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A late spring breeze blew across Nick’s face as he sat at the community pool. Summer vacation was just beginning for the high school student and he couldn’t think of a better place to spend the morning as he worked on his tan. The temperature was warm, the breeze was pleasant, a light cloud cover rendered sunglasses unnecessary, three of the girls from his class were playfully splashing each other in the pool for his viewing pleasure, and to top it off it was early enough that there were so few people there that he’d have a good hour or so to relax before the crowds would start showing up. In short it was the perfect start to the day and Nick was going to enjoy every second of it to its fullest.

Well almost prefect as even though he was a well-toned athletic individual Nick was disappointingly single. In fact his luck with girls was about as non-existent as genies. It wasn’t that he was a bad person or anything, but long before his sophomore year had ended he had been turned down by so many girls that he had developed a reputation to the point that every girl in the school knew that she was just the second choice to someone else.

He sighed to himself not sure what he was doing wrong. Ok so maybe asking out a cute, shy girl first wasn’t the best first try as he hadn’t so much as spoken two words to the girl before she ran away screaming. And looking back at it that had probably closed him off to ever dating one of the confident, attractive ones as it probably gave them the impression that they somehow weren’t good enough for him. Heck he would have gladly asked out one of the tomboys, but they were always long since taken by the time he met them, and he certainly wasn’t the kind of guy to ask out someone who was already seeing someone else.

Looking back to the girls in the pool he contemplated how each one fell into one of those arctypes. To the left was a short redhead who was sporting the smallest chest of the three. While she was now playfully splashing her friends it had taken them splashing her several times before she had joined them. In the center was the medium height brunet who was sporting the biggest chest of the three, and indicative of an outgoing, in not playful nature had been the one who had started the splashing to begin with. Both girls had hair that reached well past their shoulders. And lastly was the tall, dark haired, athletic girl that sported the shortest cut hair of the group, and had a bust size that was in between those that her friends had. Between her muscular core and the boyish way she had walked when they had arrived it was clear that she was a tomboy through and through.

Another sigh escaped Nick’s lips as he pondered getting up and trying to ask out one of the girls, but with knowing little more about them other than they were in his class he felt it would be a bad idea to try. While he was certain that none of the girls were in a relationship that he was aware of he felt that he should at least know their names before asking any of them out. And of course he would have to be careful which one to ask out because if the first one turned him down it would look terrible for him to turn around and try again with one of her friends.

Closing his eyes for a moment he allowed his mind to drift to the wonderful world of anime that he had discovered after having been shot down for the fourth time, though that number had long since surpassed the double digits. He had taken a particular interest in the romance genre and had fallen greatly in love with the harem sub-sect. The vision of multiple girls practically throwing themselves at their senpai as they each vied for his, usually oblivious, attention was so far from his own experiences that it had provided him with the perfect escape from reality that he needed. But of course something like that would never happen in the real world, especially not to him, but hey a man could always wish and dream right.

“Excuse me sir but could I have a moment of your time?” Nick’s eyes burst open as he turned his head in shock at the sound of a girl’s voice. The girl he saw was a stark contrast from the trio of bikini clad Caucasians in the pool appearing to be of Arabic decent based on her dark hair and warm tan skin, but she also appeared to be at least a few years older than Nick and if he had to guess he’d peg her as a college student. And although Nick was no expert on colors he couldn’t help but notice how well the, what he assumed was, burgundy bikini she wore complemented her skin, and the necklace with a small red gem that she wore only served to draw further attention to it. For a moment he wondered what she was doing here as he was certain he hadn’t seen her walk out of the dressing rooms and into the pool area, but as beautiful as she was rational thoughts were starting to be placed on the back burner.

“Uh sure.” In truth Nick was so caught up in his earlier fantasy that he didn’t catch what the new girl had asked him only that she had posed a question so he fired off the most universally acceptable answer that would keep the conversation going. Fortunately the girl hadn’t caught his partial inattention and his answer was almost immediately rewarded with a playful, if not almost mischievous, smile.

“Thank you.” As the girl spoke she pulled her hands from behind her back holding a note pad in one hand and a pencil in another. “You see I’m a Psychology major and I’m doing a little survey as my semester project.” Nick’s mind first thought that the girl had blatantly lied to his face as there were no classes in the summer, but he quickly remembered that this only applied to high school and lower level students as it was common for colleges to offer summer courses. Given that it wasn’t technically summer yet he figured that this girl was just trying to capitalize on using a trip to the pool while she could still enjoy it as a chance to also get a head start on her assignment. Nick wasn’t entirely sure whether that was clever or just lazy. “So you’re approached by a genie and you’re offered one wish.” As Nick’s eyes started to wander in the usual male manor he failed to notice the smirk growing on the girl’s face. “What would you wish for?” Nick’s eyes returned to the girl’s when she said the word “wish”. There was a certain gravity to it that hadn’t been there in the earlier conversation. Before he could ask as to the nature of the question the girl explained that she was simply trying to find out his desires in the most imaginative way possible and quickly reassured him that the survey would be anonymous.

Giving himself a moment to let his mind ponder the question he returned his gaze to the girls in the pool and he quickly remembered his earlier train of thought. “I’d wish for my own harem.” The words escaped his lips almost subconsciously, and if it wasn’t for his ears being more attentive than his mouth he might not have realized that he said them. Turning to the girl to explain himself he noticed that a blood vain was now visible on her forehead. Knowing that he would only have a few seconds to prevent himself from potentially incurring the wrath of another girl he quickly explained how dead his love life was and that he had taken to harem type animes as such and was just thinking out loud. Fortunately the girl accepted his explanation, however the damage was done and seemingly not wanting to wait around to be offended again the girl excused herself from Nick’s presence after thanking him for such an “interesting” answer.

With no reason to continue watching the mysterious girl he once more set his sights back to the pool. However he found little joy out of continuing to watch the trio in the pool, in fact there was something unsettling about the way that girl had said the word “interesting”. Her tone for that one word was noticeably darker than the inviting tone that she had maintained throughout the rest of the conversation, and he just couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow he had just condemned himself to some dark fate. Trying to shake himself free of his nerves Nick noticed that the girls had stopped splashing each other and were all now staring right at him. Oddest though was that both the redhead and the brunet were both giving him confident smiles while the dark haired girl was giving him a much more subtle one. Rubbing his eyes to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating Nick was surprised to find that not only were they still smiling at him, but now they were even wading through the pool moving in his direction.

Once the girls had reached the end of the pool one by one they pulled themselves out and began walking the last few feet in Nick’s direction. As they walked towards him Nick couldn’t help but notice that all of the girls were a little on the tall side, however upon closer inspection he realized that it wasn’t that they were simply tall, but that they were all growing noticeably taller as they walked. Shaking his head in disbelief Nick did what any rational minded person would do and closed his eyes and counted down from ten. Only when he opened them he found that the girls, who were now standing in front of him, where now each within an inch or so of his own height.

The redhead who was giving him an unusually cocky grin started talking; only whatever it was that she was saying was completely muted. Whether it was by magic or shock that Nick couldn’t hear her was anybody’s guess, but shock was the more likely explanation as he watched as the impossibly disgusting transpired as multiple dark hairs started growing one at a time on her legs and arms. Feeling sickened by the sight of a “hairy” girl he fought hard to keep his breakfast down as an even more disturbing change overtook the girl’s legs. Her thighs lost thickness as her legs shortened an inch or so. However as if to make up for the lost mass and then some the muscles on the girl’s legs started to ripple as they grew larger, until they looked like they belonged to a linebacker. A similar change altered her arms causing them to fill out with muscle while the girl’s hands and feet grew larger as the nail polish she wore vanished without a trace. As she finished speaking, whatever it was she was trying to say, she shifted her body posture from her original feminine stance to a more masculine one which caused her hips to narrow to better fit her new legs as her very modest derriere gained a solid layer of muscle.

Moments later the brunette’s mouth started moving and Nick found that his head seemed to be compelled to adjust the few degrees to look straight at her even though he couldn’t make out what she was saying. As she spoke the girl fidgeted as if there was an uncomfortable soreness in her shoulders. Unwilling to move her arms for whatever reason the girl simply started to rotate her shoulders, and with each rotation they became a little broader. Moments later her waist started bloating until it lost its hourglass shape and started to look more like a brick. Her stomach began to harden as layer upon layer of muscle was built up until her new six-pack became befitting of a high school weight-training student. As she shifted to a more masculine stance like the girl before her Nick noticed that her hips narrowed making the bottom of her bikini begin to slack. The girl’s posture straightened as her spine was realigned to make her curves less pronounced. However the hardening of her rump from fat to muscle saw to it that the only thing protecting the girl’s modesty didn’t fall off. Finally as the brunette’s turn speaking was drawing to an end her once magnificent breasts started to flatten across her now broad chest as they morphed from orbs of magnificent fat to hardened pecks of steel.

Nick’s body was already beginning to shake with panic as the dark haired girl started to speak. There was no denying what he was watching transpire. Three of the most attractive girls he had ever laid eyes on where transforming into boys right before his eyes. However Nick was relieved to notice that this last girl’s changes seemed to be far less drastic than the others. While she had started off the tallest of the group by a good margin she was now almost a half a head shorter than the others, although he was still certain that like the others she had grown at least an inch or so. Running her fingers through her hair Nick watched as the strands started to lighten to a greyish color at the touch. Casually beginning to twirl the strands the girl’s hair began to grow from just barely beyond ear length to just a little past her shoulders. Suddenly on its own accord the hair began to tie itself into a simple low ponytail that actually didn’t look that bad on the girl’s tomboyish figure, as the strands brightened to a lovely shade of blond. Suddenly the girl’s face began to twitch as it became even more androgynous making it so that all of her defining features were from the neck down.

Before the neo-blond had a chance to finish what she was saying the redhead nonchalantly interrupted her as if trying to make a point. For that matter Nick felt like he could start to make out the conversation that they were having. Something to do with himself if he wasn’t mistaken, but only a few of the words were coming through with hushed clarity so that was only his best guess. Feeling slightly annoyed that she could so casually interrupt her friend like that Nick found himself shooting the girl a glair for some reason. The girl didn’t seem to be the least bit fazed by that, in fact she even seemed to be emboldened by the attention giving Nick a big smile as her lips lost all their volume. Shooting him a playful wink the girl’s eyes darkened from blue to brown as her eyelashes lost their depth. Grinning even wider her cheeks lowered as her chin became more prominent. As her nose largened a few sweeping adjustments passed over her face making it completely male. As if to finish off the picture the girl’s shoulder length hair shortened to just barely above her neck. Flipping her head back the girl’s hair for the most part darkened to black, while her bangs remained red as they became a boyish, spikey mess.

Content that she had made her point the brunette chipped up as though she had something to add. Pointing her left hand to the neo-blond in an accusatory manor her hands grew much larger as her red nail polish faded into oblivion. Her well-manicured nails took on a closer, unprofessional trim as Nick with now momentary control over his neck looked to her spikey hair friend and found that her nails had undergone a similar change earlier. Snapping his head involuntarily back to attention he watched as the girl began clenching and unclenching her hands repeatedly as her arms began to ripple with an ever increasing amount of muscle mass. Suddenly a horrifying revelation came to Nick. He had absolutely no control over the actions of his body. At first he thought it was simple fear that was keeping him from bolting, but now he could feel a powerful presence that was keeping him held to his seat. He could only sense a form of will behind the power because of how it forced his head to move to each girl as she transformed and forced him to keep his mouth shut. Maybe it was even the reason that he couldn’t make out what the girls were saying at first, but whatever it was it had to wield phenomenal cosmic powers or something of that nature. Snapping back to reality he found that the girl’s legs were now mid change as her thighs adjusted to a smaller, more muscular size while her calves were gaining muscle to match. It took only a few seconds for the girl’s legs to shrink as her feet grew proportionate to her hands, and lost what remaining traces of femininity they possessed. As she began to quiet her voice ending her passionate belittlement of the neo-blond a most striking change over took the girl’s entire body as her skin began to rapidly tan until she looked to be of African descent. Looking her up and down she looked to be every bit the linebacker that her spikey haired friend on the left was becoming and then some.

A meek voice suddenly broke the silence that had a subtle determination to it, as though it was refusing to be completely overshadowed by the confidence of the other two. Turning his head to the right in surprise Nick could hardly believe that a voice that seemed so small could come from one who still looked so much like a tomboy. Realizing that he was looking at her the neo-blond shyly averted her gaze blushing as she put her hands behind her back in a cute feminine manor. Nick gave a sigh of relief that at least this one floral shrub wasn’t turning into a thick tree like the others. As if trying to force herself to not be drowned out by the dominating presence of her friends the neo-blond started speaking again. Somehow Nick could tell that she was out of her element as she spoke. The softness seemed to be seeping into her body however as the only one to have started with any definition to her abs started to lose what muscle she had as her waist widened by the narrowest of margins. Turning her eyes back to Nick’s he realized that they were a striking hazel that he hadn’t noticed earlier that took his attention off of her broadening shoulders. She shifted her stance as her spine realigned to better suit her shoulders. However the next change was one that was to tragic for Nick not to notice as her fair borderline c-cup breasts started to wither away until her chest was as flat as a board. Before she had a chance to be interrupted again she shot her friend an accusatory glance and told Joseph that he could keep quiet about his masculinity.

Turning his eyes to the far left the newly christened Joseph flashed his friend a congratulatory smile before looking back to Nick. However Nick was starting to panic even worse. Now not only could he more or less make out what the girls were saying but they were also starting to refer to themselves as males and even refer to their friends by their new male names. But for him it wasn’t that the three girls would soon pass the gender event horizon, but that they were all three more or less hitting on him and were trying to work up the courage to be the first one to ask HIM out. As Joseph complimented her scrawny friend for getting past her shyness her shoulders started to broaden like her friends before her. Pounding a fist on her chest in an overly masculine fashion her small breasts started to spread out over her wider chest and formed into muscles that rivaled the brunette’s. Shifting to a contrapposto stance her waist widened as hours of intense workouts began to affect her abs until she had the hardened body of a Greek god. She shifted her posture for a moment as her spine straightened making her male assets less pronounced then they had been as the female version. Quickly her skin tanned to that of a far more Latin heritage completing her differentiation from her friends. As she flashed Nick a final confident smile her bikini top snapped in the back and fell free to the ground revealing her almost complete male body in all its nearly Speedo clad gloryness before asking Daren how long his façade of confidence would hold up as her voice deepened into the first decidedly male voice of the group.

The girl in the middle, now dubbed Daren, was quick to interject that her confidence was not an act, but as she remade eye contact with Nick she turned away blushing even harder than her blond friend. As Joseph gave her a playful punch in the arm about blushing over Nick her voice began to deepen as she adamantly denied that she was blushing. If she hadn’t been turning into a boy right before his eyes Nick would have though how cute it was that she was starting to breakdown and act more Tsundere as the conversation dragged on. When she turned back to Nick her eyes had already changed from green to brown and her eyelashes had lost all depth. Suddenly she began scrunching her face as her cheeks fell lower and her chin became far more pronounced. Just as quickly Daren began to deny that she was even here for Nick in the first place as her lips lost their remaining feminine plumpness tacking away the last of the girl’s original facial features. “It’s not like I wanted to come out here and talk to h** anyway.” Nick was struck not only was that the first sentence that any of the girls had spoken that he could almost completely make out but that was as textbook a Tsundere comment as it could get. As if she was done talking Daren’s waist length brown hair began to rapidly retract into her scalp as a few short black hairs sprouted from her legs and arms. When her hair finally stopped shortening to nothing more than a simple buzz cut it quickly darkened to black completing the final girl’s change to her head. As she turned to her left to address her friend Leslie for something her bikini top snapped in the back and dropped to the ground like Joseph’s before hers.

As Leslie addressed Daren over something unimportant her hips narrowed slightly just like every other of her changes. Shuffling her legs for a bit her thighs lost a bit of thickness as her legs shortened an inch or two. As the small amount of muscle on Leslie’s arms and legs started to wither Nick could feel the force that was holding him to his chair start to wane a little bit. Trying to see how much freedom he now possessed Nick found that he could move his hands and feet with little difficulty. That train of thought suddenly brought his attention to Leslie’s hands and feet which grew just a touch larger while her nails, in a departure from the others, actually became more well-kept which surprised Nick. Although her backside was away from Nick’s view it like the others lost what little fat it had making it look just barely feminine by comparison to what it was. With the last of Leslie’s changes seemingly complete Nick couldn’t help but notice how all of her changes felt half done to him. For a moment he allowed himself to hope that she wasn’t turning into a boy, but that hope was quickly shattered when the top of her bikini fell off and revealed a decisively male chest.

As the mysterious force that kept Nick stuck to his seat continued to weaken he continued to squirm as his eyes were suddenly freed to look at all of the “girls” at once. After a moment his squirming stopped as the single most terrifying thing he had witnessed that day transpired. Simultaneously all three girls started to have a small bump in their bikini bottoms and using all his strength Nick forced his eyes shut as sounds of organs changing purpose assaulted his ears. When the noise finally stopped he opened his eyes to find that all three boys where now wearing swim trunks instead of bikinis. As the force relaxed further Nick suddenly screamed as he felt three somethings latch on to his chest. Looking down he watched in horror as the three discarded bikini tops began to weave together into a single piece that was a beautiful purple with a single diagonal white stripe going across the right cup. Almost free to move Nick watched as his red swim trunks where suddenly injected with some blue causing them to become a matching purple as the fabric began to diminish at the legs. Within moments it had shrunk to form an awkward bikini that strained his manhood as a single diagonal white stripe etched itself across his right hip.

The moment that his two piece ensemble had been completed the force that had kept Nick restricted to his seat vanished, and he wasted no time in jumping up from his seat and making a mad dash for the changing rooms. He wasn’t a fool, and his mind was quick to realize that if whatever force that had transformed the girls was what had also decided to make him crossdressing at the pool, than surely it was also capable of giving him a new gender to match his new swimwear. Going at full speed it only took him a matter of seconds to reach the men’s changing room where his backpack was locked up and quickly went to his locker. Rotating through the numbers on his padlock at record speeds he wasted no time in grabbing his backpack and then diving straight into the nearest changing room.

Closing the door behind him he hastily unzipped his backpack and removed his street clothes. Placing them on the bench Nick quickly ripped the bikini from his body and slipped into his boxers in three quickly timed successive motions. With no time to think he rapidly went through the motions of getting dressed. Favorite red shirt. Check. Slightly worn pair of blue jeans. Check. Belt. Check. Socks. Check. Lastly he tied the laces to his sneakers as fast as his fingers would allow and zipped his backpack shut before leaving the pool so as not to risk the reverse fate of the girls that had come up to talk to him.

*****

From outside the pool an invisible girl with purple hair watched as Nick left the community facility and took off down the street. Smiling to herself she felt certain that this would be one of the more entertaining transformations that she would cause. Of course for someone to have made such a detestable wish as his she wanted to make sure that his transformation would be a slow one that she would enjoy every second of. Turning back to the pool she found that the three boys she had just created were now leaving as well and heading their separate ways. Of course it would have been a simple matter for her to transform Nick then and there, but why rush. After all a few chance encounters taken out of a shoujo anime would certainly make for a much more entertaining day for her. Now to simply see to it that Nick would meet each of those boys again.

*****

It had been ten minutes since Nick had left the pool and he had only just slowed his pace to just barely less than a jog. With close to a mile and a half’s distance crossed he was finally starting to feel safe. Breathing heavy with thoughts of the three girls still freshly burned into his mind he need to find something, or someplace to take his mind off of the nightmare he witnessed at the pool. Of course in his mad dash Nick hadn’t ran in any particular direction, in fact aside from seeing to it that he never ran out into traffic he hadn’t done so much as pay attention to his surroundings. Slowing to a complete stop Nick decided it would be best to simply figure out where he was for now and then figure out from there where the closest distraction that could occupy his late morning would be.

Taking a look around Nick realized that he was about two blocks away from the outdoor market that should be just starting to have its vendors begin manning their stalls right about now. While he normally wouldn’t have figured that he’d find anything of interest there amongst the various clothing and produce booths he felt as though something was beckoning him to enter. The feeling wasn’t like strong call of an attractive woman smiling at you from behind the counter of her store, but rather like the subtle call of a new store that makes one curious as to what they sell. Bringing his hand up to wipe the sweat from his brow Nick felt that he wasn’t being forced to answer the call, but rather that it was completely his choice as to whether to answer it or not. The last time he had such a feeling was when the new anime store opened up across town and when he first passed by he ignored the feeling. It wasn’t until a week later that he found out that at that time the store happened to have several figures of one of his favorite anime girls in stock and had already sold out. He had regretted not going in that day for some time now and he didn’t want to risk missing out on finding something interesting just because he ignored his gut feeling. As he decided that there was no harm in going he suddenly realized that his hand hadn’t found so much as a single drop of sweat. Shaking it off as odd Nick crossed the one busy street between him and the market as soon as the electronic box across from him signaled that he could now cross.

After only a short minute Nick found himself surrounded by the early bustle of the early bird customers, and the multiple vendors in various stages of setting up their stalls as he made his way into the open air market. Having only visited the plaza once briefly in the past he was surprised to find that other than just the clothes stalls and fresh produce venders he had expected that there were also a few stalls selling handmade jewelry, locally produced soaps and candles, as well even the odd sweets vendor scattered around as well. Having developed a fondness for handmade candies as a kid, thanks to his grandparents who frequented this place, he couldn’t help but wonder if the lone sweets vendor was the place that had sold the fresh spun taffy that he remembered. Sure they couldn’t have made it there, but most of the sellers here also owned a full sized shop somewhere else in town where they produced and sold most of their goods. And given how many people frequented the market from the late spring to early fall very few businesses would have been so foolish as to not have a stall here as it attracted both locals and tourists alike.

From the corner of his eye Nick noticed several boxes of flowers were being unloaded form an old truck to a nearby stall by a Latino boy who looked to be close to his age. Waving it off Nick approached the sweets stall and was greeted by a middle aged woman who looked happy to be receiving her first customer so early. “Hello young man we don’t usually see customers like you here this early other than those that work here themselves.” The woman said with an earnest smile. Waiving her hand over the assortment of tiny surgery confections she continued. “See anything that tickles your fancy, or are you looking for something to impress a girl.”

“Sadly no girl, just something for myself.” Nick replied with a sigh in the middle. Allowing his mind to drift a bit he thought of how nice it would be to actually be buying one of these for a cute girl. But for now that would have to remain just a fantasy.

Rooting his mind back to reality Nick spotted the familiar clear plastic wrapping of the taffy that he remembered. Pointing his finger to the worthwhile discovery he was about to pull his wallet from his bag when a male voice suddenly chimed in. “I’d be more than happy to buy that for you.” Turning to face the boy Nick first recognized the shirt he was wearing as the one belonging to the boy who was unloading flowers moments ago, but then he gasped in horror upon recognizing the boy’s face. It was Joseph one of the “boys” from the pool that he had watched transform.

Nick tilted his head back to look into Joseph’s eyes as he suddenly felt much smaller by the boy’s intimidating presence. It took him a moment to realize that even though he had run as far as he did that the location of the market relative to the pool meant that he must have doubled back at some point without realizing it. After all the market was no more than a light five minute walk from the pool. Stepping back Nick was barely able to block the neo-boy off from paying for his goods as his clothes started to feel a bit less bulky. “Sorry I was only trying to be a gentleman.” Gentlemen generally didn’t offer to suddenly buy other guy’s food Nick thought to himself as he started to look for an opportunity to escape. “You see it’s not often that a guy like me gets such a chance as to impress a cutie like yourself, and with the way you suddenly ran away at the pool I didn’t think I’d get so lucky as to see you again today.”

Nick turned to face the lady to quickly pay for his candy and couldn’t manage to shake the sudden feeling that she seemed taller. Setting his backpack down he unzipped it to get his wallet when he found a shocking surprise. In his haste he had actually dropped the bikini into his backpack, and while it was fortunately hidden from the view of others he still had to reach past it to get his wallet. Nick completed his transaction with the woman as quickly as he could and hurriedly shoved his wallet back in his backpack so as to minimize the risk of anyone seeing the embarrassing article of clothing within. As he started to zip his bag closed Nick noticed that his nails were surprisingly well kept. (I guess I did a better job trimming my nails last night than I thought.) Nick thought as he casually began to eat his taffy. The taste was every bit as sweet as he remembered, though the candy seemed to be a bit larger now that it was in his mouth than he had expected.

Suddenly a rather forceful hand took hold of his left arm. “Come here I want to show you something.” Nick hardly had enough time to grab his backpack before Joseph started gently pulling him in the direction of the flower booth. As they began to move forward Joseph’s grip on Nick’s wrist seemed to loosen causing his hand to slide down to the point where it was holding Nick’s. As the tugging became more gentle and energetic Joseph soon reached out with his second hand, and with both hands on Nick’s left he found himself having to look straight into Joseph’s smiling face as the latter had to start walking backwards. A foreign though momentarily entered Nick’s head as he noticed how cute Joseph’s goofy grin was, but he quickly batted it away.

As they made the last few steps to the booth Nick noticed that every member of Joseph’s family was looking at the pair, and all were giving smiles of approval as if Joseph were bringing a new girlfriend to be introduced to them. However they all for some reason silently decided that this was to be Joseph’s moment and one by one walked off, but not entirely leaving beyond ear shot. “You see I’ve been working as a florist for my family for a few weeks now and I wanted to show you some of the flowers I helped grow for the bouquets you see before you.” Nick already didn’t like where this conversation was going as it felt to him like Joseph wasn’t talking to another dude, and was instead trying to impress a girl. “Each flower has its own unique meaning. Take this one here.” Joseph pulled a white flower out of the assortment as Nick nervously finished his candy. “The Edelweiss is one of my favorites whose name means little white in German and symbolizes courage and devotion. You might have heard its name if you’ve ever watched The Sound of Music.” Joseph placed it down and pulled out another. “Or take this Chrysanthemum that symbolizes cheerfulness.” Placing it down he began to grab several this time and started to place them into a bouquet wrap. Nick however shifted his legs uncomfortably as he felt his boxers start to ride up his legs a bit. “Yellow flowers in general symbolize friendship and joy, both things that I wish for you.” Nick was beginning to feel even smaller in Joseph’s presence as he pulled several green roses out and placed them in the bouquet. “While the classic red rose symbolizes love and affection the green rose symbolizes hope and optimism.” Nick liked where this conversation was going even less by the second as it seemed more and more like Joseph was about to profess his feelings for him. He hardly noticed as Joseph completed the bouquet by adding a few red tulips to the mix. “And lastly the red tulip a declaration of love much like the red rose only less stereotypical much like yourself.” Nick suddenly found himself blushing at the strange complement. “All of these flowers represent my feelings for you and I would be greatly honored if you would accept this humble bouquet from me. After all the colors suit you so well.” As Joseph handed the bouquet to Nick he found that his hands involuntarily accepted the unwanted gift. Nick’s thoughts were racing as he had no idea why those colors would suit him given that his hair was dirty blond and only his shirt matched any of those colors when suddenly Joseph closed his eyes and gave Nick the largest, most sincere smile that he had ever seen.

Holding the bouquet close Nick suddenly felt as though a piece of his manhood had just died when he realized just how cute that smile was on Joseph. Suddenly fearing that his sexual orientation was forcefully being changed Nick took a panicked step back. “Nick what’s wrong?” What was wrong, what wasn’t wrong? He was starting to develop unwanted feelings for another guy, but that wasn’t to mention that when Joseph had said his name it sounded wrong somehow, like he was trying to draw it out a bit and add a vowel or two at the end but couldn’t quite seem to manage it. To top it off Nick felt like there was a sudden cramp in his stomach, perhaps as a reaction to the flowers, but of that he wasn’t sure. Suddenly Nick couldn’t take the oppressive air any longer and his voice momentarily cracked to a much higher note as he dropped the bouquet screaming. Scared of the thoughts that he could be turning gay he quickly turned around and ran like a bat out of hell for the second time that day running as fast as he could out of the open air market; however he strangely didn’t seem notice how for a moment his voice had sounded like a girl’s.

*****

Description
A late spring breeze blew across Nick’s face as he sat at the community pool. Summer vacation was just beginning for the high school student and he couldn’t think of a better place to spend the morning as he worked on his tan. The temperature was warm, the breeze was pleasant, a light cloud cover rendered sunglasses unnecessary, three of the girls from his class were playfully splashing each other in the pool for his viewing pleasure, and to top it off it was early enough that there were so few people there that he’d have a good hour or so to relax before the crowds would start showing up. In short it was the perfect start to the day and Nick was going to enjoy every second of it to its fullest.

Well almost prefect as even though he was a well-toned athletic individual Nick was disappointingly single. In fact his luck with girls was about as non-existent as genies. It wasn’t that he was a bad person or anything, but long before his sophomore year had ended he had been turned down by so many girls that he had developed a reputation to the point that every girl in the school knew that she was just the second choice to someone else.

He sighed to himself not sure what he was doing wrong. Ok so maybe asking out a cute, shy girl first wasn’t the best first try as he hadn’t so much as spoken two words to the girl before she ran away screaming. And looking back at it that had probably closed him off to ever dating one of the confident, attractive ones as it probably gave them the impression that they somehow weren’t good enough for him. Heck he would have gladly asked out one of the tomboys, but they were always long since taken by the time he met them, and he certainly wasn’t the kind of guy to ask out someone who was already seeing someone else.

Looking back to the girls in the pool he contemplated how each one fell into one of those arctypes. To the left was a short redhead who was sporting the smallest chest of the three. While she was now playfully splashing her friends it had taken them splashing her several times before she had joined them. In the center was the medium height brunet who was sporting the biggest chest of the three, and indicative of an outgoing, in not playful nature had been the one who had started the splashing to begin with. Both girls had hair that reached well past their shoulders. And lastly was the tall, dark haired, athletic girl that sported the shortest cut hair of the group, and had a bust size that was in between those that her friends had. Between her muscular core and the boyish way she had walked when they had arrived it was clear that she was a tomboy through and through.

Another sigh escaped Nick’s lips as he pondered getting up and trying to ask out one of the girls, but with knowing little more about them other than they were in his class he felt it would be a bad idea to try. While he was certain that none of the girls were in a relationship that he was aware of he felt that he should at least know their names before asking any of them out. And of course he would have to be careful which one to ask out because if the first one turned him down it would look terrible for him to turn around and try again with one of her friends.

Closing his eyes for a moment he allowed his mind to drift to the wonderful world of anime that he had discovered after having been shot down for the fourth time, though that number had long since surpassed the double digits. He had taken a particular interest in the romance genre and had fallen greatly in love with the harem sub-sect. The vision of multiple girls practically throwing themselves at their senpai as they each vied for his, usually oblivious, attention was so far from his own experiences that it had provided him with the perfect escape from reality that he needed. But of course something like that would never happen in the real world, especially not to him, but hey a man could always wish and dream right.

“Excuse me sir but could I have a moment of your time?” Nick’s eyes burst open as he turned his head in shock at the sound of a girl’s voice. The girl he saw was a stark contrast from the trio of bikini clad Caucasians in the pool appearing to be of Arabic decent based on her dark hair and warm tan skin, but she also appeared to be at least a few years older than Nick and if he had to guess he’d peg her as a college student. And although Nick was no expert on colors he couldn’t help but notice how well the, what he assumed was, burgundy bikini she wore complemented her skin, and the necklace with a small red gem that she wore only served to draw further attention to it. For a moment he wondered what she was doing here as he was certain he hadn’t seen her walk out of the dressing rooms and into the pool area, but as beautiful as she was rational thoughts were starting to be placed on the back burner.

“Uh sure.” In truth Nick was so caught up in his earlier fantasy that he didn’t catch what the new girl had asked him only that she had posed a question so he fired off the most universally acceptable answer that would keep the conversation going. Fortunately the girl hadn’t caught his partial inattention and his answer was almost immediately rewarded with a playful, if not almost mischievous, smile.

“Thank you.” As the girl spoke she pulled her hands from behind her back holding a note pad in one hand and a pencil in another. “You see I’m a Psychology major and I’m doing a little survey as my semester project.” Nick’s mind first thought that the girl had blatantly lied to his face as there were no classes in the summer, but he quickly remembered that this only applied to high school and lower level students as it was common for colleges to offer summer courses. Given that it wasn’t technically summer yet he figured that this girl was just trying to capitalize on using a trip to the pool while she could still enjoy it as a chance to also get a head start on her assignment. Nick wasn’t entirely sure whether that was clever or just lazy. “So you’re approached by a genie and you’re offered one wish.” As Nick’s eyes started to wander in the usual male manor he failed to notice the smirk growing on the girl’s face. “What would you wish for?” Nick’s eyes returned to the girl’s when she said the word “wish”. There was a certain gravity to it that hadn’t been there in the earlier conversation. Before he could ask as to the nature of the question the girl explained that she was simply trying to find out his desires in the most imaginative way possible and quickly reassured him that the survey would be anonymous.

Giving himself a moment to let his mind ponder the question he returned his gaze to the girls in the pool and he quickly remembered his earlier train of thought. “I’d wish for my own harem.” The words escaped his lips almost subconsciously, and if it wasn’t for his ears being more attentive than his mouth he might not have realized that he said them. Turning to the girl to explain himself he noticed that a blood vain was now visible on her forehead. Knowing that he would only have a few seconds to prevent himself from potentially incurring the wrath of another girl he quickly explained how dead his love life was and that he had taken to harem type animes as such and was just thinking out loud. Fortunately the girl accepted his explanation, however the damage was done and seemingly not wanting to wait around to be offended again the girl excused herself from Nick’s presence after thanking him for such an “interesting” answer.

With no reason to continue watching the mysterious girl he once more set his sights back to the pool. However he found little joy out of continuing to watch the trio in the pool, in fact there was something unsettling about the way that girl had said the word “interesting”. Her tone for that one word was noticeably darker than the inviting tone that she had maintained throughout the rest of the conversation, and he just couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow he had just condemned himself to some dark fate. Trying to shake himself free of his nerves Nick noticed that the girls had stopped splashing each other and were all now staring right at him. Oddest though was that both the redhead and the brunet were both giving him confident smiles while the dark haired girl was giving him a much more subtle one. Rubbing his eyes to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating Nick was surprised to find that not only were they still smiling at him, but now they were even wading through the pool moving in his direction.

Once the girls had reached the end of the pool one by one they pulled themselves out and began walking the last few feet in Nick’s direction. As they walked towards him Nick couldn’t help but notice that all of the girls were a little on the tall side, however upon closer inspection he realized that it wasn’t that they were simply tall, but that they were all growing noticeably taller as they walked. Shaking his head in disbelief Nick did what any rational minded person would do and closed his eyes and counted down from ten. Only when he opened them he found that the girls, who were now standing in front of him, where now each within an inch or so of his own height.

The redhead who was giving him an unusually cocky grin started talking; only whatever it was that she was saying was completely muted. Whether it was by magic or shock that Nick couldn’t hear her was anybody’s guess, but shock was the more likely explanation as he watched as the impossibly disgusting transpired as multiple dark hairs started growing one at a time on her legs and arms. Feeling sickened by the sight of a “hairy” girl he fought hard to keep his breakfast down as an even more disturbing change overtook the girl’s legs. Her thighs lost thickness as her legs shortened an inch or so. However as if to make up for the lost mass and then some the muscles on the girl’s legs started to ripple as they grew larger, until they looked like they belonged to a linebacker. A similar change altered her arms causing them to fill out with muscle while the girl’s hands and feet grew larger as the nail polish she wore vanished without a trace. As she finished speaking, whatever it was she was trying to say, she shifted her body posture from her original feminine stance to a more masculine one which caused her hips to narrow to better fit her new legs as her very modest derriere gained a solid layer of muscle.

Moments later the brunette’s mouth started moving and Nick found that his head seemed to be compelled to adjust the few degrees to look straight at her even though he couldn’t make out what she was saying. As she spoke the girl fidgeted as if there was an uncomfortable soreness in her shoulders. Unwilling to move her arms for whatever reason the girl simply started to rotate her shoulders, and with each rotation they became a little broader. Moments later her waist started bloating until it lost its hourglass shape and started to look more like a brick. Her stomach began to harden as layer upon layer of muscle was built up until her new six-pack became befitting of a high school weight-training student. As she shifted to a more masculine stance like the girl before her Nick noticed that her hips narrowed making the bottom of her bikini begin to slack. The girl’s posture straightened as her spine was realigned to make her curves less pronounced. However the hardening of her rump from fat to muscle saw to it that the only thing protecting the girl’s modesty didn’t fall off. Finally as the brunette’s turn speaking was drawing to an end her once magnificent breasts started to flatten across her now broad chest as they morphed from orbs of magnificent fat to hardened pecks of steel.

Nick’s body was already beginning to shake with panic as the dark haired girl started to speak. There was no denying what he was watching transpire. Three of the most attractive girls he had ever laid eyes on where transforming into boys right before his eyes. However Nick was relieved to notice that this last girl’s changes seemed to be far less drastic than the others. While she had started off the tallest of the group by a good margin she was now almost a half a head shorter than the others, although he was still certain that like the others she had grown at least an inch or so. Running her fingers through her hair Nick watched as the strands started to lighten to a greyish color at the touch. Casually beginning to twirl the strands the girl’s hair began to grow from just barely beyond ear length to just a little past her shoulders. Suddenly on its own accord the hair began to tie itself into a simple low ponytail that actually didn’t look that bad on the girl’s tomboyish figure, as the strands brightened to a lovely shade of blond. Suddenly the girl’s face began to twitch as it became even more androgynous making it so that all of her defining features were from the neck down.

Before the neo-blond had a chance to finish what she was saying the redhead nonchalantly interrupted her as if trying to make a point. For that matter Nick felt like he could start to make out the conversation that they were having. Something to do with himself if he wasn’t mistaken, but only a few of the words were coming through with hushed clarity so that was only his best guess. Feeling slightly annoyed that she could so casually interrupt her friend like that Nick found himself shooting the girl a glair for some reason. The girl didn’t seem to be the least bit fazed by that, in fact she even seemed to be emboldened by the attention giving Nick a big smile as her lips lost all their volume. Shooting him a playful wink the girl’s eyes darkened from blue to brown as her eyelashes lost their depth. Grinning even wider her cheeks lowered as her chin became more prominent. As her nose largened a few sweeping adjustments passed over her face making it completely male. As if to finish off the picture the girl’s shoulder length hair shortened to just barely above her neck. Flipping her head back the girl’s hair for the most part darkened to black, while her bangs remained red as they became a boyish, spikey mess.

Content that she had made her point the brunette chipped up as though she had something to add. Pointing her left hand to the neo-blond in an accusatory manor her hands grew much larger as her red nail polish faded into oblivion. Her well-manicured nails took on a closer, unprofessional trim as Nick with now momentary control over his neck looked to her spikey hair friend and found that her nails had undergone a similar change earlier. Snapping his head involuntarily back to attention he watched as the girl began clenching and unclenching her hands repeatedly as her arms began to ripple with an ever increasing amount of muscle mass. Suddenly a horrifying revelation came to Nick. He had absolutely no control over the actions of his body. At first he thought it was simple fear that was keeping him from bolting, but now he could feel a powerful presence that was keeping him held to his seat. He could only sense a form of will behind the power because of how it forced his head to move to each girl as she transformed and forced him to keep his mouth shut. Maybe it was even the reason that he couldn’t make out what the girls were saying at first, but whatever it was it had to wield phenomenal cosmic powers or something of that nature. Snapping back to reality he found that the girl’s legs were now mid change as her thighs adjusted to a smaller, more muscular size while her calves were gaining muscle to match. It took only a few seconds for the girl’s legs to shrink as her feet grew proportionate to her hands, and lost what remaining traces of femininity they possessed. As she began to quiet her voice ending her passionate belittlement of the neo-blond a most striking change over took the girl’s entire body as her skin began to rapidly tan until she looked to be of African descent. Looking her up and down she looked to be every bit the linebacker that her spikey haired friend on the left was becoming and then some.

A meek voice suddenly broke the silence that had a subtle determination to it, as though it was refusing to be completely overshadowed by the confidence of the other two. Turning his head to the right in surprise Nick could hardly believe that a voice that seemed so small could come from one who still looked so much like a tomboy. Realizing that he was looking at her the neo-blond shyly averted her gaze blushing as she put her hands behind her back in a cute feminine manor. Nick gave a sigh of relief that at least this one floral shrub wasn’t turning into a thick tree like the others. As if trying to force herself to not be drowned out by the dominating presence of her friends the neo-blond started speaking again. Somehow Nick could tell that she was out of her element as she spoke. The softness seemed to be seeping into her body however as the only one to have started with any definition to her abs started to lose what muscle she had as her waist widened by the narrowest of margins. Turning her eyes back to Nick’s he realized that they were a striking hazel that he hadn’t noticed earlier that took his attention off of her broadening shoulders. She shifted her stance as her spine realigned to better suit her shoulders. However the next change was one that was to tragic for Nick not to notice as her fair borderline c-cup breasts started to wither away until her chest was as flat as a board. Before she had a chance to be interrupted again she shot her friend an accusatory glance and told Joseph that he could keep quiet about his masculinity.

Turning his eyes to the far left the newly christened Joseph flashed his friend a congratulatory smile before looking back to Nick. However Nick was starting to panic even worse. Now not only could he more or less make out what the girls were saying but they were also starting to refer to themselves as males and even refer to their friends by their new male names. But for him it wasn’t that the three girls would soon pass the gender event horizon, but that they were all three more or less hitting on him and were trying to work up the courage to be the first one to ask HIM out. As Joseph complimented her scrawny friend for getting past her shyness her shoulders started to broaden like her friends before her. Pounding a fist on her chest in an overly masculine fashion her small breasts started to spread out over her wider chest and formed into muscles that rivaled the brunette’s. Shifting to a contrapposto stance her waist widened as hours of intense workouts began to affect her abs until she had the hardened body of a Greek god. She shifted her posture for a moment as her spine straightened making her male assets less pronounced then they had been as the female version. Quickly her skin tanned to that of a far more Latin heritage completing her differentiation from her friends. As she flashed Nick a final confident smile her bikini top snapped in the back and fell free to the ground revealing her almost complete male body in all its nearly Speedo clad gloryness before asking Daren how long his façade of confidence would hold up as her voice deepened into the first decidedly male voice of the group.

The girl in the middle, now dubbed Daren, was quick to interject that her confidence was not an act, but as she remade eye contact with Nick she turned away blushing even harder than her blond friend. As Joseph gave her a playful punch in the arm about blushing over Nick her voice began to deepen as she adamantly denied that she was blushing. If she hadn’t been turning into a boy right before his eyes Nick would have though how cute it was that she was starting to breakdown and act more Tsundere as the conversation dragged on. When she turned back to Nick her eyes had already changed from green to brown and her eyelashes had lost all depth. Suddenly she began scrunching her face as her cheeks fell lower and her chin became far more pronounced. Just as quickly Daren began to deny that she was even here for Nick in the first place as her lips lost their remaining feminine plumpness tacking away the last of the girl’s original facial features. “It’s not like I wanted to come out here and talk to h** anyway.” Nick was struck not only was that the first sentence that any of the girls had spoken that he could almost completely make out but that was as textbook a Tsundere comment as it could get. As if she was done talking Daren’s waist length brown hair began to rapidly retract into her scalp as a few short black hairs sprouted from her legs and arms. When her hair finally stopped shortening to nothing more than a simple buzz cut it quickly darkened to black completing the final girl’s change to her head. As she turned to her left to address her friend Leslie for something her bikini top snapped in the back and dropped to the ground like Joseph’s before hers.

As Leslie addressed Daren over something unimportant her hips narrowed slightly just like every other of her changes. Shuffling her legs for a bit her thighs lost a bit of thickness as her legs shortened an inch or two. As the small amount of muscle on Leslie’s arms and legs started to wither Nick could feel the force that was holding him to his chair start to wane a little bit. Trying to see how much freedom he now possessed Nick found that he could move his hands and feet with little difficulty. That train of thought suddenly brought his attention to Leslie’s hands and feet which grew just a touch larger while her nails, in a departure from the others, actually became more well-kept which surprised Nick. Although her backside was away from Nick’s view it like the others lost what little fat it had making it look just barely feminine by comparison to what it was. With the last of Leslie’s changes seemingly complete Nick couldn’t help but notice how all of her changes felt half done to him. For a moment he allowed himself to hope that she wasn’t turning into a boy, but that hope was quickly shattered when the top of her bikini fell off and revealed a decisively male chest.

As the mysterious force that kept Nick stuck to his seat continued to weaken he continued to squirm as his eyes were suddenly freed to look at all of the “girls” at once. After a moment his squirming stopped as the single most terrifying thing he had witnessed that day transpired. Simultaneously all three girls started to have a small bump in their bikini bottoms and using all his strength Nick forced his eyes shut as sounds of organs changing purpose assaulted his ears. When the noise finally stopped he opened his eyes to find that all three boys where now wearing swim trunks instead of bikinis. As the force relaxed further Nick suddenly screamed as he felt three somethings latch on to his chest. Looking down he watched in horror as the three discarded bikini tops began to weave together into a single piece that was a beautiful purple with a single diagonal white stripe going across the right cup. Almost free to move Nick watched as his red swim trunks where suddenly injected with some blue causing them to become a matching purple as the fabric began to diminish at the legs. Within moments it had shrunk to form an awkward bikini that strained his manhood as a single diagonal white stripe etched itself across his right hip.

The moment that his two piece ensemble had been completed the force that had kept Nick restricted to his seat vanished, and he wasted no time in jumping up from his seat and making a mad dash for the changing rooms. He wasn’t a fool, and his mind was quick to realize that if whatever force that had transformed the girls was what had also decided to make him crossdressing at the pool, than surely it was also capable of giving him a new gender to match his new swimwear. Going at full speed it only took him a matter of seconds to reach the men’s changing room where his backpack was locked up and quickly went to his locker. Rotating through the numbers on his padlock at record speeds he wasted no time in grabbing his backpack and then diving straight into the nearest changing room.

Closing the door behind him he hastily unzipped his backpack and removed his street clothes. Placing them on the bench Nick quickly ripped the bikini from his body and slipped into his boxers in three quickly timed successive motions. With no time to think he rapidly went through the motions of getting dressed. Favorite red shirt. Check. Slightly worn pair of blue jeans. Check. Belt. Check. Socks. Check. Lastly he tied the laces to his sneakers as fast as his fingers would allow and zipped his backpack shut before leaving the pool so as not to risk the reverse fate of the girls that had come up to talk to him.

*****

From outside the pool an invisible girl with purple hair watched as Nick left the community facility and took off down the street. Smiling to herself she felt certain that this would be one of the more entertaining transformations that she would cause. Of course for someone to have made such a detestable wish as his she wanted to make sure that his transformation would be a slow one that she would enjoy every second of. Turning back to the pool she found that the three boys she had just created were now leaving as well and heading their separate ways. Of course it would have been a simple matter for her to transform Nick then and there, but why rush. After all a few chance encounters taken out of a shoujo anime would certainly make for a much more entertaining day for her. Now to simply see to it that Nick would meet each of those boys again.

*****

It had been ten minutes since Nick had left the pool and he had only just slowed his pace to just barely less than a jog. With close to a mile and a half’s distance crossed he was finally starting to feel safe. Breathing heavy with thoughts of the three girls still freshly burned into his mind he need to find something, or someplace to take his mind off of the nightmare he witnessed at the pool. Of course in his mad dash Nick hadn’t ran in any particular direction, in fact aside from seeing to it that he never ran out into traffic he hadn’t done so much as pay attention to his surroundings. Slowing to a complete stop Nick decided it would be best to simply figure out where he was for now and then figure out from there where the closest distraction that could occupy his late morning would be.

Taking a look around Nick realized that he was about two blocks away from the outdoor market that should be just starting to have its vendors begin manning their stalls right about now. While he normally wouldn’t have figured that he’d find anything of interest there amongst the various clothing and produce booths he felt as though something was beckoning him to enter. The feeling wasn’t like strong call of an attractive woman smiling at you from behind the counter of her store, but rather like the subtle call of a new store that makes one curious as to what they sell. Bringing his hand up to wipe the sweat from his brow Nick felt that he wasn’t being forced to answer the call, but rather that it was completely his choice as to whether to answer it or not. The last time he had such a feeling was when the new anime store opened up across town and when he first passed by he ignored the feeling. It wasn’t until a week later that he found out that at that time the store happened to have several figures of one of his favorite anime girls in stock and had already sold out. He had regretted not going in that day for some time now and he didn’t want to risk missing out on finding something interesting just because he ignored his gut feeling. As he decided that there was no harm in going he suddenly realized that his hand hadn’t found so much as a single drop of sweat. Shaking it off as odd Nick crossed the one busy street between him and the market as soon as the electronic box across from him signaled that he could now cross.

After only a short minute Nick found himself surrounded by the early bustle of the early bird customers, and the multiple vendors in various stages of setting up their stalls as he made his way into the open air market. Having only visited the plaza once briefly in the past he was surprised to find that other than just the clothes stalls and fresh produce venders he had expected that there were also a few stalls selling handmade jewelry, locally produced soaps and candles, as well even the odd sweets vendor scattered around as well. Having developed a fondness for handmade candies as a kid, thanks to his grandparents who frequented this place, he couldn’t help but wonder if the lone sweets vendor was the place that had sold the fresh spun taffy that he remembered. Sure they couldn’t have made it there, but most of the sellers here also owned a full sized shop somewhere else in town where they produced and sold most of their goods. And given how many people frequented the market from the late spring to early fall very few businesses would have been so foolish as to not have a stall here as it attracted both locals and tourists alike.

From the corner of his eye Nick noticed several boxes of flowers were being unloaded form an old truck to a nearby stall by a Latino boy who looked to be close to his age. Waving it off Nick approached the sweets stall and was greeted by a middle aged woman who looked happy to be receiving her first customer so early. “Hello young man we don’t usually see customers like you here this early other than those that work here themselves.” The woman said with an earnest smile. Waiving her hand over the assortment of tiny surgery confections she continued. “See anything that tickles your fancy, or are you looking for something to impress a girl.”

“Sadly no girl, just something for myself.” Nick replied with a sigh in the middle. Allowing his mind to drift a bit he thought of how nice it would be to actually be buying one of these for a cute girl. But for now that would have to remain just a fantasy.

Rooting his mind back to reality Nick spotted the familiar clear plastic wrapping of the taffy that he remembered. Pointing his finger to the worthwhile discovery he was about to pull his wallet from his bag when a male voice suddenly chimed in. “I’d be more than happy to buy that for you.” Turning to face the boy Nick first recognized the shirt he was wearing as the one belonging to the boy who was unloading flowers moments ago, but then he gasped in horror upon recognizing the boy’s face. It was Joseph one of the “boys” from the pool that he had watched transform.

Nick tilted his head back to look into Joseph’s eyes as he suddenly felt much smaller by the boy’s intimidating presence. It took him a moment to realize that even though he had run as far as he did that the location of the market relative to the pool meant that he must have doubled back at some point without realizing it. After all the market was no more than a light five minute walk from the pool. Stepping back Nick was barely able to block the neo-boy off from paying for his goods as his clothes started to feel a bit less bulky. “Sorry I was only trying to be a gentleman.” Gentlemen generally didn’t offer to suddenly buy other guy’s food Nick thought to himself as he started to look for an opportunity to escape. “You see it’s not often that a guy like me gets such a chance as to impress a cutie like yourself, and with the way you suddenly ran away at the pool I didn’t think I’d get so lucky as to see you again today.”

Nick turned to face the lady to quickly pay for his candy and couldn’t manage to shake the sudden feeling that she seemed taller. Setting his backpack down he unzipped it to get his wallet when he found a shocking surprise. In his haste he had actually dropped the bikini into his backpack, and while it was fortunately hidden from the view of others he still had to reach past it to get his wallet. Nick completed his transaction with the woman as quickly as he could and hurriedly shoved his wallet back in his backpack so as to minimize the risk of anyone seeing the embarrassing article of clothing within. As he started to zip his bag closed Nick noticed that his nails were surprisingly well kept. (I guess I did a better job trimming my nails last night than I thought.) Nick thought as he casually began to eat his taffy. The taste was every bit as sweet as he remembered, though the candy seemed to be a bit larger now that it was in his mouth than he had expected.

Suddenly a rather forceful hand took hold of his left arm. “Come here I want to show you something.” Nick hardly had enough time to grab his backpack before Joseph started gently pulling him in the direction of the flower booth. As they began to move forward Joseph’s grip on Nick’s wrist seemed to loosen causing his hand to slide down to the point where it was holding Nick’s. As the tugging became more gentle and energetic Joseph soon reached out with his second hand, and with both hands on Nick’s left he found himself having to look straight into Joseph’s smiling face as the latter had to start walking backwards. A foreign though momentarily entered Nick’s head as he noticed how cute Joseph’s goofy grin was, but he quickly batted it away.

As they made the last few steps to the booth Nick noticed that every member of Joseph’s family was looking at the pair, and all were giving smiles of approval as if Joseph were bringing a new girlfriend to be introduced to them. However they all for some reason silently decided that this was to be Joseph’s moment and one by one walked off, but not entirely leaving beyond ear shot. “You see I’ve been working as a florist for my family for a few weeks now and I wanted to show you some of the flowers I helped grow for the bouquets you see before you.” Nick already didn’t like where this conversation was going as it felt to him like Joseph wasn’t talking to another dude, and was instead trying to impress a girl. “Each flower has its own unique meaning. Take this one here.” Joseph pulled a white flower out of the assortment as Nick nervously finished his candy. “The Edelweiss is one of my favorites whose name means little white in German and symbolizes courage and devotion. You might have heard its name if you’ve ever watched The Sound of Music.” Joseph placed it down and pulled out another. “Or take this Chrysanthemum that symbolizes cheerfulness.” Placing it down he began to grab several this time and started to place them into a bouquet wrap. Nick however shifted his legs uncomfortably as he felt his boxers start to ride up his legs a bit. “Yellow flowers in general symbolize friendship and joy, both things that I wish for you.” Nick was beginning to feel even smaller in Joseph’s presence as he pulled several green roses out and placed them in the bouquet. “While the classic red rose symbolizes love and affection the green rose symbolizes hope and optimism.” Nick liked where this conversation was going even less by the second as it seemed more and more like Joseph was about to profess his feelings for him. He hardly noticed as Joseph completed the bouquet by adding a few red tulips to the mix. “And lastly the red tulip a declaration of love much like the red rose only less stereotypical much like yourself.” Nick suddenly found himself blushing at the strange complement. “All of these flowers represent my feelings for you and I would be greatly honored if you would accept this humble bouquet from me. After all the colors suit you so well.” As Joseph handed the bouquet to Nick he found that his hands involuntarily accepted the unwanted gift. Nick’s thoughts were racing as he had no idea why those colors would suit him given that his hair was dirty blond and only his shirt matched any of those colors when suddenly Joseph closed his eyes and gave Nick the largest, most sincere smile that he had ever seen.

Holding the bouquet close Nick suddenly felt as though a piece of his manhood had just died when he realized just how cute that smile was on Joseph. Suddenly fearing that his sexual orientation was forcefully being changed Nick took a panicked step back. “Nick what’s wrong?” What was wrong, what wasn’t wrong? He was starting to develop unwanted feelings for another guy, but that wasn’t to mention that when Joseph had said his name it sounded wrong somehow, like he was trying to draw it out a bit and add a vowel or two at the end but couldn’t quite seem to manage it. To top it off Nick felt like there was a sudden cramp in his stomach, perhaps as a reaction to the flowers, but of that he wasn’t sure. Suddenly Nick couldn’t take the oppressive air any longer and his voice momentarily cracked to a much higher note as he dropped the bouquet screaming. Scared of the thoughts that he could be turning gay he quickly turned around and ran like a bat out of hell for the second time that day running as fast as he could out of the open air market; however he strangely didn’t seem notice how for a moment his voice had sounded like a girl’s.

*****