Chapter 3: Soft Launch

Ethan’s new body woke up hard and unimpressed with his life choices.

He stared at the ceiling of Kai’s apartment, counted to ten, and tried to negotiate with the erection like it was a difficult client.

"We are not doing this," he told it. The erection respectfully disagreed.

Meanwhile, Kai woke up in Ethan’s neat little bed, stretched like a cat that had just stolen a body, and grinned at the ceiling.

"Morning, me," he said to no one. "Let’s go ruin a finance firm."

Ethan lasted four minutes before he checked Kai’s phone.

Seventeen unread messages.

Most of them were variations of "you up?" and "still sore from last time?" and one that simply read "bring the toys." He dropped the phone like it had bitten him. It buzzed again immediately.

Unknown: don’t ignore me pretty boy. I still have your hoodie.

Ethan texted the only number that made sense.

Kai (Ethan): your phone is a crime scene

Ethan (Kai): good morning to you too. hydrated? stretched? accepted your new reality yet or are we still in the denial phase?

Kai (Ethan): I am one wrong text away from throwing this phone into traffic

Ethan (Kai): do it. I’ll just buy another one with your sad intern money. see you at the office. wear something slutty. or don’t. the body does the work either way.

Ethan looked down at himself. The body was already interested in the conversation. He hated it with the passion of a man who alphabetized his spice rack.

Kai arrived at Meridian Capital twenty minutes early, wearing Ethan’s most boring shirt and the expression of a man who had never been boring in his life.

The security guard nodded at him the way he always did. The elevator ride was quiet, the 27th floor smelled like coffee and quiet desperation.

Kai walked to Ethan’s cubicle like he owned it, well, maybe he did.

He sat, he turned on the computer, he opened the same contracts Ethan had bled over the night before, he leaned back in the chair, laced Ethan’s soft fingers behind Ethan’s soft head, and waited for the first victim.

It didn’t take long.

A junior analyst named Priya stopped at the cubicle wall, coffee in hand, and did a double take.

"Ethan? You’re, early."

Kai turned Ethan’s face toward her and smiled the way Ethan never had. Slow. Interested, a little too direct.

"Couldn’t sleep," he said. "Kept thinking about indemnity clauses. And other things."

Priya blinked. "Okay. Weird flex, but, you feeling all right? You seem different."

Kai let the smile widen just enough. "Must be the near-death experience. Scooter accident last night. Very traumatic, made me realize life is short and pants are optional."

Priya stared. "I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear the last part."

"Your loss."

She walked away faster than she came. Kai watched her go, still smiling, and opened a new blank document on the shared drive. At the top he typed:

"Unofficial Notes on Workplace Morale

Draft 1 — For Internal Review Only"

He left it there like a bomb with a long fuse.

Ethan’s morning went differently.

Kai’s body wanted three things: food, movement, and sex. Ethan gave it toast and a panic attack. He tried to take a shower and discovered that the shower head had settings he refused to acknowledge.

He got dressed in the least offensive clothes he could find (black jeans, black shirt, the leather jacket that still smelled like trouble) and stepped outside like a man entering a war zone.

Two separate people on the sidewalk said "Kai!" and looked disappointed when he only nodded and kept walking.

His phone buzzed.

Ethan (Kai):update from the front lines. your coworkers are deliciously repressed. one of them already looked at me like I offered her a raise and a crisis. progress.

Kai (Ethan): stop talking to people

Ethan (Kai):.can’t. your face is surprisingly approachable when it’s not making the "I might cry" expression. also I fixed three of your contracts already, you’re welcome. I made the language dirtier, just a little.

Ethan stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

Kai (Ethan):define dirtier, NOW.

Ethan (Kai): you’ll see. or your supervisor will, either way I’m having fun.

Ethan closed his eyes, breathed through the new nose, and tried not to think about the fact that somewhere on the 27th floor a sex freak was wearing his face and rewriting his life one clause at a time.

His phone buzzed one more time.

Ethan (Kai): lunch at 1. don’t be late. I want to watch you try to eat with my mouth while you panic, it’s going to be adorable.