I woke up later that evening. It was dark out, and I was still naked. That was the second time in a row I’d slept naked. Is this going to become a habit? My phone buzzed. I groaned. Not right now! It buzzed again. Please no, I do not want a phone call. It buzzed a third time. Fuck, this is a phone call. Please be Maple, please be Maple, please be Maple.

I grabbed my phone off my nightstand.

Fuck me.

It was not Maple. It was my parents.

“FUCK!”

I answered the phone. I tried to disguise my voice. “Hi, mom.”

She must not have heard anything weird about my voice (or if she did she didn’t say anything about it). “Hey, sweetie, just wanted to ask you how your first day of classes was. I tried to call earlier, but you wouldn’t pick up.” 

Fuck, she must have called when I was asleep.

“It was fine, mom. Mostly just syllabus stuff, no actual material yet. I was feeling tired so I decided to take a nap. You must have called during it.” That was the truth, so hopefully she bought it and let it go.

“Oh, alright, Alexander.” I hated when she called me by my full name, and I hated it even more now that it wasn’t even my actual name. Then she asked how Maple was doing; of course, she deadnamed them, but in this instance I can’t really chalk that up to her being transphobic considering she didn’t even know Maple was NB yet. Thank fuck, Maple was my only friend, if she or my father found out, my friendship was toast.

“They’re fine,” I said, not wanting to misgender my friend. “We hung out a bit after classes.”

“That is great! You seem to be adjusting to college well! I am so proud of you son.”

Yeah, I was getting used to my transition to college… and being a fox girl. 

“Dad and I will be home in about a week.” My Father then shouted from across the room at the call to add, “Yeah champ, don’t have too many girls over before we come back.”

I hated when he said uncomfortable shit like this. “Champ” was completely unnecessary; for that matter, so was the creepy part about having “too many girls over” . I have lived with him for eighteen years, he should know I don’t have girls over. He should have said nothing to begin with.

“I, uh, don’t think that’s going to happen. Need to focus on my studies.” I laughed nervously.

“Glad you’re willing to put effort into something, Alexander,” my mom said. God, really? Just because I hadn’t managed straight-As once during high school did not mean I wasn’t trying my best.

“Hey, how’s Liam?” my dad asked.

My heart sank.

Liam had been my friend during my last year of high school. Maple had been spending a lot more time with their part-time job, and we hadn’t been able to spend much time together. I hadn’t had many other friends, but Liam and I had clicked. We liked a lot of the same things. Sure he may have had some… unsavory opinions about minorities, but he was at least willing to spend time with me.

And then Maple had come out, and Liam had taken those garbage opinions out of offhand comments, and tore into them. I had obviously immediately gone to bat for my best friend.

Liam and I were no longer friends, but my parents didn’t know that. Hell, he was even still going to the same university as I was, so it wasn’t out of the question for them to assume we had met up at some point.

Obviously, we hadn’t. Hell, Liam wouldn’t even actually recognize me anymore.

“He’s fine,” I lied. “We haven’t talked much.” Technically not a lie.

From there, the conversation wound down. It was one of the few traits my parents had that I actually liked; they never talked to me, just at me, before quickly exhausting themselves. It made it easier to ignore them. I said bye and hung up. Even though I just woke up, having to mask for them was exhausting. 

“You know what? I need to eat.”
I picked myself out of bed and lazily wandered to the fridge. Nothing. I then moved to the freezer. Nothing again. Deep Freezer. Nothing! Pantry. Guess what? NOTHING! I never knew why my parents always got the same shit. It was all cheap ramen, old bread, and i don’t know what the fuck else. None of it is what I wanted. Then I had an Idea. Pizza. That's what I want. Warm, flavorful, pizza. I rifled through my pockets to find the spare change for one. The pockets had nothing except 2 nickels and a quarter, (the quarter was even American, somehow…). Fuck.

I checked my room for my wallet. It was nowhere to be found. Well, shit. Where the fuck did I leave it? I hope Maple has it. I will ask them tomorrow I guess? Still, I. Want. My. Motherfuckin’. Pizza!

Then I got an idea. I don’t have money, but you know who does? My shitstain parents. They wouldn’t mind –hell, they wouldn’t even notice –if $20 were to suddenly vanish from their room. I shifted between my feet, creeping to my parent’s bedroom. I knew I was alone, still, It felt kind of wrong, yet kind of right. Sitting on my father’s bedside table was a 3 digit lockbox (which he kept at 000 because he was lazy). I slowly lifted the lid, In the box there was a haphazard pile of notes. Not organized in any way whatsoever. Coins all sank to the bottom, weighing down the box. I sifted through the mess, and eventually pulled out two green 20s.

“We’re in business”

Now, I guess I should walk to Pizza Pizza. It's only 10 minutes away. Ugh.. I really don’t want to interact today, my parents drained me of being able to people any more tonight. Well, I can order online and toss the money out the mail slot when they come. That sounds much better. I flipped open my laptop and started ordering. I ordered a stuffed crust medium with mushrooms, green and black olives, onions, sundried tomatoes, and pepperoni (I don’t usually eat pepperoni, but the fox in me was craving meat.). I added Parmesian and extra cheese. I additionally added some garlic bread and a coke to my order, then I clicked order and selected pay on delivery. Then I waited.

I was practically sitting by the door. I pulled up Twitch to watch some streams. I briefly checked a trans gamer Maple told me about, QueerHazel. She was a small channel, but cool. She was playing Stardew Valley. She was so cute! She was speedrunning marrying Abigail. I typed, “Abigail is awesome, she’s my favorite villager.” I hit send. Guess what I saw? Deadname. Even worse, she interacted with it. The dysphoria bells were ringing in my head. I rapidly changed the username to be the same as my discord. After the changes were sent, I typed out another message; “sorry, forgot I had to change my username here too.”

Hazel read the message. “Oh, new username? Trans, huh?”

I sent a message to confirm that.

“That’s awesome girl, always love to see more queers in my chat - oh fuck me, stupid crop fairy. Cute name, by the way. Oh also, your pronouns with the pronouns extension are still he/him.”

“Oops Let me change them, and install that extension.”

I added the extension and selected she/her.

Ding dong!

Oh, there’s my pizza!

I stuck my hand with the cash out the mail slot. “Just leave it on the porch please.”

“Um, ok,” a confused voice, cracking from puberty, said. I heard the sound of them putting the pizza down, then I felt them take the cash out of my hand. I started to pull it back inside, but they interrupted me. “Um, miss, I gotta give you your change first.” Oh right. After a few seconds, I felt them drop the change in my hand, and I pulled it back inside. I waited a few seconds and then quickly opened the door and snatched up the boxes and Coke can, pulling them inside and closing the door. 

I carried my food to the counter. Since I was shorter The counter was chin height, so I had to lift the boxes up. I clambered up the tall chairs, using the bottom supports as a step to get up. I lifted the cardboard to reveal the pizza. Steam billowed as I lifted the box up. That classic smell of hot, crisp pizza filled the air. My heightened fox senses let me notice every nuance of the ingredients. I could smell each ingredient. I removed the center pizza stand and pulled out the first slice. As I freed it from the other slices it drooped down, cheese melting and dripping. I bit down onto the pizza. It was like an orgasm in my mouth. Even my sense of taste was so much stronger. All the flavors swirled and combined in my mouth, layering one on top of the other until it all spilled over. The warmth of the slice warmed my whole face. I swallowed. That heat traveled down, first pinging down my throat, before settling in my chest. It felt so good.

Soon, the whole pizza was gone. I bit into some heavenly garlic bread and washed it all down with the Coke. I loudly burped. I giggled to myself, I thought it was funny hearing a small fox girl burp so loud. I got down and opened the trash can and discarded the box, bag, and can. I walked down to the large glass doors to my parent’s backyard. I stood on the old cracking cinereous-colored wooden porch. The fairy lights were hanging from post to post, nictitating with a yellow glow. I lowered myself on the bench, my tail curling to cover my legs in the cool September air. I laid on my side and listened to the backyard. I could hear the chirps of thousands of cricket calls. The rustling of the grass and the two large oaks in the yard. I could hear the mechanical drone of the streetlights and electrical wires charged with energy. The distant rumble of cars driving down the road. The sound was such a nice backdrop. It was much more pleasant than what it had first been. I was still just as sensitive, but I was more used to it. I heard my tail brush against my thighs. It was soft and quiet.

That was when my phone started ringing.

I panicked, I didn't want to talk to my parents again. The sound was so loud, it was painful, unbearable. I was fearing the worst. I pulled the phone out of my pocket. Maple.

"Thank fuck."

I can talk to Maple. I clicked answer.

"Ummm… Alexis? The figurine is glowing again. It’s pulsating red and orange. What do I do? The rumbling is so strong. I…"

"Don't do anything, I'll be right over"

I hung up.