There's Always a Catch (Patreon)

“You sound desperate,” Ryan said, unconvinced by what he’d heard.  “Credit where it’s due...you’re nothing if not motivated.  But how do you think I’m supposed to just ignore years of you being an asshole?  You never once did anything but taunt me and humiliate me, and now when you’ve got a magical future on the line you’re conveniently sorry and suddenly genuine?  Riiiiiiight.  Is that why you’re flashing your new muscle at me?”  

When Andrew called him out of the blue, Ryan knew something was up.  He hadn’t talked to his friend, and even that was too strong a word, in years.  The former jock had done nothing but torment him all through college, and now, five years since graduation, he couldn’t imagine what Andrew could have to say to him.  He only agreed to meet so he could find out what was going on with everyone.  

They still had mutual friends, the only reason they were ever around each other in the first place, and lately Ryan didn’t understand why those friends were all talking about Andrew like he was some huge success.  He followed his tormentor on social media, and from what he could see, Andrew was nothing but a washed up former athlete.  He’d just lost another job and was continuing to put on weight like he had over the past several years, covering up the muscle that Ryan used to lust after.  

He still hated to admit that he ever had a thing for the arrogant jock, but in his prime Andrew had been truly impressive.  A blonde, square jawed hunk covered from head to toe in sculpted muscle was hard to resist.  Unfortunately, as soon as Andrew got wind of that, he only upped his harassment, constantly taunting and teasing Ryan, who, with his shaggy brown hair, lean, thin body and lanky limbs, was an easy target.  

The smaller man had always felt a resentful thrill at seeing the former stud put on weight while he kept himself in shape, so when he showed up at the massive townhouse the last thing he expected to see was an Andrew who’d had his beauty magnified.  If the other man had been impressive before, he was stunning now.  The lantern jaw that had been softened over the years stood strong and firm, just like the rest of him.  Instead of being average at best, Andrew had bowling ball shoulders, a chiseled shelf of a chest, an impossibly small waist, and an ass so perky it seemed to defy gravity.  To top it all off, this statuesque body was clad only in a pair of incredibly small briefs, showing off the huge bulge that Ryan had always longed to see.  

Before the confused man could process what was happening Andrew jumped right in, telling him a story about how a month prior he’d stumbled across a magic spell of all things.  It made his dreams come true, but there was a catch.  There was one person who would know the truth, and who he needed to reconcile with if he wanted it to stick.  He only had a month, and the clock was ticking.  If he couldn’t patch things up with Ryan it would all vanish out of existence. 

Ryan had protested, but as impossible as it was, there was a part of him that knew it was true.  The posh surroundings and sudden wealth explained why everyone else was acting the way they were whenever they talked about him.  He could see it for himself, looking at the old Andrew on his phone and the new and improved model standing nearly naked in front of him. What it didn’t explain was what the other man thought he was going to accomplish.  

“No, it’s not like that!”  Andrew sighed and looked down at the perfect, chiseled body stuffed into the barely present briefs.  “Okay...it’s a little like that.  I didn’t think you’d mind the view, but I also wanted to show you what you could have!”

Ryan gave a quick, sharp laugh.  “Do you even hear yourself?!  You think flaunting some muscles and a big dick is all it takes to have me eating out of the palm of your hand?  You think your body is all I’m…” 

“No, not ME,” Andrew interrupted, frustrated.  “THIS.  Literally a body like this.  Or whatever kind you’ve dreamt about.  This would make your dreams a reality, too.”  

Ryan stepped forward and put a hand on the other man’s sculpted, sparsely-haired chest.  “And what exactly ARE my dreams?”  He nodded at the massive room around them.  “Money?  Power?  Looks?”  His hand slid down Andrew’s washboard stomach while he spoke, stopping at the low-riding waist of the small briefs.  “You?  I was only ever the butt of your jokes...do you even know anything at all about me?”  He snapped the elastic band and stepped back, crossing his thin arms.  “We’ve been friends, if you want to call it that, for years now.  Tell you what...if you can name one thing, just one, that I would actually want, I’ll consider it.”  

Andrew squirmed under Ryan’s glare, his impressive body turning a flustered crimson.  He ran a hand through his thick blonde hair as he wracked his brain, flexing a sizeable bicep in the process.  “Come on, man, we were just kids,” he said, trying once more for the charming grin.  

Ryan shook his head and rubbed his eyes.  “That’s what I thought,” he said, genuine disappointment in his voice.  “Here’s a tip...if you want to win someone over, maybe just ask them some questions about themselves instead of shoving your muscles and package in their face. But that’s always been your problem, hasn’t it,” he smirked.   “You don’t learn.  Ever.  You’re the same idiot frat boy you were back in college, just in a fancier package.  Probably why you bottomed out in the first place.”  He turned and stormed out, leaving a speechless Andrew alone in the massive house.  

Trying to wrap his head around the impossibility of it all kept Ryan from dwelling on what he’d just walked away from.  He was too busy reconciling a world where reality could be changed on a whim to think about the gorgeous man and piles of money he’d just been offered. 

At least until he got home.  Laying on his bed alone in the dark, the image of Andrew’s adonis-like body with the impossibly stuffed red briefs was burned into his brain.  His hand still tingled from where it had rested against his friend’s granite torso, his fingers just inches away from what he’d always fantasized about.  

Hating himself for it, Ryan fished his twitching cock from his boxer briefs, thinking about all the things he could have done as he started pumping.  Andrew was desperate, he could see it while trying not to stare at the other man’s sparkling blue eyes, meaning he would have done whatever it took.  

Ryan could have made him strip all the way down and flex for him.  Andrew had been all too eager to show off his new body, and Ryan would be lying if he said he wouldn’t have enjoyed seeing what it could do.  He could have made Andrew turn around and twerk that large, muscular new ass of his.  He could have made him jerk his thick, long pole while he watched, or better yet, Ryan could have made him put on a show while he jerked himself off and came all over the other man.  

Or he could have made Andrew bury that handsome face of his in his crotch while Ryan fucked the mouth he’d always dreamt of kissing.  He could practically hear Andrew’s sloppy whimpers while he thought about what the other man’s thick blonde hair would feel like woven between his fingers as he held his pretty head in place.  

Or they could have gone all the way.  He could have bent Andrew over the plush leather sofa and ridden him like a stallion.  Flopped over on his back with his solid thighs in the air, Ryan could only imagine how nice Andrew’s shapely new pecs would look bouncing up and down from the force of his thrusting.  Ryan wouldn’t want to miss a second of Andrew’s pleading, lustful expression while the alpha stud was fucked senseless by the skinny guy he used to torment.  

That was the thought that pushed him over.  Ryan arched up off the bed, his shame exploding like a geyser.  He came harder than he had in months, the hollow feeling he had afterwards only confirming why he hadn’t made Andrew do any of the things he’d just been imagining.  They would have felt wonderful in the moment, but they were ultimately meaningless.  A small part of him always  hoped Andrew really could change. He figured sooner or later the other man would have to grow up, but so far he hadn’t seen anything that made him think it would happen any time soon.  

Not that Andrew didn’t try.  He was relentless with text messages and phone calls the next day, sending apology after apology and trying to get Ryan to agree to meet with him again.  At one point Ryan caved and started to respond that he’d consider it if Andrew sent him a jerk off video, but deleted it right before hitting send.  He knew Andrew would, but he also knew it wouldn’t really change anything.  

The next day it was flowers.  Ryan woke up to a massive bouquet of roses being delivered to his apartment, and he found another waiting for him at the office when he got there.  Another showed up after lunch and when he got home at the end of the day another two were waiting outside his door. The fact that they probably cost more than his rent for the month didn’t stop him from throwing them all away.  

Day three was silence.  Ryan had been dreading what Andrew would have in store for him that day, but when nothing happened by lunchtime his dread started to turn into disappointment.  The lean young man hated to admit that a part of himself had been enjoying the attention, until it occurred to him that this was all just part of the game.  If Andrew wanted to play hard to get, Ryan wasn’t going to crack.  His friend was the one running up against a deadline, not him.  

When the silence continued into day four, Ryan started to doubt himself.  According to what he’d said Andrew only had a week left for all of this to play out. Including their initial meeting, that put them on day five, leaving only two more.  The thought hit Ryan harder than he’d expected.  He’d been thinking of Andrew as the one whose time was running out, but as that end drew near, he knew the door was closing on himself as well.  

He started to second guess everything, wondering if he was holding on to grudges and losing an opportunity out of spite.  He thought about the kind of future the two of them might have, if only Andrew could give him some sign. 

When Ryan stepped out of the office at the end of the day and found the handsome hunk waiting for him, he felt a glimmer of hope.  His friend was dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that, while showing off the perfect body underneath, weren’t flashy or overbearing.  And instead of having a limo pull up to the curb like last time, Andrew leaned against a non-descript sedan while he waited.  

“Hey,” he said, his beefy arms accentuating the protruding pecs they were folded under.  

“Hey,” Ryan said back, amazed that his friend could somehow look even more impressive in his clothes than out of them.  The tight t-shirt showed off his broad shoulders and tapering waist, while his ass looked like it had been poured into the jeans.  But what really caught his attention was Andrew’s demeanor.  Instead of radiating his usual bravado, the other man seemed awkward and hesitant in a way that Ryan had never seen before.  

“Can we talk?”  

Ryan shrugged.  “I don’t know...CAN we?  That’s up to you.”  

“That’s fair,” Andrew said.  “Let me buy you dinner...proper date, proper conversation.  No strings attached.  You can bail whenever.”  

Ryan hesitated, only agreeing to go when Andrew refrained from pushing him into it. The blonde stud was silent while his friend mulled it over, something he usually had difficulty with. “Deal,” Ryan finally said, climbing into the passenger seat and smiling despite himself at Andrew’s look of relieved triumph.  

“So how was your day,” Andrew asked as they drove off.  Ryan wanted to point out that this might be the first time his friend had ever asked him that question, but he bit back on his snarky response.  If Andrew was seriously making an effort, he didn’t want to mess that up. Instead, they made small talk on the way to the restaurant like old acquaintances would, not bringing up anything of substance but not getting into a shouting match either.  It was small progress.  

“So this is the point where I should apologize,” Andrew said after they’d ordered a few drinks.  

Ryan sipped his cocktail, locking eyes with the other man.  “Fooooorrrrrr…” 

“Everything,” Andrew laughed.  “For being an asshole. For not being strong enough to make my own decisions.  For being a shitty person in general for so long.”  

Ryan pulled his phone out and brought up Andrew’s Facebook profile.  Instead of the gorgeous stud sitting across from him, it still showed the handsome, if slightly out of shape, man Andrew should have been.  “It always made me sad to see you tank your life the way you do.”

“The way I treated you...figured you’d enjoy it.”

“I didn’t mind watching you put on some weight, I’ll admit,” Ryan grinned. “But it wasn’t a bad look. Believe it or not, I never wanted anything bad to happen to you.”

Andrew seemed genuinely surprised as he looked down at the comparatively average man on the screen.  “Why?  I was always such a prick…”

Ryan took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair.  “Because, despite all evidence to the contrary, I always felt like there was a good person under there somewhere.  And I don’t mean that in some bullshitty ‘but I can change him’ kind of way.”  Ryan shrugged and swallowed the rest of his drink in a single gulp.  “There were moments when you could be genuinely kind.  They were few and far between, but they were still there.  I guess I always just hoped you’d get your shit together and make a change on your own.  Which makes me wonder,” he said, cocking his head, “what this is really about. I’m being honest when I said I didn’t harbor any ill will towards you. There’s nothing that needs magically patched up on my end. I’m SURE you’ve pissed people off worse than you did me.”

There was a pause as Andrew stared at his former self on the screen.  “Do you know why I was such a dick to you?  I mean, I didn’t...not until recently.  But that guy right there,” he said, tapping the picture on the phone, “he was no one.  He’d never been anyone.  Yeah, he had trophies and people wanted to be around him, but his whole life was just an endless series of people telling him what to do and who to be.  You’re a guy and you’re athletic?  You play these sports and you fuck these girls.  You make fun of these people.  You get this job.  You don’t ask questions.”  He shook his head, looking up at Ryan.  “And then there you were, not giving a fuck about any of that.  You were out of the closet, hell, you were never in one to begin with. You didn’t care what people thought or who they told you to be.  Goddamn that was frustrating,” he laughed.  “Looking back I was so fucking jealous I couldn’t stand it.  You were doing all the things I wanted to.”  

Ryan raised an eyebrow at the last part.  “ALL the things?”  

Andrew blushed and dropped his eyes.  “I’ve, uh, fooled around with guys before.  At first I told myself I was just curious what you were all about, but...by the time I realized I might actually be attracted to guys too I figured there was no way you’d still be into me after the way I’d acted.  So I went back to doing what I was told.”  

“You didn’t have to listen to those people either.  I told you that back then, too.”  

“Oh, I know.  Believe me.  I’m not trying to have some straight white guy pity party.  My point is that it was easy and comfortable and I let myself fall into that hole, doing the same things over and over while my life fell apart because it’s all I knew.  Then….this,” he gestured to himself, “happens and all of a sudden I think everything’s going to be different.  A second chance.  I’ve got looks and money and I’m going to make it work.  And you know what I did?  Immediately went out, got drunk, and hooked up with some random girl from the bar.  You were right...that IS the reason I bottomed out.  Same shit, different day.”

“So what DO you want,” Ryan asked, searching Andrew’s face for any sign that his friend was just feeding him a line. 

Andrew laughed and shook his head.  “Honestly?  No clue.  I know what I don’t want, though.  I don’t want to keep waking up to an empty house.  I don’t want to keep chasing after what other people tell me I should want.  I mean, fuck, the only person who’s ever told me I could be something else is the guy I was an absolute terror to.  What does that even make me?”  

Ryan reached over and put his hand on top of Andrew’s, silently impressed that the other man left it there.  There was a time when his jock friend would have freaked out over the thought that other people could see him being intimate with another man.  

“I want to be better.  Not better than someone else...better than the old me.”  Instead of pulling away, Andrew flipped his hand and squeezed Ryan’s.  “If you want to walk out of here and never see me again, I get it.  I sure as fuck deserve it.  But if you’re willing to let me try and make it up to you I’d love to give this a shot.”  He tapped the picture of his old self again.  “Not because of the magic, either.  If you could be happy with that guy, so could I.”  

There was a long pause as Ryan stared at his friend, their hands still linked.  “Be a shame to waste it,” he finally said, grinning.  “If...whatever happens...if you go back to the old you, it’d feel like we missed an opportunity to enjoy that,” he said, nodding towards Andrew’s chiseled pecs.  

That was all Andrew needed to hear.  He dropped a pile of cash on the table and the duo practically ran from the restaurant, speeding back to Ryan’s house.  They burst through the door in a tangle of lips and limbs, each not wanting to let go of the other.  Ryan pressed his lean body against Andrew’s wall of muscle, writhing in his friend’s meaty embrace while his hands slid up the other man’s broad back.  

Andrew took the hint, breaking off their kiss so that Ryan could peel the small shirt free.  He stood with his massive chest heaving, letting his friend explore each defined muscle for as long as the smaller man wanted.  He flexed like in Ryan’s fantasies, only this time it wasn’t out of desperation but in response to the obvious lust in his friend’s eyes.  And when he started swaying his hips and working his jeans slowly down his powerful legs, he had a smug, playful grin on his face, not a pained look of embarrassment.  They both laughed when he turned and bounced his cheeks free of the briefs, equally surprised by how good he was at it.  

“Not gonna...lie…” Ryan panted as he pressed himself against Andrew’s torso and tugged on the throbbing, eight inch club sticking out from his friend’s waist.  “This...is nice…” 

“Right?”  Andrew laughed, kissing his way down Ryan’s long neck and flexing a plump cheek against the other man’s squeezing hand.  “But so’s this.”  

Ryan let himself be shoved down onto the bed while Andrew climbed on top of him.  Normally he wasn’t insecure about his lean, defined build, but he couldn’t help but feel small as his shirt was pulled free, feeling lanky and awkward next to Andrew’s chiseled bulk. 

Andrew clearly didn’t share that sentiment.  As soon as he had Ryan’s shirt free he explored every inch of the smaller man’s bare torso with his mouth.  He kept his friend’s arms pinned above him, leaving Ryan unable to do anything other than lay there and squirm ecstatically from the tongue bath.  By the time Andrew finally made his way low enough to undo Ryan’s pants, the thin man felt like he was ready to explode.  

“MMMMMMmmmmm….” Ryan purred when Andrew swallowed the oozing rod that sprang free.  He squirmed on the bed and stroked his friend’s soft, full head of hair.  This was nothing like the forceful face fucking he’d thought about a few days earlier.  It was infinitely better.  

Andrew was taking his time, reading Ryan’s body like a book.  He brought him to the brink over and over, always backing off just in time. His friend used to brag about his sexual exploits, and he apparently hadn’t been exaggerating.  Ryan could have stayed there for days, but he wanted to get a crack at the body he’d always dreamt of.  

“O...okay…” he finally panted.  “Don’t hog all the fun.”  

“Sorry,” Andrew grinned bashfully, running his tongue slowly along the underside of Ryan’s slick, throbbing rod.  He laughed at the spasm it caused in his friend, slowly stroking each of Ryan’s supple thighs.  “Could spend all night with this guy,” he said, swallowing his friend’s six inches in a meaty fist.  

“Nnnnot as...impressive as...yours…” Ryan hissed, biting back a groan as Andrew slid up to straddle his stomach.  His friend’s rigid club and furry balls were heavy against his chest as he reached up to wrap a thin hand around the pulsing monster.  

“No complaints from where I’m sitting,” the sculpted blonde laughed before his face went serious. He cupped the side of Ryan’s face, their eyes locked.  “I’ve thought about this for so goddamn long,” he sighed, working his ass back against Ryan’s cock while he rubbed the other man’s modest pecs.  “Actually…” 

Ryan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Not only did Andrew just admit to sharing his fantasy, the ripped Adonis was asking to be fucked. “Really?  I thought you’d want to…”

“Not with you,” Andrew said quietly, lifting his hips just enough to drop himself back down on top of Ryan’s waiting pole.  

“OOOHOHHHHHHHH!”  Ryan spasmed and arched up off the bed at the intense rush as Andrew’s muscular globes swallowed him to the hilt.  The blonde jock smiled and caught Ryan in his arms again, holding him upright as he rolled his hips and worked his own girthy member between them.  “Oh fuck...oh fuuuuck...fuck…” Ryan gasped, overwhelmed by what he was experiencing.  He may have been inside Andrew, but clutched against his friend’s solid chest it was clear who was fucking who.  All Ryan could do was moan and whimper as he clung to his friend’s granite body, his fantasies from the other night paling in comparison to the blissful reality.  Andrew leaned in and pressed their lips together just as Ryan came, swallowing the smaller man’s loud bellow.  

His head swimming from the intense explosion, Ryan felt like he was falling.  The bed beneath him seemed to have disappeared and he was plummeting into an endless darkness.  He clung to Andrew, burying his face against his friend’s chest as they tumbled.  

“Wha…!”  Ryan’s eyes shot open.  He still had his face buried against Andrew’s chest, only they weren’t falling anymore.  Looking around, though, it was clear they weren’t in his apartment, either.  They were on a large, king size bed in an equally king sized bedroom.  

“Mm...whu...what’s goin’ on…” Andrew mumbled sleepily, blinking against the early morning light filtering in through the large windows.  “Wait...where are we?”  

“Is this your place?”  

Still holding Ryan against him, Andrew looked around at the increasingly familiar setting.  “Oh fuck, yeah...this is...my bedroom?  The new one, anyway. How’d we get here?”  

“I have...no...idea….,” Ryan reluctantly rolled over and looked around at a room that he somehow knew, despite never having seen it before.  “But I think this is, uh, OUR bedroom now,” he said, reaching out to grab the framed photo from the nightstand without having to look where it was.  

“Does...does this mean what I think it means?”  Andrew took the photo and stared at it, suddenly remembering the trip they’d taken to Hawaii last year.  

“Oh...whoa…” Ryan’s eyes widened as the new memories started filtering in. “I, yeah, I guess so,” he grinned, tossing the sheets aside and looking surprised to see his unaltered body.  

“Everything okay?”  

“Yeah, I just...didn’t think I’d still look like this.”  

Andrew put the picture down and rested a hand on Ryan’s stomach.  “Did you want to look different?”  

“Not really,” he said.  The lean man shook his head, blushing at the sight of his whipcord body in nothing but a very small, yellow jockstrap that was nothing like his usual boxer briefs.  “I just assumed you’d maybe want someone a bit biggermmphhh!”  He was cut off when Andrew rolled over and planted a long, deep kiss, the other man’s solid cock digging into his side.  

Only later, after they’d worn each other out, did Andrew finally respond.  “Wouldn’t change a thing,” the blonde grinned.