Betrayal

Nathan could hardly believe what he was seeing as he scrolled through the messages on his wife’s phone, all featuring explicit suggestions and even several pictures that exposed the young toned body of Nathan’s class TA. He had trusted Joey to help out in his classes all semester and thought that he could trust the young man but now it turned out Joey had been attempting to seduce his wife the whole time? Even worse though, the responses that his wife had been sending the college senior made it clear that she reciprocated the attraction and they had been meeting up behind his back. At that point he all but saw red and went on a warpath, seeking justice for the crimes done against him.

While he’d known that his marriage with Julia hadn’t been perfect, Nathan couldn’t have ever possibly imagined her betraying the vows they made over ten years ago on their wedding day. They had their arguments just like any couple did, namely about the fact that he worked too much and didn’t pay enough attention to her needs, but he hadn’t thought that things were bad enough for her to pursue an affair behind his back. Having an affair was bad enough but with one of his students? That was twisting the knife she’d already dug into his back.

Seeking out his TA in his off-campus housing, Nathan fund himself almost shaking in rage at the betrayal of two people he thought he could trust. Joey answered the door with his usual charming smile but that dropped away within moments when Nathan uttered a single bitter word - “Why?” The conversation devolved quickly after that with Joey making weak excuses while Nathan shouted him down, the two men going back and forth without either ever gaining an advantage.

Eventually the conflict came to blows and although Nathan carried more mass, Joey was far more agile and both managed to get a few good hits in. The college professor grabbed his student by the shirt, aiming to push him against the wall only for their feet to get tangled, sending them both crashing to the floor. Their heads struck hard against the coffee tables and their bodies immediately crumpled, both men knocked out cold.

The next thing Nathan knew he was waking up in a hospital bed - and in a body that most definitely wasn’t his own. He was slender and toned and an experimental glance into the mirror confirmed that it was Joey’s handsome visage staring back at him. Everybody knew that Joey had been modelling on the side as a way to pay his way through college but Nathan had never truly appreciated just how good looking the kid was until he was in his body, watching his reflection as he tested out expressions.

When the doctors came to by to check his vitals, Nathan asked what had happened to the other man he’d been found with, being careful not to mention anything about the fact he was not actually Joey. The last thing he needed capping his day off was a trip to the loony-bin. “Oh, unfortunately he hasn’t woken yet. The blow to his head was a little more severe than yours… it’s likely he’ll remain comatose for some time yet,” the kind doctor explained, before verifying that all of Joey’s vitals were coming up as expected and he should be cleared to go home sooner rather than later.

With a week in his former TA’s body under his belt and his own body seemingly no closer to waking up from its coma, Nathan slowly began to formulate a plan for the future. He continued his sexual relationship with Julia merely for the pleasure he received from it, although he was quick to inform her that he didn’t want to be her husband and his only interest was the sex. She had no idea what deeper meaning those words had as she had no idea that the young man she was falling into bed with was actually her husband merely wearing her lover’s body. Even should he get his body back Nathan had decided that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her again.

There was no doubt in Nathan’s mind that he would be able to ace all of Joey’s classes - particularly his own Psychological Theory class that he'd been teaching for almost twenty years - and he had already proven that he could model like a professional after attending one of the student’s prearranged photoshoots. That had been quite the new experience but he'd actually rather liked showing off the lean body he now possessed and the compliments he received on a consistent basis weren't entirely unwelcome either. As surprising as it was, he had things set up for himself as Joey, even if he still felt a twinge of anger every time he saw the other’s face in the mirror. He was sure that would fade in time though and he’d be able to move on from the whole terrible situation, perhaps even to a faraway city where neither Julia nor the real Joey would never be able to catch up with him. 

As much as he had struggled to see it at first, even the dark storm cloud that was his wife’s affair had a silver lining. That was one theory he couldn’t fault.