I glanced at the time on my phone again. It was eleven forty-four, just like the last two times I looked. Not that my phone was acting up, I was just feeling anxious again and I couldn't help checking it repeatedly. At least I was nearly home by that point. And there weren't so many people on the bus at that time of day.

My journey began a few hours earlier, when I left the house at just past nine in the morning. And since then I'd felt self-conscious and had almost non-stop anxiety. It was my first time going out somewhere by myself as a petite foxgirl, without my tall strong handsome boyfriend to comfort and protect me.

I felt every pair of eyes staring at me, I heard every whispered comment, and even though I did my best to ignore it all I was still on edge. And all that was above and beyond the fact that it was my first job interview in ages, and the first interview I'd had for a graphic design position. And as much as I hoped I'd get the job, I couldn't help worrying about how I'd handle the regular daily commute, especially during rush hour.

Two minutes later the bus pulled up to my stop and I made my escape. I was only a couple minutes from home at that point, and as I walked along the sidewalk my anxiety quickly turned into excitement. I couldn't wait to tell my boyfriend all about my morning.

It was just a few minutes before noon when I finally got in, and I resisted the temptation to shout something silly like "Honey I'm home!" Mostly because I could hear Declan was already in the middle of a conversation with someone else.

From the sound of it he was on a work call, so I had to wait impatiently to tell him about my morning. I sat fidgeting on the living-room sofa for a few minutes, during which I was able to figure out he was on a conference call with at least three other guys. Eventually I got up and went into the kitchen to put on the coffee machine. It was almost lunch time and I knew Declan would be stopping sooner or later for a break, so at least I'd have fresh coffee waiting for him when that happened.

It was still another ten minutes before the call wrapped up. Then at long last my boyfriend emerged from the office to greet me.

"Hey cutie, welcome home!" he grinned. "So how'd it go? Did you get the job?"

I smiled as I almost threw myself into his arms for a big tight hug, "It was stressful and I was anxious the entire time, especially during the ride out there this morning. It wasn't even rush hour but the busses were busy and everybody was staring at me and everything."

"As for the job," I continued as my smile faded, "I don't know yet. I assume they have more interviews or something, but I'll find out soon enough."

Declan nodded, "That makes sense. How about we have some lunch, and you can tell me all about it?"

"Sounds good," I agreed.

The coffee was ready, and we quickly made some sandwiches together then sat down on the living-room sofa to talk and eat.

"So my interview was mostly with a lady named Linda," I began.

I went on to explain how she was the office manager, Linda was in charge of the day to day operations and administration stuff. She was also in charge of all the staff decisions, hiring and firing basically.

"As usual she started out by staring at my ears and tail," I sighed. "Then she made a comment about how I looked too young to be a college grad. She wasn't unpleasant about it or anything, and she seemed to accept it when I told her I was really twenty-three and I just looked younger. Maybe she figured it's because of my height or something?"

Next I told him how Linda called in another employee, a young woman named Sophie, who sort of verbally quizzed me on a few things. Like she was testing my knowledge and stuff.

"She described some different scenarios or requirements," I explained. "Then I had to tell them how I'd handle them or what I'd do to resolve the situation. She also asked how long I figured it would take to do that stuff. She didn't give much away but I got the impression she was satisfied with my answers."

Declan smiled, "Sounds good. So you're feeling positive about it?"

I shrugged, "I guess? After that Linda gave me a tour of the place. It was kind of small and cramped, like they could definitely use more space. The building's a generic grey industrial type place in the middle of a generic industrial park. They have two units they've joined together but it's still cramped with all the people and stuff they have going on."

"I also met a few more of the staff there," I continued. "And of course every single one of them stared at me. I even met the boss, an older guy named Tim. He seemed nice enough, he was actually in the back running one of the machines. I think he might have been the owner?"

"Anyways after that we went back to Linda's office to discuss the terms and fine print," I added.

"How'd that go?" Declan asked.

"It was a mix of good and bad I guess," I frowned. Then I paused to actually eat some of my sandwich, since he was already half finished and I hadn't even started on mine yet.

After a couple minutes I picked up where I left off, "So the first disappointment was it turns out the job is only part-time. I didn't know that when I applied? On the other hand I'd be earning more putting in twenty hours a week with them than I made working forty hours a week at my last job. Minimum-wage retail really does suck."

"And they have a pretty good benefits package too," I added. "Linda said I'd be sort of on a probationary period until the end of the year, then assuming they were keeping me I'd be a permanent employee beginning in January. And the part-time thing might change to full-time as well, depending on how it plays out?"

"They're also flexible about hours, like if I wanted nine to one, ten till two, or whatever?" I continued. "I also asked about working from home, and Linda said she wouldn't rule that out but even if they let me do that some of the time they'd still want me in the office at least a few days a week."

My boyfriend asked, "What sort of work would you actually be doing there?"

"About half of it would be just processing graphics files their customers send in?" I replied. "Their equipment has some specific requirements and apparently most customers don't bother sending what they need. So either they have to send it back to the client which wastes time and makes the customer unhappy, or they send it out to a third-party which costs them too much."

"It's probably boring repetitive work," I said with a grimace, "But it can't be any worse than retail. And that's only part of the job. The rest would be working with clients who don't already have finished artwork or anything. That's where it gets creative, helping them come up with new designs and stuff."

Declan nodded slowly, "So what do you think? Do you want the job?"

I thought about it as I took another bite of my sandwich. Then after I swallowed I nodded, "Yeah, I think I do? I'm still anxious about the commute, and about how everyone there was staring at me all the time. But I know I'll get used to it, and the other staff would eventually get used to me. And I know I can do the job. It's the sort of thing I've wanted to do for years."

"Fingers crossed then," he smiled. "I hope you get it cutie."

"Me too," I smiled back. Then I blushed slightly as I added, "Honestly the whole thing was stressful from start to finish, from when I left the apartment this morning until I got back again? But I'm uh, I feel kind of proud of myself? Because I did it. And I didn't let on how nervous I was during the interview. I didn't have a melt-down, I didn't panic, and I didn't even freeze up or anything."

My boyfriend leaned in and gave me a hug as he replied, "I'm proud of you too cutie. I knew you could do it. And I know you can keep doing it."

"I'm also proud of you for not immediately turning into a fox the minute you got back home," he added with a smile. "Especially after hearing how stressful the whole morning was for you."

"Thanks Declan," I said as I blushed and hugged him back. "I might have been a tiny bit tempted? But if I was a fox then I wouldn't be able to talk to you about any of it."

After a few seconds I added, "Anyways that's enough about my stuff. How about you, how was your morning? How's your first day of remote work going?"

He gave me a gentle squeeze, then as we let go of each other he sighed "It's about what I expected. I'm sure you heard I was on a conference call when you got in? I was talking with a couple other guys on my team, that was a conversation we'd normally have had standing around someone's desk. And it wrapped up with the three of them deciding to head out to lunch together. They're probably going to keep talking about the work thing, and I can't be part of that discussion because I'm not there."

"Not that I don't enjoy spending the time with you," he added. "But I'm sure you understand what I'm saying. It's only the first day and I already feel a little excluded."

I pulled him into another hug as I responded, "I'm sorry Declan. Maybe make note of this sort of thing when it happens? Then mention it to your manager or your boss now and then? Like remind them that this is supposed to be temporary and you want to get back into the office so you can work with the rest of your team as soon as possible?"

"I will," he replied as he hugged me back. "Thanks cutie."

We let go of each other again, then the two of us were quiet for a bit as we both finished our sandwiches. I took the dishes back into the kitchen, then fixed us both another cup of coffee before returning to the living-room again.

As I sat down I asked, "Declan? Not that I was trying to eavesdrop on your work call earlier, but I thought I heard one of your coworkers use your deadname. Was that a slip-up, or have you not told them about your new name yet?"

He grimaced, "I haven't mentioned the new name to anyone at work yet. I wanted a few days to get used to it before I did anything official like that. Maybe I'm being overly cautious, but I wouldn't want to get work to go to all the trouble of updating stuff and getting my manager and my team all using another name only to change my mind again later."

"I have updated it on social media though," he added. "I've come out online in a few personal spaces, and with some online friends. I also texted Kerry and let her know too? And she already wrote back that she likes it. Anyways the thing is I kind of want to get used to it in my personal life, before I know I'm ready to update things on the professional side as well."

I smiled, "That sounds like a good plan. What about your folks? Have you had a chance to talk to them about it yet?"

"No," he admitted with a bit of a sigh. "I suppose I'm treating them a little more like work? I want to be sure I'm comfortable with the name before I talk to them about it."

After a slight hesitation he asked, "Or do you think I should just dive full in and tell my folks, and my coworkers? Am I taking it too slow, being too cautious?"

"Not at all babe," I assured him as I moved close enough to cuddle against his side.

I slipped an arm around his waist as I said, "Your name is one of the most important and personal parts of your identity. There's no right or wrong way to do any of this stuff? Or actually, the only right way is the way that works for you. And that doesn't have to be the same as it was for me, or any other trans person out there. Heck even some cis folks change their name, but like I said it's personal and all that matters is you do what's comfortable for you."

"Thanks Megan," he smiled as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

The two of us sat cuddling like that for a little while longer, quietly enjoying our coffee and each other's company. All too soon we were finished our drinks and it was time for Declan to get back to his desk. And I decided to do the same.

While he got back to work I took a few minutes to wash the dishes and tidy the kitchen, then I quietly joined him in our little office.

I figured my interview this morning was a good first step, but until I actually had a job I wanted to stick to the routine I came up with the week before. So I checked my email, I spent time looking at job openings, and I even took an hour or so to review some more of my old college assignments to refresh my memory on some of the details of that work.

For a while there was a kind of comfortable silence in the office, between Declan working on his stuff and me working on mine. It made me wonder if that's what it'd be like if we were both working from home. Like there was a nice sense of togetherness just being in the same room with him, even if neither of us were talking and we were both focused on our own things.

Eventually I was about ready to call it quits. I started to shut down my computer and everything, when my phone suddenly started ringing. A glance at the call display revealed it was the signage company I'd interviewed with in the morning.

I sort of braced myself, I figured they were probably calling to tell me I didn't get the job. The other possibility was they wanted me to come back for a second-round interview, but I tried not to get my hopes up on that.

After taking a deep breath I swiped the screen then answered, "Hello, Megan speaking?"

"Hello Megan! It's Linda calling," the office manager responded. "How do you feel about starting on Monday? We'd like you here at ten AM, we'll get you set up and properly introduce you to the rest of the team."

My heart skipped a beat and I found myself staring at my phone for a second or two before I finally nodded, "Yeah! I mean, yes that sounds great! I'll see you then, Monday at ten!"

Linda responded, "Excellent! Take care Megan, enjoy the rest of your week!"

"You too Linda! And thanks again!" I told her. By the time we disconnected I was smiling wide enough my cheeks hurt. I set my phone down on my desk then let out a happy whoop, "Yeah! I got the job!"

"Congratulations cutie!" Declan responded as he pulled me into a hug from behind. "I knew you could do it!"

PurpleCatGirl

If you enjoyed this story and would like to read more like it, have a look at the next installment in the series: Nuts!

This is a commissioned story, so updates only happen when patrons commission a new chapter. Patrons always get chapters one or two weeks before anyone else, so if you're eager to get caught-up join are Patreon and you'll get all the latest chapters and new stories! And if you'd like to help move this story along, think about sponsoring a chapter!
Today's chapter was courtesy of Meg who commissioned it!
https://www.patreon.com/purplecatgirl