Altered Genesis Ch. 06

An agonizing screech pierced Dean's ears but didn't appear to faze the crowd around him. Even Melody was unaffected.

The old rusty electric train pulled into the station and a dense crowd of passengers migrated to the predicted resting place of the nearest carriage entry. The platform was filled with mostly male labourers of various professions who could not afford taxi car or their own vehicle.

Melody and Dean were making their afternoon trip home from campus. Despite having different timetables Melody would often find an excuse to catch the same train as him.

Many of the males carried bags full of tools and protective equipment. Working as a labourer in a factory or construction site was considered an ideal occupation for a boy after graduating high school. It was becoming increasingly difficult for them to compete with femme for more affluent professions. And most femme would consider a job as a simple labourer beneath them.

A couple of middle-aged men who were closest to the entrance of the carriage combined their efforts to help the automatic door open all the way. Dean looked to Melody and was about to ask if this was a common issue with the train system but she was distracted by the sight of a shirtless young man. Dean decided to forget the question and pretend that he didn't notice her cliché distraction.

"So how is that new job?" he asked while looking away.

Melody shook herself from a daydream, "Eh um... yeah it's great! The ladies there are really lovely. The manager likes that I am studying business and would like to hear my ideas regarding their new expansion. She says that there could be a real future for me in management."

"Wow, that's fantastic!" Dean smiled, doing his best to hide his envy. He would just about kill to get his foot in the door somewhere before graduating.

They entered the train and a man in his thirties gave up his seat for Melody. She smiled to him and sat without a second thought. This was perfectly normal on the train. It was not unheard of for the government to administer fines to every male on a carriage simply because a femme was left standing. Melody felt obliged to take the offer to ensure that such an incident would not occur. Dean gave an uneasy glance to the camera attached to the ceiling.

Looking down the carriage he saw that only standing room remained and three other young femme from the college were sitting as males stood in the aisle. Those femme were the exception. Most young femme who went to college could afford more comfortable transport than the old train.

"What expansions?" he asked as he settled into a standing position next to Melody, "You said that the club is expanding?"

"They are opening up the gym to males!" she said with a surprised tone.

Dean was equally shocked, "That's awfully strange for a lady's lifestyle club."

"Yea, I know, right. They are actually much more egalitarian than I imagined. The manager said that it's good for business and that's all that matters," she said. "You should join, Dean! It's free!"

Her eyes were wide with excitement.

"Free? I don't wanna sound like a capitalist but I'm pretty sure that nothing is free," he frowned.

"Well," she replied. "Only for a limited time. They are taking free male members just to get the numbers up. Then they will start charging newcomers, you should get in now. They have special change rooms for boys with total privacy, state-of-the-art facilities and everything."

Dean wished that he still had access to a gym. His mother had revoked his membership when she kicked him out of the house. Finding time to workout was nearly impossible for him now. He had been running near Melody's place but Mansfield was not a safe neighbourhood.

"I really need a gym," he admitted. "I got an email from the university last week. I need to come up with five thousand credits in a month or I can't enrol next semester."

"Oh yeah," Melody replied. "That's no problem, you can apply for an equity consideration and defer the payment to your loan account. You are living outside of home and are unemployed. It should be easy for you, I get an equity consideration every semester."

Dean frowned, "I did apply; it was denied. Apparently I don't qualify. Perhaps my situation isn't desperate enough."

"What the fuck!? You are practically homeless! Your situation is way worse than mine," Melody said louder than Dean would prefer. "No Dean, the real reason is that you are male."

He stared out the window and watched office buildings fly by. All he could do was grimace. He hoped for another explanation, some problem or mistake that he could fix but nothing came to mind.

--

Friday afternoon.

Dean had jumped on the train and travelled past only three stations before arriving in a parallel universe. Century-old skyscrapers of glass and steel towered over him in every direction and they looked as elegant as the day they were built. The streets were clean and free from homeless males. The business district of Gynohale was a monument to the new femme supremacy in the business world.

The district had been recently renamed by the local municipality and even Dean had to admit that 'Gynohale' was an appropriate change.

There was only one male for every ten femme on the street. Some of the males that he saw were dressed as janitors or other lowly occupations and others were dressed up in more formal attire. The one common feature for all of them was their form-fitting fabrics and trousers that left little to the feminine imagination. Such provocative outfits were becoming more popular for males in office environments.

Dean stood outside a pair of glass doors for a moment. Above them was a black banner with pink calligraphy that read "Nova Femme: Your lifestyle, your way".

He looked around, for a moment and felt out of place. Lavishly dressed business ladies passed him on the street, with finely decorated hats that were more ornamental than protective. Their high heels could be heard but not seen under their long modest dresses as they strode by with purpose. He could feel the eyes of some of the ladies wash over his body like a wave of appraisal.

Dean checked himself in the reflection of the glass door.

"You'll be fine. It's just a place to workout," he murmured under his breath before walking in.

Melody was quick to greet him at reception and was obviously excited to give him the full tour of the gym.

The moment that they walked into the gym, Dean was startled by an enormous crash of a squat rack hitting floor. It was accompanied by the aggressive groan of a femme. He turned to see an enormous Polynesian lady in her fifties.

"That's Rita, one of our regulars. She might seem intimidating but she's actually quite lovely," Melody commented.

He knew that most femme liked to be strong, but this lady was a monster. She stood almost two feet taller than him and wore a loose-fitting black Gi. Dean could tell that there was a lot of fat and muscle underneath it. Her shoulders seemed almost twice the width of his and her waist was even wider.

The gym was a single large room that mostly contained weight lifting equipment. A row of brand-new treadmills and stair climbers lined the back wall.

A male around Dean's age was pumping away on a stair climber at a steady pace. He leaned forward with his elbows on the handles causing his ass to stick out lewdly in his tiny black hot-pants.

The familiar brand-name 'Supine' was printed in bold white letters on the skin-tight elastic material covering his buttocks. The material followed his contours with merciless honesty.

His tight tank top revealed defined muscles on the small of his back. Through the mirror on the back wall Dean could see focus and strain in his face as sweat dripped from his chin.

The femme-hulk sat on a bench directly behind the boy on the stair climber and hadn't yet broken a sweat. She took deep breaths in recovery and stared at the inadvertently erotic presentation only two meters in front of her.

Dean pretended to be listening to his tour guide but was lost in thought, "How can I expect femme to take me seriously when there are boys dressing like prostitutes in the gym? It seems like males don't even want respect anymore."

Melody continued with her spiel as if it was already well practiced, "And we have private showers for our boys so that you don't have to worry about getting hassled. I can't show you in for obvious reasons. And you are welcome to use the outdoor pool and sauna through there. Just remember that the restaurant and spa are off limits to our male patrons. They are for full members only."

Dean smiled appreciatively as they made their way back to the front desk. The gym was smaller than he expected, but it still seemed sufficient for his needs.

After they turned around he caught the enormous femme staring at him through the mirror in front of the squat rack. Unlike most femme, she greeted his gaze boldly with a smile that failed to hide the lust behind her eyes. Dean felt anxiety hit him suddenly.

"Why is it always the ugly ones!?" he thought.

When they returned to reception an elderly African lady stood behind the counter. She was dressed in the same colours as Melody but was wearing a more formal outfit with long sleeves and full-length dress. The confident lady surveyed Dean up and down smiled appreciatively.

Dean felt self-conscious. He was used to being one the most handsome males in college but he knew that he had gained a little weight in the last few weeks. He felt ashamed despite being fully clothed in his workout gear.

"He looks lovely Mel. Go ahead with the form, " she said.

"Thanks boss," Melody replied enthusiastically.

Dean frowned as his thoughts raced, "What the hell was that?! Did I just pass a test of some sort?"

The membership form was totally generic until he reached the final section called 'fitting'.

"Melody, why do they need to know my 'pouch size'?" Dean did his best to hide his anxiety.

"Oh I forgot to tell you. You have to wear workout gear from our sponsor," she said while gesturing towards the picture on the opposite wall.

It was of an impossibly fit male wearing nothing but a tiny g-string that encased his genitals in an thin lycra pouch. A tight elastic band at the opening of the pouch was wrapped around his assets; it was all that was stopping it from slipping off completely. It was hanging off the thinnest possible waist band. Another perfect young male specimen next to him was facing in the opposite direction to reveal that the back was nothing but a tiny string that disappeared between his muscular butt cheeks. At the top was written in huge light blue font 'Supine Workout'. With the subtitle, 'Proud sponsors of Nova Femme lifestyle club'.

Melody stared at the poster a little too long for Dean's liking.

"Oh it's ok. They actually have some much more conservative outfits to choose from. They just show off the G-string pouches for marketing," she spoke with an apologetic expression.

"So," she redirected his attention to the contract. "Before you sign, I'm required to read you the terms of service."

"Okay", Dean tilted his head slightly.

"As a beneficiary of the male access initiative, you are exceptionally privileged to receive a 90% discount in comparison to our femme patrons. With that comes the expectation that you will conduct yourself in an exemplary manner. A towel must always be used on the equipment and the aforementioned dress code must be obeyed at all times. You are expected to be friendly towards all femme in the gym, including staff. We have a zero-tolerance policy for rudeness towards femme. Reports of violations form staff or patrons will result in immediate expulsion from Nova Femme without a refund. Do you understand?"

Dean squinted for a moment as he listened.

"Alright, and there's the catch. Nothing is ever for free in this world is it?", he thought. "I knew it was too good to be true. But actually, considering the discount, being friendly isn't much to ask. Seems worth it."

"Sure, makes sense," he said.

--

Fifteen minutes later.

Dean took a shaky breath as he stared at the outline of his package through the thin elastic material in the mirror. The most modest shorts that the gym had available were a similar style to the ones that he bought to impress Charlotte. Albeit, a cheaper knock off. The legs on the shorts were only a couple of inches long and the elastic rode up his ass uncomfortably, leaving nothing to the feminine imagination. The waist band bore the familiar branding "Supine". He preferred these over the pants with the brand printed on the butt.

He wore a tight shirt that was only a mid-drift and left his belly exposed and was glad that he still had a defined "V" shape despite his recent laziness.

Dean was convinced that the designers put feminine enjoyment far before male comfort when they conceived the outfit. A small consolation was that it was free. He was relieved that he had waxed his entire body the day before because the dress code made it clear that male body hair was unacceptable.

Dean changed in the privacy of a stall, put his original clothes in his bag and put his hand on the stall latch. Before he began to turn it, he heard feminine banter from a crowd of ladies entering from the lobby outside.

Dean was in the general change room which was unisex. Contrary to his initial impression, he still had to use the general change room because the male-only showers did not have lockers.

A cacophony of clicks and clacks of business shoes sounded like an army of femme laying siege to his flimsy changing stall.

"And here is the main locker-room providing storage space in addition to the ladies showers around the corner. Watch out for eye-candy cause the gym and pool are unisex now."

Dean recognized the voice of the manager echoing off the tile floor and walls. The warm chuckles that reflected back from the crowd sounded like they were coming from all around him. He knew that he was dressed like a street-walker and couldn't bear the humiliation of parading himself in front of a crowd of ladies. He decided to wait for them to leave.

"They make the boys dress real sexy too," one voice said.

"Oh listen to Diane, already chasing cock!" another said and the room erupted in laughter.

"I'll leave you all to get changed now ladies. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. We are proud to have the ladies from the department of education as our newest members. Enjoy your first visit and hopefully many more will follow."

There were only eight changing stalls in the room and it sounded like two dozen ladies had just arrived. The stalls on either side of him filled up rapidly and Dean squatted down to peak underneath the divider to see the hems of long dresses of ladies lining up in front of the row of the stalls.

"You coming to the sauna Carol?" one voice said.

"Sure I guess."

"Gwen?"

"Na. I booked a massage with Billy. My friend works here and she says that he gives quite a pleasing finish to a massage if you know how to ask."

"Haha Goddess Gwen," chuckles echoed off the tiles.

"Let me know if he takes off that little g-string while he does it."

Another wave of laughter made Dean shiver.

"Speaking of whores, did you see that boy on the stair climber Tanya?" a voice said. It sounded like that of a femme in her forties.

Another lady replied with a geriatric rasp, "Oh come on Connie, how could any femme miss a firm boy advertising himself like that!?"

Several ladies laughed in agreement with the dominant lady of the group.

"Parading his privilege for all the world to see. I bet he comes here cause he's an evil little gold digger preying on the vulnerabilities of mature femme. I'd have a mind to take him over my knee and show him what's what."

A chorus of laughter exploded from all around.

"I'd pay to watch that," another younger voice chimed in.

"Oh of course," the leader responded. "Any gold digger like that needs a wake up call. Mark my words, you simply can't trust a young pup like that with your money. As the sisters and I always say, don't give him a wage until you got him in a cage."

The crowded laughed. Some ladies laughed agreeably while others sounded like they their agreement was more genuine than a mere joke.

Two strong knocks on the stall door startled Dean.

"Is anyone in there?" the impatient voice of an assertive lady called out.

Dean froze. He began to question his plan to wait it out but he stood back and remained silent.

"If I just stay quiet then they will leave me alone," he thought.

"Hilda, can you get reception, this door is broken," the voice said.

Dean's eyes went wide.

"Oh sorry, I'm coming!" he called out. "I had earphones on and didn't know that anyone was here."

His voice was shakier than he expected; terrified that he would somehow be caught in his little lie.

He unlatched the door and clutched his bag over his front in a pathetic attempt to avoid attention.

"Goddess, what the fuck was I thinking!?" he thought. "I have to work out in this and I'm afraid of even leaving the stall."

He quickly stashed his bag in a locker and looped the elastic key chain around his wrist.

The room went quiet with shock. Dean could feel a dozen eyes scanning him. He could see smirks in the corner of his eye and hear comments as he bent down.

"Looking good sugar," one voice broke then tension and the others laughed.

Dean walked out into the gym with his head down feeling humiliated.

He started his workout with some stretches before hitting the treadmill. He knew that a lady preferred a boy with low body fat and good muscle definition and they also liked to feel stronger than their boy. He always kept this in mind when devising his routines.

He chose a treadmill in the corner as far away from anyone as he could and was committed to spending one hour on the machine because he needed to trim down quickly. Minutes after starting, one of the first ladies from the group of new members sat down on the weightlifting bench directly behind him. With his own reflection obscuring her, he had no idea if she was staring at him or not. This only unnerved him more.

--

The next day Dean stepped off the train onto the Mansfield platform after his second trip to the new gym. Two proper workouts in a row after a two-week break left his legs feeling like jelly.

Standing at the bottom of velvet avenue, the gradual incline afforded him a clear view of the party district for half a mile. The last signs of natural light were disappearing over the horizon, giving way to light blues, pinks and purples from neon lights of the strip. Traffic was backed up as far as he could see.

Ladies filtered out of automated taxi cabs and onto the sidewalk to join a growing sea of grey-haired patrons eager to take advantage of the young flesh on offer. It was a surreal sight that Dean still wasn't used to. Saturday night on the velvet strip was just getting started.

Some of the crowd were younger but many of them would dye their hair grey so that they could appear mature. Dean could not understand why they would do this but contemporary feminine fashion had nothing to do with pleasing male aesthetic preferences and everything to do with a display of power and wealth.

A limousine slowed as it passed by and an Asian femme poked her head out. She called out something to him in a language that he couldn't understand and he heard faint laughter emanating from behind the tinted glass. Before he knew it, the limousine full of tourists was gone.

Dean was heading back to Melody's apartment which was beyond the other end of the strip. He would normally walk along the central Avenue but as the only male in sea of drunk femme, he didn't want to risk being accosted.