Marcus got out of bed and stood up. He had to sleep on Logan's bed, which was now his bed. He scratched his face. He scratched again.
Stubble? Stubble! He had stubble!
He stumbled his way to the bathroom on his new long legs. He had to bend down to get through the bathroom door.
So this is what it's like to be 6 foot 6 he thought, a smile creeping over his face.
In the mirror he saw his regular 14 year old self. Only...
Instead of the cute little elfin nose there was a big honker of a nose, hooked and rather prominent. It looked like someone's dad's nose had been swapped with his. The formula sometimes worked faster on some body parts than others.
The rest of his face was the same. The same deep chestnut hair, coiffed stylishly. The same small eyes and triangular chin, the same ears. His face, which had been as smooth as soap just the day before, was now covered completely in stubble.
"Bitchin'," he said, in his 14 year old voice, still high and squeaky, and slightly effeminate. Marcus' natural genetics would leave him most likely at a countertenor level for life. Most men in his family were high pitched in voice and it always made him feel very anxious at the thought that it might never drop very far. Now he was in a body that would soon leave him with a rich, gravelly bass voice. He smiled, looked at his body. It wasn't a bad body, really. A little bit of a dad bod with some love handles, but he finally had muscle. He did a few poses in front of the mirror. His body and head didn't match very well yet. His body was hairy. It had hairy pits. He felt them in wonder. He'd never had hairy pits before. His arms were covered with hair, as well as his legs. It was a new sensation and completely thrilled the boy. His new body was fully adult and before he knew it, something else was happening.
An erection. His new dick was shaped like a cucumber, thicker in the middle than the tip. And it was very excited. Marcus stroked it and it grew...he thought of how hot this body of his was now. He wasn't a huge bodybuilder but he was imposing in height and he had better than average muscles. The hairiness magnified his male virility, enhanced his look. He rubbed his cheeks and felt the stubble in all its glory, moving his hand up and down to feel the coarseness and then smoothness.
"Hey kid, you in there?" he heard the sudden knock accompanied with the detective's voice from outside the bathroom. "I gotta take a piss. Jeez, this new dick of youse ain't much but at least I can use it to take a leak, know what I'm sayin?"
"Just a second!" Marcus cracked the door open. "Uh...I'm naked. Is that okay?"
"The fuck do I care? It's not like I ain't ever seen that body before? Don't be shy. Come on out. Let's see each other in the daylight.
Marcus stumbled out naked, towering over the 40 year old Logan.
"Wow. It's so weird looking down on someone like this."
"Yeah, you'll get used to it. Scuse me, kid."
Marcus heard Logan's sigh of relief as he let loose in the toilet with his new two incher. The man's face looked slightly different. The swarthy detective face was crammed on top of a frame almost two feet shorter. It looked like Time's arrow had worked backwards just a tiny bit. Logan's ears had grown shorter and rounder to match Marcus' and his stubble was less prominent than it had been. A few of the laugh lines had smoothed over, making him look almost 30 years old. His body was now of course smooth and bony, barely cracking 110 pounds on the scale if he was lucky.
"This had all better be worth it," Logan muttered, looking up at Marcus a little resentfully.
They couldn't go out the way they were, so they stayed indoors. Logan kept Marcus busy. First, he had him dress in adult clothing. From now on, Marcus was to dress in dress shirt, tie, and dress pants. Marcus smiled as he realized the enormous clothing fit him perfectly. Logan dressed in a preppy Abercrombie and Fitch outfit complete with skinny jeans that hugged his much smaller frame. The two sat side by side, Marcus much outweighing his now smaller friend. Logan showed him his system of files, organization, and his dossier on Marcus' principal.
"So you think he's really involved with hiding financial crimes?"
"That is the point of us switching bodies, kid," Logan replied, his voice cracking. "Ahem. As I was saying, the case is loaded with-" his voice cracked again. He cleared his throat. "I think..."
"Your voice is changing! I can't wait til my voice drops. I've always wondered what it would be like to sound super grown up."
"Yeah well start by avoiding the phrase "super grown up". It's sort of a dead giveaway," Logan said, strolling over to the desk where he kept his cigarettes. He popped one in his mouth and before Marcus had the chance to say anything, he came back to the couch and placed it in Marcus' lips. "Almost forgot. I got a kid bod now. You gotta learn to smoke sometime, kid." Marcus eyes bulged wide. With his head on this body he looked like a freak still. His face didn't match his body quite yet. And yet his adult body had a very strong feeling that needed subduing.
"You just light the tip and breathe in. Suck it like a straw. It'll help, 'less you wanna go crazy from nic fits all day."
"Wow. This is so...exciting! I've never had one before!" Marcus couldn't believe he was actually going to smoke a real cigarette! Logan lit him up with a lighter and Marcus used his new adult hand to grip the tiny delightful Camel. He took a drag and exhaled. "Wow." He tried it again. "Wow, this is...not like I expected!" He tried it again and then blew smoke up in a plume.
"Lemme show you a few tricks. You wanna hold it like this..." Logan showed him how to dangle the cigarette in his lips to look cool, and had Marcus pose in front of the mirror for a little while.
Throughout the day, Marcus needed to smoke. He had to. He had never felt like this before, this amazing craving and the satisfaction of getting what he wanted, and he was proud of the fact that his cigarette smoke was filling the apartment. The smoke crowded around his face and obscured it. Logan looked askance and realized that Marcus had changed. His chin was bigger now. It was jutting out several inches. His hair had also receded somewhat and darkened. His forehead now had several creases in it.
Logan ran to the mirror. His face was smoother now, and he looked like he could be 25 years old. All the laugh lines gone. He gripped his face with his hands.
"Unbelievable. Like goin' back in time. Youze a pretty decent looking kid, I gotta say. Like one of them Disney kid actors or something. Weird how I'm gonna look so innocent." Logan frowned. His voice was off. Lighter. Less manly. It sounded higher and more like one would expect from a college student rather than a 40 year old gravel voiced smoker of several decades.
"Looks like we're finally changin', huh? Hey. Is that my voice? I think my voice is changin'!" Marcus stood up. His eyebrows were thicker now, he could see looking at his new reflection. And when he cinched his eyebrows he could see the lines in his face were more prominent now. His head was changing shape a bit, too. His helmet hair had disappeared entirely and was now conservatively cut. He dragged on the cigarette and exhaled. "Not bad, huh? Looks like I'm about halfway to bein' you!"
Marcus felt a surge of confidence.
Logan began to feel slight unease, feeling very self conscious with his pipe cleaner arms. Marcus looked at himself with satisfaction. Logan began to cough.
"Oh man, that is definitely not agreeing with me. I can't remember the last time cigarette smoke made me...erm...made me...oh man, I need some air." He went over to open up the door to the balcony. He went outside to get some air while Marcus admired himself in the mirror. When Logan came back, he had brown hair instead of black and it had already lengthened somewhat.
"You doin' okay in there, man?" Marcus drawled in his new Bostonian accent. "Gotta say, I didn't expect being in this big lug of a body to agree with me but I feel right at home in here, you know?"
Logan looked way up at his old body as Marcus adopted the body language he used to, confident, manspreading on the couch, or putting one leg on top of another to admire how long they were, wearing his new adult dress shoes. "Not too bad at all," Marcus began, feeling very confident in himself. "You know I used to think smokin' was for losers, but now I see the appeal. Feels good. Feels fuckin' sexy, too, I gotta say. Feels like I'm finally gettin' somewhere. Soon as I get back to work I'm gonna follow whatever leads you acquire but I gotta numbah of cases that ah gonna require my undivided attention. You listenin', goofball? You kids, I swear. Nah, I'm just razzin' ya, I know you ain't no kid deep down. Hey, getta loada me, talkin' like this. I sound like I'm from Bahston!
"That's not all you sound like," Logan said, delicately, his voice sounding more and more like a chipmunk. He cleared his throat. "You have my voice box now, kid. And uh...I've got yours." Logan frowned. His voice sounded so sweet and angelic and it unnerved him. Gone was the years of maturity and the deep rumbling bass he had taken for granted. Replacing it was a voice on the cusp of puberty, struggling to find itself as it cracked through sentence after sentence.
Marcus put a friendly arm around Logan and smiled mischievously. "You should go to the mirror, paison." He smoke in Logan's voice now, deep and rumbling. Logan did so, trembling a bit. He could feel his face getting smoother and he felt it as soon as he approached the mirror.
His stubble was entirely gone. Marcus, meanwhile, looked like he could be in college now. His features had become more rugged. His ears had elongated to become a much more prominent feature. His chin was much bigger now. Logan's chin had shrunk. With his smooth face and elfin nose, he looked like he was about 75% there. His eyes and large mouth hadn't really changed yet, which gave him a very bizarre look.
"I got an idea," Marcus announced. "I should call you by my name from now on. It would probably help us to adjust."
"I dunno, kid," Logan began. "I don't know if I'm comfortable with that, sir."
Marcus smiled knowingly. He felt much more mature now, as if he had gained decades of adult sensibilities. He was almost humored by the manchild staring back at him.
"Kid. No offense but no one's gonna believe this thing if you don't try and play the paht. Go along with it. Call me Logan."
"Fine," Logan sighed, rather immaturely. "Logan, there are you happy now?"
"Watch the attitude, kiddo," Marcus warned.
A few hours passed. Marcus was getting acquainted with the case files he was, as a detective, expected to be following.
"Hey, kid. Guess what? I'm pretty sure I know how to drive a cah now! This stuff works fast, and it's really feels good, you knows what I'm talkin' about? Gotta say, I'm really glad I'm helpin' you out with this undahcovah business an' all." Marcus said the last part as he dangled a cigarette in his mouth before cupping his hands and lighting it. "Now uh...I think as much as I'm enjoying these Camels, you gotta pipe, right?"
"Yeah," Logan said. "It's cheaper in general to smoke pipe tobacco."
"I think I've smoked more cigarettes than I normally do," Marcus said, almost forgetting that he had never smoked them before today. "Usually I smoke only a few of these things a day and stick to the pipe. Got that classic feel, feels good in my mouth."
"You sound like you're adjusting well," Logan said with uncertainty.
"Don't you worry bout a thing, kid. Everything is goin' accordin' to the plan. Just stick to the plan and get that info for me, understand? You think you can handle that, kiddo?"
Logan frowned. Was the potion supposed to make him feel this anxious and unsure of himself? He couldn't ever remember feeling this sweaty and nervous. He felt so small and he suddenly felt panic and wanted to switch heads again and go back to normal.
No, no...this whole case went much deeper than just one principal. There was major shenanigans happening in the school district. Too much money was going missing. And he just hoped he wouldn't get detention if he got caught snooping around. Logan shook his head. Gotta get my head on straight, I'm an adult detective in this tiny boy bod, after all!
"Well I'm glad you sound like me now. So what do we do now?" Logan asked, and frowned.
"You puttin' me in charge, huh? Fine with me. I think we should order some dinner. I look old enough to answer the door now, you know? I look pretty grown up now," Marcus said as he casually filled his pipe. "You like pasta? Everyone likes pasta." Marcus had never felt so at ease with life. He felt very much in control. Logan, though, was not enjoying the new feelings flooding his body.
Was the potion too effective? Was it supposed to make him feel all of these emotional swings? He felt like hiding his tiny body away in a closet or something. He didn't want anyone to see him like this. What was wrong with him?
Marcus lit his new pipe. Puffed on it peacefully.
"You know, I never expected to swap bodies with anyone like this before. The fact that I got this body now is alright with me. Thanks, New Marcus, I owe ya for de experience." He was posturing and standing and smoking and he could feel his face elongating, growing more mature. His eyes twinkled and Logan realized that he was now looking at a duplicate of himself, with slightly better teeth.
He looked at his own reflection. Dimpled cheeks and the last remnants of adulthood seamlessly melted away as youth took over.
"I don't believe it," he said in his new voice, which sounded so light he may as well be some kind of fairy.
"Believe it, son. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. How about a toast? You can have a beer. It'll be your last before you have to go home to youse parents house. Let's drink. To us and our adventure! Salut!"
Logan clinked his bottle of beer against the much taller copy of himself standing above him.
"Yeah, that hits the spot," the New Logan replied.
Logan tried to drink his but almost spit it out. It was sour and gross.
"I don't think I can drink this. It's...horrible."
"Guess you haven't developed a taste for the finah things in life, huh kiddo?"
The Italian food arrived and Marcus posed as Logan. It felt totally natural for him. There was salad, pasta and a some panini from the deli just down the street. Marcus told Logan he could watch TV while he reviewed his casework.
They had spent an exhausting day transforming into each other. Tomorrow they would go out as each other and get their bearing in their new bodies, the New Logan decided. Logan. I like that name, he thought. A real man's name. Not some faggy little name like Marcus. Logan is a much bettah name, he thought to himself as the New Marcus curled onto the couch wishing he hadn't ever thought of doing this. He was definitely having second thoughts now. He was afraid of what was going to happen to them and he hadn't been afraid, really afraid of anything in a long time. He wasn't used to it. He felt...vulnerable.
But then New Logan lit up his pipe and enjoyed a smoke before they went to bed. The apartment filled up with the peppery firewood smells. Marcus in his new big body had just begun to fit into the role of Logan and he was content. He didn't even mind that he couldn't see his parents for a while. Maybe he needed a vacation from them, he thought to himself. Yeah, he thought. A vacation where I get to be a grown up on my own feels so...right.
He smiled thinking of all the things he could do once the kid was back home with his parents where he belonged.