#denise

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"You've been staring a lot in the mirror lately," Paxton says gently from behind her. "Is everything alright?"

She's not yet out to the rest of the world. Denise only exists in their apartment so far, but she's been to her doctor, someone private with discretion, and she does have her referral to an endocrinologist, but she hasn't yet felt brave enough to make the appointment.

"Do you think it's bad that I like my body hair?" Denise asks, pulling up the sleeve of her nightgown to reveal the thick, dark hairs obscuring her forearm tattoos. "Women don't usually..."

"Women can do whatever they want," Paxton says firmly. "I think the idea that body hair being gendered is stupid. I shave everywhere except down there because it makes me more comfortable. My sister Harmony doesn't shave at all. I know Taunie and Urbain constantly argue about it. Every person is different."

She runs a hair through her beard, noting the specks of white. "Even if I keep my beard?"

"Won't make you less of a woman," Paxton says. "The only thing that would make you 'less of a woman' is you deciding you don't want to be one."

"I'm a woman," Denise says, and it's equally much a reassurance to her as it is a confirmation to Paxton. "I think I want my beard gone, though."

"Then you do that," Paxton says, and he reaches up to pet her face. "I bet the only reason you kept it is because of some real embarrassing tattoo under it."

That makes her laugh, and it takes close to a minute before she's able to be serious again. "No tattoos," she promises. "Thank you, Pax dearest."