Announcementcontent warning: systemic transmisia"I'll get it!" I called to my girlfriend after hearing the knock at our apartment door. Then as I exited my bedroom I added, "Do you wanna watch TV while we eat? Or are you going to eat and study in your room?"

  She responded from her bedroom, "TV, and I'll be there in a minute! I could use the break!"

  It was Saturday night, but instead of another fun date night we were doing the responsible thing and staying home to study. It wasn't that crucial for me, but with exams starting on Monday my girlfriend definitely needed to do some cramming. So no long romantic dates, no big parties, we both pnned to stay in all weekend long with minimal distractions.

  We did agree to treat ourselves by ordering in a couple pizzas. That way neither of us would have to cook for the rest of the weekend, and we wouldn't be tempted to go out and get something either.

  Except when I swung open the apartment door I found myself looking at someone who definitely wasn't there to deliver food. Instead I tilted my head back as I looked up at a mountain of a man that was towering over me.

  He had to be almost two hundred centimetres tall, but with a stocky muscur build. He had broad shoulders, thick powerful arms, legs like tree trunks, and a broad muscur chest. Age-wise he looked to be in his mid- to te-twenties. His dirty blond hair was in a short neat crew-cut, and his eyes were a clear piercing blue-grey. His skin had a healthy tan, and while he looked clean-shaved there was a clear beard-shadow visible. He wore a pair of cheap sneakers, well-worn faded blue jeans, and a loose t-shirt with a local sports-team logo on the chest.

  Most importantly, his face bore a striking resembnce to my girlfriend's original looks. Which meant this had to be her older brother Hank, and our quiet study-night was probably in for some drama.

  His eyes widened and his mouth slowly dropped open in shock as he stared down at me. Those sharp blue-grey eyes flicked up and down over my small figure, and I knew he was getting a pretty good look at me since I wasn't actually wearing that much. Just a pair of tight leggings that showed off my shapely legs, curvy hips, and narrow waist, and a tight scoop-neck tee that highlighted my boobs.

  Sure enough his eyes lingered on my chest for a second, and thanks to the height difference he had a pretty good view straight down at my cleavage. Then his attention flicked upwards to my ears, and finally over my shoulder at my tail which was slowly swishing back and forth down low behind me.

  "Holy shit it's true," Hank mumbled in amazement. Then he shook his head, "I didn't want to believe it, that's why I had to come and see for myself."

  Before I could respond he added, "How come you never asked for help bro? Who did this to you? Have you looked into ways to reverse it? Why didn't you call MaR-AID when it happened? You didn't even file a report or anything!"

  One of my ears twisted back to focus on some sounds in the apartment behind me, while the rest of my attention remained with Hank. I could hear Talia tiptoeing in the hallway between our bedrooms, so I assumed she'd heard her brother's voice and was probably worrying about how to respond.

  He hadn't acted angry or violent yet though, and I didn't want to do anything to set him off. Even if he wasn't a cape or a meta he was still big enough and strong enough to do me serious bodily harm. So I figured the best thing would be to clear up the obvious misunderstanding first.

  "You must be my roommate's brother Hank?" I asked in a calm voice. "I've heard a bit about you. My name is Rachel."

  Hank blinked a couple times before frowning, "Your roommate? You mean you're not -"

  I cut him off before he could deadname my girlfriend, "I'm not your sibling, no."

  "Then where is -" he started to ask, but I could already hear her approaching behind me.

  "Hi Hank," Talia greeted him anxiously as she moved to stand at my side. "What brings you here? How'd you find out about the foxgirl thing?"

  She'd pulled on her hoodie before leaving her bedroom, since she'd been dressed very simir to me and I assumed she didn't want her brother gawking at her cleavage.

  That didn't stop him from staring though, his eyes were wide again as he slowly looked my girlfriend up and down. And even if the view wasn't as good, his eyes still lingered on her chest, ears and tail the same way he'd done with me.

  "I can't believe it," he muttered as he slowly shook his head again. "Both of you? And neither one of you filed a report or anything?"

  Talia sighed, "Hank it's two days before exams start and I have a lot of studying I'd like to get done. But if you promise to keep things civil then you can come in and we'll talk for a bit, ok?"

  "Our pizza should be here any minute, so I was going to take a break for dinner anyways," she added.

  Hank stared at her for another second or two then his eyes narrowed, "How are you so calm about this? Look at you! You're a tiny little waif of a girl! And you're not even human, you've got animal ears! And a tail, for fuck sake!"

  My girlfriend's ears folded back and her tail angled downwards, while the tip of it twitched back and forth warily. She shook her head and insisted, "Civil conversation inside, or you can leave."

  "Fine," her brother sighed. "I promise not to over-react, if you'll tell me what the hell's going on with you."

  Hearing that, Talia took a step back then gestured for him to come in. She stopped by the fridge and grabbed vodka coolers for all three of us, then my girlfriend and I sat down together on the sofa while her brother took a seat across from us.

  As soon as we were all comfortable Hank demanded, "Ok so let's hear it. What the hell happened? And why haven't you done anything about it?"

  My girlfriend had a gulp of her cooler, then sat back on the sofa and sighed. She was holding her drink in her left hand, while her right hand was tucked into the pocket of her hoodie. And that's when I understood the real reason she was wearing it. Not to hide her figure from her brother, but so she had a pce to conceal the slutification ray. I had no doubt she was holding it in her right hand, and odds were she'd cranked both dials up to maximum.

  Talia kept her voice calm but firm as she expined, "The reason neither of us filed a report is we both realized we're happier this way than in our original bodies. Call it serendipity but the unexpected transformation led me to realize I'm trans. I've changed my name, I'm Talia now, and I'm your sister. My pronouns are she and her."

  "I've already talked to mom and dad about it," she added. "So they know everything I'm telling you. I've already got new ID, and I updated everything with the college."

  By the time she was done Hank was staring at her again. His expression was kind of a shocked thoughtful look. I couldn't tell if he was upset or angry, or maybe that would come after he finished processing everything.

  Meanwhile my girlfriend had another sip of her drink before repeating a question she asked earlier, "Hank how did you find out what happened? You obviously didn't hear it from our parents or you'd have known my new name, and that I'm trans."

  Our guest continued staring for another few seconds, before finally having a couple gulps of his cooler. Then he responded, "I've been following your football career. Even if I can't get out to see many games in person, I try and catch them if they're streamed. And if not, I check the score sheets online afterwards. So I noticed when you stopped pying a couple weeks ago. Then when your name vanished from the roster I knew something must have happened."

  "So I uh," Hank hesitated slightly, "I asked a friend to look into it, and found out you'd quit the team on account of being turned into a tiny foxgirl. Which sounded like a bullshit excuse, so I came to check it out in person."

  The 'asked a friend' thing seemed like an obvious lie. If he really was a cape then odds were he abused his position to get information from someone at the college. Talia probably suspected the same thing, judging by the way she was frowning.

  Before she could respond there was another knock at the door, and this time I was certain it was our dinner. So I offered to get it again, then hurried to the door while my girlfriend and her brother stayed put. A few minutes ter we had a rge pepperoni and a rge meat-lovers pizza set out on our coffee table, and since Hank was already here we ended up offering him some as well.

  After a big bite of his slice Hank munched quietly for a few moments, while staring at Talia and I. Then he finally asked, "So both of you are happier like this? You don't mind getting turned into tiny foxgirls? Do you know how it happened? Did someone do this to you?"

  My girlfriend and I exchanged a gnce, then she replied "Like I already said Hank, yes I'm happier. I want to stay this way. I don't really care how or why it happened, I'm just grateful that it did. It helped me figure myself out. And yeah I had to leave the football team, but I've already been accepted onto the girls soccer team. I'm pying right wing, and learning to take advantage of my speed and how light I am on my feet."

  I nibbled on a bite of my slice of pepperoni before adding, "I'm also trans. I knew that before we got transformed, but I was in the closet. So like Talia, I'm very happy and grateful to have been transformed like this."

  Hank's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched us both, and I felt my girlfriend tense slightly. She was obviously scared that her brother was growing more suspicious, maybe he'd put two and two together and guess that I was to bme. Or at the very least he was probably thinking it was too much of a coincidence, that there had to be more going on.

  Sure enough he sounded suspicious as he asked, "Hold on a sec. So you two are friends, you've been roommates for a few years, you're both trans, and you both got turned into tiny foxgirls?"

  Talia's ears folded back and her right hand slipped into her hoodie pocket again as her brother's eyes flicked back and forth between the two of us.

  Then Hank asked, "Are you two dating? Is that why you're sitting so close together?"

  My girlfriend rexed slightly as she stifled a sigh. Then with a growing smile she nodded, "Yeah. Like you said, we've been friends for a few years? After we both got foxgirlificated there was some awkwardness as we each figured out the other was trans and that we both wanted to stay like this and everything. And somehow while all that was happening we just sort of became girlfriends."

  "Huh," her brother commented thoughtfully, before munching on the rest of his slice.

  After washing that down with another gulp of his drink he commented to Talia, "I guess that proves once and for all that you can't be a meta."

  My girlfriend and I exchanged a confused gnce, but it seemed like she didn't know what he was talking about any more than I did.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" she finally asked. "We already knew I wasn't, since they tested me when... Back when I was a kid."

  Hank shrugged and replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "You know, it's because metas can't be trans."

  Talia and I exchanged another confused look, and this time I was the one who asked. "What makes you say that? Why couldn't a metahuman be trans?"

  "Well I guess it's not completely impossible," he replied as he helped himself to another slice of the meat lover's pizza. "But like, most metas either have rapid healing or tough skin or some degree of immunity. Or a mix of those? So they can't really do any normal medical stuff. No needles, no surgery, drugs usually don't work. So yeah, no trans metas."

  By that point I was feeling a little nauseous as his words sank in, and my ears drooped down along with my tail. Talia's ears and tail were all doing the same thing, and I was sure she was thinking the same thing as me.

  "Hank that doesn't mean metas can't be trans," I told him in an anguished tone. "It just means if a meta is trans then they might not be able to transition normally. It means they'd be stuck suffering with dysphoria, trapped in bodies that don't fit them."

  He frowned at me, "Well, yeah. Obviously. So then they just don't be trans. They accept the card they were dealt, be strong and manly and tough and rugged instead. Maybe that's what fate wanted for them, right? Maybe they end up wearing a cape, protecting people from evil and stuff like that?"

  "Hank what are you saying?" Talia asked. Her tone was equal parts anxious upset and sad, like she was thinking the same thing I was. "Are you... Did you give up your own happiness because of..."

  Our guest's frown got a bit deeper as he picked up his drink then drained the rest of it in a couple gulps. He set down the empty bottle then stated in a tone that suggested he was repeating something he'd learned by rote, "I'm a meta. Metas can't be trans. Therefore I'm not trans. It's as simple as that."

  Talia gave me a pleading look as she asked softly, "Rachel I... What do we do? How do we expin it to him?"

  "Not just my sibling," she added as she sounded even more uneasy. "There has to be others, other trans metas who've been fed that same nonsense."

  I knew what to do, but my heart was racing. If we were wrong about Hank then I was about to get myself into way more trouble than I had any hope of getting out of. But my girlfriend was correct, this was bigger than me and bigger than her. And bigger than the huge muscur meta sitting across from us.

  So I took a deep breath then held out my hand as I quietly stated, "Give me the ray. I know you've got it in your hoodie pocket."

  My girlfriend's eyes widened but she didn't try and argue. She just nodded quietly as she slipped the device from her pocket and pced it in my hand. Sure enough she had both the power and duration set to maximum, but I turned the pink knob down to the minimum setting. Six hours was more than enough, both to confirm our suspicions and prove a point.

  "What's that?" Hank asked as he stared at the fox-shaped object in my hand.

  After a deep breath I replied, "It's a demonstration, to help you understand a couple things. One, metahumans can absolutely be trans, same as anyone else. Two, while some trans metas might not be able to have a conventional medical transition, that doesn't mean they can't transition at all. And trans metas deserve a hell of a lot better than just being told they don't exist. And finally, three. Thanks to science, there's another option to the traditional medical transition."

  "Like this," I added as I pointed the device at our guest and activated the slutification ray.

  PurpleCatGirl