Announcementcontent warning: transmisic parents; misgendering; brief violence"It's my dad," Gwen said nervously, from where she was standing halfway down the stairs from the upper floor.

  I nodded, "I figured. The door's locked though, so are the side door and the back door. We don't have to answer, we don't have to let him in."

  The banging started again a moment ter, and it was loud enough to make me flinch. It almost felt like the whole front of the house was shaking as Gwyneth's dad pounded at the door behind me.

  I was standing in the middle of the front hall, having raced upstairs from my bedroom as soon as I realized who was outside. I wasn't completely unprepared though, I'd brought the little pink ptop with me just incase.

  After five or ten seconds of banging we heard Mr. McFarne shout, "I know you're in there! I know you can hear me! You get your queer ass out here right now boy! The longer you keep me waiting the worse it's gonna be when I get my hands on you!"

  Despite Gwen and I being best friends for the st few years, I didn't actually know her parents that well. I'd only met Mr. McFarne a few times, but Gwyneth was right about him being an imposing figure. He wasn't as tall as Ed used to be, and I didn't think he was as scary as Edward either. Then again, I'd never really seen her dad when he was angry.

  I knew Dan McFarne was in his te forties or early fifties, he looked like a strong heavy-set guy. He'd worked all his life as a machinist, but his passion was motorcycles. He had an old Harley that he drove around on the weekends, and according to Gwen her dad had some biker friends he usually hung out with on Friday nights after work.

  "I don't think he's going to give up," Chelsea commented in a worried tone. She was behind Gwen, a few steps up and back from the ravenette elf. The catgirl's ears were folded back and her tail had puffed up in arm as it twitched back and forth down low behind her ankles.

  "Maybe we should call the cops?" Chels added. "Tell them there's a violent man shouting threats and banging at our door. Even if they don't arrest him they might get him to leave."

  It only took me a second or two to decide against that. "I don't want to get any authorities involved. Mr. McFarne will tell them his kid's in here, and the cops will probably treat it like a domestic thing? They'll want to talk to all of us, and I'm sure they'll have a ton of questions. Plus even though I did the house transfer yesterday I have no idea if there's any way to prove to them that it's ours."

  Gwen's dad started banging at the door again just as I finished talking. And this time he shouted, "If you freaks don't open this door right now I swear I'm going to kick it in! I'm here for my son and you can't keep me from him!"

  By that point my best friend looked even more scared. Her eyes were wide and her face was even paler than usual as she said, "He'll do it. He's going to kick in the door and I have no idea what he's going to do when he gets his hands on me."

  "He won't even recognize you, remember?" I responded in what I hoped was a calming tone. "He has no idea how much you've changed. He won't believe it's you."

  A guilty look crossed Gwen's face as she sighed, "He knows. I sent my parents some more texts after breakfast. Including a new selfie."

  "I thought I could convince them there was no point 'discussing' it," she admitted. "I thought if I expined that I already fully transitioned they might give up? Like they'd see there were no hormones to throw out, it was too te to try and block me or stop me."

  Then she added, "They sent a couple more angry texts after that. So I texted them that I wasn't coming home, period. I told them if they weren't going to be supportive or even try to understand me, then I didn't need them in my life at all."

  I sighed, "Oh. And I guess instead of giving up that just made your dad even more angry?"

  Gwen looked even more guilty as she nodded, "Yeah. Not just him, my mom lost it too. I don't know if either of them actually believed I really look like this? But they both got really mad at me for telling them this is what I want, that I'm way happier like this. And that I didn't need them anymore."

  "So what are we going to do?" Chelsea asked. She gestured, "I see you've got the ptop with you Lisa. And Mr. McFarne's right outside the door, he's close enough to show up on the search screen now."

  I shook my head, "That's a st resort. I found out how to keep us all safe, but we might not have time for me to expin how it all works right now. I need to make a few small adjustments, but I wanted to ask your permission first. It's not -"

  "Yes!" Gwen interrupted. "Please do it, I don't care what the drawbacks are or what it costs. Please Lisa, just make it so he can't hurt me, and can't take me away!"

  Chelsea nodded, "Same with me. I trust you, do whatever it takes to keep all three of us safe!"

  "Alright. This will just take a minute," I said as I focused my attention on the little pink ptop.

  I held it in one hand and typed with the other as I opened up the inventory editor. I went to Gwen's listing first and quickly located that strange bck chain choker she was wearing. With what I'd read in the documentation fresh in my mind I knew exactly what I needed to do.

  It only took me about thirty seconds to make the edits, then I had the ptop save everything. The blue LED came on for a half second, and as soon as it was done I went into Chelsea's inventory to repeat the process on the kitty colr she was wearing.

  Mr. McFarne was still shouting and banging on the door while I worked, and just as I saved the second set of changes I was startled by a loud crack behind me. The front door suddenly flew open, accompanied by some wooden splinters as the door frame gave way.

  I flinched and scrambled off to the side of the hallway then stood with my back to the wall, while Gwen let out a little yelp of fear. She started backing up the stairs with Chelsea at her side, as her dad stalked past me into the house looking every bit as angry as he'd sounded.

  Through the now open door I could also see Gwen's mom waiting by their car. Mrs. McFarne was a tall slim woman in her te forties, she had blue-grey eyes and kept her hair dyed a deep golden blonde. She had a stern look on her face, and while she didn't look as angry as her husband she definitely wasn't happy.

  My best friend's dad finally came to a halt at the bottom of the stairs, while Gwen and Chels stood together at the top. Gwyneth almost looked like she was frozen in fear as she stared wide-eyed at her father. Chelsea looked scared too, but she was trying to put on a brave face. Her ears were folded back and her tail puffed up, but instead of cringing she actually bared her tiny fangs and let out a hiss.

  "What the fuck?!" Mr. McFarne demanded as he stared up at the two of them. "That's impossible! That can't be real!"

  Then his hands clenched into fists as he added, "Whatever these freaks have done to you, they're going to undo it! I'm here for my boy, and I'm not leaving until you're fixed! Son."

  I stayed put with my back pressed against the wall and focused on the ptop again while I tried not to panic. I was also trying not to make any typos as I rushed to access my character sheet. There was a hidden setting in my SysAdmin css details that I needed to change, and once I did that all three of us would be safe.

  Fortunately it only took another two or three seconds for me to find the field and toggle the value. Then I saved the change, and the blue LED fshed briefly. After that I closed the ptop then cleared my throat and tried to put on a brave bold act.

  "Mr. McFarne!" I stated with as much confidence as I could.

  He spun around to face me, and from his expression it seemed like he'd only just noticed I was there. It looked like he was about to start yelling at me too, but I didn't give him the chance.

  "You've damaged my property and now you're trespassing in my home," I said as I gave him a disapproving frown. "Unless you'd like to expin yourself to the police I strongly suggest you and your wife get back in your car and leave. Now."

  He raised one of his fists in an obviously threatening gesture as he demanded, "Who the hell are you? Are you the one who did that to my boy?!"

  "My name is Lisa Summernd," I replied as I forced myself not to flinch or back down. "And you need to stop misgendering your daughter."

  The man scoffed but once again I didn't let him get a word in just yet. I continued, "I know this may be hard for you to accept Mr. McFarne, but you never had a son. Your child is trans, she's always been a girl inside. The only thing that's changed is now her body matches who she's really been all along."

  "Bullshit!" Mrs. McFarne said from behind me. "I gave birth to a son. Boys can't be girls, and that's that!"

  She'd finally joined the rest of us, although she'd only come about one step inside through the broken doorway. I turned slightly so I could keep both of them in view as my pretend confidence started to give way to actual confidence. And maybe a little anger, fuelled by frustration.

  I frowned at the pair of them, "I've had just about enough of you two misgendering and disrespecting my best friend. You can either apologize to Gwyneth right now, or you can get the hell out of my house and off my property."

  "Best friend?" Mrs. McFarne asked in a pointed tone, as she arched one of her eyebrows at me. Then she deadnamed me and asked, "So you're one of those tranny freaks too? Are you the one who did this to my son?!"

  Gwen had been all but silent until that moment, but it seemed like she felt the need to stand up for me. She shouted at her mom, "Hey! You leave Lisa out of this!"

  "I'm eighteen years old," she gred at both her parents as she started back down the stairs, "I'm not a child anymore, and I don't have to put up with your ignorant hateful crap! I'm a girl, my name is Gwyneth, and if you can't or won't respect that then you can get the hell out of my life!"

  Chelsea followed the elf-girl down the stairs, but both of them stopped when they got to the bottom since Gwen's dad was still there blocking their path. And sadly it seemed like all Gwen and I had managed to do so far was make her folks even more angry.

  "If you think dressing up like a girl means I won't kick your ass you got another thing coming. Boy," her dad growled as he raised his fist again.

  I warned, "If you y a hand on anyone in this house there will be consequences!"

  Unfortunately Mr. McFarne completely ignored my warning. Gwen flinched and closed her eyes as her dad shed out with a very strong backhand across her jaw, except the blow never actually hit her.

  Instead it seemed as though his fist smmed into something tough as steel, then just bounced off with a wet crunching sound that turned my stomach.

  The man let out a yelp of pain then gingerly held his broken hand to his chest and gasped, "What the fuck was that?!"

  "I told you there'd be consequences," I stated in as calm a voice as I could manage. "Now get the hell out of my house, or I'll throw you out myself."

  Mr. McFarne turned to scowl at me while still cradling his injured hand, and it looked like the only thing holding him back was pain. His wife looked shocked and angry and upset too, but at least she hadn't tried anything yet. Meanwhile I was desperately trying to think of a way to de-escate the situation. Mainly I just wanted them to leave without any more trouble, but I had a feeling whatever I tried to say or do would only make matters worse.

  Then Gwen spoke up again, but this time her tone was softer. She asked, "Mom, dad? Please just go, ok? I never wanted anyone to get hurt. I just wanted the chance to be myself, without having to hide or pretend to be something I'm not. This is the real me, and I'm sorry you can't understand or accept that."

  "Lisa and Chelsea do," she added as she gave us both a little smile. "They accept me for who I am, and they've invited me to stay here with them. They're my family now, and this is my home. I don't need you anymore, and that means you can't control or hurt me any longer."

  Both Gwen's parents stared at her for a few moments, but the looks on their faces were nothing but scorn. Then her mother stated, "Come on Daniel. Let's get out of here."

  Mr. McFarne gred at his daughter for another second or two before nodding, "Yeah. There's nothing for us here. We have no son."

  "You never did," Gwen responded quietly, as we all watched her parents turn and leave.

  PurpleCatGirl