Forsaken, A Werewolf Story (Rewrite)

Chapter 7

I didn't sleep a whole lot that night either, although this time, it was less because of my thoughts and more because my body hated me and just decided to be painful for its dumb reasons. I crawled out bed ridiculously early and into the shower, which helped a little.

I got upstairs and met my mom and dad, mom was making us breakfast. Nico was nowhere to be seen yet.

"Good morning Carina, or should we say Carino now?" Dad asked.

"I'm not entirely sure..." I shrugged.

"We didn't get to talk about it last night, but what about pronouns?"

"I kind of like they/them?"

"We can do that." Mom said with dad agreeing.

They came to me and hugged me. "Here's to our brand new non-binary kid,"

I started bawling like a toddler. I know, not the most dignified reaction, but damn they were hitting me right in the feels.

"Not the reaction I was expecting," dad said, blinking.

"You guys are just so great, I didn't expect this..."

"Well, about two years ago when we first suspected you might be trans we did some reading, we wanted to be prepared." Mom kissed my head, still holding onto me tightly. "We'll always love you, no matter who you like to kiss, what pronouns you use, or even what name you want to use."

After that, I needed several moments to get my bearing. "Right now, I think I'm happy with Juno."

We ate breakfast together, my parents appraising Nico as to the new pronoun situation, Dad even took Diana aside, making sure to explain to her what being non-binary meant, and that some people were mean to trans folks.

After which she came and hugged me, "You'll always be my big Juju." She'd called me that since she was old enough to talk, I guess Juno was a little hard and then Juju had stuck.

"Why don't I take you out, get your hair cut and get some clothes, get you all nice and stylish for school?" Dad asked.

"Me, stylish? Like that would ever happen."

"You'd be surprised, I'm sure."

We set out for the main street together, finding a small clothing store catered to men, followed up by a trip to the local thrift store. For the first time in years, I stepped away from my comfort zone, buying more outright masculine clothes rather than neutral ones.

For formal wear, I even found slacks, a waistcoat, and a bowtie.

"How do I look?" I asked dad, coming out of a fitting booth.

"Hella handsome, all the ladies and gents will be stunned."

"Oh shush."

The last step was the barber. I walked out with trimmed sides and long floppy hair on top. It felt nice, it felt right.

But most importantly; we stopped for ice cream on the way home. Ice cream is great. We sat down in the sun, enjoying the day together.

"There is something we should talk about," Dad said, shiting uncomfortably, "you know we love you..."

"Spit it out, dad."

"Do you think you'd want some medical or surgical... help? Your mother and I could try and save up for when you're eighteen."

Okay, this was awkward, yes. I sighed. "Surgical, I don't know?" I shrugged, "I think maybe I'd like some testosterone? But just a little, I don't want to go full guy."