Roomie 2.0 pt. 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3 - Josh

He couldn’t stop himself from laughing when Mike pitched the idea to him. To try to find someone who could hypnotize Joe into more of a jock type, like them. Not too much of a change, but enough so he at least would enjoy watching football with them. Maybe join some beach volley or some hoops. He was missing out on so much friendship, activities, and life in general, Mike concluded. They would do him a solid.

If anyone else had asked him, he would have said no straight away. He knew that even small changes tend to amplify over time, like a mental butterfly effect. But Mike wasn’t just anyone. Although they had only known each other for two years, once he had moved in as Mikes flatmate they had become like brothers. Mike didn’t need the money. He had quite the opposite problem with too many rooms and not enough going on in them. “What good is money if you can’t buy yourself friends?” he had joked. Now they didn’t just share a flat and a curriculum, they pretty much shared everything.

“What’s so funny?”
“I’ve had similar thoughts about Joe, and I know a guy who can help.”

Joe had moved in much later, only five months ago. They had both agreed that they could use one more person in the flat. They never used the dinky home gym anyway. Since they had time to chose tenant carefully they knew exactly what they wanted and who they ultimately got. Someone a bit more structured and focused on the academic side, to balance them out. It soon became apparent that they had over-corrected.

“I’ll text him and see if he is up for BBQ.”

Greg was busy that afternoon, but already next evening they sat on his balcony, breaking fire safety codes by grilling USDA Prime beef and corn on flimsy disposable grills. Mike had bought the meat, and Josh had carried beer from the beer fridge.

“I don’t want him to stop being him. Well, perhaps a little. But I don’t want him to become stupid or anything. Just look at us. We go to class, take our exams, work out, play sports, retake exams. I just want him to be a bit more like us.” Mike concluded his pitch reprise.

“That’s good and all. You can’t really affect intelligence with hypnosis anyway, just direct it towards different things.” Greg explained. “The big issue though isn’t where you want him to be, but how to safely get him there in such a way that he decides to stay there. There needs to be some sort of tangible change. Something to keep him locked on to the suggested path.”
“Like what? Different clothes?”
“That could work. It’s best if he selects it himself, so he doesn’t question it.”

Josh jumped in “What about a new haircut? We could ask him if he would rather have my or Mike’s haircut, if he had to choose. Slip it into conversation somehow, like he is settling a dispute between the two of us.”
“Oh, that’s perfect. Lots of work to make it believable, but if he buys it he’s hooked. You can even have him make the decision days before you actually start the process.”

“Hey, Greg. Where’s the bathroom?”
“Just through the living room and left.”
“Bring some beers from the fridge on the way back.”

As soon as Mike went inside, Greg leaned in and asked him in theatrically hushed voice
“You haven’t told him yet!?”
“I’ll do it once we are well on our way with Joe.”
“I fucking told you to tell him.”
“And I will. I’ve just been afraid of what that could do to us.”

Greg slumped back in his chair, considering Mike’s answer for a few seconds, and emptied the last of his beer.

“It’s uncanny though.”
“What is?”
“It’s not going to end up the same since the starting point is different, but he is doing to Joe, beat for beat, what you did to him.”

Read my commentary.