Fruiting Bodies, ch. 1 (Patreon)

*** Here we go!  I'm making this first chapter available to everyone in case people want to jump in on the next interactive after reading it.  Check out the comments for more information about the plan for this one.  Hope you enjoy! ***

“We...we have to tell everyone.  Get the word out,” Dave stammered.  “We need to let Ethan and his investors know we found it.  I still can’t believe it...it’s here.  It’s real.”

“It can wait, babe,” Tyler said, squeezing his partner’s hand.  “Enjoy it for a minute.  YOU found it.  YOU were right.  They helped, but this is still your project.  Besides, it’s not like it’s going anywhere.  Just look at it all...” he trailed off, equally overcome by the alien landscape.  It was as if they’d stepped through a portal to some distant planet where the natural color palette was comprised of glowing neons and vibrant fluorescent shades.  The purple, bioluminescent growth twinkled like a night sky on the ceiling, casting the interior of the spacious cavern in ultraviolet light like it was made up of countless blacklight bulbs.  Towering mushrooms spiraled up like trees, their bulbous tops forming a textured canopy that obscured the ceiling, but only added to the psychedelic display as their fibrous undersides were veined and lit from within by their own internal illumination.  Along the spongy cavern floor were smaller clusters of mold and fungi that sprouted in an imitation of the more mundane tropical growth above, though, given the prehistoric nature of their surroundings, it was the jungle that did the imitating and not the other way around.

“I don’t even know what to say, man.  This is amazing.”  Will took up the spot on the other side of the stunned brunette, patting his friend on the shoulder.  “When you pitched this idea, I thought you were fuckin’ crazy.  But here we are.”

“Anyone bring acid?”  Tom’s comically wide jaw twisted into a sheepish grin when the others turned and looked at him.  “What?  You’re all thinking it.  We’re standing in a literal blacklight poster right now.”

“Plenty of shrooms,” Will laughed, holding out his hands and looking at the way his fingernails glowed in the surreal light.  “This’d be a baaaaad trip,” he said, shaking his head as he looked back and forth between the group.  Everyone’s teeth, and the whites of their eyes, were lit with the same, surprisingly intense, reflection, making them look as otherworldly as their surroundings.  Will’s already-dark skin appeared closer to true black than its usual dark brown, while Tyler’s blonde hair seemed to be made of liquid light and his tanned skin took on a burgundy hue.  Dave was the opposite, his pale complexion beaming as if he’d been coated with glow-in-the-dark paint, leaving Tom to tower over it all like an emerald statue, the light bringing out the green tones in his complexion.  “This IS safe to be breathing, right?  Probably should’ve led with that.”

“Should be,” Dave nodded, holding up a small meter.  “Everything reads in the green.  That said, maybe hold your breath if something puffs up at you.”

“Classic safety tip,” Tom agreed, clapping Will on the back.  “If it looks dangerous just hold your breath.”  He joked, but that’s exactly what he’d done when one of the small clusters of mushrooms had kicked up a cloud as he’d passed on the way in.  His friends had agitated it, and he’d been the unlucky one bringing up the rear that walked right into it.

“If you want to go all the way back to the boat for the respirators, be my guest,” Dave shrugged.  “I didn’t think to bring all the gear right now because I honestly didn’t expect us to need it.”

“How far do you think it goes,” Tyler asked, still holding the other man’s hand as he took a few steps forward.  From their aerial vantage point at the top of the slope they could see the immense fungal forest growing denser below while it stretched off for at least hundreds of yards before it faded into darkness.

Tom rubbed his stubble-covered jaw, his brow furrowing as he took in their surroundings.  While Dave and Tyler specialized in plants and medicine, and Will focused on chemistry, the former football star had been brought along specifically for his background in geology.  “No clue.  Gotta be honest, I’m just as blown away as you bio nerds.  Structurally speaking, a cave like this shouldn’t even be possible right here, especially one this big.  You’re asking how far it goes, but I’m still wondering how deep.  Look at this,” he said, nodding down to the tough, bouncy floor.  It was covered in a loose detritus that had the consistency of soil but not the appearance, looking more like a fine mulch.  “How thick do you think that is before it hits stone?  And do you hear that water out there somewhere?”  He paused so the group could focus on what sounded like a waterfall off in the distance.  “Is that freshwater?  Saltwater?  I mean, can this stuff even grow in saltwater?  Or is it pulling fresh stuff from the humidity in the air?  I’m assuming the heat we’re feeling is a volcanic byproduct, but...this is all new to me, too.”

“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Dave said, a slow grin spreading across his narrow face.  The excitement was evident in his eyes now that the shock of discovery was wearing off, and his nimble mind was already racing.  “Okay, first things first - we need to get back to the boat and let them know what we found.  Then we need to bring it around to this side of the island so we’re not constantly hoofing it.  After that we set up basecamp at the entrance and get ready for a proper exploration tomorrow.  And I mean proper.  We need to prepare for potential insect and animal hazards in addition to whatever environmental ones are waiting for us in here.  We do this smart, and we do this safe.”  He paused at his friends’ amused expressions, unaware that he’d slipped into Scout Leader mode.

“You got it, coach,” Tom laughed, giving Dave’s firm bubble a quick swat before turning and hiking back up the slope.  He paused to scratch at his bare, burly arms, feeling like a layer of grit had settled over him.

“Ohhh, so commanding,” Will whistled, winking at Tyler.  “He like that in bed, too?”

The blonde grinned and draped an arm around his blushing lover as they headed for the entrance.  “I don’t know where he gets it.  I was the one who did two years of ROTC.”

Will raised an eyebrow at that.  “Really?  I can’t picture you as the Army type.”

Tyler batted his eyes.  “Because of my dashing good looks or my flamboyant personality?”

“‘Cause you’re a big ol’ nerd,” Will laughed.

“Says the guy working on a Doctorate in Chemistry,” Dave groaned, rolling his eyes.

“Wanna see my periodic table?”  The dark-skinned stud lifted the bottom of his clinging, sweat-soaked tank-top to show off his ripped abs, a proud grin on his face.

“Dude, this is the first time you’ve worn a shirt in like two weeks,” Tom called from further up the slope.  “We’ve all seen it.”

“You already made that joke, too,” Tyler added, giving Will’s tank tread a light pat.  “But we’re not complaining.”

“Ugh, you guys are lucky,” Will sighed, letting his shirt drop back into place.  “If you get bored with each other you’ve still got me and the hunk up there for eye candy, not to mention Auggie and Franco back on the boat.  Rest of us ain’t got shit.”

“Like I’d get bored with this,” Tyler purred, lifting Dave’s shirt to show off the brunette’s equally defined stomach.  He didn’t carry as much muscle as the former jock, or as the athletic blonde, but his wiry frame was just as ripped.

“Hey!  Come on now,” Dave yelped.  He shivered as Tyler ran a finger along the trail of chocolate fur that circled his navel before disappearing into the elastic of his briefs, his face going red while he swatted the other man’s hand away.

“Sweety, we’ve been on a boat together for the past two weeks.  There’s nothing we haven’t seen.  We were all JUST skinny dipping two nights ago,” Tyler reminded him, smiling at the memory.

“AFTER Auggie and Franco got us trashed on pisco,” the blushing brunette added.

“Shoot, I wouldn’t get bored with that either,” Tom called again.  His brawny frame was outlined by the growing daylight filtering in through the vine-covered cave entrance as he reached down and squeezed the front of his cargo shorts, shaking his head.  “No wonder dude’s so commanding.”

“Okay, if we could all just stop talking about my body like I’m not right here and attached to it, that’d be great,” Dave grumbled.  “I’m glad you’re all so impressed.”

Tyler leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek.  “You’re just too cute when you blush like this.”

“Please know that it’s not coming from a place of homophobia when I say you two are nauseating,” Will sighed, watching the adorable display.  He looked up at Tom’s rugged frame and shrugged.  “You desperate enough to give it a try yet?”

“Ask me later after a few of Auggie’s drinks,” Tom said over a broad shoulder as the lantern-jawed jock turned and began scrambling up the short wall that led back outside.  He parted the draping vines that obscured the entrance and winced at the bright sunlight, running a hand through his shaggy, chestnut hair, his massive chest expanding when he took a deep breath of the fresh, salty air.  He slipped back into the cave entrance and waited at the top to help his friends up, his hulking frame seemingly as immovable as the surrounding stone while he pulled them up one-by-one.  “Trip just got a whole lot better, didn’t it?” he asked, tousling Dave’s chocolate scalp when the wiry man brought up the rear.

“Not that two weeks on a private, South Pacific cruise was bad, but yeah, yeah it did,” Dave beamed.  Unlike their previous nautical wanderings, now that they knew the small speck of land lay part way between the Galapagos and Easter Island, it would only be a four or five day trek back to the Chilean coast.

Tom gave a short, appreciative whistle.  “Ethan wasn’t kidding when he said his investors were going to send us out here in style, that’s for sure.  I thought we’d be crammed into some rickety old sailboat, not lounging on a luxury yacht.”

“At least it was money well spent.  We couldn’t even have afforded the sailboat,” Dave sighed.  He couldn’t wait to see the look on their benefactor’s face when he delivered the news.  Part of that, as Tyler already knew, was because he just enjoyed looking at the handsome, middle-aged hunk, but most of his excitement came from thinking about what lay in store for all of them.  Ethan represented a group of individuals who had more wealth at their disposal than Dave could comprehend, and who were eager to invest in his discovery.  The market for supplements and holistic products was hotter than ever, and if Dave was right then the potential from the mold and fungal paradise they’d just discovered was limitless.  Mundane mushrooms were already being used the world over for their health benefits, but the four of them had just uncovered a trove of biological possibility that hadn’t been seen in millions of years.  The medicinal implications alone were staggering, let alone the more boutique applications.

When Dave had pitched his theory that it was possible for such a prehistoric relic to still exist in the modern world, the dissertation committee had actually laughed at him.  Phones had been hung up and doors had been slammed in his face for months, and even Tyler’s unconditional support was starting to waver, before Dave finally came across someone who was not only willing to hear him about, but who had the resources they needed.  Once the funding was in place Will and Tom had jumped at the opportunity, more for the excuse to go abroad than because they actually believed their friend, though they’d been steadily coming around as they read over Dave’s research.  The determined young man had uncovered hints and references to the subterranean forest’s existence from all manner of sources, including old shipping logs, medical texts, journals, and fragments of maps.  It looked more like a History major’s project than a Biology student, but considering the circumstances it was impossible to divorce the two.

Ethan had some of his folks do their own digging and, after comparing all the data, this section of international waters in the South Pacific had seemed the most promising.  None of them yet understood why the small volcanic atoll didn’t show up on any satellite imagery, but they could at least understand how it evaded detection at sea level.  They hadn’t seen it until they were almost directly on it, a quirk of the topography creating an optical illusion that made it appear as if the ocean continued in an unbroken stretch.  Only when the light hit it just right, and viewed from the proper angle, was the land visible at all.

It was one of Ethan’s people who’d suggested that last bit of information, and sure enough, just after sunrise the island had appeared as if freshly risen from the depths.  Unsurprisingly, there were no signs of human habitation or other evidence that people had been there so far, adding to the awe they each felt as it occurred to them that they could be the first people ever to set foot on the petite, tropical paradise.

Their excitement must have been obvious when they made it back to the beach.  The boat was anchored just off shore, surprising for its impressive size, and Agustin waved at them from the rail.  “Those look like faces with good news,” he called, his tanned torso and thick, raven hair both wet and glistening from a recent dip in the pool.  He and Franco were local to the Chilean port they’d departed from, employed by one of Ethan’s associates to keep the boat in working order.  At the tail end of their twenties they were also only a few years older than their guests, meaning it didn’t take long before the six of them were getting along like old friends.  Everyone on board cooked and cleaned and helped act as crew when needed, but Agustin and Franco were just there to pilot and look after the mechanical side of things.  So while the other four went ashore, they stayed behind and relaxed.

“We found it!” Tyler cheered, throwing his arms in the air.  “It’s actually here!”

“What?!  Congratulations!”  A dripping Franco appeared next to his shorter friend, his strapping frame making the other man’s compact build seem tiny.  “Drinks are in order!”

“That’s what we’re counting on,” Will yelled back as he prepped the inflatable raft for the short jaunt back to the yacht.  He guided it out into the gentle surf and held it in place just in time to see Tom strip out of his muscle shirt and shuck his cargo shorts.

“I’m gonna swim back.  I feel like I’ve got mold dust all over me,” he said, snapping the waist of his tiny, skin tight trunks.  The red, boxer-brief-like swimsuit left nothing of the meaty jock’s lower half to the imagination, but their new friends had convinced them all to give the revealing garments a try.  It was the local style, they’d said, and they were much more comfortable than the bulky boardshorts they’d all brought.  They’d been right on both counts, and as Tom handed his discarded clothes to his friends and dove into the water, he was glad he’d bit down on his embarrassment.  His powerful arms and sturdy legs sent his muscled frame easily to the boat, arriving only a short time after the small motor carried his friends.  “That’s better,” he said, wicking the water from his hair, his pecs bouncing as he trotted up the small staircase to the main deck.  His skin still tingled, but he no longer felt like he wore a fine coating of plaster dust.

“I can’t believe you guys actually found it!”

Tom grinned as Agustin hurried over.  From what the larger man could see, Dave had already disappeared inside while Will and Tyler talked to an excited Franco by the pool.  “Me either, dude,” Tom said, giving the compact hunk a high-five.  At 6’2” he easily stood at least eight inches taller, though Agustin’s shorter frame bore more definition across it’s lean muscle.  “I can’t wait for you to see inside the place.  It’s crazy, bro.  Mushrooms the size of trees and everything was glowing...never seen anything like it.”

“Tyler was just showing us pictures,” Agustin said, his brown eyes still wide.  “Me and Franco thought you all were just some crazy Americans.”

“You’ve drunk with us enough to know that last part’s still true, Auggie.”  Tom reached over and tousled the smaller man’s hair, a sudden tingle shooting up his arm as soon as he made contact with the damp scalp.  Like a switch being flipped, he suddenly became acutely aware of Agustin’s tight little body - the breadth of the other man’s shoulders, the curve of his pecs, the way his trim waist tapered inward before expanding outward at an ample bubble that looked as oversized on his friend’s small frame as his own square jaw did hanging off his face.  All of it.  Even the light dusting of soft, dark hairs that coated Agustin’s bronzed skin stood out as if magnified, and it took all of Tom’s willpower to pull his eyes away from the other man’s stuffed, tiny trunks.

“Everything okay,” the shorter man asked, a concerned look draping across his sharp features.

Tom cleared his throat and nodded, pulling his hand away when he realized it had started stroking the other man’s hair.  “Sorry, guess the adrenaline finally crashed,” he said with an awkward laugh.  He could feel his stout cock starting to twitch and knew he only had a small window until his devastatingly tight trunks showed everyone exactly what he was thinking.  “I’m gonna go get cleaned up.”

Inside, Dave saw Tom go hurrying by to his cabin, but he was already on a call with Ethan.  “Yep.  I just sent you the coordinates.  It’s...it’s unbelievable,” he said, watching the older man’s face move in staccato fashion over the choppy connection.  Whatever masked the island from satellite imagery also messed with their phones and radio, making even the meager signal a miracle.  “It’s more than we ever could have hoped for.”

“You’re breaking up pretty bad on my end so I don’t know how much of this you’re hearing.  I’m getting a team together as we speak.  Give us a week and we’ll be down there to see it for ourselves,” Ethan said, his distinguished features looking as perfect as ever.  Not once did the screen pause or freeze on an awkward expression, but instead looked like a constant headshot, showcasing his thick, auburn hair and chiseled features.  “You all should be proud.  Make sure you celebrate tonight.  Keep me posted in the meantime, but otherwise we’ll see you soon.”

Dave slumped back in the chair when the call ended, his head spinning.  After so much time and effort he was torn between wanting to race back into the cave, and wanting to strip Tyler down and ride him right there on the beach in front of everyone.  He blamed the latter on his excitement, and the lingering effects of their picturesque surroundings, and tried to focus instead on the preparations.  There would be time enough for fun later.  The sooner they had everything in place, the sooner they could relax.

That was the mantra for the rest of the day.  The afternoon passed in a flurry of activity as the yacht steered around the island and anchored just outside the entrance to the cave.  The group managed to resist the urge to go back inside while they set up their tents and canopies and unpacked the equipment they’d need for their deeper explorations.  Tom was slow in emerging from his cabin, but once he did the beefy jock jumped in with seemingly renewed vigor while Franco and Agustin stayed on board to prepare a celebratory dinner.

Almost before they knew it, the sun had set and the six young men were lounging by the pool under a blanket of infinite stars.  They were both exhausted and wired from the excitement of the day, and they knew the coming days would bring more of the same, but for now they were pleasantly full, and pleasantly drunk, from their dinner, content to enjoy the warm evening air and each other’s company.

“Hell of a day,” Tyler said, stroking Dave’s hair as they lay tangled together on one of the cushioned loungers.  Next to them, Will and Franco occupied another pair, while Tom and Agustin argued over one on the opposite side, though several sat empty.

“Hell of a day,” Dave agreed, loving the sensation of the blonde’s smooth, bare skin against his own.  They were both half-hard and showing in the little trunks, but at the moment they couldn’t bring themselves to care.  Will and Franco certainly didn’t, and Tom and Agustin seemed focused only on each other.  The mismatched duo had been together practically all evening, and if Dave didn’t know better he would have thought their bickering had a flirtatious ring to it.

That suspicion grew stronger a few moments later.  “Bro, come on!  This one’s bigger than that one,” Tom barked.

“It’s also more comfortable,” Agustin spat.

“That’s not my fault!  Dude, just let me have it,” Tom begged.

“Fine.  If you’re so much bigger than everyone, you can show us.”  Faster than he could respond, Agustin grabbed Tom’s trunks and tugged them down, shouldering the taller man in the process.

The brawny hunk yelped when he went down, feeling the warm air waft across his exposed package as his bare legs lifted into the air when his shorter tormentor pulled the trunks entirely free.  “Hey! Not cool,” he cried, his face going red as he sat up and felt his cock immediately shoot to attention.  He watched Agustin smirk as the other man looked down at the rigid organ before waving the stolen trunks and taking off down the deck.  “Auggie!  You little shit!”

Tom took off after him, his bare, meaty cheeks bouncing and his solid cock wagging wildly in the moonlight.  He told himself his steps were driven by anger, but he knew that was a lie, just like he knew what was going to happen when he finally got his hands on the smaller man.  There wouldn’t be anything angry about it.  He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Agustin since their encounter earlier in the day, he’d even jerked off while fantasizing about the compact hunk, and somehow, he was well aware that the other man knew.

“What took you so long?”

Tom froze at the threshold to his cabin, the reality of a naked Agustin in his bed stopping him in his tracks.  Their trunks left nothing to the imagination, and he’d seen the other man naked during their previous skinny dipping encounter, but that still didn’t prepare him for the sight of the other man’s thick banana in all its rigid glory.  “Auggie...what’s...what is this…” he stammered, his fat member starting to ooze.

The lean, bottom-heavy stud pursed his lips and shrugged.  “You tell me.  This is what you want, isn’t it?”  Tom swallowed hard, unable to say the words.  “The way you’ve been looking at me all day?  Then I started to wonder if maybe you hadn’t always been interested in your ‘little Auggie,” he cooed.  “You were awfully eager to get your hands on me when we were naked the other night.”

“That was just...we were just horsing around…” Tom stammered, no longer sure if it was true or not.

“Well?  Here we are, naked again.  Want to horse around some more?”  Agustin sat up and spread his thick thighs, his lengthy cock pointing towards the ceiling.  He gave the rigid organ a few strokes before locking eyes with the confused meathead.  “This isn’t usually my sort of thing, but maybe your two friends have rubbed off on me?  They seem to be enjoying themselves.”  He paused and grinned, giving his legs a pump.  “It’s yours if you want it.”

Tom was on his knees in a flash.  He didn’t know why, or where the strange desire had come from, or what was causing the aggressive streak in the normally laid-back man’s demeanor, but he didn’t care.  All that mattered in the moment was the warm, solid organ making him gag.  His bobbing head was fumbling and awkward, and he was dimly aware that he was jerking himself off at the same time, but he wasn’t embarrassed.  After a few minutes he wasn’t even sure where he was.  He felt like he was floating, no longer in a luxurious cabin aboard a yacht but in that subterranean swirl of glowing neon.  His body tingled and a pleasant warmth filled his mouth, until even those sensations began to fade along with the awareness of his body altogether.  He was part of that hazy cloud of spores he’d felt clinging to his skin earlier, not a man or an individual at all, but part of a glorious collective, one with everything around him.

A sharp pain brought awareness of his body back.  It was followed by another, and another, each time growing a little less severe until Tom finally opened his eyes.  He wasn’t on his knees anymore but face down on his bed, ass in the air while Agustin slammed into him.  “HHOOUUhhh...fuuhhh...fuck...Auggie...what’re youuuhHHOOHH….!” He howled, well aware that everyone onboard could hear him and that everyone onboard knew exactly what was happening.  A part of him knew he should try to pull away, but despite the shock and embarrassment it was the last thing he wanted.  The feeling of Agustin’s cock deep within his body brought back a bit of that connectedness he’d just felt in his vision, and he didn’t want to give it up.

He wanted more, and then he wanted to go find the source.

*** Voting Options ***

When Tom goes back to the source...

Option 1: Tom keeps his same overall proportions, but ends up shrinking down to half his size if he doesn’t “connect” with another man on a regular basis.

Option 2: Tom remains unchanged physically, but constantly emits a cloud that drives other men wild the way it did with Agustin.

Option 3: Tom’s body becomes a collective of desires, constantly changing based on what he thinks other men want.

Option 4: Tom’s body changes to match the last connection he had, mirroring the proportions of the last man he was with.