NEW HIRE

by Erick S.

“Kip, huh?” Bernie broke the uncomfortable silence, “That your real name?”

The kid stood across the register from him, obviously uncomfortable and unsure how to answer.

“It’s OK,” Bernie continued, looking over the kid’s resume, “You don’t have to tell me your real name. A lot of the guys I hire go by their stage names. Ever worked in a store like this?”

“No, sir,” the kid said.

Still, Bernie had to admire this kid stumbling in off the street, resume in hand, looking for a job. He was cute, no doubt about that. He should have been applying at some of the bars and restaurants in the neighborhood, if he knew what was good for him. The guys would eat him up. He’d make a killing in tips. But here he was, in Bernie’s adult toy shop, nervously looking around, wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

“Ever shopped here before?” Bernie asked.

“Yeah, I guess. A couple times,” Kip answered.

“Really?” said Bernie, “Never seen you in here before.”

“It was just once, maybe. With some friends,” he answered, hoping to move on to the next question.

“I dunno, Kip,” Bernie deliberately put the resume down, “I got this position open, but you ain’t got much experience.”

Bernie saw a look of defeat in the kid’s eyes.

“Please,” he said, “I just need a job. I moved here with my boyfriend and now we’re not together, I just moved into this shitty studio apartment down the block, I don’t know anybody here, and the only way I can afford to stay is if I get a job and start getting paid today.”

Kip clearly hadn’t meant for all of that to come spilling out. But Bernie smiled. Maybe there was something in this kid after all.

“Why don’t you take your shirt off, Kip?” he said, “The guys I hire here work with their shirts off. In their underwear sometimes, if they want to. Just part of the job. Not a problem, is it?”

Bernie sensed the hesitation, but Kip let out a deep breath and stripped off his shirt. He just needed a job.

“Wow,” Bernie said, genuinely impressed, “You work out?”

The kid had a cute face, sure, but his lean, toned, athletic body was really a surprise. Bernie licked his lips. This was exactly what he’d been looking for.

“Yeah,” Kip replied, “A little. Just try to keep in shape.”

“Well, Kip,” said Bernie, “The job’s yours if you want it. You can start today if you want to start making some money.”

“That would be amazing,” said Kip, and Bernie noticed his adorable, charming smile for the first time. This kid was quite the lucky catch.

“Just some paperwork, then,” said Bernie, “Why don’t you flip the sign on the door to ‘Closed,’ and we’ll go back in the office. Then I’ll show you the ropes.”

Kip did as he was told, and Bernie led him through a heavy black curtain to the back room of the store.

If Kip had known what was good for him, he would have ran the second he saw all of the suits. A whole rack of them. On hangers. Fully-detailed skin suits, most of them younger-looking guys with athletic bodies like Kip’s. But Kip couldn’t run. He could only stand there in shock as Bernie came around and pulled him in from behind.

“See that over there?” Bernie forced Kip to turn around. There was a skin suit slung carelessly over the back of a chair, “That was ‘Jake.’ One of my best suits. But suits can only last so long before they get a rip in them, or they start getting loose, not fitting right. See?”

Still keeping Kip tightly pulled in against him, Bernie used a free hand to lift the suit off of the chair. Across the abdomen, there was a sharp gash, not like a skin wound but like a piece of fabric that had gotten caught on a sharp edge.

“Get the fuck off of me!” Kip yelled, struggling against Bernie’s hold, “This is fucked up!”

“Nah,” said Bernie, calmly, “Sorry, bub. No way I’m letting you go. Knew you’d be perfect the second you stepped in the door. If you’d stay still for a second, we could get this over with real quick.”

Bernie still had Kip firmly pressed against him, and Kip started to feel an intense warmth building up between their bodies. He started to feel like he was melting, or that Bernie was melting into him. Like Bernie was coming inside of him, inch by inch filling him up from the inside. It wasn’t right.

Soon Bernie was all the way inside of Kip. He let himself catch his breath before turning around to face the full-length mirror on the back wall.

“Very nice,” he smiled, making Kip’s cute face light up.

He tugged carefully at the sides of his mouth and began to slide Kip’s face over his head. He checked out Kip’s body with his head on top and did some flexing. That always gave him a kick. Then he pulled Kip’s face back up and realigned it with his own face underneath. It was a great fit. Nothing like a fresh new suit.

“Well, Kip,” he said to his reflection, “The customers sure do miss Jake, but I think they’re going to love my newest hire. What do you think?”

He fixed his hair in the mirror and gave his body one more glance-over before heading back out into the store and making sure the black curtain was closed tightly behind him.

As he flipped the sign on the front door to “Open,” one of his favorite customers walked in.

“Hey,” Bernie said with his Kip voice.

“Thought you guys were closed,” the customer said.

“Nah, just out to lunch,” Bernie said, loving how his customer was not-so-subtly checking out his newest body, “Need any help?”

“No,” the customer said, “Just need to pick some things up for tonight – You new here? Thought Bernie said he’d be in today. Never seem to catch him. Suppose that’s what he’s got all you guys here for, eh?”

“Yeah,” said Bernie. He always found it best to play it as minimal and low-key as possible for the first day or so in a new body. After that, things started coming easy.

“Well,” the customer said, “Tell him I stopped by the next time you see him.“

“I will,” Bernie smiled, “I definitely will.”