Mark woke up feeling particularly groggy. He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes, and once he was done with that he took stock of his surroundings. An empty bowl sat on his living room table, and he began to remember last night. He'd been so tired from the day's events that he had passed out on his couch as soon as he was done with dinner. Guess agreeing to become a woman will do that to ya. he thought.

He pulled out his phone and checked his notifications, and just about had a heart attack when he saw that it was 10AM and he had a few missed calls from Michael Stone. He quickly sat up and called Stone back. He picked up on the second ring.

"There you are, Owens." Stone said. "Thought you 'ghosted' me, as the kids say."

"Uh, no sir, I just uh, slept in is all." Mark said. "Yesterday was a lot."

"Suppose I can't blame you for that." Stone said. "And if you're tired then perhaps I shouldn't bring up what I was calling you about..."

"What is it, sir?"

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to head to a clinic today." Stone said. "We know these 'informed consent' places are handing out hormones like candy, so how great would it be for the documentary is we showed you literally getting a prescription in a day?"

Mark was taken aback by this. Sure, the timeline for this project was fast-paced, but getting on hormones today? It seemed crazy.

So why did the idea make him feel so excited?

It was probably just the idea of getting started on his magnum opus straight away that was getting him all giddy, but he played it cool.

"Yeah, sounds good Boss." Mark said.

"Excellent!" Stone said. "I'll send over the contact info for a few places around town. Just record yourself making the appointment and we'll already have the first part of this done. Time to get cracking, kid."

"Understood, Boss." With that, Mark hung up. What even is my life now?

***

Sure enough, he got an email a few minutes later with a list of places that offered this 'informed consent' HRT. He set up a camera on his desk, pointed it straight at himself and pressed record.

"Hello, this is uh, Mark Owens here, this is Day 1 of the project." Mark said. "Right now I'm going to place an appointment at a clinic that offers 'informed consent' hormone therapy, which you know, it's really code for them just handing pills out."

With that, Mark dialed the number for the first place on the list. He worked his way through the phone tree until he got the chance to speak to an actual human being.

"Hello, my name is Steph, how can I help you today?" a chipper-sounding woman said over the phone.

"Hi Steph, my name is Mark, and I was, um..."

Mark's mouth froze up and the words died in his throat. This whole endeavor, which he had been so keen to take on just the day before, suddenly seemed ridiculous. Was he really about to tell this girl that he wanted to turn himself into a woman? This was a total stranger, for goodness's sake, how could he-

"Excuse me, are you still there?"

Mark broke himself out of his spiraling train of thought. He had to man up and do this. Think of the subscribers, Mark, think of the subscribers. He took a deep breath.

"Uh, yeah I am, sorry, this is just um, well, I was hoping to get hormone therapy maybe...."

Mark said the last few words in a whisper. He snuck a glance at the camera and died inside a little at the thought that this exchange would make it into the movie.

'Oh, ok!" Steph said, not missing a beat. "If you're nervous then trust me, I get it, my first phone call with this place was nerve wracking too."

"Oh, you're uh..." Mark said.

"Trans and proud of it!" Steph said, and Mark could hear the smile in her voice. "Oh, by the way, do you have a preferred name or preferred pronouns?"

"Uh, Mark and he/him is fine for now, I guess."

"Gotcha, so I'm assuming you want feminizing hormone therapy?"

"Uh, yes please."

"Wonderful,  now do you want basic hormone therapy or accelerated hormone therapy? Basic follows a three to five year timeline of changes, and accelerated follows a six to nine month timeline."

"Accelerated, please." Mark said. He noticed that he had clenched his free hand into a tight fist, and he willed himself to unclench it before his nails dug too deep into his palms.

"Alright then, now if you could provide me with your insurance information so that we can get all that in order..."

Mark gave Steph his insurance info, and she was more than happy to report than his insurance would cover the whole treatment and any surgeries he might be considering in the future.

"Now, if you're feeling up to it I have an appointment slot that is open a week from now at three in the afternoon, does that sound good to you?"

That threw Mark for a loop. He'd assumed that this was gonna be a same day deal, but he regained his composure. "Yeah, that works for me." Mark said.

"Great, and just to give you an idea of what to expect, your physician is gonna lay out all the effects of HRT, get some blood tests done, you'll go over any risks or contraindications you might have, and if everything looks good you'll walk out with a prescription for titty skittles."

"Excuse me?" Mark said.

"Oop," Steph said, "Sorry, shouldn't say something like that on the job. It's just something us trans girls call estrogen pills."

Mark snorted, and then he started to laugh. It was so freaking stupid, but so funny to him. "I mean yeah, titty skittles seems as good a name as any."

"Sounds like you're feeling less nervous, at least." Steph said.

Mark smiled. "Yeah, yeah I am. Thanks Steph."

"No problem, Mark! Glad I could help. Good luck with your transition!"

With that Mark hung up. Huh, he thought, that's the first time someone has wished me luck for this thing.

Then he remembered that there was a camera on him and he cleared his throat.

"Well, as you can see, one phone call and I already got an appointment to freaking change up my whole body chemistry." Mark said, looking straight into the camera. "Sure, everything seems above board, but I mean, should we really make something like this this easy?"

Mark decided not to answer his own question and end the recording there. One week, and he'd change his whole life forever. Logically he knew he should be dreading it. Like Nathan had said, this was supposedly a nightmare scenario for anyone practicing the exact type of masculinity that Muckraker preached. So why was he disappointed that he was going to have to wait so long?

Eh, probably just because I want to get this documentary thing going ASAP. Mark concluded. He dialed Stone's number next, eager to report his progress. He explained the situation to his boss, who, like Mark, was confused by the fact that a clinic wasn't just giving pills away, because that's how trans healthcare was supposed to work, right?

"I just hope you don't get cold feet this week, Owens." Stone said. "Can't be easy to just wait around, knowing what you've gotten yourself into."

"No sir, it isn't." Mark said, leaving out the fact he was anxious to get on the hormones already and not to avoid taking them. "But I can handle it."

"Well then," Stone said, "In the meantime, how about I send over the other member of our little project so y'all can get acquainted?"

"Who, Abigail?" Mark said.

"Yes, she's been quite eager to meet you." Stone said. "She finds this whole thing fascinating. Besides, I imagine it would feel nice to let a pretty girl like her get a look at you before you lose your more...attractive qualities, no?"

Stone's remark made Mark a little uncomfortable for some reason that was indiscernible to him. "Yeah, makes sense. Send her over."

"Alright then. Talk to ya later, kid."

Stone hung up, leaving Mark to wait for the lady who'd probably be his sole confidant during this whole thing. As he sat on his couch, something Stone had said echoed through his brain.

Your more....attractive qualities....

Mark walked into his bathroom and stood in front of his mirror. He examined his body more closely than he normally would. His skin was on the fairer side and contrasted heavily with his black hair. He had a decent beard that he'd cultivated to look more professional on camera, even if he kind of hated how it looked on him. He had a pretty average build; not too fat, not too skinny, but he tended to wear suits with shoulder pads to have a bit more of a domineering presence. He had a decent coat of body hair all on his chest, arms, and legs, which was something that just kind of always been there for him. Nathan had done a segment about how body hair was a sign of virility and stuff, but Mark usually wore long sleeve stuff whenever he wasn't trying to impress other guys. He felt like his beard did enough to convey his masculinity. So when all was said and done, he was pretty much just an average guy.

But not for much longer. Mark thought. He tried to picture what he'd look like when all this was done, but the body he was looking at was so far removed from what he was going to turn into that his imagination just couldn't quite make that leap. There was a vague outline in his mind, an idea of what kind of woman he was gonna be, but nothing more.

***

After his self-gawking session he had quickly gotten a shower, dried off, and changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. He put on his black hoodie and flopped onto the couch for some R&R. He took the opportunity to work through his backlog of old movies and shows he'd been meaning to watch, trying to ignore the impulse to constantly check his phone for any sort of message from Stone or Abigail. 

It was about 5PM when he got a knock at his door. He got up off his couch and opened the door.

Standing in front of him was a short woman with long auburn hair that went to her waist. She was wearing a brown cardigan over a white t-shirt, with some black flare jeans to pull the whole outfit together. She had one hand in her cardigan pocket and was holding a plastic bag in the other. She was looking up at Mark with a mischievous grin and a devilish gleam in her sky-blue eyes.

"Hello, my woman-to-be." She said. She extended her free hand towards Mark. "Abigail Summers. Pleased to meet ya."

Mark took a second to process that introduction, then shook her hand (noticing how much bigger his hand was than hers in the process) and then stood aside so she could let herself in. 

"Nice setup you got here." Abigail said. "Although I would have thrown up a poster or two."

Mark reexamined his apartment. The decor was sparse, now that she mentioned it.

"So, you're finally joining the winning team, huh?" She said as she sat on his couch. Mark walked over a took a seat next to her.

"Yeah, guess you could say that." Mark said. "Although, I'm assuming that Mr.Stone--"

"Yeah yeah, he explained the whole thing to me, although personally I think you're gonna wash out." Abigail said.

"What makes you say that?" Mark said.

"Had a boyfriend once who had to take these T-blockers for a while and they made him SUPER moody." Abigail explained. "He was constantly complaining, said he didn't feel man enough, and then he stopped taking them and boom, he perked right back up." Abigail grinned. "And in more ways that one, if you catch my meaning."

Mark snorted. He was starting to like this girl, although her whole demeanor felt like it was at odds with the type of womanhood that he and the other personalities over at Muckraker supported. Stone's decision to bring her on kept getting more and more confusing to him.

"Point is, men get bummed when you take away their precious testosterone." She said. "I can't imagine that you'd be able to deal with that AND going on turbo estrogen or whatever they're gonna give ya."

"I think I can handle it."

"We'll see if you feel the same way when you get on those pills," Abigail said, "but enough about that." She put the plastic bag she'd been carrying onto the living room table. "I figured if you're gonna be waiting around a week then you should at least try to be productive."

She reached into the bag and pulled out three things: moisturizer, shaving cream, and a hot pink razor.

***

"I'll never understand how you guys deal with that."

Abigail was staring at his never-before-trimmed leg hair with unbridled disgust. They were both in his bathroom. Mark had a foot on the edge of his bathtub, with the shaving supplies on a nearby counter. The legs of his sweatpants were rolled up, and his camera was set up on a tripod in the corner of the room.

"I mean seriously, wearing pants must be a nightmare." She said.

"Only if you wear skinny jeans." Mark said. "That's when it gets itchy."

"Yeah, I can imagine." Abigail said.

"But do we seriously have to film all this?" Mark said.

"Uh, I for one think your first steps into femininity deserve to be in Stone's little passion project." Abigail replied. "Besides, we're just filming you shaving a bit of your leg and then doing a before and after type of thing. It's not like we're gonna record you in the bath."

"Yeah, but like...why now? Can't we wait till I get the pills?"

"Because it's fun for me to watch a guy try to do this," Abigail said, "and you're gonna have to do it eventually if you want this thing to be convincing. Besides, it's not like it's permanent."

Abigail walked over to the camera and held her finger over the record button.

"Oh, and don't be a baby if you nick yourself, ok?"

Mark nodded. Abigail pressed record and then took her position in front of the camera.

"Hello there, my name is Abigail Summers," She said, her voice taking on that cadence particular to makeup YouTubers, "And I'll be helping Mark here take his first steps into womanhood with a pair of smooth legs. Now we got a bit of a challenge ahead of us," she said as she patted his leg for emphasis, "But I'm pretty confident we can get a good looking leg out from under all this fur."

"Now, the process is pretty simple." she continued. "We're just gonna get a little bit of Mark's leg wet, take some shaving cream and lather up that spot like so, and now all that's left is the shaving part."

Abigail grabbed the pink razor and held it out to Mark. Mark reached out for it cautiously.

"Oh Mark, it's not like it's going to bite you." Abigail said. She pressed the razor into Mark's hand and wrapped his fingers around it.

Mark looked at the instrument of his feminization. This would be it; the first step along the long, long, LONG road he had decided to take. It wasn't a point of no return, but he would be discarding a visible sign of his masculinity. He had felt disappointment before that he was going to have to wait for the meds, but he had a chance to be more feminine right now, for Abigail and whoever was gonna watch this documentary to see.

You have to do it, man. Mark thought. Think of the subs, think of the look on Nathan's face...

He put the razor to his skin and dragged it slowly upwards. He swore he could feel each individual hair as it was cut, but it didn't feel as emasculating as Mark was anticipating. It felt a little liberating, to be honest.

When he was done with the patch he grabbed a towel and wiped away the shaving cream to reveal a small square of smooth white skin surrounded by dark hair.

"And would you look at that!" Abigail said. She turned to look at the camera. "Now let's see what it looks like when he gets rid of the rest of his coat." Abigail was still for a moment and then she walked over to the camera and turned it off.

"Ok, I'm gonna wait outside while you do your thing, and the boys in editing will piece it together." Abigail said. "You need any more help?"

"Nah, I think I got this." Mark said.

Abigail shrugged. "Alright then. Oh, and don't forget to moisturize after or else you are gonna be itchy like you wouldn't believe."

Abigail walked out of the bathroom, and Mark disrobed. He lowered himself into the bathtub and got to work. He washed himself with his 3-in-1 body wash first, lathering up his whole body. Once he rinsed off the body wash he covered one leg in shaving cream and slowly shaved it, making sure not to nick himself along the way. It was an arduous process, but when he was finished he was amazed by what he saw.

He had no idea just how different it would look without hair; it looked like it belonged to an entirely different person. It was so smooth, so...so....

"Pretty." Mark whispered to himself. Then he quickly covered his mouth like he had cursed in church. Where had that come from?

I mean, Mark thought, I suppose it's the only word that's accurate, right? Not sure if anyone's ever called a smooth leg 'handsome' or anything like that. Smooth legs are a girl thing, and girls are pretty. so pretty makes sense, right? Right. Yup, train of thought over.

With that settled, Mark looked over and his unshaven leg. Then his arms, and his chest, and then he ran a hand over his beard. 

Then he had an idea.

***

Mark was startled as Abigail pounded on the bathroom door.

"Mark, it's been two hours." she said, clearly 100% done with the situation. "I know it's your first time but it's just your legs, it shouldn't be taking you this long."

"I'm moisturizing right now." Mark said. He applied some moisturizer to the last bit of skin that needed it. "Annnnnd done."

"Ok, camera rolling." Abigail said.

He looked himself over in the mirror, making sure that he was camera ready. This was it, big moment, do not screw it up.

He opened the bathroom door, revealing Abigail sitting behind the camera.

"Ok, let's see the--" Abigail's eyes went wide as she took in Mark's new appearance. "Woah."

It hadn't just been his legs. Mark had gone the extra mile and shaved off everything. He had his sweatpant legs rolled up to show his smooth legs, and he had tied his t-shirt back to reveal his hairless midriff. His arms were free from his 'fur', and he had even gone as far as completely shaving off the beard he had spent so long cultivating.

Abigail, for her part, seemed to be dealing with a short circuited brain. Her mouth just sort of hung open for a bit before she picked up the camera and started filming close ups of various parts of Mark's body.

"Dang, Mark, you were thorough." She said. "No wonder you were taking so long. But like, well done, man. You look good."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Mark said. He'd been expecting amusement or laughter or something from Abigail, but she seemed genuine in her complements, and Mark wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Well, I guess my work here is done." Abigail said. "I'll, uh, I'll get this footage to Stone sometime tomorrow. But seriously Mark, you did a good job."

"Well," Mark said, "I figured that, you know, I'm gonna have to do it eventually so I might as well go all the way, right?" Mark said.

"Yeah, I suppose..."Abigail said. "Still though, most guys wouldn't pull a stunt like this."

Mark shrugged and let a sly grin come to his face. "Guess I'm not like most guys."

"Well that much is obvious." Abigail said. " But you still got a long way to go."

She took the SD card out of the camera and handed the camera back to Mark. "I'll give the card back next time we meet." Abigail said. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and walked towards the door leading out of the apartment.

"Laters." she said, and then she shut the door behind her, leaving Mark all alone.

He glanced outside. The sun had already set, so he might as well turn in. He placed the camera on his desk, ditched the t-shirt and sweatpants and then crawled into his bed, where he made a shocking new discovery.

Everything felt different to his skin now. His bedsheets had taken on a totally different texture, and his brain was trying to compute how the same tacky sheets he had slept in a million times before now felt like they were made of Egyptian silk. It was like he was only just feeling the world for what it was, like he'd been wearing a spacesuit separating himself from everything else and he had only just taken it off.

Were these sheets always this soft? he thought as he ran his legs and arms across them. He began to smile as his brain was overloaded with new sensations. He rubbed his legs against each other, amazed at how the skin seemed to glide frictionlessly, and he ran his fingers along his smooth arms as though they were precious relics.

He looked at his phone. It was 8:30.

He got out of his bed and went over to his closet. He threw open the door and looked at his clothes. He let himself try on outfit after outfit, fascinated by how different his clothes felt on his body now. Skinny jeans were actually bearable now, and he swore that his more casual t-shirts were softer than they were before. He put on a pair a sweatpants and an old band t-shirt that he wore for pajamas and went to his bathroom mirror. Abigail was right: he did look good. His newly hairless body was so different, so alien to him and everything he'd tried to be, but it also felt exciting. He was in uncharted territory, going to places that no other creator would be willing to go.

"This gonna be so worth it." He said.

He looked at the clock and saw that he had spent an hour just trying on new outfits, and that now would be a reasonable time to hit the hay. He took off his pajamas and crawled back into his bed, smiling at the sensation of his smooth legs rubbing against his sheets as he fell asleep.