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Dead silence filled the lecture hall as students filled out their scantrons. Terry was among them, occasionally eyeing the clock as he dutifully answered the test questions. This was his last final before winter break officially started. For everyone else in this room, the break meant spending time with family, playing lots of video games, or ski trips at the mountain. For Terry, it meant an extended excursion to the anthro world during their much-hyped mating season. In a way, it was more exciting than the fact that his visit would begin with attending the premiere of the film(s) he acted in. As enjoyable as it was to shoot porn, he couldn't wait to experience transformation and the pleasure that came with it in a non-work setting.

The surrealness of his double life was catching back up to him. Soon, his existence as a human was going to be revealed to the anthro world at tonight's premiere, all while his fellow humans remained in blissful ignorance. It both excited and terrified the lone human. Just what would the rest of the anthro population think of him and his transformation into one of them? Would they be accepting, or would they exhibit the same fear and cruelty at something alien that he'd known his own species to have?

With one last stroke of his pencil, the scantron was finished. Terry let out a long sigh of relief as he got up to turn his final in and leave. One semester down, many more to go. He couldn't wait to finally take it easy for a change and just appreciate his new life without tending to his human responsibilities.

---

The 26-year-old moved through writhing masses of college students, grads and undergrads alike, all excited to either relax or party up for the holidays. Snow fell gently across campus, some of the cars passing by even played Christmas music through their speakers. The holiday spirit was in full swing, and any other year it would've depressed Terry. Christmas hit differently when you had no family to celebrate with, after all. But now, Terry had a new family in a new world. He still had no idea if anthros even celebrated Christmas, but he had some gifts planned for all his new friends that he was sure they'd appreciate, regardless of their beliefs.

“Terry!"

Terry immediately recognized the voice. He turned around to find Carla running up to him excitedly. They hadn't seen each other since their encounter at the Queer Studies lecture, which was still rather awkward even as they'd finally reconciled. Now, though, she looked almost joyful in his presence. Curiously so.

“Hey!" Terry responded as the human woman finally caught up to him, panting for breath. “You look like you ran a marathon."

“I know, I know, I just had to catch up with you."

“Oh... What for?"

“Okay, hear me out: me and my entire extended family's going to their estate in England for the holidays."

“Wow, awesome!"

“Not awesome. You know how Thornwood family gatherings are. It's gonna be a bunch of stuffy rich people doing nothing in a giant mansion for three weeks."

“Hey, doing nothing can still be fun."

“Not with my family, it is."

“Alright, well... Why are you telling me this?"

“Well, I was planning on taking you with me as a surprise gift while we were dating. When we broke up, I completely forgot to cancel your flight, so I still have your plane ticket iiiif..."

Oh. She was asking him over. Terry knew what this meant. Last time he was invited to one of Carla's family functions, he was mainly there not so much as a boyfriend but as her emotional support. Carla kinda hated being around her family, and usually needed someone sane to help her suffer through their rude rich-person behavior. Terry didn't really mind them, though. They were dicks, yeah, but what rich person wasn't a little bit of a dick? He'd been through way worse in his life to really complain about hanging around in nice houses and eating nice food, even if it meant socializing with less than savory personalities.

That didn't matter, though. Either way, Terry already had plans.

“I'm so sorry, Carla," he finally responded. “I'm actually traveling with some coworkers for the holidays."

Carla's smile flattened. “Oh... From your new job, right?"

“Yeah, they invited me to their place....... in Canada..." Terry nearly groaned at his own lie. He never really came up with a cover story for his absence, hoping to simply wing it. Though if Carla could detect how obviously he was lying, she didn't show it.

“Right, Canada... Tell me about them! What are they like??"

Yeah, sure, one is a bipedal dog, another is a deer lady with a cock, and then there's the lesbian cat and skunk couple. Terry knew he couldn't say any of that, but he also couldn't bear to lie to Carla now that they were friends again. Maybe there was a way to tell half the truth...

“Well, th-there's Rudd. Great guy, film buff, kind of a *ahem* dog person, uh... Julie and Kiera! They're getting married actually, it's very sweet. And uh... there's also Doe..."

“Hmm, Doe. That's an interesting name."

“Yeah, she's an... an interesting person."

“And very real, I'm sure." And with that, Terry's heart sunk. Even when he was technically being truthful, it didn't sound convincing. “If you didn't wanna come, you could've just told me. I can take it."

“I'm telling the truth, Carla! I'm traveling with coworkers, I already have plans."

“But you still can't tell me what it is you do or who these coworkers are."

“No... No, I can't."

“I get it. I get it. It was a big ask of me so soon after we buried the hatchet."

“Carla, I promise you, I'd be there if I could."

“Yeah, I'm sure, except we've known each other how long now? A year? More? And you've known these coworkers for, what, a week?"

“C'mon, it's not about which friend I like better than the other. I made plans with them first, and you offered too late, that's that."

“Yeah, your totally real friends from the job you can't say anything about. Y'know, I asked your roommate how you were doing—"

“Wait, my roommate—?"

“And when we met, he said you'd been gone a full day and a half without going home. And that this wasn't even the first time this has happened!"

“Fuck, I stayed over at a friend's place! I'm an adult, I don't have to report to Derrick like he's my fuckin' parole officer."

“Terry, that's not the point. You're not being truthful. I thought we were friends again!"

“Well don't friends respect each other's privacy?? I mean, it's not like I ask why the fuck you're majoring in Queer Studies instead of Business like you keep telling your family."

Carla visibly bristled at that mention. “Oh, fuck you, that's not at all the same thing!"

“Hell, you want us to be truthful to each other? Fine, act like you're inviting me to your estate because you actually like hanging out with me instead of as your lower-class trophy to show your asshole family how much more enlightened and socially conscious you are!"

“Oh my fucking god, you're not a trophy! I just... Fine! Here's the truth: I would like you to come to England with me so I don't blow my brains out listening to my cousin's insipid political commentary!"

“See! That's better! I'm still saying no, but I appreciate the honesty for once!"

“Oh! Oh is that so?? When's it your fucking turn to tell me the goddamn truth?!"

Terry finally snapped. “You want the truth?! Fine! I'm a fucking porno actor, Carla! I'm in fucking porn, and I actually like it, and I'm gonna be celebrating with my porn star friends at a fucking premiere where we'll have lots of fucking sex, and it'll be great!!!"

Silence finally filled the space between them. Terry didn't even care if the other students walking among them could hear. Carla had absolutely no idea how to respond or even what face to make at such a reveal. All she knew was that she could always tell when Terry was lying. This wasn't one of those them. Not in the slightest.

Terry eventually let out a heavy sigh just to cut the excruciating silence. “God, this feels like the shittiest SNL skit of all time." Carla chuckled somewhat, taken aback by the sudden levity. Yet she still couldn't formulate words to respond with. “C'mon, say something. Tell me I'm disgusting, I won't be offended. Please, anything."

Carla took a deep breath before finally... smiling. “Terry, I've seen my brother's browser history. There's nothing you can say that would disgust me." They both managed to chuckle together. “I should've known. You looked so happy and reinvigorated last time we met. You only get that amped up after great sex."

Terry laughed, both comfortable and uncomfortable finally discussing this facet of himself with her. “You know me too well... So you're not skeeved out by any of this?"

“Honestly, I'm just glad you finally found a job that makes you happy."

“Really?"

“Beats working for my shitty uncle, doesn't it?"

“Yeah... Hang on, you asked me over to your estate even after all the shit I said to your uncle that made him fire me?"

“Gosh, I really didn't think this through, didn't I."

“Yeah, you must've been desperate not to go by yourself."

Carla sighed to herself. “Well, you were right. I did just wanna use you as my emotional support animal."

Terry chuckled to himself. If she only knew what kinds of animals he's been, lately. “Well, I can check in on you, if you'd like. I mean— there won't be any cell service or internet where I'm going...... y'know, in Canada."

“No, no, I'll just deal with it myself. I shouldn't have dragged you into my family drama again."

“Hey, that's what friends are for... Sorry for yelling at you, by the way."

Carla giggled. “Apology accepted, Slate. And hey, if it's not too weird, maybe some day you can show me the fruits of all your hard work." Terry both smiled and cringed at the same time. “You see what I did there?"

“Oh, I sure did..." It was hard to stay mad at Carla, in spite of all they'd been through. “Maybeeee we can work up to it. Y'know. Someday."

“Hehe, maybe we can."

---

“Okay, be honest, is it too much?" Hunter spun around in his tuxedo, not used to such formalwear. The last time he wore a tuxedo was at high school prom, and he didn't even have a date, merely acting as a videographer for the A/V club. Now, he was wearing one to an anthro film premiere, for a film he starred in, dressing as sharply as possible to best represent his species when the audience of anthros lays eyes on their first ever human.

Julie, dressed in a glittery gold dress that complimented her cream and mocha fur, eyed Hunter up and down. “You look totally handsome! They're gonna love you."

“Should I even be wearing something this fancy when I just know I'm gonna rip out of it after I transform again?" Hunter held no illusions around how this premiere would go. Doe had warned him earlier that premieres for rut films tended to get rowdy in this world. Knowing that, there was no doubt in the human's head that he'd be transforming not just outside of a studio set, but in public, with an audience of other horny anthros, during a particularly horny season for their culture.

That is, if the audience wound up liking what they made, a prospect the human began to have doubts over now that the promised day had come and nerves began to form.

“Don't worry about the clothes," Julie said as she brought out a lint roller (known as a fur roller in this world) to clean up the human's tux. “The cleaners here are way more advanced than anything in the human world. With all the varieties of species we have, there are entire industries in place for sewing up claw marks, rolling out fur strands....... cleaning up certain stains." The siamese cat couldn't help but purr suggestively.

Hunter shrugged his shoulders. “You're right, I'm just nervous. There's a lot of pressure riding on me tonight."

“They're gonna love you, Hun," Julie said comfortingly. “The crew loved you. Hell, Stud loved you, though he wouldn't admit it in as many words. Didn't you call yourself a star, last shoot?"

“I was a big, hunky bear, Julie. All those instincts got me hopped up on confidence."

“Well, just remember what your bear self said. He's still in there, after all."

Hunter nodded. It was the best advice he was gonna get considering not a single person had been in his shoes. He was pioneering human awareness in anthro culture. There'd be no going back after this. Whatever happened, they simply had to accept that Hunter Prey was here to stay.

A door creaked open to Julie and Hunter's left. They turned to find Kiera, blushing with embarrassment under her striped fur as she showed off a flowing, lilac dress. Julie gasped at the sight of her beautiful fiancee. “You are exquisite, Kiera."

“I look stupid," the skunk said dejectedly.

“You do not! Right, Hunter?"

Hunter took that as his cue. “I think you look great!" He didn't have to lie. He genuinely thought as much.

“C'mon, skunks never wear pastels, I'll look like an idiot."

Julie squeezed her paws around Kiera's muzzle and forced her to look her in the eyes. “You are the most beautiful mammal in the whole damn world. And if anyone says otherwise, I'll claw their damn faces out."

Kiera melted into a warm smile. She could always count on her pretty kitty to make her feel better. They leaned in for another of their long, passionate kisses. Hunter always felt warm around the couple, aware of his hand (or rather, paw) in deepening their relationship.

“Besides," Julie continued, “I'm gonna have fun ruining this dress tonight."

The skunk chuckled. “Mmm, you might make me ruin it first~"

---

The trio padded down the apartment stairs to find a limousine waiting for them. A male ferret driver in a nice suit and cap was there to greet them. “Hello, ladies. My name is Claude, I'll be your driver this eveni—" He stopped upon turning and seeing the human before him. The poor ferret's heart nearly stopped beating. “I-I'm sorry, who is this?"

Hunter visibly blushed with no fur to cover it up. Kiera swayed her enormously fluffy tail to get the ferret's attention. “This is our friend Hunter. He's riding with us tonight, and would appreciate not being bothered with your questions. You got that?"

The ferret nodded shakily. “S-Sure thing, madam. Right this way." He opened the door for the two. As Julie and Kiera went inside, Hunter shared an awkward glance with the ferret, while the ferret did the same to him. Composing himself as best as possible, the ferret straightened his tie, cleared his throat, and made off to the driver's seat.

---

The limo drove the three through the densely populated city. Many anthros were celebrating their last days of work before mating season officially started tomorrow. Some were even already rutting on the sidewalk, unable to hold in their growing heats any longer. Hunter took in all the sights while Kiera and Julie enjoyed the comfortable seating of the limo, even pouring each other some champagne to share and clink glasses. A glass divider stood between the passengers' side and the driver's seat, allowing the ferret to focus on driving even as he glanced in the rearview mirror for as many peeks at the strange human in his vehicle as possible.

After passing a few blocks, they were hit with heavy traffic. The ferret rolled down the divider. “Apologies for the delay! I forgot this street is where Cub Care's set up shop. Shall I find another route."

Kiera turned to the divider, “Actually, would you mind staying on this street? We have some time, we don't mind the traffic." The ferret nodded to the rearview as he rolled the divider back up while the skunk turned to her human friend, “Hey, Hunter, take a look at this."

Hunter was already way ahead of them, staring out the window to view a fleet of buses taking in thousands of anthro children being dropped off by their parents. Every kind of species and type of family was represented, as two lizard fathers hugged their daughter goodbye, a canine mom and dad comforted their crying pup, and a pack of wolf cubs waved goodbye from the bus windows to a large pack of lupine parents.

“What is all this?" the human asked. Kiera was happy to explain:

“Cub Care. As you can imagine, mating season is mainly for adults to enjoy, and it's hard for parents to focus on their breeding instincts while keeping their cubs away from anything too inappropriate. So, Cub Care was set up as a government funded program. Every mating season, parents drop their cubs off for a special camp program. They get to be among nature, play, indulge in more feral instincts and activities while learning independence, all sorts of fun stuff. It also has the added benefit of giving our more asexual citizens something to do while everyone else is enjoying mating season. They act as caregivers and counselors for all the children, take them out on nature hikes, teach them to hunt or pick berries and herbs. I always found it to be a noble profession."

“So, you all come together to make sure all children are taken care of."

“Oh yeah. Based on what Julie's told me, anthro culture's a lot more... communal than your individualistic human culture. People generally look out for each other, even if you're not part of a herd or pack. Obviously, we're not without our problems or bad actors, but overall, everyone pitches in in some way."

Hunter was amazed at the sight before him. Back in the human world, Terry's family always struggled with holidays. Both his mother and father had to work to put food on the table, keep electricity and water running, pay for heat during the winter. They counted on Terry's many schools to keep an eye on him while they both remained unavailable to care for him at home, and they certainly couldn't afford a babysitter either.

When the schools closed for break, holidays often meant trusting Terry to be responsible in the house all by himself while both his parents worked. It wasn't all bad. As a kid, Terry learned to be very independent, making simple meals for himself, and having a lot of time to watch TV and play video games without mom and dad yelling at him to turn down the noise. But at the same time, Terry saw all the other families spending time together during the holidays. Deep down he felt lonely when his parents couldn't play or sing carols or make snowmen with him.

As he got older, Terry grew bitter at all the ways his parents had to struggle to take care of him. All the bureaucracies and institutions that refused to help poor families like his. The human felt oddly emotional watching all these anthros be given the care and attention they needed, even for something as seemingly frivolous as mating season. In many ways, he wished there were programs like this in his world for when he was a child. How different things could have been, if his family had someone, anyone to do something as simple as just lighten the load their unforgiving world placed on them.

“Are you... crying?" Julie asked.

Hunter shook himself back to reality, touching his face and realizing it was stained with tears. “Ah. Sorry, I was, uh, thinking about my upbringing. We... didn't have it so easy."

“Oh yeah. I was the same way when I was a human. Growing up closeted, with a family that didn't accept me... Sometimes, I wish I was born in this world. Just imagine, how much less fucked-up would we have been."

“I know, right?" The human paused, a rather sincere thought hitting him, one aching to be said aloud. “If I ever have kids, I'd wanna raise them in a place like this. Let them have all the things I didn't have. Community, care, attention... A chance..."

Kiera eyed Julie with a knowing glance. Julie sighed, knowing what the skunk was implying. They communicated almost telepathically, silently arguing over whether now was the right time to talk to their human friend about a certain subject, all with just their facial expressions. Eventually, the cat nodded to the skunk in agreement of their plan.

“Hunter..." Julie started. The human turned to face the mammal couple as they clasped their paws together. “Me and Kiera have been talking ever since our engagement began... We both wanna have cubs together. Start a family."

Hunter beamed at the announcement. “That's awesome! You two will make great parents, I can tell!"

Kiera picked up where Julie left off. “Yeah... Here's the thing: As I'm sure you can tell, we can't exactly... breed one another, in the traditional sense."

“So, you're thinking of adopting?"

“We've discussed it. But we both agreed that we want to carry a baby to term. So, Julie's gonna be the baby mama."

Julie interjected excitedly, “My dad always told me I'd never be a real girl because I'd never give birth. Hah. If only he could see me now."

Hunter smiled, sharing in their palpable excitement. “That's so cool! Have you sought out any local sperm donors?"

Kiera cut in, “Not exactly. We actually... already have a personal donor in mind."

“Oh really? Who?" As soon as the question innocently escaped Hunter's lips, he saw the nervous but pleading eyes from the cat and skunk meeting his. It all crashed on him,

“Ooooohhh fuck."

“Look, you don't have to do anything you don't want to!" Julie said, hoping to calm her friend down. “That's why we're asking!"

“B-But why me? I mean, not that I don't want to! I mean— I don't want to. Not like that, anyway! I'm happy to do it! It's just— This is a lot!"

“We know, we know," said Kiera. “But we've talked very thoroughly about this. If we are going to have a kitten, we want it to have as much human lineage as possible. To honor Julie's past self as well as how we met. You're obviously the only other ex-human we know... The only one with a penis, that is."

“And we trust you more than anyone else!" Julie interjected. “Hell, you already bred me during the film shoot. Bred both of us! You know my body maybe better than anyone that isn't Kiera. We're both most comfortable with you doing this over anyone else."

Hunter stammered, “Wh-Why not ask Doe! I'm sure she'd be happy to—"

“Doe's a deer. Cross-species mating doesn't work like that, remember?"

Ah fuck, right! Hunter thought, realizing he had already forgotten the most important factor to this request.

Kiera continued, “Obviously this won't be right away. Just... if you ever find yourself transformed into a... well-endowed feline, male or female... maybe consider it? There's no rush."

“I know, but..." Hunter's heart raced. This was an even bigger ask than when he was first propositioned into the anthro porn industry. “You're asking me to father a child! A non-human child!"

Julie clasped her digits into a praying pose. “I know it's a big ask. And if you really don't want to, we'll find another donor, but... We really want you to be part of our family, even in a small way. You helped bring us closer together, and you've become one of our most trusted friends. We've told each other things we've never shared with anyone. You already feel like part of our pride, in a way. We just... we'd be honored to have it be you."

Hunter thought long and hard about it. He'd become best friends with Julie and Kiera. And even though their time together has been relatively short, it was apparent that anthros formed connections with one another more intimately and quickly than humans. Part of that could be attributed to animal instincts that made invisible connections feel tangible and alive. He felt that pull, even in his currently human body. In a way, he was already inextricably tied with the two.

The human had thought about starting a family some day. It was what he promised his father, that the Slate genealogy would not only continue, but that the next generation wouldn't have to experience the same hardships they had. Obviously, if he went along with this plan, it wouldn't exactly be his kid, but rather Julie and Kiera's. But in a manner of speaking, he'd be fulfilling his promise to his dad, giving a future Slate child a loving family with supportive parents and better living conditions. Either way, he knew that Julie and Kiera were like family to him already. And after all, he'd do anything for family.

Finally, Hunter responded, “You guys deserve a perfect family... I'd be honored to contribute any way I can."

Julie and Kiera's hearts soared at the confirmation, letting out sighs of relief and contentment. “You won't regret this!" Kiera said giddily. “And you'll get to be our child's godparent! You can come visit and play with them whenever you want!"

The thought almost excited Hunter. Now that the suddenness of the request had passed, he realized that this could be a very positive experience, like a trial run for whenever he finally does settle down to have a family of his own. He certainly couldn't think of a better family to share with than Julie and Kiera.

“Heh, maybe you'll turn into a feline tonight," Julie teased. “You did say you wanted to finally have a proper tail, right?"

“Hey! How did—" Hunter's eyes widened. “Rudd told you about that?!"

“Aw, it was cute! And hey, I can speak from experience. Feeling your tail grow out? Maybe the best part of my transformation. You know, besides my much-needed gender change."

“Heh, well, maybe one day I'll get a better tail than Kiera here. Bigger and fluffier in every way."

“Hey!" the skunk yelled playfully. “Take that back! No one has a better tail than me."

“Ohoho, wanna make this a bet?"

“Hah! You're on, pinkskin!"

The three laughed together as the limo continued its drive down the city, finally escaping the immense traffic caused by the Cub Care drop-off center. As they placed their bets on Hunter's next transformation, the human finally felt at ease about the premiere that was nearing. He could weather any storm as long as he had his chosen anthro family by his side.