"Hey Kelly, Craig!" I said as they both climbed into my mom's car. "How was the bus ride?"

"Not bad," Kelly replied as he got into the passenger seat.

He had a big backpack that he stuck on the floor between his feet, and Craig was carrying a gym bag that he put on the seat behind me while he got into the back behind Kelly.

It was late Friday afternoon, the end of July. Tomorrow was August first, and Monday was a holiday. My parents and I moved last week, this would be my best friends' first time coming to see the new house. And it was a perfect opportunity to help Kelly, if he wanted to go ahead with the stuff we talked about.

As I pulled out from the parking lot by the bus stop Craig asked, "Hey Melody? How many times are you going to mess around with your hair? Feels like every time I see you it's different."

I blushed, "I'm just experimenting ok? And dad said it was good practice and stuff. Plus I won't be able to change so often once college starts, so I wanted to get it all out of my system before September."

Kelly stared at me for a few seconds, his eyes flicked up and down. Then he smirked, "Not just your hair. You look all right, but not gonna lie. I kind of preferred the blue-eyed blonde look you had at the start."

I pouted for a couple seconds, then my expression shifted to a grin. When we stopped at the next light I gave my head a shake, and all the tight black curls and ringlets were shaken out into long straight blonde locks while the dark hazel in my eyes faded into a light blue-green colour.

"Show-off," Kelly laughed.

A few minutes later we pulled onto the long gravel driveway leading up to our new house. It was a two-story converted farmhouse, there was a big porch that went all across the front and wrapped around one side where it joined with a back deck. I drove us past the house then parked on some grass around back. The three of us got out of the car and I led my two best friends through the back door and into the big country kitchen.

"C'mon," I said as I took them through the kitchen and into the central part of the house. "We'll start upstairs, I'll give you the tour."

There were four bedrooms off a central landing at the top of the stairs. I pointed to the first on the right, "That's mom's bedroom and we probably shouldn't mess around in there. This one is technically my dad's room, but you can use it while you're here Kelly. Then this is the guest room, Craig you can sleep in there. And this one's mine."

Dad's room was cosy, there was a twin-size bed against the wall, a reading chair by the window, and a bed-side table, dresser and closet. The guest room had another twin-size bed, and was basically set up the same as dad's room. My room had a queen-size bed, but the room wasn't any bigger so I didn't have a chair, just my dresser and bedside table.

"What do you mean, 'technically' your dad's room?" Kelly asked.

I rolled my eyes, "Technically because if anyone other than you two ask, it's Alison's room. She's my cousin not my dad, and she's definitely not sleeping with my mom. And to be honest I'm pretty sure it was originally supposed to be her room for real? But I don't think dad's spent more than one night in there. Usually she's in the big bedroom with mom."

Kelly left his backpack on the bed in dad's room and Craig left his gym back on the chair in the guest room. Then we went back downstairs and I pointed out the bathroom, it was across from the staircase so it was easy to find in the dark.

Apart from that and the kitchen, the main floor also had a utility room with the laundry and stuff, a den-turned-office, and finally a living-room at the front of the house. There were windows looking out towards the road and one side, a big wood stove in the corner and a large flat-screen TV on the wall. There was a matching sofa, love-seat, and a pair of recliners all organized with a view of the TV and the wood stove. Some bookcases lined one wall, and there was a big coffee table and a couple side tables. All in all it was a cosy room.

After the tour we all grabbed drinks then got comfy in the living-room.

"This is a nice place," Kelly commented. "How do you like it?"

"Thanks Kelly," I smiled. "It's only been a week but so far it's been pretty good."

Craig had a swig of his beer and asked, "So where are your folks? Or do we have the house to ourselves?"

"It's all ours till Monday I think?" I grinned as I sipped my cola. "They're back at mom's house, there's a few things that didn't get packed when we moved last week? So they're going to load up dad's pick-up with whatever's left that mom wants to keep. Then they have some junk guys coming on Sunday to haul away everything else, so the place will be empty for Tuesday when they turn over the keys."

"Sweet," Craig grinned. "So parties every night?"

Kelly rolled his eyes while I shook my head, "Maybe tomorrow night? Not tonight though. Me and Kelly both need to be able to concentrate, that means we need to be sober. And you're supposed to be here looking out for us, so you can't drink too much either."

"Yeah I know," Craig nodded. "And I never drink that much anyways. You know that."

Before either me or Kelly could respond Craig asked "So this is for real huh? You two are doing that stuff tonight?"

I looked at Kelly and said, "It's up to you. No pressure, but if you want it then either tonight or tomorrow night would probably be best? I figure we'll have dinner, then we can do the thing, and either eat again or just head to bed. I don't know exactly how it'll feel after, but I'm positive we'll either want food or sleep or both."

Kelly had a swig of beer then took a deep breath and nodded, "Tonight I guess? Then if it goes ok, maybe tomorrow we can party a little? To celebrate?"

"Sounds good," I gave him a confident supportive smile. I knew he was probably really nervous, I was too. But I was still sure we'd be able to pull it off.

Craig had another gulp of beer then admitted, "This whole thing kind of freaks me out a bit, to be honest. Like the idea that you can use your hocus-pocus stuff on other people? I better not wake up in the morning looking like a girl or something."

"It doesn't work that way," I stated firmly. "I already told you, it doesn't work unless the person is cooperating and they want it. So don't worry."

The three of us discussed the whole thing in detail the week before the move, and Kelly was the one who originally pointed out how terrifying it'd be if I shape-shifted someone against their will.

That got Craig kind of worried, until I told them it only worked if the subject was a willing participant. I explained it only worked if Kelly wanted it and if him and me were focused on the same thing at the same time.

It was a lie, but it made them both feel better. And I was safer if nobody knew the truth. The other thing I kept from them was how much of a risk I'd actually be taking. I felt like I had to do it though. After I got things so easy, I had to help him out too.

"Yeah I know what you said," Craig said. "Still, I'm just saying it again alright? Don't turn me into a girl or whatever, even as a joke."

Kelly teased, "If you keep bringing it up you're going to convince both me and Melody you actually want that. Wasn't that a Shakespeare thing? Methinks the lady doth protest too much?"

"Huh?" Craig asked.

I rolled my eyes, "Don't scare him Kelly. I told you both it doesn't work like that, so just drop it please?"

He apologized, "Sorry Melody. I was messing with him, but I didn't mean to upset you."

"It's ok, I'm not upset," I replied.

We ended up streaming something on TV for a while as we all had another drink. Then for dinner we went out onto the back deck where we had a big BBQ set up. I got out some burgers and buns and stuff, and Craig and Kelly fought a bit over who'd get to cook the meat. Meanwhile I put some frozen fries in the oven and got out the condiments and sliced up some tomatos and onions.

The three of us ate outside, we had some plastic patio furniture out there and it was a nice warm summer evening.

As we enjoyed our burgers I asked, "Hey Kelly? Have you figured out how you're going to explain everything? I'm assuming you've already talked to your dad about not being a girl, right?"

He smiled, "My dad's pretty fucking cool. I should have told you both sooner, but I was kind of waiting till the three of us were together so I could tell you both at once?"

"So I came out to dad last week," he announced with a grin. "Last Friday night at dinner actually. Told him I was using he/him pronouns, that I was guy-ish or guy-adjacent. Somewhere on the masc side of middle anyways. And I told him I was keeping the name Kelly, since I like it and it works either way. You know what he said?"

Both me and Craig shook our heads.

Kelly smiled, "Dad gave me a hug, told me he was cool with me no matter what. And he told me him and mom picked the name Kelly because it worked either way. He said they had a short-list of gender-neutral names, because they didn't want to force any expectations on their kids."

"Wow," I grinned. "I don't really know your dad that well but now I wish I did? That's really cool Kelly."

Craig nodded, "Same. I'm glad things worked out for you."

After dinner the three of us went back in the house and got comfortable in the living-room again. Kelly and Craig were both sipping another beer and I had some water. I could tell Kelly was starting to get anxious and so was I. I tried to hide it though, I didn't want to put him off at all.

"So um," he asked after another swig of beer. "I guess we need to start thinking about the thing, huh? I don't want to jinx it but uh, what if something goes wrong? What's the worst that can happen?"

I gave him a confident smile and replied, "Nothing awful, I promise. Basically the potential outcomes range from worst case of nothing happens at all, to best case of it goes off perfectly without a hitch. The other option is it works, but not as well or as thoroughly as we hoped? Like maybe we only get halfway or three-quarters to where you want to be?"

"What won't happen, so you don't have to worry about this," I added, "It's not going to backfire. It's not going to do the opposite of what you want. It's not going to affect me instead of you. It's not going to do something completely unexpected and different. Ok? It either doesn't work, or it works part-way, or it works perfectly. Those are the only outcomes."

Kelly nodded, "Ok Melody. Thanks for explaining all that."

"So what's this going to look like?" Craig asked. "And can I record it with my phone?"

I shook my head, "No recordings, no pictures. As for what it looks like, probably ninety percent me and Kelly with our eyes closed, and ten percent sudden changes. No flashy lights or sounds or special effects though."

"What's um," Kelly gulped, "What's the next step?"

"You and I have to have a serious and graphic discussion of what you want, so we're both on the same page. We both need to concentrate on the same stuff, which means I need to know what that stuff is."

"Sorry," I added, "But this is where we have to leave privacy and modesty behind. Be specific, thorough, and detailed. Don't hold back out of modesty, because if we're not on the same page that makes it less likely you'll get what you want."

Kelly sighed, "Ok, understood."

He glanced at Craig, "Sorry dude but Melody needs to hear this stuff, you don't."

Me and Kelly excused ourselves and went upstairs to my room. It took about ten or twelve minutes for him to describe everything, including a few times I had to ask for clarification or to make sure he was positive that's what he wanted. And needless to say, there were more than a few blushes and embarrassed looks along the way.

After that I had a pretty good mental image of what we were doing. I suggested, "You'll want to get changed into something loose, and maybe as little as possible? A nightshirt or house-coat even?"

He blushed again as he went into dad's bedroom for a few minutes. When he emerged he was in a loose t-shirt and a pair of loose Bermuda shorts. Then we both went back downstairs and rejoined Craig in the living-room.

Me and Kelly sat together on the love-seat, Craig was on the sofa, and I looked back and forth between them both. "If we're ready, we may as well do this now while everything's fresh in my mind?"

"Sure," Craig shrugged. "Get it over with, then we can relax and chill."

Kelly gulped but nodded, "Ok Melody. What do we do?"

I smiled and moved closer, "You and I will hug. We need the physical contact. We hug, we both close our eyes, we concentrate and focus. You keep that mental image going in your head, I'll do the rest. And you'll know when it happens."

He gulped again, took a deep breath, then stated "Ok. I'm ready."

The two of us turned so we were kind of facing each other, my arms wrapped around his waist and his were around my shoulders. We were both holding each other tightly, and I watched as he closed his eyes and a look of concentration settled on his face.

Then I did the same, and I easily slipped into that meditative state dad taught me last month. I got the image in my head that Kelly described, and held him tight as I started trying to push my abilities out onto him.

It was probably the hardest thing I'd ever done, like a thousand times harder than changing myself. After only a month and a half I was able to change my whole body in only a couple seconds, and stuff like my hair or eyes barely took a moment.

Forcing my ability out onto someone else wasn't supposed to work, and dad only told me about it because she assumed there was no way I'd ever be strong enough to do it. She didn't think I'd even try it, after all the dire warnings she gave me.

I pushed those thoughts away for now, I redoubled my focus and concentration and pushed even harder.

And just over two minutes later I felt it happen. Like a dam burst or something, the resistance in Kelly's body finally gave way to the outside force of my power. My ability took hold, and I felt his form shift and change as I held him in my arms.

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