Joe shrugged. "What the hell, I'm gonna do it," he said. "Where do I sign?"
Dr. Kelly grinned coolly and nodded, directing him to the relevant bits of paperwork, and turned her attention to Mike. "And you, Mr. Larue?"
Mike went back and forth for a minute, trying to figure out if he was really about to say this. "I-I, um..." His voice dropped almost to a whisper. "I want...to do the half-and-half thing..."
Her eyes glinted. "Oh, excellent! We've been waiting for a male volunteer for that one. Here, if you'll just check this box, and sign here..."
He could hardly believe he was doing it, but he did. When they'd finished signing off on waiver after waiver, she directed them to a couple of exam rooms at the end of the hall. "There's a staff nurse waiting for each of you," she said, tearing off part of their forms. "Show them these, and they'll start you on the treatment. I look forward to seeing how both of you turn out."
Mike felt a knot forming in his stomach as he walked. Was he really going to do this? But he'd already signed the paperwork...shit, was there an opt-out clause? He hadn't paid close enough attention. But the money, and his loans...
The nurse smiled gently as he entered. "It's normal to be nervous, you know," she said. "I can tell you that, as far as we've seen from animal testing, this is perfectly safe, but of course humans have all their social factors to consider. Do you need a minute?"
He bit his lip. "N-n-no, let's...let's just get it o-over with."
She nodded. "Of course. Here, why don't you have a seat on the table while I prep the injection." She took a box out of the little cupboard over the sink counter and picked a syringe from it. "We're hoping to have it in tablet form soon," she said, "so hopefully when you come in next month, this won't be necessary."
She had him bare his shoulder, swabbed it down with an alcohol wipe, and gave a little squirt from the syringe into the sink. He hesitated slightly when she went to do the injection, but she was quick and professional and before he knew it, it was over. My fate is sealed, he thought grimly.
She smiled gently. "It'll be alright," she said. "You're becoming part of something great, if it helps to think of it that way. Not just the advancement of science, but opening up whole new avenues for bodily self-expression."
Mike wasn't sure it did help, but he wasn't sure about much of anything right now. He sat there, idly browsing on his phone and trying to keep his mind off things; it was almost fifteen minutes before he felt a sudden twinge somewhere deep in his abdomen.
The nurse noticed him wince. "That'd be your Müllerian ducts re-developing," she said. "Many people don't know this, but both male and female embryos start off with the prototype organs for either sex; it's hormonal influence during fetal development that controls what develops into what. That's the start of your womb, Fallopian tubes, and the upper part of the vaginal canal." She rattled this off like it was a spiel she'd practiced many times over.
Mike was about to protest that he really didn't need the trivia, but he was interrupted by a sudden popping and cracking in his hips. "H-hey, wha-!?" he sputtered.
"Yes, that's the only significant change to your body type, with this treatment," she said. "The pelvis has to be altered, to allow for safe childbirth in the event of pregnancy. Everything else, we don't induce any changes to - or, at least, that's been the case in animal testing. I'm sure Dr. Kelly mentioned, but we're curious to see what the end result is like in a human subject."
He felt his stomach churn, only partly due to the new space opening up inside of him. "P-p-pregnancy!?"
"Of course," she replied. "Please understand - you're not required or even encouraged to get pregnant, and your reimbursement won't change in any case. It's a legal thing; we don't want to do anything that could be construed as paying for sex work. However, you are becoming functionally female in the affected areas; that does mean that you'll be fully capable of conceiving and bearing a child to term, and we do want you to be aware that engaging in unprotected intercourse carries that possibility."
He blanched. "Y-you've gotta be kidding, you've got to be kidding me..."
She shook her head. "No joke, Mr. Larue. For the record, we have designed the treatment in such a way that it should be compatible with existing birth-control medication...but I do have to add, as a disclaimer, that we've never had a chance to test that in a human subject, and we can't say with 100% certainty that there'd be no drug interactions or side effects." She shrugged. "But then, we don't know what effects the hormonal changes during pregnancy might have on the rest of your body, either. It's your call; we just want to make sure you're informed."
Mike meant to say something, but instead, he hissed and grabbed his crotch. "Gahhh!"
"And that'd be your testes withdrawing into the body cavity," she said, without missing a beat. "Not that you can see, but they're already in the process of becoming your new ovaries. Your scrotal sac should be splitting apart about now, as well..."
He nodded weakly.
"...which will become your labia majora." She checked her watch and made a note on a handy scratchpad. "You're well on your way, already - for what it's worth, you're taking to the treatment marvelously, better than we expected."
Oh great, good for me, he thought, but said nothing.
Over the next quarter-hour, the nurse talked him through the remainder of the changes as he felt them happen - the final development of the uterus and cervix, the dwindling of the penis into his new clitoris and the splitting off of the urethra, the development of the vulva and lower part of his vagina, and the two ends of the canal joining up to complete his new female reproductive system. She insisted that he let everything settle for a while, and then helped him off the table.
"You did wonderfully," she said, smiling gently. "I'm going to leave you here for now; you can take a bit to get acquainted with yourself, if you like. When you're ready, you can head back to Dr. Kelly's office; she's expecting you."
She left, and for a long moment Mike just stood there. He shifted his hips uneasily, feeling the difference in his stance and conspicuously not feeling anything dangling between his legs anymore. He'd never thought much about that sensation, but its sudden absence made it impossible for him to ignore. He nervously put a hand to the crotch of his jeans, prodding gently and feeling his underwear press flat against him in a way that it never had before.
Finally, warily, as if something might jump out and bite him, he undid his fly and pulled out the waistband of his underwear. And there it was: nestled between his legs, which were somewhat farther apart than they had been, was a plump mound, covered in a messy thatch of dark hair, with the beginning of a cleft just visible at the bottom. Something that belonged on a woman was now, impossibly, a part of him.
Stunned, he couldn't bring himself to touch it; instead, he zipped his pants back up and went to leave the exam room. He paused by the door; the outer pane of the window was frosted, but the inner pane wasn't, and he could kinda see his reflection in it. Was his face a little softer than before, his hair a little shaggier, or was he imagining it...?
Walking back down the hall was an experience; his legs hadn't changed, but he couldn't stop noticing the difference his new hips made in his gait. He wondered if anybody else would notice; could he really keep this a secret? That was a weird idea in itself: I am female, he thought, but nobody can see. I have a secret that only my most intimate place reveals. He squirmed; what kind of thought was that...!?
The doctor gave him another knowing smile when he entered her office. "Back so soon?" she said. "Nurse Rawlins said your body accepted the treatment most effectively; that's a great sign."
Mike felt his ears burn and his cheeks redden. "I...I don't really wanna talk about it."
She nodded. "Very well, we'll leave that for the psych interviews. I think your friend should be along shortly."
In fact, it was several awkward minutes before someone else came through the door. "Sorry, sorry," she said, "the nurse had to show me how to put on a bra; God knows I'm gonna need it. Holy shit does girl-me take after Mom's side of the family...!"
The new Joe was...well, zaftig would be an apt descriptor. She hadn't changed in height, but while 5'8" wasn't tall for a man, it was moreso for a woman, and the majority of her fat had been redistributed in eye-catching ways; she was curvy and well-endowed, with a slightly elfin and cute-as-a-button face. Her voice was higher, but pretty average in the female range, neither squeaky nor husky. Her close-cropped auburn hair had grown out considerably, although it was still what'd be considered short for a woman. Her clothes were distinctly ill-fitting now.
"J-Joe!?" Mike sputtered.
"In the hella-different flesh, yeah," she replied. "Huh, 'Jo?' 'Joey?' 'Josephine?' Guess there's no point pretending to be someone else; if I'm rooming with you, people are gonna figure it out. How 'bout you? All changed?"
He nodded weakly. She flashed him that same easy-going smile he recognized from years of their friendship. "Wild, man, wild. Gonna be a hell of a way to spend senior year...!"
Senior year, Mike thought. That was right, they were facing a whole year of this. He wondered what it held in store for them...and what he'd feel like at the end of it...