FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Time seemed to stand still at the comic book shop where Cliff worked. The black cat was bored out of his mind - the lack of customers over the last few weeks or so was really starting to wear down on him. Normally it meant that he'd get a chance to take more and longer breaks, but the dwindling patronage reduced the number of employees in the store to just two at a time, with him included. It was times like this that he wished he weren't the clerk on retail duty.

Cliff had gone and pulled out a chair from the break room, figuring that there was no real reason to be standing all day if he didn't have to. That led to him hunching over the counter to stare at his phone, endlessly scrolling through his social media feeds to see the exact same posts he saw hours ago. The frustration he felt from the ennui of the situation culminated in an aggravated sigh, one he had no chance of stopping once it started. When looking at things on the internet becomes a chore, one knows they're in trouble.

Apparently, that show of exasperation had been louder than the feline intended, as it drew the attention of his co-worker Conrad, the only other person in the building besides him. He watched the dog round the corner leading to the employee-only rooms and make his way into the store proper.

The canine sauntered his way up to the counter and copied the leaning pose that the cat was making, locking eyes with him while smirking. He noted that the mouth on the scarf his co-worker was wearing had a very pronounced frown on it. "Having fun up here?"

"Hey Connie." Cliff flicked his gaze up to the intruding dog. "The answer's 'no'." He shot back flatly. "What's up? Do you need help moving something?"

"Nah," Conrad stood back up again, "just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Bored. Bored is how I'm doing." Cliff rubbed his eyes with his fingers. He then gently shook his head, allowing his long ponytail to swish gracefully over his shoulders before coming to rest on his back. "And I guess it makes sense that you don't need help with anything in the back since, one - I'd have known about any shipments coming in - and two - we haven't sold anything in ages."

Conrad forced air through his nostrils at the statement. He knew the store had been struggling to attract customers for some time now, but he felt powerless when it came to trying to rectify the situation. Nevertheless, he did his best to maintain a positive outlook for the sake of the pair of them. "I'm sure we'll get someone in here soon. It's just a matter of time at this point."

"If we do get someone coming in here," Cliff leaned back into the chair until he was sitting straight up, "then I'm gonna need you away from the counter so that I can do my job unimpeded."

Conrad folded his arms across his chest at the remark, a wry grin smearing its way along his face. "Why, so you can go back on your phone?"

"You act like I've been on it all day." Cliff dismissed the interrogative question with his hand.

"You've been on it for an hour and a half straight." Conrad stated matter-of-factly.

That caught Cliff entirely off guard. "Wait... really?" His eyes had gone wide at the realization of where his time had been spent.

"Yeah." Conrad nodded. "Don't forget, I can see you on the cameras in the back."

Cliff narrowed his eyes at the dog, irritation rising again. "Hold on, you've really been watching me on the security cameras this whole time?"

"Only when I'm not on my phone."

"Ugh!" Cliff runs his hands down his face in annoyance. "There's nothing to do around here..." He complained aloud to no one in particular.

"Alright, let's talk about something else instead then." Conrad perked up. "Are you ready for the convention next week?"

"Uh, of course I am." Cliff laughed as if the answer to the inquiry was obvious. "I've had my cosplay ready to go for ages now."

"So you're good to go for the photo shoot too then?" Conrad asks with a knowing smirk.

Had there not been fur in the way, one could see the colour drain from Cliff's face as he froze in place. "Oh my god, I completely forgot..." The black feline hastily grabbed his smartphone and opened up the calendar app, scrolling as quickly as he could to the date of the convention. It seemed like he had reminders for every odd thing he had going on in his life, but for some reason an entry for the photo shoot was absent, sending him into a huffing panic. "Why is it not here?! Why did I not remind myself about it?!"

Conrad saw how freaked out the cat was and attempted to calm him down. "Hey, hey," he cooed softly, "it's okay. It's still just over a week away from now. You've got time to take care of anything you still need to do."

"That's the thing," Cliff had begun hyperventilating in his distressed state, "I actually don't have time anymore." His hands had dropped to his lap, which is when he really got a good look at himself. Admittedly, he had a lazy spring and had let himself go as a result, but that was all supposed to be taken care of by now. The thing about Cliff was that he was normally pretty buff, but that was in direct contrast to his incredibly lax lifestyle. This was gonna be no different - he was gonna be chiseled in time for the convention at the very least, but his drooping moobs, sagging arms, cushiony rear, and ample gut made it clear that he was still miles away from being swole like he intended. "I was gonna give myself a reminder to get myself in shape over a month ago specifically for the photo shoot. Now it's literally too late."

"You don't need to be fit to cosplay." Conrad reasoned. "I'm sure you'll do just fine as is."

"No, you don't understand!" Cliff had worked himself up into a frenzy. "I'm going as Nekoyama Tenshi, you know, because it's kinda my thing. I should have been bulked up by now if I were to make it authentic."

"Isn't he a ninja though?" Conrad knew about the character since the feline had practically told him everything there is to know about him, so he had a pretty good idea of what he was supposed to look like. "I mean, you could probably get away with not being buff."

"Maybe..." Cliff's gaze had dropped back to his sizable paunch and sighed dejectedly, upset with how it stretched out his dress shirt, allowing black fur to poke through the holes in between where the garment was buttoned up. "But I definitely know I can't be fat."

Conrad knew how much the cat was beating himself up over this and ambled around the counter to give him some physical support. "Listen," he placed his hand on his co-worker's shoulder, "I'm sure it's all gonna be fine. The other people there will be happy you showed up and won't care what you look like."

"No, you don't understand." Cliff looked like he was on the verge of tears - this was a genuine point of contention for him. "Everyone involved in the shoot made an agreement that we'd all be as accurate with our costumes as possible." He tilted his head back as he rubbed his eyes, pain washing through him. "Now I have to break my promise and it hurts."

This got Conrad thinking about what could be done about the situation. A week really isn't a whole lot of time and he genuinely wanted to help the feline out in any way he can, but he'd need a course of action. He figured his co-worker would be more likely to hear him out if he had a set plan, and only just then did he realize what his first step would be. "You know that employment here covers us going to a gym?"

That was exactly what needed to be said to catch Cliff's full attention. "Really? One of the benefits of working here is being able to get a gym membership?" His jaw was slightly agape, not entirely believing what he'd just heard.

"Yep!" Conrad nodded, a smile growing on his face. "I think it's a bit unexpected myself, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth."

The idea seemed to lighten Cliff's mood for a bit, only it dramatically died down less than a moment later. "That's not gonna be enough on it's own. I'm still practically out of time." His shoulders dropped once more as he moped about. "I'm never gonna be fighting fit if I start now."

"And that's where I come in." Conrad confidently exclaimed.

Cliff could do nothing but stare at the dog, not understanding what he's getting at. "I don't follow."

"I can help you!" Conrad's tail eagerly wagged behind him as ideas formulated in his head.

"And you've lost me." Cliff pinched the bridge of his nose. "I think you've failed to realize that this thing is almost literally in a week. I'm screwed."

Conrad enthusiastically clasped his hands together. "No, no, I bet I can really help. I can put together a workout regiment and make sure you're getting all your proper nutrients and stuff."

"You actually think you can pull this off in a week?" This whole conversation had Cliff completely bewildered that it was even happening in the first place and that he was virtually considering accepting the proposal.

"Yes, I do." Conrad boasted in genuine self-assuredness. "Do you trust me?"

This entire thing sounded absolutely insane to Cliff. There was unquestionably no possible way for this to ever work out, but it wasn't like the cat really had any other options available. Against his better judgment, he relented. "Fuck it, what do I have to lose?" The mouth on his scarf had formed a smile.

"Hey, glad to have you on board!" Conrad excitedly yipped, nearly jumping in the air upon hearing that he'd get the chance to help after all. "I promise that I'm gonna get you in tip-top shape in time for your cosplay shoot."

Cliff cocked a brow in suspicion. "You promise?"

"I promise." Conrad couldn't stop his grin from stretching ear to ear. "I'm gonna see you through this next week and get you as big as I can possibly make you."

That statement sounded not only implausible to Cliff, but positively preposterous. He knew that his chances of not only shedding the weight he currently sported, but also packing on muscle mass as well, were incredibly slim in the time frame he had. But he was still going to do it. Who knows, he might come out half-decent in a week's time after all. "Alright, I'll hold you to it."

***

Time seemed to zip by for Conrad as he enthusiastically searched the web on the computer in the back for anything that could help his co-worker in his quest to bulk up. It might seem a bit crazy to an outsider that the dog was putting in so much effort into helping the cat with his endeavours, but that was only because he had a massive crush on the feline and wanted the best for him. He would do whatever it took to make him happy, no matter how much work it'd be for him.

That, of course, was in conjunction with the desire to see Cliff grow as huge as he possibly could. The black-furred cat had been huge in the past and was what got Conrad to swoon for him in the first place. He longed for the chance to see his co-worker grow again and for all of his efforts to be recognized. A dream often played in his head where he got to sprawl along that tremendous pec shelf the cat sported, and he was certain that it would happen one day.

Conrad had been searching for what felt like forever and didn't once stumble upon something that could help his co-worker out of his predicament. He certainly found a ton of supplements, and while he considered just making the feline consume the first twenty or thirty that popped up, he wanted something that would be really worth their while.

That's when he came across the website of one supplement in particular. It wasn't one Conrad had ever heard of and looked unassuming enough, but he had to scoff when he saw that they advertised that using their product would promise results in mere days. It was unbelievable, sure, but the idea of daily gains for Cliff was definitely tantalizing.

He scoped out the rest of the site and found nothing out of the ordinary. Testimonials seemed in order, as did their 'About' page. This whole operation seemed legitimate, which was everything Conrad needed in order to go through with a purchase. Looking through the options available to him, he decided to proceed with a bulk order, thinking that it could be useful after the convention should the cat want to beef up even further.

"Oh, there's delivery options as well," Conrad noted to himself as he looked through what the company offered. There was obviously the freebie where they'd get their product to his door sometime within the week, but for barely a few dollars more he could guarantee same day shipping, meaning he'd get the package some time when he was home later in the day. Obviously, he splurged for that option, seeing as he wanted to set his plan into motion as soon as humanly possible. He was on the edge of his seat in excitement - tomorrow was going to be the beginning of an exhilarating week!

***

Conrad hummed to himself as he put three large reusable water bottles in the break room fridge, filled with the protein shake he made that morning with the powder delivered the night before. The brown liquid lapped the sides of the lids while being stored. He had gotten to work before the cat did, which gave him time to anxiously wait until he wasn't alone. So much nervous energy had built up inside him while he paced around that his heart almost stopped when he heard the front door to the shop open. It was time!

Unlike his co-worker, Cliff looked practically catatonic. He'd never been a morning person and wasn't about to start now. Groggily stumbling his way to the back, he nearly clipped the doorframe with his shoulder, waking up just enough to realize that before continuing walking. He eventually got to the employee lockers and shoved all his stuff into one, thankful that he had gotten dressed into his work clothes before he left.

"Heya!" Conrad practically cheered as he cantered up to the scarfed feline, nearly scaring him half to death.

"Fuck, dude!" Cliff clutched a flabby moob, able to feel his heartbeat despite the flesh in the way. "You're gonna kill me like that one of these days."

"Sorry..." Conrad admonished himself, though he couldn't help his smirk from creeping onto his face. "So, are you ready to do this?"

Cliff groaned loudly, palming his face with his hands. "I honestly forgot this was happening today. Can we please reschedule?"

Conrad resolutely shook his head. "No way, we gotta start today if you wanna stand a chance of looking like your cosplay character next week."

"Right," Cliff tried and failed to stifle a yawn with his fist, "right... Okay, what do I have to do?"

"Follow me." Conrad lilted to the cat, grabbing his hand, and taking him to the employee break room.

Cliff genuinely had no idea what was in store for him and could only imagine what the dog had planned. He watched with squinted eyes as the other man opened up the fridge and pulled out a container of something that didn't look all that appealing to him. "What the hell is that?"

"Protein shake." Conrad popped off the top of the lid with his thumb, allowing the aroma of the liquid to escape through the opening. "I got the chocolate kind because I knew you liked that flavour."

Cliff could only watch in trepidation as the drink sloshed around in the jug. The container itself was huge, which meant that there easily could've been a litre or two of fluid held in the hands of the dog. "I have to drink all that?"

"Yup." Conrad nodded.

"Over the course of the day?" Cliff's eyes grew wider with the realization that he'd genuinely have to down all of it.

"Nope, right now."

Cliff gulped. "Is this a meal replacement or something?" He was grasping at any and all straws that could help him right now.

"Nope." Conrad's directness was getting to be disheartening to the cat. "You can totally eat your lunch as well. In fact, the people who made this encouraged eating meals in addition to taking this." He passed the relatively weighty bottle over to his co-worker. "Go on."

Cliff's heavy stomach was a tangled knot of regrets at the moment. He stuck his hand out to accept the jug and then brought it to his nose for a sniff, recoiling slightly at the sickly-sweet aroma. The unfortunate thing about protein shakes, he'd heard, is that they often smelled better than they tasted. He was hoping he'd get lucky today.

Conrad watched the feline bring the lip of the large reusable water bottle to the mouth on the scarf, observing how rapidly the liquid disappeared. He'd be alarmed if he hadn't seen it hundreds of times already.

Cliff was a trooper, chugging the entire thing in one go and letting the jug fall immediately upon emptying it. Not realizing just how long he'd held his breath while he drank, he panted heavily to try and get the air back in his lungs. Once he caught his breath, he let out a sigh of relief, popping the lid back on the bottle and placing it in the break room sink. "So is that it then?" He asked as he shot his gaze over to the canine. "That's all I gotta do?"

"Oh, you'll have to do that three times a day." Conrad explained straightforwardly.

"Three times?!" Cliff's jaw nearly dropped to the floor upon hearing that. "I have to do that three times a day?"

"Absolutely!" Conrad beamed at the feline. "You'll have the first shake in the morning, the second one around noon, and then the last one after you finish your gym workout later in the day."

"Oh right, the gym..." Cliff had grown incredibly lethargic over the last couple months and dreaded the thought of all the exertion he'd have to do in such a short amount of time. Normally he wouldn't have minded it and instead would've relished the opportunity, but he was so far away from the body he had before letting himself go. A miracle would need to happen if he were to pull this off.

Conrad narrowed his eyes at his co-worker. "You signed up for the gym I sent to you, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I did." Cliff blearily rubbed an eye, stretching his other arm out while yawning. "I forgot to do it last night, so I had to quickly sign up this morning before I left." His jaw was still sore from his sudden liquid breakfast, so he rubbed it to soothe the dull ache present. "Really? Three times?"

***

It was finally time for Cliff's midday slump, but, surprisingly, he was feeling a bit better than he normally did at this point in the day. He chalked it up to the protein shake having some electrolyte something-or-other in it, or some other energy-related thing he didn't know the name of. Regardless of what it was, it was definitely helping him. His eyes didn't feel nearly as glazed over as they would've by now which was huge considering he'd actually fallen asleep at this time before. It wasn't much, but it gave him just that extra bit of confidence that the day might actually go well after all.

"Hey, hey." The black cat had shifted his gaze to see Conrad poking his head out from behind the door frame. "Oh, someone's actually awake right now."

"Yeah, for once." Cliff had to admit, he did like how he felt at the moment.

Conrad impishly smirked. "Well that's good," he pulled himself out into the open, dragging another shake with him, "because it's time for your second dose."

"Crap." Cliff was awash in disappointment at the thought of downing yet more protein shake. "Alright, let's get it over with."

"I'm glad you haven't decided to back out!" Conrad hefted the jug onto the front counter, thankful that it didn't bow in the middle where all the weight now was.

Cliff sighed dejectedly. "I know you wouldn't give me that choice." He grabbed the bottle and popped the top off, reluctantly inhaling the scent of the frothy liquid.

"Absolutely not." Conrad was in a positively chipper mood, mostly because he wanted to see if all the effort that he put in was going to pay off or not.

Cliff grumbled under his breath, looking at the drink in annoyance. As much as he'd like to just forget about this whole thing, he couldn't just stop while the dog was watching him. "Down the hatch." In one swift motion, he brought the bottle to the mouth on his scarf and tilted his head back, knocking back the shake as fast as he could. He did his best to open his throat more in order to shorten the amount of time needed to ingest the whole thing.

"Good, good." Conrad watched the feline finish the drink and hand him back the jug. "Just one more to go now."

Cliff slumped over the counter in resignation. As much as he wanted to have a rockin' bod for his cosplay, he regretted agreeing to letting the canine help him. Just a few, short hours left until his shift was over and then he'd be forced to exercise at the gym for who knows how long. He was in for a whole new world of hurt.

***

"Here we are!" Conrad locked his car behind him and made his way over to where the cat had parked. He had been effervescent the entire day so far, much to the chagrin of his co-worker.

"Yippee." Cliff sarcastically cheered as he clambered out of his vehicle. Despite having a sizable bod in the past, he'd never actually stepped foot in a gym before. Every little piece of him was screaming to leave forthwith, but there wasn't anything he could do about the situation now. He was trapped there against his will by societal convention. Curse that dog.

The process of getting registered at the gym was painless considering the two of them were already in the system, but Cliff still wasn't happy. Call it Impostor Syndrome, but he didn't feel like he belonged here. His locale was at his comic shop, or a board game café, or an arcade, not slinging weights at the local iron pit. It felt like a total betrayal of his principles as well as everything he was made of. Still, there was no turning back now.

"Looks like the lockers are this way." Conrad pointed past the front desk to a pair of hallways on the opposite ends of the room. They made their way into the men's locker room and found a spot in the corner away from prying eyes. The scarfed feline was grateful that nooks like this were built into the room.

Cliff was the first one out of the change room, which gave him time to fully inspect his attire. He'd picked the biggest shirt he could find, which, unfortunately, didn't cover the bottom of his soft belly. He was miffed, but not as much as when he realized that the sporting shorts that he wore didn't even need to be tied up by the drawstrings in order to stay on his hips. Man, he really had let himself go.

"Looking good." A voice called out from behind the cat. He was momentarily mortified that someone else would be talking to him here, but once he got to breathe for a second, he realized it was just Conrad.

"Ya gotta stop doing that, man." Cliff forced air through his nostrils in irritation. He was about to chew the dog out for startling him when he realized that he had gone and switched clothes as well. "Why did you get changed too?"

"Moral support." Conrad nodded.

Cliff pursed his lips at the response. "Right." He sighed defeatedly. "Shall we get started?" The monotone drawl of his voice indicated just how excited he was to be here.

"Yes, let's!" Conrad grabbed the overweight cat by his wrist and happily bounded off to the free-weights.

"Hey, not so fast!" Cliff nearly stumbled over his feet by the time they got to an open bench by the wall-to-wall mirrors.

Conrad went and placed a hand on the feline's shoulder. "Sorry, I just wanna get started already." He went and pulled his co-worker into a full body hug. "Aahh, I'm so excited!"

"That makes one of us." Cliff snarked as he was released. It was then that he finally got a good look around at the other clientele and noticed a rather odd, but telling, trend among them. "Uh, we're the smallest guys in here by a country mile." No matter where he looked, there was a colossal beefcake in the midst of their workout. Nor did species matter, as everything from elephants to mice were accounted for and were all excessively huge. "This feels like it's the wrong place for me to do this."

Conrad cocked his head at the cat's sentiment. He made it abundantly clear what they were getting into. "I had sent you the link to their website for you to look at last night, remember? You could've made that call then."

Cliff immediately felt his face go flush at the realization that he had the time to review the gym and chose not to, instead diving headfirst into an argument on his favourite comic book forum. "Right..." Resigned to his fate, he headed over to the racks of dumbbells to pick up a set to use, only to see that the lightest on offer was forty pounds. "What the fuck..." He mumbled to himself as he ambled back to the dog. "Dude, I'm not gonna make any progress trying to move weights around that I can barely budge."

Conrad chuckled and lightly slapped the feline on his flabby back. "Nonsense, you gotta lift big to get big, right?"

"I feel like there's more to that that you're intentionally glossing over." The mounting feeling of dread Cliff experienced was beginning to hit a breaking point.

"Look," Conrad put his hands on the scarfed cat's shoulders and turned him to make their gazes meet, "just don't worry about it. You will be fine." He wore a genuine smile on his face in an attempt to lighten the mood of his co-worker.

"How can I not worry when everyone around me is so excessively buff?" Cliff's ears drooped when he looked at the intense workouts the other patrons were putting themselves through, knowing he'd stick out like a sore thumb.

Conrad shook his head and sighed before looking back at the black-furred feline. "Dude, everyone's so focused on their own thing that they don't even know we're here."

"Really?" Cliff looked to his right and spied a monstrous hulk of a wolf in the middle of a curl with what looked like the largest set of weights available, but peered a little closer and saw that, even though one of his eyes was covered by a tuft of dirty-blonde hair, the wolf was more intent on monitoring his form than worrying about what anyone else was getting up to. "Huh, you might actually be right."

"Of course I'm right!" Conrad gave a Cheshire grin and patted the cat on his fatty arm. "Now come on, let's get started."

Mercifully, Conrad had actually picked out a very basic routine for Cliff to follow, one that didn't require any really intricate knowledge of the machines to figure out.

Since Conrad had taken the cat to the dumbbells, that's what he started with. The only issue was that he needed both hands to even heft one up as his maximum lift with one hand was probably closer to less than half of what it weighed. It made doing five sets of 10 reps an impossibility, with Cliff needing to cut it short halfway through or else he thought he'd pass out.

The second exercise was the bench press, which Conrad had to go and cancel for the day as both he and Cliff combined couldn't budge the bar off of its rests to even do one rep despite loading it with the lightest weights around them.

Next was the squat rack, where they faced a similar issue. They actually managed to get the bar in motion, but it became an endeavour to try and rerack it. Cliff was starting to lose hope, but Conrad assured him that there was more to come and to not worry. The feline was less than pleased with that answer.

Then came the leg press, something Conrad had faith that Cliff would actually be able to use. To the scarfed cat's surprise, he was actually able to move the weights without a problem, even needing to add more on after. The dog mentioned that this exercise was generally easier due to the average person naturally working their legs more than any other muscle on their body on a day-to-day basis. Though he wouldn't admit it, Cliff was actually a bit happy with his accomplishments here.

Lastly, there were the treadmills to burn off any excess energy that Cliff still had. Unlike the last exercise, he knew he'd loathe doing this one, even if all he'd be doing is walking. He eventually had to call it quits after three minutes or else he was going to collapse and potentially ruin the machine.

All in all, there really weren't all that many different exercises in the routine, it's just that Cliff took so long that they lasted what felt like an eternity. The whole thing actually took two hours, much longer than either of them anticipated but the feline was thrilled to be finished.

Cliff crumpled into a heap on the bench near his locker, glad to be able to rest at last. Sweat had soaked through almost all of the t-shirt he wore, still dripping off of him in spots where it was overly saturated. He wasn't sure if he had ever worked himself so hard in his life.

"So," Conrad came over and sat beside the lardy feline, "what'd you think?"

"That was humiliating." Cliff wheezed through heavily panting breaths. "Never let me do that again."

"Hey, hey," Conrad cooed, resting his hand along a dry spot on the cat's pudgy leg, "you did good for your first time. It'll be easier from here on out."

Cliff thought the canine was losing it a little. This was just a taste of what the rest of the week would be like - there wouldn't be any developments in the following days. "Seriously?"

"I promise it will be." Conrad's ears perked up as he remembered something, his tail thumping against the hardwood seating. "Right, just one sec." He quickly unlocked his locker and dug into his bag, bringing out the last protein shake. "Here you go, last one of the day!"

"Ugh." Cliff slumped against the wall, feeling his entire body go limp. "I think I might actually throw up if I drink that."

"Ah, ah," Conrad forced the bottle into his co-worker's hands, "you made a deal with me and you know you gotta follow through because of it. Take it."

This was the last thing Cliff wanted to do at the moment, but a deal's a deal. With his tired arms, he heaved the large bottle up to his scarf's mouth and drank. He wasn't totally thrilled with the chalky texture of the liquid right now but that was nothing a chaser of water couldn't fix. Once finished, he let the jug fall onto the bench beside him and held up a closed fist to his muzzle, trying and failing to stifle a belch.

"Alright, day one is done!" Conrad lightly patted the feline's chubby arm, being as gentle as he can knowing how sore his co-worker would be right about now. "Why don't ya go and hit the showers now? You'll feel better."

Cliff could do nothing but grunt at the suggestion. "Finally, the most sensible thing you've told me all day." He rooted through the gym bag in his locker until he found the shower gear that he brought with him. Making his way over to the stalls, he couldn't help but catch a glance of all the sweaty hunks also in the midst of changing, including the wolf. He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't incredibly jealous of the bulk they all possessed, but he decided it was best if he just pushed that out of his mind. They hadn't even regarded him since he got there so there was no reason to dwell on them.

Seeing as there wasn't anything else that Conrad needed to do after changing back into his casual attire, he elected to hang out by the entrance to the locker room and pass time by scrolling through his various social media feeds on his phone. It wasn't like there was anything better for him to do at the moment while he waited for his co-worker to join him.

It took about ten minutes to pass before the cat stumbled out of the doorway, looking decidedly happier than when he first entered. "Ahh, finally, home time." He noted where the dog was leaning on the wall and joined him.

"Feel better now?" Conrad's buoyant nature seemingly never faulted, though the feline didn't seem to mind as much now.

"Much." Cliff nearly purred at the thought of being done for the day. "I hate feeling like a sweaty mess."

Conrad smirked, pushing himself flat on his feet. "Sweat just means that you pushed yourself hard. You should be proud of yourself."

"Mmm, I guess." Cliff shot his fist to the front of his mouth to suppress a yawn. "Oh man, I'm gonna sleep well tonight."

***

To say that Cliff's morning was going better than the previous one was an understatement. Not only had he actually had the motivation to eat breakfast before coming to work today, but he was genuinely feeling alive, alert, and above all else, awake. The jury was still out on whether or not he felt enthusiastic. It was a nice change of pace at the very least.

Conrad had busied himself in the kitchen, storing the day's three protein shakes in the fridge when he heard his co-worker enter the store. He popped his head out the doorway to see the scarfed feline heading to his employee locker. "Hey, hey."

"Sup?" Cliff nonchalantly responded.

Conrad grinned when his eyes did a once over of the cat. Just by looking at him, the dog could tell that he was feeling better; the cat's eyelids weren't so baggy, his movements had more life in them, and he was carrying himself way better than he usually did at this time of day. "You're looking healthier today."

Cliff smirked. "I actually do feel healthier." That was when the question he formulated before coming to work wormed its way back into his mind. He turned to look at the canine. "Say, what's in those shakes?"

Conrad tried to answer the question, but nothing seemed to come out of his mouth. "I dunno, normal protein shake stuff. Why?"

"I think I'm actually less fat than I was the day before." Cliff tugged on his dress shirt, showing off the give the fabric now allows. "Look, I'm wearing the same-sized clothes from yesterday and they're less snug today."

Conrad caressed his chin with his index finger and thumb in thought. "Hmm, whatever's in the drink might be passively burning your excess calories. It must be similar to how caffeine stimulates the metabolism."

Cliff mulled over the explanation before ultimately shrugging his shoulders. "Eh, that's good enough for me."

"Oh," Conrad dipped back into the kitchen before re-emerging with one of the large jugs in hand, "speaking of which, we should get the day started."

Cliff rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Right..." He reluctantly accepted the shake and downed it on the spot, having gotten used to the taste and texture of the liquid, as well as the portion. Letting out a satisfied sigh, he handed the container back to the brown-furred dog. "At least these things are getting easier to drink."

"Oh?" Conrad's ears perked up at the remark.

"Yeah," Cliff stretched his arms above his head and yawned. "It doesn't feel like there's a giant weight in my stomach like it did yesterday."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're taking to this well!" Conrad beamed. "Hopefully, this means that the gym will be easier for you tonight."

Cliff's eyes went wide as the alarm bells went off in his head. "Oh no..." The cat had completely forgotten.

***

"And ten." Conrad finished his count, watching his co-worker hold the bench bar in the air for a few seconds before gently letting it crash back onto its rests. "Hey, that was really good!"

"Yeah," Cliff huffed, his gym shirt patterned with a giant blob of sweat on the front, "I can't believe I was actually able to pull it off."

"That just goes to show how much you can accomplish when you put your mind to something." Conrad nodded, helping the scarfed feline get back into a sitting position. "So, how are you feeling today?"

Cliff wheezed slightly but was able to get his breathing under control. "Surprisingly alright." He wiped the sweat off his head with the back of his forearm. "I'm just a little weirded out that I'm actually finding it easier to workout than I did yesterday."

"Oh yeah, that's just 'beginner's gains'." Conrad explained. "It's completely normal."

"Are you sure? This seems a little quick" Even in his somewhat delirious state of mind, Cliff didn't think that entirely sounded right.

Conrad reassured the cat with a nod of his head. "Oh, totally. You can trust me on this."

"Alright." Cliff was a bit weary, but ultimately placed his confidence in the canine. It wasn't like he was in much of a mindset at the moment to debate this anyway. "Help me up, please?"

Conrad dutifully grabbed a hold of the feline's less-flabby arms and gingerly heaved him onto his feet. He gave off a bit of a chuckle as he inadvertently felt up the other man. "You know, I think you're actually developing yourself really well."

"What do you mean?" Cliff quirked a brow at the dog.

Conrad went and circled around the cat's arm with both hands. "Flex for me."

It was at that moment that Cliff thought his co-worker had lost it. "Okay..." He humoured the canine and tensed his arm up as best he could, admittedly perceiving his bicep changing shape.

"See? I told you!" Conrad cheered when he felt the muscle bulge in his grasp.

"Huh," Cliff mused at the realization that his arm actually had some definition to it and wasn't entirely caked in heavy fat.

Conrad let go of his grip on the feline's arm and went to pat him on the back. "I knew you could do it. Now let's get this equipment cleaned up and get you over to the squat rack."

Cliff grumbled at the prospect of now having to hoist that heavy load from a standing up position, but he did as he was obliged. Once the bench was devoid of sweat and the individual weights were reracked, the two of them meandered over to where he'd be doing his squatting. He still kept it at the lowest possible weight he could have it at - like he did yesterday - but that didn't mean it was easy. Miraculously, once he was in motion, he was actually able to pull off the feat with little difficulty. Sure, getting a full set of reps in was still tough, but he just barely did it.

The rest of the routine also went smoother than the day before, as he was able to add more weight to his leg press reps, as well as staying on the treadmill for nearly as long as set out for him. It also took him considerably less time to complete his routine compared to the previous day, which Cliff was more than thrilled with. Finally, it was time to get cleaned up and go home.

"Great second day!" Conrad's tail wagged behind him as he rooted through the gym bag in his locker for the third protein shake.

"Yeah, I guess." Cliff sighed, resting his back against the wood-panelled wall. "Though I'd love to be done with this." He muttered under his breath.

"Ah ah, we still have most of the week left to go." Conrad handed the cat his last shake of the day. "Come on, drink up."

Cliff didn't even gripe as he swiped the jug out of the canine's hands and downed its contents on the spot. Even this was becoming a bit of a habit for him; it gave him peace of mind knowing that he was getting used to the drill of knocking back these shakes. He found it a bit odd, but he was almost welcoming of the flood of nutrient-rich liquid as he did notice that, since he started drinking them, he'd been feeling much better than he had before. Of course, it could also be chalked up to the shakes helping him recover from his daily exertions at the gym.

Conrad accepted the bottle back and packed it along with his other gear. "The week is pretty much flying by. I bet you can't wait for tomorrow."

Cliff absolutely could.

***

Conrad yawned as he made his way into the comic book shop, his pack slung over his shoulder. It was a bit of a restless night for him, but his excitement towards the day's upcoming events kept him energized enough to keep him moving through his morning routine. He barely took three steps into the employee-only area before he heard the front door open and someone call for him.

"Conrad?" There was a sense of panic in the voice.

"Oh, just a second." Conrad called back. He blearily rubbed his eyes until he got back out to the main floor and stopped dead in his tracks. There, blocking a good majority of the entrance, was his co-worker, only he looked much different.

Cliff was massive, at least compared to himself a few days ago. The cat had transformed from a fat sack of kitty lard to a feline bodybuilder in a matter of days. He was still wearing the same kind of dress clothes he had on previously, only he filled out the fabric far more now. While his midsection wasn't anywhere nearly as taut as it could've been, his arms more than made up for it by stretching the seams to their near breaking point. His pants were equally as filled out, with his newly muscled booty barely contained in the dress pants as well as a bulge in the front starting to become visible. Just about the only thing that still fit him just fine was the scarf he always wore. "Dude, look at me."

"I am looking respectfully." Conrad bit his lip as his eyes examined the cat before him. The progress his co-worker made was completely unexpected to himself as well, but there was no way he'd complain about something like this. He loved it when the cat beefed up, though he knew his appreciation wasn't noticed. Also, he swore the scarfed feline had gotten taller as well.

"I don't even have my gut anymore!" Cliff grabbed his defined abdomen as if to show off his revelation.

Conrad smirked. "Ha, we might actually have the same body fat percentage now!"

Cliff let his arms drop to his sides and lumbered over to where the dog was standing, a stern expression plastered on his face. "Conrad, seriously, how in the fuck is any of this actually happening?"

Conrad gulped, racking his brain for an answer. It took a few moments for the gears in his head to turn into the right place, but he ended up coming up with a conclusion that clicked with him. "It makes sense, right? I mean, Cliff, think about it rationally. There have been times where you've been obscenely muscular without even trying, and now you've been pushing your body harder than ever before. You know?"

Cliff pursed his lips, not entirely happy with that explanation. "I mean, I guess?"

"I also did find a fast-acting protein powder and gym regiment guaranteed to pack on muscle." Conrad shrugged his shoulders. "I've done my homework here."

Cliff sighed. "Yeah, that is actually very true." He took a few seconds to inspect himself. "I have put on quite a bit of muscle mass."

"And you doubted me!" Conrad practically radiated in his triumph, his arms proudly crossed along his chest.

Cliff rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Remind me to never do that again, clearly."

"Ah, don't worry about it. Anyway," Conrad brought his bag to the ground and opened the zipper to the largest compartment, "let's get you started today." He struggled for a brief second but was able to wrestle one of the jugs out of his backpack.

Cliff grimaced slightly when he saw the container being passed to him. "You know, I don't think I need to take these anymore. I think I'm plenty big as is."

Conrad shook his head and thrust the bottle into the cat's grasp. "Nonsense. You gotta see this through to the end. People who quit halfway through don't maintain their results for very long."

"I honestly think I can keep up this size for the convention." Cliff insisted.

Conrad cocked his head at the feline. "Are you sure?"

Cliff was about to assure that he could, but he hesitated. Truthfully, he'd never done anything like this before and wasn't really certain of himself. He tentatively accepted the bottle and drank the entirety of its brown contents. It wasn't anywhere near a problem for him now like it was the first time he did it.

"You're still eating meals alongside the shakes, right?" Conrad took the bottle from the cat.

Cliff rubbed the back of his beefy neck. "Yeah, I'm doing just as you instructed." An apprehensive look appeared on his face. "Honestly, I've been getting way hungrier these days."

"That's good!" Conrad warmly smiled. "Muscle takes a lot of energy to cultivate so your body is just acting according to its needs."

"Yeah, but I feel like I haven't eaten this much in a while."

Conrad dismissed the cat's concerns with a wave of his hand. "Ah, it's nothing you haven't experienced before. I will say though," the dog stood up and hoisted the strap of his bag back over his shoulder, "I'm rather interested in how you'll do tonight."

"What are you expecting?" Cliff's brow perked up.

Conrad impishly grinned, knowing full well what to anticipate from the feline.

***

Cliff grunted through gritted teeth as he heaved the dumbbell up to his cannonball-like shoulder, holding it there for a few seconds before finally letting his arm go limp. "Ten," he huffed, letting the weight gingerly fall to the padded floor. Gradually getting his breath back, he sat straight up and took a look at himself in the mirror, feeling a mix of emotions at his reflection.

The cat that looked back at him was completely unlike what did on the first day he was here. It was obvious to see the changes as he wore the same clothes every day he was at the gym, only now he filled them out far better. His chest was the most noticeable thing about him, how it jutted out and gave a visible third dimension to his body. His arms had swollen up tremendously, nearly ending up as big as his head whenever he flexed them. He even had his midriff showing, which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was actually getting taller as well. Pride swelled strongly within him, but it was still weighed down with worry and wonder as to how this was all possible.

Conrad came bounding up to the bulky feline. "Oh yeah, you're really working yourself like a barbarian now!"

"Don't call me that." Cliff spat out, thoroughly annoyed.

"Hey, relax," Conrad placed his hand on the cat's shoulder, "it's a compliment. I just wanted to tell you that I think you're doing great."

"Believe me, I can tell." Cliff had graduated to a set of dumbbells much larger than the relatively dinky pair he started with. Considering some of the hand weights available on the rack weighed more than his co-worker did, he could see he'd come a long way.

Conrad couldn't help but smile with glee. He mimicked his position with his other hand and stood behind the feline. "I mean, look at your traps. They're huge! It takes a lot of work to get them to this size."

As much as he loved hearing the praise, it sent a thought through his head. "You know, I kinda just thought of something. I'm not really using all the muscles I could be in these exercises. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Of course I do." Conrad nodded wholeheartedly. "All this is, is just lifting stuff and moving around."

Cliff's eyes narrowed into an unimpressed gaze. "So that's a 'no' then."

"I still did something right. You didn't get this big on your own." Conrad reasoned.

Cliff sighed. "But you said it yourself, this could just be how my body reacts."

"Ah, but you wanted to give up before you even started this week." Conrad pointed his index finger in the cat's direction. "I did tell you not to doubt me after all. At least give me that much."

"Alright, alright," Cliff waved his hand to dismiss the dog's outstretched hand, "you can have this one." He was about to reach down to grab the dumbbell he was using to return it, but a thought crossed his mind, one which made his lips twist in discontent. "Man, this one's not all that hard to lift, but the next one up is a right bastard in comparison. It just kinda sucks that there's no in-between weight I can try instead."

"Hmm," Conrad tapped his chin, trying to brainstorm an idea, "I think I know what you could do. Instead of just stopping now like you normally would, why don't you keep going until you fail? That should wring out as much potential as you could possibly get from that weight."

Cliff paused for a moment before agreeing with what the dog was saying. "Actually yeah, that's not a bad idea. I'll do that." He picked up the dumbbell and dove right back into a set, determined to repeatedly hoist it until exhaustion.

Conrad wore the biggest grin on his face as he watched the beefcake feline exert himself. He could feel his heart flutter with every flex of those delicious arms and wished he could feel them up in action. The scarfed feline had grown so much in such a short amount of time, and they had just over half a week left to go, meaning there'd be a lot more embiggening in the future. He couldn't wait to see just how huge his co-worker was going to get!

***

The next few days were a whirlwind of progress for Cliff. Gone were the dress clothes - his attire now comprised of clothing that had a lot of stretch in them. There wasn't a single garment in his wardrobe that didn't look painted on when he wore it. It wasn't like he could just go without clothing either as he felt rather self-conscious without it, as well as not wanting to get in trouble due to indecent exposure laws. He was also extraordinarily lucky that his truck was still capable of transporting him, even if he had to adjust the seat to its most extreme settings to do so.

Cliff walked through the front door of the comic book shop, now having to duck to fit inside. He had blown up into a veritable titan of a cat, wide enough that he was forced to enter through most doors sideways, and even then he sometimes had trouble. His pecs protruded far out from his body, stuffed with so much densely packed muscle that it forced the collar of his shirt to its near breaking point. They were so obscenely swollen that they tensed up anytime his arms came anywhere near the sides of his body.

Speaking of which, his arms were now like a mass of steel cables. Cliff's biceps bulged into twin peaks of a miniature mountain range, so high, in fact, that he couldn't palm the tops of them even if he tried. His shoulders were now more like boulders, though far stronger than any mere rock could ever hope to be. His traps rose high in the air, just to the point where they began to tickle his ears if he tensed them enough.

Cliff's lats ended up wide and wing-like, decreasing the ratio between his height and his width despite getting taller. His abdominals were akin to a washboard or a cheese grater, only much more reliable than any man made product could ever dream of being.

The cat's legs looked far closer to redwood tree trunks than what the average person's was, with his quads in particular being impressively thick. His calves ended up in the distinct teardrop shape that all bodybuilders dreamed of achieving. His muscled booty was now a pair of dimpled, globular cheeks that, when in flexion, one could bounce a coin off of them. Though all that paled in comparison to the bulge he sported between his legs that he fought so hard to contain on a now-daily basis. Despite his best efforts, it really left nothing to the imagination.

"Gosh, look at you." Conrad was leaning over the countertop, practically glowing with infatuation when he finally got a good look at the behemothian feline.

"I really wish you didn't." Cliff whined, a bit embarrassed by the attention his canine co-worker was giving him.

Conrad chuckled. "Why though? This is exactly what you wanted!"

"Dude," Cliff retorted, "this is way past what I was planning. I'm a monster."

"No way!" Conrad shot back, straightening himself up. "You look incredibly handsome, and you wear the bulk extremely well."

"Yeah, well, that's just your opinion." Cliff grumbled under his breath.

Conrad smirked. "I wouldn't say I'm the only one who thinks this way." A wry grin crossed the dog's face as he folded his arms across his chest. "I noticed that you took your sweet time coming out of the change room last night. What were you doing in there?"

Cliff's eyes bugged out a little trying to recall what happened, only for his cheeks to blush a rosy pink upon remembering. "Oh, yeah, I kinda got caught up talking with some of the other guys in there." He felt himself get a bit flustered. "I thought they'd all be meatheads, but it turns out they all like video games and comic books and stuff."

"Aw, you're making friends!" Conrad teased the gargantuan kitty. "That's so sweet."

Cliff narrowed his eyes at his co-worker. "Quiet, you."

Conrad chuckled at the agitated cat. "So, ready to begin the final day?"

"Really?" Cliff looked at the canine in disbelief. "Come on, man, I think I've had enough. It's the last day, give me a break before the convention. I mean, look at me!" He gestured to his overly herculean frame.

"Exactly, it's the last day. Just see this through and then it's all over." Conrad nodded.

"God, fine." Cliff rubbed his eyes in dissatisfaction of not even being allowed to end the planned routine early. "Let's just get the day over with then." He lumbered into the back of the store with the dog following behind him.

Conrad couldn't possibly think of the right words to describe just how overjoyed he is with the cat's progress. He took every opportunity he was given to slyly ogle his co-worker. Again and again Cliff would ask him how this is possible, and again and again Conrad would tell him he's not sure and that he's just working really hard. He sounded very genuine in responses, and it only annoyed the scarfed feline further.

The only thing was that Conrad was being genuine. The brown-furred dog really had no idea how Cliff could be ballooning in size and was actually speaking the truth to his co-worker. The one idea that crossed his mind was that it was the work of the protein shakes he had the feline consume, but he figured there would've been some kind of mention of these sorts of gains in their testimonials. Besides, he was following the instructions on the packaging so it couldn't be that.

Right now, the only thing on his mind was keeping the gain train going until his time as the cat's trainer was over. Conrad was going to make this worth it for the both of them. "Just think of how authentic your cosplay's gonna be tomorrow."

"Believe me, that's the only thing on my mind right now." Cliff handed his co-worker the empty shake bottle after downing it in seconds. "I just hope my clothes fit me tomorrow."

Conrad quirked a brow at the feline. "Isn't the only thing you really need for your costume that pair of pants with quite a bit of open space in them?"

"They're called 'hakama' and, um... yeah, I guess." Cliff rubbed the back of his bull neck.

"Then I wouldn't worry about it." Conrad placed the jug on the counter and walked over to where the uber-beefcake was standing. "Hey, are you excited to head to the gym today and see what you can do?"

"I mean," Cliff sort of grimaced at the question, not entirely sure how to answer it, "I haven't been excited to go this whole week - and I'm still not - but I think today's the only day where I'm not hating the idea."

"That's the spirit!" Conrad patted one of the cat's sumptuous arms, feeling just how densely packed with muscle the black-furred limb truly was. "So, think this will be the start of a new bodybuilding hobby for you?"

"Absolutely not! I can't wait for this to be over." Cliff huffed, the relief of soon being free from this weightlifting hell washing over him.

Conrad snickered, knowing full well what his co-worker's reaction to the inquiry would've been. "Alright, well, let's make today count then."

***

"Six. Seven. Eight." Cliff slowly and rhythmically lifted the dumbbell in his hand in an arc towards himself, watching his form in the mirror in front of him so as to catch if he deviated from it. "Nine." He puffed, a bead of sweat trickled from his forehead down to his prodigious pecs. "Ten." His hand gingerly fell in between his spread apart muscled legs, still clutching onto the gigantic free-weight in his grasp.

Conrad ambled over to the cat, clapping at the display he just witnessed. "Wow, you make it all look so easy!"

"I guess when you're my size it's not hard." Cliff panted, though far easier than he normally did at this point in his workout. "Man, this thing's heavier than I was when I started a week ago." He looked at the side of the dumbbell at where the weight measurement was printed on it, marvelling in how light it felt compared to what he thought it should feel like in his head. "I didn't even know they made five-hundred-pound weights."

Conrad shrugged. "Probably a custom order."

"This is easily the only place I've heard of that stocks these sorts of weights." Cliff held the weight in his hand, not even feeling tired from lifting it in the air for so long. "I'm gonna be honest, I feel like I could do more than this. Only problem is that this is the highest that the free-weights go up to."

"You could seriously keep going?" Conrad looked on in awe, desperately wanting to see more feats of strength like what he just saw from the feline. "Well, yeah, do it. Keep at it until your body quits on you."

"Mmm, nah." Cliff instead went to wipe down the weight as well as the bench he was sitting on. "I think I'd like to keep going with the rest of the workout instead." He waddled over to the racks and placed the dumbbell back in its spot, right at the very end of the row of weights. It was then that he noticed that, despite the people around him being dedicated weightlifters far bigger than those one would normally see at an iron pit like this, none of the weights around the one he just worked with were in use. It dawned on him just how far out of everyone else's league he really was, and it startled him a bit.

Conrad busied himself at an open weight bench, trying, and failing, to load it with weight plates he thought that the cat would be able to hoist. His co-worker saw what he was attempting to do and took over, carrying them with ease. "Dang, I wish I could do that!"

"Oh, how I wish you could be in my spot right now. I miss having my evenings to myself." Cliff loaded up the bench bar, maxing out the weights on either end before securing them in place.

"You mean you didn't like hanging out with me?" Conrad chuckled, his tone one of faux offense. "You wound me, sir."

"I'm sure I do." Cliff positioned himself on the bench, his mountainous back pushing him up higher than what one would usually feel. He placed his hands where they were meant to and just rested for a moment. "I would ask if you could spot me just out of convention, but I don't think you'd wanna get anywhere near this kinda weight. Plus, I think I can handle this on my own."

Conrad willingly backed off, stepping off to the side for a better view of the cat. "By all means, you go ahead."

Cliff laid there for a few seconds and just breathed deeply before going and lifting the bar off its rests. He hoisted it in the air and held it there, not even breaking a sweat despite it being loaded with the maximum amount of weight that the gym provided. While he figured he could keep more weight suspended in the air right now, he wondered if the bar could even support it. He doubted anyone had dared try before him. Then, he let down and began his exercise.

Conrad watched in amazement as the scarfed feline raised the barbell over and over again without stopping, only grunting in between each rep to keep his momentum going. Before long, he had completed a set and dropped the bar back onto its supports. "Alright, that's genuinely incredible."

"Thanks." Cliff pushed himself into a sitting position, taking care not to knock over the bar with his bulky arm. "You know, this really isn't giving me much of a challenge either."

"Really?" Conrad was shocked to hear it, but then again, the cat literally didn't break a sweat just now. "So, what do you wanna do then?"

Cliff got up and released the weights, reracking them on their respective rungs. "Move on to the next station I guess." He gave all the equipment he used a good cleaning before moving on to do the same thing with the squat rack.

Conrad stood back again to watch the feline in action. It was a good thing that the height of the bar here was adjustable, otherwise there'd be no chance that his co-worker could even use it due to how much taller he got. The black-furred cat glided down and held the weight in place before pushing himself back upright. He did this several more times until he completed a set, much to the delight of Conrad. "Any harder?"

"Not even slightly." Cliff snorted, beginning to grow annoyed with how little resistance everything was offering him in contempt of making it as difficult as he could for himself.

Conrad didn't know he needed to hear those words, but he was glad he did. "Oh man, I think you might be the top bodybuilder in here! Isn't that great?"

Cliff sighed and rolled his eyes, his mood totally deflated. "Oh yeah, it thrills me to no end to hear that." He dejectedly sighed and ducked under the bar to pull off the weights.

"So, leg press now?" Conrad questioned, aiming to stick to the regiment.

"Why bother?" Cliff forcefully exhaled through his nose in frustration. "I maxed it out yesterday. It's not gonna do anything for me now." His recollection of the previous day was sharp, remembering how even then he had little trouble pushing the foot plate to its maximum potential before feeling like he was gonna break the machine. "Just meet me at the treadmills."

Conrad nodded and made his way over to the cardio equipment, finding a free one available for the feline. His co-worker joined him and then hopped on, adjusting it before really getting into it. The cat spent a solid five minutes at the same pace before raising it to a sprint, surprising the dog with the fact that he could keep up with the rapid speed no problem.

Cliff thumped along, keeping his breathing steady as if he'd been doing this his entire life. Eventually he stopped the machine, not because he'd had enough, but because he felt like if he went any further, he could break the machine. Finally, he got the winded sensation he was looking for that evening, but it wasn't like the burning feeling that radiated through him this past week. "Jeez, didn't even feel anything on the treadmill either." He mentioned to the canine.

Conrad looked at the various stations the scarfed feline worked out at over the last several days and felt a smile grow from ear to ear. "Wow, you looked like you've done this for decades." He gazed at the cat with earnest admiration.

"Gonna be honest, I think I've outgrown this place." Cliff wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand before cleaning it off onto his shirt, which now looked like a hilariously shrunken down tank top. His bottoms were no better, now reduced to a pair of booty shorts due to the material having to stretch sideways to accommodate all that delicious bulk in his bulging quads.

Those words made Conrad's heart swoon like nothing else before it. He wanted the cat to keep going, but as was just demonstrated, there was nothing that challenged him here anymore. Perhaps he could convince his co-worker to try out another, more serious gym in the future, but that would have to wait as the convention was literally tomorrow. "Shower time now?"

"Yes please." Cliff himself felt a grin on his face knowing that this was now all behind him. He'll never have to step foot in another gym again because next time he'll make sure to give himself plenty of time before an event like the photo shoot occurs. Once inside the locker room, he quickly knocks back the final protein shake with gusto before heading to the showers.

Conrad enters his normal routine of distracting himself with his phone while he waited for his co-worker to finish cleaning himself up. There wasn't anything interesting being posted, which sucked because he estimated that the kitty would need extra time to bathe himself due to his immense size. What he wasn't expecting was for him to swivel his head around and see what looked like a black wall right beside him. His reaction was sudden, not being able to hide his shock before realizing it was just Cliff. "Oh, that was quick." He just then noticed that the cat was still wearing his gym clothes and had sweat-matted fur everywhere on his body. "Hey, wait, did you actually shower in there?"

"I, uhh..." Cliff stammered, rubbing his meaty arm, "can't actually fit in the shower stalls anymore."

The confession left Conrad stunned. "What do you mean you can't fit?"

"Dude, I'm too wide now!" Cliff exclaimed in a hushed whisper. "I'm literally the only person here who can't use the facilities anymore."

Conrad briefly pauses to think of a solution, before coming up with something that sounded like it could actually work. "Oh, you can just shower at my place then!"

Cliff was hesitant to accept the invitation. "Are you sure I'll fit in there?"

"Oh yeah, don't worry about it. There's plenty of room, plus I have a detachable showerhead so that you can wash all over." Conrad beamed.

Cliff thought it over before welcoming the idea, just happy that he'd have a chance to freshen up.

***

Cliff stepped out of the shower a new man. He breathed in the steam that accumulated in the enclosed room and stretched his incredibly muscled limbs before feeling a yawn overtake him. It was the most relaxed he felt in a long while, though a lot of that feeling came from the facilities he just used. Conrad wasn't lying when the dog said he'd be accommodated. The shower was roomy enough for him to manoeuvre around in despite his increased musculature and height, and he could easily get himself cleaned off thanks to the shower head. It was a little embarrassing just how much he enjoyed himself.

Conrad, meanwhile, was busy taking care of some chores he had to finish before he went to bed. It wasn't much, but it still needed doing no matter how much he just wanted to put it off. He literally finished the last of it when he heard the washroom door creak open and thudding footsteps gradually make his way over to him. The cat rounded the corner to the kitchen before stopping, having to duck under the doorway to get inside the room.

"Hey, uh," Cliff stumbled a bit in his words, "thanks again for letting me come here. I really appreciate it."

"Don't mention it!" Conrad genuinely beamed at the scarfed feline.

"No, I mean it. It was a very sweet gesture." Cliff awkwardly looked at the ground, or what little he could see of it past his swollen pectorals, before shooting his gaze back to the dog. "Say, could I ask you something?"

Conrad dried his hands off on a tea towel he had draped over his oven's handle. "Go for it!"

"So, I was doing some thinking while in the shower, and I kept going over this past week in my head." Cliff leaned back against the wall. "It's incredibly obvious that your work paid off and I got huge in time for the shoot - which I'm eternally grateful for - but I still feel weird about the whole thing. I got so big so quickly, but the routine you had me do didn't really make sense in the grand scheme of things. Basically what I'm trying to get at is I think those shakes played a huge part in this. Do you think I could see where you got them from?"

"Of course! I wouldn't hide anything from you." Conrad smirked. "Honestly, I'm glad you've gotten the results you did. I had to shell out a ton for this protein powder!"

Cliff paused upon hearing that. "That doesn't seem right. I know that this stuff isn't that expensive normally."

"Well, it's not." Conrad pursed his lips. "It's just I had to buy a lot of it."

Cliff scrunched up his face, still not understanding what the canine was getting at. "Again, that makes no sense. I know that protein powder lasts you quite a while."

"I can show you how much I've bought. Follow me." Conrad took his co-worker out the back door to where he kept his recycling bin, which was positively overflowing with empty protein powder bottles.

Cliff was aghast with the number of containers he was currently looking at. He couldn't even think of how many were in front of him, let alone how he was able to consume all that in a week. "How much powder did you use in those shakes?!"

"A pound per shake, just like the instructions said to use." Conrad bent down to pick up one of the bottles and passed it along to the cat. "See?"

"Gimme that." Cliff snatched the container from the dog's hand, reading over the instructions with the precision of a lawyer reading a contract. It wasn't long before he discovered the contradiction which likely caused everything that happened to him. "It says to use a pinch, not a pound!"

"What?" Conrad couldn't believe his ears, though he'd get the chance to see what the feline was getting at. Once the bottle was back in his hand, he could see that it did, in fact, say to use a single pinch of the protein powder. "That's a pinch?"

Cliff palmed his face - he couldn't believe this was happening. "Yes! A pound is designated by 'lb'."

"Who uses a 'pinch' of something these days?!" Conrad heatedly called out.

Cliff was about to chew out the canine, but he instead took a deep breath to collect himself before continuing on. "So how much is a pound of the powder?"

Conrad tossed the container back in the recycling bin with the others. "Oh, it's the entire bottle. I thought it was really convenient."

"Did you not think that was a little much, dude?" Cliff looked mightily unimpressed.

The question got Conrad to rub his chin in thought. "Now that you mention it, it does seem strange that you'd only get a single use out of each container."

"So what deep web site did you get these from?" Cliff snorted.

"Actually, I ordered this stuff directly from their website. Lemme show you." Conrad made his way back inside, pulling the enormous kitty behind him. He strolled his way to his computer and hopped into the office chair, opening up the browser to get to the company's home page. "See? There's even the closed padlock before the URL." He pointed to the leftmost side of the URL bar before turning his attention back to the rest of the screen. "Nothing shady about their website."

Because of Cliff's tremendous size, he wasn't able to bend down to see what the dog was looking at over his shoulder, meaning he had to sit on the floor behind his co-worker to get a good view of the monitor. His eyes scanned the page looking for anything out of the ordinary but came up with nothing interesting. "Yeah..." The advertisement page for the product proudly illustrated all of its benefits with nothing seeming suspect to him - something which was suspicious to him in and of itself. "These people literally have no idea how well their product actually works. Was this stuff not tested?"

"It had to have been, right? That's how these things are allowed to be sold." Conrad reasoned.

Cliff scoffed before he carefully pushed himself back into a standing position, making sure not to bump his head on the relatively low ceiling. "Clearly they weren't thorough enough."

Conrad whirled the chair around to face the cat, needing to look up quite a bit at the monstrous hulk. "Yeah, so, I guess that should explain all the muscle growth."

"What about my height or my junk?" Cliff rested his hands on his hips, unintentionally displaying his pronounced bulge to the canine.

Conrad felt a blush creep onto his face, his eyes drawn to the scarfed feline's barely contained package. He swore he could see it throb. "I dunno, happy coincidence?" A nervous chuckle escaped his throat.

Cliff sighed, knowing there was nothing that could be done about it now. "Whatever..." He grumbled before looking down at the clock on the wall, noting the time. "It's getting late, and I need my sleep. See you tomorrow."

***

Conrad waited for his co-worker at the front entrance of the convention centre, keeping an eye on the time. Though it wasn't anywhere near time for the photo shoot, he knew that the cat liked to wander around and check out any and all stalls that caught his attention. He was about to send a text until he heard murmuring coming from the direction of the parking lot and looked up at what the commotion was, nearly letting his phone drop out of his hand in the process. He couldn't believe what his eyes were showing him.

Cliff was decked out in his cosplay like he said he was going to be today, but that's not what had people's heads turning. The scarfed feline had the veritable body of a god, truly the stuff of legend! His proportions were so unfortunately overblown that he had to waddle his way over to the entrance to the building, but he was still extremely grateful that he could even move.

Due to not wearing a shirt, his overly muscled torso was full display to the world around him. His pecs genuinely rivaled the size of smart cars, though he was certain he could actually crush one in between them if he were given the opportunity. His arms were unlike anything ever seen before - so humongously thick that people could genuinely sit on his biceps without falling off. Not a single vehicle in the parking lot would be heavy enough to prevent him from lifting it, not even the fire truck passing by everyone on the street.

A new experience for the cat, his traps and back muscles had conspired to keep his head more caged in than usual when he was buff. He could still move it around, sure, but he had less range of motion than what he was used to. His lats were absolutely gigantic, resembling the thick, firm ground used to build a house on or for planes to land on. They also contributed heavily to making his height-to-width ratio nearly perfect.

Then there was Cliff's deliciously shredded obliques - the outright envy of any professional bodybuilder everywhere with how sculpted they looked. It was a trait they shared with his superb abs, seeming as if they were chiseled by a world-class sculptor. While rounded just slightly, it wasn't due to any residual fat; there just happened to be so much muscle packed in there that it pooched out ever so much, though it was mostly due to his breathing that it appeared curved.

The feline's legs were the only part of his body that was actually clothed, but that didn't stop him from unintentionally showing them off. Cliff's hakama barely fit on him, leaving nothing to the imagination. They looked outright painted on. His quads were so massive that they bulged out of the holes built into the article of clothing, while his calves remained completely uncovered altogether. The only thing that was fully concealed was his muscled glutes, but with how much bulk was packed into each cheek it simply didn't matter.

Cliff also towered over every other person there, reaching just over twice Conrad's height when measured from head to toe. It made all his other non-muscled body parts larger as well, which meant he could enclose his hand around someone's head if he wanted to. Were he to jump, his feet were so large and backed with so much weight that they could leave craters in the concrete walkway.

Conrad whistled as the lumbering titan shuffled over to him. "Nekoyama Tenshi never looked so good!" He gave the cat a thumbs up but saw the distressed look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"This may sound dumb," Cliff gulped, showing off a shyness completely unbefitting of his mammothian size "but I forgot that there were gonna be other people here. I'm a little embarrassed." He wanted to hide his face in his scarf, but it wasn't big enough for that anymore.

"Hey, hey, it's alright." Conrad cooed, gently caressing the hulking feline's redwood-tree-trunk-sized leg. Once again, he was eye-level with his co-worker's bulging package - which was way bigger now - but he knew that this wasn't the time or place to think about it. "You're okay, you've got me here with you. Just breathe for me."

Cliff did as he was instructed, letting the air flow in and out of his lungs. His diaphragm pushed his muscled belly out with every breath. Thankfully, it did actually help calm him down. "Okay, I feel a little better."

"Good. Just relax." Conrad consoled the hugemongous leviathan. "Why don't we make our way inside? You'll have some time to look around before your obligations take place."

Cliff nodded to the suggestion and followed the brown-furred canine into the building. He was thankful that the convention centre had an entrance he could actually fit through; it was probably one of the only buildings in the city that could accommodate him like that.

The pair of them barely make it onto the convention floor before they're stopped by people who want to take pictures with Cliff. He's a bit hesitant due to not being used to his size as well as having the photo shoot later on, but he ultimately says yes. Throngs of people line up to get a pic snapped of them with the biggest cosplayer they'd ever seen, so much so that Cliff doesn't actually get to see any of the other stuff going on at the con.

Eventually, Conrad has to step in and put a stop to things. "Okay guys, sorry to break things up but Nekoyama has something he has to attend to." A chorus of 'awws' emanated from the crowd, but gratefully everyone understood. He then tugged on the tight fabric of the hakama to get the cat's attention. "Dude, the thing's starting in five minutes and it's at the other end of the floor."

"Ahhh!" Cliff felt himself grow flustered, until he remembered that it takes him less time to walk due to his now longer gait. Deftly making sure he didn't push past someone and hurt them, he moved swiftly and carefully to the opposite corner of the convention where the photo shoot was taking place. Due to his sheer size he was forced to sit on the ground to even have a chance of making it in the shot, but even then, the photographer needed to step back to make sure his head was in the frame. It all went off without a hitch, much to his relief.

Now that his responsibility was taken care of, the scarfed feline was free to do whatever he wanted until the con was over. The pair of them checked some of the other stalls out, in between more fan pictures, with Conrad getting an idea. "You know, it'd be kinda cool to have a stand here for our shop."

"Uh," Cliff tried, but he wasn't flexible enough to move his arm up to scratch his head, "we're not really a vendor like the other guys here."

"No, but there are other people here who are just selling stuff as well. You don't have to be the one to make something." A thought just popped into Conrad's head. "Hey, maybe you could be the one to grab people's attention. Kinda act like a booth babe in a way."

Cliff tried his best but failed to stifle a snicker at the thought. "I'm not sure. We barely have foot traffic at our store as is."

"Yeah," a wry grin slithered onto Conrad's face, "but with all the people who have stopped by since we got here, we could easily advertise the store if we say you work there."

The revelation left Cliff momentarily speechless. "Oh my god, yeah." He laughed, his booming voice carrying far further than he anticipated, turning more heads to his location. "I think that's actually the best idea that you've had all week!"

Conrad leaned against the cat's behemothian leg. "You know, the convention runs for two more days. Maybe I could talk to whoever's in charge and see if there's space available." His eyes opened wide as another idea ran through his head. "Maybe we could find you somewhere else where you can get in a good workout, make you even bigger!"

"That's thoughtful of you," Cliff gestured with his outstretched hands, "but I think I'm good for now. After the week I've had, I think I deserve a break." He took a look down, but all that was in his field of view was his own massively muscled pectorals, which he promptly made bounce by rhythmically flexing his chest. "Yeah, I've earned this."