"So what's the catch?" Tom asked.



Vi tilted her head, orange eyes glaring at him. "What do you mean by that?"



He raised his hand to indicate their surroundings. The kitchen of the apartment was less than ten years old and had appliances that looked like they just walked out of a catalogue. It was clean, there was no deathly racket from a heavily trafficked road or railway, and there were no bullet holes in any of the windows. "This is way too good for the rent you're charging. Something's gotta be wrong."



She laughed. It was a pleasant sound, despite her menacing appearance. Her skin was dark red, with glowing orange tattooed chains going up her body, ending at a pair that wrapped around her wrists. Her horns added half a foot to her 5'8 height, making her technically taller than Tom. She looked every bit the scandalous seductress of many a cautionary tale, though this effect was blunted by the fluffy pyjamas with little pictures of white whales and a metal band T-shirt. "Oh, I see. Just because I'm a demon means I'm trying to snare you into some kind of Faustian pact?"



"No, no, that's not what I meant! I have plenty of Infernal friends." At the eyebrow she raised, he clarified, "Sorry, that slipped out. I'm not anti-demon or anything. I'm just naturally suspicious. It's impossible to get affordable housing in this city."



"That's fair. I was just teasing you. Yeah, this place isn't bad. Previous owners gave it to me for a song after I dropped some gold medallions I've been saving since the 1500s. But...there is a slight...complication that makes my asking rent so low."



Tom visibly choked down a 'I knew it' before nodding for Vi to continue. The kettle whistled before she could explain. Vi took her hand off the heating element, shaking off the last few embers of pyromancy, and poured two cups. She took them both, teabags added, to the kitchen table. A warning gesture let Tom know both were too hot to touch yet for human hands. Vi steeped the bags of shimmerroot before continuing.



"You may have heard that there are many varieties of demon. Some have special gifts that allowed us to perform our work, before our Chains were broken. Mine is a transformative aura that permeates the area around me."



Tom blew on the cup in front of him. "This isn't one of those things where I'm driven mad, is it?"



"Not anymore, no," Vi said with a straight face. After taking a sip of tea, she laughed at his horrified expression. "Sorry, I just really enjoy winding humans up. The aura is malleable. It's transformative in nature, but what you turn into is up to me. Brief encounters are fine, I can hold myself back. But if you chose to live here, your physical body would slowly alter. The longer you're exposed, the more alteration occurs."



He looked down into the cup. The reflective surface offered a glimpse at his appearance. Curly hair slid halfway down his forehead. He'd have a decent jawline, though he was getting on the pudgy side due to his unhealthy eating habits lately. Working overtime to get the money for a new apartment had eaten into his ability to cook for himself, leading to a lot of late night pizza runs and burger lunches. Not a hunk by any means, but he didn't look terrible. Well, objectively he didn't look terrible. He wasn't a fan of himself. But everyone hated their own reflection, right?



"Turn me into what?"



"Your ideal self, of course," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I can't set it to Not affect you, not until you've built up a natural immunity to my magic at least. That ought to take a few months. But if you have to change, why not change into something pleasant?"



Tom tried to picture what his ideal self would look like. He pictured actors, bodybuilders, the kinds of guys that guys are supposed to look like. None of it quite fit. The idea that he might get fit without having to work out or eat healthily sounded awesome though. It couldn't hurt to try.



"And after that time is up, I can go back to what I look like before?"



She sipped, steam sliding up her cheeks. "You bet. The only way to make it permanent is with a Seal. So long as you don't get scalded with any Enochian binding spells in the near future, consider this a fun little adventure. I promise to help, if you need it."



Tom chewed over the idea. In the end, he picked up the cup of tea and clinked it against Vi's own.



"You got yourself a roomie."



***



The move-in hadn't taken long. Aside from his clothes and his computer, he didn't have much to bring. The breakup had been...difficult.



Unbelievably, Vi said that she had enough furniture to cover him. He got a bed, an end table, and a chest of drawers for his clothes. They were all made of this strange, black wood that reminded him a little of those petrified forests he'd seen while on road trips with his family back when he was younger. The mattress, however, was nothing so unique. It was sturdy enough to support his back while balancing out the softness so that he didn't feel like he was sleeping on a wooden board when he turned in for the night.



He looked one final time in the mirror, making a mental check of everything he had. He took a picture with his phone as well, to remember if he needed to tell Vi to adjust his appearance. Sleep came easily after an arduous moving day. His last thoughts before drifting off were speculating on just what his ideal self would look like.



The first day waking up in his new place felt...good! He half expected to have exploded out of his covers with muscles, but he could take a good night's rest as a start. He sprung out of bed and got to work on his morning routine. In the middle of his toothbrushing, he caught sight of his reflection.



"Wha da fwu?!" he screamed, launching toothpaste everywhere. A knock at the door jolted him out of his stunned stupor.



"You alright?" Vi asked from the other side.



"My eyes! They're...red!"



"Not enough sleep?"



Tom opened the door. He was still wearing his boxers but he'd taken off his shirt. His wide-eyed expression held a pair of bright crimson irises. The kind you'd find in a demon.



She leaned up to examine them, tilting his head down with her hands to get a good view. "Looks like you're changing alright. Though it's not usually the eyes that change first."



"Why are they red? I thought you were turning me into my ideal self?"



She shrugged. "I don't choose what your ideal self looks like. Maybe you want to look more...demonic?"



Tom searched his feelings on that. He definitely appreciated Vi's looks. But the idea that his subconscious self wanted to look like her confused him deeply. He wasn't some kind of demon fetishist!



"How do you feel otherwise?" she asked.



He took a moment to calm himself, realizing he was shirtless in front of someone he'd only met a few days ago. "Aside from the shock...I feel pretty good," he turned around to the bathroom mirror, looking at the rest of his body. He could see that he'd lost some weight while he was sleeping. The body hair on his chest had faded to wisps around his sternum, also not a big deal. He never enjoyed shaving that much anyway. The only real outlandish change was his eyes.



"Alright. Keep me up to date if there's anything else you're concerned about. I'm sorry you have to go through this, but...yeah. Can't really help who I am."



The moment she'd said that, he felt this burst of empathy in his chest. Like he could feel the ages of lament that those words concealed. Tom turned around and hugged Vi. He squeezed her gently, feeling the press of her breasts into his chest. But it wasn't anything sexual. He just felt the impulse to reassure her. To let her know that what she was was alright. He broke the embrace, almost as surprised as she was that it had happened.



"Sorry," he said. "I don't know what came over me. You just...sounded like you needed a hug."



Vi rubbed her shoulders, as if feeling the imprint that the hug had left. "I didn't mind it. Heaven, I kinda liked it. Not too much casual affection in my life now that I'm on Earth. Appreciate it."



They shared a smile, then went back to their morning routines. He finished brushing his teeth, though Tom couldn't drag his eyes away from the ones reflected back to him in the mirror.



***



Days dragged by. He tried to stay out of the house while he job hunted, but Vi told him that would only make the process take longer. He'd always have to come back to sleep, after all. He was stuck watching the transformations happen, and being helpless against them.



Some of them were great! His appendectomy scar was gone, as were any miscellaneous nicks he'd received over the years. Not only did he have more energy, but he was stronger. Even though it looked like his muscle mass was shrinking, his ability to lift objects or do pushups only increased. He exercised just to marvel at the feat of not getting tired after ten crunches.



Other changes were less welcomed. His hair had increased in length, darkening to a brown colour. He'd quite liked his blond colour and sad to see it go. As the hair on his head grew, all his body hair below his neck had vanished. He was completely smooth. An interesting experience, and it made cleaning himself easier. His newly freed skin was a lot more sensitive to the touch as well. Washing himself in the shower had almost become an erotic activity, something that made him blush.



And there were changes that he wasn't sure about. His libido had shot through the roof, which was not something he wanted to let Vi know. She was already a woman sharing an apartment with a guy. Telling her that he had to masturbate three times to get his dick soft enough to not look like a pervert walking out of his room to make breakfast.



He was cooking dinner when Vi arrived home. She set her purse down on the cute little breakfast nook table and her keys in the shattered remains of a scalded horn that was mounted on the wall.



"What a day!" she said. "What're you making? It smells great!"



"Pasta Al Fresco with a little bit of that habanero chicken you like," he replied. Removing his apron, he scooped out portions for the both of them and placing them on the table. The last few weeks had been...interesting, but he was beginning to come to terms with the changes. The purple skin had been his next surprise, but the only person who saw him was Vi. She coached him through it, watching the amethyst spread until it had taken over his entire body.



Vi slumped into one of the chairs with chicken in front. "Tom, dear, thank you. You're a lifesaver."



"Anytime, anytime." He sat down with his own and they dug in. Some masticating later, he sensed an opening for some table talk. "So...I was wondering what you did before. In Hell, the whole aura thing. If that's okay?"



She swallowed a long noodle before responding. "Oh, right. Umm...it's not really good conversation for the dinner table. I was Chained, I did what I had to do."



"Right, right. That's okay."



Silence held sway for the rest of dinner. Tom hoped he hadn't put his foot in something by asking about her past.



"Any changes lately?" she asked as they cleared plates.



He poked a pair of bumps on his head. "I got these this morning. I think they might be horns."



Vi brushed his dark hair back. Sure enough, two nubs on his forehead had broken through the skin. "Does it hurt? I was born with mine so I don't really know."



"A little? It's more itchy than anything. I still don't get why my ideal self is a demon. That's...that's why I was asking before. You sure it's that? You sure my inner self is some kind of twinky demon?"



She grinned. "You have slimmed out a lot. Well, in most places. Your butt's still decent."



Tom blushed. "Thanks? I guess? But how does it work? How does it know my ideal self from, say, a passing fantasy?"



She ignored the obvious question of 'you have fantasies of being a demon?' to her credit and tackled his quiery head on. "The mental avatar is not something that can be denied. It's difficult to explain for someone without The Sight to understand, but we all have selves that we can't hide that are far removed from our physical bodies. You look...different."



"Wait...you can see what I'm turning into?" he asked.



She gave him a sly grin. "I could tell you...but that would ruin the fun, wouldn't it?"



***



"Okay Vi, something is definitely wrong."



The demon looked up from her laptop. One month in and Tom's old clothes hung limply off of him, like they were handmedowns from an older brother. His horns now curved over his hair, sweeping back like two adorable sickles. He'd lost a lot of the belly that'd he'd had when they first met. Some of that had redistributed itself, however, moving to his thighs and hips instead. He was shirtless, so she could see the hairless chest that he was pointing to.



"What's the matter? I think you're looking swell."



"I'm growing TITS, Vi!" He pointes at his nipples. She squinted. Sure enough, there was an itty bit of mounding there.



"You sure those aren't just tiny pecs?"



Tom laughed bitterly. "Yeah, pretty sure. Cause as those get bigger, my-" He cut himself off mid-sentence, blush arising on his purple cheeks.



That made her close up the computer. "Oh dear. Is something else getting smaller? Something rather important?"



His blush deepened. He nodded, but he didn't look her in the eye.



"I see. I knew there were some humans like this, but I've never met one in denial before." She stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay sweetie."



"Denial of what?"



"Any idea why your ideal self would have feminine characteristics?"



Tom clenched his fists. Decades of a shell meant for self-defence snapped into place. "That's bullshit. I'm not...no. no, this is some kind of trick. You're a forced feminization demon and you're tricking me into THINKING that I want to be a girl."



She grimaced. "That's...not a thing. Why would we punish someone for wanting to change their form. It's the Other Side that wants bodies to be immutable." The minor bout of outrage she had experienced at being accused gave way to genuine sympathy. "Oh, Tom dear, did you really not know?"



He sputtered, trying to come up with a logical reason behind this. He had to be dreaming this all, or there was a mistake! How could his ideal self be a girl? How was that even possible?!



He'd asked himself whether he was trans lots of times and always the answer was no. There were many reasons, and he'd gone over them so many times that he could recite them from memory. No, obviously, because he liked certain male-coded things that women couldn't possibly be into. No, obviously, because he didn't know from an early age or crossdress (more than a couple times that didn't count). No, obviously, because that would mean he'd been lying to himself and that strange twinge in his chest when he saw a cute outfit or heard someone else get called a pet name wasn't some aberration.



He must have looked like a short-circuiting automaton, because the moment he snapped out of his digressive thought Vi had him wrapped in a hug.



"It's okay. You're okay."



"No." The iron door in his mind slammed shut. He pulled out from the hug, looking terribly sad. "There's something wrong. There's...I don't...there's something wrong. I can't do this."



He walked back into his room and locked the door. He cried. A lot.



***



The changes didn't slow down after his conversation with Vi. If anything, they increased. His hair turned an ebony black, the kind that pulled light from the air around it. His miniature breasts grew in size until they reached a tiny handful, then stopped. They were incredibly sensitive to the touch, though Tom tried to brush against them as little as possible. He gave up wearing shirts, as the last time he put one on left his knees buckling and his hand clamped over his own mouth to keep from crying out from the mix of pleasure tinged with pain.



It wasn't just his growing tits that were sensitive. It was like his whole body had became a live wire. Even feeling a breeze from a fan on his skin was getting to him. He sat on his bed, scrolling through information about Demons on his phone. He'd covered his body in his thickest blanket, careful not to let it drape over his nipples. There had to be some way of figuring out why he was turning into a girl when he was totally not one!



Tom had talked with Vi a few times after his blowup. He'd calmed down, but he refused to acknowledge that his ideal form might be female. Tom was sure that this would all go away eventually. He just had to wait it out, like a fever. Then he'd have a super-cheap place to live, and a hot roommate.



Vi was hot. So hot. Tom closed his eyes and imagined her in front of him, naked and horny. Her blazing orange eyes. Her confident smile. Those tits...His diminutive member rose to life, poking at the fabric of his underwear and reminding him of how much size he'd lost. Barely three inches there now, down almost half from his original length. It felt like he'd retained the same amount of nerves, however, and it was difficult not to give into his urges and start stroking off right there. He gave his stiff member a few cursory squeezes through his boxers.



"Oooh~" he moaned. Moaned. It sounded like the kind of exaggerated noise you'd expect in a cheap porno, and it had come unbidden from his mouth. What was happening to him? What was he becoming?!



The door opened a crack, and Tom realized his hand had made its way around his small cock. He moved it so that it rested on his thigh. He was still stiff as a board, but he hoped she wouldn't notice.



"Hope you don't mind me checking in on you," Vi said. There was genuine concern in her voice. He gave a shaky nod.



"I...I think so. The changes have slowed down, as far as I can see. Though I still don't understand...I look like..." He couldn't say it. The words lodged in his throat coming out. He looked like a girl. A cute demon girl, to be precise.



She slid down on the bed beside him, giving him space. "I'm sorry I put you through this. A lot of people just enjoy the changes, I've noticed. But when you have feelings...under the surface."



"I don't...How can I be...not a guy?"



"Do you like being a guy?"



"Yeah! Well, sorta. It's not really something I put a lot of thought into. I just am a guy." He indicated himself with a sweep of his hand, but his body didn't look particularly masculine at the moment, so his point that he was obviously male was somewhat lost.



"You ever have dreams about becoming a woman, or fantasize about it?"



A long, long list of questionable pornography choices rolled through his head like a montage of evidence. "I...that's...that's different."



"It's not. Men don't pretend or wish they weren't men."



"That's...that's..." The sea of emotions roiled in his mind. He felt like he was about to burst. He stood up, letting the blanket fall as he inhaled for a rejoinder. A statement of outrage. Anything! But it never came. Tom settled back into the mattress. "Oh God. What the fuck do I do now?"



The first thing she did was hug him close. Tom didn't break free from this, instead leaning into the embrace. She needed this. She needed this bad.



"Well, a good start is a name. Do you have one picked out?"



Tom shook her head. "If I'm a demon then...what's your name? Your full name?"



"Leviathan," she said, then shrugged. "It's a bit of a mouthful. Vi is a little more succinct."



"It's pretty menacing. Hang on..." He picked up his phone from his night table and scrolled through the entries on Vi's real name. "Oh...what if my name was Tia? Like Tiamat?"



"I love it!" she said. Her eyes caught side of a peculiarity, however. There was an obvious bulge poking out of Tia's underwear. "Umm...looks like one place stopped transforming."

