As the warning bell rang he made his way to fifth period, glad the day was almost over. Just two more classes and he’d be free! He settled into his seat, doing his best to appear as dull and uninteresting as possible. It was a talent he’d cultivated over years, so he nearly jumped out of his skin when someone off to his left tapped him on the shoulder.

 

“Hey.” Came a familiar voice. A voice matched to a particular set of words that had firmly lodged themselves in his brain for reasons he couldn’t quite determine. He managed to begin the slow and arduous process of bringing his heartbeat back to a halfway reasonable pace once he realised it was the girl from the day before. The girl whose name he hadn’t actually bothered to learn. Oops.

 

He gave her the closest thing he could manage to a smile as he responded as eloquently as he was able. “H-hey.”

 

She was smiling, that was probably good right? She was looking at his hands. That made sense, she’d noticed his nails the day before right? “I’m glad I didn’t, like, scare you off coming to school with your nails painted. I know not everyone’s comfortable with attention, so, like… sorry if I made you uncomfortable?”

 

He blushed a little. Yeah, he definitely didn’t like attention, but… having his nails complimented had felt… kinda nice. “It’s fine…” He wanted to say more, to talk about his nails, to show them off and let her appreciate them, to take pride in them in a way he had never taken pride in any part of himself before. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. It was just too far outside what he was used to.

 

He caught a slight look of confusion as her eyes moved from his nails to his chest, then his face, before finally seeming to settle back into an easy smile. It had only been a moment, but he felt like he was missing something important. “Hey… You know, our school actually has an LGBTQ+ club. We meet Wednesdays after school in the lounge if you’re interested?”

 

He blinked at the seemingly completely random direction the conversation had turned in. Did… did she think he was gay? Was nail painting a way gay guys signalled each other?! He began to panic a little as he considered the possibility he might be accidentally misleading some poor innocent gay guy into thinking he’d found someone. “O-oh? Well, uh… m-maybe? I’ll, uh… keep it in mind.”

 

He barely even knew what he was saying, he just wanted out of the conversation without having to actually talk about his sexuality or something. Fortunately, the girl whose name he still didn’t know seemed happy enough with that response and let the topic drop. Good. Great. Everything was totally fine and great. As class started and attendance was taken he did at least get to learn her name was Abby, so that was nice.

 

Surprisingly, the removal of his sweater and general talent for going unnoticed allowed him to make it through the remainder of the day without much incident. A couple of people had, with obvious trepidation, asked if he’d been the one who had talked to Sarah, but a well practised look of confusion and a flat denial had shaken them off with ease. Maybe it wasn’t something most people would take pride in, but Jay didn’t have a lot to be proud of as far as he was concerned, so he was happy to take what he could get.

 

Of course, getting through that day without incident was only step one of a hundred in burying an event which threatened to expose him to no end of pestering. The fact he was walking towards an impatient looking Sarah standing by the front gate, and was going to end up walking home with her likely raised the requirements to two or three hundred steps, but he’d play it by ear.

 

On the more immediately concerning hand, Sarah was looking impatient despite Jay having rushed out of the school as quickly as he could, and possibly a bit more quickly than he should have. That meant she was likely unhappy for reasons other than his speed, which did not bode well for whatever explanation he was likely to be getting. Fortunately she didn’t actually talk to him, and was more walking in front of him than with him, so that would help mitigate the social cataclysm he was likely to be facing at school the next day.

 

Always important to note the little positives while being led deep into the isolated woods by an angry woman with enough muscle to snap you in half. It was a bit of a surprise to find her walking such a similar route to the one he normally took home, despite that seeming somewhat obvious given where he’d found the dispenser. The fact he’d never seen her while walking to or from school just felt too unlikely given that apparently more than half their paths overlapped.

 

By the time they turned off his usual route he was well and truly confused. At first by the implication that she apparently lived relatively close to him, and then by the fact he was pretty sure there weren’t any houses in the direction they were going. He had a pretty good mental map of the area and if he wasn’t mistaken the only development in the direction they were going was an old highway out of town that had fallen out of favour when a new one had been built.

 

Fortunately for his ever increasing anxiety he was in fact wrong, and they soon entered a large clearing in the middle of the woods. An isolated house in the middle of the woods wouldn’t normally do much for his anxiety, but the true mundanity of the structure had managed to put him at unexpected ease. It looked like it could have been plucked from any number of neighbourhoods in his area. Two stories, white siding, grey roof, brick chimney. Absolutely mundane. The flower garden was perhaps a bit more robust and colourful than most, but that was hardly a strike against it.

 

Perhaps the only odd feature would be the fact the driveway led out the back towards the old highway, though penalizing them for that just seemed like hitting twice on the location. He was still wrapped up in his head as they approached, opened, and entered the front door. He was only drawn out of his contemplation about the likelihood of his own murder by a shout of “Mooooom! I’m hooooome!” from right beside him that caused him to jump in surprise.

 

She was still mid apology when her mother arrived, far too quickly for Sarah to warn her they had a guest. This resulted in the mother in question rounding a corner with a big smile on her face, which rapidly turned to wide eyed confusion as her gaze fell on Jay.

 

Sarah’s mother was a beautiful woman with a figure that could only be described as “motherly” in the kindest way. She wore a soft looking sweater and bright green leggings that would normally be quite eye-catching. Bright green leggings however can’t hope to distract from bright red skin, glowing red eyes, twisting white horns, and a spade tipped tail. 

 

That was a demon. Jay was looking at a demon. Jay was looking at a demon, while in the house of a demon, and presumably, standing beside a demon. So, with nothing else to do he fell back on one of his most used strategies. He smiled and gave her a quick nod. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Zwavel.”

 

The moment drew on, Sarah and her mother’s eyes going wider for just a moment before both seemed to nearly collapse with the release of their held breaths. “Oh my gosh honey, you nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought you’d brought a human over without warning me!”

 

Sarah looked from Jay to her mother and back again, her confusion growing for several moments before the words of her mother seemed to finally set in. Confusion turned to anger. “I did warn you! I sent you several texts! Why didn’t you check your phone?!”

 

Her mother at least had the decency to look sheepish. “Oh… Uh… well I… may have gotten distracted playing games… Wait, warn me about what?”

 

Sarah groaned, placing her face into her palm. “About the fact I was bringing a human over! Or… I guess… someone presenting as human?” Now she turned her ire on Jay. “Why didn’t you tell me you were in the know?! You were acting all confused when we talked!”

 

Jay was faced with a decision. He could try and pretend he had any idea what was going on, orchestrating an ever-expanding web of lies to cover for himself until things inevitably all came crashing down around him, or he could come clean and hope for the best. That first option sounded like a lot of work. “Oh, I’m not. I’ve got no idea what’s going on.”

 

He hadn’t accounted for how satisfying the looks of confusion would be, but it was a nice bonus. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like murder was immediately on the table. Ms. Zwavel was the first to recover enough to speak, though her tone indicated she still had some recovering to do. “Okay. That’s enough of that for now. Let’s all go take a seat in the living room, and you two can explain what’s going on. Sound good?”

 

Sarah and Jay both nodded, making their way into a cozy looking living room and each taking a seat on the sofa while Ms. Zwavel took a large recliner. Fortunately Jay didn’t have time to think about his proximity to Sarah before she began to explain. “So! Turns out Johnathan—”

 

“Jay.”

 

Sarah blinked, clearly not having expected the interruption. “What?”

 

Jay fidgeted a little, refusing to look in her direction. “Just call me Jay… Please.” It was awkward, and stupid, and totally not the time, but he just… couldn’t handle dealing with his name as well as everything else going on.

 

Confused, but apparently willing to accommodate him, Sarah tried again. “Turns out Jay was the one who found my dispenser, and he’s been enjoying the pills for like four days now… Wait, it’s still hooked up to our supply! How did you not notice it was still drawing tablets?!” She glared at her mother, apparently having realised something but not feeling the need to elaborate.

 

Her mother, on the other hand, didn’t seem to think it was that important, responding with a shrug that did mildly distracting and envy-inducing things to her ample chest. “Of course I noticed. I just figured if some poor demon had found your dispenser, needed the pills, and couldn’t afford to get themselves a supply, I was fine letting them use yours. You know how cheap those things are; anyone who has to steal something that cheap is clearly in a bad spot, and I’m happy to let them keep mooching off us.”

 

Jay felt his cheeks warm at the implication he was some kind of horribly destitute petty criminal, but also felt hope bubbling up inside him. If she already knew he’d been taking the pills and was fine with it… maybe she’d let him keep taking them? Though the way she was looking at him was… concerning. Like she was evaluating him, and he feared what she’d do if the result wasn’t positive.

 

“Stand up. I want to inspect you.” Her words had taken on a firmness that was hard to resist. Not a demonic one, but a maternal one that he hadn’t heard from his own mother in years. He was on his feet before the thought had even cleared his conscious mind. “As far as you’re aware you’re human, correct?”

 

He nodded, not really sure how else to respond to such a question. “And as far as you’re aware your birth parents are both human?” Her gaze was… intimidating. It was like she was looking straight through him. He managed another nod.

 

She began to circle him, and it took all his strength to resist the urge to curl up and try to hide. “I’m assuming you aren’t wearing nail polish.” She stated as she finished her second lap.

 

He wanted to just nod or shake his head, but realised either might confuse things given the ambiguity of her statement. “N-no… I’m not.” He was already starting to piece things together somewhat. He’d taken demon medicine, and was turning into a demon. She’d noticed his nails, and probably even knew what kind he was turning into! He tried to clamp down on his excitement. Turning into a demon should not seem like a good thing.

 

Finally, after several more circles, and several extremely awkward pokes, Sarah’s mother sat back down. “Alright. First things first, I should explain what the pills you’ve been taking are. They’re known as Demonic Energy Stabilizers. They’re used to help young demons maintain a human form while they learn to control their power. They do, however, have a secondary use. They can help a demon with dangerously low demonic energy recover more quickly.”

 

Jay gave a slightly awkward nod. Okay, that kind of made sense. So Sarah was a demon and the pills let her attend school as a human. He fidgeted awkwardly, not sure if he was allowed to sit back down or not.

 

“For a normal human, these pills are completely harmless, and are even designed to taste bad to them to discourage extensive consumption.”

 

Jay blinked. Wait. Did that mean… Had he never been a normal human? Was one of his parents actually a demon?! Why wouldn’t they—

 

“Likely what has happened here, is that somewhere in your non-immediate history, one of your ancestors was a demon. Based on the speed of your progression, I’d guess three or four generations back at least.”

 

Well, that was a relief. But it was also its own kind of problem. Oh. His super-religious father was not going to take him being a demon well.

 

“As a distant descendant, you didn’t have enough demonic energy to manifest any traits, but you did have enough for the medication to react. The medication is reacting to you like it would to a demon with dangerously low demonic energy, helping you build up to what would be a safe level for a fully manifested demon.”

 

“Normally demons are quite good about tracking their descendants. We have an entire office dedicated to it in fact. The fact you and whichever parent of yours you received your demonic heritage from seem unaware of it means your ancestor never registered the descendant. Unfortunately, this likely means they weren’t given the chance.” 

 

Her face grew hard as she seemed to try and impress the implications of that statement upon him. It didn’t take long for him to get the picture.

 

“Now that I know of you I can have you registered so this problem won’t repeat in the future. That said, do you have any siblings? Half siblings? Cousins?”

 

Jay shook his head. “As far as I know my parents were only children…” He was still reeling from the revelation that apparently one of his ancestors was a demon, and that they also apparently died before they could report they’d had a child. It wasn’t exactly a happy picture to pin to his family tree.

 

Ms. Zwavel nodded, her expression softening considerably as she did. “That’s good at least. I’ll let the office know and see if they can track down any more distant relatives. For now, we should focus on you. You’ve been lucky that your changes have been relatively easy to conceal so far, but based on what I saw during my inspection that’s likely to change soon. I can prepare some charms to help conceal things, but they’ll be uncomfortable, and certain changes will still slip through. Specifically, any change that can be perceived as ‘natural’ won’t be obscured. For this reason, I believe it’s best if you come out at school and claim to have been on HRT for several months already.”

 

Jay froze, eyes going wide as his brain refused to process what he’d just heard. Obviously he was just thinking of the wrong acronym. He’d ask her to clarify and they’d all have a good laugh. He expressed his need for clarification in the most eloquent way he could manage. “What?”

 

“Wait, you’re trans?!” Sarah practically bounced off the couch.

 

“No I’m not trans! Wh-why would either of you think I’m trans?!”

 

“Because you’re growing boobs!”

 

“I— Wh— N-no I’m not?!”

 

“Oh! That’s why you wanted me to call you Jay!”

 

“No! I-I just don’t like my full name! It’s big and dumb and bulky!”

 

Whatever Sarah intended to say in response was cut off by a sharp clap from her mother, causing both teens to turn and face her. “Alright that’s enough of that. Saraphina sit down and stop causing a fuss. As for you Jay; It’s okay. Most demons will change gender several times throughout their lives. I spent over a decade as a man, and several decades as variants between the two.”

 

Jay’s face blazed pink as he refused to meet her gaze. “I-I’m not trans! Why do you both think I’m trans?!” He was just barely resisting the urge to stamp his foot.

 

Sarah seemed eager to interject, but was mercifully silenced by her mother clearing her throat. “Well dear, that’s because demonic forms are… affirming. Your body is changing to become as true and comfortable as possible, and as you grow and change as a person, so too will your demonic form.” She paused, letting that concept sit for a moment before taking a deep breath and carrying on. “While her phrasing was crude, Saraphina is right. You’re developing breasts, and while there is a chance you are simply a man who is more comfortable with breasts, it is more likely you will be happiest as either a woman, or some form of non-binary. Further, regardless of the truth, others will see you developing breasts, and possibly other feminine characteristics, and the only mundane explanation for that will be that you are transitioning.”

 

Jay was finally at his limit. He’d done quite a good job of accepting the existence of demons and ignoring the related implications, he’d done a decent job accepting that he was part demon, he’d even done quite a good job embracing the idea he was turning into a demon. The fact he was turning into a girl demon though? That was too much. He didn’t even consider the idea he might be non-binary or a guy who just liked having boobs, and the fact he was so quick to discard those options only made everything that much more overwhelming.

 

He wasn’t even processing full thoughts. One moment he was worried about what people at school would say, the next he was freaking out about his sexuality, then there was panic over the fact the church had its grubby little fingers in just about half the town, then there was thinking about his family, then his online friends, then just to the idea he’d never had a job and how much harder this would make getting one. No one idea managed to settle in before another knocked it free and took its place. He hadn’t even noticed he’d started crying until he felt Ms. Zwavel gently wipe the tears from his cheeks.

 

He let himself fall into the offered hug, her arms surprisingly strong as they squeezed him against her chest. Her voice was gentle as she spoke, and he found his eyes fluttering shut as he relaxed under the combined power of her voice, the soft yet firm hug, and her fingers gently brushing through his hair. “There there sweetie, it’s going to be okay. I’m so sorry you had to find out this way, I know how traumatic it can be for humans. Just relax for now, don’t worry about it too much. Take all the time you need.”

 

Jay struggled to stay focused, to keep his thoughts from scattering under her care. “W-what about… What about my mom?” It was barely half a thought. More something she felt she should mention than anything he actually wanted to think about.

 

“I’ll let her know you’ll be staying the night, don’t worry. We’ve got tricks to help smooth over situations like this, she won’t worry, and you can relax.” A part of him wanted to be worried. To balk at the idea of using some kind of demon magic to manipulate his mother. But she was too tired. She was still crying even if she couldn’t quite remember why or what about. It was so much easier to just relax…