Jay sat at the foot of Melody's tree. He'd gotten an internship in the IT department of the high school. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to Melody, if he was honest. She'd done so much for him. It wasn't all good, obviously, but he felt confident now in saying he was happier than he would have been otherwise.

"You don't have to keep me company, you know?" Melody said.

"You're my friend, Mel," Jay replied.

After two years on testosterone and some help from Melody, he was comfortable in his body. His patchy sideburns and beard that he refused to shave made him look a little scruffy, but he cherished it. It was proof that he had pushed past everything. That his body belonged to him. He was still working with her as he figured out what he wanted. After three years of dysphoria, and gender exploration, and a lifetime of his mum pushing her ideas on to him, he wanted to use his opportunity to get what he wanted. He wasn't sure of all the specifics yet, but that was fine. He still had time. For now he was enjoying his facial hair and body.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked. He could make out a ghostly figure next to him. She kind of looked like him. He wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't remember what she used to look like. 

"I'm so fucking lucky."

"There's no need for sarcasm."

"I'm serious."

"I ruined your life," she argued. She looked so small.

His mum was no longer in the picture. Adam had given him a place to stay when it became clear that she was going to end up killing Jay. It had been hard to accept. There were times when he still missed her. When he hoped that despite everything she'd find a way to understand him not being a model son/daughter, but he knew she wouldn't. She couldn't understand. She didn't want to. Which stung. Even after a year. He wasn't sure it would ever not sting. He remembered her crying as she acted like he had died. He remembered her screaming about how she didn't understand him or what he wanted. It wasn't likely to change anytime soon. 

He tried not to dwell on it further. He couldn't control what other people did, or how they'd treat him. He just had to surround himself with people that wouldn't treat him like that.

"I'll call Katie over here so I can hug you if you keep saying that." Katie had offered her body for occasional possession ever since Jay's had become more uncomfortable for Melody. It was incredible the lengths Katie would go for research sometimes.

"I did, though." He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to convince her she was wrong. It wasn't going to stop him from trying.

"It sucked for a while, but look at us. Chilling under a tree together. Does it look like my life is ruined?" He relaxed into the tree a bit more. The afternoon sun felt amazing.

"You're still traumatized," she stated.

He didn't have a perfect rebuttal. This shit was a rollercoaster, but he couldn't blame her for it. Part of him still wanted to believe he deserved it. That he was a monster who’d brought all that horrible shit upon himself and that Melody was just the unfortunate soul who was forced to deliver that punishment. It was a twisted idea. One he refused to give more thought to.

"I don't blame you for that," he said.

"I know you don't. It's confusing."

"What you did to my body was messed up, but you can't keep beating yourself up over it."

"You say that so lightly."

"It's been three years and you've done more than enough to make up for it."

"I can't agree with that, Jay."

"I'm kind of glad it happened." He was thinking out loud at this point. "I never would have reached out to Katie, or dated Nick, or met you and Adam."

"You could have done that without being traumatized."

"Maybe, but I could have also repressed my sexuality, continued ignoring how much I was hurting other people and stayed friends with Ben." He shuddered at the thought. 

"Jay?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Thanks for not letting me give up."

—

It was difficult for Katie to explain to her mums how she had managed to get magical bottom surgery. She'd somehow managed to graduate while balancing a part time job, her friends being disasters and dealing with literal magic and as a reward and a birthday present her mums had decided to sit her down and talk to her about options regarding bottom surgery that she didn't need.

"Your mum and I are willing to pay as much as necessary to get the best care possible, but we aren't really sure where to start looking," Mama said.

"We've been searching, but it's your surgery. So we really wanted to sit down and have a talk," Mum agreed.

After graduation Melody had taken a joy ride in her body and finished the job. Some girls were happy to keep their junk and that was super valid, but it just wasn't for her. That was almost a month ago. Was she capable of having kids? Could she get pregnant? Was she gonna have to deal with what that entails? She was going to have to explain this to both of them. 

"Katie. Are you alright?" Mama asked.

"Uh. Yeah. It's just, I don't need it," Katie said.

"If this is about cost, sweetheart, we both work, we have insurance to help with it. We just want you to be happy," Mum said.

How was she supposed to explain it? It was literal magic. 

"No, like, I've already had it kind of," she explained.

"And you didn't tell us!!" they yelled in unison. 

Their faces were a mix of panic, confusion and fear. She really could have worded it better.

"Not surgery! Magic!" she added.

"Magic? How did you pull off magic?" Mum asked.

"There's no such thing as magic," Mama said. "How did we miss this, babe?" she asked Mum.

"I don't know," Mum responded.

"Jay's body changed overnight and you are doubting that some weird phenomena exists?" Katie asked. Honestly she should have led with that. That would have made the conversation so much easier. It had already happened once.

"I thought that was just a disease or something," Mama said.

"If it was a disease, it would have been documented before," Katie argued.

"When did this happen?" Mum asked.

"A month ago. Just after graduation," she said.

"Oh my god, we are such bad parents," Mama said.

She really should have told them both when it happened, but she was honestly too distracted and worried about uni. Like it had been painful, not as painful as Jay had said it was, but a lot less was changing in her. It only took her a day to recover and then she went over to Adam's and they'd done stuff. Stuff she wasn't going to think about in front of her parents for fear of blushing. 

It honestly hadn't been as big a deal as she thought it would be. She'd already been living as a woman for so long it had faded into the background. Of course she'd felt a massive sense of relief and euphoria, but she'd just gone back to living like usual. Without the preparations and lead up to it like there would be with surgery, it kind of fell into the background of her mind.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you. I just kind of forgot."

"You forgot?" Mum asked.

"Yeah."

"Forgot that you grew a vagina?" Mum looked confused while Mama looked worried.

"It just didn't seem super important. All my paperwork already says female, so we didn't have to do anything about it," Katie explained.

"No, no, no, missy. We needed to book you into a doctor as soon as it happened. I mean your body changed. We should make sure everything's healthy and fine," Mama panicked, and Mum rested her hand on her shoulder.

"Do you know if it's like what happened to your friend where your reproductive system has completely changed?" Mum asked.

"I think so."

"Katie!" Mama yelled.

"What? I didn't think it was important," she said.

"What if you needed birth control, or you got your period? Goodness, we need to book an appointment with Jay's doctor, they can confirm everything and make sure you are healthy and hopefully keep it below board." Mama continued freaking out.

"Do you know Jay's GP?" Mum asked.

"I can ask him."

"Good, then we can figure this all out and make sure you're healthy," Mum said. "Then after that we can celebrate."

"Do you feel okay?" Mama asked.

"I would have told you if I didn't," Katie responded.

"Good. Good."

Katie was lucky to have such supportive parents. They went off to figure out what to do with the bombshell she'd dropped. They’d taken it well, considering part of the reason she'd forgotten was that she thought it wouldn't matter to them anyway. 

She probably needed to get that doctor's name. She pulled up the group chat with Nick, Adam and Jay.

Katie: I just told my mums about the magical bottom surgery, they are currently freaking out.

Adam: You didn't tell them?

Jay: What the fuck?

Nick: Katie what the hell?

Katie: I've been busy.

Nick: As the only completely cis person in this chat I'm not sure if it's appropriate to ask this, but since we are friends; how do you forget to tell your parents!?

Jay: No, babe, I think that's a fair question. 

Adam: Was this my fault ;)

Katie's face burned. He was going to get it next time they met up.

Jay: Get a room, you're gonna make me heterophobic.

Katie: 1. Adam! I'm going to bite you. 2. Yes. 3. I don't think Jay has a monopoly on being an idiot.

Jay: I haven't done anything stupid since… Fair point.

Katie: Who was your doctor when we had to get you checked out.

Jay: Doctor Finnegan, but I don't go to her anymore. She wasn't great.

Katie: We just need someone who we know won't blab.

Adam: Your gp should be able to. It's literally part of their job.

Oh, yeah. Patient-doctor confidentiality. She would probably have to explain to her doctor that she had stopped taking estrogen anyway. Unless she wanted to stockpile. Which probably wasn't a bad idea. She was going to university; having some on hand in case of shortages, and other trans women needing help, would be great. She'd have to think more about it. It's not like she could drag every trans woman to her haunted high school, that was three hours from where she planned to go to university.

Katie had been so lucky in the grand scheme of things. It just felt right to try and share that luck with other trans folks. 

Katie: I think I'm going to do gender crimes, so it might be better to not tell my gp. Plus I'm going to need a new doctor when I move.

Nick: Gender crimes? I love you a lot but sometimes I swear you are speaking a different language.

Katie: :3c

Nick: Speak normally you autistic goblin.

Nick and Katie had plenty of time to bond over their autism, much to the confusion of their boyfriends sometimes. He was the only one who could say that and not get punched in the face.

Katie: Says the other autistic goblin.

Nick: What gender crimes are you committing? I thought you solved crimes and mysteries.

Katie: Mysteries, yes. Crimes? Only those committed by corporations. I'm not a cop.

Nick: What gender crimes?

Jay: What is happening anymore?

Katie: HRT stockpiling and redistribution.

—

It took a lot for Nick to begin trusting Jay again. After Jay had dumped him, it had taken them a few months to even start talking to each other again. Nick hadn't necessarily tried to ignore Jay or anything. He just didn't know how to approach him, and for a while Jay seemed uncomfortable around him.

Then Jay had gotten a girlfriend and Nick no longer felt like he could ignore these feelings. They needed to talk, and they did. They sorted things out like adults and things went back to how they were before they were dating. They'd play games together. Talk to each other, confide in eachother, you know. Bro stuff.

And was it wrong that Nick's heart did a little backflip when six months before graduation Jay said he was thinking of breaking up with his girlfriend? No. Of course not. Katie had taught Nick that feelings didn't make you a bad person. Nick wasn't going to encourage a break up so he could start dating Jay again, but this girl clearly saw Jay as less of a man because of his body. Jay deserved better, so Nick made sure he knew his worth. Jay was a great guy, who deserved someone that saw that. That saw what Nick did. It had nothing to do with any lingering feelings.

Jay was back to his old self, but in a good way. Nick no longer had to worry about him disappearing. He didn't have to see Melody as a threat anymore. Jay was single now as well! It wouldn't be weird to flirt with him a bit and hang out with more and god Nick was really out of practice with shoving his feelings down. So when just before graduation Jay had asked if Nick would like to try dating again, Nick had agreed, and a month later Jay was standing at Nick's door to take him to lunch.

"You could have just texted me you were here," Nick said.

"Nah, couldn't wait to see your face. I had to rush to the door," Jay joked. He was being obscenely cheesy in a way Nick was not immune to.

"So game store?"

"It can sometimes be hard to tell, but I think you are blushing," Jay teased.

"Shut up."

"Make me."

Nick took the opportunity to kiss his idiot boyfriend on the lips.