Transitioning Home
by poetheather

For Sergeant Thomas Simmons, getting injured in Iraq was just the start of an adventure that would throw him down the rabbit hole into a world where nothing made sense anymore. Having to restart his life, this soldier has to take his battlefield courage and turn it to a different arena in order to face this newest set of challenges. He just wonders if he is strong enough to handle this newest change in his life.

Twelve

E-mail very rarely fucked with Thomas’s reality, so when Tiffany emailed him a pic she had generated with that fashion program a few days ago, parts of his reality shook to the core. The girl in the picture couldn’t be him. There was just no way. The outfit, hair, and makeup all worked wonders and what looked out from the digital image was not masculine in any way what so ever, at least as far as Thomas knew. He shook a little, seeing a girl looking back at him with his eyes and such. It was a bit creepy and chills ran up his spine the more he looked at the image. But he really couldn’t tear his eyes away from the picture. He could do this. According to what Tiffany said, he could look like this girl without a whole hell of a lot of work.

He was finally able to shut off the computer and get some breakfast, shaking a little as his thoughts churned over what the picture showed. According to that picture, changing his hair, good makeup and clothes and he would be a girl, unquestionably a girl. He barely tasted his cereal or the coffee. The shower after breakfast helped to clear his head and he was grateful for that. He pulled on his panties, got dressed, and made his way to the couch. With the push of a button, Thomas tried to loose himself in TV. The shows that were on did help him sort of turn off his brain and just drift, allowing that image to leave his head.

When the phone rang, he jumped a little, surprised. He scanned the room for danger quickly, but there wasn’t anything moving in it besides himself. He wasn’t sure if he had drifted off and nearly fallen asleep or not. He picked up the phone and looked at the caller ID, sighing when he noticed that it was his mother. He shook himself out of the daze and picked it up. “Hello mom.”

“Hey there Tommy. How have things been out there?” she asked.

“Not too bad overall.” He replied, “I am registered for classes and my physical therapy is helping my leg and arm get stronger. They are still trying to figure out if I will ever be able to walk without the cane, or even to run.”

“You know we really are proud of you going to college and such. Both your daddy and I wanted to go, but raising our family was more important. You are the first one in either of our families to have made it to college. You have to graduate and make us proud.” Thomas could hear that in her voice but it also sounded like it was heading towards something and he grew wary. “You think you might be able to come on down and visit us? I know you are about seven hours away but your brothers and sisters miss you something terrible.”

Thomas sighed. He really hated the little town he had grown up in and the crowded singlewide trailer that they had lived in. The tight confines had made him crazy and he ran off to the Army just to get out of there. Why would he want to go back? Hell, his apartment had lots of room compared to the cramped space of that trailer. “I’ll think about it mom. I am really busy with PT and other medical visits that I’m not sure I’ll really have the time for that long of a drive. I’ll see what I can do. Maybe when the therapy is a bit farther along I can visit?”

“Don’t you wanna come out here and see your kin Tom? We figured you might want a party, where all the relatives can come by and wish you well for you starting college.” Thomas could feel his guilt meter rising. He didn’t want to do this but she kept twisting the knife. She knew all the buttons to push on him. “Becky has been asking about you, wondering if you were ever come home and whisk her off her feet. She’s a good catch if you ask me.”

“I said I’ll try. Honestly Mom, why haven’t you realized that I am busy? Sometimes I can’t take the time to do most anything else because I am busy. I’ll see if I can make a trip out there in a bit. Six hours in a car might be really painful at this point but I will do what I can. Okay?” Thomas was getting angry. His ability to control his temper wasn’t very good at times lately. The Doc had told him it was a PTSD related issue but that didn’t help much when he started getting pissed off.

“Well, I suppose that is all I can ask of you.” She just had to twist the knife a little more. He hated it when she did that and he fumed a little bit.

The conversation ended soon after, once his mother had finished catching him up on all of the family gossip that he really didn’t care about. He sighed when he hung up the phone, rubbing his neck in an attempt to loosen the muscles that had tightened during the call. He needed another massage and was glad that it wasn’t going to be too long till his next appointment. Mike really seemed to find all the little knots that were all over his back and neck. Thomas really did consider it money well spent, especially after calls from his mother. She was making him crazy.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love him, because she clearly did love him, but rather he had changed in his time in the Army and that was even before the whole transgender crap came up. He had changed in the way he saw the world, in the ways he understood it and that made dealing with his parents or any of his ‘kin’ difficult on the best of days. They just seemed to be terrible narrow minded and not open to anything. He really didn’t want to go back to that town and all of his crappy memories of the place. It was smaller than some of the villages he had moved through in Iraq and that was kind of sad really. They seemed to have the same level of poverty and the only difference was the dirt. Nevertheless, he figured he should head back home. after all, they were family.

The apartment was silent, except for the quiet hum of electronics and the thumping bass from someone’s car out on the road. He realized that he had been so tangled up in personal things that he hadn’t truly realized that this was the first time he had ever lived somewhere alone. It was a little eerie at times but he figured over time he might get used to it. And he could hang out with people from school, if he managed to make some more friends. Tiffi was great but a few more friends might be nice. Hopefully he wouldn’t have a problem making friends, but with what he was going through it might become a problem. Who would want to be friends with someone who is turning into a girl?

He decided to call Tiffany, as the quiet was actually starting to get to him. Maybe he needed to be around people more. It hadn’t been that much of a problem in the barracks, as he was used to people being there, but the halls were quiet at night. That and he had been running around for days outprocessing and didn’t really have the time to get all tangled up over something like a lack of people. In the apartment he was alone and he didn’t know his neighbors at all, he felt isolated. He dialed and waited while it rang, pacing in the dining/ living room space.

“Moshi Moshi…Tiffi speaking.” Her voice was about as chipper as he had come to expect and it was comforting.

“Hey, Tiffany. I was wondering if you wanted to do something today. It’s really quiet over here and I think I am going a little stir crazy.” He figured that if he was upfront then he had a better chance of this working. Besides, Tiffi always seemed to be ready to do something at a moments notice.

“Sure. That would be awesome because my new girlfriend played around some more with the fashion program and we found a perfect look for you and we made a list of everything we will need to buy in order to make it happen and we got your colors figured out so we can get you just the right make-up and have you thought about getting hair extensions as they will give you longer hair without all the fuss of having to grow your hair out or maybe you can wear a wig but I heard that having extensions can help your hair grow longer faster and I’m doing it again. Why didn’t you stop me?” she accused.

Thomas chuckled. Tiffany could always manage to make him smile. “Because you were on a roll and I wanted to see how long you could go without needing a breath. It was impressive.”

“Yeah. I learned to breathe through my scalp to make it easier to eat someone out. I don’t really have to go up for air all that often so nothing gets in the way of my dining experience.”

Thomas blinked. Did she just say what he thought she said?

“I know my girlfriends have liked that skill and it was useful when I actually dated boys but sucking cock often made me gag when they thrust in too far and hit the back of my throat but I don’t have that problem with pussy.” rambled Tiffany again. “So my new girlfriend Stacy and I were hoping that you would call so we could go shopping for you and get everything you need in order to become the new beautiful femme you and she is close to your sizes and colors and that way we can shop for you without having to make you too nervous due to other peoples looks. Isn’t that cool?”

Thomas nodded and was aware that she wouldn’t have been able to see that. And when did she get a new girlfriend? And why hadn’t he heard about it until now? “Yeah, that should make me less twitchy. Good plan. Where do you want to meet?”

“How about your place? Your car is bigger and would be more comfortable for the three of us than my tiny Miata. And that way the bags just go into the trunk and then into your apartment, no transferring necessary. See, it’s like we thought this out or something.” She replied. He could hear the smile.

“Sure. I’ll wait here for you guys. See you soon.” After he hung up Thomas got his boots on and got what he needed ready. He slipped his debit card into his front pocket and the rest of his wallet into his back pocket. He had his meds and his cane set to the side, so he was ready to roll for the most part. He realized that he really did need more pockets for the increase in things he was carrying. His fatigue pants would work well for carrying the meds and stuff but they were all in the laundry pile. He shrugged and had them next to his cane that was lying on the table so he could see if Tiffany could carry them for him. The threat of a pain flare up was slim but he really didn’t want to risk it. And the anti-anxiety drugs were a must as there was still too great a possibility of him flipping out over a lot of nothing.

Thomas flipped through the channels, hoping to find something to distract him while he waited for Tiffany and her new mystery girlfriend who had made him even girlier on the program. After his third or fourth run through the available channels there was a honk outside. He grabbed his cane and his meds and hobbled outside. He locked the door and saw Tiffany and some other girl, which he assumed to be the girlfriend in question, get out of their car, and head over to him.

Tiffany had been right about the girlfriends looks. She was about the same height, build, and coloration as Thomas. That in itself was kind of odd, especially as they also looked nothing alike. Tiffany was wearing some sort of bubblegum pink Hello Kitty shirt and a black mini-skirt with a little coffin looking purse. Stacy was just in jeans and a t-shirt like him. They both looked terribly normal when compared to Tiffi. “Shall we go?”

“Can I get an introduction?” asked Thomas.

“Oh right, I forgot that you haven’t met. I met her three days ago and we have started dating two days ago and that is kind of nice. Sorry about leaving you hanging like that.” apologized Tiffany. “This is Stacy.”

“Hi. How are you?”

“Fine. You’re okay with this?” asked Thomas, a bit worried about what this girl might be thinking about him.

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?” Stacy seemed a bit confused by the question.

“I can think of a lot of reasons, actually.” replied Thomas.

“Well, I don’t care. When working with the program I saw how easy it was going to be to transform you that I got all into this… project of sorts. So why should I be uncomfortable, when all I want to do is help?” Stacy shrugged and spread her hands.

Tiffany hugged the girl and kissed her cheek. “Can’t you see why I love her?”

Thomas grinned and nodded. The three of them climbed into his car and as Thomas was pulling out of the parking lot, he asked. “So, what is the first stop on this epic excursion?”

Thomas watched in the rear view mirror as Stacy pulled out a list and said, “Well there is a Goodwill nearby. We will go there first to pick up some nice basic stuff and then there is a nice Salvation Army store we can hit for a few more things. Then we can hit the beauty store for the hair extensions, that is if you want them. We can pick up the make up there as well as it is a beauty supply store and has some good things. Quick and not too painful all in all. We may need to get you some shoes, but we would actually have to have you try those on as feet shape varies a lot.”

Tiffany chuckled happily. “Can you tell she is a fashion design major? She is really good at this and should be able to get you lots of good stuff at very little cost. And it will be things that will look good on you and will be in good shape. Not a bad thing all in all and she even has a look set up for you that should work with who you are and everything. Stacy is the best. I told you I could take care of this.”

Thomas was impressed with what Tiffany had been able to pull together. This might take care of what the Doc wanted without him having to spend reams and reams of cash and having to do this alone. He had heard that it was more expensive to buy women’s clothes as opposed to male clothes and hitting the Goodwill might be a great way to save some cash in all of this. He did have a fairly good amount of money, supplemented by VA money thanks to his disabilities and the Vocational Rehabilitation money he was getting as well, but he didn’t want to waste any of it. That was how his parents had ended up in a single wide and struggling.

The drive to the store really wasn’t that long, as the store was on one of the three main roads in the town. They pulled into a handicapped spot and he turned off the car. He slid his drugs into the glove compartment of the car after Tiffany had gotten out of the front seat, as he didn’t want to reach over her. He limped in after the two of them as they both chatted animatedly about what they were hunting for. They had gotten a tiny shopping cart that Thomas thought was cute and started going down one of the aisles. He followed behind them like her was the forlorn boyfriend dragged out to be the pack mule. That helped with his nervousness. He saw them pull out things, look over them critically and either toss them into the shopping cart or hang them back up. First, it was skirts, then dresses, blouses, t-shirts, and jeans. They even snagged a few jackets and three hoodies. The growing mountain of clothes was making his eyes bug out; even at these prices, the two of them seemed to be intent on using all of his money. Finally, they made it to the end of things and he sighed in relief. If there had been more racks they would have bought so much more.

Thomas made his way slowly over to where both of them stood as it was time for the next part of the plan. Stacy placed herself opposite Thomas and started to go through everything again, this time even more critically. Each item of clothing she held up and was looking at was also being held up in such a way that she could see it in relation to Thomas. She held it out at arms length in front of her, which conveniently enough was roughly where Thomas was.

He was impressed with the way the two of them had managed to arrange this. What really got him was that he wasn’t feeling nervous or self-conscious at all and was rather amused all things considered. This experience was much better than having a flashback after shopping. Stacy managed to shrink the amount in the cart to about a third less than there had been before they started her appraisal method. Thomas destressed upon seeing that, but then he realized that they had at least two more stops to go before this little jaunt was over.

Stacy did try on several things and even discarded a few more things. Then they made their way to the cash register as he sighed in resignation. He handed over his bankcard very dejectedly, as the amount was still more than he had actually expected to pay for clothes. Of course, there was maybe ten times the amount of things he had even thought about getting and there was yet another clothing stop to make. This had his head spinning and his heart racing. Were they actually building him a complete wardrobe from stuff taken from Goodwill?

They rolled the loaded down shopping cart out to the car and they unloaded the bags into the trunk, which filled it up nicely. There was still more room available, but not much. Were they trying to give him a whole new wardrobe? That was the only thing that made any sense to him. As Thomas was starting the engine, Tiffi was skipping back to the car as she had returned the cart to the front of the store. He chuckled at the sight of his friend acting like a little girl. When she got back into the car the two girls lip locked right in front of him which made him gape in surprise. Thomas started to get aroused at the sight, as it was pretty hot. He shifted his growing erection and then put the car in reverse trying to focus on anything but the two hot chicks making out in his car. It was not an easy task.

The shopping process was repeated at the other store only a bit faster. Stacy and Tiffany went through clothes, referring to their list and inspecting the seams and everything else. It resulted with an almost identical amount of stuff piled up. He now had lots of skirts, dresses, jeans and the like now, which was a bit odd in his opinion. Having his own closet full of nothing but women’s clothes was not exactly what he had in mind when this quest started but the whole process was a bit overwhelming and he really couldn’t manage to say no. Thomas sardonically grumbled something about what his mother might say.

They all took a break for lunch and the pain to his debit card was not that bad. They all ate and Thomas was able to actually get a better impression of both Tiffany and Stacy. They both seemed to really care about each other even they hadn’t have known each other all that long. There was just something about them that just clicked. Thomas had been shocked at first with their kissing, but he was getting more used to the idea and it was pretty. They weren’t the freaks or dykes like he had sort of expected. They were nothing like he had heard of before in the bullshitting about lesbians with the rest of his platoon. Both Tiffany and Stacy were a bit feminine and not very butch at all and one didn’t seem like the man or vice versa. This confused Thomas some and he just had to sate his curiosity. He leaned in towards them and whispered, “So, which on of you is the man in the relationship?”

The response from the two wasn’t what he expected. Tiffany let out a bark of laughter and then slammed her hands over her mouth to contain the giggles looking around to see if anyone noticed her outburst. Stacy only rolled her eyes and pulled out a five dollar bill from her purse. She handed it to Tiffi, who was bouncing in her seat hands still firmly over her mouth. Tears were leaking from her eyes as she kept laughing. Stacy began to giggle watching Tiffany and then pretty soon all three of them were laughing at the absurdity of the whole situation.

Finally, after she had managed to get herself back under control Tiffany tried to explain. “Okay, so the whole binary of guy and girl in the relationship just doesn’t play out in this I mean sure there are dominant and submissive people in any relationship but you can manage to have a sexual and emotional relationship based off of a meaningful balance between the two or more individuals involved which means that you can have almost any number of combinations involved with only a duality of people. See?”

Thomas just sat there with a blank look on his face. He hadn’t really been able to follow a third of what she had been saying let alone understand things. Stacy sighed and leaned forward. “There isn’t one in our relationship. That whole idea is just that an idea with nothing in it to really make it a Truth. Relationships don’t have to work that way.”

That had been a little clearer. Thomas smiled and nodded as if he had actually followed what either of them had said. He had gotten the fact that there was no ‘man’ in the relationship, which was good but he still had questions. After all, Thomas was completely in the dark about how two women could actually have a relationship.

The two girls split a desert while Thomas just rested, drinking his Coke. With the exception of the phone call from his mother, this whole day was turning out to be quite nice overall. He was enjoying himself, spending time with his friend and her girlfriend who he was starting to like. Tiffany’s mood was a bit infectious and he found it difficult to stay a bit morose around them. He didn’t really see this as a bad thing overall as he was too morose most of the time.

Soon they were on their way to the beauty supply store that Stacy had mentioned so they could pick up some makeup and hair extensions. If there was anything else on that list after this, he really had no idea. Once they pulled up and were in the store, Stacy was off like a shot towards where they kept the hair. There was lots of it and Stacy seemed to find what she was looking for fairly quickly and she grabbed what looked like a fairly large amount. Now the girl was actually checking the various lengths to see something. It was obvious she had a plan and in this store Tiffany joined Thomas against a wall watching her go as this particular part of things was not her favorite. Stacy was filling the basket with lots of things in different colored bottles. There were brushes, and tubes, bottles, vials, and all sorts of foreign and intimidating things put into the basket. Thomas wasn’t even sure that he wanted to know what all of this stuff was. It seemed all too confusing and definitely foreign. Yet it was going to be his.

After about a half an hour of running amuck she stopped and headed towards the register. The other two joined her there and Thomas just paid, sighing. He figured that he would be told what everything was when they got back to his apartment. It was crazy, all the things they had bought and he was really at a loss. Where the hell was he going to put all of these things? He wasn’t sure he had the room for everything that had been bought let alone the things he already had. He might need to get rid of his other clothes in order to make room and he was pretty sure that he wasn’t ready to take that particular step just yet.

The drive home was nice, but Thomas was getting tired. Since the injury, he just didn’t seem to have the stamina he had before and the walking around or standing he had done had wrung him out fairly well. The injury really had messed him up and he was still learning to deal with it. He was glad to be home and collapsed on the couch after taking some of his pain meds, to deal with the burning ache. The girls brought in everything while he rested, putting it into his room. He smiled at them and drifted off to sleep, unable to resist the lure of a nap any longer.

* * * * * *

The smell of spaghetti woke Thomas. He had been dreaming of eating garlic bread and pasta and then he woke up and he could actually smell it, which made for a very surreal sensation. He could hear Stacy and Tiffany talking quietly in his tiny kitchen but he couldn’t make out what was being said. The smell of the rich tomato sauce filled the apartment with that wonderful garlic, basil and oregano smell that he had learned to love. He sat up slowly, rubbing his sore leg. He felt better for his nap, less drained. The leg didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had on the drive home and he felt more relaxed. He realized then that he had been quite tense through the whole shopping trip except he had hidden it from everyone, including himself. This was not necessarily a good thing he realized, especially if it wore him out sooner rather than later. He really needed to pace things better.

Groaning, Thomas stretched as best he could. The feel of his muscles moving was nice. He wasn’t nearly as tense as he usually was and for that he felt blessed. Was it the pain meds or the shopping? He really had no idea at this point but it had to be something. The gurgling of his stomach was audible and he turned a bit red when he heard it gurgle angrily at him. Thomas could feel his hunger building, and the good smells from the kitchen were only making it worse. He padded into the kitchen to check on the status of the food.

Stacy and Tiffany were kissing, deeply and passionately. Stacy was massaging Tiffany’s ass with one hand under the goth girl’s skirt. They broke and looked lovingly into each other’s eyes. The change in position allowed them to see Thomas staring at them, slack jawed in surprise. Tiffany giggled at his reaction and asked, “Have a good nap?”

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment from both the surprise and how aroused the sight made him. “Uhm…yeah. It was helpful.”

Stacy wiped some of Tiffany’s lipstick from the corners of her lips with her thumb, blushing slightly, with a reddish tint covering her cheeks. “Dinner should be ready soon. So… when do we want to do the fashion show? Before or after we eat. Since all that’s really left is the noodles, we should have time for an outfit or two.”

Tiffany nodded and turned to look at Thomas, her desire to see that transformation clearly visible on her face. “Sound okay?”

Thomas felt his face flush and grow warm. He could feel it spread to his ears and down his neck. “I… uhm… you see…”

Tiffany pouted at him. He sighed and nodded slowly, defeated by her cuteness. “All right.”

The goth girl bounced excitedly at his capitulation and added brightly, “Need any help? We did pick up a few other things for you as well that should help with things. Something to fill out the bras we got you and some interesting things I got you from the internet.”

He cocked his head, confused by the internet point. “Like what?”

“Well, you see,” replied Tiffany, vibrating with excitement. “I found directions on how to tuck.”

“Tuck? Tuck what?” asked Thomas, thoroughly confused at this point and a bit scared of what seemed to be implied. Did she honestly mean to tuck that away somewhere?

“Your penis and balls.” She was all bouncy and excited to have been able to tell Thomas this in a less blunt fashion. “If you can’t figure out the written directions that I made for you then I have actually found a YouTube video that shows you how to do it. It was fascinating really I mean first he took two of his fingers and pushed his testicles up into…”

“Tiffi!” exclaimed Stacy, embarrassed from what her girlfriend had been talking about and just as surprised as Thomas was. “There is no need for that.”

Tiffany turned to face her and asked, “What?”

Thomas was still blushing in realization of what the girl had talked abut. Tiffany looked confused as if she had no idea why Stacy was shocked over what she had said. Stacy sighed. “Just give Thomas the box and help him get dressed for dinner. Nothing white though. We can get his hair and stuff afterwards.”

Tiffany laughed and shoved Thomas gently into his bedroom again. “But… but I just woke up and I wanted to get something to drink!”

Tiffany stopped and rolled her eyes at his nervous evasion. “Fine. I’ll go in and pick something out for you. But because you aren’t simply complying with orders then I get to pick out what you are going to wear first.”

Thomas groaned, defeated. “Fine. Fine.”

The redhead bounced and clapped her hands happily. She gushed, “Yay! This should be fun. Whee!”
Stacy and Thomas watched as the girl rushed into the room ahead of him. They turned, looked at each other, and shrugged. There really was no understanding Tiffany sometimes.