The sound of there alarm woke Trixie to another day, stretching and pushing themselves up on tired arms they got up, grabbing a towel and staggering to the shower. They ran the water cold feeling it run down over their skin as they closed their eyes to avoid having to see their body. They didn't know how long they could go on knowing what was wrong. They could feel the beginning of pain in their lower abdomen and glanced out at the blood stained pyjamas, they burst into tears at the sight. "Curse you" they hissed, "boys don't cry."

...

Eli was in the main room of the hideout with a sketchbook when he heard Trixie coming down stairs "hey Trix" he greeted shuffling along a bit for her to sit next to him. "Hi" she muttered in reply and he immediately picked up on how down she sounded,

"are you alright" he asked in concern setting the book and pencil aside for a moment.

"I'm alright" she sat down and curled up in a tight ball, "what'cha drawing?"

"oh um it's a pack of wolves, its not very good" she leaned over to see it grimacing slightly at the ache in her stomach.

"haha you based this of of us didn't you" she said looking at the sketch of four wolves standing shoulder to shoulder; one was much bigger then the others while the smallest had patches over its body, the last two stood in the centre, one shaded a solid gray but for one hind-paw while the others underbelly and muzzle where left white. "Which ones you?" she asked, he pointed at the solid gray wolf with the white paw

"I feel like the proportions aren't right though."

Trixie shifted next to him, "well you can still draw better than me" she said reaching for the remote and switching on the TV, he continued to work rubbing out and redrawing paws and heads. Every few minutes Trixie changed position uncomfortably, eventually Eli stood to put the sketch book away and headed into the kitchen.

...

Trixie shifted trying to get comfortable on the couch and ignore the slowly building pain when suddenly Eli was back beside her holding a cup out to her, steam rose out of the drink "this might help with the pain" he said quietly giving her a look that let her know he knew what was happening.

"Is it that obvious?" they asked, he thought for a moment, "it's obvious your in pain, but I only know why cause I lived with my cousin while she went through it... I am right in thinking it's that aren't I?" Trixie nodded mutely, taking a sip of the drink, it tasted sweet but with a bitter tang to it; they sipped it silently for a while deep in thought. "So does it work?" Eli questioned "Drina always said it helped with girl troubles".

"I'm not a girl" Trixie froze she hadn't meant to say it it just slipped out "I mean... I..."

"...Trixie it's alright" Eli's voice was soothing and he edged closer "If that's how you feel it's good that you've said it. Trust me."

"I..."

"Take your time"

"I've just always felt it, from the moment I could pick my own cloths I was always in trousers, I remember telling my parents when I was little I wanted to be a boy, I wanted to cut my hair but they never let me." he felt a gentle hand stroking his back "When I first...bled I cried for hours, my mum said it was just hormones but I knew it wasn't. I just... Eli no one's ever accepted me for it, how are you so OK with it."

"No offence but my answer to that is I'm not a complete prick and I kinda understand what your going through"

"Wait wh..."

"Not that part of it" he said stopping their questioning "Trixie I'm gay, I know what it's like to not be accepted for what you feel."

"R-really?" they said in shock.

"Yes really" he said chuckling slightly, "I was lucky my aunt and my cousin where both totally fine when I came out. I get that it's different... a whole lot harder when your trans but I honestly couldn't care less and I'm sure Kord and Pronto would feel the same, your you regardless."

"I've just been so scared of saying anything, things aren't nice here, not everyone accepts people like me... like us"

"It's the same on the surface, I just learned not to care. If they don't accept you they aren't worth your time but is there anything you'd prefer me to call you. I know the pronouns now but what about a name."

"I don't know, Eli I don't know what I planned to eventually do but I've been so scared that I've barely considered any changes as a possibility"

he smiled "they're a possibility bud."

"What do you think?" He asked

"well it's not really up to me, do you know what your parents would have named there son"

"Tyler but I don't really like that name"

"That's fine, for the record my parents wanted to go with Eliza so not much difference there." Trixie laughed, "I mean you could just get a book of names and flick through finding ones you like then narrow it down from there. Or my friend from this group I used to go to, she listed names starting with the same letter and picked one of them, thus Brad became Becca."

"Hmm I guess I'll think about it"

"alright I'll try and use non-binary terms around the others if you don't want to tell them yet."

"Thanks Eli" Trixie said smiling, "I think I actually want to tell my parents first"