Evie’s eyes flickered open. Her entire body was numb... so numb.

This time it didn’t feel like the numbness from entering and leaving VR, though — it felt like the numbness of not moving or feeling your body for months on end. It would take the three of them a while to fully wake up from VR stasis.

Honestly, though? Evie wasn’t sure she wanted to wake up fully. She was terrified of her body. Terrified of how bad it would feel to go from perfection to... the past. She wanted to go back in VR... she wanted to spend the rest of her life there. She never wanted to spend another moment in that old body... she never wanted to see people mistake her as a boy. She never wanted to show people the awful body she was born with again.

Evie closed her eyes tight, trying not to let her emotions get too far away from her. The other two girls were already stirring, and she heard May give a dramatic yawn. If Evie’d been able to see Lily’s face, she was sure Lily would’ve been rolling her eyes.

Her heart ached. Those two meant everything to her, and even with all of their assurances she was still terrified. Terrified that her body in the real world would ruin everything they had.

As Evie’s feeling gradually returned, she also felt her anxiety grow.

She continued to squeeze her eyes shut, and resolutely refused to move another muscle. She would not face reality. She would not deal with this body. She couldn’t and wouldn’t.

No matter what the other two said.

“How’s everybody feeling?” Lily croaked.

“Everything’s sore and weak,” May laughed, sounding equally as croaky.

“Evie?” Lily asked. 

The small girl winced, terrified of the attention. Don’t look at her, don’t do it...

Then there was creaking from the other cots and Evie felt herself tense up even more. She didn’t want to be the centre of attention!

“May?” Lily asked. “What the hell am I looking at?”

“What is it?” May replied, and then there was more creaking. “Is Evie oka— oh.”

Evie’s heart felt like it stopped. So they saw, then. They saw just how gross her body had been before VR. 

“I don’t understand,” May squeaked.

“You must’ve screwed something up again,” Lily said. “You’re the one that set up the meds system remember?”

...And now Evie was just confused. What were they seeing that had anything to do with that?

“Umm... teehee?”

“Evie, are you okay?” Lily asked. “Are you awake? Or are you still in VR?”

Evie reluctantly opened her eyes and met Lily’s, shifting uncomfortably at her intense gaze.

But Lily just gave her a gentle smile. “Adorable.”

The smaller girl felt her face grow red. “Wh-what were you two talking about?” she squeaked, raw anxiety coursing through her veins.

“Well... take a look,” Lily said, gesturing to her body.

Hesitantly, afraid for what she’d see, Evie did so... she saw the boy clothes she’d been wearing and winced. She saw her hair... it was really long now and that was nice. She saw... well, she saw something but she was too terrified to consider that things might’ve ended up okay, and as a result she just couldn’t tell what she was seeing at all. Evie sat up, starting to feel all the ways in which this body was not the perfect body she’d had in VR...

But... it wasn’t... it wasn’t the body she’d left behind, either, was it?

“Okay, I figured out the problem!” May said suddenly, and Evie realised that she was at the computer. “So, I... uhh... remember how Evie initially started playing with my test account? Well, all the settings from my main user account were copied over to that one.”

“So then this happened because your account was set up to get HRT?”

“Well, no. That would’ve been the case, but... we were rushed for time and I might’ve sorta forgotten to implement per-user medication configuration?”

Lily’s palm met her forehead. “May...”

“So it’s a good thing all three of us only needed HRT, huh!”

“Wait...” Evie mumbled. “HRT? You mean...”

And suddenly she was realising the ways in which her current body was similar to the one in-game. Her skin felt smooth and soft... It seemed as though she had about the same amount of... chest that she’d had in game... And though her body did feel larger overall than she’d been in game, which was kinda sad... she did think that she felt... slightly smaller than before the summer had begun.

In other words...

Evie had been on hormones for the whole summer. The exact thing she’d just wished for only hours before.

And with that, her eyes were welling up with tears. “Do I look like a girl, then?” she finally choked out.

Lily sat next to her, and May sat on the other side.

“Evie,” Lily said. “Right now, you’re the prettiest girl I know.”

“I would say ‘oof’ at losing my place if I didn’t agree with you so completely,” May giggled, pulling Evie into a tight hug which Lily joined after.

It felt right. 

She didn’t have to fear their touch. She would never have to fear touch again. 

“Thank you f-for being a forgetful dummy,” Evie sobbed, burying her face in May’s shoulder.

“I’m not just a forgetful dummy, I’m your forgetful dummy, cutie,” May murmured. Evie’s face grew warmer and she buried it closer.

“You’re mine too, May,” Lily noted.

“Well, duh, that’s a given. This isn’t obvious fact time, silly Lily,” May scolded.

God, those two... they were... they were everything. Wonderful and ridiculous and they meant the world to Evie.

“I... actually...” she stammered. “Thank you two for everything. Not just this. Not just that I can finally feel... okay. Thank you for... caring. For being here for me. I’m... I’m so happy.”

And it was true. The tears streaming down her face were not tears of pain or tears of stress. They were tears of happiness, tears of safety. Tears of love.

“Of course,” Lily said. “Mhm,” May agreed.

“I love you, Evie,” they both said.

“Jinx,” May whispered.

“I love you too,” Evie choked.

ChiriVulpes

I'm so sorry I forgot I was uploading this again and kept remembering while I was trying to sleep >.< The only reason I remembered this time is I set a reminder for myself...

Anyway, thanks everyone for reading, hope you enjoyed the story!
- Chiri