Aphmau looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, a towel wrapped around her. She tried to smile only for her new wild eyes to constrict into slits and her fangs to poke at her bottom lip awkwardly.

She still didn't feel quite like herself. Not with her tail still soaked from her shower and her ears clinging to rest of her head.

She sighed, looking down at the floor. She still didn't recognize herself in the mirror. Even after Aaron's visit, she didn't quite believe she looked "beautiful" in fact she looked a little scary...

Still she got changed into her school uniform, her mother had already modified it so that her tail would fit through the skirt fabric without coming out from under it. It took forever to dry and comb her tail but at least it reminded her of when Aaron had combed through it yesterday.

Her mother was waiting for her downstairs, currently taking breakfast tacos to the table. She fumbled with the tray when they locked eyes. But she beamed at her daughter.

"Look at you! You look so much better!" Sylvanna looked her up and down before setting a hand on her head between her ears, ruffling her hair and making her ears twitch uncomfortably.

"Uh... mom?" Aphmau felt the discomfort roll down her spine and Slyvanna jumped away a little bit flustered.

"Oh! Sorry Mija!" In the next moment she'd moved on, sitting down to eat breakfast and leaving her daughter feeling rather confused.

Still she tried to shake it off and sat down for tacos. Soon it was put out of her mind, she felt her tail wag happily at the taste and her ears flick up and down.

"Are you sure you want to go to school today? I can understand if you wanted to take a few days." Sylvanna offered, not wanting to force her daughter into anything before she was ready.

"Yeah! I think just continuing as normal will be better than just sitting here."

Soon she was pulling on her backpack and heading put the door, but not before she sent one last text to her best freind.

Shu: I'm heading to school today

FC: I'm outside.

What? He was outside? Usually Laurance walked her to school, they weren't both outside were they? Her mom would actually blow a gasket if two boys were outside waiting to walk her to school, especially if one of them was Aaron.

She opened the door and looked down the street. To her surprise only Aaron was waiting by the stop sign which set off even more alarm bells in her head.

She waved goodbye to her mom and took off in his direction, sprinting way faster than normal and reaching him in under 10 seconds. Thankfully he had heard her and was able to catch her before she rocketed into him.

"FC!" She didn't even skip a beat, her tail wagging at superhuman speeds and her ears in airplane mode.

Aphmau felt a vibration start in her chest, it was barely audible but sent waves of happiness through her. She had never been so happy to see him.

"Woah! Slow down or you're going to trip!" Aaron smiled warmly down at her, like her mother he looked her up and down, only he did it slowly as if trying to memorize every detail. Aphmau found a blush creep up her cheeks in response.

"My eyes are up here." She replied after feeling he'd looked too long. And while his face dusted pink, he also laughed.

"You mean down here." He smirked, and she playfully shoved him. Growling lowly and tail flicking in irritation.

"Hey Aph! Aaron!" Laurance's voice came floating up behind them and they both turned to face him. He had a half smile on his face.

"Oh woah...." Was the next thing out of his mouth. He ran his eyes down from her new ears to her tail, his face flickered between a blush and a half-frown.

"Hey Laurance! I-its good to see you!" Aaron felt Aphmau tense beside him, her body language immediately turning non-threatening, with her tail going between her legs and her ears trying to hide themselves in her hair.

He suddenly felt incredibly protective, so protective in fact his hand found its way into lightly holding Aphmau's shoulder.

"Um yeah! Wh-whats with the ears and tail?" His voice was slightly wavery. And his eyes kept darting to Aaron as if he was slightly intimidated. Which would make sense, they'd spoken what? Once? It probably didn't help that he was pushing down a territorial growl.

"Oh! Well you know that headache yesterday? It was my ears and tail coming in. So, uh I'm a werewolf now!"

"No, you were always a werewolf. But yeah, they're not a potion this time." Aaron clarified, motioning for them to all start walking so they wouldn't be late. Even still he laid a hand on Aphmau's back as if she needed help walking.

"I thought you were human?" The brown-headed boy seemed more confused than any other emotion, but he was still smiling, so that was a good sign.

"So did I, but my mom told me my dad was a werewolf too after she saw me with half-formed ears." Aphmau seemed extra nervous, as if she was expecting Laurance to run away from her or even be angry with her. It broke Aaron's heart a little, she looked perfect, not scary, just different.

"Oh crap. That had to have been scary." Laurance replied as they walked further in the direction of the school. Thankfully it seemed Laurance was handling the news extremely well.

"It was, but I..." Aaron felt her eyes glance up at him breifly. And then he heard it, it was nearly imperceptible to his ears, which meant Laurance likely couldn't hear it at all.

Aphmau was churring.

He immediately lost all semblance of concentration on the conversation. Feeling his heart soar out of his chest. Churring was something reserved for the closest relationships, meant to mean contentment and joy and love. And here she was, blessing him with the barely audible sound of what was the closest he'd get to hearing her soul.

He felt his own churr try to force its way into his chest but he quickly forced it back down. Glancing at the other man who was also extremely close to the churring girl.

It wasn't a guarantee that it was for him. It just as easily could have been Laurance she was churring for. In fact, she could just feel at ease in the current moment and it wasn't for either of them. And it was so faint she probably didn't even realize she was doing it.

So despite what his instincts told him to do he didn't reciprocate.

Even still he was loving knowing that she felt safe and happy. And even if it wasn't for him at the very least it meant she felt completely comfortable being next to him.

Laurance kept leaning further towards her, trying to gap whatever distance between them whenever possible, and his hand kept brushing against hers.

Aaron felt a possessive, instinctual urge to rip him to absolute shreds. But that was the animal in him talking, and had he ever listened to a single shred of advice from it he'd already be in prison by now.

He knew he shouldn't feel that way anyway. Aphmau was his friend. And that wasn't him denying his feelings for her, he knew very well he'd fallen head over heels for her even if he was hesitant to call it love at the age of 17. It was simply fact, they weren't dating. She wasn't his and so she could be with whoever she chose.

And he was both happy for her that she had so many admirers and completely and utterly frustrated at them all at the same time. He wanted her happy at the end of the day, and if that was the goofy blonde or the soccer captain or even the fiesty bluenette he would learn to be okay with that. So long as he got to see her.

They arrived at the front door and Laurance waved goodbye first, citing a teacher who'd want to see him as soon as he got thier. Aaron strained his ears to listen for her still churring but found either she'd stopped or that the sound was now drowned out by the low murmur of other students milling about.

"Hey you've been staring into space for like five minutes. What's up?" Aphmau leaned back to face him, making her look upside-down in his vision, one ear was stuck straight up and the other in airplane mode. It was one of the most adorable things Aaron had ever seen and he felt his cheeks heat up and another rumble try to escape him.

While Aphmau's churring could be for anything or anyone, his was only ever going to be for her. The first time he'd noticed it they were actually texting. Before he'd known who she was, they'd been up late chatting when he found he was churring like a motorboat, the happy vibrations so intense that he could genuinely feel it with his hands when he'd laid them on his chest. Nothing else has ever produced them before, but then again, no one had made him happier than her.

"Y-yeah I'm fine! Just didn't sleep very well last night." He grinned, still looking down at her upside-down face. And she beamed back up at him, he could see her eyes dilate a little as they made eye contact.

"Yeah me neither... I've been having mixed feelings about today." Finally she sat on the fountain that he'd only just now realized he'd been leaning against. Her tail brushed his fingers as she did, tickling delightfully against his skin.

"Oh?" Aaron cocked his head, leaning in to hear her better (and possibly catch more churring if she was still doing it)

"I look different. I'm afraid that my friends aren't going to want to still be my friends after they see me." She looked away from him, holding one of her shoulders. Her voice got a little sad and a little distant.

"You look beautiful." He repeated his words from the day before, letting a soft look cross him face as he saw her face flush into a bright blush.

"I don't really feel it right now." She said simply, her tail twitching slightly and her ears going back to hiding in her hair.

Aaron wished he could make her see herself through his eyes sometimes. Just so she could see how captivating she was human or not. But he also understood deeply where she was coming from, he never shown anyone else his werewolf side for a very similar reason.

And also a very different reason, but he didn't want to get into that just yet.

"Look, these are your freinds, you shouldn't worry about what they think about you being a werewolf. You were always a werewolf, you just didn't know. And if they have a problem with it, they weren't your friend to begin with." He took one of her hands and squeezed it gently, finally making her look at him. She smiled gratefully at him even while the red invaded her face even more.

"I wish you would belive me when I say you're beautiful though, you really are." This time she squeaked, heat overflowing her body as she turned away.

And then she churred again, this time way more audibly.

It was for him. And the more he thought about that the wider his smile got, her churrs were for him and he made her feel safe and happy and loved. He felt his heart flutter and this time he didn't stop his own from rumbling out of him even if his was way more noticeable even to human ears.

"Thank you, Aaron-uh" Her ears twitched, and then she looked at him strangely.

"Is that... you making that sound?"

Welp... he was caught.