Amendola's Bet (Full Story) (Patreon)

This story is based off of a previously released photo caption and was chosen to be adapted into a full story by a patron poll.

Harrison could hardly believe that a series of perfectly ordinary circumstances had led to him playing poker with the one and only Danny Amendola in a friend’s living room at three in the morning. He hadn’t even known that his friend was well-connected enough to invite a two-time Super Bowl winner and one of the top wide receivers currently working in the NFL to a casual late-night get together but there he was, sat right across from Harrison acting as if this was an everyday occurrence. They were both some seven or eight beers deep and the rest of the guys had dropped out of the game to retreat to the sofa and watch some brainless action movie, leaving the two alone to chat and gamble.

Truthfully when he looked at the NFL star Harrison only saw everything that he should have become. He’d been a star player back on his high school football team, good enough to get a scholarship to play for a college team, but an injury to his ACL in his sophomore year had cost him the career he’d dreamed of since being a young boy. Life had continued to kick Harrison while he was down after that: a series of bad relationships, bosses who treated him like dirt and a turbulent family life. That he had resulted to living in his parents’ basement at the age of thirty-one while guys like Danny got to live the high life simply didn’t seem fair.

It was that burning envy that prompted Harrison to make the suggestion that they move on from playing to money in exchange for something a little more valuable. The football star’s eyebrows had raised at that. “What do you suggest then?” he asked, an excited glint in his eyes and a confident smirk dancing across his lips. 

“I’ll give you two years of my life,” the washed-up nobody replied with a voice he managed to keep surprisingly steady. “You’re thirty-three dude, you’ve gotta know your years in the game are numbered now. How about two more, huh?” It was a bold offer and one Harrison knew he might eventually come to regret but what did he have to lose? 

“And what do you want from me?” Danny asked in response, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Even drunk he wasn’t foolish enough to think that something equally as life-changing wasn’t expected in return. 

Knowing he had to be careful so as to not reveal his true intentions, Harrison took a moment to think. There was plenty that he could get from Danny that would improve his quality of life but he had to play with his cards close to his chest - literally and metaphorically. “Your friendship with Jules,” he announced suddenly, before clarifying: “Julian Edelman, that is.”

Danny’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You want my best friend?” he queried, his voice a little slurred from the sheer amount of alcohol he had pumping around his body. Harrison was sure his own voice was probably no better but the promise of what might happen should the cards play in his favour had sobered him up somewhat. “Sure, I’ll bet my friendship with Jules for an extra two years, why not!”

Their cards were played and Harrison’s heart thundered in his chest as he waited for the big reveal. An audible gasp escaped his lips as they revealed their cards - he had won! A shudder rushed through each man’s body and Harrison soon realized that there were memories bouncing around his mind that should have been impossible. Hanging out backstage at Gillette Stadium with his best friend Julian Edelman, cheering on #11 at the Super Bowl from the VIP section and getting drunk with the bearded wide receiver on the regular. Despite the unlikeliness of such events ever happening considering he was nothing but a college dropout and the other was a worldwide name, Harrison knew that they were now all completely true. 

Across from him Danny felt aghast as he realized there was a hole in his memories. His time on the New England Patriots roster suddenly felt a lot more hostile than it had been - he had gelled just fine with Brady and Gronk but Edelman had always remained distant to him, too busy hanging out with his best friend Harrison. Danny had never known why Jules would prefer spending his time with a washed-up loser like Harrison who couldn’t even hold down a job and it had led to him resenting the other out of principle. In fact, he couldn’t even remember what had brought them to the same place to play poker together.

“I want that friendship back,” Danny muttered before knocking back the rest of his beer can and crushing it within his grip. He wasn’t even sure why that need burned so brightly inside of him - he could no longer remember anything about being friends with Julian Edelman - but he knew that he had been foolish to give it up so willingly.

A dangerous smile spread across Harrison’s lap. The other was responding precisely as he had expected. The game was on. “Only in exchange for your Super Bowl rings,” he fired back, licking his lips in anticipation. The other man hesitated for a moment, mouth slightly agape, before he steeled himself and nodded his head.

One minute later and the cards had been dealt and played once again - another victory for Harrison. He stared down at his hand, admiring the two rings that formed there. They were a source of great pride for him, even if he had only ever been a bench warmer for the Patriots in their playoff games. How he’d remained on the team for as long as they had before they’d finally cut him loose was a mystery but many sports news sources had speculated that it was due to his close friendship with the team’s star wide receiver. Harrison himself was somewhat of an enigma in the NFL: a college dropout with a bad knee who had somehow made it to the big leagues. Nobody could quite explain it, not even himself.

His time on the Patriots had produced more than just the rings on his fingers though. No longer was he confined to the basement of his family home; he had bought a comfortable condo in downtown Austin several years back and had resided there ever since, taking very few trips back home to the family who had hounded him for being a disappointment after initially dropping out of college. Now they were eager to leech off of his fame and money and he wasn’t going to give them that opportunity.

Danny was mortified as the memory of his Super Bowl victories evaporated from his mind, totally scrubbed clean like they had never happened at all. His distaste for Harrison only grew stronger - he resented that the other guy could call himself a Super Bowl champion when all he’d ever done was sit on the bench and take a spot that a more deserving player like him could have had instead. He was only faintly still aware that both Harrison’s position on the Patriots team and his friendship with Edelman were things he had taken from Amendola himself and he was eager to reclaim them both before that awareness faded altogether.

“What do you want for both of those back?” he asked through gritted teeth, burning with anger in a way he couldn’t remember ever being. He both loathed and envied Harrison and that sensation made his stomach turn. Seeing the glee in the other man’s eyes only made things so much worse.

“Your nice healthy legs,” Harrison replied without hesitation, unable to hide the smirk from his face anymore. Luck had truly been on his side so far and he was counting on that continuing for what would surely make the biggest change to his life so far.

Although he was well aware of the risks, Danny reluctantly agreed and made a prayer for things to shift in his favour. No such thing happened though as their third round ended up with Harrison laying down a royal flush, winning his third straight round and in the process changing his entire history. There was no dropping out of college for Harrison anymore, instead he had managed to scrape by in his classes until he was eventually scouted by an NFL agent and although he went undrafted, a few stints on the practice squads of the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles had eventually led him to the Rams, Patriots, Dolphins and his current home of the Detroit Lions. He had impressed no matter where he went and his efforts in helping the Patriots tie and then beat the Falcons at Super Bowl LI had earned him quite a lot of praise.

The complete rewriting of Harrison’s personal history did more than just change his memories though as it was echoed in a physical transformation: the extra weight he had gained in his time as a perennial bench-warmer dropped away to leave him toned and more than ready for a few shirtless photoshoots, and every single one of his muscles were more defined than it had ever been in his college football career. Years of careful training and dieting had given him a perfect body, although he wasn’t afraid to kick back on select nights to enjoy some beer and a slice of pizza or two, such as that very night.

Much to Danny’s horror, the exact opposite happened to him. His memories of college were altered until he could quite clearly remember the exact moment he had torn his ACL and the flunking of his classes that resulted him his post-injury depression. Instead of his time on a variety of NFL teams he could instead only remember working a series of dead-end jobs and resorting to living in his parents’ basement. His body lost all of its toned definition: stomach bloating, thighs fattening and ass ballooning. While his face remained as handsome as ever, his body was notably less desirable than it had been before.

Harrison felt content that he had achieved most of what he wanted from his encounter with the man who had once been an NFL regular but as he saw the tears welling up in Danny’s pretty blue eyes he realized there was still one last prize he could claim. “Tell you what, buddy, how about I give you all this back if you manage to win the next round?” he offered with a crooked smile. 

The other’s face lit up in relief for a moment before he tensed up again, caution sinking in. “In exchange for what?” Danny questioned in a hesitant voice.

“That pretty face of yours, of course.” Harrison knew he had the other man eating out of the palm of his hand. There was no way he could refuse, not with so much at stake. All he needed was for another perfect hand and he’d have everything he could possibly want. His heart raced as their cards were played - this time his set of straights beating out Danny’s measly hand. A sob escaped Danny’s lips as his features began to shift: the bridge of his eyes becoming more pronounced, his square jawline softening and bronzed skin becoming pale and blotchy. His perfectly shaped stubble was replaced by a small amount of hair above his upper lip and his hairline pulled back, the dark hair on his hair thinning out while becoming longer and far more unkempt. Within moments he looked exactly like Harrison Burke, the college dropout who could have had everything if it hadn’t been a fateful injury. Except, he was still Danny Amendola; he knew that much at least.

Looking across at the handsome visage that had once been his own, Danny could hardly stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks. The events of the preceding ten minutes had sobered him up considerably and he was terrified at how far things had run away from him. “Please, one more chance,” he croaked through his sobs. “One more chance!”

The other man regarded him for a few minutes in complete silence as Danny continued to beg in a weak voice before finally smiling and shrugging his broad shoulders. “One last chance,” Harrison agreed finally. “You win, you get it all back. I win, I get your identity. I become Danny Amendola. Do you think you can agree to that?” They both knew Danny had no choice but to agree. “Let’s shake on it,” he encouraged, reaching out his hand, “Like men.”

Danny’s hand was weak in Harrison’s grasp and he took pleasure in knowing that soon everything that had made Danny Amendola go successful - before their poker game, that was - would soon be his. Sure enough, just sixty seconds later and it was all over. New memories rushed through Harrison’s mind, flushing away the scraps of his old life and sealing him in his new identity as Danny Amendola. The former football player had the same happen to him, settling into his new existence as Harrison Burke, an absolute nobody who would likely never again step foot onto a football field.

Setting down the remainder of his cards on the table, the new Danny leant across the table and clapped the other on the shoulder, relishing as the lesser man flinched in response. “Good game, buddy,” he purred in his new sultry voice. “Think it’s time I take off though. I’m due at training camp tomorrow and I should probably sleep off all that beer we went through tonight. Say goodbye to the rest of the guys for me, yeah?” His former self could only mumble a quick confirmation as Danny rose from the table and took his first steps into his new life, ready to tackle any new challenge he might face as the NFL superstar he had always deserved to be!