Sell you a Bridge chapter 2 (Patreon)

I felt a sudden wave of exhaustion roll over me. Not enough to put me back down but enough to be noticeable, if I hadn’t just been sleeping all day I’d probably have conked out. If I wasn’t sure I was doing something before I was now. I half expected to have to wait hours, but the doorbell rang again as soon as I saw the one pop up on my trash icon. Apparently my powers worked based on my awareness? Or something. Who knew. I walked to the door and opened it up to find a large box in the hall.

I shrugged and picked it up, kicking the door shut and setting it on our beat up blue couch while I locked the door up again. I carried the box to the table and opened the thing up with a knife from the block to reveal...a big tub of muscle powder. It looked just like the one in the email had. Even had the same generic brand name on the side in black and silver with a big flashy X. I read the directions and poured some into some milk and mixed it up.

I was about to try it for the first time but then I decided that I should see what effect it had with my own eyes. I carried the glass into the bathroom and stripped off my shirt. My pale undefined chest looked thin and slightly malnourished in the harsh light of the single cheap bulb above the sink. Not that I was malnourished, my mom made sure we always had food. I just had a really high metabolism. Looking at my upper body in the mirror I downed the whole glass of the shake.

It tasted like ass. But I stared at myself in the mirror, ignoring the chalky particles on my tongue. As I watch my muscles seemed to swell. Not crazy fast or anything, just the mild swelling you might get from flexing, but I wasn’t flexing. The muscles weren’t insane or over the top, I wasn’t unrecognizable, but I could definitely see a difference. I excitedly ran back to the muscle powder tub to try another scoop, but when I tried to open it again the lid wouldn’t move. Not like it was stuck but like it was all one piece.

I read the instructions on the back of the tub, they were laid out in clear easy to read terms and even had a handy little checklist next to them that told me which day I was on. The box next to day one was checked off. I raised an eyebrow but hey, powers are powers. Besides the email did say I would get ripped in a month. I’d have to keep up the regimen to get the full effect. I carried it into my room and shoved the old slatted wooden door to my closet open.

I had to root around a bit to find space for it but I didn’t want my mom to throw it out on accident thinking it was some junk supplement I’d gotten from a catalog or something. I set it in a box I had lying in a stack of other boxes and covered it up before closing the door. I was now completely wired. I decided to try to do some exercise while I waited for mom to get home. Test out the new muscles to see how they worked compared to the old ones. I’d done workouts in gym for tests so i knew my limits and I was curious if they had changed.

I started easy, push ups. My usual limit was about twenty five, I managed about forty today. Next were situps. I could do a decent amount of those my max had been sixty or so and I got to an even hundred. Squats, jumping jacks, hell I even managed to do some pull ups using the frame of my door. I usually could manage five of those tops and today I got to twenty. I wasn’t superhuman or even peak human, but I was in much better shape than I had been before. I couldn’t wait for the next days gains.

My reverie was cut off by the door unlocking then opening and closing. I grinned to myself, my mom was home. I heard her call me from the next room as I changed into a less sweaty shirt. “Morgan? You home baby? Happy birthday, I stopped and got you something on the way home. Come see.” I strolled out with a wide grin and she scooped me up in a hug. Well as up as five foot nothing waitress can scoop a teenaged guy ten inches taller than her. She squeezed tight and murmured “Happy sweet sixteen baby boy.”

I returned the hug with a laugh, though from the ground this time because she had to put me down out of exhaustion. “I think sweet sixteens are female exclusive, but thanks ma, and is that a cake box I spy over there? Because it looks like it says Kirby Cake Company on the side and you know they’re my favorite.” I played dumb because I knew the surprise meant a lot to her and was rewarded with a beaming smile as she stepped back and threw open the box, presenting it like a magician unveiling a trick.

All pretenses aside it did look absolutely amazing. She noted the stare with a chuckle “Black forest cake, your favorite. I even had them add extra cherries. Go wash up, I’ll get some plates out and cut us some cake. Birthday boy gets the first piece of course. I think we might still have some vanilla ice cream in there too I’ll scoop us some to go with our cake.” She didn’t have to tell me twice, I headed into the bathroom to wash my hands before we ate. Cake and ice cream for dinner was an excellent way to spend an already much improved birthday.

The cake was amazing of course Kirby Cake Company made the best cakes in Gotham, the one and only time my dad had been at once of my birthday dinners with mom as a kid, he took us there to get my cake. I was seven or eight years old I think. Oddly they weren’t expensive or selective. Old man Kirby just loved baking and was amazing at it. The place was a well kept Gotham secret. The ice cream hadn’t been in there a few days ago, my mom probably got it just for today and hid it, which made me smile.

I sat down at the table to find a big slice of black forest cake with a small lit candle in it next to a big heaping scoop of ice cream. My mom was smiling at me as I say down and I couldn’t help but return the expression. Between my powers and this, what had started out as a depressing soul sucking birthday was quickly turning out to be one of my best ever. I closed my eyes and blew out the candle, wishing for happiness for my mom because I had gotten the only thing I ever wanted earlier.

After dinner mom headed to bed, she protested that she wanted to stay up for my birthday but she’d just worked a double shift and it was two in the morning so I insisted. She gave me a big hug and wished me happy birthday again and told me she loved me before heading off to sleep. I told her I’d clean up the food and I put the cake in the fridge and washed off the plates and put them in the drying rack. Then, deciding to try to extend my winning streak for today I grabbed a piece of cake from the fridge, and climbed out onto the fire escape and up to the roof.

Artemis was up there, as usual. She spent half her time here and it was Saturday so no school tomorrow which meant she’d be up here all night. She liked to wait until the last moment to go home so she would have to go right to bed and could avoid her dad. We’d spoken a few times of course, so she knew me, but I had never really had the guts to talk to her for longer than a minute or two in passing. I usually ran off when she showed up. But that was old Morgan, wimpy normal non power having Morgan. New badass secret millionaire slowly getting buff Morgan had more guts than that.

She heard me coming and looked up, nodding to me. She seemed surprised when I walked over and stood off to one side of her. “Hey, mind if I sit here?” I gestured to the overturned red milk crate next to the blue one she was sitting on. She just shrugged and I sat down. “We haven’t talked in a while. How have things been? Oh, brought you some cake by the way.” I was floundering. I had neglected to remember that starting to get buff and having money didn’t actually teach me how to talk to other people. Oops.

She raised an eyebrow at me questioningly, taking the cake. I smiled back sheepishly “It’s my birthday. Thought you might like a piece. It’s from Kirby’s.” She stared a bit longer then took the plate from me, taking a bit and giving a quit moan of appreciation. I was glad she was enjoying it “I love their cakes. That one is Black Forest, it’s my favorite. My dad took us when I was really little, one of the few times he’s been around.” I didn’t mention his last name of course, she was cute but I wasn’t an idiot.

She swallowed the bite she had taken and gave me a bitter smile. “Sorry to hear it. Is it insensitive to wish I could say the same?” She gave a short harsh laugh “Trust me Morgan, sometimes staying isn’t much of a favor. Thanks for the cake, it’s amazing. Happy birthday, by the way, how old are you now?” She took another big bite, clearly enjoying the cake as much as I had earlier. Black Forest cake was amazing and Artemis obviously had good taste.

I nodded to conceded her point, everyone in the building knew Artemis’s dad. Larry Crock was not a nice guy. She might be right about my old man doing us a favor though I doubted even being raised by a mobster would be as bad as having to put up with Artemis’s survivalist nutjob father. I was happy to change the subject however “I turned sixteen today.” I paused “Well, maybe it was yesterday now since it’s two in the morning but I turned sixteen regardless. Thanks for the birthday wishes. You mind if I stick around? If you’re up here this late we both know you’ll be here all night. Mind some company?”

She shrugged again. “It’s a free country. If you don’t mind spending the rest of your birthday sitting on a dirty old roof with a random neighbor girl who am I to stand in your way.” She shot me a smirk and bumped my shoulder with hers making sure not to drop the small plate of cake. “But yeah I’ll be up here a while and I wouldn’t mind having a friend around.” She sounded kind of...hopeful when she said that. Like she didn’t have many friends and she was hoping I wouldn’t correct her.

I didn’t, of course. Artemis was awesome. She was gorgeous and pretty popular at school, not to mention she always kicked ass in the archery segment of P.E when we were kids. The girl was seriously talented with a bow and arrow. We didn’t keep making small talk really, just kind of hung out. There was the occasional bit of conversation but mostly we were just relaxing and looking up at the stars. I had to smile internally though, because it was official. Best birthday ever.