They were now inside the changing room, and once Winter had closed the door behind him (making sure it was not locked, just in case), Ethan switched on the lights.

“Alright, look,” he started, voice shaking a bit. “What I’m about to tell and show you is very, how do you say it… personal. So whatever you say or do, don’t make a ruckus, alright? I’m sure you understand.”

Nervous but perfectly understanding the concern of Ethan, Winter nodded. However, as soon as the other boy started pulling his pants down, Winter yelped loudly.

“H-hold on!” he cried. “W-w-what do you think you’re doing?!”

“I’m not going to take all my pants off!” Ethan replied, flustered as he opened his belt. When his pants fell down on the floor with the belt clicking against it, Winter saw something so strange none of his earlier scenarios of what could happen couldn’t even compare to the sight.

Sticking out from his back was, undoubtedly, a thin, blond tail. It was not particularly long but one couldn’t have called it short either, and it resembled a lion’s tail with a tuft on the top of it, except it was much thinner. Ethan then turned around to reveal his back and lo and behold: blond fur was growing just around the same place as where Winter had it.

“What’s… the meaning of this…?” Winter finally let out after moments of staring. “Ethan, you’re not pulling my leg, aren’t you? This is not a prank?”

“It’s not a prank,” the boy replied and his tail twitched a little. However, probably feeling self conscious or maybe getting cold, he soon put his pants back on and hid the tail inside.

“What… are you?” the other boy finally asked, still staring at where Ethan’s tail had previously been in.

“A changeling, I think.”

“A what?”

“Did your parents never read you fairy tales as a child?” Ethan asked.

“Not really…” Winter mumbled. “So please, explain me…”

“Changeling is someone who has been traded to another child,” the young man explained in a very a matter-of-fact way. “A troll mother takes her own baby and trades it to a human baby, so the troll raises a human, and the humans raise a troll. That’s how it usually goes in stories. Sometimes it’s the fairy folk too, or elves.”

“So are you a troll?”

Ethan laughed and shook his head. “No, I’m a human.”

“But humans don’t….” Winter started, but decided not to say anything after all - he couldn’t find the right words.

“I was taken from my human parents as a child by a demon mother. It’s said that when you spend long enough with them, your body starts to change too to resemble them more. But this is all I can do - I don’t have horns or anything similar.”

“Then…” Winter started slowly, looking at his shaking hand he had rose over his face. “Then that means… I must be a changeling too?”

“If you grew with humans, it means you must be a demon child, unlike me, who is a human.”

Winter put his hand over his mouth and stared at the floor so hard he could have made a hole into it through the sheer intensity of his pierce.

Of course, that’d make sense. It would explain the surgeries, the two lumps on his head that seemed to have grown in the recent years; the secretiveness of his parents and the fact that aside from the similar hair colour, Winter didn’t have much else in common with his family or relatives. Granted, there were some similarities, but didn’t most people have some? If you took a stranger from the street that vaguely resembled you and told someone you’re relatives, surely they would find at least one similarity.

“It must be a lot to take at once,” Ethan’s spoke and his voice pulled Winter out of his haze. “But since you seemed to be completely left into the dark with this, I thought it’d be the right thing to tell you.”

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and then looked away.

“I thought there was a possibility that… maybe we were swapped or something, but then I remembered it would have required us to be the same age. And there is a year difference between us, right?”

“Y-yeah… I’m pretty sure I’m exactly the age my parents claim me to me; there were no secrets, hush-hushes or murmurs regarding that topic.”

“So… What are you going to do now?”

Winter looked at Ethan.

“I don’t know,” he then replied and looked away from the changeling. “This is kind of a lot to take. When I came here… I, uh, absolutely didn’t expect this to happen.”

“Sorry about that,” the blond apologized.

“It’s fine, now I understand everything that has been puzzling me since I was a kid. But tell me, Ethan, what are you doing here if you were raised by demons?”

“I learned I’m a human only some time ago myself,” Ethan admitted with an awkward laughter. “And so I wanted to know what kind of life humans really lead so I came here. Some of my demon friends came too, although they’re in different schools - this one refused to take more in due to lack of space and resources.”

He laughed again, but this time his cheeks reddened slightly as he continued: “It’s not easy being a human, you know? I keep saying and doing weird things all the time; we look similar, but there are a lot of differences between how we and humans behave.”

“Like?”

“Like, the demons I grew up with were really playful, in the same way cats and dogs are regardless of their age. Humans aren’t like that, people my age are supposed to be much more collected.”

“I’m not playful,” Winter commented. “Even though it seems I’m a demon.”

“It’s not entirely biological - it’s in the culture too. You have been raised to control your feelings and stuff, haven’t you?”

“... you’re correct.”

“Then… do you prefer to live as a human, or do you want to find your biological parents and live with the demons?” the boy suddenly asked.

“I-I must think about it,” Winter breathed. “It’s all very sudden, and I’m perfectly accustomed to this kind of life, so I doubt I’d like to change the pace now. But... “

He took a short break and looked at Ethan before speaking: “But I’d like to meet my other parents, one day. Not now, maybe not soon, but some time… And I want to talk to my parents about this too and about them keeping it a secret.”

“Sounds like a plan. But say, have your horns grown out yet?”

“No, just two bumps on the head. I was always told it’s just my skull being weird.”

“Hm, then you definitely want to get something done with them - they should grow out anytime soon. Usually even children have them but maybe the human influence has made you into a late bloomer…”

“O-oh great,” Winter stuttered and instinctively touched the two bumps on his head, imagining them bursting out one day to reveal horns. “Um, does it hurt?”

“It might sting at first, from what I have heard - I never got any horns.”

“O-okay…”

The two stood there in silence then, looking awkwardly at each other, then the floor and then each other again. Only Ethan’s suggestion to leave finally broke the silence, and they both agreed their business here was done.

They sneaked out, made sure to shut off the lights and went outside through the backdoor, as the front door was probably already locked, and the back exit directly led them outside.

“If you want to, like, call or anything or just hang out, just tell me. I can give my number,” Ethan spoke once they were outdoors.

“That’d be nice,” Winter replied and took out his phone, and Ethan then proceeded to give his phone number.

“Do you like video games?” he then asked, and Winter nodded: “I’m not very good, but yeah, I do.”

“Want to hang out in the arcade tomorrow? I can introduce you to the other demons as well - they’re all really chill.”

Winter hesitated, but only for a moment, and eventually nodded: “I’d love that.”

“Great, it’s a deal then. Tomorrow, after school, see you there!”

“See you!”

And the two parted their ways. Only then the entire situation where Winter now was in washed over him, and he had to take a hold of the nearby building’s wall to keep his balance.

“I’m… a demon?” he thought to himself. “Those surgeries, those secrets, all those were to pretend I’m a human?”

Frankly, Winter didn’t mind the fact his tail had obviously been removed as he wasn’t very keen on the idea of keeping such a thing a secret. Nevertheless, the fact his parents had never told him the truth upset him beyond words: telling the truth would have saved him from so much suffering and agonizing over a body he certainly liked, but couldn’t quite understand.

Once back at home, he would talk about all this. He’d make his parents tell the whole story so that Winter could understand the circumstances of his birth better.

And, the next day, he would meet with Ethan again and talk to demons… Those he was also one of, despite the fact the idea felt absurd at best.

“But Ethan is there,” Winter told himself as he now kept walking back home on the silent evening road. “He seems like a good guy, he explains things calmly and so that I understand them too, and he seemed to be happy to be able to meet with me again.”

He stopped and took a deep breath.

“What more, he wanted me to understand my circumstances, despite not knowing me at all. He put himself at risk by revealing himself to me, a stranger, just so he could reassure me and show I’m not alone.”

Winter smiled, cheeks burning a little.

“I think he is a good guy, truly.”