Do-Over

[long-form commission]

Gregory heard a loud banging on the door to his trailer. He let out a groan, grabbed each arm of his recliner, and hoisted his 350 pound body out of the chair. He wobbled on his weak ankles, winced at the screaming pain of his left knee, and shuffled past grease-stained wrappers and crumpled beer cans. He peered through the peephole, saw his sweaty, elderly landlord, and let out a loud sigh.

“Hi Bret,” Gregory said as he pulled the door open. Bret was leaning on a baseball bat. Gregory sighed when he saw it. “Is that really… necessary?” he said, shaking his head.

“Greg, you’re five weeks late with rent. You know what that means? That means another month is up, and that month is a week late. Tell me why I don’t evict you right now.”

Gregory looked around his small trailer as if he could find a small stack of cash there. He knew there were two twenty dollar bills in his wallet, but he had two large pizzas on the way. “Look, Bret, they’ve been cutting my hours at work lately.”

Bret dramatically leaned back, his eyes wide. His wispy comb-over fell back as well. When he stood again, the stringy grey hairs stood straight up. “BIG surprise they’re cutting your hours! You move slow as shit! How the hell can you work on a construction site?”

Gregory put a chubby hand on his counter and leaned his weight on it, causing it to creak loudly. “Look, Bret, there’s no need to be uncivil. I’ve got a few opportunities to make extra cash coming up and that’s going to take care of all the rent I owe. Just let me have one more week.”

Bret banged the baseball bat on the ground. “One more week? One more WEEK?”

“What were you going to do with the bat, really?” Gregory said. “Were you going to break my kneecaps or something? They’re already busted.”

Bret shook his head. “I didn’t know if you’d have any of your little drug addict friends kicking around.”

“I don’t have drug addict friends,” Gregory said, immediately flashing to the various men he’d had stopping by in the past few weeks: Grindr hookups, craigslist offers. Each one had been demeaning but he’d needed the money just to pay his back bills.

“Well, whatever it is you’re doing over here…” Bret peered into the trailer and scrunched his face in disgust. “One week, Gregory, then your fat ass is OUT.”

Gregory’s heart skipped a beat and his mouth went dry as he realized what he was about to offer. “Is there… something else I could offer… instead of money…” He licked his lips and reached for Bret’s skinny brown belt with a chubby hand.

Bret knocked the hand away with his bat. “You pervert!” He hopped backward, then swiped the air with the bat again. “Your week just went to five days! And don’t let me find out you’ve been sucking dicks for money in here!”

Gregory turned and looked back at his home. In three strides he could cross the entire trailer. His living room and bedroom were the same, his beatup recliner pressed up against the nearly crushed flat bed with a deep depression in the center. His kitchen sink was an arms length away from his television. The air stunk of mildew, sour milk and farts. And this was the place he was so desperate to keep. He was a 42 year old loser, his life sinking like a stone and he couldn’t stop it.

Maybe he could call his parents, he thought? They hadn’t spoken to him in years. He desperately tried to think of a single friend he could ask for help. His phone buzzed, vibrating along the kitchen counter. He caught it just before it tumbled over the edge. He didn’t recognize the number, but the area code was from his hometown.

“Who the hell is calling me from back home?”

He let it go to voicemail, then listened: “Gregory Mayer? This is Rene Loughlin, from high school! Look, I know this is out of the blue, but, I’ve sent someone over to your house. I know this is very forward, VERY aggressive, but… I need your help with something. You’re literally the only person who could help me with it, and I think this opportunity could absolutely change your life. So I’m hoping you remember what good friends we used to be and take this on good faith.”

There was a heavy pounding on the door behind him. Gregory turned, still listening to the baffling message.

“Remember the hair remover?” Rene’s message continued. Gregory hadn’t heard Rene’s nasally voice in years; it was simultaneously irritating and comforting. “If you remember the hair remover, well… let’s just say I’ve invented something even more amazing.”

The call ended with a beep. Gregory set the phone down. “You the pizza guy?” he yelled through the door. Half of him wished it was. His huge gut gurgled and he was desperate for a slice of Meat Lover’s.

“I’m a representative of Mr. Rene Loughlin,” said a deep voice from outside. Gregory anxiously opened the door to see a broad-chested man in a suit. “Mr. Loughlin asked us to offer you an immediate transport to his home, if you’re willing,” the man said.

Gregory looked down at his stained sweatpants. He wasn’t wearing any underwear, and he was quite certain that he had brown streaks going up the back. His shirt stunk with his sour sweat.

“I-I can’t go anywhere… Not like this!” he said, lifting his flabby arms.

“Mr. Loughlin said you were able to refuse the offer if you want,” the man said, starting to back away.

Bret’s car pulled up to the worn grass in front of Gregory’s trailer. “You sucking dick for money again, you pervert?” he said, swinging the baseball bat out the open window.

“Wait,” Gregory said, grabbing the suited man’s shoulder. “I’ll go. Please, get me out of here.”

*

Gregory was 20 years old, doing pushups in the middle of his dormroom. Rene, his roommate, burst through the door with an armload of grocery bags. “Greg! Buddy! You’re not going to believe what I came up with!”

Gregory counted out the last few reps: “298, 299… 300…” He hopped to his feet, his hair chest glistening with sweat. Rene’s eyes lit up at the sight of him. “What is it, little buddy?”

Rene started unloading the grocery bags, producing a number of different containers of fluid, brightly colored flasks, and some lab equipment. He set up a bunsen burner next to a digital scale and immediately started stirring two chemicals while glancing through a small microscope. “It’s that issue you had, big fella. Remember?”

Gregory lumbered to the fridge and pulled out a large tupperware container, packed to the brim with oatmeal, sweet potatoes and chocolate protein powder. He started shoveling down the mash as his ripped abdomen grumbled.

“The issue that I’m fucking hungry all the time?” Greg said. He grabbed a handful of his own meaty pec and squeezed it. He hadn’t measured it yet that day, but he was sure it was bigger.

“No, the hairiness thing,” Rene said. “You hate shaving. Remember? We talked about this two weeks ago.”

Gregory thought back, then shrugged his big shoulders. “No idea.” He wore only a white t-shirt, one he was on the verge of being too big to fit into. With his big delts and wide back stretching it out and pulling it up, it left an inch of his cobbled abdomen below. He started doing bodyweight squats as Rene talked to him. After the first few, he could hear some threads popping in his skin-tight sweats.

“I guess I have to do all the thinking for both of us,” Rene said, sliding his glasses up his face before he resumed stirring his concoction. “See, you said you wished you had no bodyhair and that you hated shaving, and you tried chemical hair removal stuff once and it burned you… does none of this ring a bell?”

The back of Gregory’s sweatpants finally gave out, tearing in half as his swollen glutes pumped up beyond the material’s ability to contain them. “Fuck,” he said, trying to twist his thickly built torso enough to see his exposed ass. “That’s another pair of sweats gone.”

Rene shook his head. “Nevermind that. Next time I’ll invent sweatpants that grow with you. Take off your shirt and get over here.”

Gregory strutted toward him. He struggled with the tight-fitting t-shirt, but finally just grabbed at the neck and pulled it in half. Rene’s eyes lit up at the act.

“Okay, hold still,” Rene said, wiping his glasses for a moment before dipping a ladle into the bright pink substance cooking over his burner. “Just give it a second to cool, and…” He poured it over Rene’s chest.

The big hunk flexed his pecs as the gelatinous substance poured down them. Rene pulled on some gloves as he started to rub it across his chest. “I suppose I should have warned you at first,” Rene said. “This will essentially eliminate your bodyhair forever. You okay with that?”

Gregory sighed loudly as Rene’s fingers worked over his rock-hard flesh. “Damn, that feels good little guy.”

Rene scanned a stopwatch, then clicked it and immediately wiped the slime from Gregory’s chest with a towel. The dark brown hair wiped away. His burly torso now looked like it was carved from dark marble, polished to a perfect shine.

“Damn, little buddy! That’s good stuff! You’re gonna be rich someday!”

Rene nodded, staring at Gregory’s even more impressive body. “And you’re going to be a professional athlete someday. Guaranteed.”

*

Gregory couldn’t find a handle to the front door of Rene’s house. A white panel lit up as his hand touched it. It beeped. “Identified: Mayer, Gregory,” said a robotic voice. The front door popped open. Gregory walked in, amazed.

The atrium of the house was vast, big enough to fit Gregory’s trailer ten times. He looked up the double staircase arching down toward him and wondered if he’d be able to get up it with his knee.

“Wow. Gregory? Is that really you?” Rene wore a suit, his blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. He’d lost his babyface and apparently gotten his crooked teeth replaced by straight pearly whites, but he still wore his signature thick glasses. He hustled down the staircase with ease. Gregory felt his knee throb just watching the spindly man move so spryly.

“Hi,” Gregory said, suddenly ashamed. He felt filthy, disgusting in front of this polished, ultra-wealthy version of his old roommate. Last time they’d seen each other, Rene had worshiped him; last time, Gregory had been worthy of worship.

“I’m so glad you wanted to take me up on my offer,” Rene said, looking Gregory up and down. “You look… different.”

Gregory considered leaving at that moment. In front of this man from his past, he felt all the years crashing down on him.

“Let’s head to my lab. The room’s already prepped.”

Gregory pulled away. “I still don’t know what this is all about,” he protested. “I just traveled two hours to be here and I don’t even know why!”

Rene nodded. “Your chest hair. Did it ever grow back?”

Gregory grabbed his shirt and adjusted it. Even through the cloth he could feel the smooth flesh beneath.

“Exactly,” Rene said. “That formula made me my first million. And I owe you for being the test subject.”

Rene grabbed Gregory’s hand but he resisted. “I, uh… have a knee problem. Can’t do stairs.” Gregory nodded up at the lofty second floor.

Rene winked. “Lab’s downstairs. Let’s go big guy!”

They went through several sliding doors and down a silent elevator. Rene finally took off his expensive jacket and put on a lab coat. “Do you have any idea how much it cost me to have this area built down here?”

Gregory thought of how much money he was in arrears on his rent. Rene probably made that much every second.

“I still don’t understand…” Gregory whined, but Rene held up a hand.

“Here’s the thing, big guy,” Rene explained. “You have remarkable genetics. It’s something I noticed about you back when we lived together. That’s why you were all-state track, wrestling champ, and how you kept breaking those powerlifting records. You’re a genetic freak! Your body just wants to be massive, to grow big and strong. That’s why you were starving all the time.”

Gregory stared off into the distance, remembering those days years ago when life seemed so easy, back when people admired him; back when he was a specimen.

“And in the subsequent years, your food choices have caused your body to grow in a different way…” Rene said. Gregory blushed. “...but don’t worry, because I’ve come up with a way to rejuvenate your genetics.”

Once again Rene mixed liquids over a bunsen burner. “The thing is, there’s another group out there who stumbled upon the same discoveries, and if I don’t act on a test subject fast… they’ll be me to it. I don’t mean to be critical, but I know you’ve fallen on hard times…”

Rene approached Gregory with a syringe. “Can I take your blood? I just need your DNA to calibrate the formula.” Gregory offered a puffy arm. He inhaled quickly when he felt the sharp pinch of the needle.

What Rene cobbled together was a thick, viscous liquid. “Just need to add this to the emulsifier,” he said, producing a hefty jug and adding the liquid to it. “Now… do you think you can drink this entire thing?”

As if in response, Gregory’s stomach growled loudly. He grabbed the jug in both hands, his rotator cuff injury flaring up as he tilted it back and started gulping it down.

“See, what’s going to happen is, all the somatic damage the past twenty years have done is going to be wiped out. Basically, your DNA is being reset, its true potential coming out,” Rene explained.

The liquid had a smoky taste. Gregory thought he might choke on it, but he felt the pain in his shoulder suddenly easing up. His swollen knee subsided as well.

“Imagine if your body had been kept at its peak all these years,” Rene explained. “Imagine if you hadn’t quit sports to start working for your dad. Imagine if he hadn’t kicked you out when he found that porn on your computer!”

A tear rolled down Gregory’s cheek as he remembered the pain of the past two decades. Then he felt something strange: the heft of his face, the bloated jiggle it always had, was gone. He blinked as he realized his face felt… lighter! It could have been a trick of the light, but the hands holding the jug seemed different as well.

Rene had activated a camera and was charting data as he continued to talk. “The thing is, Gregory, I always knew you were gay. And I’ve tracked you all these years, and I wanted to help you without sacrificing your dignity. I thought I might just come in and buy you a plot of land as an anonymous donor, but then this project came up and I knew it was the perfect way to help you.”

Sweat was pouring off Gregory now. His hands were so sweaty he’d almost dropped the jug. It was only half gone, but he continued to chug away. He couldn’t believe how much stamina he had; usually any activity at all, even eating and drinking, made him winded, but here he was robustly upending this bottle. His heartbeat, at first frantic and erratic, was slowing, seeming stronger in his temples as he consumed Rene’s formula.

A tingle had traveled up and down Gregory’s arms. His whole body felt warm. Suddenly he flexed his biceps and forearms involuntarily. He was shocked to see their soft blubber seeming to reshape, hardening into solid mass. There was still a third of the jug left to drink, but he couldn’t wait to drop it to flex these new bulging arms.

“There we go… almost done… and I should add now that there will be some cognitive realignment as well. Essentially this formula will reveal your true form, exactly who you desire to be. Isn’t that wonderful? And I’m hoping… praying… that you want to live here with me when it’s all done.”

The jug was finished. Gregory leapt to his feet, possessed by a vigor he hadn’t felt in years. He set the jug down and let out a gargantuan belch. Then he looked down his body, which seemed to be moving on its own. His flabby rolls were wriggling around, tightening, molding into hardened muscles. He looked reached up to feel his face as soft cheeks turned into a sleek, chiseled jawline and high cheekbones. His jiggly manboobs bounced one at a time, then together, suddenly pulling up into a rock-solid pec shelf.

Gregory’s clothing had started to fall as his waistline narrowed but his sweats hung on his massive quads now. He couldn’t even see past his muscular chest but he knew that below, the dick that had been obscured by fat for years was now free, and dangling. The roundness of his body was gone now, replaced by hard angles and impressive bulges. Gregory had never been this big before! He took a step, feeling like a massive beast as he realized how difficult it was to roll each enormous quad around the other.

“I’m a huge… muscle blimp!” he bellowed as a layer of dark hair sprouted all over his swollen muscles. He flexed an arm, estimating it to be maybe a hundred inches around. No, that couldn’t be right… could it? A hundred… inches? His head was getting a little foggy. He could feel the knowledge there, memories of knowing things… he just had to reach out and touch it.

But he didn’t. Gregory looked at his buddy Rene, suddenly filled with the love and admiration for his genius buddy he'd had when they were college roommates, and let his intellect dissipate. What was it doing for him anyway?

“You’re… magnificent…” Rene said as Gregory’s balding hair burst into a blossom of dark curls. He ran his hands through the silky mane. Gregory roared and moaned at the contact. “It’s been hard for you, hasn’t it?” Rene asked.

“So… hard…” Gregory said. But was he talking about his life, or the swelling cock between his legs?

“What do you want?” Rene asked.

“I want you… to be… in charge…” Gregory said. “I want you to be the boss…” he purred as Rene ran his hands over the swarthy musclebeast before him.

“I did some research on you before I contacted you,” Rene said. “I know you were doing a lot to try to stay afloat. You never have to do any of that again, understand?”

Gregory stared at Rene like a dog staring at his owner. The cock between his legs burped up some cum at the sound of Rene’s voice.

“If you want… ONLY if you want,” Rene said, patting Gregory’s beautiful hair while drool dangled from the musclebeast’s lips, “you could be a spokesman for my company. I mean, you’ll be famous once I publish this research, and you’ll be the face of the procedure’s success. It was my genius, Gregory, but it was your perfect genetics…”

Gregory lumbered forward and scooped Rene up, pulling him into a massively muscular embrace. Rene coughed as the powerful man squeezed him, pulling him into his incredible pec cleavage.

“God, I’ve always wanted this,” Rene said as he took a deep breath of the powerful musk that burst from his four-hundred pound beast’s body.

“I’ve always wanted this too,” Gregory growled. It was as if he’d been given a do-over, as if all the hardship of the last twenty years had been wiped away. He felt the memories disintegrating. Minutes later, he remembered nothing of Bret, his trailer, his awful construction job. No one would ever know where that overweight man went.

“I wanna… fuck you…” Gregory growled. God, if only he’d been able to say that twenty years ago! It felt good to let it out now, his buried desires from a life in the closet suddenly released.

Rene silently fell to his knees. With a click, he disabled the camera on them. “This will be our private time,” he said, as he rubbed his head against Gregory’s soft pubes, licking the length of the big man’s enormous shaft. Just the sound of Rene’s voice made the big cock burp up precum. Rene licked it up, savoring the taste, as both of them got ready to embrace their new life.