Jeff became engrossed in the TV and didn't give it any thought when he heard the garage door open. He didn't think twice as his dad, mom, and sister walked in through the garage, besides turning up the tv volume because they tend to be loud and get offended if they notice him try to drown them out for some stupid reason.
"WHAT is that on your FACE?" Mike said with shock.
Jeff's hand bolted to his face, and sure enough it was adorned by a short beard. "A beard."
Mike chuckled, "I can see that, where did it come from and why are you wearing a prosthetic beard?"
"No, I grew it..." Jeff tried to confess but didn't know how to explain the rest of the situation.
"HA, you were clean shaven when you went to swim practice yesterday; Adults don't grow beards in a day, let alone teens who shave once a week... Try again."
"Uhh,.. It's a prop for the school play. I was going to try out and they gave me this to get into character better."
"Oh, they did a really good job matching your natural hair color... It almost looks real but..." Mike moved within a few feet of Jeff, "Yeah, you still look like a kid. It's your face shape and spindly neck, and your whole frame actually." He said bemused. "You might need a longer beard to hide your jawline better or some sort of filler..."
"I'll pass that along." Jeff flushed with embarrassment.
"Hey Hon! Get a load of Jeff, he's trying out for the school play and he's partially in costume, come take a look!"
"Oh that's wonderful dear, what part are you... OH! Oh, that's... That's something unexpected!" She rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks holding back shocked giggles. "I need to take a picture of that!"
"Mom no!"
Jeff turned off the TV and hurried to his room, passing his stunned little sister along the way. He wanted to feel masculine, he wanted to feel mature, but instead his family mocked him while pointing out everything holding him back from that goal in the process.
Jeff collapsed on the bed, wishing he tried rebooting the machine before angrily throwing it and ensuring it was unusable. He was holding back tears and wallowing in self pity when the discarded technology let out a screech followed by a slightly garbled audio file, "Transformation Complete" it groaned.
"It wasn't finished.." Jeff whispered in exasperation. "That's why it was growing so fast. It was stuck, mid-transformation!" Jeff raced to the bathroom, and excitedly got the razor out yet again... hopefully for the last time today...
A few minutes later he was left with the the sideburns he had craved so desperately, and a faint shadow betraying his clean shaven face... 'It's not super noticeable. I only see it because I'm being paranoid and I expect it.' Jeff reasoned.... 'It'll be fine....' Jeff felt his face frustrated that the disposable razor still left his face feeling like sandpaper regardless of the direction he shaved... though he also kind of loved it. It was everything he wanted, but he didn't think to look at the reality settings when he was alone and planned on experimenting.
Jeff set a timer for an hour... 'I can hide in my room, I shaved before the race and after an hour, had heavy stubble... I should be able to tell for sure what the new normal is after an hour....'