From the Archives - Fruiting Bodies, ch. 3 (Patreon)

“If we’re not leaving then I’m going back in there.”  Will’s voice was flat and measured, but the words were as strong as the arms folded across his bare, shredded midsection.  “I’m not looking for a discussion and I’m not asking permission, I’m just telling you what’s about to happen.”

Dave sighed and ran a hand over his face, trying to think of a compelling argument to keep the bigger man on board.  “Will, please.  Would you just listen for a second?  I’m not saying we aren’t going to try and help him, we just need to…”

“I am listening,” the taller man spat.  “I’ve been listening since this morning!  Do you hear him?”  Will paused, the silence only lasting a few beats before one of Tom’s distant moans echoed up from the lower deck.  The warped jock had resumed his wailing the second he’d set foot on the yacht, and no amount of coaxing from Agustín had been enough to get him to stop.  The wiry little man’s body language now carried far more weight than his words, so while he tried his best to hide it, Tom was hyper aware of just how turned on his friend actually was by his new look.  “I’m not going to leave him like that,” Will said when the moans died down.

“And how is putting yourself in a similar situation going to help him?  Or one that’s even worse?  We still don’t know what did that to him!  Or if it’s permanent!  We don’t have enough information to draw anything close to a conclusion,” Dave barked, drawing his lean frame up as much as he could.  He wasn’t used to such macho posturing, but he was running out of options.

“And we’re not going to get that information by sitting on this fucking boat!  So if you’re not going to take us back to the mainland, I’m going in for more samples.  End of discussion.”  Will shouldered past the other man, easily shoving him out of the way.

Dave pounded a fist against the railing as he was jostled into it, yelling after his friend.  “Goddamnit, Will!  You of all people should know why we can’t go back.  We’re dealing with an unknown, possibly contagious element right now.  We can’t risk heading back in until we know if we’re going to be exposing people to it.  Our safest option is to sit tight for a few more days until Ethan arrives with backup.  I’ve been trying to get through since this morning, but whatever keeps this island hidden is officially back to messing with all our comms.  What little signal we did have is gone, which means we’re on our own at the moment.  We can’t get emotional about this.”

“I don’t think he’s listening, babe,” Tyler said, putting a hand on Dave’s shoulder as Will stormed out of sight.  He’d been standing off to the side keeping quiet while they’d argued, not wanting to step on his lover’s toes and not knowing which position he supported either way.

“How is this falling apart so fast,” Dave asked, shaking his head.  He turned towards Tyler and wrapped his arms around the blonde’s waist, letting his forehead drop against the other man’s.

“You know how tight he and Tom are.  If that was you I’d be doing the same thing.  I mean, I want to help the big idiot as much as anyone, but we are officially in over our heads.”  Tyler let go and stepped back, his brow furrowing when he looked down at his tanned, bare torso.  They were in the middle of an emergency, but after they’d decontaminated and made their way back to the boat with Tom that morning, all he’d been able to force himself into were a pair of the tiny swim trunks.  It was the same for all of them.  Will’s ebony muscle had been on display throughout the argument and while Dave had been slightly more successful with the addition of a loose muscle shirt, it wasn’t much of a victory.  “Why didn’t we ask more questions?”

Dave raised an eyebrow.  “About what?”

Tyler shrugged.  “All of it.  I never really stopped to think about it until yesterday.  Isn’t it all a little too convenient?  You spent months and months researching and trying to track this place down, but one of Ethan’s ‘associates’ manages to pinpoint it a few weeks after he gets involved?”

“He didn’t pinpoint it,” Dave said, his eyes shifting over to the small island.  The sun was sinking towards it on the horizon beyond, making the compact atoll loom large.  “He used his exorbitant wealth and superior resources to point us in the right direction.  Those aren’t the same thing.”

Tyler leaned against the rail, his upper arms expanding as they supported his weight.  “Or he already knew what was here and needed guinea pigs.”

“That doesn't make sense.  If he already knew what and where this place was, why wouldn’t he have sent people before?”

“Who’s to say he hasn’t?”  Another long pause followed, punctuated by Tom’s lustful groans in the distance.  “We’ve barely set foot in that cave.  Who knows what we’ll find in there.  He reached out to you, remember?”

Dave blinked and shook his head again, his tone going defensive.  “Yeah, but only after I’d cast a wide, wide net.  You heard him.  He’s interested in the supplement market and the bioresearch potential, not…”

“And what if we’re that bioresearch,” Tyler interrupted.  “Slap six healthy young men on a fancy boat in the middle of nowhere, completely cut them off from communication, and expose them to god knows what.  Leave ‘em to stew in it for a week and then swoop in to collect and study whatever’s left.  What does that sound like to you?”

“No.  Just…no,” Dave stammered.  “I’m not going to jump down a conspiracy rabbit hole.  This is already weird enough…we don’t need to start ascribing motivations we know nothing about.”

“There’s no point in just sitting around.  Will’s right about that much.”  Tyler’s voice was soft, a note of defeat creeping in at the edges.  “What you said earlier…we’re already exposed.  You know that, right?  The second we set foot in that cave it was too late for all of us.  That’s why we brought Tom back on board, isn’t it?  Might as well skip the suits altogether when we go back in.”

“Don’t go there.  Just because we’ve likely been exposed to something doesn’t make anything certain.  No one else has ended up like him, so I think it takes more than just breathing something in.”  Dave reached out and put a hand on Tyler’s hip, a pleading look on his face.  “I know this is beyond what any of us expected, but we can still turn this around.  I need you to believe that with me.  Please.”

“I’m still along for the ride,” Tyler grinned, kissing the stricken brunette’s forehead.  “But if I’d known it was going to be a kink party I’d have packed a few more things.”

Dave looked down at their exposed states and shrugged.  “Less is more on this trip, apparently.  Now come on,” Dave said, taking the other man by the hand and pulling him along.  “If Will’s determined to go inside let’s at least make sure he does it right.”

********************

Will knew he’d made a mistake.  He’d known it while slipping into the protective suit and he’d known it as he’d crept into the cave.  His heart raced and his legs shook with each step that carried him deeper into the psychedelic nightmare of towering fungus, but he refused to turn back.  He steadily spooled out the thin line at his side so he’d have something to follow on the return trek, grateful that his friends were waiting for him outside.  They’d reached a compromise, and while they all agreed that it was foolish for the entire group to go racing back inside, they’d relented on trying to stop him.

Not that it mattered.  Without any working radios Will was still entirely on his own, and the several hundred yards of thin line were small comfort in the disorienting environment.  All around him was familiar vegetation, but on a horrifying scale.  The small mushrooms that he ignored on hikes now loomed over him like monoliths.  Massive phallic shapes rocketed towards the luminescent ceiling, mingling with their broad, umbrella-shaped brethren in a fleshy imitation of a tropical jungle.  Smaller growths like the ones Tom disturbed were peppered alongside their hideously sized siblings, squatting like eager goblins amongst the obscene towers.  As he’d trekked deeper within Will had seen a few giant puffball mushrooms, now literally living up to their name as they sat like small huts in the darkness, but he’d steered clear for fear of what might come out of them.  He had visions of them popping like bubbles, showering him in all manner of terrifying substances.  It was bad enough that on top of the strange growths and uneven terrain he kept having to wipe a dusty layer from his visor, the knowledge that all of them had already breathed in the fine particles making his stomach drop.

He’d done a cursory examination of Tom’s bloodwork and what he’d found shouldn’t have been possible.  There was something else in his friend’s system, small growths attached to each of the cells that he assumed were responsible for the other man’s physical transformations, but he’d never seen or heard of anything like it.  They were dealing with something alien, and though he knew a solo journey was a mistake, and that Dave was right to urge caution, he needed to learn.

It wasn’t just for Tom’s sake, either.  The thought that they were discovering something truly unique, something that had been buried since life first began on the planet, was more than he could resist.  Yes, he was collecting samples to try and help his friend, but the thrill of discovery was as potent a motivator as his altruism.

As was the knowledge that they’d very likely need the samples to try and help themselves in the near future.  His own strange behavior wasn’t lost on the handsome hunk, and Will still felt a confusing thrill whenever he thought back to Tom’s new appearance.  It was odd enough that his body lit up at the memory of Franco’s long, thick rod inside him; he didn’t need images of his friend’s warped frame distracting him further.

“Fuck!”  Will jumped and spun on his heel, a blur of motion registering on his limited periphery.  He was already anxious enough, and the way the protective hood obscured his field of vision wasn’t helping.  As he’d been venturing deeper into the cave, past the point where they’d found Tom that morning, he kept thinking he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.  He never managed to see or hear anything, nor had he discovered any evidence of tracks or even of insects, but the sensation of being watched was ever present.  On a few occasions he’d managed to witness some of the towering mushrooms and other growths shiver and sway, but whether that movement had been caused by something internal or external he still wasn’t sure.

He paused to catch his breath, and to try and rid the lingering images of his romp with Franco from his increasingly distracted brain.  He and Tom had joked about it but he’d never once had an actual desire to fool around with another man before, yet he’d let the dark-haired hunk play his body like a chiseled instrument the night before.  It made an odd situation even more so as Will normally liked to call the shots in bed, but he’d let Franco have his way with him.  He’d never felt anything like it.  Laying on his back with his long, muscled legs in the air, his pecs bouncing while he gazed up at the thrusting hunk towering over him, had been a kind of bliss Will never imagined.  He’d sputtered and grunted and whimpered and came all over himself, relishing the sensation of his new friend’s warm fluids filling his insides.

And when they switched positions the ecstasy had been just as potent.  Will never imagined that having a hard, masculine body in his arms, writhing against him while he slammed into a set of perky, muscled cheeks, could ever have turned him on as much as it did.  But even just thinking about it was enough to get him hard and oozing.  He could still feel the warm trickle of Franco’s release dripping down his thighs while he plowed into the athletic man, uncertain whether he wanted to keep going or to beg his friend to switch places with him.

When he’d seen what happened to Tom it all got worse.  Will had taken one look at his friend’s shrunken package and had to fight the urge to rip his hood off and wrap his lips around it.  He’d already been surprised by how much he’d loved having Franco’s comparatively massive cock prodding the back of his throat, and all he could think about was how easy it would be to swallow all of Tom at once, to say nothing of how much he’d enjoy slurping down load after delicious load.

“Okay…maybe I should head back,” Will panted to himself, finally realizing that the further in he traveled the more his thoughts insisted on drifting.  He kept trying to take in the surreal scenery and the odd, fluorescent jungle, but he kept catching himself walking for several yards without paying any attention to the fleshy spires around him.  It was tempting to just give in altogether.  The interior was warm and soft and he was painfully turned on.  It would be so easy to just strip out of the suit and give himself the release he needed, to experience the pulsing, endless cavern in all his naked splendor.

But he knew better, at least for now.  Instead of stripping down, Will adjusted his tented shorts as best he could through the protective suit and gave the bag at his side a pat.  It was full of the samples they needed, a collection of spores, scrapings, and other growths he’d carefully plucked during his journey.  He didn’t know for sure that they’d hold any relevant answers, but at least they were a place to start.

If he could get them back outside.  Will turned and began picking up the guideline, only making it a few steps before a loud, rattlesnake shuffling filled the quiet cavern from above.  He froze and looked up at the lurid violet mushroom that towered over him like a small maple just as a blanket of filaments rained down from the fibrous canopy, enveloping him like a web.  They’d passed through similar growths that morning during their search for Tom, but those had been soft and pliable like a beaded curtain.  The ones currently gripping him were firm like exposed tendons, going tense whenever he attempted to move.

“Shit!  What the fuck is this?!  Let me go you stupid…fungus…” Will grunted, his ample muscle straining against the silky prison.  There were small nodules on each of the strands that kneaded his solid frame like a massage chair while he writhed, but it wasn’t until they were about to burst that Will noticed how his frantic motions were causing them to grow.  “No! No no no no no no no…” he cried as they popped, showering him in a strange, translucent sap.  The sizzle that followed was immediate, as was the sudden sensation of warm, humid air wafting in through the growing holes in his dissolving suit.  “Oh fuck…oh fuck…oh fuck…” he panted, feeling the much thinner fabric of his clothes beginning to dissolve beneath the suit.  “Can’t believe I’m about to get killed by a fucking mushroooOOHHHH!”

Will howled when the strange substance finally made contact with his skin.  Instead of the pain he’d expected, a rush of pure, unfiltered pleasure shot through him.  He spasmed in the fungal net while the shreds of his clothes fell away, leaving his glistening, writhing body fully on display.  His cock oozed and throbbed in a way he’d never felt before, and Will couldn’t believe he hadn’t cum yet based on the intense pressure.  But no matter how much the throbbing force built within him, his body refused to open any sort of release valve.

And it began to show.  Will gasped, the exhalation turning into a low moan as he watched his shredded abs begin to vanish.  Like he’d been hooked up to a pump, each pulsing ache seemed to cause his body to swell, pushing out his tapering midsection bit-by-bit until he started to develop a noticeable gut.  The rest of his body steadily followed suit, his hard-earned definition melting away against the tide of flesh that consumed his bloating frame.  Will could feel himself rubbing together all over, could feel the crushing gravity that came with his extra mass, but despite the horrifying sight all he could focus on was the frustratingly distant release he needed.

By the time the filaments had emptied their strange sap Will had tripled in size.  He hadn’t grown any taller, only thicker, his once-chiseled body ballooning like one of the offensive linemen Tom used to play football with.  His new proportions were round and full, a shuddering contrast between soft, ample flesh and hard, buried muscle.

Will grunted when the thin strands let go without warning, sending his quaking frame to its knees.  Every inch of him shook and shuddered in unfamiliar ways from the jarring impact, but he was too busy rooting between his widened thighs to focus on it for long.  He needed release.  He knew how his girthy frame must look squirming around on the floor of the cavern, and his stomach dropped at the way he could barely see his hefty cock over his cresting pecs and ballooning midsection, but he had to relieve some of the unrelenting pressure.

He only made it worse.  No matter how much he tugged and stroked and groped the release he craved wouldn’t come.  Instead, all he succeeded in doing was puffing his enlarged frame from heavyweight football player to sumo wrestler proportions.  It took all of his willpower, but the inflated hulk managed to pull his hand away and stagger upright, having just enough presence of mind to snag the samples in a meaty paw before lumbering back the way he’d come.  Most of the pouch was luckily still intact, having fallen quickly away when the sap dissolved the straps holding it in place, though they likely would have burst anyway against Will’s mountainous new frame.

Every step was torture for the swollwen stud as each plodding, rippling footfall sent small darts of bliss that threatened to further enlarge his quivering body.  Will did his best to keep the thoughts of his distended bulk at bay, not because he was horrified, but because they instantly drifted to how good the excessive mass felt.  No amount of shattered vanity could compete with the volcanic lust coursing through him.  He’d become an incubator of ecstasy, an elastic idol of arousal whose purpose was to become engorged with potential before releasing his spores on the wind.

Will didn’t know where those bizarre thoughts came from, only that he was grateful for the contentment they brought with him.  They pierced through the haze of frenzied lust, cooing gently at the back of his mind that everything was exactly the way it should be, that he was serving a greater, connected purpose.  Like Tom, he’d become a part of something much bigger than any of them, and he suddenly couldn’t wait to bring his friends into the fold.

That desire was evident on his full, round new face when he stumbled out into the early evening air.  He watched the way his friends’ expressions changed when they saw him, going from relief at his reemergence, to shock, to horror, before trying to regain something close to composure.

“Wi…Will?  Is that…you?”  Tyler asked, putting an arm in front of Dave and guiding them a few steps back at his approach.

“Guys?  I…I need to…I can’t get off…and I need to…I need to cum…or I think I get…” Will’s deepened voice broke off in another grunt when his body rippled and swelled in response to the sight of the handsome pair.  “Fuuuuuuuck…this is…too much…you don’t know how…good this feels…” he moaned, his fingers biting into his thickened midsection.

“We, uh, we’d love to help, but I think we should just…” Dave was cut off by a loud splash, followed by the sound of Agustín’s voice from the deck of the yacht behind them.

“I couldn’t stop him!  He just bolted out of his room!”

Dave turned just as a dripping Tom emerged from the waves, his body changing as it bounded across the small beach in their direction.  The naked hunk’s already-strapping frame seemed to grow even larger with muscle, his shrunken cock inflating to impossible proportions as it jutted like a third arm from between his tree-trunk thighs.

All he and Tyler could do was watch as one of their warped friends fell on the other in a tangle of writhing, meaty limbs.  “It’s okay bud, I got you,” Tom said, his voice once again back to normal as he wrapped his arms as best he could around the mountain of flesh that was his friend and plunged inside.  It was what Will needed.  Like the alterations he’d sprouted for Auggie, this solid, hung body was what his ballooning friend desired most in the moment, whether he’d been able to say it or not.  Tom had felt Will change, had been able to feel the other man calling to him through their new connection, and as soon as his friend had emerged from the cave he knew what had to be done.  Will didn’t need the whimpering, lustful version of himself that Auggie did; he needed a strong, gentle hand to guide him through his transition.  “All this bulk is a good look for you,” he purred into Will’s ear, kneading his friend’s pillowy frame as he rolled his hips.

“To…Tom?  I cuuhnnn…can’t…I can’t…” Will’s pained sputtering trailed off as he looked into his friend’s bright eyes.  He felt himself swell again, but he also felt the first signs of his body’s resistance chip away.

“Shhhhh…yes you can,” Tom grinned, nibbling on Will’s ear.  “You just need some help.”

The inflated, penetrated stud didn’t hear that last word over the sounds of his own howling.  Like a broken dam, as soon as the first chip had fallen away the rest of the wall quickly followed, unleashing a torrent the likes of which none of them had ever seen.  Will’s senses were pushed beyond their limit, so he didn’t witness his reduction firsthand, but the rest of the stunned group watched as each spurting pump was followed by a loss of size until Tom was left cradling a spent, sticky man who, while not being an exact match, was at least a closer approximation of their friend.

“What…what the fuck just happened…” Will finally stammered as he came to his senses.  “Oh…oh wow…” His eyes went wide and his softened jaw dropped when he looked down and saw what had become of his once-sculpted frame.  Though he’d shrunk back to more average proportions, the majority of his definition was still nowhere to be seen.  Instead of looking like a granite Adonis, the sticky stud looked more like a jock who’d let himself go.  His muscular foundation was still evident, but it was now covered by a softer layer of beefy flesh.  He blushed when he looked at the sticky remnants on the ground around them, a fresh wave of fluttering erupting in his stomach when he finally saw the version of Tom he nestled against.  That stomach expanded slightly while they all watched, another soft pulse throbbing through Will’s spent frame.  “I guess that answers that,” he said with an awkward laugh, squeezing Tom’s thigh.  “Thanks for the assist, big guy.”

“Think that’s your name from now on,” Tom said, giving Will’s meatier chest a squeeze.  He grinned when he felt it expand against his hands but let go when his friend climbed to his feet.

“Fuck this feels weird,” Will said, giving himself a once-over before looking up at the stunned Dave and Tyler.  He felt like he should be embarrassed, or scared, or at the very least anxious, but nothing even resembling dread was present.  There was only the strange contentment he’d felt while lumbering out of the cave.  He could feel Tom’s release buzzing inside him just as he could feel his friend’s thoughts humming against the edges of his brain, a connection deeper than the one they’d already had having formed between them.  “I, uh, got the samples.”

Will motioned to the cum-drenched pouch on the ground, already certain that he’d never take away the gift he and Tom had been given.  The real question was how to share it.