadness behind the idea that this wasn’t really a date, which was of course totally absurd because why would this be a date, it’s not like Aiden really liked him or anything, right?

“Okay. Where do you wanna eat?” Aiden asked.

“How about… that Italian place a few blocks down?” Chris had been wanting to go there for ages since he saw the reviews, but with all the craziness lately…

“Done. Shall we, my lady?” Aiden offered his arm.

“M-My Lady? Jeez… who even talks like that?” Chris grinned through his blush.

“Er, well, I saw it in a rom-com so I thought… Anyway. Is it weird if I call you uh… if I call you a girl for today? Since you’re going back tomorrow and all.”

“Yeah, it’s really weird,” Chris said. “But, uh… I don’t mind. I like strange.” He placed a hand on Aiden’s arm.

‘A girl… he’s really going to treat me like a girl. Goddess, why does that make me so fucking happy? Do I really want to be a girl? Do I want… Do I want to be Aiden’s girl?’