Man Up

"I've got to call the hospital and tell them about this... I don't know if it's this pandemic or anything, but I don't think they'd like me to show up tomorrow like this."

***

"Yeah, Tim. 198. I know. I don't know how it happened either."

"Can you just move around quickly or something? Christ, I know you've told me it's real... and I believe you! But, like, it would make so much more sense as a webcam filter!"

"Uh, Doctor Stevens, please - I don't think that sort of language is useful," came a voice from behind Tim. Shelley watched her friend and colleague slide to the edge of the frame of the video and reveal a slender, dark haired woman who sat taking notes. Behind her, a worried Paco stood by the door and wrung his hands. The woman was the hospital mental health liaison. Shelley couldn't remember her name. Julie? Judy?

"Now, Ms. Hayes; is it ok if I call you Shelley?"

"Uh, sure," Shelley said.

"I'm Doctor Carson, but you can call me Joan if it makes you feel more comfortable. Is that ok?"

Shelley nodded and tried not to look like a psychopath or something. She could feel her nerves getting the better of her. She glanced at Tim, who was looking between her and Joan, like a spectator at a tennis match.

"Uh, Tim," Joan asked, "if you're done with the physiological questions, can we have some privacy?"

Tim made his excuses and left the shot, stepping out of the break-room-cum-emergency-teleconference-suite. Paco nodded at the liaison and shot Shelley a finger wave as he left - back to filling in for her for the time being.

"Now, Shelley, I want you to tell me about the last couple of days... how have you been feeling, have there been any strange events or encounters you might have had a severe emotional reaction to?"

***

It was half and hour later and Shelley was still talking, her hands gently animated as she mimed pumping weights.

"I mean," she said, nonplussed, "we're in the middle of a damn pandemic, just trying to stay in shape and these... MORONS... come in and start trying to throw their weight around and act like big tough guys! And then they get called out on it and they just well, act like little bitc- uh, little boys about it!"

Shelley tried to cover her slip of the tongue and looked guiltily up at Joan, ready for a reprimand or reproach. Joan wasn't paying attention. The liaison's attention seemed to be fixed on something else, and her cheeks were flushed. Their eyes met and there was an awkward moment, super brief, before Joan tried to wrestle the interview back on course.

"Well, I don't know what to say Shelley - you seem much more, uh, assertive now and well, the physical changes are significant, but I can't imagine how..." Joan trailed off, then started again, "... I can't imagine how any kind of physical phenomena can occur based on the events you described. I just hope that whatever this is, it ends in a safe, healthy outcome."

Shelley blinked at Joan, swallowing, suddenly aware of how serious this could be in the worst case. She purses her lips and nodded, accepting it.

"I think, that until we get some more information, I'm going to have to ask you and Alex to self-isolate and stay away from the hospital. We will check in with you guys every three days to make sure you're both ok. Now, tell me how you feel right now - have you noticed anything different?"

"I don't know, I just - I'm just uh, noticing things. Like in a different way."

Joan wrote something down and then stopped, looking up at Shelley through the screen and studying the features, which though still beautiful and feminine, had taken on a more powerful set.

"Oh. That's interesting," Joan said carefully, before adding, "do you notice these things more when you're around women... or men?"

Shelley nearly missed the delicate stress on the word 'women', but eventually she blushed and nodded. "Yeah, around women more."

"Have you felt any aggression or anger as a result of these changes? Any, uh, further physical development?"

"No," Shelley said, and swallowed, looking away from the way Joan's full, firm tits pushed up as the liaison hunched over further to scribble at the bottom of her page.

"Well," said Joan, her voice light, airy, almost suspiciously so, "I hope that you stay well for the next few days until you both report in - I, um, I will be handling this case directly for the foreseeable future until we can determine what clinical outcomes we are trying to achieve."

The language sounded formal, the expression neutral and professional, but Shelley noticed the flush across the top of Joan's chest, the twin points of nipples straining against bra and blouse alike and the final signal: a complete lack of eye contact.

Interesting.

"Anyway," Joan finished, "I guess it's time for you guys to kick back and catch up on your daytime TV!"

***

Shelley woke up slowly and looked around for what was making the noise. Her dreams had been troubled and angry and tense and she realised her jaw ached from being clenched for so long.

The noise was coming from the TV.

It was a news show, no... a talking heads programme. The anchor, tall, white and sour-faced was rudely interrupting his guest. The guest was a middle aged woman who could have been a stand in for Shelley even a few days ago - sure Shelley had never been quite as heavily built or matronly, but it wasn't a million miles from the woman she had been.

The host was leaning over the desk, nearly standing up, intimidating the woman as he jabbed his finger at her, the bulge of his suited crotch against the edge of the desk somehow lewd-looking and crudely provocative. It wasn't sexual or even particularly intentional, but Shelley could feel the oppressive, macho aura of unjustified certainty radiating off him. He seemed genuinely furious at this woman, meekly holding up a prop face mask, fingers awkward and uncomposed, interrupted in the act of explanation.

He was ranting.

"... and these are my RIGHTS! You can't force a man, in front of his family and friends, to wear one of those! It's-"

"It's for their safety-" the woman started to explain.

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT HORSESHIT!" he bellowed, going red in the face. His guest flinched and Shelley watched in horror as the man's modest genital bulge settled into a new shape: semi-arousal. She watched him press his junk against the table subtly, a hint of a thrust at the shocked woman.

He was getting off on this. Bullying, coercion, shameless rudeness. Asserting his size, his volume, his rage and his maleness at every opportunity.

It was live, being broadcast into millions of homes; Shelley could sort of feel how aware he was of that fact, the way he seemed to court the camera, the slightly theatrical quality of his words, his responses.

"Where does a woman like you get off, telling people these... these LIES about safety and health!"

Shelley only saw the woman's eyebrows draw down a heartbeat before the hand that had been holding the mask slapped down on the table with a sound like a gunshot. The confused scientist appearance was gone, replaced by a furious, outraged queen.

The host flinched and backed away, before chagrin rose to cover his features. Millions of people saw the big dick in the room wilt a bit.

"You DON'T get to call me a liar, you stupid asshole-"

A production manager tried to run on, papers flapping as he waved a clipboard placatingly and tried to steer the lady out of shot. She put a hand on his arm and pushed him away.

"- I've studied these diseases for 30 years and you're out of your goddamn mind if you think I'm going to get talked over by some idiot blowhard in a suit in some kind of ambush interview. These masks save lives, not wearing them is both stupid and irresponsible and I think that-"

The screen flicked to a network splash page and a voice came on to explain about "technical difficulties" and apologise for the inconvenience.

Shelley smiled grimly.

It had only taken 15 seconds for that strutting bully to go from preening in front of camera, using his size, his loudness and his physicality... all the way to shock, defensiveness, ineffectual uselessness in the face of an ambush that had backfired.

So much for being the big dick in the room... that guy needed to man up an get a reality check. And millions and millions of people had just seen that happen, seen the measure of the man and felt him go down in their estimation a little bit further.

Shelley began to feel warm. Really, really warm.

With a grunt, she hunched over and rocked, her powerful body making the sofa creak before she lay back, stretching out. She could feel the fabric of the cushions moving beneath her, but she couldn't understand how: she was just lying there after all.

Her baggy sweats were already feeling super tight and stretched and Shelley knew that the weirdness was going to happen again. She didn't know what to do, so she did the only thing she could think of.

"Alex!? Help! God, I think it's happening again!"

There was the slap-slapping of slippered feet as Alex hurried into the room, mouth still full of sandwich, cheeks bulging with pork loin and mayo.

"MMMPPMMPHHH-hhmmm?" Alex asked.

"It's just like before, I swear it feels like my blood is boiling!"

Shelley pulled off her top and began shucking her sweats; everything seemed so weird she out of whack. She could swear that none of her clothes had been this tight when she had put them on.

Alex pressed fingers to Shelley's thick neck and began counting heartbeats, checking her watch on occasion. Shelley could feel Alex's cool palm on her forehead, feel the habitual checks of a trained doctor at work.

"I just... need to cool off! So... HOT!" Shelley moaned through clenched teeth.

***

She was on fire, yet all she could think off was that awful guy from the TV - the ridiculous crudeness of him, the supercilious... maleness of him. All the ingredients to be a man, yet in the moment, shown to lack anything like a spine, or moral courage, or even just the confidence that comes from sincerity, honesty. He had revelled in being "the guy," shoving his dick into the faces of millions of viewers.

Millions. His package bulging over the table edge. Millions had seen that. Dominating. Intimidating. Bulging.

And it had all been a fraud.

Millions had seen him flinch, like a coward, when confronted by the truth, by justified anger.

Dominant. Intimidating. Bulge. Millions.

The thoughts kept chasing themselves through her head over and over, almost oppressive. She grit her teeth and bore down on the unwelcome sensation, trying to shrug it off, push it back, exorcise it.

Nothing worked. Still getting hotter, she barely heard Alex's panicked tones.

"Aunt Shelley! Shelley! Tell me what's going on, tell me- oh, god. Oh god!"

Shelley had torn her panties clear in two as she bucked her hips upwards and suddenly there had been a release of that awful, mounting pressure.

Shelley arched her back as the sensation flared up to painful intensity. Her whole being seemed to flow down to her hips and then up and out, up and out, up and out, like she was full of burning hot lava and erupting over and over again.

When she screamed again, her voice was different, richer, deeper. It was full enough to hold all her pain and pleasure inside it.

She passed out.

***

Alex was puffing, holding Shelley up, as the younger woman helped her aunt up the stairs. Shelley could feel Alex's breast mashed into her side as the moved, but it was like a distant waft of air on her skin compared to the raging inferno between her legs. Tension, pressure, pleasure... and almost crippling lust.

Shelley looked at the stairs fixedly as they huffed and staggered up them one at a time. She ached, not the dull ache of past pain, but the lively, throbbing ache of something suppressed and visceral.

Just the next step, and the next.

Alex was breathing deeply and struggling a bit as Shelley's greater weight threatened to overpower her. Her hand brushed Shelley's hip, grazing the flare of pelvic bone where it led down to...

There was a twitch and both women groaned as Shelley's whole body seemed to throb and grow heavier. The stair creaked beneath them as they prepared to take the next step... maybe she was growing, again.

"I'm-" Shelley rasped, her breath hitching, "I'm scared, Alex..."

There, she'd admitted it. Admitted that she needed help, that her fears were growing, that she couldn't do it on her own. She was just being honest.

The warmth returned, and with it a chorus of grunts and straining as the world seemed to shrink around Shelley, her muscles inflating, her head creeping ever upwards as her whole being seemed to just grow. Her whole being... including the seat of her sudden, almost crippling arousal.

"Just a few more... steps," Alex gasped, her body trembling under the increased mass of her aunt.

Her hands were pawing at Shelley's bigger, hotter, sweatier body as the now-smaller niece struggled to hold her aunt up.

"Nnnghh," Shelley caught a toe on the next step and barely had time to correct, turning a stumble into a heavy thump of muscular leg onto creaking timber. Alex rocked sideways as her aunt's balance changed and flailed for purchase.

Fingers found flesh.

"Oh-Ooooohhhh," Shelley cooed, eyes wide with surprise as cool fingers found hot, slick meat, "oh no," she moaned as they moved, "oooohhh! We can't, we can't, hun. Oooo-OOOOHH god, we can't..."

Alex didn't say a thing as they hurried up the last few steps... but she didn't let go either.

***

Shelley was nearly on the bed properly, if it weren't for a certain diagonal quality to the way she had landed as she slumped down to the mattress. Alex was on the floor, between her legs, cool, professional fingers palpating... Shelley, mostly. Shelley could only make out the doctor's head and shoulders, the rest of her, and Shelley's, body concealed from view behind Shelley's thick, bulging pectorals due to her supine position.

Alex sat back on her haunches and murmured something to herself, too quiet for Shelley to hear above the thumping of her own heart.

"Well, Aunt Shelley," Alex started, before swallowing and wetting her lips with her tongue, "you seem to be in uh... very... good health, but-"

Shelley felt spacey, out of it, overwhelmed, but her niece was right there, looking confused and vulnerable and a little afraid... and something else too.

The older woman reached out and put a hand on Alex's forearm, stroking it gently, reassuringly, before murmuring, "We both know this is fucked up, but I need you to be straight with me right now and I need to know if there's anything wrong with me."

Alex nodded, her eyes going a little teary at the thought of what she was going to have to say and the support Shelley was showing her.

"Well, Aunt Shelley-"

"Just Shelley, Alex, we've been roomies for long enough..."

"Heh, well... Shelley... you're mostly fine as far as I can tell. Heart rate seems, if anything, to be improving and getting slower, stronger and more regular. Yesterday you were a steady 75, today a rock solid 65 beats per minute. Your skin is healthy and your reflexes, body mass, uh, index and um... muscle mass have all improved. But, that's also kind of the problem..."

Alex took a long breath and collected herself, a hand going to her brow as she manned-up and got her thoughts in order.

"... in less than 72 hours you have gained nine to ten inches in overall height - we'll measure you properly later - and over a hundred, or even a hundred and fifty pounds of lean muscle mass and what I presume must be enlarged bones and internal organs. Again, I'll need to weigh you later properly too. But the most uh, notable... development is to do with your genitalia."

Shelley concentrated on relaxing and not squeezing her niece's arm hard in worry. Shelley knew she had to be strong enough for the both of them here, needed to let Alex do her thing and do so calmly. She breathed out slowly and gave Alex a gentle pat on the arm and a small wan smile and nod, urging the young doctor to continue.

"Shelley, the bad news, if we can even call it that, is that your genitals have changed significantly in the last two hours," Alex said, her face tight, before adding, "I take it you hadn't noticed anything strange about them before?"

Shelley shook her head and frowned.

"You have developed a severe case of a condition we know as clitoromegaly, or simply put, incredibly noticeable growth of the clitoris. This has been further complicated by the repositioning of the urethra and the change in development of your labia majora. Uh, the best way to put it, is that your clitoris now functionally resembles a penis... and your labia have swelled at the front to each separately accommodate a... mass... each mass similar in size and weight to a, uh, very large... testicle. This is a little strange, as your labia minora are still healthy, though the point of attachment to the clitoral body has changed a little, and your vagina and, as far as I can tell, cervix and uterus are both in tact, along with your ovaries. In fact," Alex took a ragged breath and swallowed, "the good news is that all of this appears to be more than healthy... if I had some cell samples I would be checking your telomere length numbers right now. Whatever this change is, it seems to have... rejuvenated you..."

Alex slowly stood and offered Shelley a hand, which Shelley took. Alex's face broke into an expression between a grimace and a smile as she had to lean back further and further to help lift the newly heavier Shelley up off the bed.

Getting to her feet, Shelley began to bend and check out her new self, but Alex slipped an arm around her aunt's chest and stopped her from going much further, crisply instructing, "Ah! Not yet. Close your eyes, we'll give you the first proper look in the big bathroom mirror."

Shelley looked over at Alex, lifting a wry eyebrow at her niece, their faces close. Before she nodded and closed her eyes, leaning on Alex a little as she was guided out of the room.

***

Beautiful.

Shelley was looking at herself, at features that screamed manliness, and yet also the hundred signs and lines that shouted out her femininity. It was hard to tell if she would be pretty, or handsome... but the only word that kept on coming back to her was beautiful.

She was nearly six feet tall in bare feet, broader than any linebacker across the shoulders and had thighs that looked like they could kick through bridge supports, her incredible, powerful chest and arms connected to her mighty hips and thighs by a narrow-waisted mass of writhing, blocky abdominal muscles. Twin meaty claws of thickly developed obliques pincered in towards her sex...

... and the thick, veiny, oversized surprise there.

"Fuck..." Alex murmured, breaking the silence in the bathroom and suddenly making Shelley feel very self-conscious.

The Senior Nurse part of Shelley reasserted herself as she raised an eyebrow and offered, "I didn't think 'fuck' was appropriate medical language?"

Alex stepped up behind Shelley, looked over her shoulder and their eyes met in the reflection, "Well, don't tell OBGYN that or those guys will be out of a job..."

Shelley grinned despite herself, but decided to end the show. With a stretch, she retrieved a huge bath towel and wrapped herself up in it, making sure her new breadth wouldn't prevent the towel from falling closed.

She could feel Alex's sigh against her neck. It felt good. Too good.

Shelley took her niece's arm and led her out of the bathroom and down into the den. The TV was still on, but Shelley found the remote and turned it off. Then she pointed across to the seat opposite the sofa and gestured Alex to sit.

"Ah," Shelley began, unsure where to start, but aware it was important she did, "I think we need to talk about, uh, well... me. And you."