Graham's Big Day (Patreon)

Graham - known to his buddies as Gray - was just one sleep away from the biggest day of his life. He was going to be fulfilling a childhood dream by stepping on stage and competing in the annual Arnold Classic. There was nothing more important to Gray than his physique and having all of the hard work he put into perfecting it recognised by his peers, but the ultimate goal was always to have his work recognised by his childhood hero and the man he had always aspired to be like, the legendary Arnie. Gray was as straight as an arrow, but the bodybuilder-turned-actor was as close as he’d ever come to having a “guy crush”.

As they recognised the importance of the day, the vast majority of Gray’s family had purchased tickets so they could see him take the stage - and surely place first in his class. His parents, aunts, uncles, cousins… everyone except for his sister and her husband. That seriously rubbed Gray the wrong way. He had been incredibly close to Isabella growing up and they had always gone out of their way to support each other in whatever they did. It helped that Isabella was sporty too and would often train with Gray in the home gym their family had constructed in the basement. Isabella had even forgone a traditional Maid of Honour at her wedding to have Gray as the Man of Honour, they were that close.

Unfortunately, the bond between the siblings had become a little strained in the year since Isabella had married Colin. It was hardly a secret that Gray had never much liked Colin, but he was never openly hostile towards the other. Sure, Gray didn’t shy away from mocking his brother-in-law whenever he was with his friends, but he remained perfectly cordial whenever their paths crossed at family gatherings. There was a clear reason for the poor relationship between the two men: it was difficult for any two people to have such contrasting interests. While Gray was dedicated to perfecting his physique and participating in sports, Colin was the type of guy who turned his nose up at the thought of exercising and spent much of his spare time playing video games. Why Isabella had even fallen for such a loser Gray simply couldn’t understand, but his sister was always firm he brought it up with her - she loved Colin, and that was that.

The most insulting part of Isabella’s decision not to attend Gray’s competition was that she would instead be going to a comic book convention with her husband. Gray had laughed when she had first told him, presuming it was a bad joke on her behalf, but no, she really was missing the most important day of her brother’s life just to appease her husband’s childish whims. Then, as if that hadn’t been bad enough, he learned that the pair were going to be attending the convention in costumes they’d made by hand! Gray really couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His athletic no-nonsense sister was going to be dressing up as Wonder Woman to hang out with a bunch of smelly neckbeards. Was this real life? What kind of self-respecting adult played dress-up and spent precious time and money on making those costumes? It was completely beyond comprehension to him.

After ensuring that everything was in place for the next day, Gray settled down on the hotel room bed, ready to get a long peaceful night of rest. It was essential if he was going to properly stand out on stage, after all. He spared a quick moment to fire off a text to his sister, advising her that it wasn’t too late to change her plans and come and support him rather than indulging in her husband’s immature interests. He didn’t expect her to see sense - they were long past that point, and Colin had Isabella wrapped around his finger for reasons Gray was confident he’d never quite understand. No point stressing over a lost cause, he reminded himself as he set his phone onto silent and switched off the lamp on the bedside table.

For a few minutes the hulking bodybuilder tossed and turned under the sheets, fearful that his excitement for the following day’s events might keep him from getting his necessary rest. Eventually he resorted to the most effective method of relaxation he knew and allowed a hand to drop below the sheets and down to his manhood. It didn’t take long before his eight inches were standing tall and thick, and optimistic visions of the hot babes that would be desperate to get a piece of him once he won the next day’s competition had him rocketing to completion within minutes. His bout of self-pleasure was more than enough to do the trick: Gray fell into a deep slumber almost immediately after blowing his load, his chest and sheets still sticky with his release.

A full eight hours later Gray was finally pulled out of one of his favourite recurring dreams (he had been living the life of his hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger, being a real life badass whilst filming The Terminator) and back into the waking world. He lazily stretched out his arms and let out a content hum all before even opening his eyes. When he did, he stared up at the ceiling in confusion, as it somehow looked different than it had before, with a swirling decorative pattern and a tattered lampshade that looked like it had gone through hard times. Pushing himself up into a seated position, Gray was greeted by further unfamiliar surroundings: ripped wallpaper on the walls, a grime-stained window and a poorly made Superman costume hanging on the edge of the door to the bathroom. It most definitely wasn’t the same room he had fallen asleep in the night before - he had checked into a four star hotel and judging by his surroundings, wherever he was would be lucky to get two stars! How the hell had he ended up there?

His change in location had been so unexpected that it took several more moments for Gray to notice a change that was even more inexplicable. His gaze finally dropped down to his torso, but where he had anticipated seeing mountainous pecs and a cobbled path of abdominals, he instead saw a sunken and flat chest with absolutely none of the musculature he had carefully sculpted over the past several years. His arms were similarly skinny, having transformed from powerful cannons to meagre pencils; clenching his fists and attempting to raise his biceps produced only the tiniest bump. It was pitiful!

Hurrying into the filthy bathroom, Gray’s terrified eyes connected with his reflection’s and an involuntary whimper escaped his lips in response. The body reflected back at him was nothing short of a nightmare. He had to be at least one-hundred and twenty pounds lighter! It looked as if he’d never even heard of a gym before, let alone actually stepped foot in one. Accompanying his slender torso and scrawny arms were a lanky pair of legs and a flat ass. Even more humiliating was the fate of the manhood he had been so proud of - his eight inches were now a mere two, perhaps three once he was hard. He knew immediately that if anybody ever saw him with his pants down they’d laugh themselves to death at his inadequate equipment. Shame burned through the once-proud bodybuilder and another sob fell from his pouty lips. What did I do to deserve this?!

The thick beard that had once decorated his handsome angular face had vanished, leaving behind only a few pathetic whiskers at the end of his pointy chin and as a result his face was left looking rather gaunt. The hair on his head was no longer cut down to a fashionable fade, it was an untamed shaggy mess and greasy to boot. His large nose and heavy brow now looked ill-proportioned for his face, and his cheeks were decorated with a number of nasty-looking pimples, like he was still going through the roughest stages of puberty despite being a grown man of twenty-six years!

Fighting back against the tears welling up in his eyes - real men don’t cry, he reminded himself - Gray hurried back into the bedroom and grabbed at his phone on the bedside table. He cast a quick glare at the Superman costume that seemed to be taunting him from his hanger before focusing his attention on the thread of unread text messages. They were all from his sister Isabella and had apparently been sent the night before, yet Gray was certain it hadn’t been there when he’d text her. Upon looking though, he couldn’t see the message he specifically remembered typing out and their chat history looked incredibly different from what he believed it should be. There were still frequent mentions of her husband Colin but these were under extremely different circumstances, which stood out most particularly from the most recent arrivals to his inbox:

Just so you know I’m still seriously pissed at you for choosing your childish comic event over supporting your brother-in-law on the biggest day of his life.

You need to grow up, Graham. It’s no wonder you’ve never had a girlfriend when you’re too busy busting a nut to comic book characters. I was so embarrassed to introduce you to Colin and all you’ve done is continue to prove why I was right not to invite you to the wedding!

Whatever. Your choice. I’m going to go watch my husband win the Arnold Classic. I hope your shitty homemade costume gives people a good laugh.

The cell phone dropped from Graham’s shaking hands as he tried to process the information delivered by those messages. Somehow it was Colin - scrawny, nerdy Colin - who was going to be competing at the Arnold Classic, with Graham and Isabella’s entire family there to support him. Well, everyone except Graham himself who had apparently chosen to attend a comic book convention. He knew for certain that it was all very very wrong - he was the bodybuilder, not Colin - and yet it was impossible to ignore the proof in front of him. He was in a shrimpy body without any of his huge muscles, and instead of a skimpy poser waiting to be worn, it was instead a crapsack costume hanging from the door. He stared at the Superman logo in disgust as his heart sank. He felt anything but super at that moment and he couldn’t help but focus on the words in his sister’s texts. He really was an embarrassment, wasn’t he?

No… this isn’t right. This isn’t my life! This is Colin’s! Clinging desperately to those thoughts, Graham did his best to try and understand what he could possibly do. Maybe if he went and met up with his sister and her husband things might magically fix themselves? It wasn’t as if he had much choice otherwise. Like hell was he ever going to be caught dead attending a comic book convention! He might look like a stereotypical nerd who could probably get beaten up by teenagers but deep down he was still an alpha male who had the whole world at his feet!

As he looked around though, Graham was stunned by one last horrible surprise. Somehow, there were absolutely no other clothes in the hotel room - nothing, of course, except the Superman suit. If he was going to travel across the city from the convention to the Arnold Classic then he’d have to do it all while dressed up in blue spandex, red briefs and a cape. Even worse? Everybody would be able to see his lack of bulge. He’d be humiliated!

Truth be told though, it wasn’t as if Graham had much choice. He wanted to hold onto the hope that reuniting with his family would snap reality back to the way it was supposed to be, so he’d have to embrace the humiliation of stepping outside in a costume. He didn’t want to spend a moment longer in this warped reality than he had to!

Of course, there was that lingering thought in the back of his mind suggesting to Graham that this was the way things were supposed to be - that his life as a bodybuilder had only ever been a fantasy from his dreams - but he did his best to shut that voice out. He was afraid what would happen to his psyche if he paid it even the smallest amount of attention. There was no way any of that was true… right?