The sound of three people typing resounded through the small apartment. Though it was a small place, it was still otherwise nice. Plants had been placed through the entire living area, and art and decorations the three inhabitants liked covered the walls, including flags; the transgender, lesbian, and bisexual flags, specifically. A pair of cats were perched on a cat tree in front of a window.

In the living room, three women had their desks set up. The arrangement was a little cramped, but they enjoyed being near each other, so they had each chosen to place their desks here instead of in their bedrooms.

 

“Hey Penny, do you want some?” Rose asked, offering to share her chocolate with her.

 

“Nah, I’m good.” Penny answered. “Thanks, though.” She had actually been able to smell the chocolate since before it had even been unwrapped, and knew this offer was coming. Sharing things with each other was a normal occurrence for them. She considered herself lucky that neither of her roommates had noticed that she never ate any chocolate at all.

 

She watched as Rose called out to Eloise, their other roommate, to make the same offer. Penny hurriedly averted her gaze when she realized she’d been staring again. She hoped neither of them noticed her odd behavior or the blush she now had.

She returned her focus to the puzzle game she’d been in the middle of playing, and had a friend’s stream open on another monitor.

 

Aurelia’s voice stated over the stream, “Next up for my speed commissions is Penny! The drawing she wants is a girl with silvery blonde hair, and she has wolf ears and a tail.” She was the artist in their friend group.

 

Felicia, who was talking on the stream with Aurelia and was also the fifth and final member of their core friend group, asked, “You really like that character, don’t you, Penny?”

 

“Yes,” Penny typed into the chat. “If I could have those ears and tail for real, I would love it.”

 

In truth, Penny actually did have wolf ears and a tail. But she had to keep them hidden all the time; a fact which really ate away at her. Her werewolf form was just as much a part of her as her human form was, and keeping one side locked away anytime she was around someone else was mentally draining.

She had been considering for a long time now if she should tell Rose and Eloise that she was a werewolf. They were her best friends, and she spent nearly all her free time with them.

Penny’s commission was finished in no time at all, as Aurelia was doing incredibly quick and cheap drawings for people tonight. Penny smiled as she looked at the finished piece; a quick sketch of her character, which was pretty much just her real self. The fact that a few minutes of frenzied scribbling could result in something at this level of quality was a testament to her friend’s skill.

 

From her own desk nearby, Eloise said, “It turned out cute, Penny. She even accounted for your red-green colorblindness with the colors she chose.”

 

“She did? I’ll have to take your word for it. We should get one of all three of us again next time she has the time for it.”

 

“Yeah! I already have ideas for it.”

 

“Me too,” Rose added, idly playing with her blue-dyed hair. “And with our cats next time.”

 

Meanwhile, on the stream, Aurelia announced, “Next up is from Felicia! She wants me to draw… us kissing?” In response to a viewer asking if that was okay, she said, “I don’t mind if it’s her.” Then to the woman in question, she asked, “How do you want me to draw you? I don’t know what you look like.”

 

“Just use my profile picture as a reference,” Felicia replied mirthfully.

 

“So I’ll be making out with a demon, then? That’s hot.”

 

Rose chuckled, “They’re at it again.”

 

Eloise smiled and shook her head, causing her messy, dark hair to sway enticingly. “I swear, I have no idea how they aren’t dating yet.”

 

That statement had unintentionally caused Penny some pain. She liked Rose and Eloise. Really liked them. But she was also terrified. What if the past few years of living together with them were only friendly interactions and nothing more? What if they don’t accept her as a werewolf? She was even afraid that they might not be comfortable with dating a trans woman, despite both of them telling her they would be.

As Aurelia’s stream wrapped up for the day, Penny took the opportunity to go to the bathroom. She shifted the magic energy inside herself, causing her body to change into her werewolf form. Her human ears shifted into wolf ones, she grew a tail that peeked out from beneath her sweatshirt, which was now no longer baggy on her, and her entire head transformed to be much more wolf-like. She was also much larger in this form.

She sighed in relief, though that relief quickly turned to frustration. She needed more time in this form than just the little breaks she got here and there and her time alone in her bedroom.

Penny’s gaze locked onto her prescription sitting on the shelf. As she looked at the bottle of little blue pills, she made a decision. She will tell them. She can’t keep it hidden anymore.

 

Turning back into a human and returning to the living room, she said to the others, “Rose, Eloise. Can I tell you something important?”

 

“Yeah, of course,” Rose replied. She could tell that Penny was serious.

 

Her two best friends both sat on the couch, and Penny pulled up her desk chair adjacent to it and sat down in a stiff position.

 

Penny began, “So, you two are my best friends, right?”

 

Eloise nodded, “Of course. I feel the same.”

 

Rose agreed, “Yeah, me too. I care about the two of you more than anyone else.”

 

Penny gulped. “I have something I really need to tell you, and it could really change things between us, so I’m really nervous. I’ve wanted to tell you for a really long time, but I can’t keep it a secret anymore.”

 

Her friends’ eyes grew wide and filled with anticipation. They shared a quick look, and seemed excited.

 

“I…” she started. “I’m a werewolf.”

 

The two of them blinked in surprise. “What?” “Huh?”

 

Before she had any time to regret it, Penny shifted back into her werewolf form. Fur, fangs, tail and all.

 

She hurriedly explained, “S-So, I’m a werewolf. It’s my other form and it’s a huge part of me, and keeping it hidden for so long has been really hard and stressful, and it will even help me with my transition and improves my overall health, and switching forms also takes a lot of energy, which is why I got a job at a bakery so I could get lots of bread for cheap or free—but I also just like baking—and please don’t believe anything you see about werewolves in movies and stuff, we’re not violent or whatever, and I really really need you to accept me, because I can’t keep this a secret anymore.”

 

Penny had curled up into a big ball as she talked, and she had her eyes shut tight, afraid of what she might see. Her ears perked up when she heard one of them getting up. She felt a hand on hers, and nervously looked up to see Rose giving her a comforting, but pained, smile.

 

Rose calmly told her, “It’s definitely a surprise. But I don’t mind it.” She shrugged. “I think it’s really interesting actually.”

 

Penny looked past Rose to see Eloise staring at her, looking sad and frustrated. “E-Eloise…?”

 

Her other friend returned her look, then slumped. “It’s fine. I agree with Rose.”

 

Penny looked between the two of them. She’d been prepared for the worst, but their reactions just felt off somehow. “A-Are you okay? Are we okay?”

 

“We’re fine,” Eloise tersely replied, then began walking toward her bedroom.

 

“Wait! It doesn’t seem fine! I know this is weird, but I promise this pretty much just means I’ll look different sometimes!”

 

“That’s not the issue!” she yelled, teary-eyed.

 

“Then what is?! Please tell me!”

 

Eloise clenched her fists while Rose anxiously looked back and forth between them. “I… I thought you were asking us out! I thought we were going to finally start dating! But this…!” She began to deflate. “I need some time alone.”

 

As Eloise began trudging away, Rose gave Penny another strained smile. “I… Um, I’m going to go, too… Sorry.”

 

Penny’s mind raced as she took in what Eloise had said. She wanted to date her? Wanted to date both of them? They don’t care about the wolf thing at all? The dots finally connected in her head.

 

“I want to date you!” Penny yelled in a panic. “Both of you! I’ve liked you both for a really long time and I was always really nervous! A-And I also didn’t know you felt the same way…”

 

Rose and Eloise both gaped at her in surprise.

 

“Do you mean it…?” Rose asked, eyes full of hope.

 

Penny furiously nodded. Eloise ran forward and tackled her in a hug, which would’ve been disastrous if there hadn’t been a wall behind the chair to keep it from falling over.

 

“You idiot…” Eloise said into her neck.

 

They then felt Rose’s arms wrapping around both of them. “Finally. I wasn’t sure if either of you liked me back.”

 

“Yeah,” Penny replied, crying.

 

One of their cats, interested in the commotion, leaped from the cat tree and right onto Rose’s back. Surprised, Rose tried to move, but was still being hugged by two people. The others became surprised as well, and with two humans, one werewolf, and one cat all flailing around on a single desk chair, they nearly crashed sideways onto the floor. Penny managed to get one of her feet planted firmly on the ground in time, saving all of them.

The cat ran away, and the three of them moved to the couch, where there was actually room for all of them. Despite the couch being long enough for them to sit with a bit of space between them, they left none whatsoever. Penny was in the middle, and had shifted to her partial form, leaving just the ears and tail, and a little extra tallness.

 

Eloise, extremely happy now, asked, “So you’ve liked us this whole time?”

 

Penny nodded, trying to focus through her new girlfriend’s scritches around her ears. “Mhmm. I couldn’t tell if either of you felt the same way, plus I was super nervous about your reactions.”

 

Rose, who was stroking Penny’s tail, added, “You had this to worry about, though.”

 

A loud growl from Penny’s stomach interrupted their conversation. “Uh, shifting forms makes me really hungry.”

 

“Let’s make dinner, then.” Rose smiled.

 

Penny gave both of them a kiss and left for the kitchen.

 

Eloise muttered, “I wasn’t expecting a kiss so soon…” She gasped. “Pen! I ate chocolate earlier! Will that be a problem?!”

 

She laughed. “No, you’re fine. I get a stomach ache if I eat some, but that’s it. I can look forward to tasting it secondhand now, though.” She licked her lips.

Eloise grinned while Rose blushed. Both of them got up from the couch as well, and also shared a kiss between them. They all gathered together in a big hug again, basking in each other’s warmth, and the happiness of finally being together.

As they were making an amount of pasta that would be considered excessive under normal circumstances, Rose wondered, “Are werewolves and other supernatural beings common?”

Penny shooed their other troublemaker cat away from the food and shrugged. “Not really? Everyone went into hiding a long time ago, though, so real numbers are difficult to estimate. Still, it’s incredibly unlikely that anyone we know is magic or something.”

“Aw… The world seems so much more interesting now that I know that there are hidden magic societies or something similar.”

While they were waiting for their pasta to cook, Aurelia had come back online. She was just in their server, though, not streaming again.

 

[Aurebus (Aurelia)]: whats up, back from stream

[toxicstripes (Eloise)]: aurelia, hi! fun stream, was super chaotic this time
[toxicstripes (Eloise)]: anyway guess what

[Aurebus (Aurelia)]: what

[BreadMoonRising (Penny)]: AURELIA I HAVE TWO GIRLFRIENDS NOW!!!!!!!!!!

[toxicstripes (Eloise)]: PENNY I WANTED TO TEASE HER WHY WOULD YOU JUST SAY IT

[LipstickHeat (Felicia)]: hi, Aurelia. you better not be having instant noodles and energy drinks for dinner again

[Aurebus (Aurelia)]: WHAT ARE YOU SERIOUS

[Shroomy (Rose)]: we are! me eloise and penny just got together like literally ten minutes ago

[Aurebus (Aurelia)]: wtf thats amazing

 

The next several minutes were spent catching their friends up on the details, minus the werewolf reveal. Both Felicia and Aurelia soon went offline, though.

Eloise fake-pouted, “I wanted to make her wonder if we were really dating or not…” Her pout into a smile. “I’m glad we told them, though.”

After a filling meal, they returned to the couch, choosing to cuddle with each other and watch something together rather than everyone sitting at their desks.

Things gradually became quite amorous between them, and the night ended with the three of them heading for the nearest bed.

 

———

 

They awoke the next day, feeling and looking quite disheveled. Eloise, who was in the middle, gave them both a kiss. She reached across Rose to the bedside table, where they had all left their phones the previous night.

 

“Do you mind if I post a picture of us?” Eloise asked. “I really want to show off right now.” She was already holding the phone above her, ready to take a picture.

 

Penny looked at the image of all three of them lying next to each other. What they’d been up to the previous night was blatantly obvious. “Not gonna lie, that looks hot as fuck. I’m cool with it.”

 

Rose giggled. “I don’t mind, either. We already post lots of weird selfies, anyway. Except for Felicia, of course.”

 

Eloise grinned. “Cool.”

 

The moment she was going to upload the picture, however, they were all surprised to see that Aurelia had posted an extremely similar one. While Eloise remained shocked, Rose grabbed her own phone and passed Penny’s to her as well.

 

[Aurebus (Aurelia)]: i have entered the girlfriend zone

[Shroomy (Rose)]: ARE YOU KIDDING ME WE WERE JUST ABOUT TO POST OUR OWN PICTURE JUST LIKE THAT

[toxicstripes (Eloise)]: AURELIA WHO EVEN IS THAT SHE’S SO FRICKING GORGEOUS

[BreadMoonRising (Penny)]: im genuinely impressed that you managed to find a girlfriend so quickly. you only had one night

[LipstickHeat (Felicia)]: that’s me.

[BreadMoonRising (Penny)]: oh, now it makes sense actually. you two are always flirting

[Aurebus (Aurelia)]: we are?

[toxicstripes (Eloise)]: oh my god

[Shroomy (Rose)]: good luck with her, felicia. you’ll need it

[BreadMoonRising (Penny)]: aurelia you idiot. your flirting was like constant
[BreadMoonRising (Penny)]: anyway, i have to get ready for my shift at the bakery. Ttyl

 

Laughing, Penny stretched and got out of bed to take a shower. She was especially glad to be working in a bakery now, as she was pretty sure she’d be needing a lot more energy with more nights like the previous one in her future.