Chapter 1: Bang

BANG

The scooter hit him with a sound like a metal trash can full of regret.

One second Ethan was walking home from another late night at Meridian Capital. The next he was airborne, asphalt, then nothing.

When the world came back, someone was laughing.

"Holy shit" a voice said. "Did we just die? Because if we did, the afterlife has a weird dress code"

Ethan tried to sit up and immediately noticed two problems. First, his arms were longer and second, he had a very obvious hard-on that did not belong to him.

Across the wet street, his own body sat up, wiped blood from its lip, and grinned with someone else’s personality.

"Okay," the man wearing Ethan’s face said. "This is new. Also, your dick is soft. Rude."

Ethan stared at the stranger now living in his skin. "What, what the fuck?"

"Name’s Kai." The grin widened. "And you just borrowed my body, quiet guy. Congrats. It’s a high-mileage model, but the engine still runs hot."

Ethan looked down at himself, leather jacket, scarred hands, and a cock that was currently trying to start a conversation without permission.

"This isn’t funny," he rasped, in a voice that sounded like it smoked and flirted for a living.

Kai (in Ethan’s body) snorted. "It’s a little funny. You’ve got my dick and I’ve got your entire repressed personality. We should start a support group, weekly meetings, mandatory nudity."

Sirens wailed in the distance, still far enough that neither of them moved.

Kai poked at Ethan’s old chest like he was testing produce. "Damn. Soft. Do you even lift, or do you just stress-eat spreadsheets and cry in the bathroom?"

"Get out of my body!"

"Can’t. Tried. We’re stuck, partner." Kai stood on slightly shaky legs and looked down at the borrowed suit pants. "Also, these pants are tragic, who raised you? These pleats are a hate crime."

Ethan tried to stand and nearly face-planted. The new body had terrible balance and excellent blood flow. Every step sent a fresh wave of awareness between his legs that made him want to scream.

"I was just walking home"

Kai held up a hand. "Flashback time? Cool. Make it quick. I’m already bored of standing in the street with your face and your face is making this weird little anxious expression that I’m pretty sure is permanent."

Two hours earlier, Ethan had been the last intern left on the 27th floor.

The office had that dead, humming quiet that only happened after everyone with a real life had gone home, cubicle lights were off.

The only glow came from Ethan’s monitor and the little red light on the coffee machine that had given up hours ago.

His supervisor, Mr. Harlan, had dropped a stack of redlined contracts on his desk without looking at him.

"If these aren’t clean by morning," Harlan said, already walking away, "don’t bother coming in. We have standards."

Ethan had nodded like a man accepting a death sentence. He stayed, he fixed every clause, he double-checked the indemnity language until his eyes burned. He ate a vending-machine protein bar that tasted like sandpaper, maybe cardboard.

At around eleven pm, he finally saved the last file, shut down his computer, and staggered toward the elevators with the posture of a man who had never once told anyone to go fuck themselves.

The lobby was empty, the security guard didn’t even look up. Outside, the rain had slowed to a fine mist that made the streetlights smear across the asphalt.

Ethan walked with his head down, earbuds in but no music playing, replaying every awkward moment from the associate review meeting. He had spoken too quietly, he had apologized too much, he had laughed at a joke that wasn’t funny because the partner telling it had a corner office.

He remembered the quiet, then the high, insectile whine of a scooter that treated traffic laws like optional suggestions.

The headlight, the grin of the rider who clearly believed physics was more like guidelines before the bang.

Back in the present, Kai was already scrolling through Ethan’s phone with indecent curiosity.

"Password is your birthday, isn’t it? Cute. Also, zero nudes. Not even a thirsty mirror pic, I’m disappointed in us. This is like moving into a house with no snacks."

Ethan grabbed for the phone with Kai’s hands and missed. The new arms were longer than he expected and the coordination was garbage. "Stop that!"

Kai danced back, still in Ethan’s body, looking ridiculous and delighted. "Relax. Worst-case scenario, we live each other’s lives for a while. Best-case scenario, I finally get your uptight office to loosen up."

He winked with Ethan’s eyes.

"A lot"

Ethan dragged both hands down his new face and immediately regretted it. The face was rougher, stubble. A small scar on the chin he didn’t remember earning. "This can’t be real, people don’t just switch. That’s not a thing."

Kai shrugged Ethan’s narrow shoulders. "Tell that to your new dick. It’s already voting for real."

"Can you not talk about, ughhhh"

"My dick? Our dick? The dick currently living its best life in those sad little briefs you call underwear? No promises."

The sirens grew louder. Blue and red lights flickered against the wet buildings a few blocks away.

Kai glanced toward the sound, then back at Ethan. "Okay, practical time. You’re in my body, I’m in yours, cops are coming. You look like the kind of guy who panics and confesses to crimes he didn’t commit. So here’s the plan: we both say we swerved to avoid a cat or whatever. Exchange info then we figure out whose apartment has better coffee and worse decisions."

Ethan stared at him. "You’re insane."

"And you’re wearing my favorite jacket, so we’re even." Kai tilted Ethan’s head, studying him with open amusement. "Seriously though. You’re taking this weirdly well for a guy who probably alphabetizes his socks, most people would be screaming."

"I am screaming," Ethan said. "On the inside, very loudly, in bullet points."

Kai laughed, and the sound coming out of Ethan’s mouth was so wrong it made Ethan’s new stomach flip.

"God, you’re adorable. We’re gonna have fun."

"I don’t want fun. I want my body back."

"Join the club. Membership is currently two people and the dress code is ’whatever you woke up in.’" Kai pocketed Ethan’s phone and jerked his chin toward the approaching lights. "Showtime, spreadsheet boy. Try not to faint, these shoes already pinch and I refuse to carry you."

Ethan looked down at the leather jacket, the scarred hands, the traitorous erection that still hadn’t gotten the memo that this was a crisis.

He looked at his own face smiling back at him with someone else’s soul behind the eyes.

The first police cruiser turned the corner, lights painting the rain red and blue.

Kai, wearing Ethan’s body like a rented suit, raised both hands in a lazy, charming surrender and called out, "Evening, officers. You’re not gonna believe this, but we think we hit a really aggressive cat."

Ethan closed his new eyes and wondered if it was possible to die of secondhand embarrassment while trapped in another man’s skin.

Apparently, he was about to find out.