Jeff looked at the handsome man handing him the small, black wrist unit. He took it, the moment feeling almost surreal, like he had gone outside of his body and was watching everything from a distance, unfolding in slow motion. Their eyes locked, and he felt like he was looking at him for the last time. He felt something wet roll down his cheeks. He realized as he put the Chronivac on, he was crying. He wasn’t sure he could even feel any emotions right now – at least none he could identify. Just the warm, wet tears dropping from his eyes. Jeff held his breath in dreadful anticipation, fearing this would be the last moment he would see his boyfriend looking at him the way he did now.
Then… nothing happened.
“Wait,” Jeff said, cutting his boyfriend off – who was clearly about to ask why Jeff was crying. Instead they both stood in silence.
Breathing.
Waiting.
And still, nothing happened.
“This isn’t right,” Jeff muttered to himself, starting to get the feeling he had been made a fool of.
“I know, sweetie,” Scotty put a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder.
Both men stood only in their shorts, by the kitchen table, waiting for something to happen. And nothing was happening. Lots of nothing. So much nothing it was deafening. Scotty gave a sigh and hugged Jeffy tight.
At a complete loss and confused, Jeffy hugged him back, their chins resting on one another’s broad shoulders. The two tall, beefy football jocks held one another, their hairy, 18-year-old Greek god bodies a study in perfection.
“I don’t understand,” Jeff said simply.
Suddenly Scotty let go of Jeff, his hands going to his head, as though he were in extreme pain, his eyes darting around as if he was trying to get something out of his head. “Whoa… what the fuck?”
“What is it Scotty – what’s wrong?” Jeff put a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder. Scotty’s eyes were wide, his hands continued holding his head.
“Fuck me,” Scotty’s mouth hung open, as if in shock. “Oh fucking shit, I don’t believe it. This is fucking crazy – I’m fucking cazy…”
Jeff asked again what was wrong, when suddenly, Jeff heard a calm, professional female voice in his head. “Welcome to TransDem Labs Chronivac version 5.0. Transformation for fun. Bioscan completed. Buffering.” A translucent menu appeared along the bottom of Jeff’s vision. He could still clearly see Scott holding his hands to his head, standing with his mouth hanging open, occasionally hearing him say “Fucking shit” with incredulity. The voice continued, “To minimize the ocular HUD menu, simply blink your eyes twice or flex both thumbs to your middle fingers at once. To access it again, look up and blink twice or flex both thumbs to your ring fingers at once. If you wish to use voice command, simply say ‘voice command’. If you wish to use the holographic display, choose ‘hologram’ or say “hologram and it will activate voice command as well.”
Scotty’s hands had finally dropped to his sides, and the jock stood, mouth still open, eyes still wide with wonder, as if reading something.
The voice continued in Jeff’s head. “If you wish to connect your unit to a wireless device, simply select wireless from the HUD menu or say ‘wireless’.”
“Oh fuck. It’s true.” Scotty was looking down at you – you realized you were losing height. “It’s all true!”
The voice kept speaking to Jeff. “If you wish to use sign language, braille, simple-touch wrist option, another language, or to see more options select or say ‘more’.”
Jeff looked up at Scott, who towered over him now. The man was reasonably attractive, very muscular and hairy, and looking down at him with almost an expression of horror on his face. Jeff remembered everything they had done, but suddenly felt like his skin was crawling; he might admire the guy’s muscles, but he was straight – he definitely liked girls without any doubt, and the idea he had done the things he had with Scotty made Jeff want to brush his teeth, use a gallon of mouth wash and take a very hot, long shower – on his own. “Oh shit.”
“You’re telling me?” Scotty looked down at the short, shrimpy, mostly hairless 16-year-old who looked like puberty had barely hit yet, the shorts he had been wearing on the floor in a pile around his little feet. “You’re just a little kid." Scotty's face went pale. "I think I’m going to be sick.”
“I’m not even gay,” Jeff spat out, shuddering at the memories of what they had done. “Holy fuck, how can you stand the BO? This is so fucked up.”
With that, Jeff heard the voice in his head, “SUBJECT ONE RESET. CHAMELEON CLOTHES EMERGENCY DEACTIVATION. FULL LOG SAVED, ERROR TRANSFORMATION BUFFERED IN SPECIAL MEMORY.”
Jeff and Scott stood looking at one another in shocked disbelief. Any doubts Scott had about the Chronivac were gone now as reality set in.
“TRANSPORTING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATE LOCATION.”
In a moment, Jeff was back where he started, in the familiar surroundings of his room. He stood naked – except for the Chronivac band – in front of the mirror in the back of his closet. His own clothes were right were he left them. “Oh shit, the BO!” Jeff nearly wretched. Then he remembered everything he had done with the big, smelly jock, and ran into the bathroom.
An hour later, he emerged from the bathroom. His mother would wonder later where all the soap, shampoo, mouthwash, toothpaste, and disinfectants had gone. Jeff shivered with repulsion. “It’s not enough,” he said with horror. "Transform for fun, like fuck."