Having come in from the rain, David placed their wet jacket upon a towel on a chair next to the front door. No coat rack, no fancy digs. Alex's place was barely not a studio apartment: one bedroom, one bath, a kitchen with washer and drier hookups, with a living room that had to double as a dining area.
But, for David, that was fine. If not for Alex, they'd have to be sleeping out beneath an underpass in this heavy rain. It'd been that way for a few months now, and he knew Alex was beginning to mind. David did the household chores and contributed to rent when they could, but part of being out in the city today was job hunting once again...
"I guess I could just give myself a job," David considered aloud as he moved into the kitchen to take care of the dirty dishes. They set his phone on the counter next to the sink, and started filling it to let some of the plates soak, then picked up their phone to check their email.
Blinking, David looked back to the The Magic Shop app with its abbreviated TMS icon on his home screen. Opening it back up, the focus was still on David, but the text had changed since the last time the app was open: "David is preparing to do the dishes," it said. With a few quick taps, they changed do to finish and took a breath before hitting Submit.
The sound of water pouring stopped and David looked up from his phone. The sink was draining, and all the plates and utensils were no longer in the sink of water, but instead laid out on the rack next to the sink waiting to be loaded into the dish washer.
"That's so creepy," they said, blinking. "What's Alex call that? A 'poof' transformation? Just... pop, it happens," David nodded. He took another breath and began loading the dishes into the dishwasher to get them off the counter. It was only half full, so they didn't run the machine...
A moment later, David could hear the bolt lock at the front door unlocking. They moved around the open counter that faced the living space and just behind the couch where they normally slept. In the next moment, Alex was entering the apartment more drenched than David had been a few moments earlier.
"You're back early," said David, a bit concerned.
"Yup," Alex nodded. "How'd the search go?" Alex wondered aloud, tossing their jacket on top of David's on the chair.
"Interview went fine... at least until they/them came up—" Alex looked like they were about to add something. "Hey, I didn't offer, like you said!" They assured, raising their hands a bit in a defensive posture. "They literally asked if I had a preferred and then looked a bit taken aback when I didn't say he/him."
Alex shrugged. "Alright... well. Anything else of note? Any weird encounters at the bus stop this time?" There was that patented Alex smirk, always looking for a tale of woe from the city.
The reason the apartment was a whole bus ride away from downtown was because they were off on the more agricultural side of town, recently renamed from Calhoun to some name David could never recall. Alex worked on a farm and then would come home and browse the internet for most hours... rarely playing console or PC game except for special occasions.
But David had a choice now. Alex, due to various circumstances, was the most trusted person in their life right now. If they were going to tell anyone about the app, it would almost certainly be them. But, Alex was also into transformations as a kink, and that would potentially open up a lot more Trouble with a capital T if Alex wanted a little more hands-on time with the app.
"Well," David began...