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Chapter Text

Aris Tsunotori sat outside of the American suburban home, huddled over his phone as his mom and dad screamed at each other inside the house. There was nothing going on in his head. His eyes were blank, unfocused, and he felt like he was falling. The blue fur growing all over his body was standing straight up, and he felt like he was going to lose his mind at any moment. There was a backpack sitting next to him, and he knew he needed to put some more distance between him and the house, but he couldn’t think, couldn’t process, couldn’t do anything.

The front door creaked open, and there was the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking. He half turned his head, and there was a gun, directly in his face.

Dad’s hand was shaking. Aris stared up at him in silence as thunder boomed on the horizon, and Dad’s finger wrapped around the trigger.

“You’re not a boy, Leigh,” Dad said, and Aris stared at him with dull eyes that betrayed none of the thoughts behind them.

“Uncle Goat will be here soon,” Aris said, slow and low. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Dad’s hand was shaking, and Aris could see it in his eyes. He wanted to pull the trigger, and Aris couldn’t help but wrap his hand around the barrel and pull it close, until the muzzle was touching his forehead.

“Do you want to do this?” Aris asked, and a door opened on the other side of the street as Miss McCaffrey stepped out with her hands on her hips.

“What’s going on over there, Mr. Tsunotori?” she called, her eyes scraping over the scene, and Dad clicked back on the safety as Uncle Goat’s car pulled up the driveway. The door opened and slammed, and Uncle Goat stormed up to Dad and full on slapped him across the face before he grabbed the gun.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Uncle Goat swore and threw the gun on the lawn.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Dad swore, and Uncle Goat grabbed Aris by the shoulder, hauling him up and pushing him to the car.

“I hope you know the dashcam caught that,” he snapped, and pushed Aris again. Aris stumbled over to the car and climbed in the backseat. His cousin, Pony, was in the front seat, and she was staring in horror at Dad. “This is insane, what the fuck do you think you’re doing? ”

“SHE’S NOT A BOY!” Dad thundered, and Goat laughed in his face.

“Oh, like you weren’t embarrassed at how bad she was at being a girl,” he said, and Aris shifted in discomfort.

“You’re not taking her! She’s staying right here!” Dad said, and Goat stared at him in disbelief.

“No, he’s not. You just put a gun to his head, what the fuck, Sheep?” he demanded, and Dad flushed up to his soft sheep ears.

“I was protecting my daughter from sin! ”

“I’m sure a judge would love to hear your defense,” Goat said and pulled out his phone. “I’m making a report.”

He dialed 911, and Dad knocked his phone out of his hand. It skittered across the porch, and Goat snatched it up again.

“You really want to get in a fight with a pro, Sheep?” he demanded as he dialed 911. “Keep your shit up and I’ll put you in the ground, Sheep. You won’t be able to handle me. Hi, yes, hello. I’d like to make a report. I’m at 2345 South Avondale Lane, San Francisco, California, and my brother just pulled a gun on my nephew.”

“I didn’t pull a gun on her!” Dad roared, and Miss McCaffrey braced her hands on her hips.

“Yes, you did! I saw you!” she called from across the street, and oh, look, it seemed her busybody tendencies were finally paying off.

“Oh, mind your business, you old hag!” Dad screamed, and she blinked before her face settled into something more pissed as Mom came to the door.

“Goat, what the fuck are you doing here?” Mom demanded, and Goat nodded a few times.

“Please send over a squad car,” he said, and Mom slapped the phone out of his hand.

“I asked you what you’re doing here! ” she screamed, and Goat stared her down, his cheek bright red and probably stinging.

“I should ask you why you think assault on a pro is going to make your court case look better,” he said snidely, and she paled.

“You wouldn’t.”

“I’ve had it up to here with you two, you know that? I could ignore all the comments about me being gay, but kicking out your fucking kid and pulling a gun on him? Have some fucking class. ”

Pony offered Aris a box of pocky, and he took it, his head in a daze. Dad’s eyes darted over the lawn, and then he lunged for the gun. Aris lunged back, and Dad aimed for the car, firing three shots before Goat’s quirk activated, and he charged him.

Goat slammed into Dad and rolled them through the dirt, and Dad let out a scream of pain as his arm snapped from the force of Goat’s quirk, Charge. They tumbled through the lawn as Mom let out a scream, and the dim sound of police sirens filled the air.

Aris lifted his hand. The blue hand was smeared with blood, his blood, and he looked down at his side, where blood was leaking out of a hole. The other two bullets had missed, he thought hazily, and then he tipped over and stared at Goat, who was punching Dad in the face. Dad was thrashing, getting a grip in Goat’s long hair and yanking him down, and Goat headbutted him. Hard.

They were tearing up Dad’s carefully-tended-to lawn, and Aris didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. His side hurt. He didn’t know what to do, and Goat knocked Dad out with a punch to the head before he lurched to his feet and made his way over to the car. Mom was screaming bloody murder on the porch, and Dad was limp on the ground. Goat patted Aris on the cheek, and Aris looked down at the bloodstained box of pocky.

“Oh...” he said faintly. “I ruined it.”

Everything went black.

Chapter Text

Aris woke to the sound of a monitor beeping, and blinked down at the hospital gown he was wearing.

“Oh.... It’s inside my body,” he said faintly, because the blood was back where it was supposed to be, and someone at his bedside burst into tears. His head swiveled around, and he took in the sight of his cousin, sobbing her eyes out in the chair next to him.

“I thought you were gonna diiiieeee!” she wailed and threw herself at him, and he grunted as pain flared in his belly.

“Ow, ow, ow,” he said, and she immediately released him, still weeping loudly.

“I’m sorrryyyy!” she wailed, and he winced at her volume, because a headache was building. The door opened, and in walked Uncle Goat with a fistful of paperwork.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” he said, all business. “I just got emergency custody.”

“Oh,” Aris said weakly, and Uncle Goat slumped into the chair next to him and put his arm over his eyes. Silence ensued, and then Uncle Goat sighed.

“Your mom has been arrested for assault on a pro, your dad has been arrested for attempted murder,” he explained. “I’m going to try to get a more permanent custody arrangement.”

“Thank you,” Aris said in a whisper, and Uncle Goat looked over at him.

“So, what’s your name?” he asked, and Aris twisted his hands up in his blanket.

“Aris,” he mumbled, and Uncle Goat nodded a few times.

“Alright, I like it,” he said and sat up. “Aris it is. Once I got you adopted or permanent guardianship, we’ll see about getting a name change, okay?”

“Okay,” Aris said in a whisper, and relief washed over him, because he thought he might not actually make it out of that one alive.

“Alright. I brought you clothes, so go ahead and get changed. It’s time for your discharge,” Uncle Goat said, and Aris slowly climbed out of bed and picked up the backpack at Uncle Goat’s feet. He made his slow way into the bathroom, and then he started to change after a glance in the mirror.

He was blue all over, fur growing across his body, with pink eyes and soft features. He had a long, fluffy, prehensile tail, long ears, and horns growing out of his head. Tusks, small ones, grew from his mouth, and he had a muzzle. He didn’t look very human. His dad had a sheep quirk, and his mother had a monster quirk, and he was the result. But, if he was with Uncle Goat for the foreseeable future, then he might be able to get on puberty blockers, and then testosterone, so that was a point in his favor.

Slowly, he pulled his clothes on, minding the bandage plastered to his side, and tried to ignore the pain. There was a massive hole in his side, and he wasn’t happy about that, but there was not much else he could do about it. At least Dad had sealed his fate with that one. He would never go back to him. That was good. That was better than good, in fact.

He probably wouldn’t go back to Mom, either, because there was no way in hell she was divorcing Dad. She had thoroughly indoctrinated him into Christian ideology, and he had all but cut off his family as a result, seeing as they were still practicing Shinto. Divorce was a sin in their eyes, and they would never do it.

No, he wouldn’t be going back to his parents, and he was kind of glad Dad had shot him. He was honestly glad, because he had survived, and that was what mattered. He had survived, and he was going to do his level best to keep surviving.

He got his pants buttoned around his big, bushy tail and turned for the door, his hooves clopping on the ground. Uncle Goat would definitely let him transition, and for that, he was grateful. He would have smooth sailing from here on out, provided he didn’t get sepsis, and he was...

He felt better. He felt a lot better.

Or maybe he was just in shock from getting shot. It may hit later that his dad had shot him, but in the meantime, he was just going to be happy.

Uncle Goat was on the phone when he came out, and he paused in the doorway.

“Yeah, he straight up shot him, Mom, and I don’t— I got custody, don’t worry about that, I just— Mom, would you please let me talk. Leigh is a boy, and his name is Aris, which is way cooler than Leigh, in my opinion, and he’s going to go on puberty blockers in the next couple of months— Well, if he was willing to get shot over it, I’m pretty sure he’s serious about it. Puberty blockers are reversible, anyways, so— I was thinking a year— Mom, are you really more worried about Aris being trans than Sheep shooting his son?— That’s what I thought. He’s in jail right now, but he’s probably going to post bail pretty soon— Yes, I already got a restraining order.”

Uncle Goat glanced at Aris, who twitched in discomfort, and then he gestured for him to leave the room as he stood. Still sniffling, Pony stood up and wiped her eyes, and the two cousins walked to the door and headed out into the hall, Uncle Goat on their heels.

“Yes, I’m going to talk it over with Bo—Well, I’m gonna let her know, but her opinion doesn’t factor into this. This is my family.— Mom, Bo isn’t going to throw a fit over it. She never wanted Pony to be an only child, anyway.— Well, I don’t know why she didn’t rectify that, I assume she’s too busy with her career—Yes, Mom. Uhuh. Yep.—I can take care of both of them, don’t worry about that—Yes, I will be fine. Aris will, too.—Mom, you need to get in the habit of calling him Aris now, not later.”

They made their way out of the hospital, and Uncle Goat unlocked his car and Pony climbed into the backseat. Aris joined her, and she offered him a new box of pocky. Where was she getting all of this pocky from, anyway?

“I gotta go, I gotta drive—Mom, I will call you— Aris will be fine with a little bit of rest. I’m going to clear my computer out of the guest room and give that to him. He’ll be fine. I promise. You don’t need to drive out here.—Okay, maybe you do, but I’m not going to be on my phone while driving. Bye. I love you.”

He hung up the phone and gave the kids an exasperated smile in the rearview mirror.

“Let’s go home, huh?” he asked, and put on his seat belt. “Seat belts.”

Aris painfully pulled on the seat belt, and Uncle Goat pulled out of the parking spot and rolled through the expansive parking lot. Aris stared out the window, feeling hazy and out of it, and the city rolled past him. He thought to ask if he had gotten a blood transfusion, but the thought flitted away before he could give words to it.

“Are you... really going to get me on puberty blockers?” he asked in a low tone, and Uncle Goat glanced in the rearview mirror.

“I am, yeah,” he confirmed, and Aris swallowed. There were tears of indeterminate origin pricking at his eyes, and he took a deep breath in and let it out. He was going on puberty blockers. And then, maybe testosterone.

Oh, gods.

His dad had tried to kill him.

The thought made him freeze up, and panic clawed into his lungs, because why would Dad do that? Why... why couldn’t he put Aris first? Why was it always God this, God that, God first and foremost, even as the pastor preached death on people like him? Why was God always first, even before his own child? Why couldn’t Aris come first?

These thoughts swirled around and around as they drove the long way home, stuck in rush hour traffic with no end in sight. What should have been a twenty minute drive turned into an hour, and Aris found that he didn’t want to sit still, for all that he was in pain. It was reverberating up his spine, and he didn’t know what to do about it. It was killing him, and he couldn’t think through it.

Dad would rather have a dead child than a trans one, and Aris didn’t know what to do about that. He did not know what to do about that, and he was scared. Oh, he was scared. Was this how the rest of the world going to treat him? Was this just his life now? People willing and raring to murder him? Why was this his lot in life? Why couldn’t he just be cis? He was ugly, anyway, so why...?

Why, why, why was on his mind, and he reached up to gently trace over his tusks. No one wanted this. People would want him even less once he’d transitioned. He was going to be ugly, undesirable, and he remembered Mom telling him being born a monster was God’s tribulation for him, that he would have to overcome, just the way she did.

He didn’t think it was very fair, to make someone’s life harder just by them being born. He didn’t think that was fair at all—

“We’re home,” Uncle Goat announced, and Aris blinked at the sudden appearance of the driveway. Oh. They were home. Okay. Slowly, unsteadily, he got out of the car, and Pony took his backpack for him.

He hadn’t been at Uncle Goat’s house since he moved, three years ago. He lived in the same city as Dad and Mom, but they were never around. Mom and Dad were basically ostracized from the rest of the family because they would not shut up about Jesus, and Aris was included in that ostracization.

It was a modest home. Three bedrooms, two baths, nothing fancy, but there was a sun room, if he remembered right. Uncle Goat liked growing houseplants, and they flourished in the sun room.

The three of them made their way inside, and Uncle Goat pulled out his phone.

“Pizza?” he asked brightly, and Aris blinked at him blearily. “Do you still like cheese pizza?”

“I... Yeah,” Aris said lowly, even though he’d prefer Indian right now, but he wasn’t going to complain.

“Alright,” Goat said and flopped on the couch, crossing his cloven hooves and texting on his phone. “I’ll Doordash it. Pony, can you show Aris to his new bedroom? I’ll clean it out tomorrow.”

“Okay!” Pony said brightly, and led Aris up the stairs to the bedrooms. “It’s this way, Aris!”

Aris slowly followed her up the stairs, and she pushed open a door on the left, leading him into the bedroom, which was plain, not very decorated, with a green bedspread and a lot of pillows. She set down his backpack, and he stared at the bed longingly, wanting to take a nap.

“Do you want to nap before it’s time for dinner?” she asked, as if she had read his mind, and he slowly nodded. “Okay! I’ll let Dad know.”

With that, she flounced out of the room, closing the door with a click, and Aris realized he was finally alone.

A tear leaked out of his eye, and he inhaled, ragged and shaky, before he broke down into tears.

He just needed to cry right now. He would be fine in the morning. Maybe. Hopefully. It was Friday, so he had Sunday and Saturday to lose his shit, and then he would be back in school by Monday morning and have his shit together.

Gods.

He wished his parents could just love him more than they loved their God.

Chapter Text

Aris listlessly took a bite of pizza and stared down at the table. Goat and Pony were eating, but both of them were watching him out of the corner of their eye. He didn’t know what to say, honestly. He was tired and upset, and he wanted to go to sleep, but...

But he couldn’t. Because he needed to eat.

He forced himself to take another bite of pizza, resolving to eat one slice and go to bed, and Goat cleared his throat.

“I’ll need to switch your school. You’re on the other side of San Francisco now,” he said, and Aris looked up in alarm.

“Oh...” he said, and then he swallowed down another bite. “But, what about my friends?”

“You can still hang out with them and whatnot, I just... need you to go to a new school,” Goat said, and Aris pursed his lips. He knew how that went. Madeline switched schools, and soon, she stopped talking to everyone. But, he couldn’t raise a complaint, because he needed to be okay with whatever Goat did. Goat was allowing him to transition, and he could not fuck it up.

“Okay,” he mumbled, and Pony took a big bite of pizza.

“We can be closer now!” she said cheerfully, and he glanced at his cousin. He honestly didn’t know her that well, beyond keeping up on her social media posts. They commented on each other’s feeds, but that was it.

“Okay,” he murmured once again, and Pony beamed at him.

“This is going to be great!” she said, and he nodded a few times. Great. Right. New school, new people that hated him for his appearance, and now he was going to be trans, too. How hellish was his life about to become? He had no idea.

He picked up his slice of pizza and forced himself to take another bite, and then he realized he couldn’t do this anymore. He wanted to be alone, but Goat went to all of this trouble to buy pizza to make him feel better, but—

He was just going to get up, he resolved, and he swallowed and stood.

“I’m... really tired,” he murmured. “I think I need to go to bed.”

“Oh,” Pony said, looking crestfallen, and he bit back an exclamation of his guilty conscience and darted for the stairs.

“Just give him time,” Goat said dimly in the other room, and Aris twitched. “His dad just shot him.”

“I know, I just... I barely know him,” Pony said quietly, and there was a murmur Aris didn’t catch as he fled up the stairs for his room. He closed the door, and then he crawled into bed, already dressed in shorts and a t-shirt in preparation for bed.

He laid there in the darkness of his room for a long, long minute, feeling like he was drowning. Dad had shot him, and all he could stand to think was why? Why, why, why? Why did Dad hate him so much that he was willing to do something like that to him?

There was a soft knock on his door, and he stiffened up.

“Come in,” he called weakly, and Goat cracked open the door.

“Hey,” he said gently. “Can we talk?”

Aris stared at him before he nodded, and Goat came into the room and sat down next to him. A long silence unfurled, and then Goat sighed.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I thought... I thought you would be fine, so long as you were cishet, but you... weren’t.”

“I wasn’t, no,” Aris said, and wondered if anyone else was going to apologize to him.

“If you need anything, anything at all, come to me, okay?” Goat said, and Aris slowly nodded. “Pony and I have been talking about moving to Japan so she can go to UA, so I want you to know that before we start talking adoption or permanent guardianship.”

Japan? UA?

“Like, that school that does the Sports Festival?” Aris asked hesitantly, and Goat nodded.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “I wanted to go, when I was your age, but my parents didn’t want to move back to Japan. I figured I could... give Pony a chance.”

Aris was quiet. Trans? In Japan? He wasn’t too sure about that, but... he had always wanted to be a hero. He really had, and Japan had the best hero schools, hands down. His Japanese wasn’t half bad, either. He was almost fluent, and had kept up on it long after his dad stopped speaking in it to him. And... if he was in Japan, then his dad would not be able to get his hands on him again. There was that, too.

“I’d... I’d like to go to Japan,” he murmured, and Goat breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Okay. Good, good,” he said. “We’re planning on moving in a year, but Pony’s Japanese isn’t great, so we want to practice it a little more before we do that.”

“Oh... I can help her work on it...?” Aris offered hesitantly, and Goat smiled at him.

“Only if you want,” he said, and Aris nodded a few times.

“I do... want to,” he said, and Goat breathed out.

“Alright. You can speak it to her at school, then,” he said, and Aris swallowed.

“What if I want to be a hero...?” he asked hesitantly, and Goat blinked at him.

“Then, you’re going to aim for UA,” he said, and Aris flushed. UA? The kids in the Sports Festival were terrifying, more often than not, and he wasn’t sure he could keep up with them, but...

Well, if Goat wanted him to go, then he would just have to go.

“Okay,” he agreed, and Goat tweaked a stray curl.

“Do you want a haircut?” he asked, and Aris looked down at the hair all laid out around him in waves.

“I... no,” he replied, trying to be as firm as he could, but his voice was trembling. “I... I want to keep it long.”

“Alright. We can keep it long,” Goat agreed, and Aris swallowed. “I was thinking Sunday we could go shopping for clothes. Maybe get some ice cream while we’re out. How does that sound?”

“That sounds... good,” Aris forced out, even though he was terrified of making any sort of impact on Goat’s wallet. “But, we don’t have to.”

“No, you need more clothes,” Goat said firmly. “Boy clothes. I went through what you had in your bag and...”

He trailed off, and Aris looked down at his blue hands, folded in his lap.

“Yeah,” Aris agreed quietly. “I know.”

He mostly had ‘girl’ clothes, because Mom didn’t want him running around looking like a ‘little boy’. She had always been extremely conscious of the fact that he looked the way he did. He personally thought he looked ridiculous in a dress.

“Then, let’s get some boy clothes, have them altered to fit your legs,” Goat said, and Aris managed to force out a nod. “Mom and Dad are coming by tomorrow, so I need you to be ready for that, okay?”

“Oh,” Aris said, feeling panic claw up in his throat, because he didn’t want to see Grandma and Grandpa. Not like this. He was embarrassed, cowed, humiliated, and he didn’t... “Okay.”

“Alright. They just want to check on you. Nothing scary,” Goat promised, and Aris forced out a nod. “They’ll probably be around for a few hours before they go home.”

A few hours? Oh, gods. Aris was not cut out for this. He was not cut out for this at all.

“I want to tell you something important, okay?” Goat asked and took Aris’s hands. “Whatever happens in court, none of this is your fault. Alright?”

“A...alright,” Aris stammered out, and Goat pressed his lips together in a thin line.

“You don’t sound convinced,” he said, and Aris flushed up to his roots, for all you couldn’t see it under the fur.

“I just... It’s been a long day,” Aris murmured, and Goat breathed out a sigh.

“Yeah. It has been. I’ll let you go to bed now,” he said and let go of Aris’s hands so he could stand up and walk to the cracked door. “Sleep well, okay?”

“Okay,” Aris agreed, and his voice was thick, brimming with unshed tears, and Goat gently pulled the door shut behind him.

Aris was shaking in place. He was shaking, and he flopped back over in bed, pulling the blankets over his head as he tried to process this whole thing. His tail wrapped around his lower body, and he closed his eyes.

This was going to take a lot of adjusting to. He wasn’t sure he was ready for it.

.

.

.

.

.

There was a knock on Aris’s door, and he opened his eyes blearily. He had slept like the dead last night, and he could tell he was still exhausted.

“Dad’s making breakfast, come down!” Pony called on the other side of the door, and Aris slowly sat up, his right side aching in the worst of ways. He slid out of bed, his hooves clacking on the ground, and slowly made his way to the door. Pony was waiting on the other side of it, and he stared at his cousin with dead eyes as she beamed at him, entirely too sprightly for it being so early in the morning.

“You gotta brush your teeth, the bathroom is this way!” she said and dragged him into the bathroom. She pushed open the door, and he blinked at the mess. There was a curling iron on the counter, makeup everywhere, a brush half hanging off the sink, skincare left discarded in a mess... He didn’t even know how to react to this, honestly.

“Oh, sorry,” Pony said and started stuffing everything away, putting the makeup away in bags and the brush and curling iron in the drawers. Her clothes were all over the floor, despite there being a laundry hamper right there, and he honestly didn’t know how to feel about this. She gathered up the clothes and dumped them in the hamper, and then she smiled at him apologetically. “Did you pack a brush? You can use mine!”

“I... Uhm,” he said as he tried to remember if he packed his brush or not, and she pulled the brush back out and thrust it at him.

“There you go!” she said, and then she was gone, leaving him holding the brush like an idiot and not sure of what he was supposed to do except brush out his hair.

Slowly, he got to work brushing out his hair, yanking it out and pulling out all the tangles and knots. He ran into a snag, and then he took a deep breath in and continued on, resolute. Lifting his arms hurt, but he needed to get his hair brushed out before it matted. Pale blue hair dusted the ground as he yanked out the loose ends, and then he finished brushing it out.

He went back into his bedroom to get his toothpaste and toothbrush, and then he mechanically started brushing his teeth as he stared at himself in the mirror. He took extra care to brush his tusks, scrubbing at the base, and then he rinsed and spat.

Grandma and Grandpa were coming over today, and he felt something like anxiety pool in his gut. He didn’t want to see them. He barely knew them, and he didn’t feel like he could cope with this. They were terrifying, always hovering and worrying over him when he did see them, and he never knew how to handle them.

He would just take it one item at a time. First on the list was getting through breakfast. He just had to get through breakfast.

Chapter Text

Grandma and Grandpa looked just as normal as Aris remembered. They didn’t have any heteromorphic attributes. Rather, Grandma’s quirk, Counting Sheep, had given Dad and Uncle Goat the heteromorphic aspects. They were a clean and put together couple. They owned several Japanese restaurants in Japantown, and had done fairly well for themselves. They had retirement funds, and inheritances for all of their grandkids, life insurance policies, all of that. And they had always terrified Aris.

Then again, everyone terrified Aris, so they weren’t special in that aspect. They were in the doorway, stepping out of their shoes, and he was twisting his hands together. Grandma had graying blue hair and soft pink eyes, which he had inherited from her, and Grandpa had black hair streaked with white and a neat goatee, hooded green eyes, and he looked...

Well, he looked pissed. Grandma looked pissed, too, but Grandpa looked even more pissed. And Aris wasn’t sure of what to do about that one.

“Well, let’s have a look at you, Le—Aris,” Grandma said and held out her arms, and Aris slowly went into her embrace. She hugged him tightly, and he swallowed, feeling uncomfortable in the embrace. She passed him off to Grandpa, who hugged him tightly, and then Aris stepped back and coughed awkwardly.

“Where did he shoot you?” Grandma asked severely, and Aris mutely lifted his shirt to show off the shaved patch of blue skin and bandage plastered to his side. “Oh, dear.”

Grandpa’s lips furled into a purse, and Aris dropped his shirt and shifted in discontent before Grandma turned to Uncle Goat.

“Are you taking him with you to Japan?” she asked in Japanese, and Goat nodded.

“We talked about it. He wants to go,” he confirmed, and Aris looked down at his hooves. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go, but the idea of living with his grandparents was terrifying, and much worse than dealing with Japan.

“Mm,” Grandma said, neither approving nor disapproving, and Aris shifted in discomfort. “Have you all eaten yet?”

“We had breakfast, but it’s about time for lunch,” Uncle Goat said, and she turned on her heel.

“Let’s go to MonMon,” she said airily. “There’s no need to cook today.”

Oh, they just got here, and they were already leaving?

“MonMon? Mom, that’s expensive— ” Uncle Goat said, and Grandma flapped her hand.

“We can afford some sushi,” she said, and right. MonMon was their sushi restaurant. It was more high end, and Aris had never been there before.

“Aris, go get dressed,” Grandma ordered, and then tilted back her head. “PONY! GET DRESSED FOR MON MON!”

“I don’t have anything... nice,” Aris forced out, and Grandma pulled out a bag from seemingly nowhere.

“I took the liberty of swinging by the mall to buy you a nice button down,” she said, and pulled out a soft purple button down shirt. “Mm, yes, this will go with your complexion.”

“Oh,” he said, a little numbly, and she tossed it at him. He caught it, and she shooed him towards the stairs.

“Go get on some shorts that aren’t ripped,” she said, as if Mom and Dad ever let him wear ripped clothes, and he stumbled up the stairs, clutching the shirt to his chest. It was really soft, he thought as he made it up the stairs and into his bedroom. Quickly, as quickly as he could with a hole in his stomach, he got changed and ready for the day, and then he pulled back his long hair into a ponytail, instead of leaving it wild and down the way he always did.

When he came out, Pony was flouncing down the stairs in a skater skirt and a t-shirt, tucked in and little earrings tinkling on her ears. She smiled at him, and he made it down the stairs and made a beeline for the door, clipping the hoof covers onto the bottom of his hooves, and Uncle Goat came out of his own room, having changed into a button down and jeans.

“Alright, let’s go,” Grandma said, and Pony brightened up.

“Can I ride with you?” she asked, and Grandma nodded.

“Of course, sweetheart,” she said and swept for the door. “Goat, you take Aris.”

“Alright,” Uncle Goat said, and pushed out the door. Grandma walked over to her nice sedan and slid into the passenger seat, and Grandpa got in the driver’s seat as Pony climbed in behind them.

“You need to see a farrier soon,” Uncle Goat said to Aris, and he looked down at his hooves in silence. Yeah, he probably did. “I’ll make an appointment.”

“Thank you,” Aris murmured, and Uncle Goat unlocked his car and got into the driver’s seat.

“Come on,” he said, and Aris crawled into the front seat and buckled in. Uncle Goat got his seat belt on and backed out of the driveway, following along behind Grandma and Grandpa, and they sat in silence as they drove through the suburbs, headed towards Japantown. It would be a long drive. Grandma and Grandpa lived in Japantown, and Aris wondered if they were going to be heading to their place when they were done. They were rich as hell, but they still lived in an apartment building there. They ‘preferred’ it. He never understood that.

Uncle Goat put on some music, and Aris looked out the window as the suburbs of San Francisco rolled past. He would be taking a few days off of school while Uncle Goat got him transferred, and then he would be going to Pony’s school. Michael Jackson Middle School. He would be starting as a sixth grader, and he was not looking forward to that. He didn’t think he would do a good job of it.

But, what did he know? Nothing, not really.

He didn’t want to deal with new bullies. He knew Pony would stand up for him, but he didn’t want to put that on her. It wasn’t her burden to bear.

They arrived in Japantown before he knew it, and when he climbed out of the car, he was consciously aware of tourists staring at him. He didn’t like that, but he kept his mouth shut as curious small-town tourists gawked at him. Uncle Goat got out of the car and locked it before he paid the parking meter, and Aris clopped around to the sidewalk and stared up at MonMon.

It was a really upscale restaurant, known to be one of the best on the West Coast. They had some famous sushi chef working there, Masa or something like that, and he felt a little exposed here, like he didn’t belong even as his tail swished in anxiety, too long for his body, curling up and barely brushing the ground.

They headed inside, and Aris slunk in with his shoulders hunched up around his floppy ears. Grandma, Grandpa, and Pony were already seated, and Aris awkwardly pulled out his chair and sat down. Goat sat down, and Grandma and Grandpa were already filling out the menu, marking their selections on the card of paper with the menu on it.

“Here we go,” Grandma said warmly and finished filling it out. “All everyone’s favorites.”

Aris didn’t have a favorite, but he didn’t say as much as the waiter brought over waters for everyone.

“Can I get your drink orders?” he asked pleasantly, and Grandpa hummed.

“I’ll have a Manhattan, and my wife will have a martini, olives on the side,” he said, and Aris fiddled with his hands. “Goat? We’re paying.”

“I’ll have a... hm. Moscow Mule,” Goat said, and Aris tried to push down the discomfort of people drinking in front of him. His parents never drank. He wasn’t sure he could remember a time when he saw his parents drink in front of him.

“Alright, then,” the waiter said as he scribbled out the drink orders. “Iced tea for the kids?”

“Yes, that’ll be fine,” Grandma said with a smile at him. “And how are you doing, Yuki?”

“Oh, same old, same old,” Yuki, apparently, replied with a laugh. “It’s good to see you in house. We’ve been missing you.”

“Yes, we have been a little too busy to drop by,” Grandma agreed. “We’ll have to come by more often.”

“Alright, let me get these drink orders in, and then I’ll have your sushi right out,” Yuki said and picked up the card and pencils. “Be right back!”

The waiter escaped, and Grandma sat back and studied Aris in silence. Aris twitched in discomfort, and she sighed.

“I wish we could have taken you away sooner,” she said mournfully. “I knew that church was bad news, ever since you were little and crying about wearing skirts.”

He didn’t remember that, but he said nothing.

“Well, there’s no changing it now,” she said and tilted her head. “Do you want to be a hero, like Pony?”

“I.... Yeah,” he replied. He had always wanted to be a hero, but he didn’t know how viable that was now that he was trans. He probably would never get all that popular.

“Well, your uncle will have to put you in boxing,” she said, and he blinked. “Your quirk works best for boxing. Judo and karate, not so much.”

“Boxing?” he echoed, because that sounded... terrifying.

“Mhm,” she confirmed. “And the gym. You’ll have to work out, too.”

“Right,” he said, his tongue feeling weird in his mouth.

“I remember when we started having to get your uncle ready for the hero course,” she said wistfully. “So busy, all the time.”

“Those were wild days, weren’t they, hun?” Grandpa asked and took Grandma’s hand, and Aris looked away as his gut twisted.

“Yes, they were,” Grandma confirmed. “Always so busy. It was worth it, though. Look at your uncle now. Top twenty pros in California. That’s not easy to do.”

“Now if only he could get to top twenty in the US,” Grandpa grumbled, and Goat sighed.

“Dad... You know I don’t have time for that while being a single father,” he said, and Grandpa huffed.

“I’m sure you could make time.”

“And it doesn’t matter, anyway. I’m moving to Japan in a year,” Goat said, and glanced at Pony and Aris with an unreadable expression on his face. “It’ll be a big move.”

“And Pony... Are you working on your Japanese?” Grandma asked severely, and Pony colored right up to her roots.

“I am! I promise!” she said, and Goat rolled his eyes.

“No, she’s not. Gives me deer in the headlights whenever I ask even a slightly complicated question,” he huffed, and Pony flushed even deeper red.

“I’m working on it! I’m reading manga and everything!” she said, and that was the wrong thing to say.

“You’re reading manga? ” Grandma demanded. “That’s terrible. Brain rotting fluff.”

“Some of it is really good!” Pony protested.

“It’s cheap fiction. Dime a dozen. I’ll get you some good books,” Grandma said and turned a serious eye on Aris. “Did your parents let you read manga?”

“I... don’t know what that is,” he said weakly as he desperately tried to make his brain cells work to determine the etymology of the word ‘manga’.

“You don’t know what manga is? ” Pony demanded as her hands slammed into the table, and Aris jumped.

“I... no?” he tried for, and she stared at him in horror.

“Do you know what anime is?”

“Is that... like...” he scrambled internally for a definition, but he was coming up short.

“Japanese animation! It’s really good!” she wailed, and Grandma pinched her thigh.

“You’re making a scene, sit down,” she ordered, and Pony flopped down with a huff.

“We have got to fix this,” she declared, and Aris swallowed. Okay. Okay. This was fine. Did he just upset her? He felt a little embarrassed, because he had a feeling that he was completely in the dark about everything.

“We’re gonna fix it, don’t you worry, Aris,” Pony promised. “You’re going to be cultured. ”

Oh. Oh, no.