Part 1

Braden Taggert was obsessed with getting buff.  Freshly graduated from college with a masters in computer programming that he’d earned two years ahead of schedule due to his intelligence, focus, and dedication, the twenty-two year old couldn’t wait to start working out. Fuck, all he’d ever done was study his ass off, he thought dourly, and he had the body to show for it. At six foot four and barely one hundred fifty pounds, he was gaunt and gangly.  He was fucking pathetic! Well, mostly pathetic anyway.  In his prouder moments, he could admit that his height, his intelligence, and his big 10-inch cock counted for something.  Not as much as they should, but something. He just needed to get buff and everything would be perfect.  He would fucking be perfect!

Fortunately for him, he easily landed a sweet job that paid nearly six figures at a big tech firm that was conveniently located down the street from a huge gym where all of the up and coming bodybuilders worked out. Even better, he negotiated a flexible schedule so he could take breaks whenever he felt like it to go lift.

The first week he spent more time at the gym than at work but his supervisor didn’t seem to care as long as he got his coding done.  He spent a fortune on workout gear and supplements after grilling the gym owner for details.  The owner was more than happy to humor him because Braden bought four of everything he recommended.  In no time, Braden was on a dedicated workout schedule with one goal only:  Growing huge muscles.

He guzzled protein shakes and popped all of the pills he could get his hands on, some legal, others not so much.  He didn’t care.  He just wanted to get big and muscly.  Maybe then he would get noticed? Maybe then he would finally get the respect he was due? The girls had always avoided him, flocking to the big jocks. Truthfully, the only time he’d gotten laid was on spring break in Cancun when both he and the girl had been so drunk that neither of them remembered the encounter the next morning. He wasn’t even completely certain they had done anything.

Braden was sick of it! He would prove to women that he had everything the jocks had and more. When they saw that he was fucking ripped with a huge cock and a killer job, they would change their minds.  Yeah, they would change alright.

After a few days at the gym, Braden realized that one of his officemates, Adam McDaniels, was always there when he was. At first, he would nod to Adam as he walked in but otherwise avoid him. By the end of the week, though, Braden invariably found himself working out next to Adam and they would fall into earnest conversation about lifting.  It seemed that they were both bent on the same goal; Adam readily admitted that he was obsessed with getting huge. What was more, Adam was pretty much the same size and shape as Braden.  He was slightly shorter and weighed slightly more but essentially he was a hapless ectomorph just like Braden.

Even better, Adam was up on all of the latest muscle gaining research.. He turned Braden onto all sorts of new and experimental supplements and filled him in on the exact amount and kinds of protein and other nutrients he needed to maximize his potential.  Soon, Braden was eagerly awaiting the chance to chat up Adam and learn more important stuff. It was natural that they became workout buddies.

“Dude, check this out!” Adam said one day, lifting his shirt up to expose his abs.  They ran down his stomach in rippling ridges, covered with a thick pelt of brown hair.  He flexed a bicep, letting it pop.

Braden stared.  Shit, Adam had really made progress! What was it, like a week ago that his arm had barely bulged when he flexed and he’d sported a little roll of flab around his middle?  He looked down at the floor, unconsciously gritting his teeth. How could Adam get results so quickly when he was still scrawny as hell? He was on the same diet, lifting just as often, and taking the same supplements.  How come Adam was having so much success?

Adam noticed his downcast expression and laughed.  “Don’t worry, bud. It’s all about plateaus with lifting.  Just wait, by next week, you’ll be just like I am now. Everyone is different.”

Braden didn’t answer, instead he doubled down on his workout, throwing another twenty-five pound weight on each side of the bar for the bench press. He would show Adam!  He would workout twice as hard and lift twice as much from now on.  The gym was open until midnight every night, right?  Yeah, well, he would workout after work and again before bed.  He would be a fucking beast!

He was disappointed with the results. 

The added workouts only seemed to stall his progress and after a few days he was so tired that he would fall asleep at his desk, waking up to his boss rapping on the glass with a disapproving stare.  All the while, Adam kept getting bigger. And more confident, almost cocky. Soon, he was teasing Braden on his lack of progress, seeming to take every opportunity to rub it in:

“Bro, I had to go out and buy new clothes last night. I couldn’t fit into any of my shirts anymore. Do you want my old ones? They’ll be a little big on you but maybe you’ll grow into them.”

“Yo! I thought that those UnderArmor tights were supposed to be, well, you know, tight.”

“So, dude, I’ll bet I could lift you with one hand now.”

Braden knew that Adam was kidding but it still hurt. It hurt because it was the sort of teasing he’d endured since junior high. And it hurt worse because it was coming from someone who had been a beanpole just like him only a few short weeks ago. He started avoiding Adam, planning his workouts when his friend had team meetings and telling him that he was too busy when Adam stopped by. Privately, he missed the camaraderie and told himself that as soon as he started to pile on the muscle, he would rejoin him. Adam was the only friend he’d made since moving to the city.

It was pure chance that the business card caught his eye as he walked out of the gym one evening.

Quid Pro Quo Solutions, LLC

Want to get bigger? We promise results!

Intrigued, he pulled the card off the bulletin board. On the back was a woman’s name, an address, a website, and phone number.  He stuck it in his pocket and forgot about it until he was doing laundry that weekend.  Taking his just-washed shorts and shaking the wrinkles out, the crumpled card fell out. He picked it up and noticed that the web address was still legible. Without thinking, he punched it into the browser on his phone.  The site wasn’t optimized for smartphones so he couldn’t read it very well but he clicked on the ‘Email Us’ link and shot off a quick email.

“Hi! I am weight training and I want to put on more muscle. Can you help?”

The reply came within a half hour.  His phone dinged and he looked down at it, wrinkling his brow.

“Dear Mr. Taggert,” it read, “I can help you. Please click here to schedule an appointment.”

Breathlessly, he clicked on the link and a little calendar popped up.  He scanned the schedule and nearly choked when he saw that there was an appointment available that evening.  Even better, the address was nearby his apartment.  He could walk there in ten minutes!  Without thinking, he scheduled it. It was probably a gimmick but what did he have to lose?

***

A short, flustered woman with flyaway hair answered the door when he knocked.  The lettering on the window indicated that he was at the right place but he’d been expecting something a little different. A little more professional or something. The place was a second floor walkup on the border of a not so nice part of town. He debated turning around and leaving but decided against it when the woman stuck out her hand.  She was actually quite pretty, he realized.  Not exactly his type but pretty.  And she had a nice smile.

“Mr. Taggert?” she asked, her voice throaty and rich.

He nodded his head, feeling suddenly nervous.  Could he go through with this?

“Excellent!” she trilled. “I’m Inaya Baz, the owner.  Come inside please!”

She turned and beckoned to him. Swallowing, he ducked his head through the low door and stood blinking in the foyer.  The “business” clearly doubled as Inaya’s residence but it was completely different than he expected from the rather nondescript entrance.  The place faced west and a wall of windows offered an unparalleled view of the city sprawling out beneath them.  The setting sun washed the white walls crimson and her brushed steel furnishings created an elegant, almost clinical air. It was distinctly lab-like and he found it a little unsettling. Inaya was so preoccupied with gathering up her lustrous brown hair that she didn’t notice his hesitant expression.

He stood there awkwardly, not knowing whether he should stand or sit.  The next moment, though, she caught him completely off guard with a strange question: “Mr. Taggert, let me begin by asking if you believe in magic?”

“Uh, magic?” he stammered.  Why would she ask him that?

She nodded, fixing him with a curious expression. “Yes, magic.”

He didn’t know what to say.  After a long time he managed reply, “Um, not really, I guess.”

Inaya took this answer in stride. “Of course you don’t and I wouldn’t, either, if I were you. Fortunately, my magic does not require belief to work.”

Braden stared at her before casting a glance back at the door.  This was getting seriously weird.

She glanced at his face and laughed, a pleasant sound that put him at ease again despite the skin prickling on the back of his neck.  “Don’t worry. You are free to go at any time. I won’t force you into anything you don’t agree to do. There are no tricks or gotchas in my work.”

All he could was stare at her dumbly.

“Now,” Inaya continued when he didn’t respond. “You indicated that you wish to increase the size of your muscles, correct?”

He nodded.

“I can definitely help you but let me explain how this works.  My business is called ‘Quid Pro Quo Solutions’ for a reason: There is a cost for everything.”

He gave her a blank look. That was the nature of business, right?  Everything cost something and he was prepared to pay quite a lot.  He would pay a fortune if it meant he got big.

She fixed him with a level gaze, making sure that she caught and held his eyes before continuing.  “The cost for my services, however, is non-monetary.”

“Non-monetary?” He narrowed his eyes. “Then how do you make living?”

“I barter.” She made an expansive motion. “This apartment, for example, was a trade. It all depends on what my clients are willing to give up.”

He exhaled loudly, not getting any of this conversation. “So, how do I pay if you won’t take money?”

Her eyes twinkled.  “To get your big muscles, you will have to give up something you value.  The more valuable it is to you, the bigger your muscles will grow.”

Braden felt chilled.  What the fuck was this woman talking about?  This was seriously creepy!  He found himself backing away from her.

“I see that I’m frightening you,” she said calmly, giving him a rueful look. “This is why I never take payment upfront from my clients. You are free to cancel your contract within twenty-four hours of receiving my services and everything will return exactly as it was. After twenty-four hours, though,” she held up her index finger to underscore her point, “If you don’t cancel, the change is permanent.”

This lady is fucking crazy! He thought, head spinning. Crazy! What is she talking about? Contract? Cancel? Change? What?  He colored when he realized that she was watching him with amusement. He stood up straighter and squared his shoulders.

Giving him a wink, Inaya asked, “So, let’s do a trial run, Ok?  If I were to give you bigger muscles, what would you trade me? I will take any attribute in exchange but not all attributes are of equal value.”

Braden felt his heart pounding in his chest. He struggled to formulate his question, taking over a minute to spit out, “Attribute?”

Inaya nodded.  “Yes, it can physical or mental. Trading physical attributes for muscle will give you more muscle than mental, though.”

“Ok,” he managed to choke. “Let me see if I get this: You will give me more muscle if I give you something from my body in return?”

“Or mind, yes. But as I said, a physical attribute will likely yield more muscle since you will be trading something physical for something physical. And, as I mentioned, the dearer the attribute is to you, the more muscle you will receive in trade.  Do you understand?”

“This sounds completely nuts.”

Inaya gave him a wide smile. “Yes, I agree. That’s why I think you need to try it and see the results.”

He didn’t have an anything to say to this.

“So, what would you trade for bigger muscles?”

Perhaps because he was convinced that this was all a big joke, Braden’s answer was flippant.  “My height. I’ll trade two inches for more muscle.”

Inaya closed her eyes for a moment before saying, “Ok, that’s…five pounds of muscle per inch of height.”

Braden laughed. “Seriously? So, if I give you two inches, you’ll give me ten pounds of muscle?  Sign me up!”

“Mr. Taggert, it is done,” Inaya said, nodding. “Now go home and drink this solution,” she held out a tiny vial like the perfume samples that sometimes fall out of fashion magazines. “When you wake up in the morning, you will see the results.” She paused before adding, “You may wish to weigh yourself and measure your height before bed, though. It will help make the changes…a little more concrete.”

He laughed again. This was so fucking crazy!  He gave her a lopsided grin before turning to go.

“Don’t forget!” she called out after him. “You have twenty-four hours to email me after you wake up tomorrow. If I don’t hear from you after one day, the changes are final.”

Braden wasn’t really listening. The woman was clearly a bit wacky.  He waved at her, saying, “Yeah, yeah. Ok,” and headed out the door, taking the steps two at a time on the way out.

He felt strangely giddy the rest of the night and nearly forgot her advice to weigh himself and measure his height.  As he was heading for bed, though, he took a pencil and, resting it on his head, marked his height on the living room wall. Taking a measuring tape, he held it up. Almost exactly seventy-six inches.  Padding into the bathroom and slipping out of his boxers, he got on the scale, waiting for his weight to show up on the liquid crystal display. Feeling his shoulders slouch, he sighed as he saw that he’d actually lost weight since beginning his workout regimen.  He was only 148.7 pounds!

He pulled the vial out of his pocket and popped the little plastic stopper, emptying the contents onto his tongue.  It tasted sweet and salty but not unpleasant.  Swallowing it down, he vowed that if this stupid magic trick didn’t work, he would have to resort to something he’d avoided until now: Searching the so-called dark web for an illegal supply of steroids.  

He simply had to get big!

***

Even though it was a Sunday morning, he set his alarm for six o’clock because he couldn’t wait to see if the potion worked. His phone buzzed in his ear and he rolled over, feeling groggy.  When he reached up and ran his hands over his torso, though, he almost whooped out loud.

It had worked!

Shit!

It had really worked!

He previously flattened pecs were distinct, hard mounds and his abs were now clearly defined.  He flexed his right arm and, feeling it with his left hand, sighed out loud.  Fuck if he didn’t have a big bulge!

Braden threw off the sheets and leaped off the bed only to fall sprawling on his belly.  Shit, what the fuck?! He thought, groaning and flipping over onto his side before standing carefully.  His legs felt…different and he had to struggle to get his balance.  It was subtle but something about his body was different and it wasn’t just the extra muscle mass he could feel padding his previously skeletal torso.

Ah! Shit, he’d forgot!  The trade!  He had traded his height for muscles!  He laughed to himself and stood up, now keenly aware that his perspective had shifted downward.  Things that usually were at eye level were now slightly higher.  And, looking down, he saw that not only was his torso covered in a layer of new muscle but everything about his body was compressed compared to what he remembered.  His legs were still long and gangling but they were almost imperceptibly squatter.  His torso was more compact, his arms shorter, and wrists wider.  It was really trippy and for a long time, all he could was was stare down at himself.

After a minute or two, his boxers started tenting out and he realized he was getting turned on by his new body. Fuck! He’d never had muscles before! He’d always been a gangling nerd but now he was different.  Now he was starting to look like a real man.  He smirked as he reached down into his shorts and pulled on his foreskin, feeling a shiver of delight reverberate through his crotch and spread through his body.

Exuberantly, he kicked off his boxers and staggered unevenly to the bathroom where he stopped in front of the full length mirror and beheld his new majesty.  His huge cock lifted up from his sagging balls as he took it all in.  It was so fucking unbelievable!  Overnight, he’d achieved something he’d been longing for years.  He fucking had muscles!

Braden jacked himself to orgasm in no time, watching with satisfaction as he shot his wad all over the bathroom floor.  When he was done, he savored the reflection of his new self staring back at him:  Still tall but now noticeably more ripped, his muscles were accented by his fuzzy brown chest hair.  His trimmed pubes made his giant, dripping cock seem even bigger. His robust arms stuck out from his broader shoulders.  Shit, he looked amazing!

The scale confirmed the good news:  He weighed exactly 158.7 pounds.  Beginning to get the hang of his new, shorter legs, he swaggered into the living room and stuck the pencil against the wall under the mark he’d made the night before.  Turning, he saw that the new mark was two inches lower than the old one.

It was official:  He’d gained ten pounds of muscle overnight! All for the incredible bargain of just two inches of height.

Feeling himself get hard again, Braden smiled to himself in satisfaction.  So what if he was now six foot two inches tall?  It didn’t matter because he was still tall by any measure.

This was the best fucking deal he’d ever made!

***

“Skip leg day a few too many times, dude?”

Braden stopped, mouth open. “Huh?”

Adam turned and grabbed a couple of 95-pound weights, a little smirk on his face.  “Just sayin’ that you might want to do something about those skinny little legs, that’s all.”

Clenching and unclenching his fists, Braden fought the urge to look down at his legs.  His decision to wear a small pair of shorts to the gym now seemed like a dumb one.  He’d been so proud when he packed his gym bag that he wanted to show off as much of his new body as possible.  Feeling the cool breeze of the ceiling fans right then on his bare legs made him cringe. He was sure that everyone in the gym was staring at him and judging him.  Adam was right; he did have scrawny legs. The potion had only worked on his upper body. He felt himself deflate and the familiar feelings of worthlessness returned with a vengeance.

“Come on, man, give me a spot, would you?”  Adam was settling onto a bench, a big weight balanced on each knee. He seemed oblivious to the storm of feelings his careless comment had triggered in Braden.

Wordlessly, Braden took up position behind him, unable to resist comparing Adam’s bulging quads and calves to his own.  He didn’t know how his friend had done it but he was rapidly transforming into the muscle beast that Braden longed to be.  Even with his new muscles, Braden was a stick in comparison.  How had Adam done it?

“Don’t worry, bro,” Adam said with a grunt as his leaned back and lifted the weights above his head. “Not everyone is cut out for lifting.  Maybe you should start running or something instead?”

***

A bleary-eyed guy wearing only a thin pair of muslin pants answered the door at Inaya’s office when Braden held down the buzzer, pulsing it repeatedly.

“Shit, dude!” the guy exclaimed. “It’s not even noon on a Sunday.  What the fuck do you want?”

Braden stared at the man.  He was tall, dark-haired, and dark-skinned and quite built.  His bare torso was cut and covered with carefully trimmed chest hair.  As he stared, the young guy raised a beefy arm and ran it through his shiny, unkempt hair before fixing Braden with a baleful stare.

“I…I,” Braden stammered, trying to find his voice. “I need to talk to Inaya.  Is she here?”

The dude folded his arms and sighed. “She’s gone for a few weeks. There was…an emergency back home she had to attend to.”

Braden must have looked crestfallen because the young guy quickly added, “But she left me in charge of the business while she is gone.  I’m her brother, Bilal.”  He stuck out a big hand and Braden stared at it for a moment before grasping it.

“Er, pleased to meet you,” he managed to say as Bilal shook his hand with a very strong grip. “I need to do another trade.”

“Right to business, I see,” Bilal remarked wryly.  “We normally don’t take customers on Sundays but I’ll make an exception this time.  Come on up.”

He turned and padded up the stairs, not waiting to see if Braden followed.  When he entered the apartment, he flopped down on the sofa in front of the balcony window and casually spread his legs.  Braden felt his cheeks color when he realized that Bilal’s pants were semitransparent. His huge cock was clearly outlined against the forest of black pubic hair enveloping his crotch. He reached down and scratched himself unselfconsciously as Braden cleared his throat.

“I don’t have your file so you’ll have to tell me what you want to trade.”  Bilal leaned back, putting his hands behind his head. His dark brown eyes were sleepy underneath his carefully plucked eyebrows.

Braden cleared his throat again, fervently wishing that Inaya was here instead. Bilal made him uncomfortable. How could he talk to this guy about his…problem?  Remembering Adam’s taunt at the gym helped him regain his confidence and he plunged ahead.

“I need more muscles.  A lot more.”

Bilal cocked an elegant eyebrow at this but otherwise he seemed unsurprised.  “Yeah, a lot of guys come to us for that.” Then his expression changed and he asked, “Wait, you’re not Adam McDaniels, are you?”

Adam McDaniels?  Why the fuck would Bilal ask him that? Then a light went on and he got it: Adam’s mysterious muscle gain was not so mysterious after all. He had been coming to Inaya, too!

He realized that Bilal was waiting for him to respond. “Uh, no, why?”

“Oh, he just sent an email to our business account wondering if he could make a special appointment. I was about to reply when you showed up. He seemed impatient…like you.”

Braden cheeks glowed at this but he was too preoccupied with the news about Adam to pay attention. He couldn’t believe that Adam would come to Inaya and not tell him!  He thought that they were friends!  It felt like a betrayal and he could only draw one conclusion: Adam was intent on outdoing him in every way just to rub his face in it. Adam was clearly not someone that Braden could trust. 

Adam was not his friend.

He set his jaw and gave Bilal a determined look.  He knew what he would do!  He would beat Adam at his own game!  Only one of them was going to be the big man and it would be him. Braden Taggert was the fucking man!  He would trade anything–ANYTHING!–to win!

“I’ll trade four inches of height for twenty pounds of muscle!” In his ardor, his voice came out more as a shout and Bilal jumped a little, his eyes growing wider for a moment. “But,” Braden continued, “I want the muscle evenly distributed over my body this time.”

Bilal’s mouth quirked before he said, “How about if we back up and start over, dude?  You haven’t even told me your name yet. I need to know who you are before the magic will work.”

Braden ducked his head, his confidence evaporating. He only belatedly realized how scattered and crazy he must seem. “I’m Braden,” he stammered, “Braden Taggert.”

Bilal nodded, reaching down again to scratch his crotch. “Good, and I take it that you’ve been here before? How many times and what did you trade?”

“I…I only came here once. L-l-last night. And I traded two inches in height for ten pounds of muscle.”

“I see, Braden.” Bilal’s voice was patient, almost delicate.  “Did my sister explain to you the way the magic works?”

He shook his head. “No, I didn’t even think to ask her.  Does it matter?”

“A little. You see, there is a law involved. A mysterious law that none of us have been able to figure out how to get around.” Bilal paused then, running his hand through his shaggy mane. “It’s similar to a law in economics: The Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns. Have you heard of it?”

Braden swallowed, confused. What did economics have to do with magic?  Couldn’t he just have his big muscles and be done with it?

“It works this way,” Bilal continued without waiting for Braden to respond. “The first time you trade one thing for another, you get the biggest payoff. But every time you trade the same attribute for the same…desired result, the payoff decreases.”

“I don’t get it.” Braden’s voice sounded small even to his own ears.

Bilal smiled ruefully.  “You traded two inches of height yesterday for ten pounds of muscle. Today, if you trade four inches, the most I can give you is another ten pounds of muscle.”

Braden stared at him aghast.  “What!  No!  I want twenty!”

“Then you’ll have to trade eight inches of height, I’m afraid,” he said before spreading his hands. “Look, I don’t make the rules here. There’s nothing I can do…unless you want to trade another attribute. Is there anything else that you would trade for?”

Braden was in shock. He couldn’t believe this!  This couldn’t be true!  If he traded eight inches of height, he would only be five foot six inches tall!  He was willing to go down to five foot ten inches. That would still leave him at least average height but if he went all the way to five six, he would be a fucking shrimp!  No, he couldn’t trade that much height for twenty pounds of muscle. It simply wasn’t worth it!

But what if…?

“Can I trade two attributes and combine them for more muscle?”

Bilal sighed. “Everyone wants to bargain. No, I can only take one attribute at a time. If you want to trade for more muscle, you’ll have to come back tomorrow and make me a new offer.”

Braden stood there, uncertain what to do.  What could he trade? What could he trade?!  Maybe he should just give up four inches of height for ten pounds of muscle?  But even that seemed like too big of a price to pay, especially when he’d gotten ten pounds for the price of two inches just yesterday.

“You sure there isn’t something else,” Bilal asked in a coy voice, letting his gaze drift casually down Braden’s body before it landed meaningfully on his crotch, “that you would be willing to trade?”

Braden was so worked up that it took him a minute to figure out what Bilal was getting at.  Then he jumped and covered his crotch protectively with his hands.  “Fuck, no!  I’m not going to give up my cock!”

“Cock size, ball size, foreskin,” Bilal said in a teasing voice, reaching down to adjust himself. Was it Braden’s imagination or was Bilal sporting a semi in those obscene pajamas? “You infidels all have foreskins, am I right?  You could trade that for five pounds of muscle.  And then there is your sexuality.  Going gay would get you thirty pounds easy.”

Braden couldn’t stifle his sharp intake of breath.  How dare he even suggest that! What the fuck?!  Braden was not going to give up his heterosexuality for muscles!  No way!  He did not like the direction this conversation was going. Where was Inaya? Was she really gone or was Bilal lying?  Bilal was toying with him, playing him for a fool.  And was the big dude a fucking homo?  Was he fucking coming onto him?  This was seriously fucked up shit going on here.  Seriously fucked up.  Maybe he should wait and come back tomorrow? Maybe he could find Inaya’s email address and contact her directly?  Or did the Quid Pro Quo Solution’s emails all go to one generic address?

But…there was Adam.

Adam.

No!

He couldn’t wait!  He had to get more muscle ASAP!  He had to beat Adam.  The thought of seeing Adam’s face when he showed up tomorrow at work loaded with muscles was worth having to deal with Bilal and his fucked up games.  He looked back at Bilal and noticed he was watching him with an amused expression. Braden flushed. He hated being made fun of!

What could he trade?  

What would get him the most muscle that was also something that he could live without?

What should he give up?

Aha!

He had an idea. He wasn’t thrilled about it but he hoped that meant he would get more muscle. Hadn’t Inaya said that the more he valued an attribute, the more muscle he would get in exchange?

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he asked, “So…what if I gave up a testicle?” 

“Whoa, dude!” Bilal exclaimed. “That’s a new one! I’ve never had a guy come up with that before.  One nut…let’s see.” He closed his eyes much like Inaya had the night before. When he opened them again, he smiled devilishly. “I’d give you twenty pounds for one testicle.  Give me both and you’ll get fifty, though.”

Braden stared at him aghast.  “Both!” he shouted. “But I would be a fucking eunuch!  I’d never be able to have children!”

Bilal rolled his eyes. “Come on, dude. Think about it.  You could freeze your spunk in a sperm bank and go on male hormones.  Shit, there are even docs out there who will implant a pair of fake balls in your sac.  You could come out of this with fifty pounds of muscle and a swinging pair to boot!”

Braden took his head in his hands, massaging his forehead. He had a fucking monster headache.  This was too much!  It was fucking too much!  He couldn’t trade his balls for muscle!

He was about to say no when he heard the doorbell ring followed loud pounding downstairs. He knew immediately who it was.  It was Adam!  That fucking bastard was here to get more muscle!

In desperation, he turned to Bilal.  “Ok, dude!  I’ll give up my balls for fifty pounds of muscle!  You’ve got a deal!  But I’ll only do it if you refuse to see Adam today.  Make him wait until tomorrow, Ok?”

For a horrified moment, Braden thought Bilal was going to turn him down.  The big guy sat on the couch with his arms crossed and a skeptical look on his face.  Finally, though, he sighed theatrically and consented. “Ok. I normally don’t make deals like this but I like you.  You’ve got your fifty pounds of muscle and I’ll tell Adam to get lost.” He leaned across the arm of the couch and handed Braden a little glass vial from the end table.

Braden grasped it, sighing in gratitude and feeling his pulse pounding in his ears. A wave of exhaustion flooded over him as Bilal hoisted himself off the sofa and stretched, exposing his magnificently toned stomach. He lingered in the stretch, yawning and holding his arms over his head.  Braden’s gaze flicked over to him and he made a little strangled sound and blushed furiously before looking away. Bilal’s pajamas were riding so low on his hips that the base of his thick cock was exposed.  It was mostly erect, poking out lewdly against the flimsy fabric, the ridge of his circumcised cockhead clearly visible beneath. 

“How about if I show you out the backdoor?” Bilal asked slyly. “I really love going in and out the backdoor, you know.”

***

Part 2

“Yeah, Braden just left,” Bilal told Adam. They were standing in the kitchen off the living room of Bilal and Inaya’s apartment. “He sure was pissed when I let it slip that you were coming over. What did you do to make him so mad, dude?”

Adam’s face went pale with this news and he reached out to grab Bilal by the shoulders. “You didn’t give him anything, did you?  Please, tell me that you didn’t!”

Bilal took his hands and carefully but firmly pushed them down. “I did.  What was I supposed to do?  He’s a customer just like you!  I run a business here.”

Adam’s eyes narrowed.  “I still don’t know what you get out of these deals.  I mean, how do you make money?  What if I gave a ten grand outright?  Would you stop trading with Braden then?”

Bilal raised an eyebrow.  “It’s not about the money, dude.  This muscle stuff is really just a side thing that I talked Inaya into,” he cleared his throat and Adam noticed that his cheeks had grown rosy.  “We make cash off trading valuable stuff.  Someone wants a promotion at work, they trade a boat or a new car.  A guy wants to marry a hot chick, he trades his first born son.”

“What!? You do that shit?!”

Bilal held up his hands, laughing.  “Kidding, dude. Kidding.  No, we don’t take people in trade.  But we do take family heirlooms, land, houses.  Just about anything a person has that they value as much as the thing they want.  Then I sell the shit on eBay or turn it over to our real estate firm. It’s a lucrative living!”

“I’ll bet,” Adam grumbled. “But going back to the muscle trade business. I think I understand now.  You have a muscle fetish, don’t you?  You like seeing guys come to you, begging to trade anything for muscles. They keep coming back, willing to trade more and more, getting bigger and bigger while you get off on it.”

Bilal’s gaze met his for a moment before he looked away.  “So what if I do?” He shrugged. “I gotta find my fun where I can get it.”

“Uh huh.”

“Besides,” Bilal continued, “You’re hardly one to lecture me. Look at what you’re trying to do to poor Braden!  I mean, why do you want to stop him from getting bigger?”

It was Adam’s turn to look away.  “I…I have my reasons.”

“Uh huh.” Bilal crossed his arms. “See, we aren’t so different, are we? We’re both getting something out of this.”

The tips of Adam’s ears had turned pink. Reluctantly, he nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.” 

He about to say something else when he was interrupted by a loud growling sound coming from Bilal’s direction. Adam lifted his head and Bilal spread his hands. “Sorry, man! That was my stomach.  It’s Ramadan and I forgot to eat before sunrise.  Now I’m starving and can’t eat until after sunset tonight.”

Adam blinked at him uncomprehendingly before launching into another tirade. “Dude!  Dude! You gotta help me win this one.  I can’t let Braden drink that stuff!  You gotta help me get it back!”

Bilal was unmoved. “Nope. No way.”

Adam started to reach out to grab him again but thought better of it and let his hands fall to his sides.  “You have to!  What did he trade anyway?”

“Oh, it took him a long time but he finally agreed to give up ten IQ points for fifty pounds of muscle,” Bilal lied.

Adam gasped. “10 points of IQ for 50 pounds of muscle!  That’s fucking ridiculous!  You fucking made me give up my sexual orientation for 30 pounds!  Now all I do is stare at guys crotches all day!  And I only got ten pounds for giving up my 20/20 vision! I hate wearing contacts, man!” He stopped, rubbing the bridge of his nose before continuing, “How could you make that kind of a trade with him? He could lose 50 points of IQ and still be a fucking brain!”

“Hey!” Bilal protested. “First things first. I didn’t make you give up anything! You consented fully.  And you could have traded back if you were unhappy.  Besides,” he added, holding his finger in front of Adam’s face, “I don’t make the decisions on what people get in return for their trade. It’s based on how much the person values the thing they’re giving up. Braden really values being smart.”

“I feel like I got ripped off,” Adam grumbled. He was silent for a moment before saying vehemently, “Shit, I’d take that trade in a second! Fifty pounds of muscle for 10 measly IQ points!  He’s gonna be a fucking muscle beast if he drinks that shit! I gotta get that vial back from him!”

“That’s gonna be hard to do, man,” Bilal said.  “He may have drunk it already.”

Adam gave him an agonized look. “Bilal, come on!  Help me out here!  Shit, I’ll suck your cock!  I’ll even let you fuck me up the ass. Would that do it?”

Bilal’s face went dark and he drew himself up to his full height.  He was a pretty big guy and still outweighed Adam even after a couple of trades.  “Don’t you ever suggest such a thing to me again, you hear?” he hissed, causing Adam to shrink back in alarm.

Adam waved his hands, exclaiming, “I’m sorry! Really! Forget I ever said anything!”

Bilal regarded him coldly for a few taut seconds before relaxing. “Ok, but don’t ever say that again. Got it?”

“Got it,” Adam replied meekly.  He hesitated for a moment before continuing in a low voice. “Now, what if I traded something for a few pounds of muscle and switched the vials?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Adam,” Bilal warned. “I really don’t know will happen if someone drank a solution meant for someone else.  It could go really badly for both of you.”

Adam wasn’t listening. “Yes! That’s brilliant! I trade something for, say, five pounds of muscle. He’ll be really disappointed, thinking that it didn’t work or that the magic is screwy and he’ll stop coming to you.”

“Yeah, that’s a really dumb idea, Adam, for many reasons, not the least of which is that you will lose the 24-hour window to reverse the change if you swap vials.  The changes will be permanent for both of you! Do you really want to take that risk?”

Still not listening, Adam continued, his voice rising in pitch and intensity the more he thought it through. “And I’ll wake up loaded with fifty pounds of fucking muscle!  Shit, my IQ is like 165 or something like that. I’ll still be a fucking genius at 155!”

“Did you hear what I said?”  Bilal took Adam by the shoulders and shook him. “ I don’t know what will happen if you drink a solution meant for someone else. And whatever happens will be permanent!  There will be no way for me to reverse it!”

Adam’s gaze snapped to his face.  “Permanent? Really?”

Bilal nodded.  “Yeah, that’s why it’s a terrible idea.  You don’t know what will happen.”

Adam’s expression brightened.  “God! That’s great!  That’s fantastic!”

“How exactly is that fantastic?”

“I’m going to get him and get him good!” Adam crowed. “He’ll be so fucking humiliated!”

“Adam…”

“What if I trade something really, really valuable – something that Braden would never give up willingly, no matter how much muscle he received in exchange – and then stipulate a pitiful amount of muscle in return?”

Bilal settled back against the kitchen counter, folding his arms and shaking his head. “No, Adam!  I won’t do this!  Just forget about it!”

Adam, however, was not so easily dissuaded.  He stalked over to Bilal, stopping only inches from the big man.  Taking Bilal’s hands, he placed them on his hard body, letting him feel the bulging muscles of his chest. Bilal’s fingers contracted slightly around his pecs, squeezing them.  Giving him a seductive smile, Adam asked, “What if I let you do something really freaky to me in exchange for this favor, Bilal?  What if I agreed to be your guinea pig?  You could finally indulge your muscle fetish in all of the ways that you’ve been dreaming about.”

Bilal flushed and his eyes became feverish. “No…” he started to say but stopped when Adam leaned in and kissed him.  His lips were soft, sweet, tempting. Bilal moaned.

“Yeah, see? You can’t say no to that, can you?”

Bilal was trembling but Adam could feel his huge boner plumping up against his thigh. He smiled wickedly as Bilal breathed, “Yeah, Ok. I’ll do it.”

“Excellent,” Adam said, drawing Bilal in close before lightly pushing him away. “I knew I could convince you somehow. Now, what is the worst deal we can come up with for Braden?  What would he never agree to give up for a couple pounds of muscle?”

Bilal sagged, holding his face in his hands.  “Oh, fuck. I can’t believe I’m doing this!  And during Ramadan!  I’m going to Jahannam for sure now.”

***

Adam was waiting at the door of his apartment when Braden got back from the sperm bank. Finding a bank that was open on a Sunday had been difficult and then he had make up some crazy story to get an appointment.  It turned out that in order to guarantee viability they needed a lot of sperm. He was a big shooter but even he couldn’t generate that much.  He felt like a cow who had been milked dry by the end. Was trading his nuts really worth getting fifty pounds of muscle?  He was seriously debating whether he should even drink the solution.  Seeing Adam, though, immediately strengthened his resolve and he felt the charge of the urgency return from that morning when he’d made the bargain with Bilal. He had to get bigger than Adam!  He had to show him who was the real man!

His so-called friend was smiling brightly and holding up a six pack of beer.

“Hey, dude! I thought you’d never get home.”

Braden stopped, suspicious.  What the fuck was Adam doing at his apartment? How did he even know where he lived?

“Adam, how…?” he started to ask but his friend cut him off.

“Come on, man!  Let’s go inside, drink a couple beers, and watch the Euro Cup!  I know you’re a huge Spain fan.”

Braden blinked, stammering. “I am, but…”

“The game starts in a few minutes!”

Braden was unconvinced. “Adam, I don’t get it. You’ve been a total dick for the past few weeks and suddenly you show up at my door with beer and invite yourself in for a game like we’re old friends.”

Adam’s expression clouded and he dipped his head.  When he spoke, his voice was somber.  “I know, dude. I…I’ve had a lot on mind.  I’m really sorry!  I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I mean, we’re friends and workout buddies, right?  I…just want to make things right again.”

He stood there, holding up the beer, a look of such innocent contrition on his face that Braden chided himself for being untrusting. Adam was clearly sincere.  When his friend put a warm hand on his shoulder, Braden gave him a wan smile before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the key.

While Adam admired the view out the balcony window (“Fuck, dude! I’m so jealous!  Wait, is that a chick skinny dipping in a jacuzzi down there?”) Braden wandered into the kitchen to find a bottle opener. He returned to find Adam sprawled out on his couch.  He handed his friend the opener as he settled into his favorite chair. Adam popped the cap off a beer and passed it over to him.  Taking a deep swig, Braden reached for the remote and turned on his huge entertainment station.

The game was a good one and, despite his mood, he was drawn in.  As he sat there, nursing his beer and sitting on the edge of his seat when Spain was down a point, he unconsciously reached into his pocket and pulled out the little vial that Bilal had given him.  Rolling it around in his hand helped calm his nerves. Everything was really coming together!  He was so close to getting the bulging muscles he’d dreamed about for years and years.  Shit, could this really be happening?  He felt giddy with excitement.  The only thing that would make this day even better would be if Spain won the match.

Come on…

Come on…

Shit, come on, Spain!

When Álvaro Morata scored a goal that tied the game, Braden launched himself from his chair, cheering wildly, just as Adam was handing him another beer. Too late, he tried to swerve out of the way but ended slamming into his friend’s hand with his thigh.  The beer bottle spun up in the air and landed hard on the wood floor. Foam spewed out of it, splattering all over Braden and drenching his pants.

“Shit, I’m sorry, dude!” Adam exclaimed, jumping up.  “Here, let me get a towel.”

Braden stared down at himself and laughed. “It’s Ok, bro. I’ll just go change.  No big deal.”  He stuck the vial in his pocket and padded into his bedroom where he pulled on a pair of shorts, leaving his pants hanging in the bathroom to dry. When he came back, Adam was mopping the beer off the floor.

“God, I’m really sorry!” Adam said again. “I hope your floor is Ok.  I don’t see a dent or anything.”

Braden flopped back down in his chair, still chuckling. “Dude, I told you not to worry about it!  I’m fine!  And the floor is cool, too.  I don’t even think it’s real wood.”  He stared back at the game.

Adam finished cleaning up and took the cloth into the kitchen before calling out, “Hey, dude! Where is your bathroom? I gotta take a piss.”

Braden didn’t bother looking up at the television screen and waved his hand in the general direction of the hallway. “It’s down the hall on the right.” Adam mumbled his thanks and disappeared for a minute before settling back down on the couch.

Spain ended up winning by one goal.  Both guys were buzzed from adrenalin and beer and feeling good. Braden was so happy that Adam had come over to make amends.  It had been harder on him than he wanted to admit when his friend had turned on him. Making friends was challenging for Braden because of his history of being bullied and teased; he didn’t trust people easily. Adam had reinforced this trend with his thoughtless teasing but Braden also realized his own lack of trust had made it worse. He had been overly sensitive and needed to remember not to take it so personally when his friends made fun of him. Adam clearly valued his friendship.

When he was letting Adam out, his friend surprised him by giving him a quick guy hug, saying, “Hey, dude! Let’s do this more often, Ok?  My place next time?”

Braden had to blink furiously to keep from getting misty-eyed. His voice was husky when he replied, “Yeah, sure. I’d like that.”

Adam smiled and gave him a friendly wink as he closed the door behind him.

Shaking his head, Braden walked back to his bedroom. Life sure was strange!

He was brushing his teeth when he remembered the vial in his pants pocket. A mixture of dread and excitement washed over him and he felt his balls clench up in his sac.  Reaching down, he massaged them. They were such great balls!  Big and heavy, they complemented his huge cock perfectly.  What would it be like not having balls anymore?  What would it be like to have a fake pair?  And would he really be able to trade up in size if got them?  Did he even want a fake pair of balls?

But…

Muscle.

Shit, yeah! 

Muscle was more important than his balls any day.  He would get fifty fucking pounds of muscle in exchange!  What could be better?

His cock started to stand up and, despite jacking off three times at the sperm bank earlier, he was rock hard in no time.  Taking a deep breath, though, he forced himself to drop his cock and stick it back in his boxers.  Instead, he lifted his pants off the towel rack and pulled out the vial.  Holding it up to the light, he examined it closely. Hadn’t it been pink before?  Why was it black now?  That’s weird, he thought, but then realized that it was changing color as it warmed up in his hand.  Soon, it was a light gray.

Pacing over to the scale, he weighed himself. The display read 160.2 pounds.

Ha! He thought smugly, I’ll be over 210 pounds by tomorrow morning!  Two hundred ten pounds of solid muscle!  He grinned and popped the stopper off the bottle. Leaning his head back, he opened his mouth to let the fluid trickle down his throat. It was cloyingly sweet and he almost gagged on it before he washed it down with a mouthful of water from the sink.

“Bye bye balls and hello muscle!” he whispered as he tossed the empty bottle in the trash and went to bed.

***

Braden’s phone buzzed next to his ear the next morning and he rolled over groaning.  Picking it up and staring at it blearily, he saw it was a text from his boss.  She was reminding him of the mandatory employee retreat that day. The event started at 8am and lasted well into the evening. 

Her text ended with:   >>Don’t be late, Taggert!<<

Wrinkling his brow, he tossed his phone down and cursed.  Shit!  He felt like crap!

He lay there for a long time, trying to wake up. He was so groggy!  After a few minutes, he remembered the beers that he’d had with Adam. God, why was he such a lightweight? He’d only had two or three…

It was then he remembered the potion and sat bolt upright in bed.  He couldn’t get to the bathroom mirror fast enough and, leaping out of his bed, he overshot the doorway, skidding into the kitchen before whirling around to grab the door frame and pull himself in front of the mirror.  He yanked his t-shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor.  Turning to the mirror, he stared at his reflection in breathless anticipation.

Wait.

What?

Something was wrong.

No!

NO!

NO!!!

He was exactly the same.  Nothing had changed. He still was just as scrawny as he had been the night before.  The potion hadn’t worked!

Shaking, he walked on wooden legs over to the scale and stepped on. The display read 165.2 pounds.  Braden took a deep breath and held it for a long time before exhaling.

Five pounds!

Five pounds?

He was supposed to get fifty!  How come he only got five pounds?

As he stood there shaking his head, he remembered the trade.  Shit!  The trade!  If he only got five pounds, he better not have lost his balls!  His gaze lowered to his crotch as he slowly pulled down his boxers with trembling hands. He closed his eyes for moment before opening them again and staring down at himself.

For a second, relief flooded over him when he saw that his balls were still there, swaying in his boxers.

But the relief was short-lived.

Wait!

What?

Shit!

No way!

How the fuck had that happened?!

How could…?

The howl that echoed through his apartment woke up everyone on his floor.

***

Braden skulked into work at 8 o’clock. He felt completely numb as he yanked on the waist of his pants, trying to loosen them.  They were really tight…in back.  The five pounds he’d gained had apparently all gone to the same place:  His ass.  That was bad but it was really the least of his worries right now.  His shoulders were sagging as he threw his bag down on his chair and stopped by the kitchen to grab some coffee.

The only reason he was at work and not pounding on Bilal’s door was because he needed his job and he knew his supervisor would fire him if he didn’t show up for the retreat.  He’d been forced to settle with sending Bilal a plaintive email and hoping that he got it in time to reverse the trade.  Inaya had said that he could get out of the trade if he contacted her within twenty-four hours, right?  Theoretically, he had until six o’clock the next morning to opt out.  God, he hoped that Bilal got his email today!  Unable to stop himself, he glanced at his phone for the hundredth time but there was no reply yet.

Come on, Bilal!  Answer me!

He had better answer, Braden thought bitterly. If he doesn’t, I’m heading over there as soon as I get out of this fucking retreat and force him to reverse the trade!  This was not what he had agreed to!  This was not fair!  He sighed and then jumped as he burned his tongue on a too-hot sip of coffee.  Shit, his life sucked.  It fucking sucked.

And his life as a real man would be fucking over if he didn’t get this, this CURSE reversed. Why, oh, why had he ever gone to Inaya in the first place?  This was horrible.  When he got this…thing…that had been done to him reversed, he would never go back there again. He would stick with working out the old fashioned way.  He would never try any tricks or shortcuts again!

Fuck, Bilal!  What did you do to me?!

Braden stopped dead in the doorway of the meeting room.  Sitting across the table wearing an oxford shirt that was threatening to burst at the seams was his “friend” Adam.  He almost didn’t recognize him. Fuck!  The guy looked like he had really bulked up.  In fact, he look like he had put on about…

Fifty pounds of muscle.

Fifty.

Pounds.

Of.

Muscle.

???

!!!

Fifty fucking pounds of muscle!

Adam had stolen the muscles that he was supposed to get!

But how?

Bilal had promised him that he wouldn’t see Adam yesterday.

Which meant:

Bilal had lied to him!

And worse.

He’d done something to give Adam the muscles that he, Braden, was supposed to get!  And Braden had instead been fucking cursed!  Cursed!

Bilal!

Only his supervisor’s cool hand on his shoulder guiding him to a chair across the table from Adam kept him from tearing out of the room and rushing over to confront the traitorous Bilal.  She led him over to the chair and gently pushed him down.

“Ok, everyone, let’s get started, shall we?” Her voice was sunny but there was a edge of authority to it that made Braden sit up straighter despite the fact that his world was crashing down around him.

He stared at a spot in the middle of the table, feeling his ears grow hot. He refused to look at Adam.

Adam!

He was as bad as Bilal!

Oh, how it hurt!  It fucking hurt!  He felt like such a dumb ass!  He’d been played by both Bilal and Adam.  They had treated him exactly the way everyone always treated him.  Like a fucking laughable nerd.  Like a fucking geek. A geek who was worthless.  Worth nothing but derision.  It was the story of his life.

The fucking story of his pathetic life.

Why had he ever thought it would be different?

Why had he thought that getting buff would change things?

No one would ever give him respect.

Shit, he could have the biggest muscles in the world and everyone would still treat him like a reject.

He’d been played yet again.

And it hurt.

It really, really hurt.

***

The meeting was torture.  The longer he sat in his chair, stewing and plotting his revenge, the more his ass hurt. He shifted in the chair, lifting his buttocks off the cushion before settling back down.  Shit!  Why was his butt so sore?  It was…throbbing…or something. No, not throbbing exactly, more like pulsing.  He shifted again and sighed.  Fuck, his ass was doing weird shit down there!

Five minutes passed and his butt was getting hotter and still pulsing.  Worse, it was pushing more and more firmly against his pants. He squirmed in his chair, trying to act casual as he adjusted his belt.  He let it out a notch and worked his hand between the waist of his khakis and his butt, stretching the fabric as much as possible.  Fuck! His skin was boiling hot down there!

It got worse.  He tried to ignore it but after awhile he couldn’t deny that his hole was burning.  What the fuck?  His fucking butthole was on fire!  Sighing again in frustration, he leaned back in his chair, letting his back slide down and moving his butt off the chair as much as possible. He knew he looked ridiculous but he couldn’t help it!  His ass was getting ready to bust out of his pants and his asshole was clenching and unclenching rhythmically with the pulsing of his butt.

Finally, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He had to do something!  Pulling himself up close to the table while leaning back in his chair, he grabbed his ass cheeks with his hands and massaged them.

Holy fucking shit!

Oh my fucking god!

It felt so good.

More than good.

IT WAS FUCKING AMAZING!

He only just barely stifled a moan as one of his coworkers finished giving her presentation. Fortunately, everyone was so focused on her that no one paid attention to him.  Biting the inside of his cheek, he massaged his ass cheeks again and felt his eyes roll back in his head in ecstasy.

Shit! Shit! Shit!

It was perhaps inevitable that his fingers eventually worked their way over to his butthole. When his index finger grazed his pucker, he couldn’t help it. He whimpered. Even through the thick fabric of his trousers, it was felt deliriously good.  He was about to push his finger farther into his hole (or at least try to) when he stopped.

He was fucking fingering his hole under the table at a staff meeting!

Abruptly, he sat up and put his hands on the table in front of him, cheeks flaming.  What the fuck had gotten into him?

To distract himself, Braden let his gaze flick over to Adam.  The guy was sitting there stiffly, his face frozen in a mask.  Braden felt his simmering resentment return as he stared at his erstwhile friend.  He let his eyes bore into him but Adam wouldn’t look at him. He wasn’t avoiding eye contact, though. Rather, he seemed preoccupied.  

Whoa!

Braden did a doubletake.

No, it wasn’t his imagination.

Adam was even bigger than he’d been at the beginning of the meeting!

Braden swore that the big guy was growing before his eyes.

Was that possible?

Christ, his ears were practically being absorbed by his bull neck and his arms were so bulging that he couldn’t clasp his hands together on the table in front of him.  He realized that Adam must be just as painfully aware of his increasing mass as Braden was of his own expanding ass. Adam’s enormous shoulders were slumped over and he was leaning forward like he was trying to hide. He was so massive, though, that there was no way he could conceal his rapidly increasing size.

Braden forgot all about his ass as he gaped at Adam. He couldn’t help it; he’d never seen anything like this before!  Not only was he gaining size but he was changing in other ways as well.  Braden inhaled sharply as he watched Adam’s handsome features rearrange themselves.  His nose broadened and flattened out.  His chin grew wider and his lips fleshier.  His brow ridge pushed forward, shadowing his eyes.  His facial hair sprouted and grew thick and dense. In no time, he had a week’s growth on his cheeks and neck. A furry carpet of brown hair pushed up through the collar of his shirt.

He was transforming into a hairy ape!

Adam’s expression dulled as his features grew heavy and blocky.  His eyes lost their sharp focus and instead of intelligent, he looked befuddled and confused.  His brow furrowed as if he was having difficulty understanding the presenter.  He let his mouth hang open and, though he tried to close it, the next moment he was sitting there slack-jawed again. Braden half expected him to start drooling.

As he watched in horrified fascination, a button on Adam’s shirt popped off, skittering across the table and exposing the deep cleft between his ballooning pecs.  Shit, his pecs were so massive they almost looked like breasts!  Adam had the biggest jugs he’d ever seen on a guy!

Slowly, Braden realized that he wasn’t the only one who was enthralled by Adam’s changes. No, he was slowly drawing everyone’s attention at the table. The women sitting next to him had shifted their chairs as far away from him as possible.  The guys kept leaning forward to stare down the table before turning and snickering to each other.  As the meeting wore on, Adam’s ears turned redder and redder.  

Just when his transformation threatened to disrupt the entire meeting, there was a loud ripping sound and Adam lurched to his feet, abruptly staggering out of the room. For a hulking brute, he moved with surprising speed but he wasn’t fast enough:  Everyone got a good view of his enormous bare ass hanging out of the shreds of his khakis as he slammed the door behind him.

Their supervisor looked up from her Powerpoint, pursed her lips, and went back to her talk.

***

Braden’s ass had mostly stopped pulsing by lunchtime and it was a good thing, too: It was about ready to bust out of his pants.  He had to move with extreme care as he stood up from the table. He felt like he was waddling down the hall as he made his way to the bathroom.

Taking up position at the urinal, he had to fight back tears as he unzipped and dug around, trying to free his cock.

There was no more avoiding it.  He had to touch it.  He had to fucking touch it and admit to himself that his former glory was much diminished.

Fuck!

His cock had shrunk even since that morning!

Gone was his magnificent cock that had measured seven inches flaccid.  In its place was a little nubbin that barely poked out of his trimmed pubic hair.  Instead of hanging down, it stuck straight out.

It had been three inches long that morning (he’d measured) but now it was barely two inches!

Wait.

There was more!

Or less rather.

Heedless of being in a public restroom, he frantically unbuckled his belt and pulled his pants down, letting his little pricklet stand out on full display.

There was a jagged scar around his shaft. (Or what was left of his shaft. Could it even be called a shaft now?)

A fresh new scar.

Right where his foreskin had been.

The skin was raw and red as if he had been circumcised only days ago.

But…

How?

He hung his head, feeling himself deflate as he let loose a tiny stream of pee that dribbled out and splashed on the lump of freshner at the bottom of the bowl.  He didn’t even have enough force to hit the porcelain back of the urinal!

Bilal.

He had to get to Bilal.

If this was Bilal’s idea of a joke, it wasn’t funny.

It wasn’t fucking funny at all.

Completely defeated, he pulled up his pants, tugged on his zipper, and buckled his belt. He was keenly aware of his little cockhead rubbing again his underwear when he shuffled gingerly over to the sink.  It was so sensitive without a foreskin to protect it!  Christ, how did circumcised guys stand it?  It really sucked.  He never would have given up his foreskin. Never.

Braden was splashing his hands in the sink when he happened to glance up at the mirror.

He stopped.

And looked again.

What now?

His face had changed.

Shit!

He almost didn’t recognize himself!

Instead of blue eyes, they were now light brown, flecked with gold. His hair was darker. A lot darker.  And thicker.  It was so dark that it was almost black.  His chin had narrowed and his nose was more delicate.  His black eyebrows were slim and arching. His lips were full and…luscious.

He looked almost pretty.

Braden shook his head and splashed water in his face, looking back up at his reflection, hoping that he had imagined it.  But he hadn’t.  The young guy staring back at him had an innocence about him that was unfamiliar.  His eyes were round with surprise and his mouth was shaped into an “O”. He closed his mouth and then opened it again.

Could it be?

No.

As he stared at the mirror, his skin grew noticeably darker. In moments, his light skin had become a rich brown.

He gaped.

This wasn’t him.

Was it?

***

Braden was walking past the lunchroom, his mind spinning, when someone called out.

“Tariq!  Tariq!  Sit with us!”

He stopped and looked, wondering who Tariq was. There wasn’t a Tariq who worked for the company, was there?

His teammates, Leila and Kabir, were sitting at one of the tables. As he stared, they waved at him.

“Come on, Tariq!” Leila said, motioning to him.

He wrinkled his brow. Did she think he was Tariq?  For some reason, he found himself walking stiffly over to their table.

“I know, I know, dude,” Kabir was saying, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know why we’re sitting in the lunchroom during Ramadan, either. It was Leila’s idea.”

Braden noticed that their table was empty.  They were sitting there, their hands folded in front of them, as the other employees gorged around them.

Kabir patted the chair next to him, continuing, “Just think of it as another way to strengthen your faith.”

He didn’t know why but Braden sat down. He had to be careful as he was lowering himself down in the chair, though; his pants were ready to split down the back.  Leila smiled at him encouragingly and Kabir winked, causing him to flush for some reason.

“So, Tariq,” Leila asked, a sly look on her face, “Where are you going after prayers tonight?”

Kabir elbowed her and she slapped his arm.

“Don’t listen to her, man! She’s trying to fix you up with my cousin, Dawoud.”

“Your cousin, D-D-Dawoud,” Braden stammered. Wasn’t Dawoud a guy’s name?

Kabir nodded. “Yeah, he’s been dying to meet you. And, don’t get me wrong, I don’t bend that way but even I have to admit that he’s pretty hot.” Then he added, winking, “And you’re not so bad yourself, either.”

Leila slapped him again, exclaiming, “Kabir!”

He laughed. “What? Am I wrong?”

Blushing, Leila looked down at the table. Carefully, she answered, “No, no. You’re right. My girlfriends are all devastated that Tariq is not available…to them at least.”

Braden had to wipe his clammy hands on his pants. His pulse was pounding in his head.  What the fuck was going on?  Why did they think his name was Tariq? And why were they assuming he was gay?  He couldn’t take this.  It was too much.

He slapped his hands down on the table and struggled out of his chair, feeling like his brain was going to explode.  Leila and Kabir looked up at him with concern.

“I…I…I gotta get back to my office,” he managed to mumble.  “I have to pull a report before the retreat starts again.”

Very mindful of his ridiculously tight pants, Braden made his way to his office.  He didn’t need to step on a scale again to know that he gotten heavier since waking up.

And all the weight had settled in one place.

His ass bounced salaciously behind him the whole way and his tiny dick rubbed against his abrasive boxers.  When he finally reached his office he stopped abruptly.  The plaque on his door had changed. It read:

Tariq Nazir, Computer Programmer

***

Braden didn’t care that it was after ten o’clock at night when he got to Bilal’s apartment, he ran to the door and held down the buzzer, not letting it up until he heard steps pounding down the stairs.

When the door opened, he froze.

Bilal was standing at the door dressed like Alladin from the Disney movie. Just like Alladin, in fact, down to the red fez, purple vest, and poofy pants tied with a broad sash.

Blinking, he stammered, “Uh, open sesame?”

Bilal glared at him. “Real funny, asshole.  If you don’t watch it, I’ll bob my ponytail and turn you into Princess Jasmine.”

In spite of everything, Braden laughed.

“Why the hell are you dressed like that?”

Bilal’s face colored. “We’re marking the end of Ramadan with a little costume party.” The big man paused, folding his arms. “Now, is there some reason you’re interrupting our Eid-al-Fitr feast? I haven’t eaten all day and I have a very short temper.”

Hearing this only served to reignite his anger. Braden had to hold back from launching himself at the dude and strangling the shit out of him.  Mastering his rage with difficulty, he seethed, “Bilal, I’m not a happy customer and you need to make things right.  You lied to me yesterday and now,” Braden gestured with his chin meaningfully down toward his crotch, “I have with this…little..problem.”

Bilal started to smirk but caught himself.  Instead, he swallowed and looked down, abashed. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Come in.  You sound just like someone else who showed up here a few hours ago demanding a refund.”

The big guy held the door open and Braden was slipping past him when Bilal stopped him.

“Wait a minute, dude!  Let me take a look at you.”

Braden stopped, his breath caught in his throat for some reason. He was keenly aware of the heat emanating from the big man’s body. And of his deep, rich scent. Bilal, he realized in confusion, smelled good. Really good.

Very slowly, Bilal placed his wide hands on Braden’s shoulders and held him out, turning him slightly so that his face was illuminated by the streetlight.  He exhaled sharply then and, when Braden lifted his head and their eyes locked, both guys shivered as a frisson of…what? Delight?  Yes, a frisson of delight scintillated through their bodies.

There was a long, poignant pause before Bilal breathed, “You’re…beautiful.”

Braden dipped his head as a million different feelings exploded inside him. 

Then Bilal’s full lips were on his and their mouths were locked.  

And then Bilal’s big hands were on him and he was drawing Braden against him. 

And then Braden was savoring the taste of his mouth and his hard muscles and manly bulk.  

He didn’t have to time think.  He didn’t care.  All he wanted was Bilal.

After several long minutes, they parted, panting.  Bilal’s face was flushed and his eyes were full of light as he leaned down and lifted Braden off the doorstep.  Swinging him into his arms, he carried him up the stairs.

“Thank Allah that Ramadan is over and we can finally make love,” he said as they crossed the threshold to his apartment.

***

Part 3

Note: Braden’s transformation to Tariq is both complete and…not so complete.  He begins to wrap his brain around his new life, body, and identity…with Bilal’s help, of course!

***

“Hey, guys,” Bilal called out to his friends in the kitchen as he carried Tariq into the apartment. “I’m going to be a while. Go ahead and get started without me.” 

Tariq could hear the sounds of muted conversation and dishes clinking but he didn’t care; he was too busy snuggling into Bilal’s shoulder, savoring his masculine scent. He knew on some level that this wasn’t…what he was supposed to enjoy, just like he knew that his name used to be…what? He couldn’t remember. As soon as Bilal had picked him up and carried him into the apartment, his mind and memories and, well, everything had gone blank. He had a nagging feeling that something was wrong and that he was supposed to get Bilal to do something, but…shit, he couldn’t remember!  And even weirder, he didn’t care that much. All he wanted was to be held close by Bilal.

“I read an article in the science section of the New York Times,” Bilal was whispering, his deep voice pleasantly throaty. “It said that men forget all about hunger when they’re turned on.” He leaned down to give Tariq a little kiss on the top of the head. “I know I was starving a minute ago but now all I can think about is getting you naked.” He laughed, a sound that sent shivers down Tariq’s spine.

They swept into Bilal’s bedroom where Tariq expected to be thrown down on the bed and ravaged but instead Bilal carried him through a sliding glass door and out onto a balcony where a recessed hot tub awaited them. A fountain trickled in the background and a natural wall of ferns and cypress offered privacy.  Bilal set him down in front of an antique mirror, standing behind him and placing his hands on his shoulders. Tariq blinked at his reflection.

The young guy staring back at him looked both familiar and strange at the same time.  He was tall, brown-skinned, and black-haired with almond-shaped eyes that were soft, innocent. Was that right? He thought hard but couldn’t remember. Maybe he had always looked like this? Maybe this was how he had always been?

Wait!

Huh?

He could swear that he had been taller than Bilal just a second ago but…

How?

Holy shit! As he stared at his reflection, he watched himself become slightly shorter. He was now only up to Bilal’s earlobes! And getting steadily smaller!

Bilal noticed it, too. His eyes got round and his mouth fell open. “Dude! Dude! Fuck, you’re still changing!” he shouted excitedly.

Tariq couldn’t respond.  He was too busy trying to maintain his balance as everything shifted.  He could feel his bones contracting, his skin growing tighter, his muscles shrinking.  Throwing his arms out, he would have fallen if Bilal hadn’t caught him.  His feet came out of his shoes. Even his socks slipped off his ankles and his shirt sagged as his shoulders narrowed and his chest muscles deflated. He could feel his strength draining out of him as his leg muscles constricted. In a few moments, hours of hard work at the gym disappeared as he shrank down.  Horrified, he held his hands out and watched his fingers and wrists grow slender and delicate.

“No! No!” he sobbed, collapsing into Bilal’s arms. The big man held him gently, smoothing his hair and making soothing noises as Tariq cried. He could feel himself shrinking as Bilal’s embrace gradually became snugger to accommodate his thinning down. He didn’t care what Bilal thought of him, he bawled like a little baby as everything that he treasured about himself evaporated, leaving a complete stranger in its place.

A really short and skinny stranger.

When it was finally over, Bilal kissed him on the ear and helped him to stand.  His legs were shaky, though, and he needed help finding his balance.

He didn’t want to open his eyes. He wanted to keep them closed and never open them again because he knew–he knew!–he would hate the way he looked. Bilal, however, started tickling him. He resisted as long as he could but eventually the big guy found that one particular spot under his arms and he burst out in a fit of giggling. He opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror before he could stop himself.

His jaw dropped.

He was so small!  

He barely came up to Bilal’s shoulders.  

He held up his hands. They were tiny!

“Shit,” Bilal sighed before growing more animated as the reality of Tariq’s changes sunk in. “Holy shit, dude! You’re smoking hot!”

Tariq shot him a disgusted look. “Shut the fuck up, Bilal!” he demanded, his formerly deep voice now an octave higher. “This is all your fault! Now change me back!  I hate this!”

Towering over him, Bilal looked huge. He’d been pretty beefy before but now that Tariq was over a foot shorter, Bilal was a beast. He was watching Tariq with a mixture of desire, adoration, and…pride. For some reason, this only made Tariq angrier.

“Come on, Bilal! I said change me back! I don’t like this!”

Bilal wasn’t listening. Instead, he made a guttural growl in the back of his throat as he set his jaw and repositioned the goofy, red fez that he was wearing as part of his Aladdin costume.  Pushing it forward on his head, he fixed Tariq with a smoldering look of raw desire. Tariq drew away from him in alarm but Bilal pounced on him, peeling his shirt off and tossing it aside.

He struggled to get away but Bilal caught him up in a fierce bear hug, lifting him off his feet and spinning him around. Tariq was terrified at first but then realized he kind of liked it and held out his arms, arching his head back and laughing in spite of himself.

After a minute, they grew dizzy and Bilal stopped, setting him down and giving him an appraising look. “Shit, dude. You’ve really got me going!”  He put his bearpaw hands on Tariq’s shoulders and held him out to admire him.

Tariq cast his eyes down to the floor, holding himself by the elbows. He started to shiver as Bilal turned him around and reached down to unfasten his belt and slip off his shorts. He had to work hard to get them over Tariq’s magnificent ass–apparently, his butt was the only part of his body that hadn’t decreased in size–but soon he’d wrestled them off and they lay in a pile around his ankles.  Bilal paused with his hands on Tariq’s tight boxers, fondling his ass cheeks.  Tariq exhaled, forgetting his alarm at seeing himself so shrunken as a delirious pleasure overpowered him. His ass was so fucking sensitive!  It was almost like another sex organ.

“I’m such a lucky fuck!” Bilal burst out finally. “You are hotter than ever, my little princess.  You really are my Princess Jasmine.”  He chuckled then, adding, “My parents keep bugging me to bring home a bride.  I think I’ve finally found one. What do you think? Are you ready to meet my family?”

Tariq flushed at these words, too overwhelmed to contemplate their meaning.  He was still laboring to wrap his brain around his reflection in the mirror. The youth gaping back at him was indeed breathtakingly beautiful.  His body was lithe, smooth, and nearly hairless.  His facial features were soft and his eyes were wide and big. His deep black hair was long and swept back, though a lock fell seductively across his forehead and hung in front of one eye.  As he stared, Bilal reached up and moved it aside, pushing it behind his ear. The big man leaned down and kissed his ear, causing him to moan.

It took everything he had but he managed to protest. “Bilal, wait!” he started to say but then stopped abruptly, clapping his mouth shut. His voice was not only higher but also airy and lilting! What was that accent? Pakistani? How could he have a Pakistani accent? 

Oh, right, he had grown up in Lahore, moving to the United States at age ten when his mother got a job in a cancer research lab.  He shook his head, trying to clear it. Was that really true?  He was a naturalized U.S. citizen?  With momentous effort, he forced himself to set this aside for the moment. He had more important things to worry about! Gathering his will, he insisted, “There’s something wrong!” 

Bilal stopped and met his eyes in the mirror.  His mouth quirked, “What? Don’t tell me you’re Shia.”

Tariq wrinkled his brow. “Huh? No, my family is Sunni. But we are also Sufi.” Wait, how did he know that?

“Oh, shit! Sufi! Well, we’ll just not bring that up, Ok?” Bilal said, winking. “I mean, my mom’s gonna have a breakdown when she finds out about the gay thing as it is.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Tariq said, perturbed both with Bilal and with the sound of his voice. It was strange, like it belonged to someone else. Why was his voice so soft and delicate? That wasn’t the way he was supposed to sound!

Bilal was distracted again, though. His huge hands were back on Tariq’s butt. He slipped them under the elastic of his underwear, his rough hands rubbing his ass cheeks, fingers working their way toward the deep cleft of his buttocks.  Tariq cried out, feeling his knees buckle.

“I knew you were a bottom the moment I laid eyes on you,” Bilal gloated. “You just needed a little help. Now, let’s see what you’re hiding inside those shorts, bud.”

“No!” Tariq exclaimed, straightening and trying to pull away.  He didn’t want Bilal to be disappointed when he saw how small he was.  He dropped his hands in front of his crotch protectively.

“Come on, babe,” Bilal coaxed. “Let me see.”  He gently pulled Tariq’s hands away and tugged down on the waistband of his boxers. In a few seconds, his little nub sprang free, standing fiercely erect at all of two and half inches..

Tariq stared down at it, ashamed. It was so pathetic!  And it looked even smaller now that he lacked a foreskin. Barely perceptible black pubic hair clung to the base of his cock but otherwise he was hairless. Even his nutsac was shrunken, pulled up tight. His balls were the size of a pair of marbles!

Bilal, however, appeared to be anything but disappointed.  He let out a whoop of pure joy and spun Tariq around again, hugging him tightly against his body.  His huge erection pressed hard against Tariq’s stomach and his hands massaged his butt cheeks.  “Everything about you is perfect,” he exclaimed. “I’m so happy!”

Somehow, despite the waves of pleasure radiating through his body at the touch of Bilal’s hands and his excitement at feeling Bilal’s massive cock pushing against him, Tariq managed to gasp, “Stop, stop.”

Bilal obliged, moving his hands up to Tariq’s waist and pulling him in for a hug.  “What, my beautiful flower? What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t what I wanted!  I’m too small! And too pretty. I don’t want to be like this!”

Bilal guffawed. “Too pretty? You’re my little princess! Of course, you’re pretty!”  He made a low sound in the back of his throat before leaning down and finding Tariq’s lips.  They kissed passionately, mouths locked for a long time before Tariq managed to break away again.

“I’m not a princess!” he panted. ”I don’t want to be a princess!”  He pushed Bilal back and hung his head. As much as his body longed for Bilal’s, something just wasn’t right.

Bilal reached out and, placing his thumb under Tariq’s chin, lifted his head.  Tariq tried to look away but Bilal wouldn’t let him. His eyes were shining and his lips were touched with a smile.

“Too pretty, huh?”

“Yeah, too pretty. And too short!”

Bilal sighed. “Well, I disagree but I do owe you a favor after letting Adam swap vials with you.”

These words fell like a stone in Tariq’s mind. For a long time, all he could do is stand there, stunned, as he stared up at Bilal. He had helped Adam!  He had fucking helped Adam swap vials with him!  The silence stretched as he grappled to find words to express his shock.  After a long time, he was able to sputter, “You did what? But why? Why would you do this to me?”

Bilal’s eyes fell to the floor. “I…let him seduce me into making a deal. It was stupid. And now both Adam and I regret it.”

Tariq knew he should be furious at this admission but he couldn’t muster up enough anger to be truly mad at Bilal. He should be outraged. After all, the big man had really fucked him over, blithely rearranging his life and his body on a silly whim.  

But he was just so fucking desirable!  

Instead of rage, he felt only mildly annoyed. 

Annoyed and…turned on.

Bilal.

God, Bilal.

The big guy was really fucking stacked!  Why hadn’t had noticed how handsome he was before now? He stared up at him, feeling his little dick plump up even harder as he took in the big guy’s masculine beauty. His glossy hair was swept back in an unruly mane, the red fez tilted rakishly to the side.  His brown eyes sparkled with humor and affection as he grinned down at Tariq and his cheeks sported just the right amount of five o’clock shadow. His broad shoulders were threatening to burst out of the revealing purple vest and the forest of his body hair was trimmed to accentuate the chiseled muscles of his chest. As Bilal shifted his weight onto his left foot and crossed his arms, Tariq caught a glimpse of a dark brown nipple. Unlike the Disney cartoon character, this Aladdin had real man-sized nips.

And he was big! Tariq couldn’t help comparing his own diminished physique to Bilal’s prowess. His body bulged with hard muscles and he was so lean that the veins in his arms and belly were clearly visible under his tanned skin. If he stared hard enough, he was sure he could see them pulse in time with his beating heart. Bilal’s body was coursing with vibrant, sexy, pungent life force.

How could he be angry with such a man even if he had laid such a terrible curse on him?

Bilal seemed to sense his conflicted feelings and pushed his advantage, pulling a long face and staring at him with his big, brown puppydog eyes.

Tariq tried and failed to scowl up at the huge man. When he spoke, his new singsong voice was more taunting than angry. “You regret it, huh?  Well, if you regret it so much, why don’t you change us back?”

Bilal dropped his gaze, studying the floor, his cheeks red. “Because I can’t. That’s the problem. I told Adam not to do it because I couldn’t reverse the spell once the vials were swapped. And I had no idea that what would happen.” He stopped and raised his head, fixing Tariq with a baleful stare. “I am so sorry! It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done!”

Tariq stood there frozen, his goodwill toward Bilal evaporating. There was no way to reverse the spell!  He couldn’t ever go back to being…whoever he had been before! (What had his name been anyway? He barely even remembered.  He just knew that he’d been taller and had a much bigger cock but the details were fuzzy.)

Finally, he managed to stammer, “I’m…I’m stuck like this forever? But you work magic all the time. Why can’t you just give me another vial, one that will make me the way I was before?”

Bilal’s throat was working up and down and his face was stricken. He would have looked ridiculous in his red fez and tiny purple vest if Tariq hadn’t been too agitated to notice. After a long time, Bilal managed to choke out, “I wish I could! The magic doesn’t work like that, though. You can’t ever have your old life back, Braden, uh, I mean Tariq..” He reached out and tried to take Tariq by the shoulders but Tariq sidestepped him.

“Braden!  That was my name!  I remember now!  You took away my name!” God, how could he have forgotten so easily? He wasn’t Tariq Nazir, he was Braden…something.  What was his last name anyway?

He was trying to remember when Bilal suddenly smacked himself on the forehead, exclaiming, “Shit! I’m so stupid!  I can’t believe I forgot! I can’t give either you or Adam your old lives or bodies back but I will do something even better!”

Tariq crossed his arms. “I don’t like the sound of this…”

Bilal wasn’t listening. He continued, rubbing his hands together, eyes bright. “And at the same time I can fix the imbalance I caused by caving into Adam’s demands. It will restore the natural order!”

“Natural order…?”

“Karma, man. It’s all about the Karma. Those Hindus got one thing right: Balance is important. Especially where magic is concerned.”

Tariq sighed and reached up to rub his temples. He was starting to get a headache. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

Bilal straightened up, smiling. “Don’t worry, princess. I’ll show you…after I’m done fucking your tight hole.”

Before he could react, Bilal grabbed him and effortlessly swung him down onto a bamboo mat at their feet.  Tariq landed on his back, stunned, as Bilal swung his legs up and over his shoulders so that he was lying there, naked and exposed, the cool night air caressing his butthole.

“Holy cats, you’re flexible!” Bilal remarked with awe. “Here, hold your ankles like this.” He took Tariq’s hands and guided them up to his feet.  Instinctively, Tariq grabbed his ankles and pulled them down toward the mat.  At the same time, he swiveled his hips upward, amazed at the range of movement he had. In no time, he was lying there like a pretzel, asshole pointing straight up and knees touching his ears.

Bilal whistled. “That hole. That fucking hole, man!  Look at it!  You’re so flexible I’ll bet you can almost lick it.”

Quivering with an obscure sense of pride, Tariq raised his head off the mat and stared down at himself.  His cock and balls were so small that he could see over them, even with his dick fully erect. His hairless taint was mocha-colored and engorged, but even that wasn’t enough to block his view. 

Bilal wasn’t exaggerating much: He may not be able to lick himself but, if he strained, he could get a clear view of his pucker.  His hole was tender and pink, peeking out like a nubile flower from deep crevice of his ass. His skin down there was flawless, creamy, and smooth as silk.

To his undying embarrassment (as well as a little bit of delight), Bilal leaned down, exclaiming, “Ahhh! Jasmine! Your little bud smells just like jasmine!”

Then he lowered his head and his lips were on Tariq’s most private part, causing him to cry out in ecstasy as the big guy’s tongue ever so delicately traced around his pucker.

“You even taste delicious, man!”

Clearing his throat, Bilal gathered up a mouthful of saliva and let it slide out of his mouth, expertly aiming for Tariq’s hole.  There was a splattering sound and Tariq gasped as a wave of intense pleasure shot up through his spine. Winking, Bilal took his index finger and, moistening it in the glob of his spit, very gently traced the tip around the folds of skin before slowly working it inside.

Tariq shuddered and, unable to control himself, shouted, “Bilal! Fuck, Bilal!”

His lover regarded him with half-closed eyes. “Uh, yeah. That’s what we’re going to do, man.” Slowly he brought his head up to Tariq’s face while letting his finger probe ever so slightly further inside of him.

Tariq gasped and writhed. The sensations flooding through his body were both alien and incredibly arousing. In his ardor, he squirmed away from Bilal’s finger but the big guy held him down, repositioned him and gently reinserted his finger. He wiggled it in, sliding it up past his knuckle. Tariq tried to stop himself but couldn’t; he screamed and writhed.

“Shhh, my heart. I know you’re a virgin,” Bilal breathed, his eyes filled with warmth. “I’ll be gentle. We’ll do this together, you and me. We’ll explore this new world together.”

His lips parted as he leaned down for a kiss and soon Tariq was savoring the hint of his own hole as his tongue entwined with Bilal’s. The musky flavor wasn’t exactly floral but it’s wasn’t unpleasant, either. He marveled at the fact that he was tasting his butthole on the tongue of another guy. What the fuck was going on with him? The whole world was fucking crazy.

But it felt so right and so good. 

Surely, this was the real magic.

Bilal carefully removed his finger from Tariq’s hole and shrugged out of his vest, placing the little red fez on the floor beside them. Then, straddling Tariq, he made an expansive gesture with his hands, spreading them down to indicate his sash and pants. The pants were spacious but even so Bilal’s tumescence was clearly visible and a big dark spot of precum stained the front.

“Are you ready for me, my love?”

Tariq swallowed and nodded, grabbing his ankles and feeling his heart rise up into his throat. Was he ready?

Yes.

Yes, he was.

Laughing like a boy, Bilal loosened his sash and shimmied out of his pants. In second, he was naked and on display in all of his glory.

And what a glory it was!

Tariq realized he was holding his breath and exhaled slowly, taking in Bilal’s grandeur. The big guy was broad in every way. His shoulders were broad, his chest was broad, his neck was thick and muscular. His arms were pumped and his thighs were bulging. Even his enormous, bobbing cock was thick and heavy, pumped full of blood and pulsing. Just then, a rope of precum slipped off the tip and landed with a splat on Tariq’s belly. Shit, that cock had to be at least a foot long! Though it was hard to judge because his sense of scale was out of whack after shrinking down.

Just about the only part of him that wasn’t thick was his waist; his rippling abs ran down from the “V” of his torso and, along with the artfully trimmed mass of his black body hair, served to draw the eye to his massive, circumcised cock. Tariq realized suddenly that there was something odd about Bilal’s cock. He puzzled at it for a moment before he realized that the skin of his fat cockhead was bright pink whereas the big shaft was dark brown, almost black.  Also, the ridge of his glans was unnaturally high and wide, making his giant cockhead appear like a flattened mushroom cap. Endearingly, the big guy seemed to be self-conscious about his unusual organ; he covered himself with his hands as he saw his lover’s eyes settle on his prodigious package.

In a quiet voice, he apologized, “It’s too big, isn’t it? Shit, it’s too big!”

Tariq’s expression was incredulous. “Bilal, fuck! Are you serious? Come on!”

Bilal’s face had gone red but he perked up a little with these words and hesitantly let his hands fall to his sides.  “You mean, you like it?”

“I’m not even going to answer that. Just come here already! I’m starting to ache down here!”

With that, Bilal settled on top of him, letting his massive erection rest on Tariq’s taint.  They both sighed and then laughed, Tariq’s laugh was high and merry and Bilal’s low and gravelly. It didn’t take long before the blunt tip of Bilal’s cock was pressing insistently against Tariq’s asshole, trying to gain entry.

“You’re gonna have to work me up this, big guy,” he breathed as Bilal smothered his mouth with another sloppy kiss.

Somehow, his lover produced a condom and a bottle of lube, seeming to pull them out of the shrubbery. Bilal lifted himself up onto his elbows and clumsily tore open the package using Tariq’s narrow chest as a table. Grunting, he pushed himself up, balancing on his left hand while using his right to roll on the prophylactic. He was sweating by the time he managed to squirt lube on his sheathed member, splattering most of it on Tariq’s belly.

“Sorry, dude! I’m out of practice! I haven’t fucked in over a month because of Ramadan.” He stopped before quickly adding, “Not that I’m a slut or anything!  I mean, shit, compared to you, all the guys I’ve slept with have been…Oh, fuck! I’ll just shut up now.”

Tariq laughed, nibbling his lover’s shoulder and delighting as a shiver ran through Bilal’s body.  “Just fuck me already, you big idiot! But go slowly.”

Bilal’s eyes crinkled as he smiled and Tariq noticed for the first time that his lashes were long and curling. Shit, he was so handsome! His full lips drew up into an adorable moue when he was concentrating. And that cleft chin and stubble covering his cheeks…fuck! Bilal was a total god.

Taking his huge paw and running it over Tariq’s belly, Bilal scooped up some of the splattered lube and reached down to rub it over his lover’s hole. Tariq clenched a little but relaxed as Bilal lowered himself back down on top of him. The big man was so heavy that it took his breath away but he didn’t mind. He loved having Bilal’s bulk on top of him!

“Let your legs rest on my shoulders, dude. It will make things easier, trust me.”

Tariq complied, privately relieved. His legs were getting sore. It didn’t take long before he realized that Bilal was right; moving his legs helped to reorient his pelvis, making it easier for Bilal to position himself just so. He felt Bilal arch his back. His big cock slid back and up and then…

Fuck!

FUCK!

FUCK FUCK FUCK!

Bilal was inside of him!

Holy fucking shit!  

He had a huge dick inside his hole! 

Bilal was up on his elbows, pushing his cockhead in. He paused when he hit Tariq’s sphincter but waited patiently until Tariq figured out how to relax the muscles down there.  Then his big shaft was sliding deeper and deeper inside of him and his mind went completely blank. Tariq simply could not comprehend pleasure and…pain…on this scale. It was too much for him to absorb.

Bilal seemed to instinctively know this and slowed down, letting his cock slide in millimeter by millimeter as Tariq adjusted himself, learning how to mold his body to Bilal’s and move in tandem with his thrusts. After a little while, they were fused in a seamless dance, a mysterious ebb and flow, rocking and pushing and pulling and gyrating and twisting. Tariq had no idea that butt sex could be so profound or so subtle.

Their rhythm built very gradually in intensity with Bilal intuiting precisely when to thrust deeper for maximum effect.

And then he pulled out.

Tariq howled in frustration but Bilal silenced him with a kiss. “It’s Ok, dude,” he reassured him, reaching down to pull off the condom and toss it aside. “Trust me. I was really close to cumming but you need to be first. Because, well, this is your first time.”

Even though his whole body felt empty without Bilal inside of him, he didn’t resist as his lover gathered him up in his arms and carried him into the warm water of the hot tub. Laying him down, the big man knelt down in the pool and pulled Tariq’s legs around his middle and then up over his shoulders while tilting his crotch upward.

Tariq looked down at himself and flushed as he watched Bilal’s tongue flick out to caress the tip of his cock. He flinched and moaned, causing Bilal to tease him with tiny, delicate licks that sent spasms of pure bliss reverberating through his body.

“You see? Having a small cock is blessing, dude!” Bilal commented, giving his cock another swift lick as Tariq whimpered with joy. “You have all of the nerve endings you had when you were big but now they are now concentrated into a much smaller area!”

“I, uh, don’t, ungh, know, ah, about, hungh, that!” Tariq gasped, feeling his butthole clench and unclench as his body was wracked with paroxysms of pleasure.

“Oh, no? Well, here’s another thing that you would never be able to experience with a big cock!”

Tariq nearly blacked out as Bilal took his cock and balls into his mouth all at once, sucking, nibbling, massaging, and swirling them around in a fierce attack that fired all of his neurons simultaneously. In no time, he was ejaculating torrents of cum as Bilal grunted and moaned, sucking harder and harder. Tariq didn’t care if his cries woke the neighborhood and he couldn’t have stopped himself if he tried. The chain reaction of explosions that the orgasm set off in his body could not be suppressed.  He arched his back and let loose.

When he finally collapsed weakly, Bilal slipped his legs off of his shoulders and wiped his chin. The warm water slapped against his bare butt as Tariq lowered himself down into the tub. Bilal was grinning ear to ear.

“Like I always say, more than a mouthful is wasted!” He reached out and patted Tariq’s sweaty head, gently pushing a lank curl of hair behind his ear.

Tariq didn’t answer.  He was too busy trying to catch his breath.  His heart was pounding in his chest and he felt drained and happy at the same time. Maybe having a tiny cock wasn’t so bad after all?

Bilal rose up out of the water, letting his massive boner bob in front of Tariq’s face as he jacked himself.  Tariq watched, mesmerized, only belatedly realizing that Bilal was trying to communicate something with his intense gaze.  When he still didn’t get it, the big man gasped, “My ass!  Grab my ass!”

His ass! Oh, yeah!  For obvious reasons, Tariq had been too entranced by the size of his endowment to think about Bilal’s ass. He reached out now, though, and cupped his muscular cheeks in his small hands, savoring their firmness, heft, and the rough fur covering them. Bilal was just as hairy as Tariq was smooth and the contrast was incredibly erotic. Bilal moaned as bucked his hips forward, thrusting the bulbous head of his cock into Tariq’s parted lips.

Holy shit! 

He had a cock in his mouth!

He choked at first and then caught himself. 

He knew what to do!  

He knew what to do!  

Simultaneously sucking the massive member–It was so long that Bilal could jack off while still having extra inches to shove into Tariq’s mouth!–and grabbing his lover’s jiggling ass cheeks, he worked magic with his mouth and fingers. When he finally managed to score contact with Bilal’s pulsing hole, the big guy let out a loud moan and shot a huge load of jizz, pulling out of his mouth and spewing his wad all over Tariq’s chest, neck, and face.

Chest heaving, he fell down on top of the smaller guy, smothering him with his sweaty bulk while Tariq hugged him protectively, enjoying the sticky, sweaty, hairy, musky man flesh pressing onto him. They lay like that for a long time before Bilal sighed and rolled off of him.  Leaning over to give Tariq a wet kiss, he slung a meaty arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close. Even somewhat deflated, his huge cock still reached nearly up to his bellybutton.  He grinned as Tariq reached out to hold it in his hand, trying and failing to touch his fingers around its incredible girth.

“So, dude, how do you feel know about your new life? Still want to change?”

Tariq wormed his way into his lover’s fragrant armpit and put his cheek against Bilal’s pectoral, laughing as his wiry hair tickled his face.  “I…I don’t ever want to lose…this,” he motioned with a delicate hand, indicating their entwined bodies. “But,” he continued, “I don’t want to be short and thin. I mean, I came to your sister originally because I wanted bigger muscles, right?”

Bilal frowned. “Yeah, I guess. Shit, but you’re just so fucking hot the way you are now! Don’t get me wrong! I love big muscles as much as the next guy but…your new body and that cock. Shit, you’re fucking perfect, man!”

“Now that you mention it,” Tariq said, frowning. “I’d like a bigger dick, too. I’m pretty sure my old one was a lot bigger than this.”

“Now that’s taking things too…”

Before Bilal could complete the sentence, Tariq sat up and silenced him with a kiss before lowering himself back down into the snug spot at his side.

Inexplicably, Bilal blushed, saying finally, “Oh, man! How can I say no to you?”

“You can’t.”

Bilal stared down at him fondly. “You’re right, you know? I can’t.” He sighed and kissed Tariq. They lingered in the kiss for a long time and Tariq could feel his little prick beginning to stand up again. He reached for Bilal’s cock but the big man stopped him, putting his hand over Tariq’s.

“Just a sec, babe.” He got up out of the tub and stalked, naked and dripping, into the bedroom, giving Tariq a great view of his muscular butt. Shit, Tariq thought, the dude has quite the ass!

When he came back, he knelt down on his knee and offered Tariq something. Sitting up in the tub, he stared; it was a gold ring inlaid with glittering pink gemstones.

“It’s tourmaline,” Bilal said solemnly. “I want you to have it.”

“Oh, Bilal!” Tariq sighed, extending his hand and holding out his ring finger. His heart was beating fast. Did this mean that they were engaged? As absurd as that was, he found it profoundly touching. “It’s beautiful!”

Bilal cleared his throat, coloring. “Um, it’s not for your finger.”

Tariq stared at him, blinking. “Then where…?”

“Stand up, babe, and I’ll put it on you.”

“What?” Tariq didn’t like where this was going.  He shifted nervously.

“Just stand up, gorgeous!”

He did. Dripping wet and shivering in the cool night air, he watched with a mixture of fascination and dread as Bilal reached out. Circling Tariq’s little balls with his thumb and forefinger, he gently pulled them away from his body before lifting his other hand and holding the ring up to his sac.

“What the fuck, Bilal!” he protested. “I know my balls are tiny but that ring will never fit over them!”

Bilal looked up and winked. “Shhh, it’s fine. Watch.”

As he gaped, the ring did something very strange. It seemed to expand in Bilal’s hand, allowing him to easily slide it over Tariq’s nuts.  He gasped as the ring became suddenly hot, searing into his tender flesh. Before he could react, though, the metal cooled and contracted, squeezing around the loose skin of his nutsac, pushing his balls downward. He reached down and tugged on the ring but it wouldn’t budge. It was stuck. He had a ring of pink gems around his balls!

“With this ring, I thee wed…” Bilal was saying, a little smile on his face.  He reached out and moved Tariq’s hand aside so he could clasp his balls and the ring in his huge hand. He squeezed, exclaiming, “Shit, dude! You’re on fleek now! All the boys will be jealous!”

Tariq was speechless. What the fuck had Bilal done to him? The gemstones flashed brilliantly in the low light, reflecting little scintillating flecks of pink around his thighs and crotch. Now he could never get naked in the locker room without all of the guys staring at his crotch! As if his tiny cock wasn’t bad enough!

“Take it off!  Take it off!” he finally managed to gasp. He knocked Bilal’s hand away and tried desperately to pull the ring off but had no luck. It held fast.

“I can’t,” his lover said, shrugging his shoulders. “This is the only way that you’ll be able to get back some of what Adam’s prank took away from you.”

“What?”

“Here,” Bilal said, opening the palm of his hand. “Put this on me first and then I’ll show you what I mean.” He held up another gold ring. It was like the one on Tariq’s balls only a lot bigger. And this one was inlaid with lapis lazuli.

Despite his bewilderment and irritation with Bilal, Tariq inhaled sharply. “Bilal, that’s…”

“Yeah, I know. Pretty fly, isn’t it?” He straightened up, thrusting his enormous package forward. “Stretch out the old nuts and slide it on, dude. Only you can put it on me or the magic won’t work.”

He dropped the ring into Tariq’s open hand and lifted his floppy cock out of the way so that his balls were hanging free and clear.

Tariq lifted an eyebrow. “How come you get the blue one and I have to wear the one with pink rhinestones?”

Bilal looked hurt. “Tourmaline!  It’s tourmaline! And you wear the pink one because you’re my princess.”

“I am not your fucking princess!”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just put it on me, Ok? We can argue later about the color.”

Gritting his teeth and already regretting letting Bilal talk him into this, he grabbed the big man’s balls roughly.

“Hey! Careful!” Bilal yelped. “Those are the family jewels!” He paused and laughed, adding, “Get it? Jewels?”

Tariq grimaced. “Ugh. You’re an idiot.”

“An idiot with really big balls, though!”

He was right about that! Bilal had a swinging pair of bull balls. They were big and heavy and hung down so far that Tariq wondered how he was able to walk around without hurting himself. He held them out, pulling them down and lifting up the ring. The deep blue stones seemed to shine with an inner light and he was momentarily mesmerized.  Shaking himself, he raised the ring up to Bilal’s balls and pushed it up and over them. Even though the ring was a lot bigger than the one he was wearing, it still looked like it was nowhere near big enough to fit. At the last moment, though, he felt it pulse and expand, allowing him to slide it on easily. Bilal took a sharp breath as the metal grew briefly hot and then the ring contracted in much the same way that his had done.

“There!” Bilal said proudly. “We’re officially hitched.”

As he said this, Tariq felt the ring around his balls vibrate and a little electric shock pulsed through his body, leaving him feeling disoriented. After it passed, he realized that he couldn’t put his finger on it, but he did feel different somehow. Connected.

Yeah, he felt connected to Bilal.

Bilal drew him up out of the pool and wrapped his beefy arms around him, pulling him in close. Tariq’s cheek was against his lover’s chest and he could hear the steady drumbeat of his heart.  His breathing was deep and contented. It felt so good that he wanted to stay like forever. Bilal, however, had other plans.  

Caressing Tariq’s cheek with the back of his hand, he stepped away, saying, “I’ll be right back, babe! I have to get Adam so we can complete this little ritual.”

***

Part 4

Bilal was gone for a long time and Tariq settled down into the hot tub, playing with the ring around his balls. It was kind of thick and heavy, pulling his balls out and down. Even under the water, the gemstones sparkled pink and rosy. He both liked it and disliked it at the same time. As he lay there, he felt it pulse and, without knowing how he knew this, he was sure that Bilal’s had just pulsed, too. Smiling to himself, he fondled the ring again and felt his little cock begin to stand up.

Bilal.

Bilal.

He shivered.

God, what was happening to him? His mind was reeling. Nothing made sense. He used to be tall, right? He used to have a big dick? He used to like girls? He was a Christian (well, he wasn’t practicing but his parents had raised him as one), not a Muslim? He was born in the United States, not Pakistan? How could reality change like this? 

It really did point to Bilal and his magic.

Shit, Bilal.

Bilal was so fucking hot! Bilal had just fucked him up the ass and he’d loved every second. He more than loved it, he couldn’t wait for his lover to ram his huge, fat cock up his aching hole again and again.

Bilal.

The big, muscly, hairy, beautiful man was all he could think about.

He was getting more and more turned on when he felt the balcony shake with a tremor. There was another tremor and another. They were getting closer. An earthquake? He scrambled to sit up as the door to Bilal’s room opened. Turning around, he gaped at the enormous shadowed form that came thudding toward him.

Who the…?

Then the hulking brute stepped onto the balcony followed closely by Bilal.

Tariq almost choked as he exclaimed, “Shit! Fuck!”

It was Adam.

Adam had gotten huge!  And there was something else.

Tariq’s eyes grew round as Adam stepped into the light.

“Holy shit! That’s the best orc costume I’ve ever seen!” he said, jumping up to stare at the humongous painted brute.  Adam was barely recognizable. He was greatly bulked up even from the last time that Tariq had seen him just hours before, towering close to seven feet tall and weighing well over 300 pounds. And, as if to underscore the incredible changes that he had undergone, his body was daubed with expertly-applied green pigment. If he hadn’t known better, Tariq would have thought that Adam really did have green skin.

There were pair of fake, yellowed tusks sticking up out of his lower lip and he was wearing a wig of matted red dreadlocks. Woven into the braids that hung down nearly to his ass were bones, rough beads, and feathers. He was wearing a hide loincloth that would have been huge on a normal-size person but looked overly revealing on him.  There was no mistaking the massive schlong packed into it.  In fact, Adam’s package was so overblown that there was no way it could be real. Whoever had stuffed it, though, had done a good job because the outline of huge balls and a bloated cock looked convincing.

Adam’s nipples had been painted dark green and stuck out like distended udders.  His legs wouldn’t be out of place on an elephant and his mutant feet were so enlarged and the toes so splayed that he couldn’t wear shoes.  His hips wide and square, framing a ballooned up ass that was bigger and beefier than the hindquarters of a prize bull.

He stood there dumbly, his giant shoulders sloping down and chest heaving. He seemed only half aware of them, grunting occasionally but otherwise dull-eyed. Tariq was enthralled both by Adam’s new incredible size and by the ornate costume.  He walked around him, murmuring his appreciation.

“How did you find the time to do this?” he breathed finally. “It must have taken you hours just to put on his makeup!”

Bilal averted his eyes and didn’t reply.

“How did you do it, Bilal?” he repeated. “He looks like a real orc!”

His lover cleared his throat before saying in a small voice,  “Ahem, well, that’s because he is a real orc.”

Tariq stared at him. “What?!”

“Er, yes. It’s true.”

“But…,” Tariq had to stop, he was in shock. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.  Licking his finger, he ran it across Adam’s forearm. The green pigment didn’t smear and there was no trace of it on his fingertip when he examined it.

“Um, you see,” Bilal explained. “That was part of how he convinced me to let him swap vials with you.”

“…”

Blanching, Bilal continued. “He promised me that I could turn him into something really freaky in exchange…”

Tariq opened and closed his mouth several times before he was able to find his voice. When he did, he couldn’t stop himself from yelling, “WHAT?! You turned him into an orc! Bilal! That’s awful!”

Bilal spread his hands and cast his eyes upward, his expression sheepish. “What can I say? I’ve had this thing for orcs ever since I first played World of Warcraft as a kid.”

“You’re terrible!  I can’t believe you did that to him! We have to change him back!”

“Oh, princess, I keep telling you that I can’t do that!”

“But…”

Bilal held up his hands. “Look, if you’ll just hang with me for a sec, I’ll show you what I have in mind.”  He paced over to Adam and yanked off his loincloth.

“Holy fuck!” Tariq exclaimed as the giant beast’s equipment tumbled out.  Adam had the biggest, ugliest cock he’d ever seen.  The long, green shaft was lumpy and covered in moles.  And a disgusting, tattered foreskin hung down lankly, barely covering his wide, fat cockhead.  Weird, pointy protrusions pushed against the leathery foreskin, making it clear that something pretty horrid was hiding underneath. With fascinated revulsion, Tariq realized that the big orc’s cockhead must look like a huge, green “French-tickler” dildo when he was erect. A pungent, musky scent wafted around them and Tariq realized this was the brute’s natural odor. It was strong, though not entirely off-putting.

In spite of himself, Tariq smiled.  Bilal had really fucked Adam over good! It served him right. Now that he thought about it, this seemed like a fitting punishment for trading vials.

“Tariq, bud, come here and help me.”

“Huh? What are you doing?” Tariq looked over to see Bilal produce a huge ring studded with jade gemstones. Bilal was trying to lift Adam’s enormous balls but he needed both hands to do so.

“I’ve got to fit him with his ring. It will complete the ritual.” He motioned his head toward Adam’s nuts. 

Tariq swallowed. “Bilal, I don’t want to touch his…”

“Come on, dude! Help me out here. It’ll just take a sec.”

“Ugh.”

Bilal gave him a sly look. “You know you’ve wanted to hold his balls ever since you met him.”

“Fuck you! He’s gross. I don’t want anything to do with him.”

Bilal sighed. “Fine. I’ll hold his balls. Just take the ring and slip it on when I…”

“Ewww, gross!” Tariq exclaimed, interrupting him. The big brute’s cock was starting to stand up with all of the handling and a trickle of bright green jizz was leaking out of the folds of his disgusting foreskin.

“What?” Bilal turned and flinched as the precum dripped onto his arm. “Shit! It looks like Absinthe! Kind of makes me thirsty.”

“Yuck!”

Bilal shrugged. “What? I haven’t had alcohol in over a month, you know. I’ll bet orc semen packs quite a punch!”

“Bilal…”

“Let’s just get this the fuck over with, Ok? It’s not going to get any better.”

Using both hands, he hoisted Adam’s melon-sized testicles. Tariq grimaced and averted his gaze as he held up the ring. It was big but didn’t look nearly wide enough to fit over the monster’s nuts. Just as before, though, the ring pulsed and expanded as soon as it made contact with Adam’s green skin and it slid on effortlessly. The ring sparkled for a moment before contracting and tightening up snugly against his beastly testicles.

“There! All done,” Bilal said brightly as he dropped Adam’s balls. They fell down heavily, slapping against his thighs. Adam groaned but it wasn’t from pain: His huge cock was more than half erect, rising like the slimy head of the Loch Ness monster from straggly nest of his red pubic hair. It was the most hideous cock that Tariq had ever seen.

“What now?” Tariq asked, not exactly wanting to hear the answer.

“Now, princess, the fun begins!”

Tariq stepped back and crossed his arms. “Fun? You think this is fun?”

“Oh?” Bilal replied in a sarcastic tone. “And I suppose your squealing a minute ago when I rammed my rod into your eager hole was just another boring day at the office?”

Tariq flushed. “I didn’t mean…”

Bilal smiled, giving him a wink. “I know.” He stepped back and spread his hands, indicating the ring around Adam’s balls. “Behold! My magical masterpiece!”

“I don’t get it. What does it do?”

Instead of answering, Bilal pulled down the pants of his Aladdin costume that he’d pulled on just before retrieving Adam from the party. His huge cock flopped free and Tariq gasped as he watched the lapis lazuli stones on the ring around his balls flash brightly. Just then the pink tourmaline gems on his own ring glowed followed quickly by a twinkle of jade on Adam’s jeweled balls.

“Our rings,” Bilal announced, proudly placing his hands on his hips and thrusting his cock forward, “allow us to share attributes.”

“Share attributes…?”

Bilal held up his finger. “Tariq, give Adam some of your IQ points.”

Tariq stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

“I’d start with twenty-five points; you’re so smart that you won’t miss ‘em. He’s dumb as a stump right now and we need him to at least form simple sentences.”

“I can’t do that!” Tariq protested. “And even if it were possible, I wouldn’t know how to do it.”

Bilal paced over to him, leaning down to wrap him in his big, muscular arms. Tariq was overcome by his rich, manly scent and sighed as his body reluctantly settled against his taut, chiseled frame. He felt his knees grow weak as Bilal’s semi poked him in the belly. “Just think and it will happen, sweetheart,” he whispered in his ear. “That’s the magic. We can now share our qualities and attributes with each other.”

He pulled away and Tariq reached down to hide his erection from Adam’s gaze. Even though the huge beast’s eyes were completely vacant, he felt self-conscious being aroused in front of him. He was still Adam, his coworker and rival, underneath all that green orcishness after all.

Lifting his head, he fixed his eyes on Adam and willed away some of his intellect. Instantly, he felt lightheaded and Bilal had to reach out and grab him to keep him from falling. When he straightened up, he realized that his mind felt…weird. Dimmer, less crisp. He had to work just a bit harder to form his thoughts. He shook his head. That was strange…

“Jiak’m goaumn avo drepa lat, Bilal!” 

Tariq jumped at the guttural roar. He looked up in time to see Adam’s giant fist swinging in their direction and he barely managed to knock Bilal out of the way before the beast’s fist slammed into the wall behind them, shattering the plaster. They fell into the hot tub, making a big splash and landing on top of each other. Adam lifted his meaty hand, shook it, and rounded on them again. Bilal shrank behind Tariq in the tub, using him as a shield.

“Take it back!” he shouted. “Take your IQ points back!”

“What? Why don’t you talk to him? He’s just angry.”

Adam towered above them, enraged. He raised his fists…

“Shit, Tariq!” Bilal cried, “He’s an orc, you idiot! Have you ever tried reasoning with an orc? Just take it back and we’ll think of something else!”

“Fine,” Tariq said, fixing Adam again with a firm look. There was that brief disorientation again and then his sluggish thoughts increased, revving up to their usual effortless pace. Adam stopped, his fists held in midair as he blinked dumbly down at them. He looked like he was trying to remember what he had been about to do.

Tariq could feel Bilal’s heart pounding in his chest as his lover breathed, “Fuck, that was too close! Let’s get him tied up before we try that again.” He eased himself out of the tub before continuing, “And you’ll have to give him some of your English vocabulary next time…unless you happen to be fluent in the Black Speech.”

“Hey!” Tariq piped up. “Why don’t you give him your IQ and vocabulary instead? I don’t want to give him anything. He can stay a dumb ogre forever as far as I’m concerned.”

Bilal didn’t look up from drying himself off with a towel. “Princess, you want to get back your height and muscles, don’t you?”

Tariq looked down at his much diminished frame and his tiny boy-sized cock, feeling his shoulders fall. He’d been so distracted by Adam’s changes that he’d forgotten about his own.

“Well, then,” Bilal continued patiently when he didn’t respond, “you will have to give Adam something he wants before he will give you something you want. Quid pro quo. I’ll bet that he’ll willingly trade you some of his muscle, cock size, and height for your intellect and command of the English language.”

“That’s the only way it will work?” he asked disappointedly. This didn’t sound like such a great deal after all. Why did he always have to give something up in order to get what he wanted?

“Yup.”

“Then what will you give me?”

Bilal paused as he wiped the last droplets off his perfectly toned bicep. “Huh?”

Tariq sighed. “You have a ring around your balls, too. What will you trade with me?”

“I…I” Bilal stammered.

“Oh, I see,” Tariq pressed. “Were you hoping that I’d give Adam so much of my intellect that I wouldn’t be able to figure out that you are part of this magical sharing arrangement as well?”

Bilal’s face had gone quite red. Carefully, he dropped the towel and stalked over to Tariq. He was about to enfold him again but Tariq stepped back, holding up his hand.

“Stop. I know what you’re trying to do but you won’t be able to seduce me into forgetting this. I want to know what you are going to trade with me. What do I get to take away from you?”

“Princess…”

“Don’t call me that!”

Bilal hung his head. “The magic only works consensually,” he explained. “You have to willingly give up something. You can’t take anything away from Adam or me without our permission.”

Tariq’s eyes narrowed as he read between the lines.  “So you’re telling me that you won’t give me anything.  You won’t agree to a trade!” He splashed out of the tub, stomping over to the pile of his clothes lying on the floor nearby. Holding them up, he realized that they were way too big now. They were the clothes of a much taller man. The man he had once been. He threw them down again, shaking with rage and fighting back the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. Bilal was such an asshole!

“Tariq.”

“Fuck you, Bilal! Get away from me. I fucking hate you.”

“Tariq.”

“Bilal, I said…”

Just then he felt the oddest sensation in his crotch. It was like… He looked down and felt his eyes go wide. 

Holy shit! 

His cock was growing!

And growing.

And growing.

In seconds, it had pushed out several inches from his crotch, gaining both length and girth until gravity pulled it down and it started to droop down over his balls. He couldn’t resist reaching down to hold it.

Shit!

Shit!

It was fucking huge! And heavy! It was at least as big as it had been before but there was something different about it. He stared down at it, rolling it around his hand. The long shaft, the massive heft of it, that funny, exaggerated ridge on the cockhead was…what?

Wait, he recognized it from somewhere…

Or someone.

He gasped.

Bilal.

It was Bilal’s cock.

Breathlessly, he spun around to see Bilal holding his face in his hands, a mock expression of horror on his handsome face. He was staring down at the tiny cock barely poking out of the thicket of his black pubic hair.

Tariq laughed out loud, feeling his–or Bilal’s–cock begin to stand up in excitement. “Bilal!”

Grinning, Bilal grabbed him, hoisting him into the air and swinging him around for the second time that night. Tariq delighted in the feeling of his huge cock flopping around and around. They fell in a heap on the floor in the shadow of Adam’s hulking form, rolling around and giggling. Tariq ended up on top of Bilal, straddling his shoulders with his knees. He wiggled his hips, slapping his lover’s mouth with his newly elongated cock. Bilal’s tongue darted out and he tried to catch the bulbous monster in his mouth. Finally succeeding, he gave it a fond suck before spitting it out again.

“I always wondered what it would be like to suck my own cock,” he mused. “It tastes strongly of narcissism.”

Tariq laughed, reaching back to fondle Bilal’s tiny nub-sized penis. It was straining and hard, all two inches of it. His lover tensed as he stroked it.

“Shit, that feels amazing, dude! I kind of like having a little dick.” He paused before adding, “But you’ll have to give me back my size when you want to get fucked. I don’t think I’ll even be able to poke myself into your hole with this tiny thing.”

“Maybe I’ll penetrate your hole instead,” Tariq added slyly.

“Oh, princess, it doesn’t work that way. I’m a top and you’re a bottom. It’s just how things are.”

Tariq was about to protest when he realized that Bilal was right; the thought of getting fucked was much more appealing than doing the fucking. Maybe he was a bottom? God, this was so weird!

“Got ya with that one, didn’t I?” Bilal said, amused. “See, I had you figured out the moment I met you. It was just a matter of giving your inner nature a little push…and your ass a little ompf.” He slapped Tariq hard on the butt causing him to yelp. “Ooh, dat ass! I can’t wait to slide my pole inside it again. You have the best ass ever!”

Tariq whimpered both out of excitement and pain as he reached back to massage his ass cheeks. They were still vibrating from Bilal’s slap and he was chagrined once again to realize how huge they had become. He doubted that he would be able to stuff them back inside his shorts. He was going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe!

He felt his cock push against the stubble of Bilal’s beard and turning, looked down to see his massive new member beginning to chub up. Feeling his ass was getting him turned on! Bilal smirked as he lifted Tariq’s cock off his face, giving it a little squeeze and wiping a trail of pre off his cheek.

“We’ll have plenty of time later for that, my love,” he said, gently lifting Tariq off of him. “But right now, we need to see to Adam.” He stood up and padded into his bedroom. When he emerged onto the balcony again, he was holding a silken cord. Tariq watched as he wound the cord around Adam’s thick wrists. As an afterthought, he tied the remainder around the huge orc’s ankles.

“There,” he announced when he was finished securing Adam. “That should hold him for a little while. Now, go ahead and give him some of your intelligence again.”

Reluctantly, Tariq concentrated and siphoned off some of his smarts. He watched in amazement as the lights went on in Adam’s beady eyes while at the same time it became harder for him to form complete thoughts. He stopped before he lost too much of his mental acumen, though. He wanted keep Adam pretty stupid.

The big green monster lifted his head and moaned, “AAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!” The deck shook underneath them and Tariq saw the window panes begin to vibrate.

“Come on, Tariq!” Bilal shouted, turning urgently toward him. “Give him some vocabulary to work with! We have to be able to talk to him.”

“But…”

“Just do it. Give him some basic words and keep all the fancy ones for yourself.”

Tariq shook his head but nonetheless opted to gift some basic grammar to the green brute. It was a tough decision because after doing so, he realized that he had to work harder to string sentences together, having to pause before he spoke until the right words came to him. He didn’t like it, especially because it meant helping out his adversary. Just then, though, he heard Adam make a pathetic sound in the back of his throat and he looked up. The big oaf had the most pathetic look on his ugly face.

“Why di ya doo thi ta meee?” His deep voice sounded ludicrously simple and stupid; Tariq had only given him the most basic tools for speech.

Bilal stood in front of the monster. Adam reflexively pulled at the cord around his wrists but it was too strong and he couldn’t break it. Tariq watched Bilal’s broad shoulders relax as he cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry, bud, but we made a deal and you gave me your word that I could do whatever I wanted with you in exchange for letting you swap vials with Braden, er, Tariq, I mean.”

Tariq scowled at this. Braden. Already the name was beginning to sound foreign to his ears. How much longer before he completely forgot everything from his past life?

“Not f-f-fair.” It was almost amusing watching Adam labor to communicate. After initially feeling bad for the big idiot, Tariq was beginning to think maybe he got what he deserved.

“A deal’s a deal, man,” Bilal explained, lifting his shoulders. “But it’s not as bad as you might think. Look down at your nuts, my lumbering friend.”

Adam lowered his gaze and then moaned again. When he looked back up, his green face had grown pale. He looked ill. “FAHCK! FAHCK! FAHCK!” he complained. “Me look like f-f-f-rrrreeeek!”

Bilal reached out (and up, way up!) and clasped him about the shoulders, shaking him gently. “No, you don’t. You’re a gorgeous specimen of a virile male orc! Besides, that’s not what I meant. I was talking about the ring around your balls. Did you see that?”

Adam nodded dumbly.

“That, my green pal, is magic,” Bilal announced before motioning down to his own crotch. “And notice that I am wearing one, too, as is Bra…Tariq.” He waggled his hips, causing his balls to roll around. His cock was still so tiny that it made his balls look even bigger. The blue band around them sparkled with a mysterious and alluring glow.

Tariq’s attention began to wander as Bilal tried to explain to Adam the nature of the magical rings. It took forever because Adam was so thickheaded. As Bilal repeated himself, trying to find the simplest words, Tariq allowed himself to survey the pair. Adam was so huge! And, shit, those muscles!  He was a fucking muscle monster!  What would it be like to have muscles that big? Tariq had dreamed his whole life about having big muscles. And what had happened? Adam had gotten all the muscles and he was stuck with this short, slight frame. It wasn’t fair. If he could only have a quarter of those huge muscles…

Then there was a Bilal. Bilal was so broad and tall. He was just about as tall as Tariq had been when he’d been Braden and he had to admit that he envied this about his friend. Oh, if he could just be tall again! He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life as a short guy! He wanted to be tall, lean, and muscular. God, he would do anything to be big, hung, and strong!

He was so busy fantasizing to notice the changes at first. Gradually, though, he realized that his body felt odd. Heavier. He moved his feet, widening his stance. That helped but something still wasn’t right. His head felt light and he reached up to massage his brow. When he lowered his hand, he stared at it. Was it his imagination or was it bigger? He felt a wave of disorientation hit him then and he almost lost his balance. He flailed out to grab the railing but he missed it, nearly toppling over before he caught himself. Looking down, he realized that the railing was a lot lower than it should have been. It didn’t even come up to his waist. Hadn’t it been even with his chest a moment ago?

When he looked down at himself, though, it became clear what was going on: His body was changing!  His muscles were plumping up all over his frame and his limbs and torso were stretching out and up. He cast wildly about until his gaze locked on the mirror across the balcony.

Shit! He was becoming a fucking muscle beast! As he gaped at his reflection, the man before him grew and widened, becoming a towering, lean, muscle god. His thick black hair brushed his neck and his dark eyes were peered out from a ruggedly handsome face that was dusted with black facial hair. Wiry, dense hair sprouted and grew, tumbling down his chest and piling up around the base of his massive cock.  He squared his shoulders and smiled wolfishly at himself, feeling his heart pound in his chest. This was too good to be true!

He was marveling at his new, manly self when he heard a little yelp. He looked up and nearly choked.

Adam was still a big green orc but he wasn’t nearly as built as he had been minutes ago. His massive bulk was reduced by at least a quarter. If you hadn’t seen him before, he was still impressive but he was a shadow of his former musclebound glory.

And then there was Bilal.

Shit, Bilal!

Bilal had shrunk down to less than three feet tall!  He was a fucking midget!

A fucking muscle midget!

He appeared to have lost only his height while retaining all of his muscle mass. His overinflated muscles looked ridiculous on his tiny frame. His thighs were bulging basketballs, forcing his legs to splay out so wide that Tariq wondered if he would even be able to walk. And then there were his chest, neck, and stomach. Shit, the little tyke’s head was so engulfed by his bloated neck muscles that he couldn’t turn his head!  His pecs were hanging out like a distended shelf, his big nipples sagging earthward. As Tariq watched, though, Bilal’s stomach muscles expanded so much that they caught and pushed his tits back up. His magnificent arms were bigger around than most guys’ quads and his stubby hands were sticking out nearly perpendicular from his sides.

And then there was his hair. The surface area of his body had decreased so much that his formerly manscaped hair was concentrated into dense thickets smothering his chest, belly, and pubes. His pubic hair was so prolific that it completely obscured his tiny penis making it look like he possessed only a hugely distorted pair of bull balls but no noticeable cock. The blue ring around his nuts was shining brilliantly in the diffuse evening light.

The little guy squeaked loudly in a shrill voice, tottering so badly that he looked like he was about to topple over.

“Tariq! Tariq! Stop it!” he chirped. The sound of his voice was so different that it made Tariq laugh. He stopped laughing abruptly when he heard himself, though. The sound coming out of his own throat was deep, rich, potently masculine.

Bilal gave him a murderous stare and teetered precariously over to where he was standing. “How the fuck did you do this? I didn’t give you permission to take my height!”

Tariq couldn’t resist reaching down and tussling his hair. “I dunno, dude. I just thought it and it happened.” God, his voice was like far off thunder. It was amazing!

Bilal lurched away from him, glaring at him. “Well, make it stop!” he piped. “This isn’t cool!”

“Awww, I’m sorry, little dude,” he teased. “And I suppose it was cool when you and Adam decided to swap vials on me and turn me into a girly boy with a tiny dick?”

“You were my fucking perfect man!” Bilal complained. “Perfect in every way. Now, stop this and give me back my height. I can’t even move like this!”

Despite part of him wanting to prolong Bilal’s torment, Tariq realized that he did look awfully uncomfortable with all of those heavy muscles packed onto such a tiny frame. He concentrated and in a moment his lover’s muscles began to decrease in size, deflating down, down, down. In a few seconds, he was still a little muscle stud but more of a fireplug than a buttplug.

His own muscles, however, had only gotten bigger as he’d taken on some of Bilal’s mass. He reached up and massaged his huge pecs, thoughtfully contemplating his greatly enhanced size. He was now exactly the size and shape he’d dreamed of being.

And it was fucking great!

He grinned down at Bilal and felt his cock begin to stand up.

“Hey! What about my height! I don’t want to be this small!” Bilal’s high-pitched voice came out like a whine.

“Shhh…just go with it, Bilal. I’ll give you back your height…in a while. First, let’s have some fun.”

“Fun?” Bilal sounded skeptical but then his eyes narrowed and a sly smile creased his face. “What kind of fun?”

In answer, Tariq shook his hips in front of Bilal’s face. His enormous cock flopped back and forth languidly, already nearly half erect. In a second, though, it had started to shrink in size. Bilal licked his little fat lips as he watched it get more slender and shorter. Then he looked down at his own crotch and smirked as his little dick shot out from the dense mat of his pubic hair. It increased rapidly in size and girth until it was back to former glorious proportions. Bilal now had a ten-inch cock and huge balls on the tiniest, stoutest frame imaginable. His penis was more than half as long as his legs!

He couldn’t resist swaggering over to the mirror to admire himself. Raising his arms over his head, he stretched and then flexed, watching his muscles pop out on his thickened chest. He wagged his cock and balls, laughing as his cock nearly brushed the floor. Then he noticed his ass.

Shit, the little dude’s ass was huge and square and plump! He reached back and kneaded it with his stubby fingers. Turning to look over his shoulder at Tariq, he shook it seductively; it jiggled and bounced making both guys burst out in laughter. Even Adam seemed to have forgotten his previously sour mood and stood staring, his big mouth hanging open as a rope of drool slid out of the corner of his gaping maw.

“Nice ass, dude!” Tariq exclaimed, coming to stand in back of Bilal. He couldn’t help admiring the contrast between their bodies. It was stunning…and hot. He didn’t even care that his cock was so tiny again. Being tall and dark and muscular was more than enough for him. He realized with startled amazement that he didn’t care about his cock size as long as his boyfriend was hung. Now that was a thought that he’d never had before! God, his life really was changing!

Trailing his hand across Bilal’s plump cheek, he sauntered off the balcony and into Bilal’s bedroom. In a moment, he had dropped onto the bed on his hands and knees, sticking his ass provocatively in the air. He turned and fixed his lover with a sultry ‘come hither’ stare.

He didn’t have to wait long. The dwarf’s little feet slapped loudly on the tile as he dashed into the room and launched himself up on the bed. It was so high, though, and he was so short that Tariq had to reach out and haul him up.

When Bilal finally managed to get up on the bed, he stood there with his hands on his hips, enormous cock straining in front of him and his wide chest heaving. Tariq noticed that he was still taller than the little guy even when he was down on all fours! Bilal surveyed his lover’s greatly lengthened and muscled form critically before shaking his head.

“You’re going to have to lie down and prop your ass up on pillows if you want me to fuck you. I’m too short to reach your hole if you stay on your hands and knees!”

Tariq flushed. “Oh, yeah! I’m sorry. I hadn’t thought about that.” Duly, he grabbed a couple of pillows and handed them to Bilal who positioned them under his hips. When the little man was satisfied, he slapped him on the ass and Tariq lowered himself down. He was kind of glad that his cock was so tiny because otherwise it would have hurt when he ground himself into the pillows.

He waited, quivering with excitement, while Bilal took an exceedingly long time to get in position behind him. Finally, he couldn’t stand it any longer and pleaded, “Dude, would you just fuck me already?”

Bilal shushed him by slapping him on the ass again. “Shut up, Tariq! Let me just savor this moment, Ok? I’ve never done anything like this in this kind of a body and I want to enjoy it. Plus, your fucking hole is gorgeous to look at from back here. You really have an incredible ass!”

“YESSSS, HEE DUZ!”

Both Bilal and Tariq jumped at the sound of Adam’s booming voice. The giant had somehow managed to break free from his bonds and was leering down at them from the foot of the bed. Before they could react, the huge orc had lifted Bilal up and tossed him through the air. He landed with a bounce on the pillows in front of Tariq.

“YUR IN FRUNT,” he commanded as he settled himself behind Tariq, taking his hips in his huge paws and pulling him backward and up. Tariq yelped as he felt the ogre’s knobby cockhead slam against his tender hole but he didn’t have long to worry about it. With a loud slurping sound, the monster’s slimy member pushed inside of him and shoved violently against his prostate. Tariq screamed out but it was a cry of ecstasy and surprise, not pain. There was something weird about the orc’s cock! The beast’s precum had a bizarre effect on his hole, causing his sphincter to relax and….and…and that wasn’t all. A wave of euphoria flooded over him and he was flying high, completely unconcerned by the gigantic appendage battering his ass like a ram. He opened his mouth and moaned loudly…and choked on Bilal’s fat cock. The dwarf had climbed up on a  mound of pillows so his dick was on level with Tariq face. In a second, Tariq was being face-fucked by a midget and butt-fucked by an orc. It was enough to send him straight to heaven and he nearly passed out from the sheer pleasure of being used like a sex toy.

Life sure is strange sometimes, isn’t it? he thought to himself, bemused. 

It was a long and rough and tumble night.

***

Tariq Nazir tossed his backpack on the sofa in his new office, not unaware of the admiring stares cast in his direction by his officemates as he closed his door. He settled down behind his desk and loosened his tie before pressing a button to summon his assistant. In a moment, Brandon appeared at the door carrying a mug of steaming coffee and wearing an expectant expression on his fresh face.

“Yes, sir? What do you need?”

Tariq smiled up at him. “Brandon, would you care to join me at the gym for a workout this afternoon?”

The young guy’s eyes grew wide as he nodded eagerly. “Yes, sir! That would be fun, sir!”

“Excellent. Maybe afterward we can hang out at my friend’s place. There is someone I’ve been wanting you to meet. Someone I think you’ll be very interested in.”

Brandon’s neck grew red as he stammered. “I…I…I don’t know what to say.” He paused before adding, “Would you mind telling me why I would be interested in meeting this person?”

Tariq shook his head, saying, “You’re a fan of the World of Warcraft franchise, am I right?”

His assistant turned an even darker shade of red. Tariq already knew the answer. He had analyzed Brandon’s web traffic; he knew the kid had a huge orc fetish. His browser cache was filled with orc porn and he visited all of the fan fiction sites.

It took Brandon a while to compose himself to answer. Finally, he replied, “Um, yes, sir. Yes, I am.”

“Let’s just say that my friend played a feature role in the latest movie.”

The look on Brandon’s face was priceless. He stood there mute, his Adam’s apple moving up and down, unable to respond.

The corner of Tariq’s mouth quirked as he added, “He was one of the orcs.”

Brandon squeaked and, spilling the coffee as he set it down, scurried out of the room but not before Tariq got a good look at the erection tenting his khakis. He laughed to himself and pulled out his tablet. This was going to be fun…

***

Tariq knew he’d been blessed despite having to endure a cruel curse. He had a great job, a wonderful apartment, a hot boyfriend, and a tall, lean, muscular body that was the envy of all of the guys at the gym. So what if he had a silly ring of pink gemstones permanently encasing his balls? It was worth it when it meant that he could trade anything he wanted with Bilal and Adam. Shit, he could be practically any shape or size he wanted! Mostly, though, he kept his body the way he liked it: Long, lean, and well-defined. Not too bulky but not too slender, either. When he and Bilal were naked, though, he let his man reshape him however he wanted. It was fun and it kept their relationship spicy.

Finding Brandon had been the icing on the cake, bringing much-needed harmony to the trio of lovers. Before Brandon, Adam had felt like an outcast and a reject, unable to enjoy true closeness with Bilal and Tariq even when they took turns siphoning off his orc attributes for a day or two, allowing him to go out and enjoy being human again. He always had to go back to being an orc in the end and he wasn’t happy about it.

Yes, now that Brandon had joined them, things were definitely better. Adam and he had really hit it off and quickly became inseparable. Eventually, Bilal had given Adam a garnet ring so he could bring Brandon into the magical fold and the two of them were having endless fun swapping orc traits. He loved watching them being so silly and free with each other. Even though Tariq still resented what Adam had done to him, he’d been able to get over it (for the most part) and he genuinely wanted the best for his friend. Adam deserved to be happy, too, and Brandon was good for him.

He sighed and checked his watch. He had just enough time to get across town to join Bilal for evening prayers. Flipping off the lightswitch in his office, he closed the door and lifted his chin. He couldn’t wait to see Bilal again.