My alarm woke me as usual on Monday morning.  I sat up, yawned and stretched... then giggled as I noticed how the stretch made my breasts bob.  “Oops.  I guess it’s time to get back to normal and go to work.  Bleah.”

Still, I had obligations to meet, and so I retrieved the box.  It was still targeting Katya, so I turned her into a woman once more.  “Hey there.  How are you doing?”

Katya sighed happily.  “Did you really hand wash me?”

I ducked my head.  “Yeah.  You got a bit of... stuff on you.”

“From when you banged a stranger while wearing me, you mean.”  Katya’s grin unbound something in my heart.  She wasn’t mad about that.

“Yeah.  Friday night was so weird, I didn’t know there was a shapeshifty dance club in town, or I’d have been going there regularly.  Did... did you really enjoy that?”

Katya kissed me fiercely and nearly broke my resolve about staying out of bed.  “So, so much.  Stop worrying already!  I loved it.  Being used for sex while I’m a dress is the best thing ever.  Though the hand washing was pretty close.”

“That good?”

Katya blushed and nodded.  “I’d happily fall back in and stay forever... but I know you want more than a dress.”

“I don’t know what I want any more.  If I was braver, I’d go to work like this and bull my way through the paperwork and questions.  But I’m not...”

Katya put a finger to my lips to stop my self-deprecation.  “Oh, honey.  You don’t need to rush into this.  I like being your shirt, there’s something about being crisply ironed linen that appeals nearly as much as being your dress.”

“Perhaps I should try ironing you one night...” I teased.

“Oooh!  Shirt me now and keep me that way until you turn Janis back.”

“You might have to spend Tuesday drying...”

“Deal.”

I shrugged and pressed the button, watching avidly as Katya dwindled happily from curvaceous woman to a sharp-creased shirt.  I scooped her up, set her on the ironing board, and set the iron out to warm. I was sure she’d appreciate a little touch-up before I braved the day.

*** *** ***

By Wednesday night I was feeling a little nervous.  It was time to restore Katya and Janis, and have a serious talk about what exactly we were going to do about... everything.  I had loved my time at Apparitions, and what had happened after with the mystery woman.  How did I square that with my affection for Katya and Janis?  How could any of this work?

It took me three tries to get the combination for the safe right, as if even my subconscious was betraying me.  I fetched out the box and turned to my favourite bra.  I locked on to it and pressed the button... and nothing happened.  I tried again, still no.  I turned it into a shirt then back into a bra, proving the box was still working.  Worriedly, I pulled off my shirt and tried to turn it into a woman.

Katya shimmied her way into existence and I breathed a sigh of relief.  “Oh good, it still works.”

“What’s wrong?” Katya asked.

“I can’t change Janis back.”

“Are you sure you got the right bra?”

I smacked my forehead and dug the other red bra out of the drawer that had been repurposed for my feminine underthings.  That bra didn’t want to turn into a woman either.  “Well crap.  Did we...  Did I lose her?  Where else could she be?”

Katya shrugged.  “Use the retrieval box.”

“She made me promise not to use it unless it was really important.  I guess this qualifies.”

I pulled the smaller box out of the still-open safe, then looked to Katya for confirmation.  She nodded, and I flipped up the lid and pressed the button.  For a heartstopping moment, nothing happened.  Then we heard a thud from the living room.

I rushed out to find Janis sprawled half off the couch, with her leg trapped in the cushions.  I rushed to her side, helped her free, then wrapped her up in the biggest hug I’d ever given.  “I was so worried we’d lost... you?”

Janis was squirming in the hug, and felt... wrong.  I let go and took a step back.  The person I’d been hugging had Janis’ face, but a slim, masculine body underneath it.  Her eyes were brimming with tears.  “I’m so sorry, I should go...”

Katya put the box in my hands, already locked on to Janis and set for “woman”.  I pressed the button and watched Janis’ body shimmy from male to female.  “Better?”

Janis nodded, but her cringing posture hadn’t changed and if anything the tears got worse.  I looked at Katya, then gestured her forward.  She pulled Janis into a gentle hug and led her back to the couch.  I sat across from them.  “Why did you say you had to go?”

Janis sniffed.  “Because I’m a guy and I was lying about it?”

“You look like a girl to me.  Would something to wear help?”

Janis nodded, so I went to the bedroom, put both boxes in the safe, and returned with one of the dresses from her suitcase.  I brought it out to them, then retreated while Janis put it on.  I put on one of my comfy T-shirts while I waited.  When they called me back in, Janis looked less teary but she was still cringing away from me.

“Obviously I’ve missed some key information here.  Born male?  Hated it, your Uncle took pity on you... but someone else made your life hell.”

“Basically, yeah,” agreed Katya.  “We ran away from home together, and we’ve been struggling ever since.”

“Katya...” Janis protested.  “Don’t just tell...”

I held up a hand placatingly.  “I’m not going to do... whatever it is you're thinking.”

“Aww, you’re not going to turn us into clothes and wear us out dancing?” Katya asked with a grin.

“No.  No more changes tonight.  We need to talk.”

Janis nodded.  “I hated being Jan.  So, so much, you have no idea.”

“I got a sense of it from your reaction.  But no, I like being male and being female.  Very one-sided for you?”

Janis nodded emphatically.  “It’s awful.  Even worse, now that I’ve spent so much time away from it.”

“I am truly sorry it became necessary.  How did you end up in the couch?”

Janis shrugged.  “After the third change things got fuzzy.  I don’t remember much after that.”

I shot Katya a worried look.  “I thought you said bra to bra changes were safe!”

“They are.  But after a few your mind fades away.”

“How is that safe?  You could be stuck as an unthinking object indefinitely!”

“Every time I change I hope I won’t change back,” replied Katya wistfully.

I stared at her incredulously.  “You wouldn’t miss being human at all?”

“Work and bills and always worrying if we’ll have enough to eat?  As a dress I don’t need food, so our money went further.  Janis and I traded off who ate and who got worn for months.  Then my hours kept getting cut and... being a dress was so much easier.  So much nicer.”

I bowed my head.  “Sounds like you've seen the worst of the human experience.  There are upsides.  Music, good food, rewarding work, hugs...”

“I get music when you wear me out dancing.  Being worn is better than any hug.”  Katya’s stomach growled loudly.  “Food...  Is there any food?”

I headed to the kitchen and pulled open the refrigerator.  “I usually make enough dinner for a few days, so I’ve got lots of leftover pasta sauce.  What’s wrong?”

Janis was staring into my fridge open-mouthed.  “It’s so...”

“I admit it’s a bit of a mess, and barely half-full.  I’ve been a little distract... what?”

“When I cleaned out our apartment, the inventory of the fridge was two wilted leaves of lettuce, and a mostly empty mustard jar.  We’ve gone hungry so many times, it...  This is normal for you?”

“You should see my mother’s fridge.  I aspire to that, I guess?  Wait, why did you go hungry, don’t they have food banks here?”  I grabbed a bottle of sauce from the fridge, then opened the pasta cabinet to grab a box.  That got even more stares.

Janis took a moment to remember the question.  “I can’t...  You have to show financial hardship.  Neither of us had been actually disowned by our parents, so since they were well off...”

I started filling a pot with water.  “That’s insane.  So is that why you started going inanimate regularly?  To save on food?”

“At first,” admitted Katya.  “Then I started to like not being hungry, ever.  Then... well, it just got harder and harder to go back to being human.  To work at a job I hated just to have a roof over our heads, and never enough food to eat.  Then my hours started getting cut and...”  Katya shrugged.  “Becoming a dress forever started looking good.  You understand, right?”

I set the pot on the stove to boil the water.  “Having spent some time as a dress, yeah.  Other than one day back in university where I fasted for a day to know what it felt like... not so much on the crippling hunger, though.  I’ll have dinner ready in about ten minutes.  There’s all kinds of snacks if you need something before that.  I could get you some crackers and cheese, if you’d like.”

“Please?”

I set out a box of crackers, a block of cheese, and a knife.  They ate slowly, more so than I would have expected.  When I asked about it, they said it made the food last longer.

“Fair.  How long have you been living like that?”

“Too long,” answered Janis in a tone that made it clear she didn’t want to talk about it.

“So.  I can afford to feed all of us easily.  More easily if you’re going to spend most of your time as clothing, but I don’t want to make that part of the deal.”

“I do!” cheered Katya.  “Even if the alternative isn’t gnawing hunger.  I really like being clothes.  You should try being ironed, Janis.  Soooo nice.”

I chuckled.  “Glad that worked out.  It wasn’t too hot?”

Katya made a weird little moaning sound.  “It can go hotter?”

“For linen?  Yeah, much hotter.  Especially if you want really sharp creases.”

“Please?”  Katya’s request had an echo of that moan again.

“Anything that will make you two happy.  Is that being clothing, or having food, or... what else?  What do you want from life?”

Katya shrugged.  “Ask me after a month of never being hungry or scared.”

“Scared?” asked Janis.

“We barely made rent most months.  I didn’t want to end up on the street.”

“I know, I had to pull extra shifts to make ends meet.  So stressful.  I just want to relax for a bit.  Are you sure we can stay?”

I nodded.  “The couch folds out into a bed, if you want to sleep while human.”

“You have a big enough bed for two,” Katya pointed out.  “Three if one of us is a nightie.”

The water started to boil, so I used that as an excuse to turn away from the discussion to hide my blush.  “I... didn’t want to assume.  And very much didn’t want to make sex or sleeping with me a condition on any of this.”

“What about sleeping with other women while wearing us?” asked Katya.  “Because that was awesome and you should do it more.”

That did my blush no good at all so I gave the pasta an extra stir and sighed.  I turned back to face them.  “I don’t normally do the random anonymous sex thing.  I’m usually too shy to...”

They prowled toward me as one, and hugged me from both sides.  “No more of that,” said Janis.  “You’re allowed to unbend and have fun.”

“Even if it takes turning into a girl?” I asked.

Janis giggled.  “Turning into a girl was one of the best things to happen to me.  Getting worn with my sweetie while you go dancing is up there, too.  If that’s your kind of party, count me in.”

“And if I’d rather go dance and flirt, then come home and change you back to make love to you two?”

Janis purred, “Sounds good to me.”

“Point of order,” said Katya, holding up a hand.

“Yes?”

“Turn her back.  Leave me as the dress.”

“Some of the time I’d like to be the one being worn, even then,” said Janis.

Katya shot her an apologetic look.  “I could be the one turned back... once in a while?”

“Or David here could bring back the woman that bewitched him, and make love wearing both of us.”

I raised my hand.  “And if I don’t want to bang random anonymous women?”

“Evidence suggests you do.  At least for now.”

I gnawed on my lip as I digested that.  “I... that’s not who I used to be.  Not who I aspire to be, either.  Becoming a woman broke all the old rules and I’m trying to sort out the new ones.  First and foremost, I want you two to be happy.”

That led into several tangential discussions about what it means to be happy, how happiness as a dress compares to happiness as a human, and many glowing descriptions of how much they both enjoyed being worn.  Before the discussion was half over, dinner was ready and interrupted the lot.

While they’d grazed daintily on the crackers and cheese, both Katya and Janis tucked in to the meal I set before them with a gratifying display of appetite.  They still ate tidily, but the appreciation in their silence said volumes.

I had always been a quick eater, and this time was no exception.  I watched them as their plates emptied.  “Did you get enough?  I’ve got some microwave dinners in the freezer, they’re not as good as home-made, but...”

Katya patted her belly and shook her head.  “I couldn’t eat another bite.  So full.  I want to curl up and nap somewhere...”

“You’re welcome to use the couch or the bed.  Or grab some blankets and build a nest if you like.”

Katya waddled off to the couch, acting as if she was round instead of svelte.  “This’ll do.”  She curled up on it like a cat, and closed her eyes.

I watched for a time, and wasn’t sure if she was asleep or not.  “Is she always like this?” I murmured to Janis.

Janis shrugged.  “I don’t remember the last time we weren’t at least a little hungry.  It’s wearying.  A good night’s sleep with nothing to worry about would do us both a world of good.”

“It’s a bit early for me.  I usually read for a while, can’t really follow most of what's on TV.  You’re welcome to it if you’d like.”

Janis glanced at the television and then back to me.  “Room for two in the bed, was it?”

“Three if I’m the duvet,” called Katya.

“I thought I said no transformations tonight.”

“So we could talk.  I’m talked out.  Object number two is a cozy duvet.”

“That one was really nice on cold winter nights,” reminisced Janis with a heart melting smile.

“I see I’m outvoted.  Duvet time it is.  While I’m messing with reality, would you be more comfortable if I spent the night as a girl?”

Janis nodded.  “I do want to sleep with you as a guy, just... not quite yet.”

“Fair enough.”

“You don’t mind?”

I favoured Janis with a big grin.  “I was kind of hoping you’d ask.  I’ve slept as a girl every night since I met you.  I think I miiight be a little addicted to it.”

Janis grinned back at me.  “Neither of us will fault you for wanting to be the better sex.”

“Isn’t that the fairer sex?”

“I meant what I said.”

I chuckled and shook my head as I headed for the bedroom.  I returned as a woman, wearing a deliciously slippery satin robe I’d recently acquired.

Both of them made appreciative noises, followed by Katya declaring that she wanted to be the robe.  So we scanned it and then it was just Janis and me, wearing shimmering green robes.  Janis had stripped out of her dress without any trace of her earlier skittishness, and I asked about it.

She conceded that she was more comfortable around women, but figured as she got used to me it’d become less of an issue.  “I fully intend to make love to you when you’re male.  I just... bad experiences.”

“Did you ever turn Katya male?”

Janis nodded, but her pained expression spoke volumes.  “She tried her best but... no.  I wonder if she was looking for someone to close the circle.”

“How do you mean?”

“Both of us like sex with guys.  Me more so than her, by a bit.  You balance us... well, assuming you don’t decide to stay female.”

“I like both.  Just... overcompensating because it’s so new.  Give me a month to get used to having the option, and I’ll spend more time male.  I think.”

“Good enough for now.  The box isn’t going anywhere.  But we are.”

“We are?”

Janis sashayed toward the bedroom making the robe swish delightfully.

 “Oh!”  I scrambled after her rather less decorously.

*** *** ***

The next morning, I turned Katya into a shirt directly from the robe.  As I was ironing her I offered Janis the day as my tie or my underwear, the latter as a joke.  She accepted the latter with a grin.

“Not as afraid of me any more?”

“Partly that.  Partly an urge to be close to your cock.”

I sputtered.  “Really?”

“Careful with the iron!”

I pulled it away from my shirt and checked it for damage.  It looked fine.  I set the iron aside and returned my gaze to Janis.  “Are you serious?  You’d be stuck up against my bits all day.”

She nodded.  “I’d get acclimated to your masculine side way faster than hanging around your apartment while you work.”

“And if you hate it?  You’ll be stuck there for hours with no way to communicate.”

Janis considered that.  “Oh, I know.  Turn me into a tie.”

“Okay.”

“Then turn me into your boxers.”

“What?”

Janis grinned at my stunned reaction.  “I’ll forget I was ever human.  I’ll think I belong there.  It’ll be great!”

“I guess... except I don’t actually have a tie saved.  But shirt to shorts works just as well, yes?”

“Ooh yeah.  Get me some of that sweet ironing action.”

I laughed and changed her as she’d asked.  Ironing two shirts left me running a bit late, so I had to jog to work.  I hoped my underwear didn't mind the sweat.

Wearing two people to work should have been distracting, and my thoughts did occasionally drift to them.  By wearing Katya every day for the past week I’d gotten over the transgressiveness, so I settled in to my work.  Once I was in the groove the day flashed by, and I forgot about them until I was opening my apartment door.

As soon as the door was closed behind me I darted to the bedroom and stripped off my pants and underwear.  I triggered Janis’ return to humanity and got pounced into the bed before I could get my shirt off.  I did however get Janis off, multiple times...

Half an hour later as we were lying exhausted, sweaty and entangled in the bed, I finally remembered my shirt and started to struggle out of it.  Janis hugged me tighter, so I gave up the effort.

“Not that I’m complaining, but where did that come from?”

Janis grinned at me ferally.  “Getting a day-long dose of your smell.  Left me so fucking horny.  Still am, I want to turn you into the toy again and keep at it for another hour.”  She wriggled free to go find the black box.

“No objections here.  Um, but what will that do to Katya if I’m still wearing her?”

Janis put the box back down.  “Bother.  She’d be caught up in it.”

I pulled Janis back into the tangle.  “I’ve got enough energy and wits about me to cuddle.”

Janis sighed softly and accepted.  As her breathing finally slowed, she sighed again, more happily.  “This is nice too.  Think you’ll be ready for another go soon?”  One hand found its way to my cock, and caressed it gently, causing a stirring that was half my answer to her question.

“Keep doing that, and... yeah, soon enough.  Though at this rate, I’ll want to keep you both as clothing for a few days just to recover.”

Janis chuckled warmly.  “Sounds nice to me.  Lots of sex while human, and being worn the rest of the time...”

“And here I thought you were the responsible one.”

“I am being responsible!” protested Janis.  “I’m making sure you treat Katya right, and none of us are at risk of starvation or getting kicked out.”

I pulled her in for a hug.  “Safe and secure is good.  Was it really that bad?”

Janis heaved another sigh.  “Bad enough I’d really rather not talk about it.”

I kissed her cheek softly.  “Okay.  You are safe here.”

Janis whimpered softly and burrowed against my side.  “Really?”

I sighed and hugged her tighter.  “As safe as I can make us.”  I hesitated, thinking of a dozen ways things could go horribly wrong, then shook my head.  “I’ve got a pretty good track record of figuring things out when things do go wrong.  Whatever happens, I’m sure we’ll get through it.”

Janis sighed softly and seemed to deflate against my side.  “Good.  Nightie time, please.”

“Hmm?”

“Katya can be the duvet.”

“As you wish.”

*** *** ***

Over the course of the next few weeks, I saw very little of Janis and Katya as humans, except at dinner time.  I insisted that they eat at least once a day.  They spent little enough time human that they only ate small portions.  I started varying my cooking and trying new ideas instead of just my usual routine pasta or rice with sauce dinners.  They seemed to appreciate the variations, and the one time I burned dinner terribly they just found it funny, and said I should turn them back into clothes so they didn’t have to smell it.  So I did, and ate leftovers that night.

Every few days Janis would insist on being my underwear for the day, and she’d pounce voraciously when I changed her back.  She even persuaded Katya to give it a try.  Katya had emerged from the experience looking dazed, but once that passed she made love to my male self for the first time.  While she seemed to enjoy herself, I could tell she was looking for something else.  I offered to become the toy for her, but she shook her head.  “Girl or bra, your choice.”

So I spent the night as her bra, and Janis was her nightie.  Katya thanked us both in the morning.

“So you like sleeping as a human?  We could do more of that.”

Janis shot me a wicked look.  “You just want more bra time.”

I giggled.  “Guilty as charged.”

“It’s Saturday, right?”

I nodded.

“Then you’re going to spend today as Katya’s bra.  Then we’ll change you straight into her nightie, and on Sunday you’ll be my bra.  You’ll get the full experience, after that many changes you won’t even be able to think... but you will remember.”

“And a change after that?”  I asked, curiously.

“No memories, nothing.  Completely gone until you’re restored.  Game to try it?”

I shuddered.  “What’s the point if you can’t experience it?”

“It’s the full object experience,” gushed Katya.  “You’re really just a thing.  Not a person pretending to be a thing, or a thing with vague memories of being a person.  You have to try it once.”

I rolled my eyes.  “If the lovely Katya insists, then I suppose I must.  As long as I’m back in my right mind and body in time to go to work.”

Katya glanced over to Janis, who nodded.  “Definitely.  We’ll give you the best weekend ever.  You’ll be a new man afterward.”

I laughed.  “I can...”  Then the world stopped making sense for a bit, and I felt myself flop down as a little bit of fabric.  A moment later, I heard Katya squeal, and hands picking me up.  Snuggling around her breasts was a lovely feeling, one I hadn’t experienced in far too long.  Sure, it had only been a few weeks, but falling into this shape and the comfort of her bosom was like coming home.

I listened to their excited chatter as they planned their day, but had a harder time focusing on it once Katya put on a dress.  The fabric rubbing against me provided a whole new level of distractions...  I concentrated instead on enjoying the sensations, and Katya’s laughter was especially lovely both in how it sounded, and the way her breasts would shake as she did so...

The whole day was delightful.  There were some quiet times while they were riding the bus back home where I pondered my existence as a bra and compared it to how I felt as a human.  As I’d noticed before, my connection with my sense of self as a human and the baggage that went with it was weakened... with one key exception.  I still wanted to do the best I could for Katya and Janis.  Right now, that best was to be supportive of Katya’s chest, a job I excelled at effortlessly.  I could feel the tug of the future where I’d need to work to keep her safe, however, and I was never able to fall away into the form as I had as Janis’ toy.

Later that evening, they made good on their promise, and my form and mind slithered away from me as I changed from bra into something soft and fuzzy.  My memories from then are a little hazier.  I was able to think, after a fashion, but it’s not like a nightie thinks about much other than warmth and fuzziness.  The change after that is even vaguer in my memory, just warmth and pressure.

Becoming human again was a challenge.  It took both of them to get me up and moving, and aimed at the door.  I was halfway into the hallway before I realized I was wearing a skirt, and I was female.  I stopped just inside the door, turned around, and sighed.  “This isn’t going to work.”

“Aww,” pouted Katya and Janis in unison.  “But you look so professional in that outfit.  You bought it to wear to work, didn’t you?”

I stammered out a half-hearted excuse for why I’d bought the tailored jacket and matching skirt then sighed.  “Yeah.  But I’m not ready.”

“Not yet,” amended Katya.  “It’s fine, we’ve still got enough time to get you changed and dressed.”

“In my favourite Katya-shirt?”

Katya’s grin dimpled her cheeks.  “Today’s looking better already.”

Janis clapped her hands.  “No time to dawdle.  Get changing!”

By the time the world stopped wibbling around me, Janis had also transformed Katya.  She thrust the resulting shirt into my hands.  She even helped me get my pants on, which would have definitely led to my being late if she hadn’t been keen on getting me out the door instead.

As I jogged to work I realized I’d left Janis alone with the black box, and wondered just what I’d come home to...  I found it difficult to concentrate on work as a result.  What would she do?   For that matter, what was I going to do?  Waking up as a woman had seemed the most natural thing in the world.  And yet, I couldn’t connect my working identity with that side of me.  I mulled it over for a while, then gave up on the topic.  No need to rush to a decision when I could change back and forth whenever I liked.

Once I’d settled that, memories of my weekend as just an object kept percolating.  Memories of being... little more than an object.  I texted Janis to find out how long I’d been insensate, and she said it had been all of Sunday night, as her nightie.  I texted back complaining that I missed out on the experience, and Janis agreed that it was much more fun to be aware, but that I should talk to Katya about it some more.

So I did.  When I had the privacy to do it, I murmured my musings and questions to my shirt.  I did get an occasional odd look, but I’d long since grown used to those.

The unfortunate part was getting caught at it by Alexander.  He was the notional head of the engineering section, though he had little relevant training or knowledge.  His one qualifying trait was that his mother owned the company.

“Talking to yourself again, David?”

I rolled my eyes.  “Not exactly.  Does it matter?”

He studied me curiously.  He might not have been much for engineering, but he knew people.  I tried to meet his gaze evenly, and mostly succeeded.  He snorted.  “You’re acting differently of late.  Why?”

“That is personal.  Has it affected my work?”

That earned me a glower.  “How would I know?  Your section leader always says good things about you, but he does that for everyone.  They all do.”

I sighed, this was an old argument.  “Look, the projects are getting done on schedule, or at least as close to it as is likely for the kind of complex work we do.  What more do you need?”

“Some way of telling that the schedule makes any kind of sense in the first place would be nice,” grumbled Alex petulantly.

I took a moment to consider my answer.  “We do try our best.  It’s tricky, especially before you’ve really gotten into the details.  Mostly it’s a matter of breaking it down as fine as you can, estimating each little bit, and hoping the errors average out.”

Alex snorted.  “That sounds only a little better than throwing darts at a board.”

“Throw enough darts, and the results tend to average out.”

Alex studied me even more intensely than he had done earlier.  “Interesting way of putting it.  Is it really the case, though?”

I found this new regard unnerving, and looked away.  “Look up Monte Carlo simulations.  The idea is... fairly sound.”

“Hmf.”

That was the end of it, or so I thought.  Throughout the day, though, I would catch Alex looking at me from time to time.  I got the distinct impression he was trying to figure out what had changed.  I smiled and waved at him at the end of the day, and hurried home.

Instead of turning Katya into a nightie, I turned her back into a woman.  “Hey.  Did you catch all that?”

“Your boss being weird?” asked Katya.  “Yeah.  What was that about?”

“He’s my boss’ boss, not mine directly.”  I started pacing, caught myself at it, and redirected my energies to the kitchen and preparing dinner.  “He knows something has changed.  I guess it’s not surprising...”

“What’s surprising,” commented Janis, “is that you’re still a guy.  What’s wrong?”

“Is all the time as a girl... rubbing off?  And if so, what does time as a mindless nightie do to me?”

Katya shrugged.  “I’ve been mindless bunches of times.  That’s no biggie.  It’s the time spent as a half-aware dress that really gets you.  It’s hard to forget how easy it was to accept that you are what you are.”

“I suppose.  Shouldn’t that also apply when you’re human?  I’m a guy now, why not accept that and not agonize over it?”

Janis grinned at me broadly.  “That’s the spirit.  And if you’re a girl later, be that girl honestly and completely.”

I nodded contemplatively as I started chopping vegetables.  “I think I can do that.  Katya, can you?  Be a girl now, and a dress later, and happy with both?”

Katya looked between Janis and me for a time.  “I’m not sure.  I like being a dress better, though being a not-hungry person is pretty good too.”

“How about being a human getting hugged by another one?” I asked, glancing at Janis and gesturing toward Katya.

Janis stepped up and hugged Katya tight.  “I liked spending time with you this weekend.  It was nice.”

“I could wear both of you to work tomorrow, so you’re not spending the day alone,” I offered.

Janis’ grin was eager.  “As your underthings, again?  Only if you make sure to hydrate well.”

I snorted.  “Wicked girl.”

“Even wickeder underpants.”

I glanced at the black box, then back to her.  “In the morning.  Tonight, all of us stay human.”

“Can I be the duvet when you two go to bed?” asked Katya.  “Otherwise someone will have to sleep on the couch.”

I agreed, then continued with dinner preparations while Katya and Janis watched.  They asked me about my day, and I groused about Alexander’s attention.

“Do you think he can tell you’re hanging out with two sexy women all the time?  Or as one, at least some of it?” asked Janis with a grin.

“I don’t know what he can tell.  I suppose he thinks it’s a new woman in my life.  That it’s two, one of which I wear to work regularly... I really doubt he’s figured that bit out.”

“Nor that you wear them out dancing as a girl.  You should wear us to Apparitions again, that was fun.”

I chuckled.  “As you wish.”

*** *** ***

The week went by swiftly, with both Katya and Janis eagerly looking forward to the chance to be worn out dancing.  Alex continued to be annoying, I caught him watching me every now and then.  At Janis’ suggestion, I started flashing him my best “life is great” smile whenever I noticed.  At first he just scowled and looked away, but by Friday he was meeting my smile with one that seemed almost honest.

I rushed home Friday night to get ready.  Katya had insisted on going straight from work shirt to dress, so I took care of that first thing, then changed myself into a woman.  Janis and I ate a quick dinner of leftovers, then she eagerly posed for the box and grinned broadly as her body melted away into a sexy bra.

I checked the contents of the purse I’d bought to match Katya, and found a note there stuck to a condom.  “Have fun, love K+J”

I headed out to the club with a silly grin on my face.  There was dancing, and flirting, and some snuggles at this booth or that, but I didn’t find the woman I was looking for.  Or perhaps I did, but I didn’t recognize her.

I did recognize someone else at the club – Alex.  I didn’t think he’d followed me, but he did seem to be looking for something.  He stared at me a few times, but he seemed to be doing that to enough women that I didn’t feel singled out.  After about an hour he left again, and I relaxed and focused on having fun dancing.

As I danced and flirted my thoughts always turned to my clothes.  Few in the club were as pretty as Katya, or as lively as Janis.  In the end I headed home alone with my clothes, debating which I should restore.

When I got home I rushed to the bedroom to grab the box.  It wasn’t on the bed where I thought I’d left it, nor at my improvised vanity where Janis had done my makeup.  I hunted around for it for several minutes before I thought to check the safe.  The only things in there were my passport and the smaller black box I’d promised Janis I would only use if the situation was dire.

I grabbed the retrieval unit and followed the light.  It led me to the apartment door.  I took a step to the side to triangulate and frowned in puzzlement.  The black box was a couple feet beyond the door.

I slipped the retrieval unit into my purse and opened the door.  Alex was standing there with a canary-eating grin.  The black box was in his hands.  “Looking for something?”