Josh ripped open his car door, slumped into the seat, and smmed the door as hard as he could. Hard enough that stupid Tim could hear his frustration. That couldn’t possibly have gone any worse. After an hour of listening to Tim rant about how great going to the gym would be and how Josh should really consider changing or even upgrading his membership to include rental equipment for home workouts, Josh finally got his answer.

  It turned out that the version of annual pn Josh selected included a waiver of the premium membership fee as long as Josh maintained the contract for the whole year. Which meant if he wanted to cancel, he would need to pay the full 1,000 fee for the premium membership in addition to the canceltion fee.

  Which meant he needed to come up with money to either pay the fine or find a job as soon as possible to keep paying for a gym membership he would never use. The problems were starting to pile up. Josh felt his breath sticking in his chest. He felt his body warming up.

  He pulled his hoodie off over his head to try and cool down. That felt a little better, but Josh needed to go home and cry. Well, not cry. He wasn’t going to cry even if he really felt like he needed to cry. Josh sniffled and wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. He needed to get home so he could stop having such a public meltdown.

  Josh turned his car on and looked in the rear view mirror. Shit. There was some asshole blocking him in the space with some big truck. Josh turned around to get a better view. He couldn’t see a driver through the tinted windows of the truck, but it appeared that the lights were on. Josh honked his horn.

  The truck turned off. The driver’s door opened up. Shit shit shit. Josh ducked down in his seat. The angle highlighted how obvious his cleavage was in the tank top he was wearing. Why did he even wear the dumb thing? Josh heard a voice in his head say, “We needed to stay cool since we were wearing a hoodie and two bras and you weren’t comfortable with just the bras.”

  “Good thing I grabbed a shirt,” Josh replied, “If I didn’t then we’d be practically naked right now.” A tapping sound came from Josh’s window and snapped him out of his conversation. Josh squeaked and tried to turn. “That’s stupid. He already saw us,” the voice said.

  Josh sat up in his seat and put his hands on the wheel while keeping his eyes straight ahead. Maybe if he didn’t acknowledge the person they would leave him alone. More tapping. Josh heard a vaguely familiar voice from outside the car say, “I know you can see me.”

  “So much for that idea,” Jen’s voice said inside their mind. A spark went off in Josh’s mind. Jen put a smile on his face and felt his throat adjusting. He rolled down the window and turned to the man outside. It was Gym Bro. “Um, hi,” Jen said in the female voice Alice taught him, “I’m just trying to back out, so could you move your truck?”

  Gym Bro squinted as his eyes roamed up and down Josh’s body. Jen felt his gaze piercing into his skin. He managed to keep a smile on his face even as Gym Bro’s eyes focused on the valley of cleavage Josh had on dispy. Gym Bro said, “I thought that was you. Josh, right?”

  What should he do? Jen coughed a little. The voice wasn’t going to work, but he could try to talk himself out of this. “Hey,” Jen said in their normal voice, “yeah, no, sorry. I was sick recently, so my voice is a little funky. If you could just move your truck, I’ll back out really fast.” Ugh, it was so hard not to talk like himself.

  Jen watched Gym Bro’s eyes sink back down to Josh’s cleavage. Jen could feel a storm brewing in the back of his mind from being perceived, but he didn’t know what the big deal was. Gym Bro was an attractive guy, and their boobs looked amazing thanks to the squeezing from wearing two sports bras. His attention was sort of fttering.

  Gym Bro said, “Your gynecomastia has gotten worse. My friend never had it this bad. Is that why you’re crying?” Jen immediately wiped at his eyes once more. He had the weirdest feeling that crying in public was a terrible idea. “No, I have allergies.”

  “On top of being sick?” It was obvious Gym Bro wasn’t buying anything Jen was saying. They needed to pivot. They said, “It’s none of your business. You don’t know me or anything. I know you don’t have more of my shit to return, so just let me out and we don’t need to talk ever again.”

  Gym Bro said, “Right, you were trying to cancel your membership today.” How the hell did he know that? Josh replied, “Well, yeah, but that has nothing to do with you. I don’t like this gym.” Gym Bro leaned against Josh’s car. “It’s not the greatest gym I’ve ever been to, but I liked seeing the people. I’m a bit bummed we didn’t get to hang out more though. Maybe we could grab lunch before saying goodbye.” The guy check his phone quickly. “Or, I guess dinner.”

  Josh’s breath caught in his throat. This couldn’t be happening. “Um,” Josh said. Before he could process what was happening, Gym Bro’s hand shot into Josh’s car. His arm snaked across Josh’s body and snatched Josh’s keys from inside the slot. Gym Bro stood up and held the dangling keys in his fingers.

  He said, “Looks like you’re having some car trouble anyways. Come get dinner with me, we’ll talk, and then I’ll drive you back here to do whatever else you want. Josh opened his door and jumped out of the car. He tried jumping for his keys. “Give those back!” he shouted. Gym Bro kept dodging and waving the keys up high in the air. Josh never realized how big of a height difference there was between the two of them.

  Josh stopped jumping and reaching. “Give me back my keys right now or else,” he said. In truth, he had no pns on what to do if Gym Bro kept refusing. Josh was obviously not a physical match for him. Gym Bro said, “I’ll give them back. Just come have an early dinner with me. I can tell you’ve got a lot of stuff on your…I mean, you’ve got stuff you want to vent about. You can order whatever you want, it’s on me.”

  Josh felt his stomach grumble. The promise of free food was very tempting especially with his recent commitment to never eating out. Maybe a quick, free meal was a small price to pay to not need to worry about confronting Gym Bro. “Okay,” Josh said, “but you give me my keys as soon as we get to the restaurant.” Gym Bro nodded his head and put his arm down. “Deal.”

  ———————————

  Josh felt nervous being in the car with Gym Bro on the ride over. Thankfully, the guy seemed more interested in belting the words alongside some pretty awesome country music than talking with Josh. Of course, this meant Josh had nothing to focus on besides the fact that he was left completely exposed in his tank top the entire drive and the pn was to go to a public pce and eat where everybody could see them together.

  Of course they weren’t actually together. Josh was letting this guy give him a free meal in exchange for Josh getting to vent about his life. There wasn’t anything more to it. Josh didn’t even know this guy’s name. And he needed to get his keys back. Because Gym Bro was a total asshole who stole his keys and was only going to give them back if Josh got free food and some stress relief. Which, maybe that wasn’t actually a bad thing?

  “We’re here.”

  Gym Bro’s words snapped Josh out of his thoughts. He looked around. “Holy shit,” he said, “Fnigan’s?” Josh whipped his head to look at Gym Bro’s smiling face. Gym Bro said, “It’s a bit of a drive from the gym, but I figured you would want something really tasty. We can get a table by the water where nobody will bother us.” Josh looked out the window as Gym Bro parked the car. A part of him was starting to think Gym Bro wasn’t a total asshole. Like, 60% asshole.

  Gym Bro secured a table outside on the edge of the ke. Gym Bro ordered for the two of them. Josh had the feeling he should be offended, but Gym Bro was the one paying for the meal, so it made sense that he should be the one to decide how much he was comfortable spending. Also he’d ordered them a tasty-looking fish sandwich. After their drinks arrived, Gym Bro spped both hands on the table and leaned towards Josh.

  “So,” Gym Bro said, “tell me what’s going on with you.” Josh felt his heart rate spike. “I’m having a bad week is all,” he said. Gym Bro didn’t seem satisfied. He spoke in a hushed voice, “Those things look a lot bigger than when I st saw you. That doesn’t happen in a week.” Josh peered down into his cleavage. He brushed some hair out of his face and blushed.

  Gym Bro continued, “You said you were sick recently. Did it have something to do with the boobs?” Josh shook his head. He was having a hard time opening his mouth. Gym Bro leaned back in his chair. “Look, the deal was I give you a free meal and a kind ear. I don’t think you’re fulfilling your end of the bargain.”

  Josh felt a switch flip inside him. He straightened his back and looked Gym Bro in the eyes. He was right. Josh was a man still, and men kept their word. It was time to talk.

  “It all started with this thing called NBE. I found a Discord server filled with women who wanted to grow their breasts naturally.”

  “So they all wanted to get fat?”

  “No, it was about growing boobs without needing to be super obese or anything. They wanted you to take pills and herbs, and do all sorts of crazy things.”

  “Boob enhancement pills? They know all that stuff is complete nonsense, right?”

  “I know! But, you know women can get these crazy ideas in the quest for beauty. I figured they’d eventually figure out that the only way to get bigger boobs is to get breast impnts. Anyways, I didn’t care that they were all being kind of stupid; I went on the Discord to meet people. You know how hard it is on the apps. And God forbid you try to talk to women in person.”

  “Yeah, it’s a whole new type of game nowadays.”

  “Exactly. So I went on the Discord and met this girl named Alice. She was struggling with even trying the worthless crap they talked about on the Discord, so I agreed to help her out by being her sort of training partner.”

  “Like with workouts.”

  “Exactly like that!”

  Gym Bro was starting to sound like a much cooler guy than Josh originally thought. He continued, “But I went all out; pills, domes, diet. I even learned how to do medical stuff to help her out. All my work paid off and she became my girlfriend.”

  “You have a girlfriend? Congratutions.”

  Josh shook his head. “She dumped me two weeks ago.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry about that.”

  Josh wasn’t sure but it almost seemed like Gym Bro was smiling. Josh replied, “It’s fine. She was totally toxic anyways. She kept pushing me to do things I told her I was uncomfortable with. And she had all these rules about hygiene and eating and time frames.”

  “She sounds like a bitch.” Something twinged in Josh’s heart at those words. A part of him knew Alice wasn’t a bitch. Jen wanted to say something nice about her. He wanted to defend her. But Josh wanted to hate Alice. It was her fault he had boobs now. And Josh couldn’t argue with Josh.

  Josh said, “She was! I did all this stuff to help her and I think she was secretly feeding me drugs or somethings because I didn’t develop gynecomastia until after we started dating.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Anyways, one of the things she had me do was a saline infusion. Like putting an IV in your boobs. I had to test it out on myself so I could teach her how to do it because she was too scared to figure it out on her own. The guy I bought the stuff from this st time must’ve given me bad needles or something because I ended up getting an infection st week.”

  “Wait,” Gym Bro interjected, “if this Alice girl dumped you, why were you still trying to the the infusion?” Josh stared bnkly at Gym Bro. “Um,” he said, “because it happened to feel kind of nice.” He’d accidentally been really honest for a moment.

  “Putting water in your tits feels good?” This was bad. Maybe being more honest would help? Josh said, “I mean, it feels kind of okay. But I was doing it to show Alice that she was making a mistake dumping me. It was like I was showing her how committed I was to making things work.” Yes, that sounded better.

  Their food arrived. Josh started stuffing his face with the sandwich to shut himself up. Gym Bro said, “It was definitely her loss.” Josh looked up and muttered a “Hmm?” through his full mouth. Gym Bro continued, “Dumping you; Alice definitely lost out when she did that. It’s obvious that you’re a wonderful person.”

  Josh felt a weight lifting from his body. Gym Bro said, “I got dumped by a girl pretty recently. I thought what we had was serious. She was living with me and everything. Then she just up and left me.” Josh gulped down what he had in his mouth. “Exactly!” he said, “That’s exactly what Alice did to me.”

  Gym Bro shook his head. “Women are always going on and on about their feelings, but then they seem to ignore that guys have feelings too.” Josh nodded along. Okay, Gym Bro was actually really cool. It was nice to finally have a guy friend to hang with. Gym Bro said, “You were saying about the hospital?”

  “Right, I got an infection.”

  Gym Bro interrupted, “In your boobs.” Josh winced.

  “Yes, in my boobs.”

  Gym Bro interrupted again, “What did the doctor say?”

  “They said to stop taking all the drugs I was on and to come back for a check up in a week. I don’t know if I want to do that though since I still haven’t received the bill for this st visit and I don’t have insurance, so I’m really worried about how much it will be.”

  Gym Bro nodded his head along. “I don’t think you should go back. I never trusted doctors and hospitals much. They always seemed like a scam.” Lights exploded in Josh’s brain. “That’s exactly how I feel!” he excimed. Josh continued, “I’ve actually been having night sweats and all these weird feelings ever since leaving the hospital.”

  “I bet that going off all those pills at once actually made you sicker. The doctor should have weaned you off or given you more specific advice.” Something clicked in Josh’s mind. “Oh my goodness,” he said, “you’re totally right. Alice put me on this stupid medicine that you had to wean off of.”

  Gym Bro cpped his hands together. “Boom. There you go. Start taking it again, and I bet the night sweats will stop.” Josh shook his head in disbelief. The answer was sitting there in front of him the whole time. He couldn’t believe the doctor had been so stupid. Gym Bro started digging into his food. “Problem solved, right?”

  Josh said, “That problem is, but I’ve got so many others.”

  “You’ll find someone soon enough. You’re good-looking, you’re smart, you’re loyal.” Josh felt butterflies in his stomach. Gym Bro was turning out to be the most awesome dude Josh ever met. “Hey,” Josh said, “I’m sorry, but I keep calling you Gym Bro in my head and I realized I’m not sure what your actual name is.”

  Gym Bro chuckled. “Gym Bro?” he said, “I like it. It’s a cute nickname.” Josh felt himself blush. He also heard something that felt like scolding in the back of his mind. Something was telling him that he shouldn’t be so happy hanging out with Gym Bro. Something that was obviously mistaken considering Gym Bro was turning out to be an awesome guy.

  Gym Bro continued, “My name is Kevin, but you can keep calling my Gym Bro if you want. You go by Josh, right?” Josh nodded. Gym Bro, or Kevin, wiped his hands quickly and stretched his left hand across the table. “It’s nice to meet you Josh.” Josh shook Kevin’s hand. “Nice to meet you Kevin.” Josh felt Kevin grasp his hand more firmly and pull in a little. He cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows. Josh picked up the signal. He said, “I mean, nice to meet you Gym Bro.”

  Josh was already finished with his small sandwich, so he continued detailing all of the problems Alice had created for him over their retionship. Gym Bro nodded along while occasionally asking questions. Josh felt better and better the longer he spoke.

  Gym Bro finished off his drink and ordered some more food and a beer for Josh. Gym Bro said, “To summarize, you’ve got some sort of hormone imbance and some extra fat because of the crazy shit you did to impress a girl who turned out to be a tranny in disguise. Then she dumped you when you called her out for being a lying, maniputive bitch.” Josh nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly!”

  Gym Bro shook his head. “Tough luck. Losing your job, the hospital, the gym membership, and all the stuff with your body. How long do you have before your next rent payment?”

  “I figure I’ve got at least two months before I need to worry about that if I can pay for the door repair. My ndlord is pretty shit and really zy, but that also means he barely pays attention to me. I’ve skipped a month or two on rent before without any compints.” Gym Bro nodded his head along. He said, “That’s good to know. And if you can’t find a job in time then you can always stay with family or a friend or something like that.”

  Josh scoffed. “Please, I haven’t spoken with my mom in years, my dad left when I was ten, and I don’t have any siblings. As for friends, I’ve been so sucked up into that toxic retionship with Alice that I haven’t had time to hang out with anyone else.”

  Gym Bro’s face shifted to one of concern. He said, “Damn, that’s awful. I know how hard being in a toxic retionship can be. I’m really gd you got out of it.” He extended his arm across the table and gripped Josh’s shoulder. Gym Bro lightly squeezed and rubbed Josh’s arm to show his concern. Josh smiled and said, “Thanks dude. That means a lot.”

  Gym Bro paid the bill and the two walked back to his car. After starting the engine, Gym Bro turned to Josh and said, “Hey, I just realized it’s getting kind of te. I’m actually a lot closer to my house than I am to driving all the way back to the gym so you can get your car and go sit alone in your apartment all night. I know you’ve got a lot of work to do; probably gonna try and squeeze a workout in. But, maybe you could start that tomorrow and we could hang out some more tonight at my pce. We could drink some beers, py video games, and chat some more.”

  Gym Bro was some kind of genius because that sounded like the best thing Josh could think to do. And he was totally right; Josh was not looking forward to doing a bunch more work at the moment. Josh said, “That sounds awesome.” Gym Bro pulled out of the parking lot and got onto the road. Once again, he bsted some great music on the radio instead of trying to talk. It was clear to Josh that Gym Bro took driving very seriously and used the music for concentration.

  About twenty minutes ter, Gym Bro pulled up to a moderately-sized house in a nice neighborhood. It was a simple one-story home with a garage and a small front yard. Inside, Josh didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. He said, “This is a nice pce you’ve got.”

  Gym Bro replied, “Thanks. It’s a basic three bed two bath. Technically one of the spare bedrooms belonged to my Ex, but she’s gone now.” Josh realized that, even though they’d spent over an hour talking at the restaurant, he’d been the one doing all of the compining. He hadn’t given Gym Bro a chance to talk about himself at all.

  Gym Bro continued, “The kitchen is nice and rge and I’ve got a great set-up over here in the living room. Josh walked around a corner and saw a huge couch in front of an absolutely massive screen. “Holy shit,” he said. Josh’s eyes felt like they wanted to bulge out of his skull when he noticed the plethora of modern and vintage gaming consoles, the bookshelf of DVDs, and the second bookshelf filled with video games. There were sound bars and speakers set up around the room to give people on the couch a surround sound experience.

  “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Josh said as he wandered slowly towards the holiest of holy gaming spaces. “Just wait until we start pying,” Gym Bro said, “I’ve got some awesome racing games that take advantage of my surround sound setup. I’ve also got every Mortal Kombat game.” Josh spun around to face him. “We’ve got to py Mortal Kombat. I’ll totally dominate you.”

  Gym Bro smirked. “Sounds like a challenge then.” Josh couldn’t hold back his excitement as he giggled and ran to jump on the couch. “Wait!” Gym Bro called out. Josh froze in pce. Gym Bro said, “I know you’re excited, and I really didn’t want to be rude and say anything.” Josh felt his soul beginning to drop. Of course this had to be too good to be true.

  Gym Bro continued, “But, you’re kind of stinky. I think it’s just your clothes, so you could take a quick shower while I toss them into the wash. I was going to do a load of undry anyways.” Josh felt his spirits lift back up. He subtly gave his armpit a sniff as he followed Gym Bro to a different section of the house. He didn’t think he smelled that bad, but maybe it was nose-blindness or something.

  Gym Bro opened a door and waved Josh inside the bathroom. He said, “The master has it’s own bathroom, but this one is for guests. Feel free to wash your hair; my Ex left a bunch of stuff behind when she left, so you can use her shampoo or whatever.” Gym Bro closed the door behind Josh. “Just pass me your clothes through the door and I’ll get them in the wash.”

  Josh stripped out of his tank top and shorts. He noticed the mirror in the bathroom was missing. Good, he didn’t need more reminders of how much his appearance had changed. Hanging out with Gym Bro was a much needed distraction from how feminine he could appear now thanks to the cursed objects on his chest.

  Josh took off his sports bras and held them in his hands as reality settled in. He needed to give his clothes to Gym Bro so they could be washed, but he also absolutely could not let this awesome guy find out that he was walking around wearing bras. Like a woman. “We could hide them somewhere,” a voice said.

  “Or we could just hand them over. Gym Bro is cool. He knows about our medical condition, so he won’t make fun of us.”

  Josh sided with the second voice and passed all of his clothes through a crack in the door to Gym Bro’s waiting hands. He heard Gym Bro say, “Take as long as you need. I’m going to get started drinking and pying games, so just call when you’re done.” Josh felt so relieved. Gym Bro didn’t say anything mean or insulting. He was the best.

  The shower was lovely. The water pressure felt great against Josh’s skin and he was able to really crank the temperature up. The only soap avaible was the stuff left by Gym Bro’s Ex, but Josh didn’t care. He even took Gym Bro’s suggestion and gave his hair a good wash and conditioning.

  He didn’t know how long he stayed in there, but Josh left the shower feeling fully refreshed. He grabbed a towel from the shelf inside the bathroom and dried off. He wrapped the big towel around his body; tucking it under his armpits. Then he used one of the smaller towels to wrap around his hair since he couldn’t find a blow dryer. He cracked open the door and called out, “Kevin! I’m done. Are my clothes ready?”

  No answer. He could hear some noise from the living room. Maybe he needed to call louder. “Kevin! I’m done!” Josh felt a little bad yelling so loudly. Maybe he could step outside and tap him on the shoulder. The steam from the hot shower left him still kind of damp though; he didn’t want to drip water all over the floor and come across as a bad guest. Was yelling loudly better than being dripping wet?

  Josh heard a thought cross his mind. He decided to call out again, “Gym Bro!” Gym Bro came out from the other side of the door and gave Josh such a fright that he almost fell backwards. He quickly scrambled to keep the towel wrapped around his body. “Yes?” Gym Bro asked smoothly. Josh rolled his eyes. This guy was such a dork.

  “Are my clothes ready?” Josh asked.

  “Nope. You were in there for a while but not that long. Probably still got an hour left. It’s fine though; finish drying off and you can py in the towel.” Nope. That wasn’t an option. Josh was barely managing to keep the towel in a position to cover his chest and his crotch, and there was no way he could pull that off while trying to py a video game.

  He said, “I’d rather put some clothes on. Do you have some pajamas or something I could borrow?” Gym Bro shook his head. “The undry I was doing was actually all my sleeping stuff.” He stopped abruptly and cocked his head with his arms crossed. “I think I have an idea though. Wait a second.” He went off into the rest of the house.

  Josh took the opportunity to close the door back before continuing to scrub the dampness from his body. He jumped when there was a knock at the door. “Here you go,” he heard Gym Bro say. Josh grabbed the bundle of fabric through the cracked door. He fiddled and rolled it out. In his hands was a one-piece bodysuit with a heart on the front with the word “kitten” underneath it. Josh felt his eyes blinking rapidly. Was he sweating or was he still damp? Was it getting warmer?

  “And here’s the pants,” he heard Gym Bro say. Josh turned and saw another bundle of clothes. He snatched it and rolled it out. They were basic fnnel pajama pants. He felt a sigh release from his body. Gym Bro spoke through the door, “Sorry about the crappy options. My stuff is way too big for you, but I realized some of the clothes my Ex left might fit. I know the top is strange, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted underwear or not. I figured you didn’t want to squeeze into my Ex’s panties, so that seemed like a happy medium.

  Josh nodded his head. Yes, that made total sense. Gym Bro was being super considerate and working with the things he had avaible to him. This wasn’t like Alice trying to trick Josh into women’s clothing. He slid the bodysuit over his head and fastened the csps at the crotch.

  The bodysuit must have had a built-in bra or something because Josh could still see his cleavage when he looked down. He tried adjusting and moving around to make his chest less obvious, but he was really being squeezed in by the garment. He slid the pants on and stepped outside to a waiting Gym Bro.

  “Looks good,” Gym Bro said.

  “You sure?” Josh fiddled with the top some more. “It feels a bit tight.” Gym Bro nodded his head. “Yeah, my Ex was pretty much ft chested. And she was thinner than you. But hey, it’s like you said earlier, you’re trying to lose some weight anyways.” Gym Bro walked away towards the living room. Josh could hear things in his mind, but he ignored it all. If Gym Bro wasn’t going to make a big deal about his chest, then Josh would happily stop calling attention to it.

  Josh sat down on the couch next to Gym Bro, took a swig from one of the open beers on the table, and picked up a controller. “What are we pying first?”

  “We should start with Freak Speed 3, Turbo Edition. It’s technically a racing game, but the extra features really separate it from others in the genre.”

  Gym Bro held up the case to show Josh before turning around to put it into the console. Josh’s eyes widened and he sat up on the couch. “You have the turbo edition?” he excimed. Gym Bro raised his eyebrows. “You know about Freak Speed?” Josh let out an excited gasp. “Um, duh. It’s only the best racing game franchise in history. I’ve been a Freak Speed Fan since the beginning.” Gym Bro dropped onto the couch next to Josh. His weight made Josh fall into him a little bit which made Josh’s heart flutter.

  Gym Bro said, “This is so cool to meet another Freak Speed fan,” he turned and punched Josh on the shoulder. “You see,” Gym Bro continued, “I knew we would get along.” Josh chuckled and rubbed the spot where Gym Bro had lightly hit him. Weirdly enough, he was starting to feel more like himself for the first time in a long time.

  Josh suddenly noticed Gym Bro seemed to be staring intently at his face. “What?” Josh asked concerned. Gym Bro shook his head. “Nothing, it’s just, you have this big, adorable smile on your face.” Josh felt his face get really warm all of a sudden. He leaned back into the couch so he wouldn’t have to notice Gym Bro’s dazzling gaze.

  Josh fiddle with his hair and said, “It’s nothing. Seriously.” Gym Bro leaned closer. Josh could almost feel Gym Bro’s warmth radiating off of his body. Actually, maybe he was feeling his own body getting really warm. His heart was beating faster and faster. His skin was tingling.

  Gym Bro said, “No, you’re definitely smiling that way about something. I can tell.” There was no use; Josh had to come clean. “Okay,” he said, “It’’s just, well, you hitting me in the arm, us getting ready to py video games, it all reminds me of this friend I had in high school.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah,” Josh continued, “he was basically my best friend. We would workout together, py video games together, go to parties. And he’s the one who introduced me to Jurassic Park.”

  “Wait, you like Jurassic Park?”

  Josh turned towards Gym Bro and smiled. “Of course! It’s like, the best movie ever; the effects, the music, the action!” Gym Bro thumped Josh’s arm again and chuckled. “Exactly!” Gym Bro said, “I love it too. Actually, a movie theater not too far away from here recently did this big Jurassic Park event.” Josh felt his temperature rapidly drop. Sweat started oozing out of his pores.

  Gym Bro continued, “I went with some friends, and the event was totally awesome. They had food trucks, games, and all these cool posters. We had a lot of fun.” Josh felt his mind unraveling. Gym Bro knew. There was no way he didn’t remember seeing Josh at the theater. This was all a trap. Now the real teasing and bullying was going to start now that Gym Bro had Josh trapped in his house.

  Gym Bro scoffed and scratched the side of his head. “It’s a real shame we weren’t friends a little earlier. If you had been there, I would probably have gotten a chance to watch the movie.” Josh blinked his eyes. He said, “You didn’t watch the movie?”

  Gym Bro shook his head. “Nah, none of my friends are really into the older films. They don’t have the brainpower for it like us.” He gave Josh a knowing smirk. Josh nodded his head. It was true, the muscle heads he remembered around Gym Bro that night did seem particurly uncultured.

  Gym Bro continued, “We got to have fun hanging out, taking pictures, drinking, talking to hot girls, but I would have loved to see the actual movie. I heard they did a remastered edition in higher resolution for a big screen.” Gym Bro turned to Josh. “If they ever do it again, I’ll let you know.”

  Josh nodded. “Of course, that sounds awesome,” he said. He quickly chugged the rest of his beer and felt his body return to normal. Things were okay. Gym Bro was actually a cool guy. He was fine. Gym Bro said, “Whoa, that was fast. Here, pick out a stage and I’ll grab a few more.” Josh nodded his head and set himself to task.

  An hour ter, Josh’s good mood was starting to decline. No matter what he did in the game, Gym Bro always beat him in the head to head races. He did fine when they added the computers as well, but Gym Bro always got first pce while Josh only managed to get into the top five.

  After yet another loss. Josh groaned and cursed as he threw the controller onto the sofa. “Hey,” Gym Bro said, “you got second pce this time. You’re doing better.” Josh shook his head. “Are you kidding me?” he said, “I totally suck.” Gym Bro shrugged. “I told you, the turbo edition hits different.”

  Josh groaned internally. At this rate, Gym Bro was going to think he was a total loser and a fraud. He had to do something to make sure they stayed friends. “How about we switch games?” Josh suggested. Gym Bro shrugged. “Sure, you want to do Mortal Kombat?” Josh felt life spark inside him again. He’d totally forgotten about that option. “Yes!” he excimed, “I’ll totally own you.”

  “Bring it on.”

  Gym Bro switched the games and grabbed Josh another drink. Things started off poorly. Gym Bro was able to do all sorts of cool combos and tricks Josh wasn’t familiar with. However, the more matches they pyed, the more Josh started to win. By his ninth beer, Josh was on a winning streak.

  After winning yet another match, Josh turned and watched Gym Bro’s disgruntled face. He punched Gym Bro in the arm and smirked at him. “I told you I would dominate you in this.” Gym Bro grunted in agreement. “You’re just getting lucky,” he said. Josh chuckled and finished off his drink before letting out a loud burp. His head felt funny.

  “You want another one?” Gym Bro asked. Josh grunted in approval as he pnned his next strategy. Maybe they would win one more match and then suggest they do a co-op game. That way they could end the night both feeling like winners.

  Gym Bro shouted from the kitchen. “How about I make you a custom drink? Something tastier than the cheap beers.” Josh cackled. He flipped around on the sofa to look at Gym Bro. “I see what you’re doing,” he said, “you think if you make me a stronger drink, I’ll get drunk and then you’ll have a chance to beat me. Well tough luck buddy, I’m getting stronger with every ounce of alcohol you give me!”

  Josh chuckled and slumped back into the couch. The walls were pretty. He felt really nice. Gym Bro suddenly appeared and thrust a cup into Josh’s hands. Josh smiled up at Gym Bro. He was so cool. “Thanks,” Josh said. Gym Bro sat down and took a sip from his own cup. He asked. “How is it?”

  Josh took a few gulps until the cup was half empty. “Mmm,” he said, “that’s pretty good.”

  “Thanks.” Gym Bro took another sip of his drink and grabbed the controller. “Okay, this time I get to py Scorpion.” Josh chortled and took another swig from his new drink. “Bring it on.”

  Less than eight minutes ter, Josh jumped from the couch with glee as he watched his character rip the spine from Gym Bro’s character in high definition. “Yes!” He screamed out, “That’s ten matches in a row.” He turned to look at Gym Bro’s scowling face. Josh got real close and poked Gym Bro’s nose. “I win.” Josh felt himself tilting forward a little bit.

  He quickly caught himself by bracing his hands on top of Gym Bro’s massive thighs. They were so big. Josh could probably sit on top of either one and Gym Bro wouldn’t even notice. Except that Josh was kind of fat now. But maybe Gym Bro was strong enough to handle him anyways. He was so strong after all. Maybe Josh could pretend to fall to see if Gym Bro was able to catch him.

  Josh felt his eyes come back into focus. He was staring directly at Gym Bro’s face, but Gym Bro’s eyes seemed to be aimed downwards. Josh looked down and saw an absolutely sick rack. He stood up and watched the rack follow him. This was so fucking cool. He grabbed one of the boobs and felt a wave of pleasure go through his body. He heard a girl moan and felt himself get more aroused.

  Josh felt movement in front of him and looked up to see Gym bro towering over him. His booming voice said, “I think you might have had a bit too much to drink.” Josh backed up a little and felt his leg hit the table. He turned around. He didn’t have too much to drink. No, just a few beers and that tasty mixed drink Gym Bro made for him before the st match.

  He scratched at his head and wobbled away. “No, I’m good,” he slurred, “I just need a nap while you drive me to my car.” He needed his clothes. It’d been hours, so they must have finished washing by now. Or did they need to dry now? Did drying take long? He really needed to lie down. He would get his clothes first and then take a nap and then get his car and then go to sleep.

  He felt his body moving. Or was it being moved? He was in front of a door. The room behind the door seemed very pink. He heard the booming soothing voice again. “Just sleep here. It’s fine, trust me.” Gym Bro was so freaking awesome. Josh nodded his head and stumbled onto the small bed he saw.

  He felt something tugging at his pants. He was feeling pretty warm, so removing clothes made sense. Plus, Gym Bro gave him a really cute bodysuit that still covered his crotch because Gym Bro was a super genius or something like that. Josh felt hands rubbing up his smooth legs. That felt really nice. He snuggled into the plush bed and luscious pillows.

  “Good night,” he heard Gym Bro say.

  “Good night,” Josh mumbled.

  Qzar24