TG - Kevins in Bikinis

Kevins in Bikinis

All her life Kevin Jo Starkel had wished for two things: a little sister and a first name that she wasn't forced to share with her older brother. Through an odd clause in the will of her great-uncle Mendel, Kevin's parents had to name their first two children 'Kevin' after Mendel's father to inherit college annuities for all their children from his estate. They were given the right to choose a different middle name for each.

Miss Kevin Starkel had long loathed her great-uncle for assuming she would be born a boy. When it came to school, her parents made sure that the teachers and principal knew that her name was always to be "Kaye" or "Jo" for the sake of anything around her peers. For years, she kept the secret of her real first name from most friends and would always tense up when there was a substitute. Oftentimes, she just skipped those classes.

Once, she was chosen to get an award and a fill-in speaker spoke the "hated" name. While she tried to show no reaction, the other kids soon started to put it together and laughed at what they all figured was a mistake. Kevin held her breath and didn't want to stand. Eventually, pride in her work won out and she walked, head down, to the podium. Of course, the fill-in asked her if there was an error.

Torn between a favorable lie and the embarrassing truth, Kevin glared at him till he passed her the award and she could make her way back into the swarm of chuckles.

While the joke persisted for days with spontaneous cries of "KEVIN!" among the other kids, it wasn't until fourth grade when things turned bad and the teacher Kevin most wanted to feed to a swarm of hungry crocodiles showed up.

Ms. Roach by name, she gave off the oddest smell of fertilizer and clinging smoke aged over decades. She seemed barely able to see beyond her towering glasses, therefore, she seemed to assume everything done wrong was Kevin's doing.

And she incessantly used the "hated" name from the first day to the very last (when Kevin ran from the classroom and stayed on vacation far away for three solid months).

All the way through, Kevin was teased. Even her friends indulged in jokes, despite moments of sympathy. She rarely spoke up in class or bothered to because she knew the "name" would be coming.

After that, despite her later teachers trying to make up for it and changing schools more than once, the information made its way to whatever class she was in. Everyone called her a boy and most girls ostracized her. Junior high into high school was the worst because for her body turned against her.

While she didn't relish the idea of getting her first period, Kevin did look forward to it as the ultimate sign that she wasn't as boyish as her name dictated. But she headed into high school with no sign of anything going on. Fearfully, she cracked open her father's dusty medical books and read little notes of Swyer syndrome and other disorders despite assurances from her family doctor and her dad that she was normal, just a late bloomer.

And no little sisters in sight.

She still had a boyish figure by her sophomore year of high school and, most days, Kevin wanted to shrink into a little bug, shrivel up on the floor with her androgynous legs curled up, and get brushed aside into oblivion by the nearest broom.

And her only consolation, her same-named brother, was leaving for to college. Kevin Joe Starkel, who got the better side of the deal with their great-uncle and was beginning to reap the benefits of paid college, always cared for his little sister. He never made fun of her name and, in many ways, he was the closest friend she could trust. Whenever the family went on vacations, he was always right beside her.

When the last moments of sophomore year ticked away, Kevin was already set to cling onto one last, brilliant vacation with her brother. Though she desperately hoped there would be more anyway.     

But with another cruel turn of fate's knife, she learned (while standing with enough dutifully-packed bags around her to make a Marine weak in the knees) from her parents that they wouldn't be staying at the usual beach area, but rather at great-uncle Mendel's old estate as part of another line in that 'accursed will from hell'. She also learned her brother would have to cut his part of the vacation short because of his fall schedule.

However much she begged him to stay longer, she knew that a slim six weeks was all she would have. Despite her long-trained pessimism, the night before leaving on the trip Kevin resolved (with an almost-heroic breeze blowing in through her window) that she would make the most of every moment she had.

The car ride was far too short for Kevin as she passed her DS back and forth between herself and her brother. The estate itself was better than expectations. Set along the beach, it was grand, though it resembled a stack of bubbles collecting on a bubble blower.

A female custodian, who didn't give her name, greeted the Starkels with a planned message encouraging, "These grounds are yours to do with as you please, as are all the items therein. I ask only that the numerous inventions be used towards the betterment of humanity."

The rooms were well-cared for and Kevin enjoyed her king-sized bed from that first, joyous flop on the mattress. She smiled at the skylight looking down on her and stretched out. Her brother reported that not only did his room have a big screen TV, but also video games and a full sound system. She stuck her tongue out at him half-heartedly and gloated, "I have a skylight."

After testing out their rooms, the custodian led them down to what she called, "Mendel's Lab". It seemed just like the kind of place Kevin expected of a mad scientist. There were large, numerous beakers and junk littering the walls. Several tables were set up off to the side. The custodian led them to an area with what she described as family heirlooms. Kevin tried not to zone out. She was curious, then deflated, when the custodian presented something to her. A bikini brief and "optional" top.

It got to Kevin more than anything that this 'great' uncle had planned in gifts but not in name for a grandniece. She did have a smile that her brother had the same "optional" top. Along with the clothing, she gave Kevin a small touch pad which didn't appear to do anything. The custodian said, as part of just another quirk of staying here, they were required to wear the bikini bottoms at least once during their time at the estate.

Leaving the rest of the proceedings to their parents, both Kevins plopped their new clothes on their respective beds and checked out the area around the estate.   

A section of beach front was exclusive to the estate and fenced in. Aside from the bubble-house, there were some more normal-looking guest quarters to the far side and a vegetable garden.

After dipping their toes in the water a moment, Kevin urged her brother to go check out the far commercial complex they'd seen on the way. It wasn't a long walk through the sand. During it, her brother put together stories about hidden robots from Mendel's lab probably hiding under beach. With giggles, Kevin dodged when her brother pointed out "probable metallic heads" almost poking out their periscope eyes.

The complex was rather underwhelming when they arrived. They could see signs it once used to be more, with a shuttered crab shack place which was designed like a long, driftwood shack. The vast tanks, seen through dusty, barred glass, looked like they would've held countless crabs. Beyond that, Kevin grimaced as she saw a leaning figure of Santa Claus waving from the roof. His colors were faded and one of his arms was missing but the portly visage was clear. Below him, a toy shop and confectionary were shuttered like the crab shack.

Just beyond, a beach-front quality, combined-gender restroom groaned with an ages-old circulating fan. Kevin glared as the toilets were all overstuffed with paper towels and only the urinals, sunk into the ground like ancient stone artifacts, seemed worth using.

A small trinket shop, shockingly open, was just after that. The owner smiled as they skimmed a section of porcelain mermaids. In passing, he asked where they were staying. He listened quietly as the two unwound their tale for him. A mermaid song from a nearby figurine filled the gap as they finished.

The merchant shook his head. "Old man Mendel was a kook. Always tinkering. He owned a stake in the two businesses next to mine which are shut down. The community wanted to reshape the area into something 'high-class' and old Santa didn't cut it."

He pointed out the new French restaurant at the other end and the plans for a five-diamond hotel. And he mentioned that some hoped with Mendel's passing that his estate land would be sold off and demolished for something even more ambitious. However, he noted, the other business owners had been thwarted so far.

After leaving the shop, Kevin looked down at the rest of the businesses and noted to her brother, "The rest looks really…soulless."

Not a single one of the shops stood out to either of them, so they made their way back down the beach to the estate. To amuse themselves for the walk, they pitched each other ideas for the perfect shops. Kevin gave a little twirl with her idea for a bookstore with chairs for laying back and reading right by the water. She liked her brother's idea for a scuba training shop.

Back at her brother's room, they relaxed with a movie and a quick game from what they assumed was Mendel's collection (whether it was her brother's now was unclear to either of them), though they couldn't understand how it could be so current with his death so many years ago.

They later had dinner. Kevin sat in the chair right next to her brother as their mother prepared a casserole. With a shiver, she watched her brother as he ate and wondered how many more of these times there would be. This melancholy persisted only a moment till he gave her an exposed tongue full of casserole mash. Like years ago, she squealed and waved her hand at him till their mother coughed and glared.

The rest of the evening was just sitting on the back of the estate as Kevin kicked up her feet with her brother beside and watching the stars reveal themselves. Though Kevin would've loved to see the sun dip into the water, it set behind them.

She leaned back on the wooden porch. The smell of the wood was strange and soothing. She breathed calmly as the sea breeze teased at her hair. Since she couldn't control much else about her body, Kevin always tried to grow her hair out as long as possible. But several incidents ranging from sticky messes to insane hairdressers had conspired to keep it shorter than she wished. Still, it settled softly around her shoulder.

Her brother leaned back with his arms arched behind and supporting him. For Kevin, there were no moments more perfect. Each fall of the waves nearby were like a wash over her, washing away her joking 'friends', cleaning the teases, rinsing the bad days, eroding the stress, and leaving only bubbling joy.

Still, the remnants of it all told her not to let herself relax too much. It prodded her with the expectation of fearful tears. But, for that moment, she could ignore its prodding.

In too short a time, they went back inside. A long bath and a longer sleep both felt too brief for Kevin. And she cursed her tiredness for not waking before Kevin. He squirted a dollop of ketchup on her eggs though, just like always.

After breakfast, the matter of the bikinis came up. Kevin's brother jumped at the chance of getting it over with. It didn't take Kevin much longer to jump as well.

She changed in the bathroom connected to her bedroom. She put on the top despite the lack of anything to bother covering. To her relief and surprise, the material felt like a good fit. When she got out, she grinned as her brother posed just outside, with the 'optional' top jokingly in place. "It fits perfectly," he noted.

The small touch pad had lit up with a green display. It read, "Unit 1 – 15F. Unit 2 – 18M." Below that, the information was numerical and didn't make much sense to Kevin. She tucked the touch pad in her purse and followed her brother down to the water.

They set out a blanket and an umbrella and Kevin's brother was the first in the water. Under the umbrella, Kevin pulled out the touch pad and checked to see if it did anything. She tapped one of the side buttons as her brother splashed into the water. The number for Unit 2 changed to 18F and some of the numbers underneath shifted. The display said, "Overwrite?"

Having learned from far too many lost papers for school, Kevin cautiously tapped no. However, the "18F" designation remained. Her eyes on the pad, she failed to notice splashing followed by a sudden, high-pitched scream.

Her eyes jerked up to see a female figure staggering out of the water and screaming over and over. Kevin rushed to her side and mentally put together the obvious before long. The girl was clad in the same bikini as her brother. Though the girl's hair was much longer than her brother's scraggly but still short hair, she could tell it was the same. Her eyes were the same, but full of fear and trembling. Kevin quickly wrapped a towel around the girl and asked, "Kevin?"

The girl nodded with a shiver and opened her towel to look down at herself. The bikini still fit perfectly, despite how much her brother had changed. Between concern, she felt a quick flash of envy at the developed curve of her brother's chest and the flow of her hips.

Pushing aside the fear inside her, Kevin figured, "It must because of Mendel's invention stuff." Fussing with the pad in the way she had a minute before soon brought the return of her normal, male brother.

He jumped in the air and hugged himself. But his sister also smiled and asked, "You know what this means, right?"

He waved his hands at her. He had a pretty clear idea. "Ack! Don't even think it!"

Before he could protest, Kevin had begun manipulating the device again. Her brother seemed eager to snatch it from her but his hand hesitated with the worry he might do something irreversible by accident. Kevin grinned and announced, "I think I've figured it out. So long as don't use the overwrite option, it seems to be okay."

Her brother shivered a bit, imagining what 'overwrite' might do. He warned her to be careful as he felt himself shift again. His female figure returned, but that wasn't all.

Her new sister wobbled as Kevin pushed the eighteen down to a sixteen. Soon, they were of comparable height and Kevin grinned that they were both equally-flat in the chest. She kept going to fourteen and lower. Her young sister felt her bikini shift into a form more suited to a pre-teen girl. Her little feet dug into the sand and she told her sister, in a squeaky little voice, "Be caweful...."

With a nod, Kevin relentlessly pushed the number down into the single digits as her new sister got smaller and smaller. She finally stopped when it seemed her little sister was headed for babyhood. Her two-year-old sister glared at her with a deep frown. Kevin gleefully picked up her tiny sibling and twirled her around. Temptation to select overwrite was fleeting as Kevin gave her little sister a kiss on the forehead when sudden tears seemed so automatic for the new girl.

The tears became spontaneous giggles as Kevin tickled her little sister under her little arms and clutched her close. Despite her rigid body and tense face, her little sister settled into her arms. In her resting daydreams, Kevin imagined taking herself back a few years too, to really undo the horrible years of her life, all the way back to undoing her name. She clung tight to her little sister and imagined all the cuteness, all the joy.

But her little sister turned to her and she saw the same look that her brother gave her when she looked up from crying into her bed after an especially-hard day of school. It was love. It was love in the face of all concern.

And she knew it wasn't right to keep her brother like this. Relishing a last hug, she slipped her hand to the pad and pushed the number slowly up from 2 until she stopped at 15. Her brother looked at her and wobbled a bit to get used to being so tall again. Looking her over a bit, Kevin said, "I think I can make you look just like me."

For the first time in a while, her brother grinned as she noted, "Mom and dad would freak. But umm…go ahead. I guess. Trying to keep calm…I trust you."

With just some light manipulation of the variables, Kevin's brother was looking at a twin of her flat-chested, poorly-developed self. Grinning at the idea of identical twin antics, her brother seemed to not only look like her but was thinking on the same wavelength. They seemed on the way to finishing one another's sentences as her brother suddenly wrapped her arms around Kevin.

Kevin set the pad down a moment to fully embrace the hug. After a relaxed sigh, she asked, "Why did you hug me?"

Her brother smiled at her. "Because I feel like…I can understand all those tears through all your life. I wish I could've fixed it all. I wish I could've been a rock supporting you like this, the same. Knowing just what you go through."

Kevin's gentle surprise shifted into a warm smile for her brother. "You have been a rock. You have been there all these years. I envy that you can get away with the name and not have to feel uncomfortable. But, like no one else, I know you're with me no matter what."

Her brother's smile continued as he suggested, "How about I give you a taste of my side? You can be boy-Kevin." Her brother laid out her hand. Without hesitating, Kevin passed her brother the control pad. It took a moment for the controls to make sense and her brother avoided anything that said 'overwrite'.

Kevin felt her body twisting and shifting. She felt stronger all over. She felt the strange rise of her body, as if she were floating. Her natural response to all the masculinity around her was fear, trained fear that she might be turning into something boyish, something strange. But the response relaxed as she took the time to marvel at how her body looked more and more like her brother's. It didn't stop her face from breaking out in blush when her groin shifted from innie to outie. All the while, her bikini and superfluous top never felt the least bit uncomfortable.

When 'his' brother was done, they both went scampered over to one of the estate's bay windows to get a better look at themselves. Each pointed out the handiwork of the other. Somehow, Kevin's brother had managed to transplant his mole to her shifted form.

The moment of testing came when they decided to head back into the house for refreshments. It took an extra second for "Kaye" to respond to her mother's question about the surf as she unpacked the last of her bags. And "Kev" also seemed to have the same problem. It was enough for their mother to give them an extra long look but not enough to keep her from brushing it off as nothing.

After finding apple juice and orange juice in the fridge from their father's earlier trip to the local market for supplies, Kevin's brother pointed at their contrary juice selections. With a frown, Kevin traded for the orange juice her brother always liked. Her brother tried to hide a pucker at the tart apple juice that his sister always liked.

It was only the first of many little thing that each reminded the other of. Like a game, Kevin's brother kept track of how many times his sister slipped out of character as him.

They also played their roles for their father when he returned home. He did look them over longer than their mother but he too ceded to the simplest explanations.

Eventual trips to the bathroom involved help from one another, as well as revealing the bikini bottoms could be removed without reversion of form or being stuck (Kevin's brother felt the most relief about that). The complete removal of all clothes was a test neither wanted to try. But they were each still able to try outfits from their sibling's bags.

Kevin marveled at himself in one of her brother's suits for formal occasions. Kevin's brother spent a good while in a skirt and tank top. Kevin grinned and nudged her a little but soon giggled due to a tickle onslaught.

As the afternoon wound down, the custodian paid a visit as the two were styling hair and playing video games. Kevin worked so carefully that her brother was able to play with full-concentration even as his sister manipulated his girlish hair into a bun.

The custodian knocked on their door and made her way inside. She looked at the two of them and immediately noticed the touch pad set on the dresser behind them.

She gave a little bow to the both of them as she said, "I just came to check in and see how you were doing with the items this evening." Both Kevins moved to show they were wearing the bikinis with a little tug of their clothes but the custodian waved her hands.

"I know you're wearing them. And I know you're giving them a test run. I'm here to tell you that overwrite isn't as permanent as it sounds. There are always backups saved…"

She sat on the bed and demonstrated the feature with expert hands. Both Kevins watched carefully. 'Overwrite', she explained, "Convinces everyone around you that you are who you say you are. It overwrites who you were…But it's not permanent." She handed the touch pad back to Kevin, who looked the custodian over and asked, "Was there anything else?"

The custodian mentioned a document with the more obscure options while assuring them of the safety of the bikinis (and putting to rest that a form would be restored if the clothing was destroyed but a form would remain if it was simply removed).

Still, Kevin gave her another look. The custodian lowered her head a little and sighed. "There is something else. I know Mendel never meant for your names to be a burden but I know…he…would be so very sorry for all the grief he's caused you especially, Kaye."

Kevin shook her head with her brother's face. "Then why did he do it? Do you know? Can you give a reason?"

The custodian looked down a moment, her dusty-red hair slipping over her face. "Mendel's father lived a very lonely existence after his twin died in childbirth. Mendel wanted to make up for that by sharing his father's name with two children he hoped would always be bonded by that name."

Her lips fidgeted a little as she continued, "He made a mistake in some ways but I see a very special bond between you too…right here. That's why, as designated custodian of Mendel's estate and will, I clear you of the requirements of that clause. You're both free to legally change your names in whatever ways you please. No penalty." She let herself have a slight smile.

Kevin's heart soared. She was free of the accursed name! No longer would anything carry it. She could be "Kaye" for real or "Jo" or something girlier, more original. Yet, she kept thinking back to her given name. It may have sucked but…as she looked to her brother…she realized that Mendel had a point, no matter how much it still hurt.

Apologizing again, the custodian thanked them both for their time and said, "Feel free to experiment during your time here with the outfits. I still have a matter to attend to with Mendel's remaining property holdings. Have you seen the shuttered Christmas shop and crab shack?"

Both Kevins nodded to her. She instantly lit up and regaled them about the splendor of the old place. And, with intensity in her eyes, she told them, "And, as Mendel once said, I fully intend to 'give them hell' if they want to make this place into another soulless pit." Kevin chimed in with the ideas she and her brother had pitched to one another.

The custodian giggled and slapped her knees. "That's just marvelous! I always knew you two would be so very clever." She smiled and Kevin eyed her a little. Trying not to make her thought too obvious, Kevin noted that the custodian had never given her name, so Kevin asked what it was.

After a momentary pause, the custodian said, "You may call me 'Crick'…if you like." Then she gave a little wink and said, "Hope you both enjoy the games…and everything during your stay. We'll talk again soon."

Kevin nodded and smiled a little as Crick left. Brother and sister looked to one another and reflected smiles, as though sharing a private joke.

Late into the evening, they finally decided to restore themselves to their original forms after Kevin debated giving herself a more mature female form (she resolved to wait for it). After a moment of relief at their restoration, Kevin immediately returned to styling her brother's hair. And he took to calling her, "big sis", in the cutest falsetto he could manage. Kevin giggled with her brother as they went back to trying on each other's clothes.

Their giggles echoed even to bedtime, as they both earned more funny looks from family, though mostly due to their cross-dressed attire. Bedtime was a sleepover and a favorite movie in her brother's room. As she settled under the covers permeated by the presence of all their earlier joy and her lovely brother/little sis/twin, Kevin quickly drifted off to sleep.