It was a bit unsettling how much he’d changed in such a short period. He’d lost nearly 20 pounds. His blood pressure was down significantly. His heart rate was slightly elevated. And strangest of all, it seemed he was an inch shorter. Which was ridiculous -- the researcher must have misread the rule.
It didn’t matter anyway, he hadn’t felt this good in years.
Chapter 4
Colin woke early. He sat on the edge of the bed and indulged in a bone cracking stretch of his arms and upper body. Lord but he felt good! Though at 36 he was far from old, twenty years of physical labor had slowly accumulated various creaks and aches in his frame. He’d never really noticed the small pains but their sudden absence was delightful.
He padded into the bath and began his morning routine. Stepping in the shower he felt the normal spray was cooler than usual so he cranked up the hot water a bit. It still didn’t feel right so he turned it up some more until steam was billowing. This was unusual as he normally took a lukewarm shower, finishing up with a minute or so of full on cold to get his blood pumping. The hot water felt wonderful and he went about his usual washing routine omitting the cold rinse at the end.
His skin felt invigorated as he rubbed himself dry and padded over to the sink. He almost skipped shaving because the mirror showed he only had a light shadow on his jawline but he’d already started lathering up on automatic pilot so he went ahead and scraped the slight beard off.
The research associate at Dee’s company finished taking Colin’s measurements. It was his third week in the program and his appointments had become routine. Dr Arts hadn’t dealt with him personally since the first visit. He noted the measurements as she entered them on the tablet she carried.
It was a bit unsettling how much he’d changed in such a short period. He’d lost nearly 20 pounds. His blood pressure was down significantly. His heart rate was slightly elevated. And strangest of all, it seemed he was an inch shorter. Which was ridiculous -- the researcher must have misread the rule.
It didn’t matter anyway, he hadn’t felt this good in years. He slept like a baby and woke refreshed and energized. He had a bounce in his step and a lightness in his movements that made him feel like an Olympic gymnast.
Sex with Dee was unbelievable -- his entire body felt like one huge erogenous zone. He had the stamina of a twenty year old and when he reached climax it lasted longer and was more intense than ever before. Oddly, as great as sex felt, he wasn’t troubled by the constant *need* for sex. If Dee initiated intimate activity he was soon ready to go but otherwise he felt content to just cuddle affectionately.
As great as he felt, it was easy to put the weight loss and height loss (crazy!) out of his mind. He probably needed to drop a pound or two anyway.
Colin brushed his hair. He’d been letting it grow a bit lately since Dee asked, and it now covered the tops of his ears, about an inch and a half long. He never paid it much attention, preferring to keep it buzzed short. Although he knew his hairline was receding and a few gray hairs had crept in among the dark, this was nicely downplayed by his short style.
But the hair he brushed this morning was gleaming black without a trace of gray. It also appeared that his hairline was back where it had been in his youth. His hair seemed thicker than it ever had been before. It was silky soft and full bodied. Huh, he thought, whatever it is they gave me, it’s going to put Rogaine out of business.
“Look, Bridget, I won’t take no for an answer,” Dina said into the phone. Her tone was familiar and friendly. “You and Aislinn *have* to convince him. If it’s the cost that’s bothering him, tell him it’s all my treat. I’m only too happy to pay for it all.”
She listened for a moment then continued, “No, no, he doesn’t have a clue! That’s what’s so perfect. His birthday’s in a couple months and this will be the best gift ever.”
The person at the other end said something and Dina laughed. “Oh you should see him now! He’s absolutely precious. And he’s so happy! Lord, I wish I’d known a long time ago. But it’s all good. We’re going to make it right.”
Colin padded in, still glowing from the shower. He was dressed in a towel wrapped around his waist and nothing else. “Morning, Dee.”
“Whups! Gotta go, Sweetie, he’s here,” Dina said in a low voice, then more clearly, “Talk to you soon. Bye!”
Colin looked at her dubiously and asked, “Who was that?”
“Oh... just a friend.” She shrugged, set her phone down and rose to her feet. She was already dressed for work.
“Dee? What’s going on?”
She click-clacked across the hardwood floor and looked down at him. One of the many things he liked about Dee was her height. He was 6’1” and she was 5’10” so when she wore heels he could scrunch down a bit and pretend he was being kissed by someone taller than himself. It gave him a tiny thrill to feel smaller. She leaned down and brushed his lips, then pressed in a bit more forcefully, cradling his head and holding him close at the small of his back. Then she leaned him back and kissed him.
Deeply.
Aggressively.
Passionately.
Colin hadn’t been so turned on since that time twenty years ago when Butch fondled him. His heart raced, his breath came raggedly and he felt soooooooo ready to rock ‘n roll.
Dee straightened up and released him. His lips tingled, and he felt confused and abandoned. Empty. He looked at her with wonder.
She snickered, not unkindly, and said, “How’s it feel to get revved up and left idling?”
“Huh?” he shook his head, looking more confused. “What do you mean, Dee?”
“You’re feeling what every girl feels at some point in her life. All stirred up, ready to give her all, and set adrift to stew in her own juices.”
“Men get that feeling too, Ms Smarty,” Colin replied. “It’s called blue balls.”
“Ah, but that’s different, or so I’ve been told.” She pointed to his crotch which was conspicuously *not* tenting the towel around his waist. “I rest my case.”
Huh.
Dina smiled and pecked him on the lips. “Sorry, Babe, gotta run. See ya this evening.”
He endured the clanks and whirrs coming from the MRI machine. He was getting a six week reading to compare to the benchmark scans.
The changes he’d undergone were becoming more dramatic. His body no longer had the classic masculine ‘V’ shape. He’d lost weight but his butt was bigger and rounder, although his waist was much narrower. He’d even developed a pair of flabby-ish man boobs. Fortunately these were concealed for the most part by his clothing which seemed much baggier than before with the exception of his jeans -- they positively strained at the seams.
He was growing a little concerned with all these changes but he still felt so wonderful. And the hidden part of his personality actually reveled at the thought of growing more curvy. Strangely though, Dee didn’t seem to mind the changes at all. He always thought she loved his manly physique but she seemed almost triumphant whenever she noticed his changes.
The one area that he was a bit discontented with was his sexual desire. Originally he’d been hotter than a firecracker but lately he just didn’t feel interested. His genitals seemed less sensitive also. He really enjoyed spooning with Dee and feeling her touch on his skin but it never aroused him to erection any more. Maybe it was just a temporary side effect -- he hoped so.
Colin stopped at the Redwing store on his way home from work. His shoes had been getting looser on his feet. At first he attributed it to his weight loss and wore thicker sox and tied the laces tighter. But it had gotten to the point where he was wearing three pairs of sox and the eyelets for the laces met each other in the middle. His shoes were pretty well worn anyway so it was time for some new ones.
He got his feet measured and was shocked at what the clerk told him. He was a size 7. A 7! He’d been wearing size 11 since he was 15 years old. How could his feet shrink 4 sizes? There had to be some mistake, but he leaned down and looked at the line where the little metal slider hit his toe and it was a 7.
Feeling dazed he asked to try on his style work boot in a 7. The clerk returned a few minutes later and apologized that they didn’t carry that style in such a small size. But he suggested that he could try a boy’s 6-1/2 in a very similar style. They fit like a glove.
He paid for his new boots and dropped the old ones in the garbage on his way out the door.
“So, Marshal, how’s the progress on test subject 11-11?” Dina asked. The two were seated companionably in her office. They were going through the weekly reviews of the various research projects at the company.
“I swear Dina, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe it,” Marshal said. He hunched forward in his seat, excited by the topic. “His weight is down to 135 and height is now only 5’ 11”. His blood pressure started out prehypertensive but it’s down to 110 over 68 and his resting heart rate is now 80, well within the female norm.”
“It’s amazing how rapidly the effects have manifested. Have you had any luck reverse engineering the formula?”
Arts shook his head. “Unfortunately no. Whatever Bruno and Max have done to modify our various compounds is undetectable with our instrumentation. I’ve tried several times to ask them what it is that they do but they either can’t or won’t explain it. It’s a shame too, because there are quite a lot of beneficial applications we could derive from this.”
“Damn. I keep hoping we’ll make a breakthrough there. But it’s looking more and more like some kind of miracle.”
“Well it’s going to take a miracle to save them if the guys on three catch up with them,” Marshal said with a broad smile.
“Oh no! What’d they do this time?”
“Believe it or not, they super glued everybody’s coffee mugs to the ceiling. How the hell they got up there is anybody’s guess.”
Dina laughed so hard she actually emitted a little snort. “Those scamps! Well at least it’s not as bad as last week when they plastic wrapped all the toilets in the second floor ladies’ room.”
“Yeah, that was a doozy. Shame their science isn’t as easy to see through as their humor.”
“I know. Whatever those two little gentlemen do, it might as well be magic.”
Colin was rebuilding a Detroit DD-16. He fitted the torque wrench to the first head bolt in the sequence. Double checking the specs, he dialed the wrench to 184 lbs-ft. As he’d done so many times in the course of his working life, he grabbed the wrench one handed and pulled. The bolt turned, became tighter, stopped turning. No click from the wrench.
Huh.
He double checked the wrench’s setting. Pulled on the handle again, this time harder. The bolt tightened up a little more then stopped turning.
In the process the cuff of his coveralls unraveled down past the ends of his fingers -- again. With a little huff of irritation he rolled the sleeves up for the third time today. He couldn’t understand why the coveralls seemed so loose around his shoulders. The outer seams that used to fall perfectly at the edge of his shoulders now came several inches down his upper arms which made the sleeves comically long. The only explanation he could think of was the guys must be playing a practical joke on him and had ordered larger uniforms from the supplier.
He put both hands on the handle and tried again. Still no click. Finally he grabbed a length of pipe he kept on hand to use as a cheater and slipped it over the wrench’s handle. Pulling smoothly with both arms, the bolt turned further... then the wrench gave that satisfying *click* and freewheeled a smidge indicating the bolt was tightened to the required torque.
He went on to torque all the remaining head bolts in the proper sequence. He needed the cheater for each one and when he was finished his arms ached like they hadn’t since he was a rookie grease monkey.
A rail thin little man about three feet tall peeked into Colin’s unit. He was strangely dressed all in green in knee breeches, a tail coat and a top hat decorated with shamrocks. He had a neat little beard and puffed like a smokestack on a little corncob pipe. He cleared his throat theatrically and waited for Colin to notice him.
“Excuse me laddie,” he said as he shuffled his archaic shoes with silver buckles in the gravel. “But have you seen a couple of children around?”
Colin had grown inured to all the bizarre happenings around the storage units. His only reaction was a shake of his head. “No, sorry haven’t seen any children,” he replied laconically while thinking he’d seen quite a motley crew of *little* people but none of them were kids.
“Ah, good!” the little man cackled. He smiled insanely and kicked his heels together then leaned out the door and yelled, “Coast is clear, take ‘em away Sean!”
Colin heard a big diesel rev up and he craned his neck to see an 18 wheeler with a famous breakfast cereal logo emblazoned on its side pull away. He raised an eyebrow and looked quizzically at the strange little man.
“Always after me lucky stars, them kids.” The little man winked dramatically. “A bloke’s gotta keep on his toes, y’know.”
It was a gorgeous Saturday morning in late September. Colin’s pickup baseball buddies were all assembled at a local VFW for their weekly game. Most had brought a six pack or two to add to the communal coolers. About half had brought wives or girlfriends who either watched or joined in the game. Dee was a regular, she was known as an awesome base stealer and kept the opposing pitcher on their toes.
Colin bent over to pick up a bat. *RIP!* He instantly straightened, his face glowing bright red. His pants had been getting tighter around the butt lately but this was ridiculous. He surreptitiously glanced around to see if anyone had noticed. Much to his chagrin his entire team were pointing and chuckling.
“Hey O’Brien, want another doughnut?”
“Whatcha been feedin’ him Dee?”
“Ol’ Colin’s got hisself a be-donk-a-donk!”
“Shake that booty Sweetie!”
Dee trotted in from second base, she and Colin had been picked by opposing teams. She looked the seat of his jeans over and shook her head.
“Sorry Babe, it’s hopeless.” She grinned and winked at him. “But your boxers are clean.”
“It’s okay,” he said with a wry grin, sucking it up. He yelled out, “Come on guys, let’s play some ball.”
Colin dashed in to the department store and made a beeline for the jeans. He hated shopping and usually treated it like a commando raid -- get in, get out. He’d worn size 30 x 32 501’s since reaching adulthood. He grabbed three pairs of 34 x 32, figuring he couldn’t have grown that much in a few weeks.
The next day he was back at the store. Unbelievably the pants he’d just bought were still too tight in the seat and hips but were gapingly loose at the waist. He was wearing knit running shorts stretched over his ample butt and a baggy tee with flip flops, since they were about the only clothes he owned that still fit him.
“Excuse me?” he asked a very pretty sales clerk whose name tag read Jo, “I need to return these.”
“Sure, I’ll take care of that for you. Is there a problem with them?” She was in her early twenties and gave him a quick appraising once over. She had a saucy self assured attitude that Colin interpreted as flirty. I’ve still got it, he thought smugly. She smiled and steered him over to a customer checkout station where she scanned the bar codes and checked his receipt.
“No, no problem. Except they don’t fit.”
“Guessed the wrong size, did you? What size is he?”
“I don’t know. I suppose I need to try some on.”
“Wait a minute, these were for *you*?”
Colin nodded. “Yeah, but they’re too small in the hips and too big in the waist.”
The girl glanced at the sizes then at Colin’s butt and made a “pfft” sound. “Ya think?” She smiled companionably, taking the sting out of the wisecrack. “Come on, Hon, let’s get you fixed up. Are you married to the 501 style?”
“It’s what I’ve always worn.”
“Uh huh. I’ll grab some 501’s and a couple other styles too that you can try on. Just a sec.”
In moments Jo was back with a stack of 5 or 6 pairs of pants. “Here you go, Sweetie, I got you a couple different sizes in my favorite styles -- they really show off your butt -- plus some 501’s. Try ‘em on and see what you think.”
Colin felt cocky that she wanted to see his butt, and went through a curtain into a changing area she indicated. He suddenly felt nervous as he heard women’s voices coming from a couple of the changing booths. But this was an upscale store and there were actually doors rather than curtains on each of the booths, so maybe unisex was no problem. He shrugged and entered an unoccupied booth.
He looked at the pants. There were two pairs of 501’s in sizes 25 and 26. Was Jo stupid? If the 34’s didn’t fit what made her think these would? Well, he might as well try them on while he was in here... But they actually fit. They were even a bit baggy everywhere except the waist. The 25’s were less baggy but a tad tight at the waist. The fly was all wrong though; it didn’t extend far enough down to permit peeing without pulling his pants down.
The jeans Jo said were her favorites were 524’s in boot cut and straight leg styles. These were in sizes 1 and 3. Huh. He wasn’t an idiot when it came to women’s clothing -- he knew from the sizes and the cut these were girl jeans. So. Jo hadn’t meant these were her favorite style on men, rather they showed off *her* butt and she’d assumed Colin would like them in the same way. The size 1’s were a bit snug but he could zip them. The 3’s were a better fit. They were both skinny styles -- close fitted from his upper thighs to the knee.
He looked at himself in the mirror and liked what he saw. From behind he could have been a girl Jo’s age. She was right; the jeans did show off his butt, and he had a really cute butt! The material was stretchier than he was accustomed to and a bit lighter weight. It felt good. Really good.
Unbelievably Jo had just mistaken him for a fellow woman. That was crazy -- he’d known all his life he was far too masculine to ever pass as female. But his body had been changing. That was obvious.
He turned to face the mirror and looked at himself dispassionately. His face had softened, looking much younger, the square jaw was more of a smooth oval now. There was no trace of beard. His brows were a bit bushy. His shoulders were quite narrow now, which explained the fit of his coveralls -- there was no practical joke, he’d shrunk. With his hair grown out and dressed as he was he’d easily be taken as a young woman in grunge. The changes had progressed so gradually that it took a stranger to really make him take notice.
He stepped out of the fitting room still wearing the straight leg 524’s. Jo came over grinning. She tugged at the waistband and the legs about his mid-calf. She straightened up, seeming satisfied.
“See? I told you they’d look great on you, girl,” she said comradely. “Although you really should wear them with heels to get the best effect.”
Colin was hesitant. “You think?”
“Oh they are *so* you, Hon. Seriously.”
He smiled, enjoying Jo’s taking him for a peer. He made a snap decision and said, “Okay. I’ll take both the 524’s in a 3 and three pairs of the 501’s in 26.”
“Sure, Sweetie, but just so you know, the 524’s stretch a bit after wearing them. You might be happier with size 1’s.”
Colin’s brow wrinkled; he pondered how snug the size 1’s were. But he knew attractive girls preferred the painted on look. And he trusted Jo’s opinion even though they’d just met. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” Jo nodded definitively.
Colin grinned, feeling as though he was about to get away with something wicked. “Okay, make that size 1 for the 524’s and... what the hell, I’ll take the 501’s in 25.”
“You *go* girl. If you’ve got it, flaunt it, I always say.”
Colin stepped back into the fitting room to change then met Jo at the register, giving her his credit card. She glanced casually at the name as she swiped the card, then handed over the shopping bag. “Here you go, Colleen, have a great day.”
“Thanks Jo,” he said, then hesitated a moment, unsure how far he should press his luck. What the hell, he thought, I’ve made it this far. “You said I really needed heels with these. Which way’s the shoe department?”
To be continued...
Comments
Magic and Technology
It seems the Elves have kept up with the times mixing the two. They're providing cookies and cereal to the masses so why not GRS too? :) I do question just how much Colin is going to keep those eyes shut or is he entranced too? Obviously he's enjoying this, but also he still feels for her and misses the more intimate contact.
There is also the kicker in that we still don't know who or what Mom really was. She could very well be a personage no one in their right mind wants to anger. There is also the matter as was shown, that at some point he might not be able to do his job. Although women do work as mechanics, he seems to be losing an awful lot of muscle mass.
I'm not sure he's going to enjoy the family reunion either, but I guess we will see.
Interesting stuff!
Hugs
Grover
My those are small
I would have to reserve judgement though as jeans in junior cut are a bit smaller.
Kim
Oh yeah
They're very small. Although it's not stated explicitly, Colin started out at 6'1", 190 lbs, 30 hips, 30 waist, 40 chest. At this point in the story he's 5'11", 135, 34 hips, 25 waist, 32 chest. I based his jeans size on a friend's daughter who's 32 yr old, has a 13 yr old son, and wears size 0. Before she had her son she wore a size 00.
On with the show!
Now we're rocking! Great story!
To quote ol' Winston... "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
.
.
The girl in me. She's always there, but never in size one jeans.
(A girl can dream though, can't she?)
_elf Storage | Chapter 4
Is he becoming a female elf, or human woman?
May Your Light Forever Shine
You know, ...
I would take the treatment even if it turned me into a woman just for this:
"It didn’t matter anyway, he hadn’t felt this good in years. He slept like a baby and woke refreshed and energized. He had a bounce in his step and a lightness in his movements that made him feel like an Olympic gymnast."
I'm 62 and you can figure that all the aches and pains that Colin had at 36 are just the beginning. Trust me...
I don't know how people who play rough sports like football, soccer, even baseball, and especially hockey or motocross, can stand it without massive amounts of pain killers when they get to my age.
Chris