Here's a
nice little heart to heart between Ben and Lucas. Enjoy and don't forget to
donate at https://donate.nifty.org/
Chapter 6
\\\ Ben ///
Lucas
suddenly started to expand in all directions, filling out his vest until it was
stretched tight across his massively, ripped torso. His trackies did a good job of hiding the
definition in his legs but you could see the undeniable increase in mass under
there. He stood in front of me, not
flexing or posing...just standing, looking massive and formidable. I swallowed involuntarily as I took in the
sight before me. I'd only seen Lucas get
big once before but that was when there was no skin showing so it just looked
like someone had inflated his clothes.
Sure I'd seen his dads beef up, especially when they were joking around
with my dad and uncle, but to see someone my own age suddenly outclass any
bodybuilder on the planet was slightly surreal and intimidating.
"I knew
it! You're scared of me now aren't
you?" He asked, looking like he was
about to cry, which would have made things even weirder.
"No of course not." I lied slightly. "It's just, I dunno...weird." I probably could have used a better word
but...well...what else could I say?
"Oh great,
so you think I'm a freak?" He turned
away so I couldn't see the tears welling up in his eyes, which would've worked
great if it weren't for the wall of mirrors in front of him.
"No it's just..."
"What?!?!" He bellowed turning back to me. His face was bright red with tears streaming
down it as his body was tensed up with angry veins bursting through the skin. If he hadn't been trying to intimidate me he
had a poor way of showing it.
"Fine, I'm
jealous ok? Is that what you wanted to
hear?" I yelled back.
"You're
jealous of me? Are you serious?" He asked, like it was the weirdest thing in
the world. Sure, why wouldn't I be
jealous of someone who could literally hulk out whenever he wanted? Why wouldn't I be jealous of someone who
could lift cars, tear trees out of the ground or crush boulders in his bare
hands?
"Well...yeah...I
mean, look at you." I looked at his face
as his confusion changed to amusement, and then he just burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" He shrank back down to his usual size as he
started to regain his composure.
"Seriously,
what have I got that you could possibly be jealous of?"
"Oh gee I
dunno, maybe the ability to grow massive muscles? Super strength? You're pretty much a god damn super
hero."
"Wow is that
what you really think? Ok, so I can do
those things, so what? It's not like I
can shout it from the rooftops is it?
The only people who know are our families and I have to keep it hidden
from the rest of the world."
"Ok, but it
must be great sometimes though, right?"
"Well yeah
of course it's cool to beef up and check yourself out."
"That
explains all the mirrors then." I
smiled, pointing over to the dance studio area.
"Nah they're
strictly for dance practice." He
replied, but I could see by his body language that he'd definitely used them
for posing. "I did catch my dad in here
once checking himself out, but I bet he's done it loads of times when I've been
at school." That didn't surprise me at
all; Alex had always been vainer than Josh, possibly because the abilities were
newer to him, even though he'd been able to beef up since he was our age.
"What about
the strength? That must be pretty cool."
"It's
definitely useful, especially on the farm, I mean, have you ever tried to shoe
a horse?"
For some
reason the most inappropriate answer sprung into my mind. "No, but I told a donkey to fuck off
once." That totally caught Lucas
off-guard and he burst out laughing.
"For fuck's
sake, you're as bad as my dad." He
flashed that infectious smile I'd kinda missed over the years. "Anyway, it's much easier to put a horse shoe
on when you can just push the nails in with your thumb rather than using a
hammer, so I guess that's one advantage, but it's a pain in the arse
sometimes. I've had to train so hard to
reign it in and not break things over the years, and when we were growing up
our dads kept us out of school in case we hurt people or accidentally let it
slip, so that was kinda lonely." It
quickly dawned on me how isolating it must have been for both he and Sammie
growing up; I started to feel guilty that I'd stayed away as they probably
could've used a friend around at the time.
"I never
realised, I guess I should've tried to be more of a friend to you, but it just
kinda freaked me out when I was younger."
"I can see
why I suppose, but to be honest I was always kinda jealous of you too."
"What? Why?" I
was stunned; I couldn't see anything I had that he'd want.
"Ok, take
your shirt off and face the mirror." He
could see my sceptical look as I had no idea where he was going with this but I
complied. I had to admit I had a pretty
decent build; all the training that we did pretty much gave us all bodies like
gymnasts, although maybe not quite as big.
Lucas came up next to me and removed his vest, and then he increased his
size until he was even with me. "Right,
now look at how easily I could get to your size and think about this. What did I achieve there? Should I be proud that I can look like
this? Or what about
this?" He suddenly grew to look
like an absolute muscle god, I mean; he could've won any teen bodybuilding
contest hands down and even blown the adult competitors out of the water. He started to hit a few poses, which he'd
clearly practiced in front of the mirrors no doubt, and finished with an
incredible double bicep pose with arms that were bigger than my head.
"I don't
think I could ever look like that." I
stated, trying not to feel intimidated by the sheer power of the being next to
me but failing miserably. He stopped
posing and turned to face me again, still the same height as me but with a
solid wall of muscle between our faces.
"Why not? If you worked for it you could make your own
body look awesome. Then you could show
it off on stage, win awards for it, get endorsement deals and become famous,
you could be the envy of men and boys all over the world, become a sex
symbol..."
"Ok, ok I
get it, but what does that have to do with you being jealous?" I tried to imagine myself being as big as
Lucas now was but it just seemed so insane; the amount of training and eating
right that would go into looking even half as big as he was now would be beyond
me.
"It means I
can look like this any time I want but what can I do with it? I could win any bodybuilding contest hands
down with no effort, but is that fair?
And I'd have people wanting to know what my training regime is, what I
eat, how to get a body like mine and I'd just feel like total fraud. But you can do any of this, you can do
whatever you want and feel proud of your achievements. Not only that but I've seen you guys training
and I could never do what you do, I tried vaulting over a railing in the park
once and crushed it in my hand."
"I knew that
was you!!" I said with a huge smile as
his face flushed red. I remembered back
to one day when I was out with the Fleeks and I saw a barrier that separated
the outdoor gym area from the park had a weird pattern in it, like someone had
crushed it and tried to squash it back into shape before giving up. I had a suspicion it was Lucas but I could
never work out why he did it.
"Yeah I
pretty much gave up on the whole parkour thing after that."
"So what
about at school though, why did you decide to be skinny and so...gay?" Ok so that sounded wrong, even as it came out
of my mouth but I couldn't think of another way to describe it. And now it was my turn to turn red. He shrank back down again to the size he
always was at school and I almost felt like I should put my shirt back on so as
not to intimidate him with my own body.
"Well I'm
gay anyway so that's real enough but when I first started at school I was built
like you are now, only I hid it under my clothes, but as the first day wore on
and you stayed away from me I decided I didn't want to hide who I was. Obviously I couldn't just burst out of my
clothes in school and show off all that stuff, but I could show off my
personality a bit more, so I decided to out myself on the second day. I turned myself into a skinny twink, changed
my mannerisms and embraced my gay side fully.
As soon as I did that Amber and the other girls noticed me and we just
bonded straight away."
"But they
don't know the real you though do they?
I mean, you're just regular Lucas right now; you're not being camp,
you're talking in your regular voice and you're not bothered about how you look
in front of me."
"Oh
thanks." He said, tidying up his hair in
the mirror.
"You know
what I mean; it's just not an effort to be you right now. At school you seem to be acting all the time
but what happens after school?"
"What do you
mean?"
"I mean are
you going to carry on through life, playing this role all the time? And what if you find a boyfriend? Are they going to fall for flamboyant,
uber-gay Lucas or will they be introduced to the real, muscle morphing, super
strong guy you really are?" Lucas
suddenly became very quiet. It seemed to
be dawning on him that he'd been playing a character all through school so far
but hadn't even thought about how he would carry on in life. "You need to look at who you are, who you
want people to see and how you want to live.
Don't settle for being what you think people expect you to be, just be
you, if they don't like the real you then let them go." Lucas started to look a little deflated, like
he didn't realise the mess he'd created for himself.
"I can't
show off the real me though can I?" He
whined as he sat down on the ground, cradling his head in his hands. I knelt down in front of him and put my hand
on his shoulder for comfort.
"Of course
you can, I mean ok you'll have to hide the strength and muscle thing, but
that's not all of who you are. You've
got your dad's sense of humour and DJ's soft but strong side, you're still gay
as well, that'll never change, but you don't have to be so...in your face with
it. And don't forget about the dancing
as well, I've seen you perform and you're fantastic. That doesn't come from your abilities, if
anything it comes from the control you've gained over them." He looked up again and I could see him flush
red with an embarrassed pride. "You
asked about what you achieved by getting big but think about what you could
achieve by becoming a great dancer. You
can train and win awards for that and be proud of those accomplishments because
they'll have nothing to do with your strength."
"What about
my friends? What if they ditch me?" He asked.
"Then
they're not really your friends, but you can always come and hang out with me
and my friends."
"I thought
we weren't friends though." That one
actually hurt but I quickly realised that we really hadn't been, at least until
now.
"Do you
honestly think I'd be staying here, saying all this if I wasn't your
friend?" That seemed to perk him up
straight away and he jumped to his feet, wrapping me up in a crushing hug. "I take it back, I hate you." I wheezed as he crushed the air out of
me. Finally he let me go and looked me
in the eye again with that joyful smile of his.
"Too late,
you said we're friends now and you're not getting out of it that easily." I couldn't help but smile back as I finally
felt like I was bonding with Lucas. We
both grabbed our tops and put them back on and Lucas started to walk across the
studio towards the stairs. "So now all
we've got to do is get you and Sammie together." He called over his shoulder.
"Whoa, wait,
what?" I said chasing after him as he
reached the top of the stairs and flopped down onto one of the couches with a
huge smile on his face.
"She's crazy
about you dumbass, always has been." I
started to blush a little when he said that, even though I kinda knew she had
feelings for me.
"Wha...what
makes you think I'm interested in her?"
I stammered as I sank down into the other couch.
"Come on,
I've seen the way you practically melt when she just smiles at you in school so
don't tell me there's nothing there."
"Well...ok,
maybe, but I...wouldn't feel right going out with her."
"Why? Is it cos our families are so close? Or are you worried I wouldn't approve? If that's the case then don't worry, I won't
stand in your way." Shit! There went my last excuse.
"No it's
just..." I paused, trying to think of a
valid reason that wouldn't sound stupid.
"What?" He asked, looking more confused, but then he
had an idea. "It's this whole muscle
thing isn't it?"
"Yeah, I
think it is." I quietly replied, feeling
more ashamed by the second.
"I don't get
it, you seemed ok with me a minute ago so what's the problem?" I paused for a minute, trying to think of the
best way to describe it.
"Ok, how
would you feel if your girlfriend was stronger than you?" I asked and Lucas immediately burst out
laughing.
"I can think
of two reasons why that wouldn't happen."
He chuckled.
"Ok bad
example." I started to think for a
second and then came up with a better idea.
"Ok, so let's say you were in a relationship with Superman. You're obviously not going to have much of an
issue with his strength but what about his other powers? How would you feel knowing he can shoot
lasers out of his eyes, or the way he can just float free of Earth's gravity
without any effort? You'd constantly
spend your whole life in awe and feeling inferior wouldn't you?"
"So that's
what you think? That you'll be in awe of
her all the time? Ok, so what about
me?" He stood up to face me. "Do I fill you with a sense of awe when you look
at me?"
"Well no,
not looking like that, you just look...normal."
I felt a bit mean saying that but he just looked like a regular
fifteen-year-old with his baggy clothes hanging off his skinny body.
"But yet you
know what I can do, so how about this..." He bulked back up to his massively
muscular size and now his clothes looked like they were painted on again. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I
looked at the incredible being in front of me.
"So you're only in awe of me when I'm big? Even though I can still crush a tank whatever
size I am?"
"Well
wouldn't you be in awe of someone who looks like that at our age?" I asked, pointing at his body.
"Of course,
why do you think I have so many mirrors downstairs?" He winked at me with a corny smile.
"I thought
you said they were strictly for dance practice." I smiled back as he just stood there with his
face turning red and his mouth hanging open as he knew he'd just been caught in
a lie.
"Shit!" He started to dwindle again as he sat back on
the couch.
"It's
different when you're smaller though, it's not as obvious so I don't really
think about it then."
"So, what,
you think Sammie's gonna be massive all the time when she's around you? You think she's gonna tuck you under her arm
all the time like a handbag? Or do you
think she's going to constantly humiliate you with her strength whenever you're
around? Cos if that's what you think
then you couldn't be further from the truth."
"No I don't
think that at all, it's just...being around someone who can do things you can't
kinda makes me feel...I dunno...a bit inferior."
I still couldn't really express what the problem was.
"Ok, so
should people feel inferior to you all the time then?" That one caught me completely by surprise,
the very thought of someone feeling inferior to me was ridiculous.
"Huh? Why would they think that?"
"Think about
it, I've seen you do flips and tricks that most people would find
impossible. I've seen you be so quick
witted that you've hit people with put downs and wicked jokes before they even
realise they've left themselves open.
You're able to talk to people so easily and make them like you, whereas
some people are too shy to even speak to strangers. And what about your friends? I've seen them pull off tricks that even
you've struggled with, especially that little one, what's his name...Danny? Is he superior to you?"
"Well...no
but..."
"Do you feel
inferior to my dad, not because of all this muscle shit but because he can draw
brilliantly, or DJ because he can sculpt pretty much anything he can think of
with his hands? Or what about your
favourite bands? Do you stare on slack
jawed at the singer who can belt out notes you can never dream of or do you
just enjoy the music? See everyone has
things they can do that other people can only dream of but you can't always be
jealous of them for their talents or abilities, it's just ours are a little
more unique, but we're still just regular people underneath."
"Ok, point
taken." I finally started to feel better
about things. "When did you become so
wise anyway?"
"That's
pretty much the same thing DJ told me a few days before I started at
school. I was so worried about being
different but he just pointed out that everyone is unique in their own ways,
maybe not as extreme as us but still different to everyone else."
"Hey Ben,
I'm heading home now, are you ready to go?"
I heard Uncle Luke call from below.
"Nah, I'm
gonna stay here and get Lucas ready for school tomorrow, he needs a
makeover." I called over the bannister
then turned back to look towards Lucas to see the confused look on his
face. Tomorrow was definitely going to
be a new experience for him.