Title: In Flux
Author: pterawaters
Artist: bulisen – Art found at bulisen dot deviantart dot com
Word Count: 15,800
Characters: Kurt, Puck, Blaine, Hudmels, Mercedes, etc
Pairing(s): Kurt/Blaine, Kurt/Puck
Genre: Supernatural/Drama/Romance
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Gender mutability

Author's Note: Written for Round 2 of the kurtbigbang over on livejournal

Summary: Kurt never thought losing his virginity would also mean losing his gender and by extension, his boyfriend. When a chance encounter with Puck proves his old self wasn't gone for good, Kurt figures his life is set again. It's too bad he never asked Puck what he thought of the arrangement.

Kurt knew that this would be one of the defining moments in his life. Graduating kindergarten, his mother's death, his first glee victory, his dad's marriage, leaving McKinley, and now this. Kurt was about to lose his virginity to his boyfriend.

They'd taken all the precautions and prepared Blaine very well, and as he lay on his back, looking up at Kurt with lust and love in his eyes, Kurt knew that it was right. Sex, as it turned out, was amazing. It was so much more than, "Oh god, why would you do that to another person? That boy has a mother!" It was love and hope and desperate affection all rolled into one.

Kurt did not expect to wake up in Blaine's bed the next morning the way he did.

It was the cry of surprise that really set Kurt off to the fact that something wasn't right. He woke up to see Blaine staring down at him, confused, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Who are you?" Blaine demanded, getting out of the bed and pulling the sheet with him. "How did you get in here? Where's Kurt?"

Confused, Kurt sat up and rubbed his face with one hand, saying, "Oh, ha, ha. I'm right here, honey. Now, do you want to stop playing games and make me some coffee?"

"What did you do with him?" Blaine cried again, hastily pulling on his uniform pants and a white t-shirt. "I'm calling the cops!"

"Blaine!" Kurt insisted, getting up from the bed, with the comforter around his waist, and feeling really quite odd. Was this what it felt like, losing one's virginity? "What are you doing? It's me, Kurt!"

"Kurt's not a girl," Blaine replied, pointing at Kurt's bare chest. More confused by the second, Kurt looked down to see that he had, indeed, two small, pert breasts.

"What the...?" Kurt cried, opening the comforter to look below his waist, "Where's my dick? How? Blaine, I'm a girl!"

"I can see that," the boy replied, looking to the side uncomfortably, like he wanted to cover his eyes with both hands or claw them out or something.

Suddenly aware of his immodesty, Kurt found his clothes at the foot of Blaine's bed where he'd set them the night before, and put everything back on this really, sort of awkward frame. God, and no wonder girls wore bras, if this was what it felt like going without one. He was on permanent high-beam status just from the crisp cotton of his shirt brushing against them. "You can look now, Blaine, but I swear I'm Kurt. I don't know how this happened."

His boyfriend nodded, looking him over once more now that Kurt was clothed. He still felt the right size, as far as height and weight went, but his arms sat funny and he had boobs and his hips were more pear-shaped than ever. God, he needed a mirror. Ooh, there was one in Blaine's bathroom. Kurt rushed into there and turned on the light, at once struck by how much longer his hair was, falling just above his shoulders. How?

"You do sort of look like him," Blaine mumbled over Kurt's shoulder and Kurt had to agree. His eyes were the same, and his nose, lips, and chin not all that different. His brow and jawline were much softer and there was no Adam's apple at his throat, but otherwise, he was still himself. Just ... female.

"What did Kurt say to me," Blaine quizzed him all of a sudden, "when we got caught in the rain that one time?"

Kurt smiled and replied, "Cats and dogs were never my thing."

Blaine's mouth dropped open in surprise. "It is you! Oh my god, Kurt!" Blaine stepped forward as if to hug him, but thought better of it and asked instead, "So I take it you have no idea how this happened?"

"No," Kurt replied, frowning at his bird's nest hair and grabbing Blaine's comb so he could start taking care of it. "Though a change of apparent gender is no reason to get sloppy."

Blaine laughed and nodded, but he still looked freaked out and Kurt couldn't say he blamed him. Kurt was doing his best not to freak out as well. It wouldn't do if both of them lost their heads over this. Kurt had already lost one head after all. Shifting his hips, Kurt could tell his pants felt far too empty and it almost made him start to panic again.

"What are we going to do?" Blaine asked, fingering a lock of Kurt's longish hair. "I mean, who do we tell about this? The police or something?"

"Yeah, because that would work out so well," Kurt snorted, poking at one of his breasts with a stubborn finger. "I don't think the police cover spontaneous sex-change. This is like, some real-life Harry Potter sort of stuff."

"But you're a girl! There has to be something we can do!"

Kurt turned away from the mirror and put his hands on Blaine's shoulders to ground him a little. "I'm going to go home and explain the situation to my parents. Maybe they'll know what to do. Okay?"

"Yeah," Blaine nodded, looking down and away. "That sounds like a good plan."

Kurt's boyfriend looked so lost and forlorn that Kurt couldn't help but lean forward to press a comforting kiss to the boy's lips. Blaine started and pulled away. "Sorry," he apologized, taking Kurt's hand instead. "I love you, Kurt, I do, but this is really freaking me out."

Disappointed, Kurt nodded, "Yeah, okay. I get it. I should get going before your parents get home. I'll call you tonight."

"Sure," Blaine nodded, holding Kurt's hand all the way to the door, where his amazing calf-skin boots still stood, side by side (they were now about two sizes too big despite the fact that Kurt was sure he was still the same height). "Tonight."

"We'll figure it out," Kurt assured his boyfriend. "We have to."

As he stepped out of the Anderson house, Kurt fished his phone out of one jacket pocket and his keys out of another, dialing his phone and holding it to his ear as he jumped into his car. "Y'ello?" Kurt's dad answered. "Hummel and Hudson residence."

"Dad, it's me," he said. "Look, something happened and I'm fine, but I look a little different. I'm on my way home from Mercedes' now, and I don't want you to be surprised when I get there."

"What? Did your friends shave your head or somethin' while you were sleeping?" Burt laughed, as Kurt gasped.

"No! They would never do that to me!" Kurt insisted, carbon Blaine still watching him from the front door. "In fact, my hair's longer. You'll see when I get there."

"Longer? How'd you manage that?"

"Dad, I have to hang up now so I can drive, okay?"

"Yeah, okay, buddy," Burt laughed again. "See you in a few."

Kurt took a deep breath as he hung up his phone, waving to Blaine once more before buckling his seat belt, starting the engine and backing out. What in the holy hell had gone wrong?

When Kurt got home, he parked in his normal spot in the driveway and came in through the garage as usual, hitching his unused decoy overnight bag over one shoulder and following the smells and sounds of breakfast into the kitchen.

He expected to see Carole and Burt flirting over the stove and Finn waiting patiently at the table, playing with the salt-and-pepper shakers as if they were action figures. He did not expect to see Noah Puckerman beside him, manning the syrup bottle and making space-ship noises to go along with Finn's game.

Kurt rolled his eyes. Boys.

Taking a breath for courage, Kurt gave the room a finger-wave and said, "Hi."

Burt didn't look up, just saying, "Hi, kiddo. How was your sleepover?" Carole, however, gave Kurt a surprised look, Finn dropped the saltshaker, and Puck asked in a loud whisper, "Who's the hot chick, Hudson?"

"Kurt?" Carole asked, abandoning her pan of eggs and reaching out to finger Kurt's jacket collar. "What happened?"

The concern in her voice must have tipped off Burt's instincts, because he whipped around and gave Kurt a hard look, like he was searching for injuries. Instead he found only his son who wasn't quite a son anymore.

"I don't know," Kurt replied to Carole's question, but keeping his eyes with his father's and trying desperately not to cry. "I woke up this way."

After a long silence, Burt muttered, "I told ya you put too much crap in your hair."

"Dad," Kurt tried to explain, dropping his bag and letting his coat fall backward, "it's not just my hair. Look." He tilted his head back to expose his now-smooth throat.

"Not so honorary anymore, Kurt?" Puck asked from across the room with a wide grin. He explained to Finn, "Your brother's a girl, dude!"

"No," Carole insisted dismissively. "It's just..."

"I am a girl, like," Kurt sighed, "all the way down. It's very upsetting, to tell the truth."

"How come your voice is the same?" Finn asked, and all eyes turned toward him. "Yeah, okay," Finn relented. "Stupid question. But how did this happen?"

"I don't know!" Kurt insisted, brushing his way through the room to grab his usual mug for a cup of coffee. "It's like magic or something." Burt was frowning, so Kurt asked softly, "You believe it's me, don't you, Daddy?"

"I know it's you, son," Burt assured him, shaking his head on that last word. "I know my own child. But things like this don't happen!"

"I know," Kurt nodded solemnly, tipping some milk into his coffee before taking a sip. "And I'm as freaked out about this as you are. I don't even want to know how I'm going to pass at Dalton. It's boys-only and I don't exactly fit the criteria anymore."

"I'll call you out sick," Burt agreed, stepping forward and pulling Kurt into a hug that was much more comforting than Kurt might have expected. "And if this doesn't go away, we'll enroll you back at McKinley."

"So I'll be tortured for being a freak again?" Kurt scoffed, shaking his head. "There has to be-"

"Dude," Puck broke into the conversation, standing up from the table and coming in closer. "You could just say you're Kurt's cousin or something, living with Burt and Carole because your parents moved to Istanbul. No one would mess with you just for being a girl if they thought you always were one."

"That," Carole nodded, sparing a small smile for Puck, "might actually work. You'd have to pretend not to know anyone," she warned, giving Kurt a questioning look. "Do you think you could do that?"

"Wait!" Finn cried, standing up and joining the group standing around the kitchen. "Am I the only one seriously disturbed by the fact that Kurt's a girl and life is just going to go on as usual? It's not right!"

"It is what it is, Finn," Burt shrugged. "I'm not saying we won't do everything we can to figure out how this happened and how to turn Kurt back, but we have to play the hand we're dealt. Okay?"

Kurt smirked a little. He always loved it when his dad schooled Finn on his behavior.

"In the mean time," Carole added, turning back to the stove, "let's eat breakfast. No use letting food go to waste."

Kurt nodded, taking his usual chair at the table, across from Finn and Puck. Burt continued helping Carole, whispering with her on occasion, and Kurt's heart fluttered with guilt for being such a freakish nuisance.

Before the food was delivered to the table, Puck leaned across and said, "Psst, Kurt?"

"What?" Kurt asked with a frown over his coffee mug.

"Can I touch your boobs? You know, just to check that they're real?" Puck grinned with a flourish, so Kurt threw a cloth napkin at his head.

"No way, Puck," he replied. "I have a boyfriend."

"A boyfriend who's into dudes," Puck insisted. "C'mon, like one little grab, and I'll be cool."

Kurt knew Puck was right about Blaine. It wasn't just the shock of seeing Kurt as a girl that had made Blaine pull away. It was the simple fact that now Kurt was a girl. Blaine couldn't be interested anymore, could he?

"I'm still a boy in my head," Kurt replied, slapping Puck's hand away. "That's where it matters."

"Puckerman!" Burt called from across the room. "Stop trying to grope my kid!"

"Sorry, Mr. H.," Puck replied with that charming, vulnerable look on his face. "Was just curious."

"I bet you were," Kurt muttered under his breath, diving into his coffee again. This was a nightmare. It had to be.

In his room that night, Kurt put off undressing for as long as he could. If he kept his hair tucked back and his clothes on, he felt almost normal, even though he knew in the deepest part of his gut that he wasn't.

Finally he grabbed a baggy pair of pajamas and turned out the light, changing quickly and trying not to notice the way there was nothing swinging between his legs. When one arm brushed the side of his breast, though, he lost it.

Deep wracking sobs plowed through Kurt's body as he sank down onto the hardwood of his bedroom floor. Why? Why was this happening to him? Was it someone's cosmic joke? Oh, Kurt's life hasn't been hard enough, it was just starting to get good. We've got to change that!

Even though it didn't feel like it, was this what he was really supposed to be? A girl? Was the universe just correcting itself at his expense?

What would it take to turn back?

Maybe, like in the fairytales he'd loved as a child, he just needed to fall asleep and things would fall back into place.

On Sunday, when Kurt woke up female for the second time in his life, he resigned himself to the fact that until further notice, his previous body was gone. Instead he was trapped in this too-curvy, too awkward, too cock-less shape. Blaine would never want to sleep with him again.

"If I'm going to school as my own cousin," Kurt explained to Carole as they sat together over tea, "Mercedes and Rachel have to know. And I need new clothes."

Carole chuckled a little and nodded, "Best excuse for a new wardrobe yet. But are you sure about telling your friends? The more people who know..."

"I get that," Kurt nodded, "but if Mercedes and Rachel see me, but don't ever see the male me they're expecting, they'll either figure it out right away or stick their noses everywhere until they figure it out. It's better just to be upfront about it."

"If you think that's what's best," Carole agreed, but Kurt could see the concern in her eyes. But truly, if Kurt couldn't trust his two best girl friends, who could he trust?

Kurt called his friends, telling them to come over right away, because he had something to show them. Rachel told him she'd pick Mercedes up, so the two girls arrived together, Burt showing them in. Finn had gone over to Puck's so it was just Kurt, his parents, and his best friends as he met them in the living room, wearing his most feminine clothes – a long sweater and a pair of skinny jeans that just barely fit his fuller hips.

"Who are you?" Rachel asked at the same time Mercedes gasped, "Kurt?"

"It's not Kurt," Rachel scoffed, stepping closer. "I mean, Kurt was never this ... oh my god, it is you! What happened?"

"I woke up as a girl yesterday morning," Kurt said, "and that's why I left so early..."

Mercedes caught on right away, snapping her fingers and insisting, "I was wondering why you would skip out on Rachel's vegan brunch extravaganza. Why didn't you tell us then?" Rachel gave Mercedes a look like she was crazy, so Mercedes kicked her with the side of one shoe and gave the girl a heavy look. Oh, please let Rachel remember she was supposed to be covering for me.

"Frittatas!" Rachel burst out all of a sudden. "I made tofu frittatas. You would have loved them."

Kurt nodded in relief and held out his arms so that the two girls could circle him and get a good look. Eventually, Mercedes twisted her lips and said, "It's not fair."

"What's not fair?" Kurt asked. "The fact that I'm in the wrong body for no apparent reason?"

"No, the fact that you're built like a supermodel!" Mercedes huffed. She smiled, though, so Kurt could tell it was a good-natured complaint.

"You're still much taller than me," Rachel observed, standing on her tiptoes. "That's not fair, either."

"Alright, ladies," Kurt sighed. "If you're done scrutinizing my appearance, can we go to the mall? I need a wardrobe that fits."

"Yeah," Mercedes replied with a nod, reaching up to touch the smooth skin on Kurt's cheek, as if to make sure he was really real. "Yeah, baby girl, let's go."

On the way to the mall, with Carole driving and the girls talking about what stores to hit first, Kurt got a call. From Puck. "No, I will not let you fondle my boobs," Kurt said when he answered the call. "Give it up, Puck."

"Geez," the boy laughed, and Kurt did not at all feel his heart flutter at the sound of Puck's voice. It was probably just his new body acting weird. "Not why I called!"

"Why did you call?" Kurt asked, wanting to ask the ex-Juvie-con if it had been for an equally frivolous purpose.

Puck took a sharp breath, as if reminding himself, and then asked, "What's your cousin's name?"

"What?"

"When you go to school, what name will you be using? I kinda got this fake-ID guy, and I figured you can't go around with your old one that says, 'Kurt' now can ya?"

"I'll..." Kurt said, looking at the others. "I'll think about it and get back to you."

"Soon, Hummel," Puck insisted. "Later you're gonna be shit-out-of-luck 'cause my guy's only in town for the weekend."

"Okay," Kurt replied. "I'll get back to you soon." Hanging up, Kurt turned to the others as they reached the mall and said, "I need a girl name. Puck's getting me ID."

"Is he?" Carole asked, shaking her head. "And it's going to say you're seventeen, and not twenty-one, right?"

"I'll make sure of it," he promised. "I bet I can keep my last name and say I'm from my dad's side, so I just need a first name."

"Whatever you think you can respond to," Rachel replied, her hand on her door handle, though no one had made the first move to get out of the car. "Because it won't do for someone to call out, 'Jenny, Jenny,' if you're not going to recognize it."

"What about Elizabeth?" Kurt asked, since it was the middle name he liked to give himself. Unfortunately-

"Oh, sweetie," Carole replied with a sigh and those concerned eyes. "I think that would be too difficult for your father. Could you pick another name?"

Unfortunately, Elizabeth was Kurt's dead mother's name, as well. "Yeah," Kurt sighed with a small smile for his stepmother. "You're completely right, Carole. I've just ... I've never picked out a girl's name for myself before, despite popular opinion. I've always just been Kurt."

"Something that sounds like your real name," Mercedes suggested. "Like Katrina. We could call you Kat for short!"

"Mmm," Kurt replied, cracking his door open. "I'll think about it."

After Kurt called Puck with his new name, the shopping trip went well and he got a weeks' worth of school clothes. He had to admit, it was a little fun, figuring out which cuts fit his new body best, as well as the plethora of women's designs he got to choose from.

Wearing a dress with a jacket and long boots, Kurt twirled in front of the mirror, catching Mercedes' eye in the reflection and groaning, "It's perfect, but I have a feeling Blaine's going to hate it."

"Why's that?" she asked, tying a scarf around her neck and joining him at the mirror.

"I can tell," Kurt sighed, looking at his jeans at the side of the dressing room and the phone still stashed in the back pocket. "He hasn't called since I left his house yesterday, and last night when I called, he didn't pick up. He just wants me to be a boy again, and if I see him like this..." Kurt pointed to his chest, which the dress heavily emphasized, "he's going to break up with me."

"It's just for school," Rachel insisted, reaching up to put her hands on both of Kurt's shoulders. "You can wear those jeans we picked out and your boy shirts when you see Blaine. It'll be fine."

Kurt pouted at her in the mirror, but nodded. Hope was good, right? It was something to hang onto for now, in any case. Kurt's biggest hope was that he'd turn back soon, because as nice as he looked, the figure in the mirror just was not him, and no measure of pretty dresses and amazing shoes was going to change that.