“Nothing!? Nothing at all yet?” Ollie shouted to be heard over the loud music at the party. Him and Curtis had come to the party since they'd heard Sam and Todd would be around, but by the time they'd arrived they couldn't see any sign of the two of them.
“I mean, nothing I’ve found yet,” Curtis replied quietly. He’d certainly spent enough time looking into the mirror that day checking his hair, so if anything had changed he figured that he-
“What!? I can’t hear ‘ya!” Ollie replied, holding one ear shut while holding a plastic cup with the other hand. “Curt, you wanna find somewhere quieter!?”
“God yes,” Curtis sighed, eagerly getting away from the nearby speakers and looking for a place to relax. He’d been nursing half a cup of beer for the entire evening, even though he wasn’t particularly comfortable drinking while underage. Eventually, him and Ollie managed to find an empty corner of the room, far enough away that the music was a pleasant background to their conversation rather than overpoweringly loud.
“…The music sounds different here, huh? Heard some people talking, saying it’s designed with different frequencies and stuff like that, makes it easier for different anthro types to listen to,” Ollie said, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Just so awesome. Like, everything’s sorta the same, but then it all ends up being totally different once you look a little closer. Here, wanna show you somethin’…”
Ollie leaned in and opened up one of his eyes as wide as he could and showed it off to Curtis. Up close, Curtis could see the unusual coloration in even greater detail, as well as the slightly lengthened horizontal shape of his pupils.
“Y’know why it’s shaped like that? Wider field of vision. Lots of prey species have ‘em, to keep an eye out for predators… Still getting’ used to it, but it’s really cool!” Ollie said with a slight smile. Anyone else would make it sound like a brag, to show off and exclaim ‘look how awesome my new eyes are!’. Ollie just sounded happy to share his changes with someone, to help another of his peers realize that things might not be so scary.
“Y-yeah, that’s actually neat…” Curtis replied, taking another microscopic sip of his beer. He hadn’t noticed any changes like that. Some ‘gifted’ student he turned out to be. With his luck, he’d probably end up the only person in the whole school not to turn into anything. Or the first one to turn into an anthro slug or something. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about his hair that way.
“You liking this song, Curt? Lookin’ like it, at least,” Ollie said, looking right at Curtis with his usual friendly grin.
“Huh? Y-yeah, it’s nice… How’d you know I like it?” Curtis asked nervously.
“You’ve been bobbing your head the whole time it’s been on. Didn’t you notice?”
Curtis immediately felt a wave of self-consciousness hit him hearing Ollie’s comment. The realization that he’d been moving along to the music, letting everyone else at the party know that he was (gasp) enjoying himself, was almost too humiliating to put into words. He was supposed to be in control of himself, and he’d let himself lose that control in a moment of weakness. The heat of his embarrassment made his cheeks burn before moving right to the tips of his ears, which felt like they were about to melt right off his head from pure shame.
“…I like it too. Nice beat, even though I dunno nothin' 'bout music. Couldn't tell a polka band from a poker game, y'know?” Ollie commented off-handedly, then he started to tap his foot along to the music as well. “I hate dancing, but it’s really tempting about now…”
“…The beat’s nice, but there’s something else…” Curtis said quietly, still feeling self-conscious about himself. “There’s a deep tone to all the instruments, and the vocals are layered really subtly. There’s a… melody, hard to pick out under everything else.” He hummed along to the song as best he could, and the more he did the more he felt his earlier embarrassment start to slip away.
“…I don’t hear that at all, but I like it!” Ollie exclaimed. “You didn’t say you knew anything 'bout music!”
“I don’t, I’m just telling you what I’m hearing…?” Curtis replied with confusion. He noticed an odd look cross Ollie’s face and saw Ollie’s eyes looking up toward the top of Curtis’s head.
God, not my hair again… That’s the last straw, I’m shaving it all off first thing tomorrow, Curtis thought to himself, reflexively reaching up to try to smooth down his cowlick for the millionth time that day.
Only this time, he didn’t feel his usual cowlick. Instead, he felt something warm, firm, fuzzy, and pointed peeking out from just under his hair. The moment he registered that something was off, the odd new appendages flattened against his head to show his fear and confusion, trembling just a bit against his scalp.
“Ears, dude! You’ve got new ears!” Ollie nearly shouted, thumping Curtis on the back. “Must be why you’re hearin’ all sorts of stuff that I ain't!”
In his shock, Curtis reached up and gently ran his fingers over the furry, floppy canine ears currently growing from the top of his head. Not too long, slightly pointed and with a slight droop, coated in a light coating of soft fur. And constantly pivoting, flattening, and standing up straight to communicate the little emotions that Curtis had tried his entire life to keep hidden away.
In a blur, Curtis stumbled to his feet and tried to get away, his ears flicking and twitching wildly. However, before he could take a single step, he felt a hand leap out and grab his own.
“Hold on, Curt… I thought you liked this song?”
Ollie was still looking straight into Curtis’s eyes, still keeping that friendly grin plastered right on his face without letting it move an inch. His grip not letting Curtis move an inch, either.
“I-I do, I was just… I just…” Curtis stammered, looking all around the party and praying that nobody saw him getting his hand held by another man. But everyone had their own issues to deal with, their own friends to chat with, their own party to enjoy. For once in his life, even with Ollie holding on tight to his hand and with a pair of dog ears sticking out of his scalp, Curtis didn’t feel like everyone in the world was staring at him. The only one staring was Ollie…
…And somehow, Curtis was fine with that.
“Wanna dance, Curt?” Ollie offered with a wink and wiggle of his eyebrow.
“I thought you hated dancing?”
“I can live with it. Let’s go.”
Ollie laughed and pulled Curtis a little closer to the sound system, and soon the two were awkwardly wiggling around to the beat, their bodies not quite as close as lovers might but a bit to close for ‘just friends’. A few whisps of the song’s lyrics flew through Curtis’s ears along with the thumping bass and buzzing synths, guiding his body along and making him forget the dozens of eyes that must be watching him. He could hear the sounds more deeply than he’d ever heard anything in his life and let them wash over him.
Something must have changed in me,
I don’t fear it anymore.
Yeah, if only it was that easy, Curtis thought, although he smiled at the sentimentality of it all. In his awkward movements he felt his hands brushing against Ollie’s, and considered reaching out and letting their hands entwine once again for a closer dance, but he thought better of it. He just wanted to enjoy the music, the company of a new friend, the feelings of change that were spreading across his body and (he hoped) his attitude. He laughed happily at Ollie’s less-than-impressive dance moves, completely sure that his own movements were just as bad. But that was okay. Curtis was having fun being himself for the first time in ages.