She was more than just a stereotypical Barbie to me… she was my world.

Who I looked up to, who I loved.

And yet some of her final words, "It's Barbie, and then it's Ken," Yes they were true and inclusive, but would I ever mean more to her than just her friendly boy toy? If I could even be called that, to begin with.

"I don't love Ken."

Why!? Why did she have to say those words? Yes, she mightn't love me, but I can't help loving her.

I watched as she left Barbie World, our home to live a life of a human. I was going to MISS HER SO MUCH!

I found myself just sitting quietly at the edge of her bed in her dream house, my eyes staring ahead into nothing as I thought to myself.

"Ken?"

I looked up and saw my biggest Rival Ken… the Ken Barbie liked… a Ken I'd never be like.

"What is it, Ken?" I grumbled under my throat. He just smiled that twinkling white tooth smile at me, his hair jet black and he himself exuding a big air of confidence.

"You should go after her…" He said, and I gawked at him, leaning back in shock at his words.

"But she doesn't LOVE me!"

"She…" My rival said back to me coolly, "She was talking about a different Ken… not you, not Beach Ken."

I laughed a hard bitter laugh his way, swishing my head to look at him and glaring right through him, "I'm not Idiot Ken, Ken." I said with a harsh snort of defiance and insult, "She doesn't want me… I'm not even a real Ken… I'm more like an ALAN!"

"Hey!" We could hear Alan yell back at us in insult.

"Sorry, Alan!" Me and rival Ken yelled back his way and we watched as he stomped off away to the Beach.

"Look," Rival Ken said to me, patting me hard on the shoulder and I glared his way, "I know you enough to know you aren't happy," I sadly dropped my head down, nodding weakly at his truth, "You are only happy… with her,"

I blinked my baby blue eyes wide, looking back over to him and seeing him nodding back my way, an assured smile on his lips.

My heart began to pound now inside of me, and I placed my hand on my chest, shocked at what I was feeling.

"What is WRONG with me?!"

"You HAVE A HEART!" Rival Ken said back to me, his tanned finger pointing at my upper chest, "This is NOT normal!" He proclaimed and I knew he was telling the truth.

"What do I do?!" I yelled back at him and he just pointed up to the hill where Weird Barbie lived, "She'll tell you!"

"Oh wow," I peeped to myself, suddenly very intrigued at the thought of visiting the wise mystic Barbie doll, "I hope I get to go on a self-discovery journey too!"

~x~

Walking down the pink footpath that led to Weird Barbie's house was anything but enlightening.

All the Barbies and Kens were looking at me, and not the same way the guys and girls in the human world looked at me.

I think it was because they could hear my heart thumping, and I guess that must've been a new thing, my heart thumping so hard and loud.

When I passed them all by I reached the top of the hill a few moments later and I pushed her door open, coming inside and saying in a scared but excited scream, "Weird Barbie! Why is my heart beating?!"

It was only a second later that I heard a voice say to me in pain, "Down here."

I glanced to below me and saw she was doing the splits right under my knees.

"That makes me uncomfortable," I whispered nervously to myself and she reached her jangly arms up at me, saying in an indifferent kind of way.

"A little help?"

"Of course!" I said back instantly. I picked up her hands and pulled her up into a proper standing position. Though she had the littlest of a hump and before I had said something, she already had her head pressed up against my chest.

Her eyes were closed as she listened to the thudding of my scared heart until finally, she looked up my way.

"Well, this is new."

"Am I gonna die?!" I squeaked and she only dropped her wonky head to the side of her left shoulder, looking at me as if in some sort of disbelief at my words.

"No…" I sighed a breath of relief till she added, "Not yet, anyway,"

"Huh?!"

She pulled over a diagram of a male Ken doll and one of a human man.

"You see," She said simply, closing her eyes in pain from having to explain, "You, Beach Ken, are just a doll… and you do not have man parts or lungs or a heart for that matter,"

"But I DO have a heart-"

"Let me finish." She said slowly back at me, a hint of annoyance in her voice, "But you NOW have a heart, and I think I know why."

"Why!" I asked her, I begged her as I dropped to my knees and tore at her clothes for an answer, ANY answers!

"I think it's because you are linked still to her,"

"To who?! TELL ME!"

"Barbie, you nut," Weird Barbie said back to me with disdain, "I think… it might possibly be a sign,"

"For what?!"

"For you to leave us… and join the one your heart is beating for, in the REAL WORLD,"

"B-but she doesn't love me!"

"Yes," Weird Barbie uttered simply, not denying that fact, but she only patted me on my head and I stumbled back to my feet, "But," I looked at her intensely to hear her wise words, "Maybe not as a doll… but maybe, as a real man."

"I could become… a real man?"

"Ken," She said to me, looking me straight in the eyes, "You ARE becoming a real man now… one day soon you'll have to leave here … because humans can't live here."

"But where will I go?!" I begged her. The fear of leaving my home and everyone in it was literally petrifying.

"Go, to her…" Was all Weird Barbie had to say to me.

I gulped hard, looking far off into the distance, beyond the waves, beyond the clear blue sky. She was out there, waiting… hopefully waiting for me.

Or maybe I was a nut and would soon become Crazy Ken, no longer Beach Ken.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Yes and no," Weird Barbie told me with ease, "You can remain here and die," I froze up in terror at that option, "Or you can go out there and live."

"This is all rhetorical, isn't it?" I peeped and she just smiled a fake strained smile as she said back to me.

"Of course…"

But I could tell by the tone in her voice that it wasn't a metaphor but a hard reality truth.

I looked back on into the horizon that split the plastic sea and clear blue sky.

"Alright, I'll do it." I said, my hands slamming against my hips as I gave a firm nod of my head, "I'll do it for Barbie," But I knew the hard truth inside my now beating heart.

I was doing it for her… but really, I was doing it for me. As I could not live a life without her in it.

~x~

I said my farewells, and everyone was in tears. Metaphorically, I mean as Barbie's can't really cry tears.

I got in the pink car and waved goodbye to everyone, all the Barbies and Kens waving back, even Rival Ken.

I slowly turned my sight on into the distance and into the future.

Barbie, my love, would be so happy to see me again after all this time. And I knew I'd be overjoyed to see her again too.

It was a crazy journey into the real world, but once I had done all the travel that was necessary I found myself skating with my rollerblades on the hot Californian sandy beach.

"Oh, Barbie… where are you?" I asked myself, looking around for the girl I loved.

But the strangest thing happened once I took my blades off and sat down disappointed at a bench.

Something I had never felt before.

It just felt like something dropped… something that was a part of me and I glanced my eyes down, seeing for the first time there was a bulge at my crotch.

My eyes widened as I pulled down my pants and there it was… my manhood, my-

"PENIS!" I screamed for the whole world to hear, gawking at it in horror yet real surmountable happiness, "I HAVE A PENIS!"

A few mothers blocked the eyes of their children with their hands and someone yelled back at me.

"Nobody CARES! You freaking weirdo!"

I smiled at the man in pure giddy joy, pulling my pants back up and looking from side to side to see if anyone would notice my bulge now. For some reason, everyone turned their sight away as I pushed my crotch in their direction.

Finally, a policeman came to me and said, "You keep doing that and it's jail time for you."

"Are you impressed, at least, sir?" I asked sheepishly and with a proud small smile on my lips.

"Honestly?" He said to me, itching his head just a little before saying to me, "A little… now." He said, changing the topic, "Get out of here,"

"Where does Barbie live?"

"In the toy stores,"

"I mean, the real alive Barbie,"

"Boy! Did you escape from a mental ward or something,"

"I get that," I said looking at all the people who passed us and then turned my wise eyes back to the man, "This is a crazy world, after all,"

"If you want to find this Barbie, you'll probably have to google search her,"

I smiled wider and leaned forward, asking with puppy dog eyes, "Could you show me, officer?"

the policeman growled a little under his breath but got out his phone and went to his web browser.

All this time I got a sense that this was an annoyance and irritation for him, but soon he showed me a Google map of where Barbie was living.

"That's her address,"

"Great!" I said back eagerly and held out my hands requesting, "Can I have a pen so I can write it down."

He grumbled some more, before digging into his coat pocket and pulling out a black biro.

"In Barbie World, every pen is pink,"

"Uh huh," He said to me, not listening as he scribbled the address down for me. He then slammed the sheet of paper against my chest, saying, "Here."

I gleamed excitedly as I took hold of the paper and looked on into the huge city and world ahead.

"Just no more nudity? Okay, boy?"

"Man," I corrected him, giving the biggest smile as I said, "I have a PENIS now."

"Right…" He said warily, taking a few steps away from me before resuming on his duties.

I looked at his cold hard handwriting, giving a firm nod as I began to head to the big city.

Barbie would be overwhelmed with glee when she saw me standing at her door.

With my beating heart… with my body slowly becoming human as hers was now.

She would be delighted to see me, to know me…

I just had to know one thing though.

What the heck would I even use a penis for? I soon discovered one of its uses as I suddenly got the urge to pee. First time in my life.

I began to panic, not knowing which way to go till I found a tree and unzipped my fly, sighing out in relief as yellow liquid departed from me.

"GO SOMEWHERE PRIVATE!"

I pulled up my zip, being careful not to catch my manhood now in it, and turned to see who had said that. But there were a lot of eyes on me and I just broke into an awkward smile as I said nervously, edging away to the city, "When in California, as they say,"

"It's Rome, dumbass!"

My heart hurt a bit at these cold hard words. That was the difference between my Barbie and this world.

She was so beautiful while the real world was so cruel and ugly.

I had to find her. I would find her.

And I would never leave her side again. No matter how annoying she found me.

Because I found her perfect.

"I'm coming, Barbie," I said, looking at the directions that would take me to her, "I'm coming..."