I Have to Be Strong, Part 2 (Patreon)

“But Jeremiah,” sputtered Garrett. “You’re wrong. You’ve got it all wrong!”

“Wrong? What am I wrong about?”

Garrett replied as calmly as he could. “For starters, I’ve never called you anything but your own name.”

Now it was Jeremiah’s turn to scowl as he pressed Garrett up against the door, keeping his newly gigantic pecs flexed firmly in front of his victim’s face. “Liar! You called me a dupe when you walked into this room. You can’t deny that!”

“Jeremiah, I called you Dupe with a capital D, not a dupe.” He continued to push back against Jeremiah’s heft, but his well-toned arms were no match for the superior strength of his opponent.

“What the fuck is the difference?” roared the bigger student.

“Jeremiah, what’s my last name?”

“You didn’t answer my question, pussy. What the fuck is the difference?”

Garrett was beginning to sweat from the pressure he was feeling not only from his tormentor squeezing him against the door, but also from what he could imagine was going to happen next if he didn’t explain things right. “I’m trying to, Jeremiah. What’s my last name?”

“Axton – so what?”

“And what do people call me? What is my nickname?”

“The Ax.”

“Sort of.  They call me Ax.  And what's your last name?”

“DuPont.”

“So I call you…”

Jeremiah greatly released the pressure off of Garrett. “Dupe,” he said with a smile.

Garrett took a big breath out. “Exactly. I call Scott Burmeister ‘Burm’ and Pete Sunderland ‘Sunny.’ They’re just nicknames between friends.”

“So you don’t think I’m a dupe.”

“Jeremiah, I don’t even know what one is.”

“So if you put me in the ‘friend’ category, what’s with telling me to join a gym all the time?”

“I work part-time as a trainer at the Tipton Gym. I tell everyone to join because the owner gives me $50 for each person I sign up. And besides, my life got so much better once I started working out that I like to encourage everyone to live a healthy lifestyle.”

“And what about Janna? Why did you tell her to stop seeing me? Were you jealous that such a hot babe was interested in a nerd instead of a jock?”

“Jeremiah, she wasn’t dating you – she was using you to get a good grade in Chemistry. She told all her friends about how she was leading you on because she needed to get a ‘B’ or better to stay on the cheerleading squad. When I found out, I asked her to stop – but I swear, I didn’t know you had developed feelings for her. I thought it was just a casual thing and didn’t realize you would be hurt when she broke it off.”

Jeremiah completely relaxed his grip on Garrett and stood back from the door. “So why were you being so nice to me? You don’t even know me.”

“I’m nice to everyone, but especially little guys like you,” said Garrett, scoping out the huge musclebeast in front of him. “Or, like you were. It wasn’t that long ago that I was pretty small, remember?”

“I don’t remember you ever being small, Garrett.”

“Well, I may have seemed big compared to your former self, but trust me, I wasn’t always as muscular as I am now.”

And in an instant, Garrett flashed back to the day that changed his life.

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When he first arrived at the college a few years ago, Garrett Axton tried out for the freshman football team – he had played back in high school and wanted to continue because he has so loved the game. And even though he was at a relatively small college, Garrett was cut after the first week – he had great instincts and could easily follow the plays, but his gaunt 130-pound body was just not strong enough to match up with the other men. So the coach pulled him aside on Friday afternoon, told him the bad news, and encouraged him to try a non-contact activity like jogging or yoga.

He took the news hard and retreated to his bedroom for the next weekend. He went to school the following Monday, certain that everyone was mocking him behind his back, even though nobody on campus really knew who he was.

His funk continued well into the fall – other than attending classes, he didn’t really go anywhere or see anyone. Nothing seemed to motivate him anymore, and this lack of interest in anything, including meals, only made him lose more weight.

By Thanksgiving, his mother – who by that time had been widowed for five years – was becoming worried that something might be really wrong with her son, especially since he wouldn’t confide his feelings to her. So she asked her younger brother, Matthew, to come over for the holiday to see if a male perspective could help, and he was more than willing to give it a try.

He arrived shortly before dinner and took off a big winter coat to reveal his hulking frame. At 6’4” and 320 pounds, Matthew Mueller was a man who clearly knew his way around a weight room and a dinner table. He wasn’t fat (and he wasn’t lean either), but he was definitely a big man with big muscles.

He was wearing a skin-tight Kansas State College t-shirt that may have been loose at one time but now showed off every ripple in his torso, especially his massively muscular pecs which stuck out about six inches from the rest of him. His biceps were so huge that one might have thought he stuffed two bowling balls up his sleeves, and his neck was roughly the same diameter as a large Frisbee.

Down below was more of the same, with huge legs that stretched the denim of his jeans so tight that a quick squat might be all it took to burst them apart. On his feet were a custom-made pair of size 17 shoes, the largest size anyone in the Mueller family had ever known.

The rest of his features only added to his masculinity – he had a high and tight buzzcut, dark brown eyes, a pug nose, a slightly crooked smile, and a heavy jawline. Add in the massive size of his hands, and he was definitely the last person that anyone would want to challenge to a fight.

His sister hugged him after he hung up his coat and then stood on her tiptoes to give him a quick peck on the cheek. She looked up at his dark brown hair and said, “When are you going to get a little gray up there, Matty. I’ve been fighting it for years and your hair is still as dark as the day you came home from the hospital.”

“Hey, I’m not even 30 yet. I hope it’ll be a few more years before I start looking like Dad.”

Garrett’s mother smiled and told her brother to go on up, so he ascended the stairs to the second floor. She could hear the floorboard creaking under the tremendous weight of her brother’s body and made a mental note to have the handyman check their sturdiness on his next visit.

Matthew reached his nephew’s bedroom and rapped softly on the door. “Hey, Garrett, can I come in?”

“Sure, I guess.”

Matthew walked into the darkened room and saw Garrett slumped across his bed – he wasn’t reading, or listening to music, or watching TV, or anything. He appeared to be staring at the ceiling.

“Hey, buddy, how are you doing?” asked Matthew as he crossed the room and sat down on the bed next to his nephew. “Your mom says you’ve been having a tough time lately.”

Garrett looked away from the ceiling over at his uncle – they had always talked a lot in the past, but Garrett only had to take a quick glance at his uncle’s immense bulk and know that he could not possibly comprehend what he was going through.

“So what’s going on, sport?”

“You wouldn’t understand, Uncle Matt.”

“Try me. Is it girl trouble?”

“No,” replied Garrett while rolling his eyes.

“Bully trouble?”

“No.”

“Well?”

Garrett finally sat up and looked at his uncle. “I just feel like such a wimp.”  He related the story about being cut from the football team, and how the whole thing made him feel scrawny.

Matthew sat down on the bed next to Garrett and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through the photo gallery until he reached a picture of a young adult with long brown hair, a scraggly beard, and the skinniest body that Garrett had seen outside of his own. “Do you know who this is, Garrett?”

“No. Is he a friend of yours, Uncle Matt?”

“Garrett, believe it or not, that’s me during the summer after I graduated high school. I was 18 years old and weighed probably about what you do now.”

“What?” cried Garrett as he sat up on his bed and pulled the photo closer. He examined it for a good 30 seconds before he could finally see some similarity around the eyes. “You’re soooooo thin!”

“Yeah, I was one skinny mofo. Kids use to joke that if it hadn’t been for my giant feet and big ass clown shoes, I would have blown away in a stiff wind. I was rejected by every single sports team I tried out for in high school, so I know exactly how you are feeling.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously – I probably wasn’t even strong enough to make the chess team. Now let me show you something else.” Matthew scrolled farther down to another photo – this one was clearly him a few years later, with his flattop in place, no more beard, and standing shirtless on a beach. He had muscles all over his body and was smiling like he was having the time of his life.

“Wow, how much later is this one?”

“Two years – that’s the summer after my sophomore year of college.”

“Two years!” exclaimed Garrett incredulously. “How did you do it?”

Matthew smiled and began his tale. His transformation had started when he arrived on his college campus the fall after leaving high school. He had fallen madly in lust with a girl named Chloe who he would see every day in the cafeteria at lunchtime.

“She had long red hair, big blue eyes, a rockin’ bod, a throaty laugh, and you could just tell she could show you a good time. Man, I tell you, she was something else,” he said wistfully.

Garrett laughed.

“I desperately wanted her to notice me, but my buddies told me that Chloe only had eyes for the guys on the football team – big muscles were her thing. She wouldn’t give you the time of day if your biceps weren’t bulging.”

“So you started working out?”

“Exactly. I was fed up with…well, fuck it, you’re 18. I was fed up with being a virgin, so I decided it was time to change my luck and change my body. I went straight to the campus gym and signed up.”

“Were you the smallest one there?” asked Garrett.

“Well, I wasn’t the shortest, but I sure was the skinniest. I wouldn’t even change in the locker room because I didn’t want people to see how thin I was. I just wore my stinky clothes back to my room and changed in private.”

“You were embarrassed around the bigger guys?”

“At first, sure. Who wouldn’t be? The guys at the gym were pretty big. But I told myself, ‘I have to be strong. I was meant to be strong. I can’t be weak.’ I went in there and did my thing every day, and you know what I found out?”

“What?”

“Those guys in the gym all started as little guys, too. They knew what it was like to be a beginning lifter, and they were all very supportive. I ended up making a lot of new friends.”

“So you liked lifting?”

“Heck, yeah, I did. The very first time I went I worked out my arms, and once I felt the ‘pump’ from the workout, I was hooked. I mean, just seeing that little ball of muscle bulge up when I flexed afterward really got me going. And after a few weeks I started seeing some changes in the way my body looked, and I just wanted more, more, more.”

Garrett smiled at the direction the story was going.

Matthew continued telling his nephew about his new life at college – how he started eating everything in sight because he was hungry all the time, and how he had gained 20 pounds of muscle by the time he returned home for Christmas break. He also doubled the amount of time he spent in the gym during winter quarter because he was addicted to his growth.

“Every minute I wasn’t in class or studying or eating, I was at that gym – I started working out twice a day and hitting everything hard and heavy. By the time I got home for Spring Break, I had put on another 30 pounds of muscle. I was getting so big so fast – it was as if my body had been waiting all that time to grow and just needed a spark. I had arrived on campus at 120 pounds in September and weighed 170 pounds by March.”

“Did a lot of people notice?”

“Oh, I made sure they noticed. I squeezed my new muscles into the tightest clothing I could find. I was constantly coming up with new ways to show off, whether it was flexing my biceps or picking up the heaviest object I could find. A couple of times I even flexed so hard that my shirt sleeves just burst right open, and I can tell you, everyone notices that!”

“Cool!”

“It was indeed, Garrett. Well, except your Grandpa and Grandma didn’t always think it was cool – they had to spend more and more money so I could afford all that food I was eating, plus I was going through a lot of clothes. I went from a small to a medium to a large to an extra-large so quick, I think they were afraid I was going to bankrupt them buying new shirts all the time.”

The thought of wearing an extra-large shirt was beyond comprehension to Garrett, but he guessed that his uncle probably wore a triple-X or quadruple-X sized shirt by now.

“Anyway, I kept working out all though Spring Quarter and finished the school year at 200 pounds. I wasn’t huge yet, but I was getting to be pretty buff, and I loved all the veins that started popping up across my chest and arms.”

“Did you work out over the summer, too?”

“Like a maniac! Grandpa wanted me to get a job at his store, but I begged him to let me spend the summer lifting weights instead. I guess he was encouraged by the progress I had made during the school year because not only did he agree, but he also paid for the gym membership himself. So I got up every morning that summer and rode my bike down to the Tipton Gym and pumped as much iron as I could. My whole life during those three months revolved around getting stronger and growing bigger, and I ended up gaining another 30 pounds of beef.”

“So, 20, 30, 30, and another 30? You gained 110 pounds in one year?”

“Scout’s honor. My body just exploded with size.”

“You must have been quite a sight!”

“I sure thought so! I didn’t have a full-length mirror, so I used to strip down to my shorts, sneak into your mom’s room, and pose in front of her mirror when she was out. I loved to flex my arms, my chest, my legs – everything!”

“Did she ever catch you?” asked Garrett.

“Nope, I was too sneaky. But she did catch me measuring my biceps one time and said I was becoming way more vain than any girl she ever knew.”

“You measured yourself?”

“Of course – I had to see how big I was getting. It was so awesome to know that my arms went from 10 inches to 18 inches, and my chest exploded from a 33 to a 48. I was really proud of my pecs, too – they grew really big and firm, and I used to make them bounce up and down while wearing a tight shirt just to see who would stop and stare.”

“Did people really stare?” asked Garrett, who himself was having a hard time not fixating on the two giant boulders that stuck out from his uncle’s chest.

“Constantly – I was such a show off! Some folks would ask me to flex for them, too, and I was more than happy to oblige. I’d just roll up my sleeve and give them a show – heck, most of the time that summer I wasn’t even wearing a shirt because I was still outgrowing them so fast! Eventually, the guys at the gym told me I should shorten my last name from Mueller to Mule because I was getting to be as big as one.”

“Matt the Mule. That’s really awesome!”

“Well, just Mule. The nickname sort of stuck, and to this day people still call me that.”

“So Mule, did you ever get your shot with Chloe?”

Matthew laughed. “Well, I tell you, I shaved off the scraggly beard and buzzed my hair over the summer so I would look more like a jock. And when school started up again in September, I walked into the cafeteria on the first day wearing a sleeveless muscle shirt and a tight pair of athletic shorts. I even cut the bottom off of the shirt so she couldn’t miss my abs – I figure that I had worked so hard on them I might as well make sure she could get her fingers on them without trying too hard.”

“And?” asked Garrett with bated breath.

“Well, I think everybody else thought I was crazy because this freak cold spell moved in and it was only 40 degrees that day – but Chloe sure liked what she saw! Within one minute of catching sight of me she started caressing my biceps and complimenting me on how big they were. Within two minutes she was stroking my abs and telling me how hard they were. Within three minutes, she was patting my musclebutt, and within four minutes, we were kissing. By minute five, she said she was ready for an afternoon of fun. So I scooped her up in my big arms and carried her all the way back to my dorm room.”

“You took her to your dorm for a date?”

Matthew was going to agree, but then decided to tell the truth. “No, for sex, Garrett. She wasn’t really interested in a whole date.”

“Gotcha,” replied Garrett. “So did you two, um, stay together for a while?”

“You know, we didn’t. We really didn’t have anything in common except our mutual attraction, so we never had anything to talk about after…well, fucking. The whole thing flamed out pretty quickly.”

“So once you broke up with her, did you take a break from working out?”

Oh, no. I had been bitten by the weightlifting bug and there was no going back. I got so big that I joined the football team, and I’ve been hitting the gym regularly ever since.”

“So you still like it as much?”

“More than you can imagine. I like the way I look and feel with this body. I like being the ‘big guy,’ and it’s helped me at work, too. You know the company I work for – we have lots of employees but only a few managers. Everybody wants to be a manager because they get the big salaries, the big bonuses, and all the perks. But the thing is, it’s the managers who meet with the clients, so managers need to have a certain image – they have to be strong, with an air of authority, and be able to project confidence to the clients. And trust me, I know it was these muscles that got me the promotion and made me the youngest manager in the history of the company.”

“That’s awesome, Uncle Matt!”

“Hell, yeah, it is. I don’t think I’d be able to afford all my food and supplements without that salary I earn now. Plus I wouldn’t have my fancy new truck either.”

Garrett laughed again, and then took another look at the picture of his uncle on the beach, and then flipped it back to the picture of him with the long hair and the beard. “You think I could get big like you?”

Matthew smiled. “Well, you’re half Mueller, so I’m pretty sure you’ve got a good chance. That’s why I wanted to talk to you – would you like to start working out with me? See if we can take you from stick to stud?”

“Seriously?” asked Garrett, his mouth hanging open after he said the word.

“Yes indeed, kid. My last partner just moved away so I need someone to work out with me. But only if you’re serious about getting big.”

“I’m ready. I want to be HUGE!”

“That’s the spirit! But there’s one condition you have to agree to.”

“What’s that?”

“There’s lot of great things about being a big guy, but you can’t ever let it go to your head. You’ve got to promise me never to let your big muscles make you think you’ve got the right to take advantage of or bully others, OK? Just because you can win a fight doesn’t mean you’ve got to go looking for one.”

“I promise, Uncle Matt.”

“Good, because if I ever hear otherwise, I will track you down and give your ass a whooping like you wouldn’t believe.”

“You’ll never have to. I know what it’s like to be the little guy, and I promise to never forget. I’ll be the best ‘big guy’ you’ve ever seen.”

“You already are the best, kid. I’m just gonna help you get a little bit better.”

Garret smiled at his uncle.

“OK, enough of this talking. Let’s go downstairs and stuff our faces full of turkey. We’re gonna need all the protein we can get for our big workout tomorrow.” Matthew reached up his left arm and flexed it for his nephew, who watched in awe as the gigantic bicep inflated and threatened to tear right through the shirt sleeve.

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While Garrett was busy flashing back to the story about why he first started working out, Jeremiah was busy in the here and now.

“Well, listen, Garrett – I may have acted a little hasty when I said I was going to make you stop working out. You’re obviously not such a bad guy, and it would be shame for the school to lose such a fine athlete.”

Garrett took a deep breath and blew it out with relief. “Thanks, Jeremiah – I appreciate your understanding.”

A smile curled up on Jeremiah’s lips. “I mean, why should I want these big ol’ beefy pecs of yours to become weak?” He reached up with his hands and cupped Garrett’s chest muscles, gently massaging them with his fingers.

“Um, thanks.” replied Garrett.

“And your biceps. It’d be a shame if they weren’t bulging up in your shirt sleeves. They’re so big and hard – not as big as mine are, of course, but still pretty dang brawny.”

Garrett started to get worried about Jeremiah’s admiration for his body, and he backed up against the door again in an effort to escape.

“Oh, and your abs. I would miss these beauties if they were covered up with flab,” cooed Jeremiah, as his hands moved downward to the ridges on Garrett’s midsection. He closed his eyes and his smile got bigger as he rubbed harder.

“What’s going on, Jeremiah? What are you doing?” asked Garrett, with a slight panic in his voice.

Jeremiah continued his exploration of Garrett’s torso for a few more moments, and then suddenly stopped and opened his eyes. He looked down and saw something that spooked him, so much so that he jumped back away from Garrett.

“What the fuck is this?” he bellowed, reaching down and grabbing the monumental erection that had sprung up in his underwear. “How did I get a hard-on?”

Garrett tried to come up with a reason, but all he could think of was something that he had heard in a movie once. “It happens to guys sometimes.”

“Not me! There’s a reason my nightstand is full of Hustler and Penthouse and not Men’s Fitness. I think of Janna’s tits when I want to get hard, not dudes!” He started running through the possibilities in his mind.

Jeremiah just stood there, waiting, not knowing what to do or say.

“I wasn’t the least bit turned on by men five minutes ago, and now I have an overwhelming desire to start fondling one. How could that be? What changed me? Unless...no…it couldn’t be…”

The panic that had been in Garrett’s voice was now in his eyes. He knew he had been found out.

“Oh my god, you’re gay! Garrett Axton – you are gay, aren’t you? Your lust for musclemen must have somehow transferred over when I took your physicality, didn’t it? And just like your muscles, the desire grew bigger and stronger when it became a part of me! That’s the only logical explanation, and that’s why you rushed down here so quickly when you thought I had figured out your secret!”

Garrett suddenly felt faint again and lowered his head.

Jeremiah laughed for a good thirty seconds before he was able to regain his composure. “Oh, come on, Garrett, don’t be such a fuddy duddy. Now we can really have some fun.” He reached down with his right hand and started squeezing Garrett’s cock, and then used his left hand to pull his head closer to his own.

“Stop, please don’t, Jeremiah. Please…”

Jeremiah blew on Garrett’s ear and began to nibble. He whispered, “Don’t fight it, little man. I know you’ve got the hots for me because I have the exact same feelings for you, only my desire is stronger and my muscles are stronger, too.”

Garrett tried to jerk his head away, but Jeremiah’s grip was too strong. “Jeremiah, I can’t, please.”

Jeremiah squeezed harder on Garrett’s engorged cock. “I think your dick tells a different story. I think you can.”

“No, please, I promised…”

“Promised who?” asked Jeremiah.

“My…my boyfriend.”

Jeremiah stopped and looked Garrett square in the eye. “Boyfriend? You…have a boyfriend?”

Garrett tried to look away, but Jeremiah was holding his head firmly. “Yes.”

“And who is this boyfriend?”

“I’m sure you don’t know him. He lives a few towns away. In Locklin.”

Jeremiah grinned. “OK, so what kind of boyfriend is he?”

“What do you mean?’

“Is he a guy you hang out with, a guy you hold hands with, or a guy you go all the way with?”

Garrett hesitated before he answered. “Um…well, it’s complicated. We really like each other and want to have sex, but we haven’t yet. We have to wait.”

“Fine. You wait for one another, but I can’t wait another minute.” Jeremiah dived forward and plunged his tongue into Garrett’s mouth, kissing him as hard as he could. He was lost in a sea of desire and lust when a shadow suddenly appeared through the window on the lab door and a determined voice began to speak.

“I’d stop right there if I were you.”