Nate's New Perspectives: Wearing The Badge (Patreon)

This 8,705 word story features a transformation into a conservative cop with gay to straight elements. If that's not your thing, please wait patiently for the next one! A PDF featuring pictures is available on the Discord.

Nate’s stomach turned in uneasy fashion as he read through the email for the tenth time that morning. He had never been the type to land himself in trouble - that was much more the domain of his younger siblings - and so a summons to the Dean’s office may as well have been a notice that he was being put on death row. Under any other circumstance, Nate would have rationalized that the summons was intended for a different student (perhaps with a name similar to his own) or that the Dean wanted to meet him for some positive reason. After the events of the previous twenty-four hours though, Nate knew neither of those options were actual possibilities. The summons was for him, and he was very much in some kind of trouble.

The previous day’s protest had been organized with the best of intentions. There had been escalating hostilities between the city’s police department and the young adult population in recent months, and it became common for police officers to patrol the university campus several times a day. To Nate and a good number of his fellow students, this police presence wasn’t just unnecessary but an act of intimidation. As such, one forward-thinking student had organized a peaceful protest at the university gates to make it clear how unhappy the student body was becoming. Knowing that the message would be better received by a greater turnout, Nate pushed down his nerves and decided to attend.

That turned out to be a mistake.

While the protest had been planned with the best of intentions, it had very quickly devolved into a chaotic mess. Members of the school’s faculty had attempted to break up the crowd almost immediately, but the number of students soon multiplied beyond their control. Within half an hour, they dominated not just the university gates but the street outside. Either the growing crowd or a concerned faculty member had alerted the local police, but upon the arrival of two police cruisers, the disgruntled crowd quickly turned into a bitter mob. Nate was caught right in the middle as people started pushing and throwing things, the “peaceful” nature of the protest being rapidly discarded. He had been attempting to worm his way free of the crowd in order to escape back to his dorm room when he had been given a front row seat to a violent brawl. It was impossible to know what had set the two students off in the first place, but their grappling ultimately resulted in a member of the faculty getting knocked to the ground while attempting to separate them.

The moment he had seen the faculty member make the harsh impact with the stone floor, Nate had made to bolt like there was fire at his heels. Unfortunately, he had only just begun running when his eyes locked with one of his favorite lecturers. They had only held eye contact for a brief moment but it was enough for Nate to see the deep disappointment written upon his lecturer’s face. Rather than remaining at the scene of the crime or attempting to explain that he’d had no involvement in the crowd becoming hostile, Nate’s brain switched back into “flight mode” and he scampered away as fast as he could manage.

His hopes of putting the whole disastrous event behind him and simply moving on were quickly dashed, as not even an hour later Nate received a notification on his phone that alerted him to a new email in his school inbox. He opened it up with baited breath and his heart dropped like a stone when he realized it was concerning his supposed involvement in the protest. Nate really didn’t know much about the university’s Dean and he’d hoped to go the whole duration of his studies there without having to meet her, but it seemed likely that his stay at the school was coming to a rapid end. Perhaps that was defeatist of him but nobody had ever accused Nate of being optimistic before.

The email had specified that Nate was to attend a meeting in the Dean’s office at ten o’clock the following morning, but the college student honestly wished it had been sooner. There wasn’t even the slightest chance of him getting any meaningful sleep given the circumstances, so he ended up trying to drown out his anxieties with loud music and video games. By the time the morning sun had finally risen, Nate had maybe managed three hours of severely disturbed rest. Time to go meet my fate, he lamented as he changed into a clean set of clothes and left his dorm room behind. Even though he knew that he’d done nothing wrong, Nate wasn’t confident that he would be able to convince the Dean of such. Was he about to get kicked out of school?! His obnoxious siblings would never let him hear the end of it!

If Nate hadn’t already been nervous when he was ushered into the Dean’s office, he most definitely would have been when he discovered who else was waiting inside the office for him. While the Dean cut quite the imposing figure with her stern expression and silver hair pulled back into a tight gray bun, it was the uniformed man across the desk from her who prompted Nate’s latest bout of panic. Why the hell was there a cop in the office with them? It wasn’t as if he’d done anything criminal - he hadn’t been the one causing property damage, or putting the public at risk!

Nate stood frozen in the doorway for several seconds, unable to tear his wide eyes away from the police officer who had risen from his chair. The man appeared to be in his late thirties or maybe early forties and was in particularly good shape, with his upper arms notably causing quite a bit of strain on the sleeves of his uniform shirt. Under any other circumstance Nate likely would have spent a few seconds ogling the man’s gorgeous biceps, but given the situation even those gorgeous muscles weren’t enough to distract him for long! The officer’s expression was stoic, with perhaps the smallest hint of sympathy, but when he placed his hands on his hips, all Nate could focus on was the holstered handgun just below his right hand. 

“Nathan, thank you for joining us,” the Dean began, extending a hand towards the free chair next to the officer’s. “Please, take a seat.” Her voice was deep and commanding, so Nate was hardly surprised by how he seemed to move on autopilot to follow the instruction. “I’m sure you know why you’re here. Yesterday’s events brought our academic establishment into repute and one of our faculty members identified you as being present and part of the - well, let’s call a spade a spade - the mob.” Nate swallowed his immediate desire to protest, knowing it would likely do more harm than good.” The Dean wasn’t done though and her next words took the young student by surprise: “They also told us that such behaviors were out of character for you, and that you’re an otherwise exemplary student and upstanding young man.”

Where is this going? The longer the Dean spoke, the more nervous Nate became. Was he about to get kicked out of the university or not? Why was the cop there? Was he about to be arrested? No, that would be ridiculous. Nate was struggling to keep hold of rational thought, but he was confident that he hadn’t done anything (or at least been seen doing anything) that could constitute a crime. He nervously glanced from the Dean to the man in the chair next to him, and the student’s heart skipped a beat when he discovered that the officer’s steely gaze was locked on him.

“Officer Lisanti here is a close friend of mine and I asked for him to join us here today,” the Dean announced, seemingly picking up on Nate’s internal monologue. “I don’t feel comfortable with the thought that this campus is fostering a distrust for the police, but I know that this is a delicate topic. I’d like to think that we teach our students to have open minds though, and frankly it’s hard to see yesterday’s events as anything other than a striking display of closed-minded behavior. Given what I’ve been told about the kind of fine young man you are though, I think you’re a prime candidate to… see things from another perspective, shall we say.” The Dean’s thin lips spread into a smile, although it came across perhaps more nefarious than she intended it to. “So, if you want to keep your place at this institution, you’re going to go for a ride along with Officer Lisanti today. Is that understood?”

Nate boggled at what he had just been told. He was really going to get kicked out of school unless he went on a ride along with the cop?! This isn’t fair! Once again, he felt compelled to argue his case, but he quickly pushed that urge down and forced himself to really think about his choices. While he was definitely uncomfortable with the thought of spending an extended period of time with a member of the police force that he distrusted so greatly, it was infinitely preferable than having to go back to his rotten family and tell them that he’d been kicked out of university. It’s not even really a choice, is it? Swallowing his pride, Nate reluctantly nodded. “Okay,” he agreed, looking from the Dean to Officer Lisanti and back again, “I’ll do the ride along.”

A hand slammed down on Nate’s shoulder just a moment later which prompted him to flinch as if he’d been electrocuted. He glanced over at the older man who had finally started to smile. “Good choice, kid,” he declared while rising to his feet. “Welcome to the force!” There was a jesting tone in Officer Lisanti’s voice as he made the comment but Nate didn’t exactly feel like laughing along. Everything about this situation sucks, but I guess it’s only for a few hours… How bad can tolerating a little bit of police propaganda all morning really be?

The college student’s cheeks burned as he followed the police officer out of the dean’s office and through the campus grounds. He could feel the eyes of his peers on him and faintly hear the whispers going around. Did they think he was some sort of criminal? Surely the lack of handcuffs on him proved that wasn’t the case! Mercifully it was only a few minutes until they reached the visitor’s car park, where Officer Lisanti’s police cruiser was waiting for them. The vehicle awoke feelings of dread within Nate, but he knew it was far too late to back out now, so he was forced to swallow his pride and deposit himself in the passenger seat. The smiling police officer held the door open for him, like a romantic gentleman safely seeing their lover into a taxi at the end of a date, and Nate purposefully avoided making eye contact.

It only took a few seconds for Nate to notice the strong scent of cologne that seemed to permeate throughout the vehicle. It was a pleasant smell (perhaps even borderline arousing if he had encountered it under other circumstances) but its strength made the young man’s eyes water. The police officer chuckled as he saw his passenger’s response and helped reduce the damage by lowering the windows. Even with the fresh air rolling into the cruiser though, the scent continued to linger, as if it had parked itself directly beneath Nate’s nostrils. The longer he lived with it though, the more at ease Nate felt with its presence, as if there was something familiar about it.

“I’d wanted to be a cop since I was a kid,” Officer Lisanti announced as he placed a pair of dark shades over his eyes. “My next door neighbor was one. I used to dream about waking up in his body one day and think how fun it would be to wear his uniform. That’s funny, right?” As the officer spoke in a jovial tone, he placed the car into drive and directed them off of the campus grounds and onto the suburban streets. “I only had to wait a decade and a half until I had a uniform of my own. You ever think about being a cop when you were a kid? I think there’s research suggesting most people do.”

Nate had to hold himself back from letting out a dismissive snort. He had never thought about joining the police force and was more than happy to admit as such, but considering the circumstances he knew it would probably be best to do it with a little more finesse. “Uh, no, I always wanted to be a journalist,” he replied in a quiet voice, keeping his attention fixed on the streets they were driving through rather than directly facing the older man.

“Guess it’s not much of a surprise you’re so anti-cop these days then, eh?” Nate had anticipated that such a comment would come laced with venom, but Lisanti instead spoke with a light-hearted tone and almost friendly inflection to his voice. “I’m curious, is that a viewpoint you got from your parents?”

This time Nate really did snort. “Definitely not. They’re the type to think any man in uniform is incapable of doing wrong. Hardcore ‘back the blue’ types.” Lisanti had done a good job disguising any distaste he had for Nate’s viewpoint on his career but the same simply couldn’t be said in reverse. Nate’s lack of love for law enforcement was too difficult for him to conceal and he had never been much of an actor.

Moments after the words had left his mouth, the college student winced. He was fully expecting to receive an angry tirade from the veteran police officer in the driver’s seat, but there was no angry outburst in the immediate aftermath. Instead, Lisanti hummed and then sat quietly for a few moments while waiting for the traffic lights to change. “That’s a dangerous perspective that they’ve got. There’s definitely some bad seeds among the ranks who aren’t fit to wear the badge,” the police officer declared as the vehicle started to accelerate again. The comment had been so unexpected that Nate finally turned to glance at the older man for the first time since getting in the car and he found that Officer Lisanti looked perfectly serious. “What? Not what you were expecting to hear?” the older man asked, the corners of his lips turning up into a slight smirk.

“Well… I thought cops were the type to close ranks and support each other no matter what,” Nate confessed, shrugging a slender shoulder. “So yeah, it was a surprise. It won’t make me one-eighty in my opinion though, if that’s what you were hoping.”

The older man chuckled and shook his head. “Yeah, it’s gonna take more work to get to that stage, I know. Luckily for us, we’ve still got a few hours left on our shift. That’s plenty of time to help you see things from my perspective.” He turned to look at Nate (or at least the student presumed he was making eye contact, as he couldn’t see past the older man’s dark shades) and grinned. “Maybe once I’m done with you, you’ll be stepping into a uniform of your own!”

Nate stopped himself from rolling his eyes in response, but he still shook his head and muttered a dismissal under his breath: “Not gonna happen…”

“Hey, you’re still young. You never know where your life will take you! Considering how you ended up here with me, you clearly care about what’s right and wrong. That’s exactly the kind of mindset we want our recruits to have,” Officer Lisanti continued, his attention back on the road. As a result, he didn’t see how Nate bristled in frustration as a response to the comments. “Trust me, kid, I think you could do a lot of good in this town and community if we had you as a member of the force.”

“I’m sorry, but no. That’s never happening,” Nate exclaimed, surprising himself with the ferocity of his tone. Lisanti’s insistent suggestions had awoken something inside of Nate; even just thinking about being a cop made his stomach turn. It would be a complete betrayal of his morals!

Much to his relief, Officer Lisanti didn’t push the conversation any further. Instead they drove around in silence for several minutes until the radio on the dashboard crackled to life and a tinny voice emerged, requesting that Lisanti divert to a specific address in order to perform a check-up on a vulnerable person. It wasn’t urgent enough for the lights to go on, but the police officer pushed down on the acceleration and the roar of the vehicle’s engine eliminated any chance of relapse into the awkward silence.

Upon arriving at the destination, the police officer made to exit the vehicle, but quickly paused and turned to the college student in his passenger seat. “You stay here,” he instructed, his friendly smile having been replaced by a serious expression. Nate didn’t exactly need telling twice. He didn’t know what the nature of the call was but he wasn’t about to put himself at risk and any time away from the officer would be welcome.

As Officer Lisanti left the police cruiser and began to walk up to the house, Nate found himself watching the older man’s backside. It was clear that the officer didn’t skip out on his squats because his ass was delightfully full and perky, with the fabric of his pants hugging those mighty globes in a manner that was almost obscene. After several seconds of ogling, Nate realized who it was that he was checking out, and his shame at finding a police officer attractive caused his cheeks to burn. He tore his gaze away from the retreating spectacle and decided it would be better to check his social media pages on his cell phone.

There was only one issue with that: he couldn’t find his cell phone anywhere! It usually didn’t leave his pocket unless it was in his hands, but it was suddenly in neither of those places. Nate searched the footwell and the space around his seat but those areas turned up empty, effectively squashing the hope that it might have just fallen out of his pocket when he had sat down. From an outsider’s perspective, Nate might have laughed at how panicked he got at the realization, but in the immediacy of that moment he couldn’t shake free of the intense apprehension. Where had he left it? In his dorm room? The dean’s office?

As the minutes stretched on and neither Officer Lisanti nor Nate’s phone returned, the college student began to sulk. This day just reached one-hundred on the Suck Level, he lamented privately. He couldn’t just sit there and stare blankly ahead though, so Nate decided to take a look around. The interior wasn’t too different from the vehicles he was more familiar with, but there were a few extra labeled buttons above the radio that controlled the siren and the lights. Nate fought back at the sudden urge to press the buttons, knowing that it would land him in trouble with his drive-along partner. Instead he decided to busy himself by doing something that would hopefully be less obvious: taking a look through the glove compartment. He was actually surprised to find it unlocked, but a quick glance inside revealed why, as there wasn’t much of any interest being held within.

Fishing out a small black ring-bound notebook from within the glove compartment, Nate hastily checked to make sure Officer Lisanti was nowhere in sight. Once he was certain that he wasn’t about to be immediately chewed out for going through the older man’s private stuff, the college student then opened the book and began to quickly scan through the information contained within. The contents actually had him somewhat surprised, as the police officer seemed to be using it as the grown man’s equivalent to a diary, and there were brief entries recounting almost every day for what seemed like the past three years!

The earliest entry in the notebook detailed Officer Lisanti’s experience teaching a class of rookies about the tips and tricks that only a veteran of the force could know. Mixed in with those entries were comments expressing Lisanti’s thoughts about the rookies: he was fond of Hutton who was apparently a quick learner, but critical of Grant who often fell victim to his own temper. After several weeks of entries, one revealed that Lisanti had actually reported Grant to their superiors for “tarnishing the badge” and an entry two weeks later reported that the troublesome recruit had been released from duty. As Nate read about the whole ordeal with Grant, he found himself strangely proud of Lisanti for doing the right thing. Was it possible that he was one of the rare “good ones” wearing the uniform?

While Nate was busy reading through the next few pages, something strange started to happen to his clothes. His light gray jeans were descending to a darker shade while the cut transitioned into a style that was more traditional and fitting for a pair of work slacks. Below his notably baggy pants, the college student’s beaten-up converses had made their own transformation, with the bright colors fading away until the shoes were pitch black and the material becoming a tough leather with a much sturdier sole. The boots were laced up tight around his shins, but there was considerable space between his toes and the end of his boot. They had to be three sizes too large at the very least!

The loose-fitting tee that Nate had placed over his doughy torso that morning was an ill fit for the items of clothing on his lower half, so it too underwent a rapid transformation. The first thing to go was the image of one of Nate’s favorite pop divas that had been printed on the front, leaving him with a completely blank back tee. Although the garment had already been rather large to begin with, it stretched itself out until the college student’s skinny arms looked laughable in the enormous holes of his sleeves. A column of black buttons had sprouted down the front of the tee and this was quickly followed by a split being created next to the buttons and a collar rose and folded around his neck. In mere moments his simple tee had transitioned into a plain black short-sleeved shirt, but the changes weren’t complete until a pair of features manifested themselves upon the front of the shirt. One was a small metal strip featuring the initials “D. H. BOSTICK” and the other was an instantly recognisable police badge.

Sounds of conversation outside the vehicle alerted Nate to the impending return of Officer Lisanti, so he quickly placed the notebook back where he had found it. After finishing up his conversation with the middle-aged man at the door of the property, Lisanti walked down the pathway and stepped back into the driver’s seat. “Sorry about that. Hope you weren’t too bored in here,” the man remarked, back to offering a friendly smile to his younger passenger. “Oh, I forgot to tell you how good that uniform looks on you! Yeah, it’s a little big on you, but I think you could pass for a real cop.”

Lisanti’s comment finally alerted Nate to his change in wardrobe, although as he looked down at the unfamiliar garments that were wrapped around his body, he was left to try and rationalize how they could have possibly changed. He could vividly remember wearing some jeans and a t-shirt but there was no mistaking the uniform he now found himself wearing. How is that even possible? When did I get changed into this? He must have switched his clothes out for the police uniform at some point before they had left the campus. After all, it wasn’t as if his clothes could have changed by themselves! Still, Nate was perturbed that he couldn’t remember actually switching outfits. It wasn’t like him to suddenly have gaps in his recent memory!

“I look stupid,” the college student mumbled, taking particular issue with how poorly fitting the shirt was. He had never been the most confident in his body, but the garment highlighted his lack of muscles and left Nate feeling a little frustrated and insecure. “Is all this stuff sized extra large or something?”

“Heh, indeed it is,” Lisanti replied in a merry tone. “It’s my partner’s uniform, actually. He’s a big guy. Don’t worry though, I washed it!” That was all well and good, but Nate was fairly sure that he could smell the familiar scent of manly cologne coming from the clothes he now wore. Now that he had noticed it again, Nate felt like he was bathing in the musky scent! It was massively overpowering and left his head spinning. Was he ever going to be able to smell anything else again?

“That’s… great. Thank him for me, I guess.” Nate’s words notably lacked enthusiasm, but that was hardly surprising. He had only agreed to wear the uniform because the Dean had said that he’d be kicked out of the university if he didn’t. Sure, Nate’s memory of that conversation was a little foggy, but he was sure that it must be the case. He wouldn’t willingly dress up as a police officer, after all, therefore it must have been at the Dean’s insistence to help him “see from an officer’s perspective” or something else pretentious like that…

As soon as they were back on the road, Lisanti struck up a conversation once again. This time he avoided focusing on Nate’s opinions about law enforcement and instead inquired about the college student’s interests and hobbies. The younger man felt somewhat awkward as he offered his responses, but he appreciated that Lisanti was at least making an effort to ease the tension between them. As such, it would only be right to try and meet him halfway, even with their ideological differences. Despite the intimidating exterior, the older man had a warm and friendly presence about him and whether Nate wanted to or not, he found himself relaxing and sharing more about himself. He took Lisanti through a tour of his favorite musicians (mostly pop divas, with a few indie bands thrown in), his love for prestige horror films and even his strained relationship with his siblings. Throughout it all, the older man listened and nodded in surprisingly supportive fashion. If he keeps this up, he’ll make me actually like him…

After a short while the conversation drifted from Nate’s interests to Lisanti’s own and it very quickly became clear that the two men shared very little in common. The college student sat in silence as the police officer expressed his love for country music and beer, reminding Nate of the country hicks he had attended high school with. Lisanti’s next declared interest was working out in the gym but that was hardly surprising, given the muscular build that Nate had already taken notice of. The man’s uniform was snug around the bulging muscles of Lisanti’s chest and biceps, but Nate didn’t dare allow his gaze to linger for any extended amount of time.

“You ever thought about signing up for a gym membership?” Lisanti asked, sparing a glance towards his passenger and briefly inspecting the skinny frame that was being dwarfed by the large police uniform. “Working out does wonders for both the body and mind, you know. I reckon you’d get huge in no time at all if you really took it seriously. Hell, I could see you ending up as the biggest guy in the gym!”

Is this guy for real? Nate had to bite his tongue so that he didn’t blurt out a snarky response and risk Lisanti’s ire. There was absolutely no way in hell that Nate would end up as the biggest guy in any gym, even without factoring in the fact that his anxiety kept him from working out in a public setting. He’d occasionally attempt a couple press-ups in his dorm room if he was feeling particularly daring and he’d played soccer when he was in junior high, but he was pretty far from physically gifted. His siblings had hoarded most of the athletic ability, but he had more brains than both of them combined, so who was really the winner there?

It wasn’t all that long before another urgent call came through the police radio. Lisanti pressed down on the accelerator and gave Nate a real taste of speed for the next couple of minutes. Once they had arrived at the destination of an alleged crime, the police officer again instructed Nate to wait in the car with the doors locked. This time though, he gave the college student permission to radio for backup on the off chance that he saw anything suspicious. The thought of issuing a call for backup on the real police radio system filled Nate with dread, but there was also a strange bit of excitement mixed in with it too…

Almost as soon as Lisanti had disappeared out of sight, Nate opened up the glove compartment and fished out the man’s notebook. He wasn’t sure what had compelled him to do so, but he was eager to read more about the older man’s life in policing. After skipping ahead to halfway through the diary, Nate started to notice a name cropping up on the regular: Dylan. It didn’t take him long to work out that ‘Dylan’ was Lisanti’s partner and therefore the man whose uniform Nate was currently wearing. A shiver ran down his spine as his mind formed the image of a muscular beast that could fill out the XL-sized uniform. Did he know some skinny college punk was currently wearing it?

As Nate read Lisanti’s recollections of an intense workout session with Dylan though, he began to experience a second bout of transformation. This time though the changes weren’t to his wardrobe but rather to the actual composition of his body. The first part of Nate’s physique to make any alteration was his doughy midsection, as the extra pounds that he carried around his waistline started to drop away. With much of the extra padding gone, there was even the slightest hint of abdominal muscles beneath the surface, but these became much more pronounced in the following moments.

All at once Nate’s frame began to expand, like a balloon being slowly inflated, and the changes to his chest began very quickly apparent. Never in his life had Nate had anything that could even resemble pecs, but now he was sporting two solid slabs of meat that formed a prominent shelf and blocked much of his lower half from view!

Further strain was caused to the uniform shirt by the rapid broadening of Nate’s shoulders, with his deltoids rounding out to become powerful boulders of muscle. The rapid expansion of the college student’s body continued with the dramatic inflation of his upper arms. His biceps and triceps, now three times as large as they had been, made quite the statement as they pushed the sleeves to their limit.

Although there were no changes to Nate’s facial features as of yet, his slender neck was a different matter. It grew thick like a tree trunk, better complimenting the sloping trap muscles that lead down towards his muscular shoulders.

Nate’s upper half wasn’t alone in its transformation, as his skinny legs had been making their own changes in tandem. Each of his thighs expanded until they were almost the same size as his waist, and they were packed with almighty power that was mirrored further down the limbs by his diamond-shaped calves. To better support his newly enhanced pair of legs, Nate’s feet filled out the boots that had been too large for him just moments earlier, making them a much more comfortable fit.

The last of Nate’s physical changes was to his backside. While he had never exactly been flat, his ass hadn’t exactly been anything all that jaw-dropping. As each cheek rounded out to become a mighty globe of muscle and flesh though, Nate’s derriere quickly became one of his most notable features. The material of his work slacks was stretched out over those massive muscular spheres and seemed at risk of splitting right down the seam should he dare to make any bold movements!

The Nate that was left over once the transformation of his body had completed looked much more natural in the passenger seat of the vehicle. Despite still having something of a babyface with full cheeks and a mop of messy hair, his giant muscles helped him fill out the interior of the vehicle in a way that just looked and felt right. No longer would anybody glancing into the police cruiser identify him as a college student being dragged out on a ride-along. No, to any clueless observer he would most definitely appear to be a legitimate officer of the law!

Despite the humongous changes to his body that had occurred while reading through Lisanti’s notebook, Nate didn’t actually notice any differences to his physique until the older man returned to the vehicle. “You were joking with me when you said you don’t go to the gym, weren’t you?” Officer Lisanti asked, prompting Nate to frown. Why would he be joking about that? “Come on, dude. You’re the size of a monster truck! You don’t expect me to believe you got all those big muscles just from home workouts, do you?”

What the hell is he-- WOAH! A shocked gasp escaped Nate’s lips as he glanced down at himself and saw just how massive he had become. How had he blown up to such huge proportions without even noticing it? His brain had been able to gaslight him into believing that he had always been wearing the police uniform, but even considering that he had always been such a muscular behemoth was too far for even the most gullible man on the planet. “But… how?” The shock at seeing such a titanic frame when he looked down at himself had stunned Nate to near silence and the ability to form full sentences was understandably lost on him.

Beside him, Officer Lisanti only chuckled. As Nate continued to marvel (and mildly panic) over his enlarged body, the veteran officer reached over him to open the glove compartment. For a moment Nate thought that Lisanti was reaching for the notebook that he had been secretly reading while left alone in the vehicle, but the man grabbed a cigar and a lighter out instead. After lighting up and taking a deep drag, Lisanti pulled the cigar from his lips and offered it to his passenger. “Want some?” the man asked, breathing out the smoke and forcing Nate to experience the pungent aroma of the tobacco contained within. Coughing and spluttering in response to the attack on his senses, Nate hastily shook his head but strangely didn’t consider opening a window to escape the overwhelming scent.

“So, what made you want to get all that ink?” Lisanti asked, sparing a quick glance over at his passenger before turning his attention back to the road.

Much to his surprise, Nate found himself answering without putting any thought into it. “Thought it would look cool,” he grunted, looking down at his arms and admiring the various patterns and pieces of art that were beginning to fade into existence. A good number of them were tribal designs that Nate would have once considered to look ‘thuggish’ but now he saw them as markers of traditional masculine strength. There was still a part of Nate that knew that he didn’t really have tattoos (he’d always wanted some, but he was just too indecisive to commit to having something on his body for his whole life) but it was hard to deny when he was looking right at them! They definitely made for quite the spectacle in combination with his massive new arms, and he somehow knew that there was more ink upon his chest and back.

“Won’t disagree with you there,” the veteran officer remarked, before letting out a soft chuckle. “They suit you, kid.” Nate bristled at being called ‘kid’ when he was very much an adult - not to mention considerably more muscular than Lisanti - but he held back from offering a snarky response. The older man was his superior for the duration of the ride along, after all. Everyone knew it was bad form to be disrespectful to a superior.

The pair drove around the streets in near silence for a while, with the smoke from Lisanti’s cigar filling the vehicle’s interior more and more with each passing minute. Like the cologne he had detected in the air earlier, Nate found himself quickly growing used to the scent. He still couldn’t ever see himself smoking and thought it was a nasty habit, but the smell wasn’t really that bad and it was undeniable that Lisanti looked damn cool while taking a drag and then strategically pushing the smoke out from between his lips.

It was actually Nate who got the conversation rolling again, although he surprised himself in doing so. “You said this was your partner’s uniform, right? What’s he like?” Of course, Lisanti didn't know that Nate had already read all about Dylan thanks to the notebook in the glove compartment, but he was still curious to hear what the older man had to say. The question had brought a smile (or was it a smirk?) to the police officer’s lips, which Nate took to be a good sign. Even despite the man’s openness with him during the ride along so far, he was still concerned about overstepping boundaries. After all, his whole college career was at stake!

“Officer Dylan Bostick… what a man,” Lisanti began, chuckling lightly to himself. “He was a real punk when he first signed up. I was convinced he’d drive me crazy! Never thought I’d end up seeing him like a little brother. Pretty wild how these things work out, you know?” Nate hummed in agreement while tensing the muscles in his chest and feeling his pecs bounce. Things were most definitely pretty wild, to say the least.

“Anyway, the dude’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met, both on the job and in the gym,” Lisanti continued. “He’s a real beast with the weights, kind of like you must be. Constantly putting me to shame and I’m not exactly a weakling!” At the mere mention of spending time in the gym, Nate was suddenly rocked by a wave of memories that he could swear weren’t actually his own. He was so certain that he’d never spent any time in a gym, yet he could so clearly recall loading plates onto a barbell in preparation for a set of deadlifts. How was that even possible?

Nate was snapped out of his thoughts by Lisanti letting out a low chuckle. “He’s a real proud red-blooded American though, so I dunno how well the two of you would get along. He’s voted red his whole life and treasures his guns like they’re his kids, you know the kinda guy I’m talking about. I suppose that’s about as ideologically removed from you as anyone could be, isn’t it?” There was the slightest hint of mockery in Lisanti’s tone as he delivered that remark, but just as Nate opened his mouth to call the man out on it, he was rocked by a rather pungent cloud of cigar smoke that resulted in him spluttering and wheezing for several moments.

“One hell of a cop though, just between you and me. He can be an intimidating son of a bitch when he wants to be,” Lisanti explained, while redirecting the vehicle in response to the latest call from the radio. “Nobody in the department dares give him any grief - except me, of course. He might look like a scary motherfucker, but I know he’s actually a softie underneath all those hard muscles. He’ll never admit it, of course, but I know!”

While they rocketed towards their next destination, Nate attempted to come to grips with the invasive images flashing through his brain. Why could he so vividly remember pushing a perp down onto the hood of Lisanti’s cruiser and slapping a pair of handcuffs around the thug’s wrists? It couldn’t possibly be one of his own memories, yet every part of it was so detailed that he was reluctant to accept it as simply an image conjured up by his own mind. The inexplicable arrival of such foreign thoughts inside of his own head was troubling for Nate, although he also remained incredibly curious as to where things were leading…

The young man had been so invested in attempting to sort out the chaos in his mind that he had failed to notice that the vehicle had stopped until Lisanti waved a hand right in front of his face. “Huh?” Nate grunted, looking over to find that the man was once again holding out the cigar towards him.

“Look after this while I deal with whatever’s going on in there,” Lisanti instructed. The college student accepted the cigar without question. Moments later, the veteran officer had left the vehicle and Nate was left alone with his jumbled thoughts and a still-lit cigar.

No rational thought went into Nate’s decision to place the cigar between his lips and take a long drag, it was simply done on unfamiliar instinct. The muscular college student didn’t even realize what he was doing as he was much too busy appreciating the smoky taste that filled his mouth and throat before he exhaled.  Compared to just minutes earlier when he had been coughing and spluttering as a result of second hand smoke, Nate was suddenly responding like an experienced cigar smoker. It just felt right to have a stogie resting between his index and middle finger, as if he’d been doing it for his whole adult life. Indeed, he could remember having his first cigar shortly after he’d joined the police academy and he’d picked up the habit ever since…

As Nate continued to smoke from Lisanti’s cigar, the final pieces of his physical transformation were falling into place. The soft and boyish features of his round face were being replaced by a more intimidating product, with a square jawline, sharp cheekbones and a heavy brow. His nostrils flared, his lips thinned and even the lower half of his face quickly became populated by a healthy dose of stubble that helped give the college student a much more mature look. The final change was to the shaggy mop upon Nate’s head, as his hair made a quick retreat back towards his scalp until it had settled into a high fade with the remaining blond hair slicked back for good measure.

With those changes complete, Nate was completely unrecognizable on the exterior. Given the turbulence within his own mind, the interior wasn’t exactly faring much better either. The memories of spending time in the gym or performing arrests were becoming louder and more populous, forcing him to wonder whether they were his true memories. Why else would they be so vibrant within his mind?

The longer Nate waited in solitude, the more annoyed the young man became. He was battling a strangely intense desire to simply abandon the vehicle and follow Lisanti into the establishment. Normally he wouldn’t dare force his way into what seemed to be an active crime scene, but Nate was confident that he could look after himself. He was an intimidating motherfucker with the huge muscles that stretched out his uniform, the snarling expression that settled so naturally onto his face, and the ink sleeves down the tree trunks of his arms. Nobody would dare fuck with him unless they were a total idiot! Still, he’d been instructed to stay behind and Nate didn’t feel comfortable with  disobeying a direct order…

Mercifully, it wasn’t that much long before Lisanti returned to the cruiser once more, although this time he wore a confident smirk upon his face. Nate found himself curious to know what had caused the other man to appear so happy. Even once Lisanti was back behind the wheel of the car, the more muscular officer didn’t offer the cigar back to him. It felt like second nature for Nate to be puffing on the stogie; why shouldn’t he keep it for himself? The older man didn’t ask for it back either, so evidently there couldn’t be an issue with it!

“What was all that about then?” the younger man asked, his voice emerging from his lips as an aggressive boom. Nate was so lost in the depths of his identity struggle that he didn’t even notice the slight presence of a southern twang to the words.

“Some punk making dumb threats because he was refused service,” Lisanti explained as he put the car back into drive. “Heh, he was a real southern hick, just like you, Dylan. Maybe you’d have sorted the situation out quicker than I did.”

“No doubt I woulda,” Dylan replied, his new accent coming in much thicker after Lisanti’s inciting comment. “But I gotta let you have some fun so your old bones don’t start creakin’, you know?” The police cruiser was immediately filled by the younger officer’s dumb chuckles. He saw nothing wrong with anything he’d just said, nor the mindset he had almost completely slipped into.

“You’re an asshole, Bostick,” Lisanti fired back, although he continued to smile.

“Yeah, yeah. You know you can’t resist my southern charms!” The conversation felt perfectly natural to Dylan. Lisanti wasn’t just his mentor but his best friend too, and this sort of banter came so easily to him. They were just a pair of guys being dudes, all while being local uniformed heroes!

“Neither could that poor girl you tricked into being your wife, huh?” As Lisanti made the comment, a silver band appeared around Dylan’s ring finger and memories of a romance, wedding and incredibly active sex life were added to the rewritten pages of the younger man’s history. At the mere mention of his wife, Dylan couldn’t help but picture Tiffany Bostick: bleached blond, D-cups and pouty lips. She was incredibly submissive too which had been an absolute must for the hunky officer. He couldn’t think of anything worse than wasting his time or effort on some argumentative feminist type!

No, that’s not right… For the first time in several minutes Nate’s original voice fought its way back into his mind. None of this is right! It was a struggle but he could vaguely remember being a college student, not a police officer, and he was most certainly a single gay man rather than straight and married to some bimbo! The confidence drained right out of his face as he looked towards Lisanti, instinctively knowing that the other man must be the cause of whatever transformation he had undergone.

The older man suddenly looked incredibly angry to be faced with resistance, but rather than saying anything, he simply turned up the music that had been quietly playing in the background. Nate struggled to focus on upholding his defiance when country music was blasting through the speakers at such loud volumes. He was pretty sure it was a Luke Bryan song, and he could remember taking Tiffany to one of his concerts shortly after they had returned from their honeymoon. No, no, no! I hate country music and I’m definitely not married… So why am I wearing this ring then? Why do I know all the words to this darn song? What the heck is goin’ on with me?!

While the country music had done a good job in helping drown out the protesting voice of Nate, it was the interruption from the police radio requesting urgent backup to a call that fully forced him into the persona of Dylan Bostick. As the vehicle accelerated and rocketed towards the latest crime scene, the younger officer was completely stripped of his former identity as a college student with serious reservations and frustrations about law enforcement.

The man he had been replaced by was his complete opposite: not only was a member of that same institution that he had once been so critical of, but he was also incredibly judgmental towards those who failed to respect or appreciate the uniform and badge that he wore, or the gun that he carried. His political standings had shifted too, with Nate’s more liberal and open-minded perspectives edging into conservative territory. He wasn’t the type to ever be openly homophobic but within the walls of his own home and inside the police cruiser, Dylan wasn’t shy about voicing his displeasure towards the homosexual lifestyle. He simply couldn’t understand why anyone would choose to stray from God and live their life in sin!

The emergency call turned out to be a group of overzealous and intoxicated youths who had started a fight and caused property damage in a small local store. There were already two officers on the scene, but with six youths causing such chaos, it was too much for them to handle. In just the first sixty seconds of being on the scene, the two officers had already heard quite extensive anti-police rhetoric mixed in with some rather crude language. Dylan was more than happy to join the fray, relishing in how two of the perps immediately reacted to his approach with expressions of fear. He dwarfed everyone in the room with his massive frame, but that was the case almost anywhere he went. None of the college-aged kids looked like they had ever been in a fight or even completed any sort of physical exercise before, so their terror was completely understandable. That’s right, shrimps, you should be afraid of a real man like me!

One of their friends wasn’t so smart though, as he chose to spit at the muscular police officer’s feet. Some of the resulting saliva ended up on Dylan’s boot and he took that as justifiable cause to unhook his cuffs from his belt. “You just messed up, son,” Officer Dylan Bostrick growled as he pinned the offending youth against the wall and put him in cuffs, “I won’t stand for any disrespect of the badge in my town.” As he began to drag the still-protesting youth out of the establishment and towards the cruiser, Dylan made eye contact with his partner and mirrored Paul Lisanti’s proud smile.

Man, I love this job, the twenty-eight year old officer thought to himself after pushing the detainee down into the backseat and slamming the door behind him. He didn’t much love the paperwork that came after making an arrest, but being on the scene always got his adrenaline pumping! He simply couldn’t imagine himself doing anything else with his life. There was certainly nothing that could possibly be more rewarding!

It was only a short while later that the two respected officers were back in the office of the local university Dean. This time though, they were there under quite different circumstances. Dylan couldn’t remember ever having been there before, nor did he think he had any reason to. He was only there at Paul’s request, because his partner had informed him that the Dean wanted some of the more rebellious students at the school to go for a ride along with them. Dylan didn’t much like the idea of babysitting some prissy college kid, but if it gave them the chance to bolster their ranks with eager new recruits then it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. After all, young minds could be so malleable with a little bit of pressure applied…