The Ring (Patreon)

Now that you’ve hopefully read Underthings, this is the first draft of that story. And you will find that other than the long term gender change component, the two stories share almost nothing in common now. It was the divergence of the stories that made me do a second draft of the story. I liked the bones of this story but there is so much to explore in the genre I ended up completing both stories. So, apologies if this feels like a retread. This story is most of the original idea.

Evelyn returned home from work. Her mother was cooking dinner in the kitchen. As she entered, Mom gave her a hug and said. “Evvie, I finally met Deborah. Why didn't you invite her over before? She's a lovely girl.”

“She's here? Where?”

“I told her she could wait in your room.”

“What? Why would you...?”

Her mother turned to face her. “Evelyn, don't tell me you haven't told her. You've been dating her for two months now. Don't you think she should know.”

“I intended to tell her. I just didn't expect to do it like this.”

“Well, now you have no choice. Don't leave her waiting upstairs.”

Evelyn went upstairs. The door to her room was open and she could see Deborah holding one of her skirts in front of her. “Hi, Deborah.”

“Oh, hi, Evelyn. Where’s you cousin? I thought he got off work at five.”

“Yes.”

“This skirt is gorgeous, is it yours?” Deborah said, holding the mustard colored knit asymmetrical skirt in front her and looking at herself in a floor length mirror attached to the wall. “You must have a lot of clothes if you keep some of them in Vincent's room.”

“Deborah, put the skirt down and have a seat,” she said sitting in the desk chair. “I have a long story to tell you.”

“Well, I hope it's not too long. It's already twenty after and I can’t wait to see Vincent.”

“That won't be a problem,” Evelyn said. She reached under her plain white blouse and unfastened her bra, removing it. “You see. I'm Vincent.”

Deborah let out a small laugh. “You do kind of look like him but he's like half a foot taller than you and far less curvy.”

“I said this was a long story,” Evelyn continued. “When I was twelve, I found this ring.” She pointed at a ring on her left pinky finger.

* * *

Vincent and Josh were cutting through the woods after school. They thought of it as a shortcut but it actually took longer to go that way. They started horsing around and Vincent ended up tripping over a tree root and falling down. Josh found him face down in the dirt and started laughing. “You are so clumsy. Here, grab my hand.”

“Wait a sec,” Vincent said. He reached under another tree root and pulled out a ring. “Check this out.” He turned over and grabbed the outstretched hand.

“What is it?”

“I found a ring. It's a good thing I'm clumsy or I'd never have seen it.”

“Looks cheap.”

“Yeah, no gemstone. Just a band. Could be silver.”

“It's probably just silver plated.”

“Yeah,” Vincent put the ring in his pants pocket and forgot about it as they resumed chasing one another among the trees on their way home.

Later that night, Vincent was getting changed when the ring fell out of the pants to the floor and rolled under the bed. “You like to hide, don't you?” He said to the ring. He had to get down low to reach all the way to the wall under his bed. He used his desk lamp to examine the ring further and found no marks or engravings on it. Shrugging, he tried putting it on his fingers. It only seemed to fit his pinkie. As soon as the ring was snug on his finger, he felt a weird sensation, like all of the nerves in his body were firing at once. Not painful, not pleasant, just a disturbing tingling sensation. He tried to pull the ring off but it would not budge. As he did this, he noticed his hands seemed to be getting slimmer. His arms also seemed to get a bit narrower. Am I shrinking? He thought. He got off the bed and stood in front of the mirror on the wall. At first he thought he looked normal but then he noticed his entire body seemed thinner except his hips. His face became a little rounder. And his bare chest developed breasts. He cupped them with his hands. They were not really big but they were definitely breasts. He pulled off his underwear and in the place of his boy parts were girls parts.

Finally, the ring came off and he was still a girl. He tried putting the ring back on but the weird tingling was gone; his body was done changing it seemed. Before he could figure out what to do he heard a voice say, “That's something you don't see everyday.”

The new girl looked to the open door of her room. “Mom? What happened?” Even his voice was unfamiliar.

“I'd say you turned yourself into a girl,” his mother said. She was standing in the doorway to his room. “What's that ring you're holding?”

“I don't know. I found it on the way home. I just tried it on and this happened.”

“No one is going to believe that,” she said. “I saw it happen and I barely believe it.”

“What am I going to do? I can't be a girl.”

“Well, I'm afraid you don't have a choice. If you want we can go see Dr. Holbrook in the morning. But I doubt she'll know what to do.”

* * *

She did not know what to do. The next day, they visited Vincent's pediatrician and it took a bit of work to convince her.

“Let's take as a given that you just magically became female,” Dr. Holbrook said. “Do you feel like you're new body is wrong at a deep level?”

“Not really,” Vincent said. “I know I should be male but there's nothing inherently bad about how I am now, so far. I just would rather be male.”

“Well, talk like that will get you nowhere with a psychiatrist if you ever wanted to pursue gender reassignment surgery.”

“Surgery?”

“It's either that or find another ring if you want to be male. I'll write you a prescription for an ultrasound. I am curious how thorough the ring was. It doesn't sound like you're totally against being female. Half my patients are female and they seem alright with it.”

“I don't know. It just seems like being a girl is far more work than being a boy.”

“You don't know the half of it,” the doctor said with a laugh. “You are otherwise healthy so I need to get back to seeing my sick patients.”

In the car, Vincent said to his mother, “Now what?”

“Well, it's a bit late for the ultrasound. But it isn't too late to go shopping.”

“Am I supposed to love shopping?”

“It won't kill you. But no, I don't expect your behavior to be any different as we shop for things you don't have in your wardrobe, and none of that stuff fits you correctly now. School is in two weeks and you have nothing to wear.”

“My jeans still kind of fit.”

“One of the things girls have to deal with is other girls. They will know you are wearing boy clothes and they will ask you why.”

“School? I can't go to school like this.”

“Of course not, you need clothes that look good on your new body.”

“That's not what I meant. Won't the school be expecting Vincent Sanders to attend.”

“Yeah, I send an email to the school and tomorrow we have to go down there and register you for classes.”

“But I'm already registered.”

“I don't think you want to be known as Vincent.”

A long series of names was considered and rejected before Vincent settled on Evelyn as they were parking the car at the mall.

* * *

Evelyn paused the story as she really did not want to discuss that first time buying clothes. It made her feel silly now. They were just clothes. At the time, though, she was against anything too girly or that was a skirt. Today, she was wearing a skirt and her blouse was pink.

Deborah said, “You're saying that my Vincent is you?”

“Yes.”

“If you figured out how to turn back into a boy, why are you a girl now?”

“I didn't figure that out until about four months ago,” she said. “I lived as a girl for about five years. I went through puberty as a woman. Sometimes it feels weird when I'm a guy and other times I just need to be a guy.” As she spoke she grabbed a large t-shirt and a pair of men's shorts. “Could you turn around so I can change?”

“Okay,” Deborah said, turning around. “Do you like girls?”

“Obviously I do. I suppose I'm bi. I feel more attraction to guys as a girl and to girls as a guy. But, my attraction for you, for example, exists equally in either form. You can turn around.”

Deborah turned around and saw Evelyn wearing the over-sized tee and shorts.

“We’re getting ahead of the story. Let me tell it in chronological order. Thankfully, it was summer and I didn’t have to go to school on Monday...”

* * *

The doorbell to the house rang early Monday morning. It was Josh. Mom answered the door and told Josh Vincent was staying with his father for a little while. When she closed the door, Evelyn was hiding around the corner of a wall.

“Are you going to tell him?”

“How can I tell him?”

“You just talk.”

“Mom.”

“He’s going to tease you for a while. That’s a given. But, if he’s really your friend, he’ll stay your friend after this. You may as well find out if he’s a true friend or a fair-weather friend.”

It took her a few days. But, eventually, Evelyn texted Josh and invited him over. Josh assumed the text was from Vincent. And Evelyn did nothing to change this assumption. When Josh rang the bell, Evelyn answered the door.

Josh was taken aback, “Um, hi. Is Vince here?”

“That’s a funny story,” she said. She stepped out the door and sat down on one of the porch chairs. “Have a seat.”

He sat down. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Evelyn. Let’s pretend I’m Vincent’s cousin.”

“Are you his cousin?”

“No. I’m Vincent.”

Josh stared at her for a moment before bursting out laughing. “That’s a good one. Where’s he hiding?”

“Josh, I’m Vincent.”

“How can you be Vince? He’s taller than me, you aren’t. His hair is much shorter. And he’s a guy. I don’t think you are.”

“I’m not. And yet I am Vincent. Remember that ring I found in the woods last week?” She held out her hand showing him the ring.

“It was bigger last week.”

“Yes, well, Vincent put the ring on and turned into me.”

“You found a magic ring of gender change?”

“Apparently.”

“So, why don’t you take it off and turn back?”

She took the ring off. She remained a girl.

“Oh,” he said. “So, it only turns guys into girls?”

“Are you volunteering to test that idea?”

“Nope.” He leaned away from her.

“I wasn’t asking you to,” she said. She put the ring back on.

“I’d have thrown that thing away.”

“I figure if I’m wearing it, it isn’t messing up someone else’s life.”

“I suppose. So, you wanna play some Super Mario?”

“Sure,” she said.

They went inside and played video games like they always had. It was awkward at first and the trash talk was a bit stilted until she played the beaten by a girl card. After that he was willing to trash talk her and the games felt normal.

As they were finishing up, she said, “You can’t tell anyone I’m Vincent.”

“It’s not like anyone would believe me.”

“I know. But, I don’t want to put up with people calling me names.”

“Yeah, it wouldn’t be good if people thought you weren’t a real girl.”

“Thanks for understanding, Josh.”

“No problem.”

After he left, Mom said, “See? You had nothing to worry about.”

“With Josh. There’s a whole bunch of other people I have to worry about.”

“One day at a time, dear.”

* * *

“School started in the fall. Eighth grade. I was a complete fish out of water,” she said. “The guys I was friends with didn’t know who I was. I wasn’t friends with the girls. Josh kept his distance as well. I had told him to do that. I eventually fell into the punk girl crowd. While I dressed like them, over-sized T-shirts and jeans, I wasn’t into the music or the rock-n-roll lifestyle.

“I was going to say how I met Cindy and Trish. But, it wasn’t like I didn’t know who they were. They were at a table near the table my new friends were seated and favorite bands came up. I tuned it out and heard Cindy and Trish talking about a singer. I looked them up on my phone and discovered my first crush. I was totally ga-ga for Keith Harris. I knew nothing about his style except that he was beautiful.” She pointed to the topless poster of Keith Harris on the bedroom wall.

“I was wondering why Vincent had that particular poster in his room.” Deborah said. “How did that make you feel?”

“Conflicted. I started listening to his music non-stop. He was touring at the time and I told Mom I wanted to go. She managed to keep a straight face. And she got the tickets. The next time I saw Cindy and Trish I mentioned going to the show and they said they were too. We bonded quickly and Mom even arranged to take all of us to the show.

“Over time, the girls got me to start wearing ‘normal’ clothes, makeup, and to talk incessantly about boys. They were also great to have as friends when my first period happened. I think bonding with them was why Josh drifted away.”

“If you were stuck, how did you turn back?”

“Four months ago, I took the ring off and misplaced it for short time. It was under the bed again, way in the back. I swear the thing tries to hide, which is why I wear it all the time. When I put it on, I turned back into a guy. I had no idea why. And I was shocked at how I was not immediately happy about it. I was tall, much taller than I had been four years earlier when I had first stopped being a guy.”

She put the ring on and over the course of a few seconds grew taller, more muscular, and masculine.

“I looked at myself in the mirror and thought, ‘This isn’t me.’ I had been a woman for five years. I had not seen my penis since I was twelve. I had never had an erection before. It all felt wrong. The last time I had thought about being a guy was probably three years ago. It’s not that I forgot about being a guy, I had moved on. And now, my extremely feminine brain was dealing with having lost her breasts and curves, replaced with a dick.”

“Vincent. I was still thinking this was long punk,” Deborah said. We hugged and briefly kissed.

“I was confused, afraid, and aroused,” Vincent said. “With trepidation, I touched myself. It was not the same. I lay down on the bed and flipped though my phone. Guys I had looked at while masturbating were no longer as exciting as a few of the women in my phone, including you.”

“Me?”

“You must have known Evelyn had a crush on you.”

“Cindy and Trish told me but I never believed it. Wait. Evelyn convinced me to date you.”

Vincent blushed. “I did. Once I figured out the secret of the ring, I could switch back and forth any time. And once I was once again comfortable being a guy – this took a few days – I finally had a chance to get to date with you. It felt wrong talking about myself like I was someone else. But, eventually, you told Evelyn to tell Vincent he could call you.”

“I should be so mad at you. After our dates, I would tell you all about what a great guy you were.”

“Evelyn told you she didn’t want to hear about your dates with her ‘cousin.’ You insisted on giving me all the details.”

“Even Trish said I shouldn’t talk about you in front of Evelyn.”

“I asked her to talk to you.”

“So, what’s the secret?”

I took off the ring and made sure she could tell I was giving it a half turn about its diameter. I put the ring back on and shrank back down into being Evelyn.

“How much time do you spend as Evelyn or Vincent?”

“As Vincent, not a lot. Most of my friends are Evelyn's friends. I got my job a year ago as Evelyn. Evelyn is enrolled in high school and will graduate in a couple months. Evelyn applied to a bunch of colleges. Vincent has a girlfriend and a cheap phone. That’s it. All of his childhood friends have grown up thinking he lives with his father three states away. I haven’t spoken to Josh in a year. Frankly, my old friends have said too many sexist things to me as Evelyn that I can't stand being around them as either me.”

Deborah became serious. “I have a confession. I came here today because I was suspicious.”

“Of me?”

“Yeah, a lot of stuff Vincent told were not adding up. I was wondering if you actually had a job. And apparently my suspicions were right. Vincent doesn't have a job. Your Mom didn't know you hadn't told me you led a double life. But, I thought you had another girlfriend or were into something illegal.”

“My Mom was probably thrilled to force me to tell you this and was glad you showed up at our door tonight. She's wanted to meet you for a while.”

“When were you going to tell me?”

“I don't know. There's no advice on the Internet for when's the right time to tell your girlfriend that not only are you a guy, but you're also a gal.”

“I’m surprised. Rule 34.”

“Yeah, but that’s porn about magical gender changes. Not actual advice for it,” Evvie said. “So, what happens now?”

“That’s up to you. I’m guessing Vincent isn’t going to start showing up to school. I guess he and I will continue to date on weekends like we always did.”

“Are you still my friend?”

“Of course. We might even be closer friends now. I’m assuming you don’t want me to tell anyone about your secret.”

“No, no. Now that I can switch back and forth, I’m afraid of losing the ring. Being stuck as Evelyn I could handle. Vincent has no life though other than his beautiful girlfriend.”

“I wonder if I could fall in love with you as well.”

“That would be ideal.”

“I would still want to see Vincent.”

“Of course,” Evelyn said, running her finger around the ring. “Just think of this as the most unusual sex aid.”