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“Kiki, your package is here!” Carmine called from the front door.
“Ah coming!” Kieran bolted from his room and ran downstairs to retrieve his package, a white box with the PokeLabs logo stamped on all sides. He’d been waiting weeks for it to finally come in. Honestly if you asked him what would be harder, actually GETTING his testosterone shipped to him, or getting it prescribed in the first place, he didn't think it would be the later.
Getting it prescribed was easy actually. After finally being convinced to see a gender confirming care doctor (that he had to travel several hours to see due to Kitakami’s remote location), he was elated to find out that hormonal treatment was entirely possible even with him being part pokemon. The only main road bump was getting the medicine actually delivered, again due to the remoteness of Kitakami. Took some calls on both ends but eventually a proper delivery route was figured out.
Scurrying back to his bedroom, he quickly opened the box, his smile wide and tail wagging.
12 happy little pill bottles greeted him, each filled with 30 pills, one pill a day, enough to basically last him the whole year. He read through his doctor's instructions, baffled by how…simple it was. One pill, taken with water, and presto, goodbye periods and higher pitched voice, hello to deep voice and hair.
…Okay maybe he wasn't as excited about the hair part as he was with his voice.
After definitely not struggling with the safety cap, he finally retrieved one of the pills and popped it in-
Only to immediately spit it out with a “Bleh!!”
To say the pill was bitter was an understatement. It was easily the worst thing he had ever tasted, and he was used to nasty food thanks to Blueberry. He looked at the pill he spat out, then the bottle, and whimpered. He really wanted to transition hormonally but…not if it was like eating a trubish.
He walked back downstairs and saw Carmine in the kitchen, bouncing her leg as she sat at the table, laptop out as she mumbled under her breath something about “stupid class signups”
“Hey uh sis?”
Carmine looked up. “Huh? Yeah whatcha need? Something wrong with your pills or something?”
“No-well yeah, theyre…” He trailed off and sighed “Do…do we have any of those…peanut butter treats you used to give Poochy pills?”
Carmine looked right at him, mouth slightly agape in shock, before it turned to a smile she tried to hide as she snorted.
“Hey! It's not funny! They’re really nasty!”
“No no its fucking hilarious, big ol legendary needs a peanutbutter treat just to take his meds.”
Kieran’s cheeks burned. “S I S!”
“Alright alright, don't get your vines in a bunch.” Carmine shook her head as she went to one of the cupboards and pulled out a green bag. “Here” She tossed it to him. “You can have whatever's left, after that, you're buying your own.”
Kieran sighed with a bwomp. “Thanks sis.”
- - -
The first few weeks Kieran didn't notice much. He felt like he had more energy but that wasn't anything he could deal with (The pokerus incident was way worse in terms of ‘pent up energy’). However, he did notice his first physical change around a month in. He’d also noticed he was sweating way more often, but he blamed that on the kitakami summer being unusually hot this time.
Kieran awoke feeling sweaty and deciding he very much needed a cold shower. Dragging himself out of his bed, he sluggishly made his way to the bathroom. It was only when he entered the bathroom did he do a doubletake.
He looked different. His horns were now adorned with a soft green material that coated the bark. He rubbed his fingers against it with awe, feeling a jolt go down his spine from how sensitive the new material was. It reminded him of moss, both in color and texture. He couldn't help but let out a breathy laugh at the sight. His horns, growing moss. He knew of other horned pokemon developing something called velvet, but he never had anything like that before now.
His horns weren't the only change. He could see his chest and arms had begun to develop little green specks that upon a closer look Kieran could tell were the start of leaves!
“Instead of chest hair I get chest leaves.” He chuckled to himself, happily admiring the start of his changes. “Wonder if I'll get a leaf beard?” he tried to imagine himself with it and cringed, shaking his head. No he wouldn't look good with a beard.
- - -
He'd been taking T for about a month and a half now, and he was quite pleased with the results. His voice was already starting to deepen, his leaves were steadily growing in thicker, and the strange moss on his horns had now covered the whole thing in a blanket of softness.
There was one thing he wasn't too pleased about.
The cravings.
Now Kieran has had cravings before, just like anyone else. Usually his cravings were sweets, or a specific type of berry or dish.
But now Kieran was craving all sorts of things. Sometimes he would suddenly crave an acidic snack, like a pickle or lemon. Poor Carmine had walked in on him eating an entire jar of pickles. Other times his body would suddenly desire high protein food. His normal protein choices weren't satisfying him, which is how he ended up making a horrific concoction of a bean and Lechonk belly omelet (that he promptly threw up from due to his body not being built to digest meat).
It wasn't just the cravings that were awful.
He always feels hungry now.
Perhaps it was because for so long he got used to eating a little that the cravings triggered something else. But now it felt like he couldn't eat enough.
His breakfasts became comedically huge, carb stuffed delights. His lunches being mixed matched leftovers piled into whatever he could. And his dinners basically became a meal for 2 people and he’d still ask for more. It's not like he didn't know he'd get an increased appetite (he read the side effects to better prepare himself), but he didn't expect him to have one that rivaled Drayton’s dragons on a good day. It honestly made him feel embarrassed some days with just how much food his body felt it needed.
His grandpa tried to ease his nerves one day, reassuring him that his body was basically going through a second puberty, and it was normal for a teenage boy to eat a lot. It helped, having his grandparents be so supportive of it, plus Carmine's light ribbing from time to time helped make it feel less strange, even if he was going through 2 dozen eggs a week.
The worst craving he had though, was his body suddenly craving something he hadn't ever had before. Something bitter and pulpy, something hard and dry. He tried every berry he could think of but nothing was satisfying the craving. It got to the point where Kieran felt himself unconsciously gnawing on the wood of his bedframe just to ease some of the desire.
It wasn't for a few days till he finally found what it was he was looking for.
When wandering through Timeless woods in search of more berries, he stumbled across an Apricorn tree. The red fruits of the tree shined under the summer sun, glistening in luring him in. He never ate an Apricorn before, why would he? It was made with a hard shell and the fruit inside was a dry stringy mess that reminded him the taste of dirt. He had tried eating them when he was just Ogerpon, but the lack of proper fruit and nasty taste made them less than desirable.
Right now though, he couldn't stop himself from picking at the tree, yanking down the fruits and tearing into them with a ravenous hunger. He was honestly glad he insisted on some alone time to breathe cause he couldn't begin to imagine how he looked right now.
Carmine wouldn't let him live it down.
Only once the Apricorns were gone did he sigh in relief. His craving finally gone, the ache in his teeth for something hard vanishing. It didn't make sense to him, Apricorns were not food. Humans couldn't really eat them, their shells were used sometimes as bowls in ancient times, and the ‘fruit’ could be mashed to add a bitterness to a dish, but nothing else. Few pokemon ever went after them, he could count maybe on one hand the pokemon that actively have Apricorns as part of their diet.
…one of those were Gogoats
A fellow horned grass type.
Kieran chose not to think of it any further than that, just dusted himself off and embarrassingly walked off, already planning to specially order Apricorns just in case the craving kicked up again.
- - -
Three months into T and he was already noticing his body shift more and more. His chest and arm hair became so thick and lush he had to borrow his grandpa's gardening sheets just to keep up with it. His voice also began to get deeper and deeper, now finally starting to sound on par with some of the teenage boys he went to school with.
His cravings hadn't gone down in the slightest either. He was still munching on Apricorns and making protein packed abominations. But other than his stomach occasionally protesting the concoctions, there really weren't any other negative side effects!
And then, one sweaty night, Kieran awoke with a gasp. His bed was wrong, very very wrong. He had to fix it, fix his nest. Make it good. Better.
His instincts took over, making his body move swiftly. Every blanket, pillow, and plushie was thrown to the floor as he began to rearrange everything. Pillows shoved into the corner and around, blankets draped over top, stuffed animals laid expertly around it. He had been too in the zone, he hadn't noticed the footsteps appearing until Carmine manifested in his door frame.
“What in Arceus’ name are you doing?!” She asked, bewildered
“Making a nest.” He immediately said back, still moving the blankets to be perfect.
“Your…oh my Arc Kieran do not tell me you're making a nest for Juliana?!”
He nods.
“She is in Paldea!”
“You think she'll like it?”
“She isn't here!”
“Maybe it needs more pillows” he was about to scurry past but Carmine removed her slipper and threw it at his head, causing him to let out a startled noise.
“No! Bad weirdo, no stealing the pillows from downstairs! You already hoard enough pillows.”
Kieran disagreed and just growled and hopped back into the nest.
“Don't you growl at me mister- and spray some air freshener will you! Smells like a fresh cut lawn in here!” She slammed the door.
Kieran huffed once she was gone, going back to making the nest. It was only once done and he settled in did his mind clear. Sitting up he looked at the nest with confusion. Why…had he male it? Sure he's made small personal nests before, but this one was different. It was arranged a lot like how he'd seen certain bird mons arrange theirs, with decorations to try and attract their mates.
…
Kieran covered his face and let out a whine. Of course his stupid hormonal brain decided to make a courting nest for Juliana, who was HUNDREDS OF MILES AWAY!!
“Ugh, stupid hormones!” He flopped back into the nest, not wanting to admit it was extremely comfy. He huffed and looked at the calendar. A few more weeks and then he'd be off for his senior year of school. He just hoped the worst of his weird nonsense would pass.
- - -
Sunlight filtered through Kieran's window, pulling him from his pleasant dream. He let out a groan as he sat up, body feeling sticky and uncomfortable as it had been for a while now. Peeling himself away from his nest, he made his way to shower, tongue sticking out from how gross he felt.
As soon as he entered the bathroom, he took a look at the mirror and did a double take, then smiled. His horns had increased in size, now resembling antlers, kind of. The mossy velvet still clung to him but he had a feeling it would shed in due time. His chest leaves had grown enough that they stuck above his shirt, he even began to notice he was growing more leaves, this time on his stomach. His fingers had begun to develop a bark like texture and his nails had sharpened into claws, perhaps if he was still a sophomore he would hate the changes, but now?
He adored them!
Humming to himself he stripped down, awaiting for the shower to heat up, only to freeze once his pants hit the floor.
He knew to expect some kind of change down there.
But this?
He just stared at it, kinda in shock how he hadn't noticed it before.
“Since when did I have a penis??”