Mike kept glancing back at Joe. She...he couldn't help it; the contrast was just too staggering. He wasn't sure what he'd expected the end result to be in his case, but the reflection that'd greeted him once he'd worked up the nerve to look in the mirror was that of...an ordinary young woman. Not "plain" in the sense that people normally used it of women, as a polite term for "actually gawky or kind of ugly," but just kinda...unremarkable. An ordinary face, neither stunning nor unpleasant, and a modest figure, from what he could tell; he hadn't had the nerve to take his clothes off.
Which should've been okay, really. It wasn't like this was something he wanted, so not standing out should've been a best-case scenario; he'd get through the year like this, finish out his degree and pay off his loans, and then things could go back to normal. There was no reason she - dammit, it was weirdly difficult not to think of herself as a woman; she wondered if Joe was having trouble with it as well - no reason he should want to be any kind of knockout...so it was odd that having his roommate turn into a girl straight out of a vintage pin-up calendar needled him as much as it did. Well, it wasn't Joe's fault; the nurse had told him it was just genetics, and it wasn't like women in his family tended to be stunners...
He shifted his hips uneasily, still weirded out at the feeling of nothing dangling between his legs. Anyway, it wasn't like either of their looks were going to be the biggest challenge in getting through the year. He'd thought the "alternative" Dr. Kelly mentioned would've been, like, some kind of suppressor, maybe a kind of biotech on/off switch for a woman's cycle; when the nurse had explained what it actually was, he'd nearly had a freakout. Okay, she'd assured him that it was safe and supposedly less unpleasant than menstruation, but still - what in all the hells!? He bit his lip and tried to think of the pay.
"Ms. Larue?"
"Huh, what...!?" she said, snapping back to the present conversation. It felt weird to hear her...himself addressed as "Miss," but he supposed he was probably gonna get a lot of that, over the next year...
"The school-records thing," Joe prompted him. She counted off on her fingers. "You know, do we just own up to being us and go back to our dorm, try 'n get into the women's dorm as us, or have them arrange for secret identities and finish out college as...whoever we end up being." She frowned. "Huh, 'Jo?' 'Josephine?' I guess 'Joey' could be, like, a super freakin' tomboy name..."
Dr. Kelly chuckled. "To be clear, this would be more of an informal arrangement with the school than a full legal change of identity records. We'd still make arrangements with law enforcement for temporary ID, though; we can't have our test subjects getting deported, obviously." She tapped her pen on the blotter. "If you do want to remain female at the end of the trial, we can help you with the paperwork for that, as well."
Mike got a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach at that; he brushed it aside and tried to consider the question. The thought of pretending to be a woman made him a little uneasy, but what were the alternatives? He didn't relish going back to the men's dorm; okay, a lot of the guys were basically alright, and he liked Joe just fine as a roommate, but it had its share of boorish fratboys as well, and sharing a living space with them as a...looking like a...this...was not an appealing prospect. And that'd go double for Joe, with her looks. But if they went to the women's dorm under their own names, wouldn't it make the actual women feel awkward around them? Maybe assuming another identity was the better choice after all...
"I...think we should go with the cover identities," he said quietly. It was still weird to hear his new voice...
Joe nodded thoughtfully. "Probably makes sense," she mused. "Hm, what do we call you? 'Micki?' 'Michaela?'"
"Michelle," she said, a little surprised at himself. He wasn't sure where that'd come from, but...it seemed obvious enough, as a cognate.
"Heh," Joe grinned, "'Shelly.'"
The doctor nodded and produced yet more paperwork. Mike put his surname down as McGill, his mother's maiden name, and only needed to change one letter in his middle name, Francis, which he'd always had awkward feelings about. Joe dubbed herself "Josephine Jones," which she thought sounded like a comic-book character. "Call me 'Jo,'" she said. "Huh, wonder what I should do for a middle name? 'Miranda,' maybe."
Mike frowned. "D'you want to have the same initials as Jean-Michel Jarre, or what?"
"Huh?" Jo responded. "Nah, it just seems like it fits in there, I think." She shrugged. "Anyway, it's not even a big legal thing, so I can always change it."
That was a good way to look at it, Mike thought; this wasn't anything permanent...
"Well," Dr. Kelly said, when the last (Mike hoped) round of paperwork was done, "that about wraps it up for now. Of course we'll expect to see you in a month for your first checkup and interview, and should you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, don't hesitate to contact us." She took the accumulated stacks of paperwork and stapled them together with an authoritative thunk. "Now, we'll get in contact with the college immediately, but it may take them a bit to get the housing arrangements sorted. Are you currently staying at the dorms?"
"Yeah," Jo said. "But we can probably find a place to crash for a day or two, if we have to."
"It shouldn't take that long," the doctor replied. "It's not the first time we've done this. But you may as well plan on spending the afternoon in town. Which brings me to your stipend."
Mike blinked. "Our stipend...?"
She nodded. "As I said, you can live as you please, but it's a basic fact that most of your clothes aren't going to fit the way they used to."
"No kidding," Jo laughed, tugging down the hem of her shirt, which was stretched out noticeably and riding up at the waist. "This is one of my looser tees, too."
Dr. Kelly dug into one of the drawers in her desk. "On top of your compensation for the trial, we'll be providing you with an allowance for clothing, underwear, and other essentials." She produced two cash envelopes. "I'd suggest that the two of you take the opportunity to go shopping while we arrange things with the school; that way you'll be all set to move in as two young women transferring in from another college."
"...Huh," Mike said; he felt a little weird at that, but he'd have to get used to hearing stuff like that for the next year. "I guess that makes sense." It wasn't like they'd have to go crazy with it or anything, and he had to concede that his shirt fit oddly right now; too loose at the shoulders, and if it wasn't as dramatic as Jo's, still a little narrow in the chest. His jeans felt tight at the hips, too, even though he was practically swimming in them. And, well, wearing clothes that weren't obviously ill-fitting would help him avoid standing out, right?
The doctor bid them goodbye, and they were escorted out by security. It felt like an eternity since they'd parked the car, Mike mused, as he slid into the driver's seat; he spent the better part of a minute adjusting it to suit his altered frame, and then another trying and failing to find a way to lay the shoulder-belt across his chest that didn't feel weird.
Jo opened up her envelope as they pulled out of the parking lot, and whistled. "Dang! That's a pretty good chunk of change there!"
"Probably because we need enough clothes to make for a 'starter set,'" Mike mused. "Otherwise we'd be running laundry every couple days."
"That, and women's clothes are more expensive, I guess," she sighed. "Who knows how far it'll get us, but yeah, she probably gave us 'enough.'"
"My sister's always complaining about that," Mike said. "That, and pockets being a total joke."
"Oh, right. Guess we'll probably need purses." Jo frowned. "Geez, I can't even remember when the last time I did any kind of deliberate wardrobe rebuild was. I feel like I've basically been trading out T-shirts and jeans since I was a kid."
"I mean, that's basically all I'm gonna be doing now," Mike said, a little uncomfortably. He felt a bit weird at the thought of carrying a purse, but he remembered his sister's bitching well enough; he probably had no choice, didn't he...?
"Y'think?" Jo said, eyeing him curiously. "Man, if you stick with black jeans and tees, you're gonna have kind of a low-key gothpunk chick look goin' on. You could totally pull that off, though."
He squirmed a little, not really wanting to think about what looks he could pull off. "Well, aren't you gonna be doing the same thing? Like either of us knows anything about this stuff..."
She shrugged. "I dunno, man. I'm not exactly gonna be able to hide this; maybe I should just work with it."
Mike glanced back at her, and felt awkward again. No, she probably couldn't hide that; but the thought of embracing it still seemed...intimidating. He said nothing, and they drove on in relative silence.
Eventually, they rolled into the parking lot of one of the generic department stores that littered the business district of the city. Mike felt a lot more self-conscious now that they were back out in the "real world;" it'd been one thing for all the craziness to happen in a secretive science lab, that was the right place for it, but now here they were in a normal place, around normal people, being all...different...
Not that anybody else knew about that, of course; it felt like he was keeping a secret, only the secret was himself. He felt like they were all staring at him, whether or not they were, and hoped that getting into some clothes that fit properly would draw less attention. Then he frowned and squirmed. "Shit."
Jo cocked an eyebrow. "Huh?"
He groaned, and felt weird about how different it sounded in his altered voice. "I gotta hit the bathroom."
She nodded. "Want I should come with you, 'Chelle?"
He blinked. "Huh?"
"'Chelle. Michelle. Shelly. Y'know, the name you picked?" She put a finger to her lip. "I guess I could go by 'Jo-Jo,' come think..."
He got a strange feeling in his chest at that; it was one thing to put it on a stack of paperwork, but actually being addressed that way, out in public, was a whole different ballgame. "...Why would you do that?" he asked, trying not to think about it.
"I dunno," Jo shrugged. "Apparently women do that, or something?"
Mike sighed. "I don't need any help using the can, thanks."
"Alright," she laughed. "I'm gonna go start scoping stuff out, then; lemme know if you need anything."
They parted ways, and he made his way over to the bathrooms. He hesitated a moment before entering, wondering if he was really supposed to be there...but it beat risking an awkward encounter in the men's room, he supposed. He found a stall, shut the door...and hesitated again, feeling nervous about actually doing this. But biology wasn't going to wait for him to psyche himself up, and he reluctantly dropped his pants, sat down, and let nature take its course.
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't as weird as he'd built it up to be in his head; as previously, it was a mildly gross inconvenience and a relief to be done with. But it took him a long minute to work up the nerve to touch himself so he could get on with the cleanup - and for a good few minutes afterward, she just sat there, staring down at the part of her that meant she wasn't a him anymore.