InsaneJournal

Who: T'Challa, Hans, and Anna
When: April 4th
What: Body Swap plot!
Rating: Low
Status: Complete



T'Challa had been having another of his Dreams, of a world he was learning was full of superheroes. So when he woke, a little disorientation wasn't a surprise. But something was different this time. As he opened his eyes still heavy with the last remnants of sleep, reality dawned on him real fast.

This wasn't his room. Nor was it his bed. Looking to his left was the biggest shock of all. He was in bed with a woman. And he knew for certain he'd gone to bed alone, in his own home. T'Challa was frozen in absolute bewilderment.

Anna was sleeping deeply. She always did when she was in Hans’ bed, in his apartment. The whole place smelled like him. They didn’t have to worry about the hyper-sensitive, vampire hearing or smelling or whatever of the girls she shared an apartment with when she was at Hans’ place. No roommates to speak of. They could be as loud as they wanted to, all night long.

This morning, though, Anna was out. When she felt Hans move, she stirred a bit, one arm reaching out to wrap around him in her sleep.

T'Challa didn't move fast enough when the woman reached out and wrapped an arm around him. His body stiffened at the touch.

"Uhm," he uttered nervously, and found his deep voice was much higher, and altogether different. He cleared his throat softly and tried again. "Uh...miss?" He frowned; his voice definitely wasn't his own.

Anna breathed slowly, exhaling a sigh that had her melting against him. It took her more than a moment to process the word ‘miss,’ which should have snapped her to her senses. Coming from such a deep sleep, it was surprising she caught it at all. “Hmmmf?” She finally blinked her eyes slowly and lazily open to look up at him. “Whuttimesit?” She asked. Her hair was a mess. She may or may not have been drooling.

T'Challa had experienced few intimate relationships in his life, and being a gentleman as best he could manage, had never had a one night stand. So this woman snuggling up against him was beyond awkward. Also, was she drooling on his shoulder?

He blinked stupidly and twisted around to look for a clock. He fumbled for the smartphone on the night stand. "It is uh, nine in the morning." He spoke formally, and a little slower than your average English speaker since English was his second language, though he was fortunate to learn it at young enough of an age to speak it very fluently.

As he held the phone in front of him, it was then he noticed the most stark of the changes this morning:

He was white.

His eyes went wide and T'Challa scrambled from the woman's embrace to sit up. He ran his hands over his arms and looked down at himself.

"Oh no," he breathed. He was in someone else's body! It was the only explanation he could think of.

Anna was just about to respond that it was Saturday, and she didn't need to be up before ten this morning, thankyouverymuch when Hans scrambled away from her and practically sprung from the bed. What was a slow rousing to consciousness became a sudden shake as she woke the rest of the way, startled from her drowsiness into sudden alertness.

"Hans?" She asked, sitting up. The covers slid down her body as she moved. "Are you okay?" Maybe he was gonna go throw up or something. Ugh. She hoped not.

T’Challa was beyond shocked. Long past rational thought. This was...impossible! “How could….why would….” he stammered, staring at this other man’s body clad in a t-shirt and boxer briefs. Wait, had she called him Hans?

He looked over, and quickly looked away out of politeness. She was dressed, thank goodness, though the skimpy t-shirt and underwear made this no less awkward.

“I’m terribly sorry, miss, I didn’t mean to…” he cut himself off and got out of the bed. What was he apologising for? Looking at her? He had to remember he wasn’t in his own body now, he was in Hans’ and oh, this was making his head hurt.

“Something’s happened. I’m not quite myself. I’m not...Hans.” T’Challa finally forced out the words. He stood rigidly, hands covering himself like a defender at a soccer match during a penalty kick.

Anna wasn't what you'd call a morning person. She was hard to rouse, generally, and it took her several minutes to wake fully. Unless something startled her, good or bad. This was a bad thing. And it startled her. Her eyes opened up, and she inhaled sharply, looking over at her boyfriend. Who claimed he wasn't her boyfriend. Now she was confused.

"...Miss?" That was the part that stuck with her? The Miss? Being called Miss?? She regrouped. "Wait, you're... Hans. What's... did you hit your head or something?" Had he fallen out of bed?

Oh. Oh. Was this one of those Orange County things?? Like the ice powers and the vampire for a weekend and stuff?

T’Challa cocked his head to one side. “No, I did not hit my head. I believe this place has apparently decided to finally endow me with one of its...misadventures. I am T’Challa Okwonkwo, I’m from the Valar network, and I’m a teacher of African studies at the University of California at the Irvine campus. I believe I have switched...minds? Bodies? With your...Hans.” He wasn’t sure if the switch was a direct one, that is, if Hans was in his body. He hoped so, otherwise this would end up impossible to sort out without scouring the Network through all the frantic posts. “Could I trouble you for a pair of pants, please?” He was really not liking standing around in his/Hans’ underwear.

“Oh. You teach at UCI? I go to UCI!” Wow, she’d just been in bed with a professor. Go, Anna. She’d have to tell Caroline about this. ...okay, not really the part of this strangeness to be focusing on. She cleared her throat. “Oh, yes. Of course.” Anna climbed up out of the bed and pulled on a robe quickly, as she was starting to believe him, and that made her feel uncomfortable, too.

“Right here.” She dug out some pants and a shirt from Hans’ things, then handed them over to him. “Maybe we should… try getting ahold of your body, then.” And hope Hans was in there.

“Thank you,” T’Challa gratefully accepted the clothing and put them on. “You are a student at UCI?” Because that didn’t make this even more awkward; in fact it added a dose of scandal to it if the young lady decided to gossip about this. “I would appreciate your discretion in not mentioning this incident to anyone. May I ask what your major is?” Normal conversation seemed a good distraction at the moment. He picked up the cell phone from the bed and started dialing his number. “Hopefully Hans will pick up. It would make this much easier.” He waited as the phone rang and rang.

“Art History.” Anna would absolutely tell Caroline about this. But probably no one else. It was just one of those things--one of those weird, Orange County things. And God, did she want to talk to Hans, too. If he was in the professor’s body… this was so strange.

By some sheer stroke of luck or perhaps Orange County fuckery (likely the latter), Hans was indeed in T’Challa’s body. He’d woken up more than a little confused to be of a different build and race entirely, but had enough common sense to listen to the nagging thought in his mind that this was just another situation - he’d already been invisibly linked to someone, and had turned into his Halloween costume, oh, and there was the county-wide sleeping epidemic so this? Just another reason for him to grumble.

Beating back the panic, he picked up the phone when it rang - he recognized the number, naturally - and assumed it was his girlfriend also similarly freaking out. “Anna?!” he spoke into the mobile immediately, voice deeper (not that he spoke all high-pitched, but it now he sounded like James Earl Jones or something) and more suited for waking up sleeping students in the classroom, a thunderclap. “Where are you? Where’s...this isn’t me. I’m not me.”

It was beyond surreal that T'Challa was hearing his own voice on the other end of the line. This was literally an out of body experience. Relief then washed over him that indeed he and Hans had been switched with each other and that neither had to endure a wild goose chase.

"She is here." He replied looking over at Anna and nodding in confirmation as to who he was talking to. "I am T'Challa Okwonkwo and it seems we have switched bodies."

“Hans Westergaard.” Yep, definitely surreal and awkward to be talking to yourself on the phone. “Switched...bodies? What the fuck - “ He let out a frustrated exhale. How in the everloving hell were things like this possible? Especially overnight? The county’s weird voodoo seemed to enjoy instilling the desire to never want to sleep again in its resident.

Alright, focus. “I’ll come over?” he suggested. “I...car keys? Or Anna can drive, her car should be parked outside.” His own Jaguar convertible was in the garage, hopefully. Really, it didn’t matter to him who came to who - he just wanted to do something about all this.

"I'm not certain where I am in order to navigate back." He could see Anna's anxious expression and he knew what he had to do. "Here, let me hand the phone over to Anna. She is most anxious to speak to you." Let them sort out who wanted to go to whom. It didn't matter to him so long as they met up and started trying to figure things out. He handed the smartphone to the young woman.

“Hans? Are you okay?” Anna was uncertain, but not afraid. She made out some of the voice coming through the other end of the line into Hans’ T’Challa’s ear, and was not convinced of the situation. This wasn’t that bad. It could be worse. “We can come to you. I’ll just get us to the freeway, and T’Challa can navigate?” She just wanted to be with her boyfriend again. Make sure he was all right--even if he was experiencing some Freaky Friday crap.

“I’m fine,” Hans promised, even if he wanted to crawl out of his own skin - yet it wasn’t his own, that was the thing. No offense to the person whose body he was in, but a swap was kind of like being invaded in a weird way. And he didn’t like it. However, there was nothing he could do about it now, and he didn’t want to worry Anna into a tizzy. “I’m not sure where I am now, or how close he is to Laguna Beach, but...” That’s where his own condo was, and where not-him had woken up in bed with his girlfriend. Still, it wouldn’t take long - the OC was large, but not impossible to traverse.

He’d just...find some suitable daywear in the meantime. Without going through the guy’s things too much. “That sounds like a plan, just come over. I’m not going anywhere.”

Even with his insisting that he was fine, Anna was still going to worry. Maybe not into a tizzy, but ... how could she not worry at a time like this? There was some strange man walking around in her boyfriend's body. (Sorry, T'Challa.) She nodded, even though he couldn't see it over the phone, then responded once more. "You sit tight, all right? We're on our way." Beat. "Try not to go completely crazy."

Then she turned back to the guy in the Hans suit. "I'll grab my keys. My car's parked right outside." Thank God she'd driven herself and had her Prius there today. She wasn't sure she could have driven Hans' car.

Well, he wouldn’t go completely crazy. Maybe just a little. “Fair enough,” Hans chuckled, in that booming voice of his - that he was borrowing, rather. It wasn’t the worst body he could have gotten stuck in. At least he had all the correct parts; he loved women but he wasn’t sure he was meant to actually be one.

Then, he hung up, waiting not so patiently. After finding a very dapper dress shirt and pants combination to wear, wow, look at him, what a distinguished college professor he was - now he just needed a pipe and some papers to mark up with a red pen and he was set.

T'Challa watched as Anna hung up. Okay he could navigate once on the freeway, sure. He didn't travel much, he was a bit of a solitary intellectual, but he figured he could manage.

Of course Anna probably wasn't going to jump into the car in her pjs and a robe. "I will step outside while you get ready." He offered in the most gentleman like manner he could muster. It certainly sounded a lot better in this voice for some reason. He took his leave and exited the bedroom.

Anna nodded. She collected some things off the floor to throw on--whatever clothes she'd been wearing yesterday. Jeans, a sweater, whatever, it didn't matter what she was wearing, the most important part was getting her body covered and getting to Hans.

Two minutes later she was pulling on untied shoes on the way to the car, cell phone shoved deep in her pocket and keys dangling from her teeth. The pair climbed into her Prius and headed on the freeway. She was able to follow directions from Hans-Not!Hans, T'Challa, and they made it to his place in record time. (Anna might have suffered through a couple of "California Stops" along the way--thankfully there were no cops following along who needed to reach their quota of traffic violation tickets for the day.)

Being that Hans felt a little weird about making himself at home, he hadn’t exactly settled in for a leisurely breakfast or anything. Instead he was just kind of pacing, back and forth, back and forth, trying to get used to this development - even though there was no way in hell he’d be doing that anytime soon. But then he happened to glance out the front window and saw the familiar Prius pulling up and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He was already out the door.

Going to greet the person in his body. Just another day in Orange County, or something.

“Anna,” he called for her, and had to do a double take at...himself. His own body, with someone else in it. Um. Weird. “Alright, this is just...ridiculous.”

T’Challa had never seen someone drive in such haste. The Prius was an impressive, quiet, zippy little car and he was just grateful they hadn’t gotten pulled over and delayed.

Both of them had practically leapt out of the car, but T’Challa stopped short upon seeing….himself. Not only that, but of course speaking with his voice. At them. He blinked.

“Yes...yes it is. Most definitely.” He was glad Hans had found his clothing and dressed himself rather well. He couldn’t exactly say the same for himself with his hastily put on pants and t-shirt. He’d almost forgotten to put on socks and shoes on their way out and odds were good his hair was probably still a bit disheveled despite his attempts to smooth it down with his hands. He had gotten a good look at himself in the visor mirror on the ride over, which had only cemented how bizarre it felt to be tossed into not only another man’s body, but one of a completely different nationality. In the car he’d probably stared at himself for a good five minutes, examining himself and wondering how long this was going to last. Now that he was looking at his...actual self, he hoped that it would be a very short term situation.

“T’Challa,” he extended a hand awkwardly. “Here is to hoping this will not last long. Is this the sort of bizarre thing people keep mentioning that happen in this place? I find it unnerving this is even possible.”

"Hans--" Anna had practically flown out of the car and raced up to meet Hans. She stopped just a pace short of him, getting a good look into his eyes. She had to make sure it was Hans in there, and she thought she could see it. That spark. That thing she loved so much. Maybe it was just in her head, though. A split-second of hesitation was all it took, then Anna was stepping forward and flinging her arms around him.

She wasn't about to let go. They could shake hands around her.

“This....yes - “ Hans let out an oof, fond, his expression relaxing a little when Anna the tornado flung herself at him. Both arms went around her, and he gave her a squeeze, then with one arm still around her the opposite hand was extended to clasp T’Challa’s for that shake. “This is probably a standard thing for Orange County. It might have even happened once before, I don’t know. But I’ve been on the receiving end of certain weirdness, shall we say.”

He too hoped that this wouldn’t last a terribly long time. It usually tended to not, maybe a week or so on average, but even then it likely would feel much longer. Not an easy thing, learning to walk in someone else’s literal and figurative shoes.

“Should we go inside and work out a plan or something? I’m sure we’re going to be in for an interesting time.”

T’Challa was startled when Anna suddenly launched herself at Hans, hugging him fiercely. Well, T’Challa’s body fiercely. Oh this was going to take getting used to. He was trying not to wince.

“Yes, I think trying to formulate some plan of action is a good idea.” he let go of his/Hans’ hand and gestured for them to head inside. “I’ve got plenty of coffee and enough cereal and toast. It’s not much but you’re welcome to it.”

“That’s fine. Thank you.” Anna said, finally pulling away from Hans’ chest. Or, well, not-Hans’ chest. She pulled herself upright again, straightening her shirt, then followed the two men up into the home.

They would work out a plan of action to see this thing through.