Josh was so excited when Gym Bro finally got home.

  After the weirdness with his apparent date with Devon and the terribleness of losing another person. Again. After all of that, Josh found it difficult to do much of anything beyond mindlessly scroll on Instagram watching cute cat videos and try-on hauls.

  It was te at night when Gym Bro came through the door. Josh jumped from the couch and ran over to wrap Gym Bro in a big hug. “Whoa,” Gym Bro said, “What’s this for?” Josh couldn’t summon his words. Instead, he squeezed slightly tighter. Thankfully, Gym Bro returned the comforting hug.

  After a few moments, Josh finally let go. Gym Bro held him by his shoulders and smiled at him. He said, “You okay?” Josh wanted to cry. He wanted to wail and moan about how he’d screwed up another friendship by being a gay little freak. He wanted to tell Gym Bro everything. But he also knew that wasn’t really an option.

  Instead, he smiled and said, “Yeah, I’m all good. I missed you a lot.” Gym Bro patted Josh’s shoulder. “I missed you too,” Gym Bro replied. He moved over to the kitchen table and sat down in his usual seat with a big sigh. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders around.

  Josh felt himself move over and pce his dainty hands on Gym Bro’s massive shoulders. He knew it was ultimately pointless, but Josh pressed in as hard as he could, without stabbing his nails into Gym Bro’s body, to try and give a proper massage.

  “Mhmm,” Gym Bro uttered.

  Josh smiled. He was doing something useful. He moved his hands around and kneaded Gym Bro’s taught muscles. A part of him started to feel better about the past week. Gym Bro said, “Hold up a second.” Josh froze in pce. Gym Bro unbuttoned his shirt, slid it off, and pced it on the table. “There,” he said, “do a bit on the biceps too.”

  Josh smiled and returned to his meager massage. He knew it wasn’t much, but it was nice to be wanted. He ignored how happy he was to have an excuse to touch Gym Bro. He’d wanted to feel his arms for so long now, but something always held them back. They’d been blessed with having Gym Bro touch their body plenty of times.

  Except for the past couple of weeks. Maybe Gym Bro could tell how excited they got from the massages and that’s why they stopped? Maybe they were too happy about feeling Gym Bro’s biceps.

  “We can go further. We could kiss his neck,” Josh heard in his mind.

  “How was your week?”

  Gym Bro’s voice snapped Josh out of his reverie. What was he doing? This was the same kind of weird behavior that drove Devon away. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to lose them another friend by being a gay freak. Josh cleared his minds of those awful thoughts and focused on giving a simple, earnest massage. He cleared his throat and replied, “Pretty boring. I pyed a bunch video games.”

  A spark went off in his mind. “Oh,” Josh said, “I went shopping and saw this really cute unicorn plushie.” Another spark. Tons of sparks. Josh’s body froze for a moment. Gym Bro said, “You can stop if your hands are getting sore.”

  Zoe felt her mind clear. She said, “No, sorry. My brain has been fuzzy tely.” Josh felt himself blinking. A massage. He was giving a massage. What was the next thing to do? He felt his arms reach over Gym Bro’s shoulders. His fingers pressed into Gym Bro’s skin and pressed downward against his glorious pecs. This was risky, but Josh felt like they had to try.

  “Oh yeah,” Gym Bro groaned. Josh said nervously, “This feels okay?”

  “Mhmm.”

  Josh smiled and continued with the massage for a few moments longer before feeling like his fingers were going to fall off. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but my fingers are starting to hurt.” Gym Bro replied, “You can stop.” Josh released his grip and shook out his hands.

  Gym Bro stretched and groaned a bit. “Whoo,” he said, “that actually felt pretty good. I’m surprised you’ve got so much strength in your fingers.” Josh felt himself chuckle. “Maybe it’s from doing my makeup all the time,” he said. Gym Bro smirked.

  “Either way, thanks for that. I had a long trip and being on the pne that long is rough on my shoulders. They really need to make the seats bigger.” Josh tried to visualize the giant mass of Gym Bro squeezing into the tiny airpne seat. Which would be easier if he’d ever been on an airpne. He knew the seats were supposed to be tiny though.

  Gym Bro said, “Before I go rex, there’s something I want to talk to you about.” He gestured for Josh to sit in the chair nearby. Josh nervously walked over and sat down; making sure to smooth his skirt out underneath him. A part of him wondered why they were wearing a skirt.

  Gym Bro said, “We’re coming up to the end of the six months I promised without charging you rent. How’s the job search going?” Josh’s heart rate immediately spiked. Job search? He’d completely forgotten about actually looking for a job yet. Is that what they were supposed to be doing this whole time?

  Gym Bro smirked and said, “That’s what I thought. No luck yet, right?” Josh started speaking before the thoughts finished forming in his mind, “I haven’t had the time. With the workouts, and the diet, and trying to be better at being Zoe.” Gym Bro held his hand up. Josh stopped talking.

  “It’s okay,” Gym Bro said, “I know you’ve done the best you can. And you’ve been really good with sticking to the pn so far.” Josh looked down. He’d been scking off the past few days because of what happened with Devon. Should they admit that to Gym Bro and risk upsetting him even more?

  Gym Bro continued, “You don’t need to worry though. You’ve got some time left, and I’ve figured out a way all your hard work can pay off. If you’re up to the challenge that is.” Josh creased his forehead. “Challenge?” he asked. Gym Bro grinned, “Like I said, either you can do it or you can’t. There’s no use in thinking about it too much, so I don’t want to give too much away just yet. For now, I need you to answer one simple question.”

  Gym Bro leaned towards Josh and looked deep into their eyes. He said, “Want to go on a date with me?”

  Josh’s jaw dropped. His eyes widened. “Yes,” he said. His brain screamed at him. “I mean,” he continued, “what? No, I mean, of course, it’s a friend thing, right? Or a joke. I said yes because I got the joke. I don’t want to. Not really. Or, I misheard you?”

  Gym Bro put his hand up. Josh stopped talking.

  Gym Bro rolled his eyes and said, “Obviously not you. I’m not into guys; you know that. I’m asking if you want Zoe to go on a date with me.” Josh was confused. “But, I’m Zoe,” he said.

  Gym Bro shook his head. “No, no, no. Remember the baseball game? The kiss? Zoe is just some character you control, right?” Josh nodded along. Gym Bro continued, “Well, my pn involves you having a bit more control over her. Just like you’ve been practicing tely. You mentioned before that Zoe would go out with me, so I’m asking if you think you’re ready to go out on a date. As Zoe.”

  Josh tried to think about what was happening. He knew they could go on a date as Zoe. They’d already done that accidentally. Of course, it didn’t go very well. Maybe that was because they forgot it was a date. Because of their memory problems. This time could be different. But what if they forgot it was a date again? What if they scared off Gym Bro by sending mixed messages?

  “Hello? Zoe? You all good?”

  Zoe shook their head.

  “Oh,” Gym Bro said, “I get it.” Zoe’s eyes widened. “No,” she said, “I mean yes. My answer is yes. I was in shock because I didn’t expect you to ask me out.” Gym Bro chuckled. He pced his hand on Zoe’s cheek and stared into their eyes. “Of course I would ask you out. A guy can only take living with a beautiful woman like you for so long.”

  Zoe felt her body tingling. Her mind sent off sparks. Gym Bro stood up from his chair. He said, “Normally, I like to bring a girl flowers on a first date, but we need to move fast if my pn is going to work. So tomorrow night, dinner. I already made a reservation. Be ready to leave by eight. Wear something fancy.” He grabbed Zoe’s hand and id a kiss on it. “See you then,” he said.

  Zoe watched her shirtless roommate walk into his bedroom. She held the hand he kissed up the the cheek he rubbed. She felt her heart beating in her chest. She felt warmth spreading through her, but she wasn’t sure if she liked it.

  ——————————————

  “Fuck!”

  Josh didn’t understand why he was so bad at doing makeup all of a sudden. He’d been practicing for weeks, taking all those photos, and he’d had no trouble getting ready before meeting Devon. He stared harder at the mirror and strained his eyelid to stay open and clear. He gripped the mascara brush and delicately moved it toward his eyesh.

  With one, even stroke Josh got his eyesh to curl perfectly. He blinked a few times and observed his work in the vanity mirror. “Finally,” he said to himself. He took a second look at Zoe’s face. He turned her head one way and another.

  He’d gone with a glossy lip balm with a deep berry red that would compliment Zoe’s outfit. He had a light neutral blush on her cheeks and nose as if she’d been out in the cold for too long. At least, that’s what the tutorial said it looked like. Josh had never been cold enough to notice what his face would do in those conditions.

  On Zoe’s eyes, he’d chosen a shimmery eyeshadow with a purple base then he put gold and green glitter to try and make their hazel eyes pop. They’d been having a lot of fun pying with the glitter tely. It always made Zoe’s eyes look a bit deeper. Or bigger? Either way, in the right lighting, the glitter would sparkle and that made them happy.

  Finally, Josh knew no makeup look was complete without a spot of highlighter on the inner corner of his eyes. Zoe’s eyes. Josh spaced out for a second.

  Pearl.

  Josh grabbed his pearl highlight and put a subtle amount on their upper cheek bones. There, that gave their skin a natural glow.

  Satisfied with Zoe’s face, Josh stood up and looked at the outfit he’d chosen for them tonight. For Zoe. Because Zoe was the one going on the date. He took a deep breath. He was sure the weird Zoe mode he’d experienced recently would kick in at any moment.

  He gently picked up the red dress from his bed and held it against his body. Zoe’s body. Part of him felt bad for picking a dress that Alice bought for them, but another part of him knew it was perfect for this occasion.

  The bodice fit nicely around his waist trainer to give Zoe a cssic hourgss look without revealing how she needed to cheat to achieve it. Even though the dress was strapless, the back went up high enough for Josh to still wear a push-up strapless bra he’d recently purchased.

  He took the dress over to the standing mirror and slid the soft fabric up his body. Zoe’s body. His body. His arms stopped moving for a second as he struggled to figure out how to move forward. Switching back and forth between himself and Zoe in his mind was getting too confusing.

  “Things would be easier if I was Zoe all the time,” she thought.

  “Well, not all the time,” Josh thought in reply. After all, being Zoe was temporary. Josh twisted his body to reach the zipper. He just managed to squeeze himself into the red dress. He adjusted Zoe’s breasts a bit to make sure the bra wouldn’t show as he moved around. They were getting big.

  Josh remembered needing to go to the mall recently to utilize the exchange program with the store he’d bought all the bras at before. What size did the dy say he was now? Even though Josh knew he could simply look at the tag on one of the other bras, he had the strangest feeling that doing so would be a bad idea.

  “After all,” he heard in his mind, “It’s not like they could have gotten much bigger. They only look that way because of the small dress and the push-up bra.”

  Josh felt his nerves calm. He carefully sat on the bed and put on the pair of bck heels he’d chosen for Zoe to wear tonight. He stood up and took one final look at himself, at Zoe, in the mirror. He turned her body side to side. He puckered her lips. Maybe Zoe would be lucky enough to get another kiss tonight. The thought sent shivers down Josh’s spine.

  Because of how awkward that would be. Naturally.

  Because Josh would be the one doing the kissing. But not because he wanted to. Gym Bro would have to initiate. And he would only do that if Josh was able to convince him that he did a good job at being Zoe on command. For…

  Josh felt his mind heating up. Why was he doing any of this? He couldn’t remember.

  Instantly he felt calmed. He couldn’t remember. Of course! He probably had perfectly logical reason for doing all of this and his memory problem was acting up again. He strutted over to his vanity and packed away his lip stain, mascara, highlighter, blush, brushes, and compact into his purse. Zoe’s purse.

  “I should think of myself as Zoe to make things easier.”

  Josh felt a bit dizzy all of a sudden. He didn’t have time to question things because of the knock at his bedroom door. He put a smile on his face, grabbed his purse, and gracefully went to open it.

  He was met with the most handsome man he’d ever seen. Gym Bro, no, Kevin stood there in a dashing, perfectly-tailored bck suit and tie. His blonde hair was neatly styled in a sophisticated manner. Kevin grinned as he looked Josh, Zoe, up and down. He said, “You look amazing Zoe.”

  Josh felt himself blushing. His mind buzzed. He spluttered out, “And you! You look really handsome.” Kevin stepped back and turned a bit to show off the rest of his suit. “I told you tonight would be a special occasion.” He extended his hand out. Josh gently id Zoe’s hand into Kevin’s rge palm. He let himself be guided through the living room and into the garage. Kevin held the door of the sports car open as Josh gracefully gathered the dress’s skirts and slid into the passenger seat.

  “Don’t worry,” Kevin said as he started the car, “the pce we’re going isn’t far.” Josh managed to contort his body enough to pull the seat belt on just in time for Kevin to pull out of the driveway and speed into the night.

  Normally, Josh loved having the wind whip through his hair in the sports car. But tonight all he could think about was how the wind was messing up the nice hairstyle he’d done for Zoe. He felt like an idiot always trying to put it back into pce only to have it get blown away in a few moments. Thankfully, Gym Bro, Kevin, seemed oblivious to Josh’s predicament.

  The restaurant was very elegant. After parking, Kevin rushed over to help Josh step out of the car. Then he graciously offered Josh his arm to guide him across the parking lot. Truthfully, Josh didn’t need any help walking despite being in three-inch heels. All the hours of practice paid off.

  The interior of the restaurant felt strangely familiar to Josh as soon as they entered. Kevin walked them straight to the front of the line and said, “Two for Tucker.” That name. The name sounded familiar to Josh as well. The waiter marked something off the list and said something Josh didn’t quite understand.

  Thankfully, all he had to do was follow Kevin’s lead. The waiter took them to a basic table and even pulled out Josh’s chair for him. Which, of course he did. Josh was a woman tonight. He was Zoe. He made Zoe sit calmly and say thank you to the nice man. The man said something like, “Voy shaw car tay,” with a wave of his hand before walking away.

  Josh looked at Kevin and said, “Can you understand anything they’re saying? I swear something is wrong with my ears.” Kevin chuckled. “They’re speaking French. I told you this pce is fancy.” It suddenly clicked in Josh’s mind. He looked around and felt more of the details coming back to him. He’d been here with Alice. As Jen.

  He felt a wave of sadness wash over him.

  Gym Bro interrupted his thoughts. “The whole menu is in French, but don’t worry, I can order for us both.” That was right. Alice was able to order for them since they couldn’t speak French. No, not Alice. They were with Gym Bro now. Kevin. Something else started buzzing in their mind.

  Jen tilted his head to the side and asked, “Did you use the same fake name for the reservation that you use for deliveries?” Gym Bro looked up from the menu with a confused look on his face. “Fake name?” he said, “I used my name. Tucker.”

  Jen blinked. “But,” he said, “that’s Zoe’s st name.”

  Gym Bro groaned and put his head in his hands. Something was wrong. Gym Bro looked up with a serious, stern gre. “You couldn’t hold it together for one night? I asked for one night.” Jen wasn’t sure what was going on. “I-I’m sorry,” he said, “I’m just a bit confused about…”

  Gym Bro interrupted, “I don’t want to think about being out with some person named Josh. I asked Zoe out on a date, and I think it’s pretty rude for you to be jumping in and pretending like our time together isn’t special.” Jen was really confused now. Date? Is that why they were here? A memory started pying in his mind. Gym Bro’s lips on their hand. Oh crap.

  “I’m so sorry,” Jen excimed, “It’s my memory again. I slipped for a second, but I promise it won’t happen again.” Gym Bro didn’t seem convinced. Jen, no, Zoe smiled and said again. “In fact, let’s say that I was joking around. Speaking in third person for fun, you know?”

  Gym Bro raised an eyebrow. He scratched his chin. Jen. No. Zoe held his. Fuck. Her breath. Gym Bro nodded his head. “Okay,” he said. Zoe let her breath out. Gym Bro continued, “Yeah, this could work. Actually, it’s exactly what I wanted to talk about tonight.” He smiled again.

  Zoe still felt really tense. And confused. Thinking about himself like this. Like herself. Like Zoe.

  A pressure released in their head.

  Josh felt the tension leaving his body. Gym Bro continued speaking, “I should have known you would be on a simir page as me.” He reached out and took Josh’s hand. “You really get me, Zoe, I appreciate that.” Josh smiled. For some reason he was finding it difficult to get any words out at the moment. Thankfully, Gym Bro took the moment of silence to wave the waiter down and order their food.

  Once he was done, Gym Bro took Josh’s hand again and said, “I have a big idea, but I can’t share it with you yet. I wanted to take this time to get to know each other a little more.” He chuckled. “I guess I didn’t imagine part of that would be telling you my st name. I swear I’d mentioned it to you before.”

  “Your st name?” Josh finally got his voice to work.

  “Yeah, Tucker. I’ll admit it’s not as cool as your st name.” Gym Bro raised his free hand in the air as if writing the letters on a giant billboard. “Zoe Bang,” he said, “It has a nice ring to it.”

  Josh wasn’t completely sure what was going on, but he knew they’d been using Zoe Tucker as their name the st few months when ordering things online, but it seemed like they should have been using the st name ‘Bang’. It was probably best if he pyed along if he didn’t want to make Gym Bro angry again. He said, “Yeah, that’s me. Zoe Bang.” .

  The waiter came by, said something Josh didn’t understand, and poured the wine. Josh immediately downed his entire gss.

  “Whoa,” Gym Bro said, “I didn’t know you liked wine that much. Maybe we should do a wine tasting on our next date.”

  “Next date?”

  Gym Bro smirked. “Assuming this one goes well of course. You’re beautiful and all, but I like a woman with personality. Sure, we’ve been roommates for a while, but we almost never talk.”

  “I guess not.”

  “So, where are you from?”

  Josh blinked. “What?” he asked. Gym Bro took a sip from his gss. He said, “You, Zoe Bang, where are you from? I told you I was born in California before, remember?” What was he pying at? Gym Bro knew they were from Florida.

  Josh said, “I was born in South Florida. Then I moved up here before high school.” Gym Bro nodded his head. “Have you been to any other states?” Josh was totally lost. They’d definitely talked about this kind of thing before. He was certain of it.

  He leaned forward and whispered, “I’m really confused. I feel like we’ve talked about this kind of thing before.” Gym Bro rolled his eyes. He said, “I think you might be getting confused with a conversation I had with my friend Josh. He was from South Florida. Where are you from Zoe?”

  It clicked. The weird pn. The date. Getting into character. Gym Bro, no, Kevin was testing him. He needed to make a real backstory for Zoe. Something new and interesting to prove he had what it takes to summon her and trick anybody into thinking she’s a real person.

  Josh, rather Zoe, leaned back and sat up straight in his chair. “I’m so sorry for the confusion,” he said, “I’ve had some trouble with my memory tely.” Kevin smiled. “No big deal. I’ll ask you again; where are you from?”

  They went back and forth for over an hour. Josh got so caught up in speaking as the character Zoe that he barely remembered eating any of Zoe’s food. He decided Zoe was from New York and moved to Florida to enjoy sunny weather year-round. She loved pying video games, going to the beach, and shopping for new clothes. She also loved makeup and taking care of her long hair.

  Josh was surprised at how easy it was to answer every question Kevin gave him. It was easy to get lost in the fun and feel like he was actually on a date with an awesome man for a little bit. At some points, it almost felt like Zoe was the one talking and Josh was simply along for the ride.

  Eventually, the conversation died down. “Wow,” Kevin said. He looked at his phone. “Oh crap, it’s getting te.” He signaled for the waiter and paid their bill. He helped Zoe out of their chair and escorted them back to the car. Part of Zoe, Josh, thought Kevin had too much to drink. He giggled to himself as Kevin pulled out of the parking lot.

  “I definitely I had too much to drink,” Josh thought.

  His mind felt much clearer by the time they got back home. Like a gentleman, Kevin helped Josh out of the car and into the house. Josh absentmindedly took off his heels and started to stumble towards his bathroom to take his makeup off.

  “Zoe,” he heard behind him. Josh turned around and smiled. His smile dropped when he saw Kevin’s face. He had that hungry look in his eyes. Kevin approached them slowly. He said, “I had a fun time tonight. Did you?”

  “Yes,” Josh said quietly. He felt extra warm. Were they still drunk? That had to be it. Kevin stood directly in front of them. He was so rge. So much rger than they were. So powerful.

  Kevin brushed some of Josh’s hair behind his ear. He left his hand behind Josh’s neck and applied the slightest amount of pressure. Kevin said in a low voice, “Normally I wouldn’t do this on a first date, but I can’t help myself with you. There’s something special between us, you know?”

  “Something special,” Josh felt himself repeating.

  Kevin leaned down. His face grew closer. Josh felt his eyes closing. Their lips touched. Kevin pulled Josh’s head closer. He felt Kevin’s fingers wrapping in his long hair to take more control; moving Josh’s head exactly how he wanted to move it.

  Kevin’s other hand gripped Josh’s butt. Josh lifted the leg up and hooked it around Kevin’s waist. He had the slightest thought race across his mind that he was only able to do so because of all the flexibility training he’d been doing. Their kissing intensified.

  Josh felt himself being moved. No, lifted. He was being lifted! Their lips broke apart long enough for Josh to let out a sensual moan and gasp. Gym Bro bit into Josh’s neck like a ravenous tiger. Josh gasped again. The pain felt amazing. He was floating. He was flying. He crashed against the sofa and felt his eyes burst open in shock.

  Gym Bro climbed onto the sofa and straddled over Josh’s tiny body. Josh felt his chest rising and falling. Gym Bro was staring directly at them; Zoe’s boobs. Josh saw his own hand creep up and pull at the front of the dress. He licked his lips as he watched Kevin’s entranced gaze follow his movements.

  “You like that?” Josh said.

  Gym Bro growled in response. He gripped the side of Josh’s dress with both hands and tore the zipper apart. Josh had never been so aroused in his life. He quickly tried to move his hands behind his back to unfasten the bra, but Gym Bro was faster. He pulled the bra down Josh’s ribs, thankfully without tearing it, and plunged his mouth onto Josh’s left nipple.

  “Holy shit!” Josh excimed.

  Gym Bro bit and sucked perfectly. Electric shocks traveled across Josh’s entire body. This was even better than when he tried pying with himself. When he payed with Zoe. This was all what Zoe wanted. Not him. She was the woman being ravaged. He felt his cock stiffen and press against the gaff.

  No. No. No.

  He wasn’t enjoying this; Zoe was. He needed to be Zoe. He could feel Gym Bro still moving around. The lights in the room seemed to be getting darker. Suddenly, the movement stopped. Josh realized his eyes had been rolling into the back of his head. He blinked and tried to focus on what was in front of him.

  He locked eyes with a panting Gym Bro.

  “I, I, um,” Gym Bro said. He climbed off of Josh and the sofa. He looked around. Josh pulled himself up to be sitting up slightly. His arm crossed over his chest to pointlessly cover his heaving breasts. For a brief moment, Josh wondered when Gym Bro’s shirt had come off. Gym Bro said, “I’m sorry about the dress. I’ll buy you a new one.”

  “It’s fine. It didn’t fit that well anyways.”

  The silence hung in the space between them.

  Gym Bro said, “Well, Zoe, thanks for the lovely date. I, um, look forward to the next one.” Josh nodded his head. “Me too,” he replied. Gym Bro said, “I’m a little tired, so, well. Tonight went really well, so, I’ll talk to you about the idea I had in the morning. Sound good?”

  “Um, yeah.”

  Gym Bro cpped his hands together. “Great. Goodnight then.” He leaned forward and pnted a soft kiss against Josh’s lips before Josh had time to process what was happening. He watched Gym Bro slightly stumble into his bedroom.

  Josh let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He gathered his torn dress and waddled into his bedroom. He colpsed in the chair at his vanity and looked at Zoe’s smudged face and tussled hair. She’d been through a ringer just now.

  He felt gears turning in his mind. Exactly. Zoe had done everything tonight. The date, the talking…everything. Just because Josh had the memories didn’t mean he was the one who did any of it. That was a woman smiling in the mirror. She was the one who felt really happy about her date tonight. And about everything afterwards.

  That wasn’t him. It couldn’t be.

  —————————————

  By the next morning, Josh felt much better about everything that happened the previous night. It was like Gym Bro said at the end, it was all some big test and Josh passed. That’s what men did; they won. They overcame. Even when the test involved doing things other people might consider gay. They weren’t gay. This was like the hazing rituals Josh heard stories about. He was fine.

  He dressed in the most masculine casual clothing Zoe had before going out to meet with Gym Bro. Josh wore a slightly compressive sports bra, his gaff panties, leggings, and a long sleeve sporty top with a half zipper. He put his hair into a high ponytail, and double-checked that he didn’t accidentally put makeup on automatically. Again.

  Perfect dude-mode.

  Gym Bro was waiting in front of the third bedroom with his arms crossed. Josh snuck up behind him and smacked him on his butt like guys did on sports teams. “Good morning!” he said with a smile. He was expecting Gym Bro to turn and continue the roughhousing like guys normally did.

  Instead, Gym Bro turned around, grabbed Josh’s waist and pulled him in for a quick kiss. This was a joke. It had to be a joke. After letting him go, Gym Bro said, “morning babe. I love your sporty look.”

  “Uh huh.”

  Gym Bro crossed his arms again. “I guess it’s fine to tell you about my idea instead of Josh anyways. You’re the one who’ll be doing all the work after all.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “First, take a look at your new office.” Gym Bro opened the door to the third bedroom. Josh felt himself taking a step forward to peak inside. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

  There was a massive desk with two giant monitors and an epic gaming PC underneath. The desk also had a stand holding a gamer’s headset right in front of the cssic gamer chair with the neck pillow. The walls were covered with the foam squares Josh always saw professional streamers with. His eyes flicked back to the monitors where he noticed a high-quality camera set up.

  “Is this…” he started to say.

  Gym Bro interrupted, “Your very own streaming room!” Josh felt himself wander further into the room as he looked around. Most of the equipment were typical blues, bcks, and greens like typical gamers had, but he was starting to notice some floral decor and pink highlights on the chair and the walls directly behind the chair.

  Gym Bro continued, “I’m really excited about this new phase of your life. I’ve got everything you need to be successful. All you need to do is execute the pn.”

  “The pn?” Josh said as he continued to wander the room in a haze.

  “Yeah, the pn,” Gym Bro said, “I figured becoming a streamer solves all your problems when it comes to finding work. Too scared to leave the house? Easy, don’t leave. Not comfortable dressing up in guy clothes? No worries, you can show off your boobs with pride on stream. Concerned about giving people name that’s not your legal name? No problem at all. Streamers use fake names anyways.”

  He moved to the desk and woke the monitor up. He opened up a web browser. “Speaking of your name,” he muttered as he typed. He pulled up a Discord and an Instagram page. He pulled out the chair and gestured towards it. Josh sat down and looked at the website.

  “Bang underscore Zoe?” he said aloud.

  Gym Bro grinned. “You say it ‘Zoe Bang’ like your first name and the st name, but I had to switch the order for the username. Great name, right?” Josh scrolled through the instagram page. It already had dozens of posts. Wait. He recognized these photos. As he scrolled he asked, “Are these my outfit of the day photos?”

  “Shouldn’t we have said Zoe’s photos?” he heard in his mind.

  Gym Bro replied, “And some clips of you reading from the books. A few from our adventures to pces like the beach, that cool nature trail, and when we went to the museum.”

  “B-but,” Josh started to say. Gym Bro interrupted, “Check out the amount of followers you have so far.” Josh scrolled back to the top. Oh wow. “Fifty thousand people?” he excimed. “But, how? Why? You could only have started putting up posts for a few months.”

  Gym Bro said, “That’s the power of understanding the algorithm. People have enjoyed watching you transform from a bit of a chubby tomboy to a beautiful woman, Zoe.” Josh felt his brain twitch. Gym Bro continued, “And never underestimate the power of showing breasts on the internet.”

  He reached over Josh to grab the mouse. He pulled up the Discord server and started scrolling through. He said, “I’ve been putting in a few messages here and there, but I had to keep things vague since you were still figuring out your voice and how you talked. You can take over in the server for now. I’ll keep handling the Instagram; at least when it comes to making the posts and filtering out any creepy messages you’ll get.”

  Gym Bro went back to the browser and went to a Twitch page. Josh was blown away by how detailed and professional everything looked. He asked, “When did you have time to do all of this?” Gym Bro scoffed. “What do you think I’ve been so busy working on all this time?”

  Josh looked at his friend’s face. “I thought, maybe, you were trying to avoid me,” he said. Gym Bro stopped what he was doing and took Josh’s face in his hand. He stroked the back of his fingers across Josh’s cheek before pnting a gentle kiss on his forehead. “You’re so silly Zoe,” he said, “of course I wouldn’t be avoiding you.”

  “We can’t tell him. Not now,” Josh heard in his mind. Gym Bro couldn’t find out they weren’t really Zoe.

  Gym Bro turned back to the monitor. “Like I was saying, I’ve got your account and everything set up and ready to go. I announced your first stream will take pce this afternoon, so you should hurry up, eat, and put some makeup on. Not that you don’t look cute already, but I think it would be best to make a good first impression, you know?”

  Josh felt out of sync. His brain slowly caught up with Gym Bro’s words. “Stream? This afternoon?”

  “Yeah.”

  Josh blinked. “As Zoe?” He looked at the screen. The big ZOE BANG in bright colorful letters at the top of the page jumped out at him. Gym Bro said, “As yourself, yes.” Gym Bro ruffled Josh’s hair. “There you go again talking about yourself in the third person again.”

  Josh cursed himself internally. He couldn’t let it slip. He couldn’t let Gym Bro know that Zoe was a fiction. If he found out, then he would know Josh was tricking him into being gay. Not that anything they were doing was gay. In fact, Zoe was basically real. She had her own Instagram now.

  Gym Bro knelt down to get at eye level with Josh. “Look,” he said, “I know this is a lot to take in, but this is a real chance at making some money. You get to have fun pying video games and getting complimented. Doesn’t that sound perfect?” Josh felt himself nodding along.

  “I do like pying video games,” he felt himself think.

  Gym Bro continued, “Think about st night, Zoe. You’re funny, brilliant, fast-thinking. All you have to do is show people the real you. Be yourself. I’m certain they’ll love it.” Josh turned his head to look back at the screen. He clicked onto the Instagram page and scrolled through Zoe’s photos.

  “I do look like I’m having lots of fun,” he thought.

  “In fact, I did have a lot of fun. I liked learning about clothes, I really like my hair and skin routine, being able to do different voices is pretty fun, and I get to be way more expressive than normal.”

  “This isn’t too different from what we were doing with Devon. We basically get a second chance. We can make all new friends to py games with. And we won’t have to keep it a secret. And we won’t have to meet them in person and make stupid mistakes like trying to kiss them.”

  The sparks kept shooting off in Zoe’s mind.

  “In fact, anytime we want a kiss, we can ask Gym Bro now. Which…” Josh felt himself falter. Why did wanting to kiss Gym Bro keep coming up? He couldn’t want that. It was Zoe who wanted the kisses.

  Gym Bro’s voice cut into Josh’s thoughts. “What’s going on up there? I can see the gears spinning.” Josh tilted his head. “I don’t know,” he said, “I’m not sure if I can do this. It sounds really complicated. And I’ll have to try and fit things into my schedule.”

  Gym Bro ughed loudly. “Come on,” he said before spping Josh roughly on the shoulder. “You should know by now I’ve got all of that figured out. I already have a streaming schedule pnned. Plus you’re already used to taking photos in all sorts of cute poses. We’ll go on a few more trips on weekends to get different locations in the background.”

  Josh was finding it difficult to argue with anything Gym Bro was saying. Josh said in a quiet voice, “I guess, it’s worth a try.”

  “Hell yes!”

  “And, I guess, being paid to py video games is every gamer’s dream.”

  “Exactly!”

  Gym Bro smiled and held his hand out. Josh grabbed it and felt overpowered by Gym Bro’s grip as they shook on their new business venture together. “Trust me,” Gym Bro said, “with a little bit of luck, you’re going to see amazing success in no time.”

  Qzar24