Bath time

The drive is long, and we sit listening to the news for most of it. I start to tune it out though as the reports of monsters don’t stop. I feel tears stream down my face, and curl up to hide. I try to cry silently, but Sasha notices. “It will be okay, I promise. You’ll be safe at my house.” Her words, though kind, mean she noticed me crying. I don’t understand why I’m so scared. There’s a lot happening to me right now, but I feel I should be able to not cry at least. But my body disagrees, and the realization she knows I’m crying pushes me over the edge into full blown sobs. Sasha turns off the news broadcast and lets me cry myself to exhaustion. It takes a while, but finally my lungs stop heaving and my eyes run out of tears. My sobs have left me exhausted, and I feel ready to collapse.

Sasha pulls into her drive way. Her home is in what could be considered a suburb, with most people living here working in town. But the property sizes are a bit bigger than normal and the space is heavily forested. While not impossibly far from each other, the distance between the houses combine with the many trees to make each home feel isolated and alone. The neighborhood is also in the process of gentrification, with some properties having practically mini mansions on them, and others being little more than shacks. Sasha’s house, while not the biggest, was closer to the former. She is a very successful programmer, has rich parents, and is good at managing her money. Yeah, she has been out of my league in every way forever. I really shouldn’t have fucked things up between us.

She shuts off the car and we sit in silence for a bit, except for my labored breath and occasional hiccups. It’s been a long time since I really cried hard like that. “Do you need me to help you in?” I don’t really understand her question, until I realize I haven’t moved yet… my body is tired, the door is really heavy for me now, I can’t even find the motivation to try and move.

“… yeth.” I sniff and wipe my face with my sleeve. She gets out and walks to my back door. She opens it up and unbuckles me from my seat. The seat belt was too big for me, but I still wore it. Rather than help me down so I could walk, she just picks me up and holds me tight to her like a toddler. I’m too exhausted to protest and just snuggle to her as she carries me inside.

Once inside I see the familiar large sitting room that doubles as the entrance. I know behind my back as she carries me is the living room and kitchen. Her room is to the left, and guest rooms are to the right. She carries me to a guest room, and lays me down on the bed. I still have the hiccups, but I’m so tired. It’s still morning, but the alley wasn’t exactly a place for restful sleep and this has been exhaustingly terrifying. She goes to get me a glass of water to help with the hiccups, but I fall asleep before she returns.

————————————————————————

I wake up on a soft fluffy bed. For a moment I’m confused, until my memory solidifies and I realize what a nightmare I’m in. But… it is comforting, being in this house again after over a month away. I rub my eyes and get up. I leave the room and make my way to the living room, where I hear Sasha’s voice. I’m about to walk in when I hear a man’s voice. It’s barely enough warning to keep me from freaking out when I walk in and see a tall blond man with a clean shaven face and a body that could have stepped off of a magazine. He’s sitting close beside Sasha with no space between them, so I have no doubt of their relationship.

Sasha and the man see me at the same time. “James, you’re awake! I called the authorities and let them know the monsters are people. They let me know some of them are animals. Apparently anything can be transformed.” She sees my face and stops explaining. I’m trying to keep my face neutral, but I really wish she hadn’t immediately reminded me of how the little bit of my life I didn’t think could change, what I thought constituted rock bottom, was suddenly destroyed completely. “Uh, James. This is Mark. He’s… he’s my new boyfriend.” Mark smiles a perfect smile and gives me a wave. He opens his mouth to talk, but Sasha interrupts. “Anyways, I think you will feel a lot better after this mornings… problems, if you take a nice relaxing bath! Come on, I’ll help you.” Sasha ushers me into the bathroom and gathers towels and soaps for me. She even draws the bath.

“Um Thasha, I…” she looks at me to continue. I was going to say that she doesn’t need to help me that much, but between the fact that some of it I did need help with, like the towels that are stored too high for me to reach, and her eager face looking to make things right, I chicken out. “Thank you Thasha.” She beams at me and steps out to get me some new clothes. Sasha always was one to try and fix everything. Which is probably why she took it so hard when she could tell something was wrong two months ago and I wouldn’t open up and talk to her about it.

I pull off my hoodie sweater and… get enough distance between me and my nose to regain my nose sensitivity. Okay, she may have also just really wanted me to clean up. I guess sleeping in an alley drunk wasn’t good for my hygiene. Wow, that is a stench. I peel off my oversized socks and check the bath temperature. I normally take showers, but my current predicament does have the benefit of making tubs much bigger for me. I’m actually kinda looking forward to this, it’s practically a big hot tub. Without the jets and bubbles, but still.

Once it’s at a nice hot temp, I turn off the faucet and climb in. Holy crap I haven’t been able to slip into a full body bath in years. Most tubs aren’t even close to big enough for me normally, and I grew to my full height by 16. But now I fit into this and can even spread my legs. This heat feels amazing. I sigh in satisfaction. I could get used to this. If only it wasn’t because I am now physically too small to do any of the work I’ve done my whole life, the only kind of jobs I have any experience in… I shake my head. Not now, just enjoy the bath. Existential panic later, blissful hot bath now. I just sit in the tub with my eyes closed probably longer than I should.

A knock at the door makes me jump a little. “James? I found an old shirt I think I can make fit you. I’m coming in, okay?”

“Okay.” I nervously pull my knees up to cover my body. I’m not even sure what parts I should be embarrassed about. All of it, I guess. Because it’s not the one I am supposed to be in.

Sasha comes in and sees me. She smiles and places a red bundle of cloth on the toilet seat. “Are you just sitting here? The water will get cold.” Sasha uses her playful tone of voice, chiding me for being silly. I blush at her teasing. “Why don’t I help you?”

“No! I can do it. It jutht… the water felt nithe.” I blush, knowing I sound silly. The lisp isn’t helping. I need to practice making the S sound with my new mouth.

“Are you sure? I’ve never seen you with that much hair before, do you even know what conditioner to use?” I look at her blankly.

“I wath going to jutht uthe thoap.”

She laughs at me like that’s silly. “You can’t do that, you have too much hair now. I’ll help you.” I blush, realizing how much her image of me has changed. My hair is longer now, but it’s not that much. No one cares if a man just uses a single bath product even if he lets his hair grow out a bit… well okay, I’m sure someone does, but she didn’t. She crouches down by the tub and reaches past me to grab a bottle off the wall shelf. It’s one of many, and I didn’t bother looking at any of them. She squirts it into her hand and begins massaging it into my weird blue hair.

“This hair is so pretty. Up close it’s even prettier.” She sounds happy, but I just try and ignore my burning cheeks and stare into the water while she cleans my hair.

“It’th jutht hair.” I sulk, enjoying the attention but mortified by the circumstances. I don’t like feeling multiple things at once!

“It’s natural blue hair! I don’t think much of dyeing hair, but even I think it’s cool if it’s natural.” She notices my face, and stops gushing over my hair. “Sorry, I just… sorry.”

I wasn’t some bastion of stoic manliness before, but I was pretty good at hiding my emotions. I don’t know why that skill has abandoned me, but I desperately try to get my lip to stop quivering. “It, it’th okay. I’m okay. It’th okay.” I repeat it to try and make my brain believe it.

Sasha finishes washing my hair in silence, and I wash my body by myself. I clean between my legs, and try not to think about how that feels. Sasha helps me out of the bath and dries me off with a towel. I don’t know how I feel about being treated as being so helpless, but I can tell she wants to help so badly it’s going to bug her if she can’t. And besides, I look down and see a tiny but definitely feminine body. Tiny tits, a bit of an ass due to the width of my hips. Yeah, she knew more how to clean this body than I did… no body hair. Weird.

Finally Sasha helps me slide on the clothes she brought. She slips on a big dark red sweater that is basically a dress on me. She quickly uses scissors to shorten the sleeves for me, and a small belt to help secure the shirt at my hips. Which makes it look more like a dress. She then pulls out some white tights and helps slip them on. I guess because tights are so small before they stretch that they even fit me. “Sorry this improvised outfit is the best I could do on short notice. Maybe later we can go to a store. You should fit the kids section… sorry.” She sees my face and again decides to spare my feelings.

“It’th fine. And, thith ith fine too.” I look in the full length mirror on the back of the door. Honestly, it looks surprisingly good. The cut sleeves could be done neater, but it almost looks like I’m wearing an intentionally designed dress. The look isn’t the problem. It’s that the look is me that bothers me. I’m not supposed to be cute. “Thank you.”

Sasha kneels down and hugs me. “I’m so sorry this is happening to you. You deserve so much better.” Her voice is getting emotional, which is making me feel emotional… I try and politely push her away while my throat chokes up and I get a little something in my eyes. Probably steam or something.

I clear my throat. “It’th okay. Let’th jutht… go thee the newth or thomething.” I am going to crush this lisp as soon as I can. We walk out of the bathroom and to the living room. And I am reminded of something. Mark exists.