"I'm scared," you say, and the admission cracks something open inside you. "Trevor, I'm terrified. I don't know who I am anymore. Every time I look down, there's more of me that's wrong. My thoughts aren't my own. I can feel myself disappearing."
Trevor sets down the Mountain Dew can, his expression shifting from nervous excitement to genuine concern. "I'm scared too," he admits quietly. "I never meant for this to happen. I just wanted... god, I don't even know what I wanted. Not this."
"But it did happen." You shift on the bed, your expanded body settling into the mattress. "And now I'm sitting in your room at midnight, eating Doritos, looking like..." You gesture at yourself helplessly.
"Looking like someone I actually want to talk to," Trevor finishes. He rolls his chair closer. "Is that messed up? That even knowing what I did, I'm still... I'm still glad you're here?"
The honesty in his voice makes your chest tight. "Yeah. It's pretty messed up." You pause. "But I get it. I mean, objectively speaking, you created a companion using impossibly advanced reality-warping code. That's like... that's peak mad scientist territory. Very anime."
A surprised laugh bursts from Trevor. "Did you just compliment my accidental body horror experiment by comparing it to anime?"
"I mean, if we're being technical, this is more like a light novel premise. Probably titled something ridiculous like 'I Accidentally Turned Batman Into My Girlfriend Using Forbidden Code!'"
Trevor's laugh is louder this time, genuine. "With way too many exclamation points in the title."
"At least three," you agree, and you're smiling now too, unable to stop yourself. "Though the genre tags would be confusing. Romance? Horror? Isekai-adjacent?"
"Definitely psychological thriller," Trevor says, his eyes bright behind his glasses. "With uncomfortable amounts of self-insert wish fulfillment."
"So basically every light novel ever written."
He grins at that, a real smile that transforms his nervous face into something almost handsome. "You know, you're kind of amazing. Even scared and transformed and probably plotting seventeen ways to take me down, you're still... you're still you."
"I don't know if that's true anymore," you whisper.
Trevor reaches out, hesitates, then gently touches your hand where it rests on the bed. His fingers are warm, slightly trembling. "Then maybe we figure out who you are now. Together."
The virus surges at the contact, flooding your system with warmth and want. You should pull away. You should maintain distance. But instead you're leaning forward, and Trevor is leaning forward, and suddenly his lips are on yours.
The kiss is clumsy, inexperienced. His glasses bump against your face. But it's also soft, tentative, and terrifyingly real. Your eyes flutter closed. His hand moves to cup your rounded cheek. The world narrows to the pressure of his mouth on yours, the taste of Mountain Dew on his breath, the way your transformed body responds with a cascade of sensations you've never felt before.