My friends were lounging on a nearby couch, chattering away as if the rest of the world never existed. Dean had obtained a more masculine set of clothes, and Kelryn was sitting next to a shopping bag. I observed them for a moment, seriously debating on turning back into my demon form, saying I needed to go to bed, and ignoring all of the strange feelings I had around them for the rest of my life.

I knew that wasn't practical; they would find me out in a second. Truthfully, I was afraid of them seeing me without my demonic features. Did I look like myself, but female? Like my sister? I didn't have a sister, but would people run up to me and immediately assume that about me? What if I got recognized at my job?

Ugh, I would have to quit retail and find something else. Coming out and transitioning on the job would raise too many questions about how I transitioned in one day, and generally would be an incredibly frustrating experience. That must be the 'pragmatic' part of being transgender that Thomas referred to.

I glanced over at my friends one more time and took a breath. I could do this. I approached my friends, who were too busy laughing about something or another to notice me get close. I cleared my throat to get their attention.

Once they got a good look at me, it took several moments for Dean and Kelryn to actually recognize me considering I still looked like myself, but I was masquerading as a human now. Both of their expressions quickly shifted to astonishment.

"Nerina, you look…" Dean started, then paused for an excruciating half-second. "You look incredible." 

"Wow," Kelryn whistled. "I thought you were alluring as a demon, but clearly you're just going to be gorgeous no matter what species you present yourself to be."

"How dare you both," I grumbled. "It should be illegal to be nice to me."

"I do like crime, so really you’re only encouraging us…" Kelryn mused. 

I put my hands over my ears. "Can't hear you, can't hear you!" I started aggressively saying nonsense as Kelryn and Dean kept trying to fill my head with nice things about me.

Eventually, they gave up and settled on just admiring me without saying anything, which was arguably worse. 

"What?" I asked. 

"Do you wanna tell us what happened?" Dean asked.

I went through the private meeting with Thomas, starting how I was able to retract my demonic features successfully this time and giving a brief explanation on why Thomas was being so rough on me. I didn't explain that Thomas was a trans guy, since that was his story to tell. Just that he could see a bit of himself in me. 

"Okay, so you can freely walk around on Earth again. Is that everything going on?" Kelryn gently asked. 

I nodded my head a few times, hesitating while dipping into the same well of confidence I had when confronting Thomas.

"Well, I'm transgender, and I-I want to stay this way." I folded my arms under my chest and stared at my friends, daring them to confront me.

Dean did worse. He stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Nerina. Seriously, you look like a weight has lifted off your shoulders."

"It has," I confirmed. "It really does feel good. I mean, I'm actually terrified. I don't know what's going to happen now. What about my job? How do I pay for my apartment? What if my parents need to talk down to me for a few minutes?"

Kelryn stood up during my speech and enveloped me in a hug, pressing tightly. "You don't have to figure it all out right now. Besides, we're on your side. We love you."

They love me? 

A mess of thoughts swirled around in my head, coalescing into one single and powerful response, the weight of it being enough to shake the entire foundation of the world.

"Eep," I said.

"Eep, indeed." Dean echoed my sentiment while scratching his head nervously. He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't bring himself to actually communicate it. Kelryn looked between the two of us for a moment, then put her hand on my shoulder.

"Let's get some rest. We can talk more later."

I nodded in response, grateful that Kelryn was stepping in to distract me from my awkward feelings about the two of them. The three of us gathered our things and made our return trip from Hell, with Dean continually bragging about how great we were at concluding the hero's journey by leaving Hell in a much less interesting fashion than the trip to get to Hell in the first place.

***

We collapsed into a power nap on my apartment couch almost immediately after getting back from Hell. I woke up first and noticed I was between Dean and Kelryn, a position I savored every second in and hoped there would be more, though to actually think about what I wanted made me blush.

Kelryn was up next, followed by Dean. None of us moved to leave the couch in spite of the 3am morning breath we found ourselves equipped with. Instead we just sat there, not saying anything for well over a half hour, enjoying cuddling up all over each other.

Dean finally got up to use the restroom, and Kelryn immediately got a serious look in her eyes and focused on me, though she had a gentle smile to keep me from getting nervous.

"Tell him," Kelryn urged me.

I wanted to deny it. Deny it and sputter and stammer and tell Kelryn there was no way I would ever have feelings for Dean, and his annoying way of bringing the perfect amount of levity to every moment, his wonderful, goofy smile, the inspiring way he carried himself, and how cute his ass looked. How I wanted to give him a kiss and get swept away in how handsome and endearing he was. I could be his girlfriend. Or better yet, Dean could be my boyfriend. 

Instead, I barely managed to bite my lip in protest. I looked at Kelryn, and then at the direction of the restroom door, and then back at Kelryn. No. No more denial, I had to face reality.

"What if…telling him makes everything too real? Too complicated?" I asked.

"Oh, it'll be complicated. In a good way. A way that makes you want to keep things complicated, because complicated can also mean exciting, and passionate."

"I…that's a good way to look at it." I smiled, then thought about Kelryn's admission about her feelings back when we were hanging out at her house. "What - what about you?"

Kelryn looked surprised for a half second and quickly steadied herself. "Me? Um..I'm happy for you both, of course."

I fixed my gaze on my friend. "Kelryn."

The more-experienced-than-me succubus sighed. "I can't help but feel a bit left out. I feel like we all have a connection with each other, but I don't know if it's a great idea."

I moved to reply to Kelryn, but was interrupted by Dean stepping out and going over to grab a soda. Kelryn wrapped me in a quick hug and encouraged me to go over to him, but I quickly promised her we would talk next. Then I turned over to Dean and walked a few places over to him as he poured out a glass of soda.

"Dean?" I asked.

Dean snapped to attention, turning over to me with an immediate smile on his face, though his posture betrayed how nervous he actually was.

"Hey, Nerina," Dean said almost robotically, as if something inside was screaming at him to act but he was resisting it with all his might.

"It's okay." I smiled. "I didn't know I was a girl until uh, yesterday? Or maybe the day before. I mean, there's a lot going on already. But something's eating at both of us and I think we should give ourselves permission to voice it before we make ourselves too miserable."

Dean took a couple moments to mull it over in his head while averting his gaze, and then took a deep breath and focused his attention on me.

"Remember when we were hanging out at the mall the other day, and I kept complaining about a lot of stuff that wasn't my thing. Then you asked me what my thing was?"

I nodded.

"You're my thing. I've always had a thing for you, Nerina. No matter which name you found yourself going by, I've always wanted to be with you. "

My eyes got a little misty. "Oh, Dean…"

"Also, uh, you're really hot. Like, your confidence lately with your demonsona is really attractive and I just want to--"

I cut him off while forming a grin at how cute he was being. "Just want to what, Dean?" I smirked.

"Um, uh, just want to…you know," Dean babbled, a blush forming on his face.

"Mmm…." I said, and then walked towards my attractive, hopefully about-to-be-boyfriend. I let my wings sprout out behind me, my horns extend from my head, and my tail form with a little flick. I noted absently my clothes were kind of tattered from the repeated going back and forth lately, but if anything that only served to enhance my figure. "I guess I'll have to make an educated guess, Dean."

Dean smiled shyly as I approached him, and he lifted his head up to meet mine. I placed a finger under his chin while using my hand to pull his back into me, and then I took him in for a kiss. Some inner part of me started glimmering with warmth, as I basked in the significance of what we had just done. 

The slightly droopy eyes and dumb smile on Dean's face was enough of a confirmation that we had progressed beyond friends.

"So like, we're going out, right?" Dean said nervously; apparently the message hadn’t completely landed for him.

"Of course!" I exclaimed. "I didn't just kiss you in a friend way, you know."

"I just wanted to make sure! I like confirmations," Dean said.

"How's this for a confirmation?" I reached over and pulled Dean into a hug, which we held for the standard length of time it took for hugs to grant you the ultimate sense of contentment.

"Yep, that's a confirmation all right," Dean said, pulling away from the hug while still holding my hand, squeezing it ever so slightly. We stared at each other longingly for a moment, then we remembered that Kelryn was still in the room with us.

I let go of Dean and turned around. Kelryn was still on the couch, hidden from view. I walked over to her, and saw that my demon friend was scrunched up in a protective shell, wrapping her wings around herself and making herself take up as little space as possible. I felt a pang of guilt from how this must have affected her.

"Nerina, what are -- oh." Dean followed me and saw Kelryn.

Kelryn sat up and despite putting on a brave face, clearly had done a healthy bit of crying, which from her aura I could tell had very complicated feelings behind it.

"Are you alright?" I asked. 

"I…yeah. I'm okay," Kelryn said while getting into an upright position. "I mean, okay, I'm really, really happy for the both of you. With your history, you're a natural fit for each other."

Dean's head turned a little bit. "With our history?"

Kelryn smiled at him. "Yeah. You're childhood friends, your entire history together is basically your lives."

I saw what she was getting at. "It's hard to feel like you have to compete with that, right?"

Kelryn hesitated for a moment, blinking a few times. "I don't want to get in the way…" she started.

"...but you have feelings too," Dean finished. He seemed to be better at picking up on subtext when it didn't involve him. 

Kelryn nodded shyly, a far cry away from her more confident demeanor when we first met. I already knew about her feelings from our previous conversation, but thinking about it further, it made sense that Kelryn was going through a slow build-up of feelings, and finally seeing things come to fruition between me and Dean was enough to let them come out. It may not have been the most appropriate time, but it was, for lack of a better term, a human thing to do. 

"I do have feelings. I just…Nerina, we have a lot of chemistry and I really like you. And Dean, we have a lot of shared interests and we have the same taste in video games. I mean, I'm a lesbian, but sometimes 'lesbian' is more of an energy rather than a hard rule, you know? But also, I know I'd just be taking away from what you two have." Kelryn's gaze alternated between me and Dean.

"Well, fuck, I didn't expect me to be involved in this. I thought this was a you and Nerina thing," Dean stammered, then put his hands over his face for a moment.

I noted Kelryn was making an assumption. "Wait, who says your presence would take away from mine and Dean's? I don't think all relationships should be defined by what they bring to the table," I pointed out.

"That's true…I'm just scared? Again, I feel a responsibility for you, Nerina. With sorta being the one to turn you--"

I knelt down to Kelryn, and met her gaze. "I don't care about how all this started, or how I became a succubus. I care about you, me, and Dean. And right now, you're hurting. I just want us to talk and figure things out like adults."

Kelryn chuckled a bit. "When did you get all confident, Nerina? Because damn, I'm both proud of you and really inspired by you."

"Good teachers, I guess," I smiled.

Dean looked like a cartoon light bulb just went off above his head. "I mean, okay, so you know how people used to define relationships as between one man and one woman, yeah?"

"Some people still do that," I grumbled, thinking of my parents.

Dean gave me a quick sympathetic look, then continued. "What about like, trying out a three person relationship? Or at least, defining it as three people having a close connection with each other? And whatever happens, happens? No hard expectations, just experimenting as we go."

"Dean, that's the best idea you've had in your entire life," I grinned.

Dean looked back at me with a very proud expression on his face. "I have my moments."

Kelryn smiled and wiped her eyes. "I like that. We can be poly and just see where it takes us."

I got an idea of my own. "Well, since we're poly now, that means I can do this…" I gently put my hand on the side of Kelryn's head, taking a quick moment to share a look to make sure she was comfortable, then I planted a kiss right on my fellow demoness's lips, taking time to make sure Kelryn got the message that she was loved and accepted. 

After I pulled back, Kelryn had a bit of a dazed look on her face. "Y'know, if this is our first kiss, holy shit are we in for a lovely ride." 

"Damn, I got some splash damage from that one." Dean made a show of wiping his forehead.

"Splash damage, huh?" Kelryn moved to get up. "I'll show you what splash damage feels like." She made a few quick paces towards Dean, pulling him in by his rear and bending his head back a bit to really give him a kiss he'd remember. 

As the two of them came up for air, I realized I had a lot to learn about relationships, especially since Kelryn had more experience than both of us. I felt a pang of worry that I was in over my head, but I reassured myself that to some extent, all of us were in over our heads. We could all be disasters who had each other's backs.

Dean's voice recovered first. "God damn, between the two of you, some seriously different and both equally wonderful flavors."

"No kidding," Kelryn commented. "I guess I could try out another flavor or two outside my norm. Yum."

I pulled my two partners into a quick hug. We had been through a lot together, and finally everything in our lives appeared to be making sense again. For whatever making sense meant when we were so far removed from the reality the average human experienced. 

Kelryn gently broke the hug. "Well, everything is fine and dandy and we've all put our mouths to good use, now what?" She smiled at me and Dean.

"I could start Dark Souls 2 and we can cuddle on the couch. I barely remember anything about that game, so it might be fun," Dean offered.

"Ooh!" Kelryn exclaimed. "There's a particular coffin I'd love to show you, lots of fun with that one."

All three of us plopped down on the couch, shoulder to shoulder as Dean started up the game console. I took a moment to look between my boyfriend and girlfriend, and let out a relaxed, content sigh.