Fruiting Bodies, ch. 15 (Patreon)

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“Whaaaaaat the fuuuuuuuuck,” Tom muttered under his breath, his eyes wide as he looked around at the surreal surroundings.  One moment he and Dave had been in a dirty alley, the next they were stepping through a magical door that had formed on the wall of a building nowhere near large enough to house what they now saw.  Instead of rough pavement or cement, the polished wood floor was smooth against Tom’s bare, hulking feet, while row upon row of books stretched off in every direction.  The towering, multi-story shelves were ornately adorned with a mix of floral filigree and geometric designs, carved from a dark, dense wood whose flowing grain was almost hypnotic under the multicolored glow of the stained glass ceiling overhead.  They were in the middle of a large, circular chamber, and though there didn’t seem to be any distinct sources of light, and the rows of books terminated in shadow, where they stood was perfectly illuminated.  And as they stumbled through the arcane gateway and deeper into the silent surroundings, that pool of light traveled with them.  “Dude…are you seeing this?”  Tom turned around when his friend didn’t answer, his massive body suddenly shrinking back to more standard proportions.  It was a rapid shift but one that made sense; with Tyler’s lithe frame standing nearby, there was nothing Dave desired that he could provide.

If the beefy man noticed the strange interior at all it didn’t show as his eyes never left the blonde’s.  “Hey,” he said, his burly fists clenched at his sides to keep any unwanted digits from his mouth.

“Hey,” Tyler nodded back, his thin arms folded across his chest.  He was clad in a small t-shirt and thin shorts, the outfit accentuating his curvy, twinkish frame as he leaned against a nearby shelf, pressing into the wood as if glued to it.  Whether he was trying to disappear or cling on to keep from throwing himself at Dave, his ambivalent expression didn’t say.  “You look good.”

Dave let out a short laugh and looked down at his furry bulk, shaking his head.  “Yeah, sure,” he said, before looking back up.  “So do you.”

Tyler finally took a step away from the shelf, spreading his toned arms.  “Nothing really changes anymore, does it?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Tom interrupted, motioning around the room.  He spun in a circle in search of the magical door, but only found Will grinning at him from behind.

“Wild, right?”  The taller man grinned, giving the brunette’s bare, ample cheeks a slap.  “It’s okay…we can touch each other without another explosion happening.”

“So we’ve heard,” Dave sighed, reluctantly pulling his eyes away from his former lover.  “Did you two…?”

Tyler stepped over to join his friends, positioning Will and Tom between himself and Dave.  “Luckily, no.  We have this guy to thank for that,” he said, motioning to one of the nearby rows as an athletically built hunk emerged.  He was wearing only a neon green bikini bottom that tied at the sides and a hot-pink mesh crop-top, with a matching pair of sneakers completing the skimpy outfit.  His thick, dark hair was expertly gelled into a dramatic swoop, and there appeared to be a thin coating of makeup on his chiseled face.  “Tom, Dave, this is Shawn.”

“Hey there,” he said as he gave a quick wave and took up the spot next to Tyler.

The wiry blonde smiled and gestured to Shawn’s revealing attire, toying with one of the strings on the bikini.  “If you’re wondering why he’s dressed like a New Wave go-go boy…we have a similar employment history.”

Dave cocked his head to the side, his eyes lingering on Tyler’s hand as it hovered near the sculpted stud’s trim waist.  “You were at Spore?”

Shawn shook his head.  “Parent company.  HB&L headquarters.  It was…a lot,” he said, his expression going distant as he surveyed the two newcomers.  When his eyes turned in Tom’s direction, the brawny hulk felt a familiar tingle run through him just before the others seemed to grow, his burly frame suddenly shedding height.

“Can’t wait to hear all about this,” the shortened stud said in a squeaky voice as he craned his neck to look up at his friends.

Shawn winced and shook his head, his expression going apologetic.  “Fuck, sorry about that.  Tyler told me what happened to you all and you…just reminded me of someone.”

Tom waved a hand and shrugged.  “Oh, it’s fine.  Trust me…this is nothing,” he said, his shrunken cock going rigid as Shawn’s did the same.  “So what’s your deal?”

“Similar to yours, actually, only with what I wear instead of my body.  While everyone else gets to walk around in normal clothing, I’m stuck with nothing but underwear and fetish gear.  Like you guys, people know something’s up when they see me, but at least no one freaks out the way they should.  Whenever I’m around someone I can…sense…what they like, and once I do there’s an urge to put it on and act accordingly.”

“Always did like those go-go types,” Will laughed, looking at the obviously flustered Tyler.

The lithe blonde cleared his throat and removed his hand from Shawn’s waist.  “Now that we’ve been introduced, can we please just deal with the immediate problem and figure this part out later?”

“Yeah, about that…where the fuck are we,” Tom asked, motioning around the room with a shortened arm.

Will reached down and began kneading his friend’s shoulders as he spoke.  “Long story.  Short version: there’s a group that goes by ‘The Learned’ who do their best to stop what people like Ethan and HB&L are up to.  This is one of their libraries…neat trick with the door, right?  Looks like there’s more magic out there than we thought.  Tyler’s been working with them for a while and I’ve been feeding him info when I can.”

“So they’re the good guys?”  Tom didn’t like the brief pause that followed his question.

“They’re trying to stop a bad thing from happening,” Tyler shrugged.  “Let’s just leave it there for now.”

“Oooookay,” Dave said, trying to keep his expression from showing just how much his head was spinning.  In the span of a few hours everything he thought he knew about how the world worked had been turned upside down, no small feat considering the broad perspective his own unique experiences had already given him.  “And how exactly do we stop this?  Can you fix what Tom and I just…” he trailed off, finally losing the battle to keep a thumb from wedging itself in his mouth.

“We’re already working on it,” Shawn said, nodding.  “You’re good in here, by the way.  Since Will and Tyler didn’t connect during that last alignment they didn’t…develop…the way you two did.  And We’ve got safeguards in place to keep any accidents from happening.  Which is why I hope you’ll understand when we ask you to remain in here with us for the time being.”

Tom was already nodding before Dave could respond.  “Absolutely.  I feel terrible that we…I don’t want any more of whatever that was.  Can you guys see it all too?  The fungus sprouting everywhere?  That big hole in the sky?”

“Sure can,” Will sighed.  “Closing that hole is problem number one.  If we can seal it off, that should at least slow things down and buy us enough time to put a real plan together to stop Ethan for good.”

“And how do we close it,” Dave asked around the stubby digit in his mouth, feeling an unaccustomed rush of humiliation as he stood sucking away in front of Tyler and Shawn.

The go-go clad hunk motioned to the series of carefully placed, geometric symbols that formed a small circle in the center of the room.  “Ethan’s right, in a way.  The forces that you’re all wrapped up in aren’t inherently good or bad.  They just are.  The…thing…that wants to consume this reality is no more evil than a hurricane that destroys a city.  It’s a force of cosmic nature.  The people trying to bring it here, though, they’re a different story.  But the energies just exist, and now that the four of you are together we can use them to close the rift as much as they’re trying to use them to open it.  All you need to do is link hands inside the circle.  We’ll handle the rest.”

Tom shrugged and shook his head.  “Hey, Tom, do you want to spend a few weeks on a tropical cruise?  Maybe poke around some islands?  Start a small business with some health supplements?  Sure!  Sounds great!  Oh, hey, real quick though, you might also be a pawn in the apocalypse…is that cool?  Yeah?  Good,” the shrunken stud muttered to himself as he walked over to the circle.  “Can we please just get this over with?  I need to have a real big freak out real soon.”

Dave had a thousand questions he wanted to ask, but he kept quiet as Will and Tyler followed suit.  He didn’t know what closing the rift and stopping Ethan altogether meant for them, or for the new powers that he and Tom seemed to possess.  If they ended this branch of HB&L’s scheming, would that also end the effects that kept them safe?  Would people suddenly see them for the oddities that they were?  And did he even want to give up their new abilities?  If they could be harnessed for good the way Shawn said, maybe the rifts could be closed and the extra-dimensional forces could be held at bay while still allowing them to reshape the world the way they’d always dreamed?  But he’d need the others for that to work, too, and he doubted he’d get their buy-in by resisting now.  So, instead, he walked over and took up his space in the circle, linking hands with Tom and Will on either side with Tyler standing directly across from him.

He was still so overwhelmed by his ex-lover’s presence that he barely noticed the other figures stepping out from the stacks around them.  Half a dozen men and women appeared seemingly out of nowhere, their voices joining in a unified, repetitive chant that grew in volume.  The symbols at their feet began to glow and a mounting pressure began weighing down on the four of them, but all Dave saw was Tyler.  He studied the blonde’s delicate features, his stomach fluttering both from the tingling energy coursing through them and the memory of what that face felt like against his rugged, caressing hands.  Dave didn’t look away until the chanting stopped and he heard the crashing of glass, followed by a familiar, booming voice.

Finally raising his eyes, the burly brute was greeted by a terrifying sight.  The stained glass dome above them had exploded, but instead of raining down the shards hovered in midair, swirling like a school of razor sharp fish until they formed a gigantic approximation of Ethan’s smirking face.

“Ahhh…there you are my naughty, naughty boys,” Ethan’s voice boomed.  Around them, the chanting figures that had emerged from the rows of books lay sprawled on the ground, with only Shawn remaining upright, though he leaned against a nearby shelf for support.  “Despite the circumstances, it makes my heart swell to see the four of you together again.  How does the saying go?  I’m not mad, simply disappointed.  The things we could have achieved together…” the voice trailed off, the glittering mask taking on a sad expression before the smile returned.  “But we still can!  I applaud you as always for your initiative in this amateurish attempt.  You’re learning how to harness that beautiful potential you possess…you simply need help in learning how to direct it.  Did you really think closing the rift would be that simple?  No, what I think we have here is a teachable moment.  All that power you just unleashed has to go somewhere, and since we’re all learning together, what better place than the college?  That’s where all this started after all, and we’d always talked about creating a scholarship program for promising minds.  Just think of it…Spore University.  And the four of you made it possible.”

When Ethan finished speaking the shards reformed into their previously domed shape, but instead of stained glass they bore a projected image like a movie screen.  At first there was only darkness, which eventually gave way to a night-black sky, then a bank of concrete clouds that was pierced to reveal the rapidly approaching city below, the falling perspective zeroing in on the nearby University.

**********

Mark’s heart raced as he watched Hank’s large hand slide up and down his aching cock.  His friend’s hand didn’t seem as large as it should, though he attributed that to the fact that his rigid log seemed much too big.  The addled, chestnut-haired young man kept thinking he should have a modest six inches, not a girthy monster that stretched up to his pecs and was so thick that the other man’s fingers couldn’t even crest its full bottom, let alone come together in a fist.  And then there was the fact that it was exposed at all.  Mark remembered sitting on the couch with his friends wearing only a pair of shorts, but he didn’t remember the front of those shorts being cut out like chaps to form a window for his girthy monster and the small melons that were his balls.  Nor did he remember where the dense layer of scruffy fur that covered his once-smooth torso had come from.  He’d always had a scrappy spot of dark, golden hair between his toned pecs, but while the athletic body underneath appeared unchanged, that scrappy spot had sprouted into a forest.

It was the kind of hair that belonged on Hank, though unlike the wild pelt Mark had acquired, the chocolate-haired hunk’s perfectly sculpted body was always kept perfectly manscaped.  It still was, the soft, curly layer adding a redundant air of extra masculinity to his already envious frame.  With his wide jaw, broad shoulders, powerful arms, ripped washboard, and firm, ample rear, Hank was the looker of the house.  Mark wasn’t bad, though he’d always been a bit bookish, while Dylan’s meathead features were far too unrefined to compete, and Bobby’s sharp, angular cheekbones just looked uncomfortable.  The chiseled brunette, on the other hand, could have been a model.  He had a stunning face and was hung like a horse, leaving a trail of satisfied women from one end of campus to the other.

Which is what made Mark’s behavior all the more confusing.  While Hank stroked the underside of his gargantuan log, instead of doing the same, Mark’s fingers were buried inside a damp, warm slit where the other man’s impressive package should have been.  The rest of his friend’s body appeared unchanged, but instead of the small black running shorts he’d been wearing, a pair of bright red panties now stretched around Hank’s hairy, muscular thighs.

It all felt like a dream.  Mark had noticed a weird vibe all afternoon that only got worse as the day stretched on.  He’d been on edge, jumping at shadows and constantly looking over his shoulder.  Paying attention in class had been impossible, and as he’d been distractedly looking around the lecture hall he saw several others doing the same.  There was just something in the air that felt off.  They’d all remarked on it when he and his three roommates had congregated in their living room for what should have been a mundane night of beer and videogames, but then the flash happened.

It had been blinding, even when he’d instinctively clamped his eyes shut, to the point where he couldn’t tell when he’d opened them again.  There’d been an explosion of white, followed by an encompassing darkness that chilled him to the core.  He told himself it must have been that frigid numbing that kept him from noticing the changes to his clothes and his cock, but even as he had the thought it felt odd.  Why would he think he’d changed?  Why did he keep expecting Hungry Hank’s voracious pussy to be a firm cock?  Why did he feel a rush of dread when he thought about walking around with his swaying monster on display the way he always did?

And why did he think of Dylan as a broad bull of a man instead of the curvy little waif he was?  Looking over at the slender, silken-haired siren as he knelt in front of Bobby, Mark’s vision kept blurring, replacing his pretty, petite friend with a burly wall of muscle.  He saw a broad back and a square, meaty trunk, along with powerful, piston arms and squat, tree-trunk thighs.  The thin-shouldered, soft-armed twink who appeared to be kneeling on a pair of supple, bouncing basketballs looked out of place, as did his androgynous face and surprisingly imposing club of a cock.

Though Dylan’s appearance was no less jarring than the mountain of a man he knelt in front of.  Mark kept seeing Bobby’s dark-skinned frame as tight and wiry, but now the hulking hunk barely fit in the wide chair at all.  The rounder, fuller face that had swallowed his formerly harsh features seemed to sit directly on his torso as the muscles of his shoulders and upper back swallowed his neck entirely, setting the stage for the plump, heaping pecs that jutted out just below his chin.  The fleshy shelf rested on a lumpy, beachball muscle-gut, both of which looked small when compared to the massive arms and oversized legs that completed Bobby’s appearance.  It was as if the thin, toned man had taken the mass that Mark expected to see on Dylan and then some, the excessive bulk a sharp contrast to the tiny, petite little cock that Dylan furiously lapped at, and the high, squeaky voice that slipped out in lustful whimpers.

“Fuuuuuuuck I wish I could get this thing inside me,” Hank groaned as he leaned over to lick at Mark’s oozing head.

“You…you do…?” Mark asked, his free hand stroking through his freshly-grown pelt.  There was a pause as he watched the brunette Adonis’s expression go momentarily confused before the other man smiled and nodded.

“Of course, bro.  It’s the only one I haven’t added to my collection,” Hank purred.  “You walk around swinging it everywhere and I can’t go for a ride…feels rude, dude.”

“I…I don’t…I mean I…” Mark stammered, his brain still refusing to accept what his friend was telling him.  He kept clinging to his memories of how things were before the flash, though it appeared as if he was the only one who did so.

“Oh, be nice,” Dylan said as he took a break from Bobby’s tiny nub.  “You know he can’t help it any more than I can with these things.”  He went up on his knees as he spoke and popped his hips to clap the massive melons of his ass together, grinning over a bony shoulder.  “I’d love to go for a ride too, but we can’t always get what we want.”

“Tell…tell me about it,” Bobby squeaked.  “I walk around in those little posers all day and I can’t even see my piece even though everyone else gets to.”

“It’s still there bud, trust me,” Dylan grinned, leaning in to give the little rod another lick.

“I know, I know…I’m just fucking with him,” Hank said as he reached over and tousled Mark’s hair.  “I just love how flustered he gets when he’s worked up.  All that blood rushing from his brain to his dick…it’s cute.”

“It…it is…?”  Mark blinked and shook his head, the tenuous grasp on his memories starting to slip.

Hank gave him a quick peck on the cheek before sitting back on the couch and folding his sculpted arms behind his head to give Mark’s fingers full access to his throbbing orifice.  “Mmmnnmm…of course it is, bro!  Lucky for you we’re on such an accepting campus.  Everyone around here’s a goddamn weirdo.”

That didn’t sound any more accurate to Mark than anything else about the current situation, but it was quickly becoming a moot point.  With each throb of his inflated rod it was harder to focus, and his world was quickly tunneling to the gorgeous hunk squirming and moaning at the end of his probing digits.  He was still confused, but that was nothing new, and he knew it would pass once they’d finished and his colossal cock went back to sleep.  Not that he was in any hurry.