Michael awoke with a pleasant shiver. The sun was rising outside and he felt more rested than he could remember being in a long time. Stretching and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he smiled and thought about the nice dreams he had been having. Cozy dreams, laughing with his friends, eating tasty snacks, and feeling utterly at peace. Lana telling him how cute his outfit was, Tammy teasing him over the little feather designs on his nails. Some nagging inner voice pointed out that some of these details felt a bit off, but he brushed it away. 

He sat comfortably in his nest of blankets, pulling out his phone and checking notifications. A message from Lana asking him to come over early if he was going to the party so she could make sure his costume fit well. A few more kind messages about his art, including a short, but sweet message from Tammy, Dennis, and a few of the other anime club members. He hadn’t spoken with any of them other than Lana in a few months, but it was nice to hear from them. Funny how they had popped into his dreams like that. 

Michael checked the time and realized it was already Saturday, although still fairly early in the morning. He had slept longer than he thought. Still plenty of time to get ready and meet up with Lana. He chuckled grimly to himself as he realized she had gotten her way yet again; sometime between their conversation and now he had already decided to go without even thinking about it. Ah well, he could still say no if he looked bad in the costume, right?

With another stretch, he slowly forced himself to stand up and head to the shower. The blankets felt even softer and comfier than usual, so it was quite the task to do so. He noticed he had a bit of a spring in his step as he took off his clothes and stepped into the warm water. Michael let out a soft sigh as he indulged in the warmth. He ran his hands through his hair, wondering over how it felt a bit softer and silkier than usual, and over his chin. Would have to take care of that stubble--hang on, there wasn’t any stubble there. Fascinating, he tried to keep a smooth face consistently, but often had to tidy up a bit especially after a day or two. Still, it would be nice to skip that routine today.

Humming to himself, he went to work washing and conditioning his hair and making sure everything got soaped up as it should. The new body wash he got last week was working really well; he couldn’t remember the last time his skin felt so soft. He would have to tell Lana how well it was working; it was her suggestion as part of a lecture about taking better care of himself. She had spent the first few years after she came out going wild over skincare routines and other self-care stuff. He appreciated her insights, even though he had a hell of a time putting them into practice. 

Not too much later, he stepped out of the shower and dried off. Strangely, as soon as he was out of the warm shower, he felt nice and cool like he’d walked through a crisp, windy morning instead of spending the last half hour in a hot downpour. It was pleasant, but he really needed to get ready to go see Lana. 

The closet was filled with dark hoodies, baggy pants, and t-shirts emblazoned with various nerd references, piles of clothes just tossed in with no real rhyme or reason. He fished out a pair of shorts and a tank top, reasoning that Lana was likely going to need him to try on the costume repeatedly to get it right and changing in and out of anything too baggy would get cumbersome. He grabbed some shoes and keys and made his way out the door. 

Lana lived just down the hall from his apartment, which was very convenient given how frequently they hung out together. He quietly knocked on the door to let her know he was there.

“Just a minute!” Loud thumping and crashing could be heard through the door until finally it opened and Lana’s grumpy face, blonde hair all frizzy and scraggly to show she just woke up as well. “Hey there, Rainbow. Just in time, I was about to call you over.”

Michael felt a little shudder pass through him. Lana’s little nicknames were… nice. They always made him feel kind of funny, though. He quickly shuffled his way into her apartment and sat down on the comfy couch inside. A mannequin with a sleek outfit in red, grey, and black loomed in the corner of the room and it took everything in his power not to stare at it or the fake knife sheaths hanging from the hips of the costume.

Lana studied him with a smug grin on her face. “You like it? I was up all night last night getting the details right~” She positively purred the last part. Another mannequin was nearby, with a purple wig, red horns, and red, white, and black armor adorning it. Well, that answered which character she was going as. 

She walked over and started taking his outfit off the dummy. “Alright, I’m going to have you try this on as is first, see how it fits and make sure the major measurements are good. And then I’ve got some forms that we can use to fill out your figure a bit. Some of that, a bit of makeup and some contacts, and you won’t even recognize yourself in the mirror. You know where the bathroom is, slip into that and let me know if it all feels good or needs adjustment.” 

Michael sheepishly accepted the pieces as Lana tossed them into his arms and he shuffled over to get changed. The door to the bathroom made a creaking sound as he shut it and he stood for a moment to psyche himself up. 

“C’mon, you can do this. It’s just clothes. Lana won’t make fun of you for it. Hell, this isn’t even the first time, that one time in high school went super well too. Get it together.”

Deep breath, then he started to put it on. It was, at its core, a sort of bodysuit in a charcoal palette with straps and a paler section around the chest; Lana had opted for some more practical boots than the canon design. Both of these went on surprisingly easy. Next was a sort of cloak and hood item in reds and blacks with an eye on the hood like a bird of prey. There were also a pair of gloves with claws attached, although he noticed that the claws could be removed and put back on easily, for convenience’s sake. He whistled in appreciation. Lana did cosplay professionally and her craft was always something to behold. He was especially impressed at how well he fit into the outfit, though he avoided looking in the mirror at it. A slight tingle ran through his body as he finished adjusting everything. He imagined for a moment what it would be like to actually be the character he dressed as, a strong, capable femme fatale with a guarded heart of gold. He pulled out one of the fake knives and flipped it nonchalantly, getting into character before sliding it back into the sheath in a smooth motion. 

“Alright, Lana, I think I’m--” Hang on a minute, was there something off about his voice? He cleared his throat. “I’m done, everything fits super well.”

Lana looked up from her last minute tinkering as he returned to the main room. “Excellent, I'll just grab the forms, the wig, and the contacts and--” She stared at him, tilting her head to the side in confusion. “I guess you won’t need the forms? You brought your own? When did you get those???” 

Michael stared back. His own? What was she talking about? As if a magical spell had just been broken, he suddenly became aware of a great many little signals his body was sending that didn’t add up. His stance felt off, there was something heavy on his chest and he had his hand on his hip, which was definitely wider than before. None of this felt wrong; if anything it felt rather nice, but it wasn’t normal.

He looked down and there was something filling out the front of his outfit quite nicely. He gave an experimental poke and gasped as he felt a bit of movement attached to his chest. His hand looked slimmer too, more refined. He looked at what he had realized were breasts and then looked over at Lana. His mouth opened and shut in silence several times before he tore a path back to the bathroom and slammed the door.

“Rainy? Rainy, are you okay? Talk to me, I need to know what is going on.” Lana’s voice was calm and patient yet tinged with fear. 

“I don’t know! Give...give me some space, okay?” Again something felt off about his voice, it wasn’t much higher, but it was so much smoother and richer. 

He very carefully steadied himself and slowly looked in the mirror. Staring back at him was a frightened looking woman in a costume. He waved and watched the woman in the mirror match his every move. He wasn’t that dense, he knew that woman was somehow him, but this fact refused to connect in his brain. He took off the cloak and shifted this way and that, inspecting how the bodysuit matched up to the curve of his hips and accentuated his breasts and butt. Which he had now, apparently.

“What the fuck is going on??” The strange version of his voice was barely a whisper and yet the beauty of it made him shiver. “Okay, think. I was thinking about the character, what it would be like to be her, and then I stepped out to talk to Lana. So, maybe, if I think about normal me, I’ll turn back?” 

He focused and tried to picture how he looked this morning. There was a feeling of resistance and discomfort while the image refused to stay put in his mind, but eventually he was able to get it to snap into place. He felt things shift about as his body matched the image and no sooner was it complete that he felt a wave of revulsion that made him double over and catch himself on the counter of the sink.

He started weeping and curled up on the floor.

“Rainy? I can hear you crying, is it okay if I come in?” It was all he could do to agree in between wracking sobs. 

The door slowly eased open and Lana looked at him with a soft expression on her face. She gently sat down next to him and held him. “Shhhhh, there there. Let it all out. I see you changed back, do you wanna talk about it?” 

He nodded and took a deep, shuddering breath while nodding. “Yeah. I just...I was wearing the costume and I thought about what it might be like to be her, getting into character y’know? And I felt a strange tingle, but ignored it and stepped outside. And that is when you saw me and it made me realize what had changed. I was able to change back, but now I just feel sick.”

Lana gave him an unreadable look while rubbing his back in soothing circles. “So thinking about her made you change?” He nodded. “And you changed back by...thinking about the way you looked before?” Another nod.

She pondered for a moment. “And you only felt bad after changing back? I think I might have an idea of why, but you are going to have to do something for me.” She tilted his chin and looked him in the eyes. “Are you willing to try changing again? You still feel really bad, right?”

Michael looked back, questioning, and then realized what she had asked. He said nothing while standing slowly back up. He turned his thoughts back to the process from before, of getting into character. The tingle flowed through him again and he watched his body shift and reform in a springy fashion, everything almost bouncing back into place. He could feel the shifts now, the way his body flowed like water or perhaps something a bit more viscous like gelatin. He poked his arm experimentally; it was firm, but definitely felt unusual. He only now noticed that there wasn’t a trace of hair on it either. With a start, he realized that feeling of sickness was immediately gone. He felt… good.

The whole process took no time at all and Lana watched, enraptured. The sad, quiet boy was gone and a bemused looking woman was in his place. 

“How...why...holy shit, Rain, you’re gorgeous!” Lana could not stop herself from blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

The woman immediately blushed and looked away. “Aaaaa, you can’t just say stuff like that, Lana! But...you really think so?” Her friend looked up at her expectantly.

With a creeping realization, Lana started to put together some puzzle pieces about her best friend. A lot of things suddenly started to add up.

“Yeah, yeah I do. It’s a good look for you. Though, um,” She coughed briefly. “You might want to throw that cloak back on, it’s a little distracting.”

Her friend blinked at her in confusion. “Distracting? I don’t think I know what you mean--” Another blush and the cloak was back on in a flash, hood up. A red eye gazed out from under it.

“So, I know this is a lot to process, I’m freaking out a little as well, but how do you feel… Michael?”

The red eye squeezed shut in a wince that could have been spotted from orbit. “Could you keep calling me Rain instead? Feels better. And being like this feels...nice. It actually felt bad to turn back. Oh my god, I’m just like you, aren’t I???” The woman was also starting to assemble the puzzle.

Lana smiled and pulled Rain back over to the couch before grabbing a couple bottles of water. Rain gave her the cutest smile of thanks.

“A smile like that should be illegal…” Lana hadn’t even realized she spoke that aloud until Rain frowned and mouthed the same words. Lana coughed before continuing. “Yeah, it is starting to look like it. I mean, you’ve been on the other side of this for me, Tammy, and the rest of the gals. If anything, it was a bit strange that you didn’t figure things out back then.”

Rain giggled a bit. “Lana, you know me. I’m monumentally dense sometimes. Honestly, until whatever this is, the farthest I had ever gotten to wondering about myself was some idle thoughts about “being a guy not being so bad” and also some fears that coming to any other conclusion would be...insulting to you and the other girls. Like I was seeking attention or something. But, uh, it is a bit hard to deny when it’s right in your face like this, I guess.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath.

“Hi, Lana. I think my name is Rain and I think I might be a girl.”

Vyria_Durav

Chapter 2 is getting spicy with the gender apotheosis. You can read this and more content also on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/vyriadurav?fan_landing=true if you wish to support me further. Catnip will be returning after I finish this story, though I might sneak a chapter in here or there.