Chapter 14: 14. Looking Up

"That was embarrassing," I grumped as soon as Stacey and I were back outside. "I can't wait to get home so I can fix my ears and my tail."

Stace wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug, "At least it worked, right? In two to four weeks you'll have your new ID."

I pouted, "Yeah. It was embarrassing and uncomfortable, but it worked."

"I'd offer to take you somewhere nice for lunch on our way home so we could celebrate," he commented with a smile, "But I know you're in a hurry to get yourself sorted out. And I've got that work call at two o'clock, I can't risk being late for that."

"Also, we should call my dad when we get home and let him know his idea worked," he added a moment later.

I nodded, "Yeah. It's not the sort of solution I'd have come up with on my own, but he was right."

It was almost half past twelve on Friday afternoon, and I'd been a foxgirl for nearly a full week. I'd been sticking to my plan for the past few days, while Stace was the one lazing around the house with nothing to do. Except yesterday a courier delivered his new work laptop so he spent the afternoon setting that up next to his own computer in our office.

Then last night Mr. Walsh called, with a potential solution to our ID problem. It wasn't a great solution, it wasn't quite what we were hoping for, but the bottom line was it worked. And in a way it was actually kind of simple and obvious.

What my boyfriend's dad suggested was that I should just try and pretend I was still a normal human, and that the ears really were just part of a costume. Only since I couldn't remove them, the idea was to hide them instead.

So rather than try and convince strangers that I was a real live foxgirl and that my ears and tail were the real thing, Mr. Walsh suggested I should hide my fox parts and disguise myself as a human. He also suggested going to a different Service Ontario office, that way I wouldn't run into any of the people who got upset with me and Stace on our first attempt.

It took some research and experimentation last night and about an hour of messing around this morning, but we came up with a way to hide my fox ears in my hair. The answer was some careful styling to make my hair more poofy, combined with two-way tape and hair clips to hold my ears folded down as low as we could get them. It was uncomfortable but passable, and my fuzzy white ears were flattened and hidden under a layer of hair in a style that was kind of ugly and odd-looking.

It also made it really hard for me to hear stuff, and I was worried my ears would pop free on their own since every muffled noise made them want to twitch and turn.

Meanwhile my tail got a similar treatment. After a shower to flatten my floof I wrapped it then dried it flat, and carefully tied my tail down between my legs then hid it under a long skirt. Honestly it was a toss-up which was more uncomfortable, either the ears and the tail. I had to stand for the whole trip out on the bus, and I'd be standing the whole trip back home again too.

I'd already made my mind up, the instant we were home I was going to use my plushie and get some quality fox time. I'd definitely earned it after surviving the ID ordeal.

As my boyfriend guided me back to the bus stop he commented, "Look on the bright side cutie. Now you've done it, you're all set for another five years. I still have to go through all that stuff myself in a couple months. And it's going to take me that long to figure out how I'll pull it off. My hair's not as long as yours, and I don't plan on wearing a skirt."

"Yeah," I grimaced. "You'll figure it out though. You're resourceful. And you're tougher than me, I bet you'll pull it off without complaining half as much as I've been doing."

He chuckled, but his expression became serious again fairly quickly. "I'm glad you got it done Meg. And you're way ahead of me, I haven't even figured out how to start getting a doctor's letter. I haven't had any ideas about my name yet either."

I still had my arm around his waist and I hugged him a little tighter. "If you can't think of any other names, maybe that's a sign that you're ok with the one you've got? Either way though, you don't need to do both things at once babe. I think the most important thing is getting ID with the right picture on it, and that probably means getting the gender marker updated too? So I think that's what you should focus on."

"Thanks cutie," he smiled as he gave me a gentle squeeze. "I know you're right. I still think I'd rather update everything all at once, like you just did. And like I said before, I'm not sure I want to keep using my original name? It's possible I'm just used to it, or maybe I haven't found the right name yet. I'll keep looking though, and try to stay open-minded."

"Ok Stace," I replied. "No pressure either way. If you do find something let me know though? I can help you try it out, to see if you like it and if it feels right for you."

He smiled, but we both let the conversation go as the bus arrived. There were a dozen available seats, but I pretty much had to stand so Stacey didn't bother sitting either. Not that the seats were very comfortable anyways, especially when you had a tail. And like usual we both attracted plenty of stares, though Stace got more than me since his ears and tail were out on display.

I grabbed the nearest hand-rail to steady myself, then with my other hand I pulled out my phone and opened up the browser. I had an idea, and navigated to one of those name websites. I put in some parameters and soon found myself browsing through a list of names looking for ideas to share with my tall dark handsome boyfriend. Meanwhile Stace had his phone out as well, he was catching up on news and social media. It was a forty-five minute bus ride, so we both needed something to do to pass the time.

After the bus our walk home was relatively short, and as we were approaching the old house where we lived my boyfriend gave me a nudge and said "Check it out! Isn't that our mysterious upstairs neighbour's car?"

I looked up in time to see a cute silver-haired young woman climbing into an older car parked in front of the house. Even though there were four separate apartments and something like six or seven residents, the place only had room for three cars. And our mysterious neighbour, Mike's roommate, owned one of them.

Stace and I both stared as she pulled out then drove off without even noticing the two of us staring at her from the sidewalk.

"Mike said his roomie just figured herself out last weekend," my boyfriend commented. "You don't suppose she got a magic transition too?"

I shrugged, "I've never seen that girl before, but you're right that was the mystery neighbour's car. Anyways let's just get inside, if I have to put up with my ears and tail being pinned down for another minute I don't know what I'm going to do."

"All right. Sorry cutie," Stace grinned.

Luckily it took less than a minute for us to reach the door, and only a few seconds after that we were inside.

"Can I give you a hand getting the tape and clips out of your hair?" my boyfriend offered as he closed and locked the door behind us.

I was already making a bee-line to the coffee table in front of our sofa. I pulled the drawer open part-way and leaned down to rest a finger on my little white fox plushie as I replied "No thanks, I got this. Kon!"

Stace looked up in time to see me sitting on the coffee table, with all my clothes and everything else I'd been wearing in a pile on the floor next to the sofa. I let out a happy yip and wagged my tail, then had a little zoom around the living-room.

He chuckled, "Are you going to change back now? Or is this fox time for you?"

I yipped and rubbed against his ankles, before doing some more zoomies. That was more than enough for Stace to understand this was definitely fox time. After having to be human for half the day I'd had more than enough of that.

"Ok cutie," Stace smiled. "I'm going to have a quick bite to eat then get ready for my call. I guess you're not hungry?"

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That made me pause, but I figured I'd be fine. So I yipped again and did another lap around the living-room.

My boyfriend grinned as he moved to the coffee table. Then he pulled that little pink collar out of the drawer and held it up as he asked, "What do you think Meg?"

Once again I was glad he couldn't see me blushing under my fur. I hopped up on the sofa though and sat still while he clipped it into place. Then he gave me some pets and scritches, before disappearing into the kitchen for a few moments while I had more zoomies around the apartment.

"I know you said no to this stuff," Stace called from the kitchen, "But just in case you get thirsty I've put a bowl of water on the floor in here Meg. Once my work call starts I might be busy for an hour, so I won't be able to help you out till after it's over."

I didn't bother trying to respond, I was too busy enjoying the fact that my ears and tail were finally free. And I was busy dashing around the apartment, working off all the nervous energy I'd built up dealing with busses and bureaucracy.

A minute or two later my boyfriend returned with a sandwich and a can of cola. He got comfortable on the sofa to eat his lunch, so I decided to be a bit of a pest. I hopped up on the sofa beside him then with my front paws on his leg I started sniffing at his food. It wasn't anything special, just a couple slices of processed corned beef and a slice of processed cheese and some mayo in between two pieces of white bread, but the meat smelled pretty good.

In fact it was enough to make me realize I was hungry after all. Rather than turn back to a foxgirl and make my own lunch I started giving Stace some long pleading looks as I sat there staring at him with my tail wagging.

"Fine," he finally sighed. He pulled one of the corned beef slices out of his sandwich and held it out for me as he added, "You're lucky you're so cute."

I yipped in thanks, or maybe I was agreeing with him. Either way I gobbled up the meat then immediately begged for more, but Stace refused to share any more of his lunch with me.

A few minutes before two he got up and headed for the office as he said, "I'm going to work now Meg. Please don't interrupt ok? This is important."

That was a given, I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his job regardless. On the other paw I couldn't help being a bit of a pest, so I followed him into the office and as soon as he took his seat I leaped up onto his lap. Then I promptly curled up and got comfy.

"Really?" Stace sighed. He was smiling though, and he gave me some more pets and scritches so I figured it was ok.

When his work call started a couple minutes later I stayed quiet, but I also stayed on his lap. He had his phone in hands-free speaker mode since his earbuds were no longer practical, but the conversation was mostly too boring for me to pay much attention to it.

Unfortunately it wasn't boring enough to actually put me to sleep, and after a while I sat up so I could watch what he was doing.

It wasn't especially interesting, but I thought we must have looked pretty cute together. My tall dark and handsome foxboy boyfriend was being all serious and professional as he talked to some IT guy, meanwhile I was sitting on his lap and watching him work on his new company computer like his floofy little supervisor.

And because I wasn't actually paying attention to what they were talking about, I didn't really notice when Stace said goodbye and disconnected from the phone call. My boyfriend continued working on the laptop, he had his corporate email set up along with some other software he needed to do his job. And he had all sorts of stuff preloaded on the browser.

I continued watching as Stacey checked through everything, I figured he was making sure it all worked right so he could start doing his regular work first thing Monday morning. Then at one point a notification popped up and he clicked it. Suddenly a full-screen video opened and some guy's face appeared on the screen. At the same time both Stacey and I were visible in a little box in the corner.

The guy on the screen opened his mouth to say something, then almost did a double-take. He frowned, "Is that... Do you have a pet fox?"

"...Yes?" Stace replied after an awkward pause. He gave me a few scritches followed by a nudge as he suggested, "Sorry Meg, maybe you can find somewhere else to be for now? I have to talk to my manager."

I tried not to cringe too visibly, and once again I was glad nobody could see me blush under my fur. I hopped off my boyfriend's lap and tried my best to sneak out of the office with my tail between my legs.

Thanks to my directional fuzzy fox ears I had no problem hearing Stacey's boss comment on how well-trained I was, and how cute I looked with my pretty pink collar. My boyfriend's voice was even clearer as he agreed with his manager, then went on to talk about how he hadn't got me fully trained with a leash yet but that was his next project.

Out in the living-room I curled up on the sofa and did my best not to die of embarrassment while I waited for them to get on with the business part of their business meeting. And waited, and waited. Unfortunately it seemed like Stacey's boss was a dog lover, and for the next ten or twelve minutes I had to endure the two of them talking about me as a pet fox along with the manager's pet dogs. Even worse my boyfriend sounded almost enthusiastic as he went along with it. At times he was even comparing me to his boss's favourite breeds.

At long last the two of them got back on topic, their actual work conversation took only a tenth of the time they spent comparing me to a cocker spaniel or something.

Not long after that the call ended, then Stace called "Sorry cutie! I didn't know how to handle that and kind of panicked a little. The good news is I think me and my manager might have bonded a bit over it? I actually feel better about work now, thanks to you. You're welcome to come back and cuddle some more if you want?"

I wanted to be angry but I really couldn't resist my boyfriend's lap or the opportunity to cuddle with him, so I quietly crept back into the office. He was focused on his new laptop again, and I got the idea to pounce his lap and surprise him. Except before I could put my plan into action there was a new email ping from my computer, that caught both our attention.

I jumped up on my desk and tried to manipulate the mouse, but my paws didn't quite have the dexterity. I had more luck nudging it around with my nose, but then I had trouble watching the screen at the same time.

"You know," Stace commented behind me, "If I was recording this it'd probably go viral. Especially if you actually managed to open your email."

That earned him a little growl, and if he'd been any closer I might have given him a little bite.

He just chuckled, "Here cutie, let me help. You want to read that new email, right?"

I still wanted to be grumpy, but I was more interested in seeing who emailed me. I sat down in front of the keyboard with my tail wagging, while Stace reached past me and finished moving the mouse down to my mail icon. A moment later the new message was open on the screen, and my heart skipped a beat.

One of the places I sent my résumé to the other day liked what they saw, and they wanted me to come in on Monday for an interview.

"See that Meg?" Stace asked with a smile. He started scritching my ears and stroking my fur as he added, "I knew things were going to work out all right, for the both of us."

I yipped in agreement, as my tail flapped back and forth even quicker. I knew getting an interview didn't mean I was hired, and there were still some hurdles ahead of us. But I couldn't help thinking my boyfriend was right.

Things really were looking up, for both of us. Getting those plushies last week was a surprise, but somehow I just knew that was the turning point and our lives were only going to keep getting better.