Jayce called it the night before with Karey, and he and Kaitlyn walked into the diner at a quarter after eleven. The only thing that made it worth going still was rhe fact that they served their whole menu all day so Kaitlyn could still get her waffles. As they walked in, he chuckled at the sight if the twins arguing in a booth to one side of the dining area and Kaitlyn immediately ran over and sat next to Casey so Jayce dropped in next time Karey as the two whispered lowly to each other. He could use his shifter hearing to eavesdrop, but focused on Karey instead.

"I didn't think we'd see you guys until we met at the rec center," he commented as he picked up the menu that was sitting on the table.

He didn't see the slight flush to Karey's cheeks as she answered, "I had a craving for one of their burgers for lunch and begged Casey to have lunch here first."

Casey smirked at his sister. "Definitely only wanted to come for the burger," he teased, earning a kick to the shin. "Ow!"

Jayce was curious what that meant but decided he didn't want to get involved in any of the disputes they tended to have between them. Instead he looked over the menu despite having it nearly memorized. It hadn't changed since he was a teen, and he doubted it would change until the owner, Harriet, died or sold the place. He only tended to eat a few different things, and if he had gone on the run last night the only thing he would have ordered would have been several burgers. But he didn't Change for the full moon run so he wasn't as hungry as he usually would be after, and he wasn't craving the meat as much as normal either.

The single waitress walked over and eyed them all with disdain. Jayce knew who it would be, and a quick glance told him Harriet wasn't here. With an internal sigh, he put away the menu and acknowledged his fate of having to skip lunch here.

"Hey, freak squad," the woman drawled as she smirked at them. Her name was Elizabeth and she was one if Jayce's bullies ever since he'd began his transition. Then her eyes fell on Kaitlyn and her mouth turned to a real smile. "What can I getcha, kid?"

Kaitlyn wavered as she looked at the menu, and then said, "Waffles with bacon and eggs. Also, three burgers - one with everything, one with just cheese and pickles, and one with cheese, bacon, lettuce, and mayonnaise." She looked up and smiled brightly at the waitress. "And then two orange juices, one coffee with creamers and sugars, and one coke. Please."

Elizabeth diligently wrote everything down and then eyed everyone else, likely hoping to figure out which burger and would belong to him to mess with it like usual. Casey probably fed her the order for him and Karey, and knew his burger order by heart as well. Since Jayce was the only one she'd have done anything to his food, by having all of it ordered by one person they would hopefully avoid him not being able to eat or drink his order.

It wasn't the first time they'd done this sort of thing when Elizabeth was working and Harriet wasn't in the diner to keep an eye on her, unfortunately. While Jayce hadn't really wanted a burger, he also wouldn't order himself anything different or say that to his friends who were only looking out for him.

"So, laser tag..." Karey started before hesitating a moment befire rushing forward, "How do we want to divide up for teams? Seems boring if we're all solo."

Jayce had wanted Kaitlyn to have someone close by anyway, so this worked good for him since it meant he didn't have to deal with a teen not understanding why he was treating her like a baby. She was twelve, though, and this would be a space that would be easy for a kidnapping if someone wanted to try.

"We can have siblings versus siblings?" he suggested, looking to Kaitlyn. "Girls versus boys..." Glancing at how they were sitting and knowing he could trust Casey with his sister, motioned at them now. "We could even go by our current seatmates."

Casey turned to Kaitlyn, who grinned and nodded at him before turning to Jayce. "Let's go with seatmates! No offense, but you're not very good at these kinds of games, Jayce."

Despite how true it was, Jayce acted offended. "Hey! I'm not that bad!"

"Oh, so you saddle me with him?" Karey teased. "So much for girl power. I see how it is. Casey put you up to this somehow."

"Hey, it's not like I want him," Jayce's best male friend joked, winking at him. "Besides, you were just complaining you don't get to hang out with him as much as me the other day."

Their drinks were delivered and they passed them around, Kaitlyn with the juice, Casey with the coffee, Karey with the other orange juice, and Jayce getting the coke. Once Elizabeth walked away, Casey and Jayce switched, and then Jayce switched with Karey, who immediately took a sip and sighed before adding two creams and a sugar to it.

"If you don't mind it black, why add anything?" Casey asked, a familiar and frequent question.

Karey huffed. "Because it's also good with the additives. The answer hasn't changed since the first time you asked. Why do you keep doing it?"

"I keep hoping you'll change your answer."

The two started bickering from there, moving from coffee to who used the last of the hot water at the apartment they share, neither having wanted to keep living at home, to whatever else happened that morning. It was all in good fun, but occasionally one of the twins would get offended and it would change and Jayce usually stepped in around then if he was with them. Otherwise they would have to play rock-paper-scissors on who had to leave the apartment for the night so they could cool off.

The food came shortly after, and again the group passed around the burgers before Jayce had his burger with everything in front of him. Karey had the one with just cheese and pickles, while Carey had the final one. They ate mostly in silence, and then Casey paid for Kaitlyn's meal "because she's my date for the day" so Jayce laughed and paid for Karey's "for the same reason, I suppose."

Kaitlyn ditched her brother to ride with Casey, and Jayce realized as he got in his Jeep with Karey that she'd been pretty quiet since they paid for the food.

"Anything wrong?" he asked as they left the diner. Karey wasn't usually so quiet, and he was afraid that maybe Casey had managed to bother her more than Jayce had caught on. Or that she didn't like the idea that he was her "date" for the day.

There was silence for several minutes before Karey sighed and said, "So, I know you're probably not interested in this kind of stuff, but I guess I should just let you know about it anyway." That was confusing, but Jayce nodded for her to continue. "I love you, like romantically love you. I noticed I was starting to like you in high school, but you never seemed interested in girls and Casey told me you didn't like boys because he confessed in middle school so I just figured you were asexual or aromantic or both and-"

"Breathe," Jayce told her, interrupting her word vomit and smiling at her. "I'm not aromantic or asexual, by the way. I like girls, but the only girl who never treated me weird or seemed to hate me on principal around our age was you. And our friendship means way more to me than figuring out romance with you just for it to cause a rift between us."

"So, have you liked me too then?"

Jayce shrugged. "I don't really know what romance and stuff is supposed to be like. Do I think you're attractive? Yes. I like you as a person and you're a beautiful woman. But I've never kissed anyone before, let alone other stuff."

"Do you want to kiss someone?"

"I don't know. Since I've never done it, how do I know if I want to or not?" He chewed his lip for a moment, and Karey let him think for a moment when she noticed he looked thoughtful. "Besides, you know I decided not have the other surgery down there. Most girls I know who like guys want a real man, not the facsimile I am."

Karey huffed angrily, glaring at him. "You are a real man. Just because you don't have a penis doesn't mean you aren't a real man, Jayce. And I definitely don't care if you have one or not. I love you because of who you are, not because of your sexual organs."

Jayce glanced at her briefly, his face warming a little at the vehemence of her statements. "All right, I just... It's a real concern for someone like me, you know? I tried online dating last year, and it was just so disheartening to see so many girls ghost me or call me rude things when they learned I was a transgender man." He saw the sign for the rec center and turned into the lot. "I guess I just sort of accepted I would be alone, that's all."

Karey nodded as she let that sink in. Then she shrugged and smiled at him. "Well. I don't care, and we can talk about this more later if you want. You probably need time to think about everything."

"Yeah, I think I do," he agreed sheepishly. "Sorry I can't just give you an answer now."

"I mean, I've been feeling like this for years and we've been just fine. It might take a bit to adjust for both of us if you decide you don't like me back, but I don't think this will break our friendship." She shrugged and went to open the door. "Of course, if you think differently, that sucks but I'll understand."

"No, I think you're right," Jayce agreed quickly. "I don't think anything could really break our friendship."

They got out of the Jeep and joined their siblings at the door, Kaitlyn excited to go inside and get started. They signed up for the next game of laser tag and, since they had some time before the round would begin, went to look at some of the other games available. Jayce bought tokens and split them with Karey with a wink, and when Kaitlyn complained he told her she should ask her own date. Casey laughed before getting tokens for the two of them and they went to play.

"I've always been glad you two don't mind letting her tag along for things," Jayce told Karey as they went to play skeeball. Neither of them were very good at it, but it was thr game they enjoyed the most when they'd go to the city and visit one of the arcades up there.

"Why wouldn't we?" Karey told him as she rolled one of her balls. "She's your sister, and you were so hurt when your parents left you. We were afraid you'd resent her, but instead you embraced having a sibling you get to see so rarely. Casey and I decided that if she was around, we should support letting you spend time with her even if it meant not getting to hang out with you at all when she was here."

"She adores you guys."

Karey chuckled. "That's because none of us really treat her like she's a kid unless it's something dangerous."

"I need to thank you for making sure we did this in pairs too. I was worried she'd argue if I tried to tell her she had to stay with one of us."

"No need to thank me. I was worried about her being by herself."

"Well, thanks anyways."

Soon it was time for them to join the laser tag round and they met up with their siblings again. Kaitlyn turned to Karey once we joined up and said, "I'm claiming you for the arcade after this round. Casey cheats."

Casey looked aghast. "I do not!"

Karey laughed. "I bet you're right, Katie. We'll let the boys play and do whatever cheating they do while we go play legitimately."

"Oh, the betrayal!" Jayce cried out dramatically.

They were given their gear and told the rules, all four listening intently. Laser tag was something they'd never gotten to play, though they had seen the advertisements for this place shortly before it opened a few months ago. It wasn't too busy, but it was also only Tuesday even if it was summer. There were plenty of young adults in their group though and a handful of younger kids Kaitlyn's age or older. Some of the older people were joking around instead of listening, either already knowing the rules or not caring, but the four of them made sure to pay attention.

And if Kaitlyn didn't, Jayce knew Casey was so she'd be okay in the room with him.

They played around for several hours together, Casey and Jayce had the highest number if tickets between the four of them, which the four had pooled together so that Kaitlyn could get something, while Jayce and Karey only one a single laser tag game through points combined when against Casey and Kaitlyn. Karey acted put out that she didn't win anything, but everyone knew she was putting on a show for Kaitlyn to be amused by.

"To the lake?" Kaitlyn asked, looking up at the sky. It was time for dinner, but they all had a large lunch and weren't starving yet. An hour or two at the lake while it was still daylight out would probably be enough time for everyone to be hungry again so they all agreed and split up, with Karey hopping into the Jeep again and Kaitlyn taking advantage of getting to ride in Casey's large Dodge truck again.

They drove in silence for a while, and then Jayce asked, "Would you like to go to the car show with me? They usually have all those craft and food vendors, and some fair stuff like games and rides. It starts this weekend and goes all next week."

"Like a date?" Karey asked, confused. "Or are we all going on Saturday before Katie has to go home?"

"Like a date. You don't have classes with it being summer, and you aren't a lifeguard at the pool every day. I figure on one of your days off we could go?"

"What about your job?"

Jayce shrugged. "I was let go this morning. Boss called while I was waiting for Katie to wake up. They don't have the hours for me right now, and with me not being an actual mechanic they can't really keep me on."

"That sucks. Have you started looking for something else?"

"Not yet. Gramps said I might wanna hold off because of some pack stuff, but he told me he'd explain more tomorrow." Jayce turned onto the road leading to the lake, and then down a dirt path that led farther into the woods. "I am also planning to change my major. I'm not really liking mechanical engineering, especially at the pace I'm getting the degree." He turned onto a barely there dirt road and followed it. "I need to get my trunks. Do you mind waiting in the Jeep while I change? I guess I should have asked that first."

"I don't mind. I had a feeling we'd have to make a stop. You don't usually wear yours like Casey and I do practically all summer, and I wouldn't be surprised if Kaitlyn does with as often as she begs to go to thr lake when she's here."

"True. I should probably start wearing it all the time when she's here." Jayce parked at a small cabin and jumped out. "Be right back."

"No rush."

Jayce went inside his two room cabin, the bathroom being the second room, and quickly stripped down. He took a second to look himself over, the knowledge that Karey was interested in him making him want to see his body the way someone else might. Since he started the transition so young, he never had to deal with female breasts at all, so his chest was flat with his pectorals defined and filled out. He didn't have a six-pack, but his abdominals were still filled out enough that if he really wanted to they would probably get there with work. His arms and legs were lean and muscular, looking powerful but not bulky.

He avoided looking at the spot near the apex of his legs, not wanting to think about what he lacked. Karey had said she didn't care, but he wasn't sure he believed it. There were ways to get around it to let it be like she was with someone who wasn't missing something there, but none of them would be quite like having his own appendage. He shook his head and pulled on his trunks before hurrying back out to the Jeep.

"Sorry for the wait," he said as he climbed into the Jeep, smiling sheepishly at Karey and realizing she was eying his body before smiling back at him. He'd never thought about it, but she'd done that before and he'd just assumed she was just looking out for him. Now, knowing what he did, he realized she was actually checking him out. It made him feel good, and he resolved to show off a bit more later at the lake.

As they drove down the dirt road, Jayce noticed a moving truck at the house near the lake at the end of his road before turning onto the path that he made that would take them to where they always met up at. From the road to the lake here was blocked by the house in front of them so they weren't able to hang out down here, but it was all pack land so Jayce was allowed to cut through to make his own off-road path wide enough for his Jeep nearby to get to where they hung out.

"I guess old Miss Constance passed away," Karey commented solemnly as they turned away. Jayce glanced over to see who was there and saw a young woman come out, waving when she saw them so he returned it. "You see someone?"

"Yeah, a girl about our age I think. Dark hair and looks kinda tiny, but other than that I didn't catch much," he told her as they drove out of sight of the place. "Means I can't go to Constance if the pack tries to kill me if Gramps dies before I can figure out where to go before that happens."

"Does Keagan know you want to leave?"

"I mentioned wanting to know what packs were open to people like me and he got me a list with locations, so he probably knows, but I haven't explicitly told him."

They saw Casey's truck before they saw their siblings, and Jayce parked next to it so they could get out and join them in the lake where they were already swimming.