“Xavier! I’ve got a present for you!” My pointed wolf ears perk up as my friend and roommate, Vermillion, runs over to our bunk bed and jumps giddily as I slowly wake up from my nap. I sit up and yawn, rubbing my eyes before looking over at the vermillion-colored raccoon.
“Hey, Milly.” I stand up and start stretching, my naked body out there for everybody to see… Well, it would be if there were anybody but Milly in here, but Milly doesn’t care if I’m naked, and honestly, I wouldn’t care if anyone else in the orphanage saw. They all know what I look like without clothes. “What’s up?”
The raccoon holds up a pack of boxer shorts and smiles wide. “I got these for ya! I told Miss Kayla they were for me, but I lied!” He giggles, not very used to lying. “I knew you’ve been wanting some for a while so you don’t have to wear…” He slowly picks up a pair of my female briefs, using only his claws to do so, as if those kind of briefs have cooties, and I don’t blame him. I hate them, too. “These…” He retches and throws them in my hamper before handing the pack of boxers to me.
I smile at my friend and hug him. “Thanks, bud!” Before long, I release him and open the pack of underwear, grabbing a pair of red ones and slipping them on. Involuntarily, I let out a small moan from how much more comfortable it is than my other underwear. It’s quite different with the open feeling, but I really like it.
“How does it feel, Xavi?”
I feel like a guy. For the first time in my entire life, I feel like I am a boy. A complete male. It’s amazing how a simple pair of underwear can make me feel like that. I flex my biceps and smile, saying loudly, “I feel manly!”
“Wait! That’s a great pose! Lemme take a picture!” I chuckle, holding the pose as the vermillion coon digs his camera out from our nightstand, looking for several seconds before finally pulling it out. He runs over in front of me and quickly snaps a picture, giving me a thumbs-up as he looks at the screen on his camera. I stop flexing, admiring in the mirror just how much like a boy I finally look.
It seems, however, that my admiration is to be short-lived, as Kayla, the lady who takes care of the orphans, walks in and starts yelling at me. “Hailey, what are you doing?! Put some clothes on now! Or at least cover your chest! You are ten years old! You need to stop with this whole ‘I’m a boy’ business!”
I start growling and shout back, “I am a guy! You don’t know a thing about me or what I am! And my name is Xavier, not Hailey! I hate how much crap you give me about this!” She always treats me like this. Always. I sometimes swear she does this just to get on my nerves.
“Why must you always insist up on this? At this point, you should know enough to know that you are a girl. You need to start acting like one instead of being immature, or you’ll never get adopted.” Ugh… She makes me so angry… I want to punch her sometimes.
“I can act however I want! Stop telling me what to do! If you’d at least tell people what I’m like before I come in there acting ‘immature’, as you term it, then maybe I’d get adopted!” Besides feeling like a boy, my voice is starting to deepen, and I can hear it when I yell like that. It doesn’t sound as girly anymore. Apparently, though, nobody but Milly can hear that.
Kayla sighs. “Look, there’s someone here to meet you, so get dressed in some proper clothes and come down.” Without saying anything else, she huffs and walks out.
When she’s out of range to hear, I murmur, “Bitch…”
Milly’s blue eyes widen as he says, “You just said the b-word…” It’s no surprise that he did that. I don’t normally swear in front of him.
“Well, she is one. I don’t understand why she can’t see that I’m a guy. If she would just accept that, then we’d all be happier.” I sigh as I grab some clothes from my dresser, looking at them to make sure they’re all boy’s clothes. Milly and I wear the same sizes of clothes, so he gave me some clothes to wear so I don’t have to wear skirts and all that stuff. I slip on some jean shorts and a t-shirt, not putting on any of those disgusting training bras that Kayla keeps putting in my drawers.
Milly smiles a bit. “You definitely look better in those clothes instead of those stupid girly clothes. Go get ’em, manly man!”
I giggle and reply, “Thanks, Milly.” I walk out of our room and down the stairs, where I’m almost immediately confronted by Kayla. I roll my eyes before she even starts speaking. I know exactly what’s going to come out of her mouth because she’s gotten on me about it that many times.
“Hailey, I thought I told you to put on some proper clothes, not take some of Vermillion’s. Did you even ask him if you could use his clothes?”
I growl a bit and respond, “Of course I did. He gave them to me. Besides, I can wear whatever I want.” I then walk into the meeting room, where two foxes are sitting, one male and one female, both of them a little on the older side. That means that their values are probably more traditional, and I probably won’t get adopted by them. Not that I care, though.
“Are you Hailey?” asks the woman as she scans me over, obviously a bit confused by the fact that I look like a boy right now.
I can hear the man whisper to her, “She’s more of a tomboy than I thought she’d be…” Oh, great. That’s just nice… She’s telling people I’m a tomboy now. When will she just start telling them I’m a boy?
I answer the first question with, “Hailey is the name I was given, but I go by Xavier. I’m a boy, not a girl, so… yeah.” They’re probably going to hate that, but I really don’t care. They either accept me as I am and adopt me or just leave me.
“Well, Miss Kayla told us you’re a girl. You do know the difference between boys and girls, don’t you?” Wow, does she really think I’m that ignorant? Dang, they’re idiots.
“Yes, but I know I’m a guy, regardless of those ‘differences’. If you don’t like it, then we’re done. I’m not trying to be disrespectful or anything like that. I just want to be treated like a boy.” Nobody seems to understand that, though, so why do I even bother?
The woman huffs and replies, “Fine, I suppose we are done.” Ugh. Stuck up, arrogant bitch. I walk out, but apparently, Kayla had been listening the entire time, since she grabs my arm as soon as I walk out.
“Hailey, how could you mess that up like that?! You’ll never get adopted if you keep doing this!”
I pull my arm away. I hate it when she touches me like that. “Stop calling me Hailey. I’ll keep doing this till someone adopts me. And after that, I’ll still keep acting like a boy, because that’s what I am, and if you don’t like it, Kayla, then you can just suck it up. I’m tired of all your bitching about proper gender roles and how I should act like a girl.” I just walk away and go up to my and Milly’s room, sitting on my bed.
When I do so, Milly climbs down from the top bunk and sits down next to me, putting his arm around my shoulder. “Didn’t go so well, huh?”
I sigh and reply, “No, it didn’t… Why can’t people just like me the way I am?”
The raccoon strokes the back of my head, the lack of hair and only fur instead reminding me about another trait that says I should be a boy. “Because people don’t like ‘different’,” says Milly. “If someone’s different, people will hate them just for that. I know that from experience. People at school always make fun of me for being smart, and you know why? Because it’s different, and they don’t like it. People never like unfamiliar things. It’s just natural in most people, and unfortunately, it sucks, but we gotta live with it.”
“While my friend keeps stroking my head, I look over at our door and see a pair of eyes peeking into the room, one red and one yellow. Above the pair of eyes are a pair of pointed cat ears, and the rest of the head that I can see is a pale teal, almost gray. When I make eye contact with the person, I hear a quiet meow as the head moves away before slowly peeking back in. I giggle and say, “You don’t have to be scared. Come on in.”
I see the short kitty slowly walk into the room. I can tell as he treads over to us that he’s definitely younger than Milly and I are, albeit not by very much, most likely. He’s very light on his tiny footpaws, as he doesn’t make a sound as he inches closer. When he’s in front of us, he quietly says, just a tad above a whisper, “I don’t think you’re a girl… Y-you’re a guy.” He smiles softly. “So dun be sad, okies?”
Both Milly and I chuckle. That has to be the most adorable thing I’ve seen and heard in a while. I put a paw on the cat’s shoulder. “Thanks, li’l guy. What’s your name?”
The kitten’s tail starts swaying as he happily and more loudly responds, “Rowen. You’re the first person ’sides Kayla to ever ask my name. You’re super nice and awesome, Xavier!” He smile even wider, his baby fangs showing. “Can we be friends? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaase?”
“Sure,” I answer as I giggle, “but only if Milly can be your friend, too.”
“Okay!” he exclaims as he looks at the coon. “Nice to meetcha, Milly!”
Before Milly can answer, I hear Kayla yell from downstairs, “Rowen! Time to take your medicine! A small whimper comes from the little cat before he sighs.
“I gotta go down… Can we play together later?”
I nod. “Yeah, we can, Rowen.”
He smiles again as he responds, “Great. See you guys later, then.” He runs downstairs, and as he does, I look over at Milly, who has a sad smile on his face.
“What’s up, buddy?” I ask as my friend stares at the floor.
The vermillion raccoon sighs and scratches the back of his head a bit, a nervous tick of his. “I know that boy… or… I guess I should say I knew him. He went to school with us. Before I met you last year, he was one of my best friends. His name was Maximilian. Or Max for short. He has Asperger’s syndrome, and he’s a bit awkward, but he’s such a sweet boy…” He started tearing up a bit before continuing. “And it’s such a shame what happened to him…
“His parents were killed by robbers, and little Max… Well, he watched the whole thing. He was apparently woken up by it and saw them kill his parents. It must have been a horrible thing to witness… Those horrible people… They even made the evidence point to the poor kitten… He was put in a mental ward, and after a few days, he apparently lost his memory from all the trauma…”
“Wow… That’s horrible…” I can’t believe they’d think a little child would kill his parents.
Milly sniffles and nods, wiping away his tears. “Yeah… Eventually, they found out he didn’t do it, and he was released. Kayla says he sometimes still has flashbacks of when his parents were killed, and they freak him out, but he doesn’t know what he’s seeing. It’s… kinda sad, really, but at least he seems sorta happier not knowing what happened.”
“Well…” I begin, “to make him even happier, we’ll just have to play with him.” I smile at Milly, and I see him crack a small smile, too.
“Yeah, we’ll do that.”
Looks like I actually have another friend who accepts me for me.
~
“I’m gonna beat you!” I can’t believe Rowen’s this good at Mario Kart. He’s been hiding these skills from us. How in the world is he this good? It seems like he somehow pulls in front of me even when I’m trying my hardest to stay in first place. He’s way too good.
“Dang it!” both Milly and I exclaim at the same time as Rowen crosses the finish line first, a wide and goofy grin on his face.
“Booyah! All forty points! Wanna go again?” He wants to beat us again? I haven’t even gotten a chance to recover from the last cup! There’s no way I’m going to be able to play another round!
Milly chuckles and responds to him, “Not right now, bud. You’ve beaten us to exhaustion. Two cups is quite enough.” He ruffles the boy’s black hair as the cat giggles.
As the three of us sit there, I hear the door open, and I look over to see two men walking into the orphanage, Kayla greeting them almost immediately, “Welcome! Are you two here to meet some of the children?”
The shorter man, a somewhat chubby red fox, replies in a high voice, “Yes, we are.”
“Well, most of them are here playing,” starts Kayla, “so feel free to walk around and talk to them.” After she says that, the two men nod and begin looking around. Within a few seconds, their eyes fall on the three of us gathered by the TV, specifically… me. They start walking over to us. Great… If they say anything about me being a girl, I’m gonna…
“Hey, li’l guy.” Wha…? I look up, and the smaller fox kneels down, smiling softly at me.
“D-did you just say ‘li’l guy’?” I can’t help but stutter a little. Nobody has ever called me a boy right away. Nobody. It’s… a bit odd to hear it from someone I don’t even know.
The fox and the taller black folf both smile and nod while the fox responds, “Yeah. Do you not want to be called that? Are you not a boy? If so, we can—”
I interrupt him with, “N-no, it’s just that most people try to tell me I’m a girl ’cause of my parts…”
“Well,” starts the folf as he smiles down at me, his large fangs showing as he does, “you don’t look like a girl, dress like a girl, sound like a girl, or even look like a girl regardless of what you say your parts are. Besides… if you say you’re a boy, then you are one.”
The fox puts a paw on my shoulder, his southern accent very apparent as he says, “What’s your name, hun?”
“H-Hailey.” Wait! No! That’s not it! “I-I-I m-mean Xavier! M-my name’s Xavier!” Why in the world did I say Hailey? I don’t go by that, and I hate it when people call me that, so I don’t get why I said it… Maybe I’m just really nervous… After all, these two are doing something that nobody else has ever done before.
The folf chuckles. “I’m guessing that Hailey’s your given name. We’ll just call you Xavier. I’m Jeremy, and this is my husband, Matthew.” He ruffles my headfur, and I can’t help but giggle. It’s so cool that they’re two guys and are married. “It’s nice to meet you, bud.”
I look over for a second and see Kayla walk over. Great… What the hell is she gonna say now? “Oh, are you two enjoying talking to Hailey?”
“Xavier,” states Matthew as he stands up and faces her. “His name’s Xavier. I suppose you’re the one that always tells him he’s a girl.”
“Oh, no…” she says, kneading her forehead. Oh, fun. I can already tell she’s going to say something about me “being a girl”. “Has she been trying to convince you that she’s a boy, too?”
I hear a loud, deep, and booming laugh from Jeremy, a kind that could only come from a man the size of the large folf. “Convince us? What convincing does he have to do? The only reason people think he’s a girl is because that’s what you try to convince them of. Telling him that he isn’t male just because he has different genitals would be like telling me and my husband that we can’t be married because we have the same genitals!”
I can tell he’s getting a bit worked up, and his mate grabs his paw. “Shh… Calm down, hun.” Matthew takes a deep breath before speaking himself. “If you really have such a problem with Xavier being himself… “He kneels down and starts petting my head… Mmm… That feels so good… “Then we’ll adopt him.” What…? Is he… serious…?
Jeremy chuckles, obviously calmed down a bit. “I was waiting for you to say that, Matt, honey.”
The fox smiles at me, putting a paw on my shoulder. “What do you say, Xavier? I know you just met us, and it’s your decision, but I think you’d be happier with us rather than here.”
“You should go, Xavi.” I look over, and Milly’s smiling at me. “This is your chance to live with people who accept you and will treat you right. You won’t really get another chance like this.”
Rowen smiles a goofy grin before adding, “Just promise me we can still play, okies, Xavi?”
Milly and I giggle before the raccoon says to Matthew and Jeremy, “Make sure you take care of him. He’s a very special boy, and he needs lots of love.”
Jeremy pats my friend on the head. “Don’t worry. We will. I’m sure he’ll feel right at home.”
Tears start to accumulate in my red eyes… I can’t believe they both care so much more about how I feel than just being with me… “Oh, you guys…” I start quietly crying as I pull the raccoon and kitten into a hug. “Thank you…” Both of them hug me back for a few seconds before releasing me, and Rowen stands on his toes and licks my nose, making me giggle as he smiles.
I turn back to Jeremy and Matthew, wiping away my tears before saying, “I… I… I want to come home with you!” After I say that, I see the fox and folf smile, and Matthew looks over at Kayla.
“We’d like to fill out and file the adoption papers immediately.” He hugs me close… No adult has ever done that to me… His warmth seems to even make my heart melt… Is this what it feels like to have parents…? I wonder if this is what I’ll feel like every day after this… “I think Xavier would fit in well at our home.
AS the fox releases me, Kayla stutters, “A-a-all right. F-follow me, s-sirs.” I can tell that she’s confused. Good. She needs to rethink how to treat kids, and not just me, either. Both men follow her, but not before Matthew rubs my head.
“We’ll be back, okay, Xavi?” I nod, and the three adults walk into the office.
“I’m getting adopted… They’re actually adopting me… I can’t believe it…” Milly smiles softly and once again hugs me.
“Congrats, buddy. This’ll be great for you.” Yeah… and it’s all thanks to my friends and those two wonderful men…
~
And here I am, sitting on the couch, Rowen’s head on my lap as he, Milly, and I wait for Matthew and Jeremy. We’ve been sitting here for about forty minutes, anxious to know what will happen now.
When the office door opens, I find that I flinch a little from how nervous I am. I look over, and when I do, I see Matthew and Jeremy walking out, looking over at me and smiling. I slowly lift the head of the now sleeping Rowen off my lap and walk over to the two men. When I’m over there, both of them look down at me.
“It’s gonna be about a week, li’l guy, but…” starts Matthew as he kneels down, hugging me, “once that’s over, you can come live with us.”
No way… I’m getting adopted… I’m getting adopted! “I can’t believe this! Thank you! Thank you guys so much!” I start wagging my tail, my backside shaking with it because I’m wagging it so fast. I can barely contain my happiness right now! This is actually happening! I never thought this would happen in a million years! This is so exciting!
I can feel Jeremy wrap his arms around me, too. “Neither of us can wait to have you live with us, Xavier. Our house won’t feel empty anymore.”
Finally… I have a family with whom I can be myself…
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