Michael’s still pissed at Gertrude for the whole Sannikov Land thing, and the best way to get back at someone in academia is to steal their assistants (obviously). All it took was a teeeeny bit of tumor excision and just a smidgen of Spiral-izing and boom! Goth Distortion boyfriend. And, most importantly, Goth Distortion boyfriend who no longer works for the Archivist.
From Gerry’s perspective, he woke up in the hospital with a significantly weaker sense of self and very long hands. It took some adjusting. He spent the first few hours of his new existence hiding from Gertrude in random storage closets before Michael stepped through the back of one of said storage closets and was like "oh I wondered where you had gone."
Michael, for the record, says it was entirely unintentional that Gerry's scar ended up being spiral-shaped. Pure coincidence.
The Michael door still opens into that weird psychedelics dimension, just like it always has. Gerry has/is a door now as well (it is painted black and looks ominous), and it invariably opens into a neverending hospital hallway. If you ask him, he will deny that there’s any meaning to it. Michael, if present when you ask Gerry about the door, will cough in a manner that sounds suspiciously like "throat of delusion".
On the whole, Gerry still looks more human than Michael does. Michael is oddly flat, very bright, and not-quite-human-textured anymore. Gerry's smile is too wide and his hands are too long, but he finds it easier to maintain a form that conforms to the laws of physics than Michael does.
"It's subtle mind games," he insists. "You look at me, and you go 'huh that's an interesting makeup choice,' and if my hands are in my pockets you don't actually know whether my mouth circles 2/3 of my head or if it's just fashion. I make people question their perceptions with class."
(Michael doesn't believe him about that either.)
