Xaviers!

Not long after Steph's email, Tosh got a knock on his door.

Out in the hallway, Steph shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot, which added an additional layer of ridiculousness to the sight of a werewolf in a flour-dusted apron with a tin of cookies in her hand.

Tosh opened the door and smiled a little at the heartwarmingly absurd image before him.

"That was fa-are those fresh cookies?" he asked, surprised.

Steph's tail wagged excitedly and she smiled as he opened the door and noticed the cookies.

"Yeah," she replied, "I wanted to...I guess just thank you for being such a great friend to me, even though I hide in my room or the woods a lot."

His smile grew in both appreciation and awkward shyness.

"No worse than me hiding in the workshop most of the time," he chuckled. "I... you've been a good friend too."

"I'm glad...people here are really accepting. I wasn't really expecting to be so...welcomed. And you've been especially great helping me not feel weird about eating two trays of food, and helping me blow off steam in the Danger Room."

Steph still held the tin of cookies in her hands, not quite sure what to do with them.

"It's definitely incredible how quickly people become like family around here," he smiled. "Would you... like to come in? Feels silly talking in the doorway."

Steph’s tail wagged excitedly at the prospect, a smile crossing her face, “I’d like that a lot.”

She stepped into the room and set the cookies down on his desk before turning back to him. “So...thank you. And well, more importantly, Merry Christmas.”

She hesitated for a moment before she closed the distance between them and went in for a hug.

"Merry Christmas to you too," he said with a light chuckle, a little surprised by the intensity of her excuse to get close to her crush gratitude.

At this rate, she'll crush me when she gets my gift.

Steph squeezed him in a perhaps overenthusiastic, though not unpleasant hug but then suddenly gasped in pain, squeezing him painfully tight and digging her nails into his back.

Tosh gasped in pain of his own. "Steph... that's too... hard..."

Steph fell to her knees, whimpering, and most unfortunately for Tosh, shredding most of his shirt on the way down.

Fortunately for Tosh, however, it was his shirt and not the flesh on his back.

A sickening series of audible pops, crunches and rips as she fell to her knees quickly gave way to more visible changes as the giant werewolf began to shrink, and get noticeably less furry and decidedly more feminine. Steph fell over onto her side, thrashing a bit on the floor before laying there, panting, blissfully unaware of how naked she was except for a pair of unstable molecule underwear and the apron which was no longer tied, and no longer covering much of anything.

Tosh, being both male and unaccustomed to mostly naked girls and at his feet, stood stupidly transfixed.

"Uhhhh..."

She's... naked? Why is she naked!

Underwear Bro.

Not helping!

Steph’s eyes finally reopened after being squeezed shut in pain for most of the shift and she looked up at Tosh slightly confused for a moment, her normally feral yellow irises a deep brown. She knew that look on the boy’s face, and she sputtered as she realized what had happened, flailing around and trying to cover herself with the apron.

“Oh my gosh....I am so sorry,” she said, her cheeks bright red, squirming around and trying to cover up as best as she could.

“Oh...oh....your shirt. Oh gosh. Are... did I hurt you?”

Tosh snapped out of his mesmerized state and turned possibly even redder before looking away.

"N~no! I'm f~fine! J~just the shirt!" he answered, desperately scanning the room before just pulling the top sheet off of his bed and tossing it in her direction in an embarrassed panic.

Stephanie, not really thinking about exactly the sheet would look like, eagerly wrapped it around herself, sputtering, “I....oh gosh. This....I didn’t think I could ever...be normal again. And. Oh damnit, this is so embarrassing....”

"It... had to happen sometime... right? Do you... uhh... have... any clothes for... this?" he asked, still flustered.

“What? For being normal?” she asked, feeling a bit more comfortable now that she was covered up at least. “Yeah...my old roommate agreed to ship most of my clothes over here since my family was keen to be rid of every memory of me.”

“I just...well i didn’t think that would happen.”

Did you like what you saw though?

She shifted her legs under her to get more comfortable and yanked down the top of the sheet covering her chest during the maneuver, yelping in surprise and tugging the sheet back up.

Tosh felt a pang of empathy at her comment about her family. He would never understand the families that reacted that way to a mutant amongst them. His was supportive and just as loving as before.

"So I... guess I'll just drop by your room and grab something. You're with Emilie, right?"

“Yeah,” she said after a moment’s hesitation. “That would be good....Unless you want to just hang out like this....” she joked with a weak, embarrassed smile.

...she probably wasn’t joking.

"Hanging out with beautiful half-naked girls miiight make the girlfriend I'm lucky to have a bit upset," he said apologetically. That was when it dawned on him what this would look like if someone saw them and he reddened a little.

“Oh....oh my gosh. I...I didn’t even know...” Steph stammered, mortified, her own face quickly reddening. “I...should just go,” she added quickly, rising to her feet and gathering the sheet around her like Cinderella in her ball gown trying to run out of the ball before midnight. She bolted for the door, totally not starting to cry.

"No! Stop," he urged. "At least... let me get your clothes."

Good grief kid. Buy a clue.

Steph didn’t seem to be listening as she bolted into the hallway.

Tosh stood there, letting his brain catch up to the situation at hand.

Umm... Bro? I think she might like us.
What do you mean? All she...
She baked us cookies dude.
...
...
... shit.
Maybe Haley won't find out?