Neither of them said anything for a long moment, and Dr. Kelly nodded knowingly. "I understand," she said. "It's a lot to take in, I'm sure, when nothing comparable to this was even possible until our recent breakthrough. Of course you're free to think about it for a few days, but since you're already here I thought it'd make sense to ask. Tell you what, shall I give you a little while to talk it over?"
"Th-that'd, uh, that'd be great, thanks," Mike stammered. Joe nodded silently.
She smiled. "Very well. There's a conference room just down the hall - take a left as you go out, and it's the first door on the right. Why don't you take your time and think about it, and I'll be here in my office when you're ready to decide."
The two friends did just that; Mike shut the door behind them, and they sat down next to each other at the table. "This's...wow," Joe said at last. "Wow. This is just wild, man."
"It's crazy, is what it is," Mike said quietly. "I-I mean, even if she's serious, spending a year as a woman!? I...I don't even know how to begin processing that."
"Well...I mean, I guess it is only a year, when you think about it," Joe mused. "And it's senior year, too; it'll probably go by like that," he said, snapping his fingers for emphasis.
"But...like, exactly," Mike countered. "It's senior year; we're gonna be busy enough with coursework, let alone dealing with...whatever we have to cope with, adjusting to...to..." He shook his head slowly.
"She said it herself, man, we don't have to be the belles of the ball or anything." Joe drummed his fingers against his arm, thinking. "Like, you can just be girl-you and ignore everything about it that isn't 'sit down to piss,' if you gotta."
"Don't forget your freakin' period," Mike shot back. "At least, if she's as serious about 'total sex reversal' as it sounds." He cringed. "I mean, I remember how my sister got, when she started hers."
"Wow, yeah, hadn't thought about that," Joe said, blanching slightly. "But...well, you saw that payout, man. She's right - it's more than either of our tuition. We could be getting out of college, like, not just debt-free, but with a freakin' nest egg. How many guys like us get that kind of opportunity?"
Mike bit his lip. He hated to admit it, but the thought of not spending the first decade of his working life paying off his student loans was an appealing one. "St-still," he said, "trying to focus on school when everyone around us is like, 'you did what!?' - I mean, how're we gonna...?"
Joe shrugged. "So we go incognito," he said. "Or, hell, you can do the between-the-legs bit and leave everything else, if you want - you're rooming with me and you're not in any sport that involves a locker room, so who's gonna know?"
Mike shook his head. "Man, I keep forgetting that's an option. What kind of weirdo wants something like that...?" Though part of him did consider the idea from a purely pragmatic standpoint - he could get through this and claim the payout with noone the wiser. It wasn't like he was gonna be dating much through senior year anyway...
They went back and forth for a while longer, and it wasn't until some time later that they made their way back to Dr. Kelly's office. She gave them a quiet, knowing little smile. "Well, have you decided?"