Home Sweet Home - Ch.49 - Normal Everyday Things (Patreon)

"Anyways I just want to thank you both for not making this weird or anything," Jay said while their tail slowly swished back and forth behind them. "And for handling the situation like it's a normal everyday thing."

Erin and I exchanged a very subtle and slightly awkward glance, like we were probably both thinking the exact same thing. Having our middle-aged coworker come back from vacation transformed into a young attractive feline femmeby was absolutely anything but a normal everyday occurrence.

Then again, considering I lived with my thousand-year-old genie girlfriend who transformed my sexagenarian boss and her dying wife into a couple healthy young college-aged women, maybe magic really had become a common thing for us after all.

"Of course Jay," Miss Rhodes responded after another sip of her green tea. "I want you to feel comfortable at work, and I'm sure Vikki feels the same way."

I nodded, but with a mouth full of egg roll I couldn't respond right away.

It was about half past twelve and the three of us were in the Chinese restaurant next to the office. Erin offered to treat Jay and I to lunch, and despite being busy I was happy to take her up on that. Mostly because I was still curious about my colleague's recent transformation.

There was one thing in particular I'd been wondering about all morning, and after a gulp of cola I couldn't hold back any longer. "Feel free to ignore this or tell me it's none of my business Jay, but you said the thing with the magic keychains happened halfway through your vacation? I'm curious about what happened after that. How did Layla handle your transformation? Is she ok with the new you?"

The torty catkin was busy munching on a chicken ball at that point, so I had to wait another half minute for their reply.

In the meantime I couldn't help noticing how much more attractive they looked now, compared to their original form. Their figure and voice were definitely femme, while their clothes and mannerisms were more on the masc side. Although I could easily picture them as a tomboy. They didn't seem tough enough to come across as butch though, which was an observation I never thought I'd have about my coworker.

They actually looked cute, the way their tail swayed back and forth and their ears angled forward while they enjoyed the sweet and sour morsel. That was another thing I'd noticed, their fuzzy ears and furry tail seemed to broadcast all their emotions. In fact it might have been my imagination, but overall they seemed more expressive now than I'd ever noticed in the past. Or maybe it's just that they were that much happier.

"Layla absolutely freaked the heck out," Jay finally responded, as their ears drooped to either side while their tail tucked down under their chair. "She was almost in a panic. She started searching for her phone, she was going on about how she had to contact someone and the plushies weren't supposed to make that kind of mistake?"

That sounded bad, especially considering Jay and Layla only just finished patching things up. Erin looked concerned too, but before either of us could ask any followup questions the catkin's ears perked up again and they continued their story.

"See she'd been expecting me to turn into some kind of hunky handsome catboy? So when I turned into, well, this," Jay gestured vaguely at themself, "Layla was positive I was about to have a nervous breakdown."

They paused for a sip of water then dove right back in with the story, "Apparently the magic plushie keychains were supposed to give us our ideal bodies or something, and Layla was definitely happy with her own transformation. She kept apologizing to me though, and telling me not to be upset and that she'd find a way to fix me."

"Anyways it took me a minute or two to calm her down," they grimaced again, "Then we had a very difficult awkward conversation where I had to admit to both her and myself that I was actually kind of happy with how things turned out? Which wasn't easy. In fact I can guarantee if this happened before my epiphany last year there's no way I'd have been ok with this."

The catkin's ears were drooping again as they sighed, "Back then I'd have been freaking out just as bad as Layla. I was way too insecure to even admit this sort of thing to myself, let alone anyone else. My whole identity was wrapped up in that performative masculine stuff I adopted back in my teens, to try and keep my dad happy."

It took a moment for both Erin and I to process all that, then our boss asked "So what happened with Layla?"

"And the rest of your vacation?" I added. "Did it go ok?"

Jay's ears perked up again and their tail started swishing back and forth as they smiled, "Oh yeah! Like I said we had a really awkward conversation, but by the end of it Layla understood that I was happy. And that made her happy too. There were a few other, ah, new experiences we had to figure out together. But yeah, overall it was pretty great."

"After that my biggest problem was clothes," they admitted quietly. Their cheeks flushed as they added softly, "I'm about the same size as Layla now, which is its own level of strange. Like the two of us are basically sharing a wardrobe? Anyhow while we were on vacation I ended up having to borrow some of her outfits. And ah, she actually had a lot of fun dressing me up."

Their cheeks got warmer while their voice grew even quieter as they mumbled, "Our last night in Niagara Falls she put me in one of her dresses and took me out for a fancy dinner, while she was the one in trousers and a tee. I'll tell you, that was a new experience. Fun though..."

Erin and I exchanged another surprised look. And despite the way Jay was acting embarrassed, I couldn't help noticing their tail was standing up tall, so were their ears.

"I'm glad everything worked out ok for you and Layla," our boss responded. "I have one more question if you don't mind? You said all this was due to some magical keychains. Can you tell me where they came from, or how you got them?"

I couldn't help looking at Erin in surprise, as I suddenly wondered if I was going to see her with fuzzy ears and a furry tail sometime soon. She caught the look on my face though and smiled as she shook her head.

"Don't worry Vikki, I've already got my perfect ideal body," she assured me. "Same with Sherry."

She elaborated, "I'm actually thinking of Jessie Vaughan. You remember she was asking a lot of difficult questions last autumn? Sherry and I spoke with her and set her mind at ease about all the concerns she had, but after that was all said and done I got the feeling she was a bit jealous. From what Jay's told us, it sounds like one of these enchanted keychains might be perfect for Jessie."

That made sense, and I was glad to know that both Erin and Sherry were still happy with everything my girlfriend did for them last September. Meanwhile Jay spoke up again, to answer our boss's earlier question.

The catkin had an embarrassed look on their as they scratched behind their right ear and admitted, "I don't actually know where Layla got them from, I didn't even think to ask at the time. I can certainly find out though, assuming it's not some sort of big secret I mean. Anyways I'll give her a call as soon as we're done lunch here and see what she has to say."

"Thank you Jay I'd appreciate that," our boss smiled.

In fact it wasn't much longer before we'd all had enough to eat, so Erin signalled the waiter to come over. Then he addressed all three of us as 'young ladies' when he collected our empty plates, and I noted how Jay didn't bother correcting him. They didn't object to being called 'miss' when we first arrived either. I wasn't sure if that meant anything though, apart from Jay being that much more secure and comfortable with their new identity.

Finally the three of us returned to the office, and sure enough as soon as Jay was back behind their desk they got on the phone to Layla to ask about those magic keychains.

Apart from that it seemed like everything was back to business as usual, which left me wondering if maybe the catkin was right after all. These sorts of things really were just a normal everyday occurrence for us. Or for our strange little town in general. It still took me a while longer to get used to my coworkers cute new appearance, but by the end of the week I was pretty much over the surprise of it all.

Or at least, I thought I was. Then Jay came into the office in a cute floral sundress and sandals, and I had to recalibrate my perception of the feline femmeby once again. Although to be fair they were a bit blushy about their outfit, especially when Erin complimented them on their style.

That's when they admitted it was Layla's idea, apparently the catkin's wife dared them to go to work in a dress. Although I couldn't help noticing, despite the way their cheeks were almost on fire, Jay's ears and tail were standing up tall and proud again.

Things settled down again after that, at least for one more week. My birthday was coming up soon, and I just knew Jenna was planning something. She was getting better about keeping secrets, but she still wasn't very good at hiding the fact that there was a secret to be kept. Fortunately the big day was on a Sunday this year, which meant I didn't have to worry about her doing anything extravagant while I was at work. Probably.

I still let out a quiet sigh of relief when I got through that week without any magical surprises or shenanigans. Erin and Jay both wished me a happy birthday and a good weekend as I left the office, then I enjoyed a short quiet drive home. There wasn't anything unusual around the house either, so I felt fairly confident there wouldn't be any big surprises for me that evening.

Sure enough I found my girlfriend sitting crosslegged on the sofa in the living-room, with her big plush pink pony by her side. The two were studying something on Jenna's laptop about the Louvre in Paris, that I took to be related to one of her classes.

"Hi Vikki," my genie grinned as I gently moved the pony onto the coffee table so I could take her place beside my girlfriend.

"Hey love," I smiled back. We exchanged a side-hug and a kiss, then I gestured towards her computer and asked, "Studying up on the classics for school?"

She shrugged, "Famous art stuff and all that. I don't know why some people get so excited about the renaissance, it seems so stuffy to me. I still think Dadaism is better."

I'd heard her talk about that quite a bit since she started college, but I still didn't really understand it. So I just nodded then asked, "What would you like to do tonight? It's Friday date night, do you want to do anything special?"

"Oh! Um..." Jenna hesitated, and I could tell she was trying very hard not to vibrate in excitement as she put her laptop aside. She managed to keep mostly calm and casual when she responded, "Actually Vikki I kind of have something in mind? It's sort of a surprise, but it also maybe involves just a teensy tiny little bit of magic?"

She gave me a worried look as she asked, "Would it be ok if I used a wee little smidge of magic to make things special?"

"Yeah that's fine," I replied as I pulled her into another side-hug. "Thank you for asking first."

My girlfriend smiled so wide she was practically beaming as she hugged me back. Then she gave me a big kiss before asking, "Close your eyes please? I'll say when it's ready."

"Alright love," I replied as I closed my eyes.

Nothing moved, I was positive we were still cuddling on the sofa, so I figured she was either redecorating the house or maybe summoning up a big fancy meal or something along those lines. Whatever she was up to it only took a second or two before it was all done.

"Ok Vikki," Jenna announced with her usual barely-contained excitement. "You can open your eyes now!"

So I did. Then my eyebrows shot up, and after a second or two I closed my eyes again. A moment later I opened them once more, just to make sure I hadn't imagined it.

My girlfriend and I were still cuddling together, but we weren't on our living-room sofa anymore, and it wasn't late afternoon. Now we were on a love seat. On a balcony. At night. With an absolutely stunning view. Of the Eiffel Tower, which was lit up in the distance in front of us.

"Happy birthday Vikki!" my genie girlfriend announced happily as she hugged me a little tighter. "I know your birthday isn't until Sunday, but that just means we get to celebrate all weekend! I hope you like my gift? Pinkie says Paris is the most romantic city, so I thought a weekend vacation here would be a nice surprise!"

I was still staring in shocked silence at the view ahead of us, so I didn't respond right away. And after a couple seconds Jenna's smile began to falter.

"Vikki?" she asked nervously. "Is it a nice surprise? Or is it too much? I don't want to make you -"

"Jenna this is amazing!" I cut her off before she could work herself into a panic. Then for good measure I gave her a very passionate kiss before adding, "I was just a little overwhelmed at first. It's a wonderful idea and a great surprise, and I'm so lucky to have you for a girlfriend."

Just like that her giddy smile was back, as she went on to tell me about the itinerary she'd planned for our romantic Paris weekend vacation. It was extravagant and maybe a little over-the-top, and it definitely wasn't the sort of thing I'd have come up with for myself.

It was also a lot of fun, and very romantic, and I loved every minute of it.

** This chapter is brought to you courtesy of Meg, who commissioned it! **