Annie wasn't sure what happened. She'd been frowning, trying to decide whether to buy the red dress or the black one. She was really hoping to look sexy for her friend's bachelorette party. At 22, she was single, and tired of it. And then, suddenly, she was half naked, wearing nothing but an oversized blouse and equally too-large socks and shoes. As she tried to figure out what had happened, she saw a girl next to her.
A girl who looked a lot like herself. Like...exactly like herself! The other girl was struggling to hold up a too-large skirt. Annie wasn't sure who screamed first, but soon they both were.
STS was a rarely understood phenomenon, and apparently several people had been afflicted by it that afternoon. Since they both still looked completely human, it hadn't been readily apparent that they were anything other than twin blonde girls playing dress up, so they'd been ushered into a small room to wait for the police and a social worker.
Which was more than enough time for them to work out that they were, in fact, the same person. Just...smaller. Like little kid small. Annie had only been 5' 2" that morning, but now she and her twin were under 4' 6" at least (actually 4' 4 1/4" tall, but they wouldn't know that until later). "Ok, so. Somehow, one of us shrunk, and got an exact clone?" Annie was trying to wrap her head around that.
"Not quite, remember what we learned in biology? It's how cells reproduce. Mitosis. One cell splits in half, creating two identical cells. Us. Explains the smaller size, too, I bet when we get weighed, we'll each be half our original weight, so about 54 pounds."
"Fuck." Was all Annie could say.
"Yeah, I agree. So what do we do now? I mean, we weren't the only ones changed. It won't be too hard to prove we are who we say we are. And the government gives aid to people like us."
"Yeah but first...uh, what do I call you?"
"Ann...oh, right. Fuck. Uh, well, one of us can stay Annie, and the other can be...Grace." Her twin shrugged.
"Grace...oh, right. It's what our name means. Sorry, I guess you got all the brains when we split apart." 'Annie' (or was it Grace?) frowned.
"You do seem to be a bit more in shock. Maybe we're not exactly identical. I might be our logical side, and you'd be...creative?"
"More like neurotic. God, we're going to need our meds." Annie had been prescribed an anti-anxiety medication after having a nervous breakdown during her college finals. Apparently she'd long had an undiagnosed bipolar disorder- it was mild and didn't normally prevent her from functioning, but she had...incidents.
"Yeah. And a new dosage too, we're fucking tiny. Fuck. So much for getting a boyfriend with a sexy new dress."
'Annie' hugged her sister. "Hey, it's alright. You're not alone, right?"
"Yeah. Thanks...Sis?" She tested it out, and found it felt right. "So since it was my idea, I'll be Grace, ok?"
"You sure? It's kind of an old fashioned name." Annie looked at her...other half carefully.
"I don't hate it. Besides, we never really liked Annie either. Too twee, and Anne sounds too pretentious." Grace smirked.
"At least we didn't actually turn into kids. That would have been worse." Annie gestured to her breasts, which were about proportionately the same size (maybe a little smaller).
"Yeah, and it looks like we still have our figures. Means all that dieting and exercise wasn't completely wasted. But man, we're midgets. And there's no denying we look cuter. So the only guy we're going to get is some pedo." Grace sighed.
"What's the alternative? Either dress up Lolita style and hook up with a pervert, or sew it shut and forget about it?" Annie alluded to a line from a Heinlein novel.
"Ha, I'm not changing my name to Johann. But there is another possibility. We could go to bat for the other team." Grace suggested.
"I don't know...women are crazy, you know that. Imagine having a relationship with one. And I mean, we still have the same problem, but now we have to find a lesbian pedophile. Is that even a thing?"
Grace raised an eyebrow doing their Spock impersonation. "Logically, it must be, though it is clearly either a rarer phenomenon for women, or it has been grossly underreported."
Annie punched her 'sister' in the arm playfully. "God. It finally happened, I found someone who has my weird sense of humor. Too bad it's me."
"Yeah, well, were we ever going to find a handsome guy with the exact right balance of geek and normal for a perfect relationship? I'm doubtful." Grace shrugged.
"Unless we date each other." Annie wasn't really thinking seriously when she said it, but then she noticed Grace _staring_ at her. "What?"
"You know...I realize that was a completely off the cuff remark, but the idea has merit. I mean, we obviously can relate to each other on a psychological level. We're fully aware of each others flaws, and I mean, we do recognize that we're attractive."
"You can't be serious." Annie wasn't a lesbian. Ok, well, maybe she'd had some thoughts along those lines before, but...
"And now you're thinking, 'no way, not me', I'm straight. Hi, this is you talking. We're not, Annie. We've always been afraid to admit it, but we are at least bi-curious." Grace was really good at playing the logic card.
"Ok fine, I acknowledge your argument, but talk about narcissistic. Would that even be sex, or just masturbation?"
Grace grinned. "Twincesturbation. I think it might be fun."
"How the hell are you part of me? I don't even know you, girl." But as much as she protested, the seed was planted, and Grace was a real cutie...
By the time they'd been processed, their identities confirmed, and a nice police officer had given them a ride back to their flat, they were at least holding hands. That night they slept in the same bed (well that was logical, it was their bed, after all, and it was more than big enough for the both of them).
And if they woke up in each other's arms, well, that wasn't all that abnormal. Naturally they were missing the other half of themselves! But in the end, it was Annie who made the first move, giving her sister a quick peck on the lips.
Grace immediately retaliated with a much more intense kiss, and it was all downhill from there. As it happened, they were extremely compatible lovers. They never made it to the bachelorette party, but they did at least attend the wedding. Their friends were all bemused at their situation, but once it became evident that they were the same old Annie (just in two places at once), things returned to some semblance of normal.
Sure, their penchant for wearing kid's clothing was a little weird, and required some explaining (especially when they went out to a bar), and everyone carefully avoided mentioning how...close...the two of them were. But they were an effective team, and using their assistance money, they went into business together as scientific consultants.
A few years later, their doctor noted that each of them was aging at about half the normal rate, which was a nice plus. All in all, life was good for the twins.