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Of Wolf And Man

-

by

Dissident Love

commissioned for

kraft20022

copyright

August 2012

-

"THESE GUYS ARE PRETTY GOOD!"

"I DON'T KNOW, ABOUT ONE-THIRTY!"

"WHAT? NO, I ALREADY HAD THREE BEER!"

"THESE GUYS ARE PRETTY GOOD!"

With the speaker stacks close enough to touch, it was no wonder that the two men couldn't hear eachother. Kevin, the taller of the two, was gripping his fourth beer in one hand and gripping the steel barricades with the other, headbanging as unobtrusively as he could and using his body to shield Josh from the crowd. The human was athletically built, but after several drinks that he suspected had been smuggled in from Canada it was all he could do to stay upright.

Josh turned his unmistakably wolfish head and shouted up to his friend. "I THINK THE BASS IS A LITTLE MUCH!"

Kevin nodded. "MY FACE DOES FEEL FUNNY!"

Josh was unusually-built for a timber wolf. The rough black bristles around his neck and along the top of his head made his lineage plain to anyone, but whereas most of his kin were in the vicinity of seven feet tall, Josh was maybe five-foot-five (five-six if he wore shoes). His shoulders were broad, his chest deep, his limbs long and lanky, but the three-quarter-scale canid often earned more than his share of confused glances.

The band on stage was finishing out their set, and clearly wanted to go out with a bang; Josh thought his right ear might be bleeding. They were talented, that was for sure, but even for a thrash band they had invested too much in the belief that volume was king. Perhaps their name, Volume Is King, should have tipped him off. The human bounced up and down, backstage pass flapping wildly on the lanyard around his neck, thoroughly enjoying the night out on the town, especially the fact that he didn't have to pay.

With a final thunderous screech and a series of pops from the speaker stacks, the set ended and the crowd erupted with applause and hoarse shouts of approval. The masses of half-drunk, half-crazed metalheads surged forwards, pressing against Kevin, who in turn tried not to flatten Josh against the steel barricades. Burly, bulky security guards in black crew-necks and black shades tensed, ready for someone to jump the fence, but on this particular night the crowd seemed able to control themselves. Josh pushed against the guard rail, deceptively strong despite his size, and Kevin felt himself shoved backwards, shaggy wolf-tail wriggling between them.

"COME ON," the smaller sound engineer shouted, "LET'S TRY TO GET BACK THERE!"

Both Kevin and Josh worked at the local radio station and broadcast studio, and between the two of them had more than a dozen official positions there. The one they shared, however, was the Chart Attack weekly program on 1010 AM, the Terrestrial Ten. It mostly appealed to the local college-age demographic, but when the show received more Facespace "Likes" than any other show, or even any other radio station operating out of the studio, they found themselves getting considerably more, and better, opportunities to bring music to the people.

More immediately rewarding, though, was a company credit card that actually allowed them to buy beer at shows, on the basis that it wouldn't be a REAL experience without all of the authenticity of being actual piss-faced concert-goers.

"GOOD IDEA!"

The unlikely pair shoved their way through the crowd, but the hyperactive headbangers more often than not shoved back, unable to resist the impulse to mosh. Kevin was bounced roughly a few times, but took it all in stride. It WAS a thrash show, after all. Josh, though, far more densely-built than he seemed, shrugged off the crowd as though they were nothing more than children, and eventually the pair reached the chain-link gate that led backstage.

They held up their backstage passes, with the words "PRESS PASS" clearly stamped on both of them. The rhino currently protecting the door glared at the passes as though they had personally insulted his mother, then glared at the human and wolf in much the same way. I bet guards are taught how to do that, Kevin thought. Maybe there's a special course you can take...

The rhino's eyes flicked down to Josh, widened slightly, and then he just shrugged. "C'mon in," he grunted, swinging the gate wide and allowing them through. Moments later he slammed it shut again, forcing a small army of screaming fangirls back.

Josh waved and blew kisses to the crowd as they climbed the short metal steps and vanished behind the speakers. "THANK YOU, D.C.! I LOVE YOU ALL!"

Kevin chuckled. "Always gotta stroke the ego, eh?"

"My ego, if I'm lucky," the wolf grinned. Kevin had to resist the urge to glance down, much as the rhino had, but unlike the security guard he had years of practice. The two had been friends since grade school, and although Josh had taken computer programming in college and Kevin had majored in psychology, they had both somehow ended up with jobs at the radio station. Life was funny, sometimes.

Volume Is King were helping a handful of roadies pack up all the instruments, while Jefferson Submarine and Lacuna Coyle lounged around on the half-dozen aged couches strewn around. Backstage was little more than an enormous storage room hung with Christmas lights; Josh and Kevin had been to dozens of shows at dozens of venues, and each zone was always strangely similar. Messy, smoky and loud, with several dazed-looking fangirls (and the occasional fanboy, if there was a female musician), and empty beer bottles on every flat surface.

Josh felt home. He might not ever end up a platinum-selling rocker, but this was maybe close enough.

"Press, guys," called out the squirrel-drummer from Lacuna Coyle.

One of the Submariners, a shaggy shetland that had the extra thirty pounds of bass players everywhere, stood up, dislodging a female groupie. "Hey, sweet! You guys with What Thrash? Guitar Nation? DC Skin? Hardkoar?"

Josh shook his head. "Chart Attack on 1010 AM."

There was the unmistakable air of disappointment. "Radio, guys," the squirrel said. Josh and Kevin might as well have disappeared for all the attention they were now receiving.

Kevin sagged. "Ahhh, I hate when that happens," he said, leaning against a create, depositing his empty bottle and picking up one that seemed mostly full.

Josh was not to be deterred, though. The little wolf took a deep breath, and said slightly louder than necessary, "Boy, will our fourteen thousand three hundred and thirty Facespace fans be disappointed that none of the bands playing tonight gave a shit about the number one metal show in the county!"

A number of ears perked up, and the Coyle guitarist started tapping on his smartphone. A few seconds later he looked up and nodded.

"GOOD radio, guys," the squirrel said.

Myles, the lead singer of Lacuna Coyle, grinned and stood up. He was even shorter than Josh, and far more slender, though his stage outfit seemed geared to accentuate certain portions of his anatomy. Kevin might have had a lot of practice not staring at Josh, but the petite coyfox was proving to be quite difficult.

"Good job, man," he said to Josh, clapping his co-host on the back, who just flashed a thumbs up. The pair took out their pocket recorders as all three bands converged, prepared to eat a little bit of crow if it meant reaching thirteen thousand potential fans.

---

The next morning came far too early. The break room at Swinghouse Studios, home to several radio stations and recording booths, was filled with the sounds and smells of percolating coffee; Kevin was leaning against the counter, his face pressed up against the huge steel box of the Brew King, breathing deep.

Someone walked into the room. He wasn't sure who; he wasn't about to open his eyes to find out until he was on his second cup. The deep, sultry voice was a dead giveaway, though. "Good show?" Jolene asked.

He wanted to open his eyes, he really did. Jolene was worth looking at even if you were being pepper-sprayed. His body just wouldn't respond yet. "Mrrrgghh."

The statuesque doegrrl laughed, a velvety rumble that made his toes curl. He blearily cracked his eyelids, but shi was just a vague reddish blob. Focus, damn you, focus!

"I remember those days," shi said, getting something out of the fridge, "Not for the station, though, I just mean going out and cutting shit up until three in the morning. Can't do that anymore, though. At least you get paid to do it."

He inhaled and straightened slightly, forcing the cobwebs out of his brain. Jolene was the major morning voice for the light rock station, and the Drive At Five voice for the modern rock station, the two biggest gigs available. Hir voice was enough to get most men to start sweating, but in person shi was a sinful experience indeed. It was strange seeing a doe with a full rack of antlers, but those herm genes could be finnicky. "I get paid, and boy, do I pay," he agreed. "You seen Josh wander in yet?"

Shi shook hir head with a swish of fuzz-covered horn. "Nope, not yet. Hey, you guys checked out the East Beast tour last night, right?"

Kevin nodded, them immediately regretted it. "Yeah, three bands. Good show."

"You see Lacuna Coyle?"

"Yeah, they opened. Pretty sweet."

Jolene's grin deepened. "Lead singer remind you of anyone?"

Kevin might have known the little timberwolf for years, but he still wasn't good at keeping a straight face whenever someone mentioned his friend's appearance. "I guess," he said guardedly. "They're both canine, short, kinda shaggy..."

"... hung like a sausage factory..." Jolene said blandly.

Kevin blushed. "That, too." The coyfox had been not shy about his dimensions, black pleather pants leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination, but even those incredible proportions couldn't match Josh's own. Considering his height, the little wolf was carrying far, far more than he could reasonably expect to.

Jolene stretched and Kevin was very glad he got his eyesight back when he did. The towering doe, several inches taller than he was, to say nothing of the antlers, was stretching out a red sweater with hir spectacular chest, like a pair of faintly-sloshing basketballs. Today shi was wearing a pair of baggy blue jeans that kept hir substantial maleness covered, but made it clear shi was also decidedly above average. "Ah, I'm just giving you a hard time," shi said, twisting the lid off of hir bottle of juice.

Kevin nodded. He'd almost asked Jolene out a dozen times, maybe more, but he'd always chickened out at the last minute. Josh had egged him on, and had even pretended to lock the two in the Studio B mixing booth in an effort to get them together, but the human always lost his nerve. Rumor had it the doegrrl was currently dating one of the sound techs, and there was a running game of trying to figure out who was walking funny.

"Yeah, I know," he said, perking up when the Brew King beeped. He gratefully poured himself a mugful and downed it nearly in one gulp.

"You know, you-" Jolene started to say, but just then the big red door that led outside opened up and Josh himself walked in. The little wolf was shaggy, his ears drooping, peering out at the world with one eye open. "Speak of the devil, and he shall appear! Morning, Josh."

"Mmmrrrggghhh," he grunted. "Coffee?"

"Coffee," Josh agreed, handing him a full mug even as he refilled his own. "I feel ya."

"He should be so lucky," Jolene said, heading out of the room. "Later, boys."

"Later, Jo," they called together, chucking and watching hir go. The wolf was not immune to hir charms, either, although it was common knowledge that he preferred the company of men.

They drank together in silence, feeling the night's exertions slowly fading. The first few interviews had been rushed and stilted, but as the bands started to relax and the better class of groupie had started to filter in, they'd gotten some excellent material. Their minds already buzzed with potential bumper material, as well as some fun clips to make for the Facespace page.

"Slept in?"

"Yup."

They sipped some more. Kevin glanced surreptitiously at his friend, remembering the easygoing days before junior high, before he'd noticed that the little wolf wasn't like other wolves. As the years had gone by and nearly everyone else had gotten taller, Josh had stayed the same, but filled out in... other ways.

Don't look at his pants, don't look at his pants, don't look at his... dammit.

"Got some good ideas for bumpers?"

"Mmm hmm. Singer from Volume Is King. Said something about punk being for pussies. Figure that'll make a good poll."

"Nice."

Josh was wearing a t-shirt that was three sizes too large, lanky arms hanging out of the sleeves. Digitigrade legs stuck out of a pair of long, baggy black shorts that were only just barely sufficient to keep him covered. Working in radio had some advantages, namely not really having a dress code.

He has to know those shorts really don't fit him. Technically.

"Yo, Josh," Jolene said, sticking hir head back into the room and causing Kevin to leap a few inches into the air. "Come by the booth a bit later, ok? Wanna talk to you about something."

"Can do," he replied, twisting to face hir. His shirt lifted up in the front and Kevin could no longer keep his eyes in the safe-zone above the wolf's belly button. Those black shorts might have been stretched around a pair of volleyballs, a sac nearly as wide as Josh's slender hips, while one leg was stuffed nearly to his knee with an improbably girthy sheath.

"Awesome. See you boys later," Jolene said. Kevin looked up in time to see hir wink, staring straight at him. Oh, crap, did shi see where I was looking? Dammit! Josh waved then turned his attention back to his coffee, still rubbing sleep out of one eye.

"B-bye," Kevin said, watching the well-built doe vanish. "Man, I'm getting too old for this."

Josh blinked. "You're twenty-four."

"Yeah, well... some days it feels like twenty-five."

The wolf paused, mid-sip, and started to laugh.

---

A couple hours later, after the mid-morning drive but before the lunchtime rush, Josh headed over to the broadcast wing. He and Kevin had been splicing audio together all morning, putting together bumpers for the stations, prepping the week's show, and uploading content to the Facespace page. The picture of Josh and Myles had only been up for three seconds before it had acquired a handful of Likes.

He knew he was a hyper. It was hard not to know it, even growing up. A promising track-and-field career had been cut short by a bouncing bulk that nearly gave him a hernia, but his social calendar had certainly filled out nicely to compensate. His parents had been concerned at first, then nervous, then outright terrified, but he had just chalked that up to him being a teenaged hyper. By the time he was in college they had gotten over it, and were proud of him. They'd even insisted on meeting his boyfriend that first Crimbo holiday, and he'd reluctantly obliged.

Josh also knew that Kevin tried to pretend he wasn't stating, when he totally was. Josh didn't know when the taller human had first started staring more than politeness dictated, but that second year of college when Kevin had transferred into the Psych program had seemed particularly awkward. They'd gotten over it soon enough, and they'd both done enough dating over the next couple years, but still... it was a strange thought.

Of course, Kevin kept chasing herms, and generally the ones taller than he, which made it even stranger.

"You wanted to see me?" Josh said, poking his head into Jolene's little cubicle. Shi might be the Velvet Voice of Swinghouse, but shi still got the same eight-by-eight partition as everyone else. He could easily see why Kevin pined after hir: shi was larger than life in just about every way that a person could be.

"Yeah, come on in. Close the door behind you," shi said, spinning around in hir chair. There was, of course, no door.

Josh leaned against a filing cabinet, taking in the confined space. His own cubicle was more than large enough, but it looked as though the hourglass-shaped doegrrl could scarcely breathe in without knocking something over. He shifted a little uncomfortably when hir gaze settled for several seconds quite openly on his straining black shorts.

"Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about one of the guests we had today."

"My eyes are up here."

Shi grinned. "I've made my choice," shi said, but shi obliged and lifted hir gaze. "But that does actually relate. We had a guy in as part of Medical Marvel Monday, Dr. Schottenheimer. Old friend of mine, he's been on the show a few times, rubs a big clinic in the City. Ring a bell?"

His brows furrowed, but he shrugged. "Nope. Should I?"

"Not really, I guess. I thought there might have been a chance you looked him up."

The way shi said that struck him as quite odd. "Why would I have been looking up doctors?"

"Kevin sort of has a thing for me, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, he-... Hey, now you're changing the subject."

Jolene didn't seem to notice. "And I know he was chasing Sandrine in Accounting for a little while. Panda, tall," shi clarified when Josh drew another blank. "Tits like pumpkins?"

"Oh, right! Yeah. How does she tie her shoes?"

"Carefully. And looking at some of the pictures on your guys' Facespace page, he seems to be posing predominantly with... how can I put this... rockers of unusual size?" Shi gestured to hir screen, and sure enough, there was Kevin, arms around two of the members of Panthera, each one noticeably taller than him. His grin would have made a shark proud.

"Yeaah-h-h," Josh said slowly. "And?"

Jolene took a deep breath, knocking over a little jar full of pens and pencils. "Have you ever noticed the way Kevin looks at you?"

Josh's jaw dropped for a second, but he recovered. Of course he knew how Kevin sometimes looked at him. A lot of people looked at him that way. Didn't they? Roughly the same way, at least. Or the same parts. Surely.

"Yes?" he said, unsure of himself.

It was Jolene's turn to sigh. "Josh, my boy, let me give you the good doctor's number."

---

Monday ended pretty uneventfully, as far as Kevin was concerned. Josh had vanished just before lunch and hadn't come back until nearly half an hour after it should have been over, and all he could get out of the secretive little wolf was that it had been a doctor's appointment. Kevin had probed further, but that had just made Josh uncomfortable, so he was pretty sure it had something to do with his hyperness. As proud as Josh was of his dimensions and as much as he'd show it off when the two of them were out on the town, he didn't really like to TALK about it.

Technically, Kevin didn't like talking about it either, because it inevitably led to him blushing and stuttering. It was there, it was big, and it generally ended there.

The human felt that, for once, he was in charge during the afternoon shift. He usually followed Josh's lead with regard to office duties, since their positions were pretty vaguely defined. Half a dozen shows might call on them at any time for any number of task, but they were usually left alone to deal with their own projects. Josh would direct the efforts, deciding which bumpers needed work, editing Kevin's videos, and so forth.

Today, though, Josh seemed, if not actually sleepwalking, then at least enormously distracted.

"What about the promos for next week?" he asked again, peeking over his partition into Josh's cubic domain. "We got the AggroShow on Thursday, doesn't leave us a lot of prep time for Friday's show."

"Sounds good," Josh said.

Kevin just rolled his eyes. "Helpful, thank you. What should we DO, though? We don't know what material we're going to have to work with. Local scene review? East Coast review?"

"Mmm hmm."

Kevin narrowed his eyes. "I'm going to throw a stapler at you in four seconds."

The clock hanging on the wall ticked a few times, and then there was a flapping sound, a hollow thunk and and cry of surprise. "OW! What the hell?!"

"I did warn you," Kevin said drolly, keeping his eyes firmly on his own work.

Josh opened his mouth to argue, but he replayed the last few minutes in his head and sighed. "Sorry. Just... kinda off whack today. Yeah, East Coast Review, and some teaser stuff about AggroShow gossip no-one will ever believe."

"Why?"

"Because we'll make shit up. AggroShows get the best crowds, which is to say, the worst actual people. We can get anyone to say anything. Make it a shock show, and if we can't get any good shock, just get lots of live footage. We'll make do."

"Josh! You're back! I missed you!" Kevin said, grinning.

"Ah, shaddap." Josh sounded genuinely contrite, not something Kevin heard very often from the strong-willed wolf. "Just had a lot on my mind lately."

"Since lunch," Kevin clarified, "and as far as I can figure, you left right after you hung out with Jolene."

"Wild accusations, your honor. He can't prove anything."

Kevin laughed. "Possibly. Look, you can tell me anything, right?"

"I killed Jimmy Hoffa."

"I know. Other than that, I mean."

"Because he was cheating on me."

"Oooh! Naughty. But seriously..."

Josh stood up, his ears barely projecting over the top of the cubicle partitions. "Seriously, there's nothing wrong. It's just... SOMETHING, ok? I'll tell you later."

"How much later?"

"Well, in a little while, after I've told you? Just before that."

"Dick."

"I know." The last little exchange had long been a term of endearment between the two of them, even before Josh started to give it a bit of a double-meaning. "So, teaser bumpers and AggroShow gossip galore?"

"Yes, dear."

Now that their blood had largely been replaced by coffee and the Motrin headaches had vanished, the rest of the day passed fairly smoothly. Kevin uploaded the weekend's videos, Josh slotted the bumpers with the station managers, and the two of them blogged up a storm for the website. Kevin was just waiting for Josh to get back from the President's office when Jolene sauntered by.

"Hey, skinny," the Amazonian doe said, a substantial portion of hir bosom visible even above the cubicle wall. "What's shakin'?"

"Not much. Brain better. No want smash. You?" Working together for nearly two years had dulled his immediate hormonal response, but prolonged proximity to the Velvet Voice usually resulted in him somehow embarrassing himself.

"Pretty good," shi replied, stretching hir arms high above hir head and nearly giving Kevin a stroke. "End of the day, you know. Saw your updates for the day, looked like a sweet show last night."

Kevin had to stifle a yawn, which was in and of itself incredible considering how high his blood pressure was rising with Jolene standing so close. "Yeah, awesome. I got almost an hour of sleep. I'm the freakin' Mayor of Awesometown."

"Oh, you boys love it," shi grinned. Kevin felt a little bad for objectifying hir so much, since shi was a good friend, an excellent host and a skilled producer; it was just sometimes not easy to reconcile that with the fact that half the porn stars on his bookmark list couldn't hold a candle to hir. "You do keep doing it."

"Caving on our show?" he said in mock horror. "Perish the thought. We just got a sweet expense account."

"I know, I have to approve it."

Kevin froze, carefully choosing his words. "It's remarkable the post-entrance alcohol-related expenses that can be accrued in the name of journalistic integrity-" he started to explain before shi shushed him.

"Relax, I know you guys get shitfaced every time. I AM on your Facespace page, too, you know."

"I just always look like that at three in the morning," he said defensively.

"Yup. With a beer in each hand."

"And one in my pocket," he mumbled. "But yeah, this is our show."

Jolene came around to the 'door' of his cubicle, which was really just the spot where the wall was missing. "Maybe so, but you two are still making lackey coin. You have a show that brings in attention, but it doesn't bring in advertisers, which is why you are still junior audio technicians. If you dumped it, you guys have got enough seniority to start becoming production assistants."

Kevin blinked. Where was THIS coming from? "Yeah, production assistants, without our own show," he said again. "Look, the money is... yeah, ok, it kinda sucks sometimes, but this is just about the best possible job I could have right now, hefty paycheck or not. We love what we do."

"And if you guys got PA jobs, you'd practically never see eachother."

"Not at work," Kevin agreed quickly, "but we'd still hang out after! Hell, we might still even take in the rock shows, keep Chart Attack going on the side... why are you giggling?"

"Me? Giggling?" shi giggled. "Never!"

Kevin looked around. "This has to do with Josh, doesn't it? He talked to you, then he vanished at lunch, and gave me some cock and ball story about a doctor's appointment, and now you're sticking it to me! What is this? Is there a camera somewhere?"

Jolene held up hir hands, which lifted hir prodigious bosom several inches in self-defense. "Hey, hey, I'm just curious, that's all. You guys are too good for a half-hour show supported by a company credit card and Facespace advertising, which, by my calculations, nets you almost twenty-six dollars a month."

In reality, it was closer to twenty-three. "Not even close," he said smugly. "But... yeah, fine, we're enjoying ourselves right now. You can't fault us for that."

"I fault no-one for nothing, skinny," Jolene said, heading out of the little cubicle farm. "You, me, everyone's gotta do what everyone's gotta do to be happy, right?"

"Right," Kevin agreed, still thoroughly confused.

"Right," shi said with finality, vanishing around the corner.

Kevin slowly swivelled in his chair, back to his computer and the partially-finished blog post. Well, he thought to himself. That certainly was... odd. He started typing the post again, but quickly deleted it when he realized it was all gibberish. He blinked, flexed his fingers, and tried to exert some sort of control over himself.

Jolene chose that moment to poke hir head back into the little cubicle farm, and say "And by the way, it's cock and BULL story."

"That's what I said!"

"Of course you did, honey."

Josh, Kevin eventually realized, wasn't coming back. It was close to five-thirty when the human finally gave up, shut down his workstation, grabbed his bag and headed for the door. He waved goodbye to half a dozen people as he passed, and swore he was getting some odd looks. He checked his zipper again, but no luck; safely in the upright position.

"G'night, Amira," he said, rounding the huge circular reception area, the spacious and expensively-appointed lobby that greeted everyone who walked into Swinghouse. Of course, it was folding tables and Ikea chairs everywhere else, but it made good sense to have something fancy up front. That definitely went for receptionists, too.

"Bye, Kevin!" the eternally bubbly minkette said, waving smartly. "Have a good evening!" She was white-furred with a luxurious blonde mane, and had she applied herself a little less dilligently in school she might have been an actress or a model. Today she was wearing, or at the very least was partially covered by, a tiny pink shirt that displayed more cleavage than most cheerleading squads.

He was almost out the door when he stopped, and walked backwards into the lobby. He glanced at the Small Board, which was in reality was a very large magnetic dry-erase board that kept track of the eighty or so full time employees: who was in the building, where they were, and how long they'd be there. When everyone worked for everyone else, it was a necessity. "Uhm, Amira... that says Josh is gone."

She glanced up and nodded rapidly. "Mmm hmm!"

"All week."

"Yup!"

Kevin took a deep breath. This could take a while. "Until Friday, with the weekend off."

"Yeah! He seemed real happy."

"Ok, but... uhm... ok... hold on..." Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering how to word this. "Do you know where he went?"

"Nope! Not really. Just said he was going out of town for a few days." Amira cocked her head. "Didn't he tell you?"

"No. He didn't," he said softly, shouldering his bag. "I didn't need to know."

The minkette, a hard worker and a gifted organizer but never very swift on the uptake, just waved at him happily again. "Ok. Have a good night!"

---

Josh was having a good night. He thought he was. He hoped he was. He was almost certain he was.

Highway miles flew beneath him as he sped north, heading for the City. The brief meeting he'd had with the doctor at the office had turned into a long meeting, and that somehow evolved into an extended consultation over tapas at the Mongolian restaurant just around the corner from the studios. Jolene hadn't been kidding; the good doctor was a smart cookie, and had presented a possibility that was very difficult to ignore.

So difficult, in fact, that after dropping the day's tapes with Pendarvis, the studio President, he had scuttled up to Amira's desk, made his vacation plans, and vanished out the side door with nary a backwards glance. It had been a rough day, his mind whirling, his imagination fluttering out new windows, unable to focus on simple tasks.

The stocky little wolf felt a bit bad for Kevin. He was going to be in the dark for the entire week, possibly longer, depending how things went, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, or... something. Josh never really understood how that was supposed to work, particularly for unrequited situations like theirs. If indeed it was mutual. Jolene had certainly painted quite a picture.

He pushed his paw down harder on the gas pedal, feeling his entire leg tense, already overfilled jeans groaning in protest as the modest hyper swelled slightly. The City held a lot of mysteries and a lot of excitement, and he would be exploring them both very shortly.

---

Swinghouse Studios, however, merely held a lot of mysteries and a lot of confusion. Every morning, Josh showed up promptly at seven-thirty, checked in with Amira, and then walked down to his cubicle. He booted everything up, went to make coffee since he was generally the first of the basement-dwellers to arrive, and then sifted through the show's Facespace traffic for half an hour or so, occasionally alt-tabbing to a game of Super 3D Pinball.

Every day for nearly two years had started like that. This week had the additional extra detail of firmly believing that he was spending every single moment being stared at and laughed at behind his back.

The gossip culture at Swinghouse was legendary, and normally a secret could only stay bottled for maybe one full work day. After two days, the cat would be out of the bag (literally, on one memorable occasion), and the subject of discussion would know everything. Kevin was waiting for the shoe to drop, or the sock, or however the metaphor went with furs, waiting for someone to blurt everything out in the break room, or wander past his desk and idly make some snarky comment that would let the dazed human figure it out.

Four days later, nothing. The sniggering decreased substantially, but the knowing winks were reaching epidemic levels. Kevin was starting to wonder if his co-workers were going to start needing monocles. Jolene was the only one who seemed immune, but that was only because shi had been avoiding him with the skill of a ninja.

With Josh gone, his workload had also increased substantially. What would normally be a couple of sound tech jobs per day became a panicked rush to fit everything in and still get out of the office on time. This also put him in contact with nearly every employee of the studio which only confirmed that, yes, whatever it was, absolutely everyone knew it. Even some of the news program guests were chuckling.

"Josh, I hate you," he grumbled under his breath, nursing his fifth coffee of the day. The AggroShow had been a blast, undoubtedly. He could almost feel his feet again, his neck now deigned to move left as well as right, and he could keep both eyes open simultaneously. The bands had been incredible and he'd filled the memory on the Flipcam to capacity, but without his little fuzzy accomplice, it just hadn't felt right.

Fortunately, the other studio employees were leaving him alone today, knowing full well how Thursday night, and a large portion of Friday morning, had been spent. It helped that he had hung a sign on the back of his chair that read 'Unless this is life or death, fuck off'.

He clicked. He edited. He spliced. He typed. He had the sneaking feeling that some of his frustrated anger was seeping into his prose, but he couldn't see well enough to proof-read just yet.

Kevin thought about how long they had known each other. High school had been ages ago, and they'd originally been fairly bitter enemies, although when you were a teenager everything became fodder for youthful rivalries. They had each sought the position of lead guitar with the school band, a position added only that year as a response to the popularity of the 'so-called rock music'. Their school had never really been considered progressive.

The band teacher had been unable to choose between the pair of them, both being excellently skilled, and had therefore decided that they should BOTH fill the spot, and switch off for different events. It had been a fair and even-handed decision that had caused numerous scuffles and arguments.

Kevin didn't know much about the little wolf, beyond the fact that he was extremely popular with the ladies and there were persistent rumors that he was perhaps more inclined towards the quarterbacks than the cheerleaders. Except for band, the two traveled in completely different circles.

One morning, during some sort of extra-curricular event (Kevin couldn't even remember exactly what it had been, but he thought it had involved a seniors home) the human had been called at the last minute due to the mysterious absence of Josh. Overjoyed, he showed up in his dress blues and took his position between the bass drum and the bassoon, just in time to accompany the first song on the list.

After maybe ten seconds, he realized that the strange echo he was hearing was, in fact, a second guitar.

Josh, limp-tailed and hung-over, was sneaking guiltily around the risers, guitar in hands and playing along. When he saw that Kevin had been called, and looked substantially more respectable, those dark little eyes flared with anger.

A hundred curious looks were exchanged as the band realized that Josh wasn't leaving. Both guitars strummed and plucked along with some smooth jazz selections, the little wolf standing, Kevin properly seated, neither willing to relent. The band teacher was frantically gesturing for ONE of them to leave, while trying to maintain an air of cool composure for the audience. Incrementally, both boys began to play louder, and little flourishes entered their well-rehearsed routines.

It all might have ended there had Josh not strummed the first few notes to Metallica's "Fade To Black" during the fading coda of some somnambulent seventies classic. Kevin's eyes narrowed, the final straw having been broken, or plucked, or however that metaphor was supposed to be enacted. Kevin promptly broke into "... And Justice For All", intending just to play a few bars.

But Josh, damn him, knew that song as well, and started to play along.

Over coffees later that night, and many alcoholic drinks many nights afterwards, the two would reminisce about the day that, for perhaps the first time ever, a crowd of senior citizens applauded a Metallica song, performed by two cheap acoustic guitars. They had both been kicked out of the band, and nearly failed the course, but they had been friends ever since.

Kevin snorted and jerked upright in his seat. "Wha-?" he said, snapping out of his reverie.

"I said," Pendarvis, the studio President, repeated, "why don't you go home?"

Kevin looked around. The office was quietly bustling, and someone would probably have some tracking for him to do before long. He shook his head blearily, sitting up straighter. "No, I'm... I'm good," he said. "Just long night last night."

Pendarvis nodded, his bristly porcine mohawk swishing. "Of course. I didn't realize I wasn't your boss anymore."

"I just need to... what?"

"Well, I told you to go home, and you refused. Obviously this means you outrank me. Strange, really. I'm usually so good about reading office memos."

Kevin smiled nervously. "I wasn't saying 'no', exactly, and you didn't really order me, I just mean I'm ok to work."

"So nowyou're telling me what I said?"

Ah, Kevin thought. He's in a playful mood. "Just telling you what I heard, sir, and I distinctly heard you suggest that I go home, without any imperative."

"That's super. Before I so rudely woke you up, though, I told you that you had a phone call on line two, and your response was to snort and scratch yourself."

Kevin looked at the phone, and sure enough, line two was blinking green, which meant someone had direct-dialed him. Except for the local sushi place, the only person who knew his actual extension was...

"Thanks, sir," Kevin said brightly, turning around and promptly dismissing the studio President. "I'll get right on taking that under advisement." He picked up the phone and held the receiver to his ear, hand hovering over the button. Pendarvis just chuckled and nodded, walking off.

Kevin hit the button.

"Hello?"

"You were asleep, weren't you?"

The mix of emotions that flooded his body left him briefly breathless. It was as though every sound in the office had been stilled, and the world held only Kevin and the telephone (although this effect was merely the result of all activity in the office having stopped and every ear surreptitiously straining to hear the hushed conversation).

"You're asleep again now, aren't you?" the voice continued.

"No," Kevin said crossly, though it was hard to keep the relief out of his voice. "Just... what the hell, dude?"

"Eloquent, as always."

He waited, but no further answer came. "What, that's it? Just called to razz me for actually making the AggroShow?"

Josh chuckled. "No. Not entirely. Don't get me wrong, I'm squeezing a lot of terrible glee out of that."

"My revenge will be terrible," Kevin grunted, but there was a twinkle in his eye.

"I'm shaking in my booties," Josh said, and the exhausted human could hear the lupine grin. "I am sorry I missed the show."

"And a week of work. They gave your cubicle to Pendarv's nephew."

"Stinky?"

"You better hope he doesn't record office phone calls." It felt good to banter with his friend, but they were dancing around the issue, and it was starting to wear thin. Josh in particular seemed to be leading the dance, which was as good a description as any for their relationship. "In other news, though, I must reiterate: what the hell?"

Josh's voice dropped slightly. "Yeah, I'm... I'm sorry about that, man. It was sort of sudden."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

"Now who's raking who over the coals? You know I'll make it up to you."

"When? Next AggroShow's not for a year, the Tiger Balms are months away, Undergrowl isn't until October, same with Howloween..."

"I don't mean make up a show to you," Josh said slowly, deliberately. "I mean everything else."

Kevin sighed. "You don't need to make up this week to me, man. You had something to do, and that's cool, I guess, even if everyone else here knows what's going on and won't tell me."

"They know?!" The little wolf's voice was overflowing with panic. "Did they say anything?!"

"I just said they DIDN'T say anything, but thanks for playing. Once more for the cheap seats: what. The. Hell!? What's so awful that you have to take off for a week and you can't tell me why, but everyone else knows, and THAT scares you?" A thought occurred to him, and he checked the phone display. "And speaking of that, where are you? It's Friday afternoon, and you're not at home. Phone says 'Private Line'."

"Are you free?"

Kevin glanced at the clock. "Well, yeah, I guess. I'm off in an hour and a bit, but Pendarv was just-"

The mohawked head appeared from behind the Coke machine as if by magic. "Go home, Kevin."

"I, uh... I guess I am free," he finished lamely.

There was a chuckle from the other end of the line. "Pendarv's winking at you, isn't he?"

Kevin checked. "He's not not winking. It's a little terrifying, to tell you the truth."

"That's so wrong. Anyways, I'm at the bar, if you want to swing by."

"Is the bar even open yet?"

"Earth Bar, dumbass."

"Feeling the love." Kevin paused, trying to collect his thoughts. "So... ok, I'll be there in a bit?"

"Sounds good. And, one last thing."

"Yeah?"

"I missed you."

Kevin blinked. "Uhm... you too."

Leaving the office that day, an hour and a half early and practically levitating on his caffeine levels, was a very surreal experience. Everyone was very, very carefully not looking at him. Whispers were exchanged, but ceased whenever he drew close. He was positive he heard giggles whenever he passed doorways. He wanted to bitchslap Josh, but slightly more than that he wanted to hug him and just be happy that he was back.

Jolene was sitting at reception. Kevin glared slightly, but he was too tired to really put his heart in it. "I guess I don't need to tell you."

The gorgeous doegrrl just grinned. "Nope. You can get mad at me on Monday, if you still want to."

"Damn conspiracies. This is exactly what happened to... uhm... you know the guy. Peed in jars, Kleenex on his feet..."

"I really don't think you're the Howard Hughes type. Howard the Duck, maybe." Hir voice deepened still further, if that were possible, and hir grin widened so far it seemed almost predatory, a strange look on a doe. "Either way, I want ALL the details!"

"It's just Earth Bar."

"That's good! Protein shakes. Healthful."

"You're still grinning."

"I don't think I can stop." Shi leaned over reception and punched him gently on the shoulder, which still nearly toppled him. "Good luck."

"Will I need it?"

That cheshire grin was the only answer he received. Shouldering his bag, he pushed through the doors and out into the parking lot, leaving the Secret Society Of Everyone Who Knows About Josh behind.

---

Earth Bar was a very strange ultra-urban infiltrator into the slightly backwards downtown district Kevin and Josh had grown up with. Looking like a cross between an Irish pub and the lounge on Star Trek, they offered hundreds of strange, exotic and generally distasteful drinks and snacks, with their specialty being 'Wellness Shots'. Perhaps as a result of brilliant marketing or perhaps just happenstance, but the Wellness Shots had become quite popular, albeit more as a dare than as a desire for improved health.

'Wheatgrass, ginger and wasabi shots! Two-ninety-nine!' announced the sign out front, and Kevin shook his head. Antioxidants be damned, something like that could only be purposefully taken as penance. He walked in and was greeted with modern chrome and plexiglass fixtures with rustic dark pine highlights. Towards the back he spotted a slouched wolfish outline at their usual table.

Kevin forced himself to check out the sandwich menu before heading to the back of the strange bistro. The pair often came to Earth Bar for lunch, when pizza and chow mein just didn't feel right (generally after eight-hour metal shows). Over the years he'd actually gotten used to sprouts and microgreens, although he was trying to break the habit of stopping off at the donut shop immediately afterwards.

"Howdy," he said casually, when he decided he'd let Josh stew long enough. He sat down at the table, dropping his bag to the floor. "Long time, no see."

Right away, something seemed... off. Josh smiled, a big, genuine smile. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"I thought it made the heart grow fungus."

"That, too." The teeth-baring grin remained. "How you been?"

"I asked out Jolene," Kevin said, glancing down at the little plastic-coated drinks menu. "It was amazing. I think shi might be the one."

Josh's smile didn't even waver. "Really!" he said, sounding deeply intrigued. "That's wonderful. You'll make a lovely bride."

Your smile is really starting to piss me off, Kevin thought. What he ended up saying, though, was "And your week? Rehab, or county lockup?"

"Schottenheimer Biomedical Institute, actually," he said, nibbling on a breadstick.

Kevin's jaw dropped, the entire world seemed to drop away beneath him. "Bio-... are you ok? You left in an awful hurry. Did you get b..." He shivered, swallowed and took a deep breath. "Bad news?"

Right away he knew that wasn't it. Josh's grin, if it was possible, had widened. His glossy obsidian eyes sparkled with mischief. "Good news, actually, and I left in such a hurry because there was an opening at the Institute. He wasn't going to have another for a couple weeks, and... well, you know. When you gotta go, you gotta go, right?"

"Schottenheimer," Kevin repeated softly. "Wait, he was on Jolene's show."

"Hey, those horses are finally crossing the finish line!" Josh chuckled, making little golf-clap motions. "I know you were too busy to listen."

"So, what happened? Tail lift? Teeth implants? Penile enlargement?" He tried to sound nonchalant, but was unable to stop himself from squeaking slightly with the last inquiry.

Josh's eyebrows waggled, something canines are incredibly adept at. "Wouldn't you like to know. I'm surprised you haven't noticed, actually."

With that, Kevin stopped trying to fake interest in the horrible wheatgrass concoctions and focused on his friend. "Just tell me?" he asked, knowing it was hopeless. Josh never let him off the hook that easily. Sometimes a round of 'Guess what?' could take days, the wolf dropping teasing little hints as infrequently as he could.

Let's see, the bewildered human thought, his hair is the same color. Fur, too. Eyes? If they were any more evil, I'd expect him to be stroking a white cat. Nothing new there, either. Muzzle looks the same, body's fine. Hard to tell, really, even though his clothes are so tight. Wait a second, that's the Motorbreath shirt I bought him! It was a Medium, and it was always so baggy on him. So why can I see a crease below his chest?

He blinked, lips twitching. Josh just nodded. "Close?" he said.

Kevin pulled his analysis back. It's a regular seat, but his shoulders are up past the Earth Bar logo. The Motorbreath shirt is tight. Lenny's face is all stretched out. What the hell?

"What the hell, indeed," Josh grinned.

"I said the last part out loud?"

"Yup."

Kevin decided to just say what had to clearly not be the case, even as it so clearly was. "Are you taller?"

"No."

Kevin cocked his head. He knew it couldn't have been true, it was impossible. But, just for a second, he had been so sure. "That's wierd, because I swear-"

"I'm bigger."

With that, the little wolf pushed back his chair and stood up, and impossible or not, it was certainly the truth. Sitting down, he knew that a standing Josh was only a smidgen taller than he, but now he had to look up, far more than just lifted shoes could possibly account for. Looking up was also the best possible thing he decided he could do, because if Josh really WAS bigger, looking in a downwards direction would almost certainly send the nervous human over the edge.

Kevin stood up, and the pair faced each other, nose to nose for the first time ever.

"How?" he eventually managed.

The newly-enlarged wolf's grin spoke volumes. "Dr Schottenheimer is ahead of his time, in a few respects."

Kevin admired his friend's shoulders, the fur's broad stature now far more in line with his wolfish heritage. Before, Josh had been short and stocky; now, he could have easily gotten a job as a bouncer at any of the metal clubs they frequented.

When he found his voice, Kevin was as surprised as anyone to find himself asking, "So is everything bigger?"

---

An hour later, with the sun setting in the distance and the sky deepening to lavender above them, Kevin and the newly-enhanced Josh were walking slowly, side by side, heading nowhere in particular. After deciding that Earth Bar perhaps didn't have the proper selection to fit the mood, they'd gone next door to the downtown Denny's and fortified themselves with fried goodness and were now letting it settle.

They'd gotten the initial awkwardness out of the way quickly, with Josh confirming that, yes, everything had indeed been scaled up.

Everything.

Kevin's blush reached thermonuclear levels when he beheld the straining masses stuffed into the wolf's jeans, which had been purchased that morning; none of his old wardrobe would fit anymore, save for a few select shirts.

"Psychoactive biofeedback recombin... recombinants..."

"Close enough," Josh chuckled, patting Kevin's shoulder affectionately. "Gene recombination."

"Something with that many big words has to have been a little... expensive." There was no getting around the confusion there. Kevin knew just how much Josh made: the same as he did. It wasn't much.

"Well, here's the thing," Josh said in the careful tones of a rehearsed speech. "Jolene's a friend of the good doctor, which is why he's been on the show twice this year and once more last year."

"You don't mean-"

"Jolene was an early client." Josh giggled briefly. "I saw some early pictures of hir. You've gotta see them someday, shi looks like the dorky kid from all those lame eighties comedies that can't get a date. All spindly and big teeth. Kind of adorable, really."

Kevin's eyes were like saucers. "And now shi looks like THAT?"

"Good choice, eh?"

"Genius." He looked back to the well-built wolf. "And now you look like... this."

Josh shrugged sheepishly, as if to say it's not that impressive. "It's only been a couple days. There's more to the process. Dr. Schottenheimer has been contacting previous clients, putting out feelers for people willing to undergo trials for his new processes, and Jolene put he in contact with him, and I got a pretty awesome discount."

"You're a test puppy?"

"Hardly 'test'. I mean, he's tried it on, like... two other people before me. Maybe three."

"And what happened to them?"

"I don't know, he got really nervous whenever I asked, and then changed the subject." Kevin goggled, and Josh managed to keep his composure for a couple seconds before he burst out laughing. "Oh, relax, I'm just kidding. They're fine. Better than fine, from what I understand."

The nervous human watched Josh staring at his own hands, flexing and bunching his thick fingers. "What's it feel like?"

"PBR? It's... it's wierd. It's tingly."

"You sound like a sandwich. Or a beer."

"I figure I sound like a talk radio station. 'You are listening... to PBR.' Anyways, you know that feeling you get in the morning, when you're waking up, but you're still half in a dream and half out, and you're trying to figure how you just got from some alien jungle into some stranger's bed, but then you realize it's your bed but it's in the wrong room, then you realize it's the right room and you can't remember why you thought it was a jungle?"

Kevin chewed his lip. "Yeah."

"It's like that, but all the time." He stared at his hands again, making dangerous-looking fists. "All the time."

"I'm just going to edge my way nervously over here," Kevin said with a faint smile, inching away from the husky wolf.

Josh laughed and reached out, yanking the human back. "No no no, you don't get away from me that easily," he said. "Relax! This is just... well, the new me, I guess. I'm still getting used to it, but I wanted you to be the first to know, the first to find out."

"Jolene knows."

"Yeah, true, and-"

"And the entire station has been doing the nudge-nudge wink-wink say-no-more routine all week."

"Maybe, but they don't know for sure-"

"There was wolf-whistling when you called."

Josh just sighed. "Ok, fine, EVERYONE fucking knew before you. People suck, get over it."

"You could be a motivational speaker."

In the old days, generally referring to the entire span of their lives up until the previous week, Josh would give as good as he got to Kevin's verbal jabs, but in the end he found himself wanting. When he could no longer goad his partner into a course of action, usually involving beer, or fire back a stinging but well-intentioned insult, instinct would take over and he'd take a swing at Kevin's shoulder.

In the old days, this would result in a thump, a groan, and a small bruise.

Tonight, Kevin found himself sprawled out flat on the street, Josh's paws covering his muzzle, eyes wide with shock. "Crap! Sorry!" he cried, hopping from foot to foot worriedly, more than a little taken aback at his own strength and fearful of his friend's reaction.

Kevin sat up, thumped shoulder aching , feeling the gravel digging into his lower back. He had landed between two parked cars, and he used their bumpers to get back to his feet, making a show of it for the terrified wolf. "Ow," he groaned, putting a little extra decrepitude into it.

"I didn't mean that! Sorry! I was aiming lower! I didn't hit that hard before! I put on like forty-five pounds this week! Are you ok? Sorry!"

When he came back up, though, Kevin was grinning. He was rolling his shoulder gingerly back and forth, but he slapped Josh's broad back with his other hand comfortingly. "Relax, it's ok. I just wasn't expecting that. I guess it's true, that's not all styrofoam and silicone, eh?"

Josh's paws slid slowly from his mouth, horror slowly being replaced by mischief. "You're evil."

"I prefer the term 'devilishly naughty', myself."

"Ooooo, I like that."

The last few liquid splashes of golden sun flowed below the foothills to the west, and the pair found themselves surrounded by the faint lavender embrace of twilight. the hairs rose on Kevin's arms, while Josh's entire body seemed to floof up in response to the drop in temperature.

"How long do you think we can stand here, not saying anything," the newly-enlarged wolf grinned, scratching at his dark mane of unruly hair.

Kevin's mind was whirling. It had been a lot to take in. "I dunno. When do the bars open?"

---

The bars might have opened, but Kevin was forced to bid his brand-new old friend goodbye shortly afterwards. Josh had to be at the doctor's clinic first thing in the morning for a battery of tests to monitor the progress of the process, make adjustments to the legions of hormone-tampering nano-scale drones whizzing through his body. He promised to be back at work on Tuesday for sure, though, and he'd probably be a little bit bigger still.

"Bigger than me," Kevin mumbled woozily, slumped sideways on his couch, watching Rocky III on the late-night rerun channel.

They'd hugged, holding it for perhaps a little bit longer than either had intended. It had been strange, feeling Josh's familiar bulk scaled up so much, more than filling his arms, and he'd been careful to keep his hips well clear of the wolf's prodigious bulges. Not that he'd really wanted to keep clear, but they were friends. It wasn't right.

"Bigger than me," he muttered, shifting onto his side and fumbling for the remote.

He'd driven home then. He'd thumbed through a dozen stations on the car radio, hadn't really heard any of them. He didn't even remember the drive, not really. He'd put the key in the ignition, pulled out of the Earth Bar parking lot, and at some point during the next half hour he'd managed to find his building's garage. A somnambulant trip up the elevator later, he sprawled out on his couch and started channel-surfing. A nearly-full bag of popcorn sat on the floor, just outside of arm's reach. He was hungry, but eating seemed unbearably irrelevant.

It wouldn't be entirely inaccurate to say that he had a bit of a crush on Josh, but Kevin had so many crushes that he'd always tried to tell himself Josh's was just overlapping from all the others. Jolene was a statuesque beauty who didn't hide the fact that shi was proud of hir staggering proportions. Ricardo, one of the assistant station managers who had left a year before to move to the City, had been a stocky timberwolf that bore more than a passing resemblance to Josh, though scaled up considerably (and to his credit, Josh had still been quite a bit better endowed). It just made sense that, sometimes, thoughts of his friend sometimes veered towards the impure.

Right?

Perfectly natural.

Definitely. Nothing to be ashamed about there.

"Yeah, right," he grumbled, reaching for the remote and succeeding only in knocking it off of the coffee table and onto the floor, completely out of reach. "Dangit."

Josh had always claimed to be perfectly content with his size, both vertical height and otherwise. He would refer to himself as 'fun-sized', a term that always made Kevin think about what the wolf's nethers must be like when he was having that much fun.

The human growled and shook his head, trying to knock those thoughts loose. They had been friends for too long, and just because Josh had undergone some crazy and radically experimental medical procedure to make himself bigger, it didn't mean that Kevin was about to throw everything away on a stupid physical urge that the wolf no doubt didn't share. He'd been desirable before, and had had no shortage of boyfriends; when he came back on Tuesday, he'd undoubtedly have the prestige to pick whomever he wanted.

"Maybe I should ask Jolene out," he murmured, forgetting for the time being the winks and nudges he'd received from the plus-sized doegrrl earlier that day. He was allowing himself a little wallow of pity, and didn't feel like going through the effort of pulling himself out of it.

When the phone rang, though, he was upright in a flash and across his apartment before it had a chance to ring twice. He clutched the little cel to his chest, thumb over the 'Talk' button, trying to steady his nerves. It's not Josh. It's not Josh. It's not Josh.

Beep.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Josh spoke into his ear.

I could be wrong. "What's up?"

"Uhm.... stuff," Josh said loudly, the line crackling with feedback, which was strange since it seemed like the wolf was speaking breathily. "You home?"

Kevin looked around as though to confirm his location, and then mentally kicked himself. "Yup. Just hanging out. Watching movies. Rocky III."

"Hah hah, sweet. I figured you'd be more of a Rocky IV fan."

"Cute," Kevin said with a faint grin. "That's on next."

"Awesome."

There was more silence on the line, except for a windy whistling. "Are you ok?"

"What? Oh, yeah! Right. Sure. Just... one sec..." Josh grunted as though he were climbing over a couch. "So you're home right now?"

Kevin headed for the front door, putting his ear against it and listening for sounds in the corridor. What in the world was going on, he wondered. "You're not going to stand outside my balcony with a boom box, are you?"

"I always hated that movie," the wolf said, panting slightly. "No, nothing quite so dramatic."

"Good. After the week we've had, I don't think I could take anything else dramatic."

Another pause. "Well, just in case, let me apologize in advance then."

Kevin rolled his eyes and leaned against the door. "Oh, lordy, what is it? Are the cops chasing you? I can hear dogs barking in the background. You're going to have your very own True Crime special, I can just tell."

"Yeah, I, uh... I can see a future in television."

"Are you being purposefully obtuse?"

"I don't know. Am I?"

"That's it, I'm hanging up."

"No!"

Kevin was grinning, thumb nowhere near the off button, but the panic he heard over the receiver was genuine. "You sure you're ok? You usually stand up to my verbal abuse way better than th-whoa... hold on a second, I think something fell over in the hallway."

The thump had rattled his coffee cups; he'd felt it through his feet and in his ears. Was someone moving a piano? At this hour? He opened the door and leaned his head out, but the corridor was empty. A moment later, though, another door opened and that cute redheaded pandagirl from 209 poked her head out. She tilted her head curiously, but Kevin just shrugged. He pulled back into his apartment and shut the door with a click, finally aware that Josh was still talking. "What?"

"I said, where are you?"

"What do you mean, where am I? I'm in my apartment."

"Yeah, but where?"

"The front door! Why?"

"Well... stop it! Come do the balcony."

Kevin rolled his eyes. "I swear, if there's a boombox..."

He crossed the apartment, which wasn't difficult, considering its size. There were storage lockers larger than his one-bedroom palace, but he was happy to call it home. "Ok, going to the back. What am I looking for again?" He slid the glass door open and stepped out into the brisk night.

There were a dozen twinkly stars overhead, which was a lot for a night in the city these days. His bare feet tightened against the cold plastic-covered deck, and he tugged his arms close. The little courtyard was empty, as far as he could tell. The little sodium lamps flickered, and he could just make out his car. Some shrubs rustled, but they were too small to hide Josh, especially with his new dimensions.

Kevin peered. "Hello?"

Josh coughed.

Kevin turned slightly. The rest of his skin tightened. His breath stopped. His eye twitched.

"Hi."

His legs wobbled and gave out, but he missed the plastic deck chair, landing hard on his ass. Josh's eyes widened in sympathy; it was like looking at huge, soulful stained-glass windows. Even hunched over as he was, the stocky wolf's forehead was brushing against the underside the deck above them. "Are you ok?" he whispered.

"AUGH!"

Josh shifted slightly, and below another bush was crushed flat. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't exactly know where else to go," he said bashfully.

"AUGH!"

"Shhh," Josh said, even going so far as to raise a finger to his muzzle. "Stop that! I'm trying not to be noticed!" The thirty-foot timberwolf adjusted his balance again, one shoulder stripping the stucco from the apartment building's wall.

"AUGH!"

The wolf's ears went up and his jaw set with resolve. He reached out, bringing his paws together as though he were fishing a gerbil out of a cage, and closed them around Kevin, one around his waist, the other around his chest, a large fuzzy thumb covering Kevin's ceaseless scream. It was cut off with a muffled yelp. "Ah, that's better."

"MMMRRRFFFF!"

For several long moments they stared at each other, worried canine eyes and rolling, terrified human eyes. Eventually rational thought caught up with his simian brain, and the smothered shrieks subsided. His face slowly relaxed. "Fmmmrrrj?"

"Yes?"

The thumb was withdrawn and his feet touched the deck again. For some reason, he wasn't feeling cold anymore. He wiped an errant foot-long hair away from his nose. "What... the... hell?"

Josh held up one paw, and Kevin could just make out a tiny sparkle of blue pinched between two of the fingers. "Have you any clue how hard it was to dial this? I had to use a chopstick I found on the ground." He dropped the cel phone with a distant grassy thud. "I, uh... I think something's wrong."

Kevin finally felt his legs again, and he moved up to the edge of the deck. He white-knuckled the railing, looking up at Josh's sofa-sized head, and down at his body, hidden in the shadows. "What was your first clue?" he managed.

His friend hunkered down again, drawing his legs close to his chest. The position was puppyish, but also very fearful. "I... it started after you went home. I was driving home, and already my car was starting to feel a little cramped. I got out, but I couldn't even get to the... to the front door of my building. I mean, I could, but the front door... it wasn't working right. And then my... pants..."

Shaggy shoulders shook, and Kevin wasn't sure if the wolf was laughing or crying. He reached out, just barely able to ruffle the fur of one twitching ear. "Did the doctor say anything about... uhm... Hulk smash?"

Josh chuffed, rubbing at his nose. "No, not really. I mean, he said a lot of stuff. A LOT of stuff. He said that the eventual potential sizes were considerable, bigger than Jolene even, but I didn't really w-... didn't plan on going that big. I was fine with stopping as big as you saw me tonight."

"Then what the hell happened? Why didn't you call him?"

"I didn't remember his number... and I couldn't read the call history on my phone. I had your number memorized, so... I came here. For help."

The rest of the phone conversation caught up to him. "Wait, you came here on foot?"

The distant sound of car alarms pierced through the general suburban armor; normally he tuned them out, but tonight upon reflection there seemed to be an unusually large number of them. "Yeah. I didn't have my bus pass."

Kevin's mind was filled with images of a naked, Herculean Josh sprinting down the freeway, clearing overpasses with powerful leaps. He imagined him ducking under the Green Street Bridge, clambering over the Pierce Arch, scaring old ladies when they looked up and realized that the wolf was naked, and very, very... tall.

Kevin coughed and was intensely glad that the night was too dark for Josh to see him blush. "So the thump was you too, I guess, huh?"

"I tripped."

That did it. Kevin snorted. He chuckled. There was no stopping it after that, and soon he was holding onto the railing just to resist the wracking gales of laughter that shook his body.

Josh frowned disapprovingly. "It's not funny."

"Bus... bridge... naked..." Kevin wheezed, making a brief but passable Six Million Dollar Man running motion. "It's... old lady..."

The frown deepened, but the mirth was infectious. He sagged against the deck with an alarming creak, one ear flopping over the railing and tickling Kevin's bare leg. "Ok, fine, laugh. Get it out of your system. "

"I am..."

"Dick."

The human moved back a little bit and gestured into his apartment. "Well, come on in. Might as well give the doctor a call."

Josh eyed the tiny door. "You're going to keep doing that, aren't you?"

"Oh, hell yes. As much as I can. But seriously, what's his number? This is probably something that he should know about." In the back of his mind, he was kicking himself. Josh was here, he was naked, and he was... truthfully, 'big' didn't even come close to describing it. What the fuck had happened? Was the doctor some kind of mad scientist? Evil genius? Not evil, surely.

Josh stuck his head into the limited balcony space and peered into Josh's apartment. "Still a slob."

"Fuck you. Your place isn't any better."

"I clean up my pizza boxes every month. No penicillin for me. And I'm a wolf. No dirty sock pile, either."

"You got stink glands, though."

"Hey! That's my manly musk!"

"Po-tay-to, po-tah-toe. What's the doctor's number? And where's my phone?" He moved from room to room, hand grasping at nothing. "I had it, I know I did. I... wait a minute, I was talking to you."

His brain seemed to be running on two separate tracks. One was operating on auto-pilot, finding comfort in the simple task of wandering around, looking for a phone and making fun of his friend. The other track, much larger, was intoxicated by the sight of Josh's colossal body, and simply could not think about anything else. One broad, dense shoulder had taken out a trellis as though it were paper mache. Kevin had clearly seen footprints sunk six inches into the courtyard grass, and he was already concocting excuses for the landlord to protect his friend. It had been difficult, what with the angles and the poor lighting, but he'd caught a few indirect and indistinct glimpses of the wolf's lower body, and if those immense shadowy bulges were any indication, it didn't look as though there was pesky clothing getting in the way down there.

That part of his mind was busy doing cartwheels, while auto-pilot Kevin tried to keep it together. "Is my phone out there?"

A huge hand appeared on the deck for a moment, scrabbled, and then there was a distant sharp thud. "Uhm... not anymore."

Kevin raced out to the deck and leaned over the edge. Sure enough, there was his phone, in two large pieces and several smaller ones. Gathered around his feet were the remains of his cheap plastic deck furniture, and it didn't take long to notice that the railing was bent under one hand. He looked up in baffled frustration, and saw a wolf wracked with guilt.

"Sorry," Josh said, but Kevin just waved the protests away.

"It's all right, you were just trying to help," he said, moving to the edge closest to Josh and trying to surreptitiously glance down. "We'll just have to get another phone. Get the doctor to... to I dunno. To come fix it." Even if you look so, so hot right now.

Josh nodded eagerly. "Yeah. Definitely... definitely gotta fix this."

The wind howled briefly. Kevin tightened his arms around his body, and Josh reached out impulsively, initially trying to put an arm around his shoulders, but when that failed he simply pressed his fuzzy paw against the human's back. "Thanks for not freaking out."

Kevin blinked. "Uhm... I did scream a lot, remember..."

"Yeah. It was kind of expected, though." Josh was leaning against the side of the building now, and Kevin fancied he could hear the timbers creaking. "I'm probably scaring the crap out of whoever owns the window my butt's up against."

"Mrs. d'Onofrio, she'll be fine. Giving her a hell of a show."

Josh barked out a laugh, leaning his head down closer. "What am I supposed to do, man? Look at me! I'm the size of a house!"

"You could let homeless people live under you."

"Dude. Not cool."

"Sorry." You could stay that way, he ached to say. You're wonderful. You're beautiful. You're perfect. "Don't wanna stay that way forever, eh."

"Yeah, that would... suck."

Kevin glanced sidelong. "You don't sound convinced."

"What? No! Why... I mean, it's sort of cool, and all, but... I can't live like this."

Go, man, go! "Why not?" Kevin asked, trying to keep the eager squeal out of his voice. "Lots of persons of size go on to lead rich, full lives. Look at Jolene. Shi has to duck to get through doorways! And, uhm... that fat guy with the radio show. Rich Lumberg?"

"Oh, come on, that's not the same thing and you know it," Josh said, heaving a sigh that blew debris around the deck. "They're big, but they can... they can still drive themselves around. They can still find clothes to wear. They can get by on a food budget smaller than the entire radio station's annual operating budget!"

"I guess so, but..." You can't lie to me, Josh, he thought. I know you. He stared into those huge, shadowy eyes. "Do you like it?"

The big timberwolf twitched. "What?! It's crazy! Look at me! If I sneezed, I could take out your whole building! I tripped over a bus on the way here! Tripped! BUS! How can anyone live like this?!"

"Do. You. Like it?"

His muzzle worked silently, but those glassy orbs rolled, and Kevin knew. "Yes," he said at last, little more than a squeak despite his tremendous size.

"Then stand up."

Josh balked, ears twitching wildly. His digitigrade legs pulled tighter against his body, or at least as tightly as he could considering the obstructions. "What, here?"

"Unless you think you're going to get magically teleported to the doctor's office, yeah, I think standing up might be an important next step."

He looked back and forth hesitantly, but the condo courtyard was quite empty on a late Friday night. "I'm not exactly wearing a lot of clothes right now."

I am very aware of that, Kevin thought. Very, very aware... but not aware enough! "We can see about getting you something to cover yourself up in a second. I think I have an idea. But in the meantime, stand up! If you like being so big, you can't expect to spend all your time huddled up in a mass waiting for someone to find you."

"But I-"

"Wuss."

Josh blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I said wuss," Kevin repeated, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Wuss?"

"Genetic recomblinization must suck all the fun out of you. The Josh I know once crowd-dived from the top of the Marshall stacks at a Sunn concert, and missed the audience. The Josh I know was photographed, and not even by me, doing a keg-stand at a Macklemore gig. The Josh I know once bet a woman in line for a show that he could do a cock push-up after watching 'Pick of Destiny' seven times in one weekend, and actually won the bet." Kevin looked his best friend up and down. "Which Josh are you?"

The mountain of black-and-silver grey pondered. "That was a pretty sweet gig," he said wistfully. "Got digits off a bouncer during the 'Same Love' encore." He reached down and tried to pat Kevin's back, but again did little more than knock him over, though in a comforting way. "You're right."

The building creaked when he shifted his weight off of that one wall, rolling gracefully onto the balls of his feet and reminding Kevin of that scene in the Terminator movies when Arnie first gets transported back in time. The excited human was also trying to accurately gauge his friend's size, since he was pretty sure that, during their conversation, the big fur had gotten at least a couple feet taller. If the process was ongoing, maybe they SHOULD get him to the doctor's office sooner than la-

Just let him get a little bit bigger first!

-well, maybe a little, he decided.

"Still. Laugh, and I'll goosh you."

Kevin crossed his heart and just winked. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"Liar," Josh said fondly.

Josh straightened, and Kevin suddenly wished he had on something a little more concealing than a pair of shorts. He tugged his shirt down to cover his growing arousal, which was being triggered by seeing Josh's own growing endowments.

"Fwah," he breathed, beholding the proud and fully-exposed figure of his newly-enlarged friend, and thanking whatever gods were being nice to him at this moment that Josh's overly-generous nethers were swaying back and forth at the same elevation as his balcony.

The wolf was maybe forty feet tall now, the tops of his ears at the same level as the underside of the fifth-floor apartments. He was still proportionally the same, as far as Kevin could tell, although the broadness of shoulder and thickness of chest was far more apparent now. When Josh had been shorter, smaller even than Kevin, he had seemed stocky but nothing special. Now, though... now, he was spectacular.

If only I could look at the rest of him for more than two seconds at a time! he thought manically, trying to wrench his eyes from Josh's lap and failing. He had innocently seen his friend naked a couple times, and oftentimes just wearing a pair of overburdened boxer shorts while walking around his apartment, but this was something else entirely. His silvery-grey sac was stretched around twin testes bigger than novelty beachballs, so big Kevin doubted he could even get his arms halfway around one, and a slate-grey sheath that was probably longer than the human was tall.

The moment stretched out endlessly, until Josh cleared his throat, causing those immense mounds to bounce enticingly. "You can blink when you've had enough."

Kevin thought about it. "Nah, I'm good," he said at last, staring openly.

Josh just grinned and knelt down again, although this time he wasn't trying to shield his nakedness. "I guess that answers my other question," he said, bringing his muzzle in close enough for the human to touch.

"Which one?"

"Do YOU like it?"

Kevin paused. "Now when you say 'it'..."

Josh rolled his eyes. "I meant how big ALL of me has gotten, not just... those."

"In that case, yes." He looked up into the wolf's dark, glossy eyes, dropping the humorous pretense. "Yes, I really do like it, Josh. And if I don't get another chance to say it, considering I wasted all the other chances I've had this week..." He took a deep breath, steadied his nerves, and just tried to focus on how gorgeous and perfect his friend had become, and... "You know what? I'm sick of my internal monologue hogging all the good stuff. I-"

Two big paws descended, scooped and held him, keeping him snug and secure while Josh stood up again. Kevin gripped the fur for dear life against the sudden acceleration, heart pounding in his chest. "Sorry," the wolf said, "it's kinda hard to hear you all the way down there."

"WARN me when you do that! Yeesh!"

"I did say sorry."

"Yeah, AFTER!"

"Fine, I'm not sorry," Josh grinned, sticking his tongue out like a pink welcome mat. "But now I can hear you. What were you about to say?"

"I-" he started, but now, being so close to the object of his desires, Josh quite literally holding Kevin's heart in his hands, his own tongue stuck. "Urk."

"Oh, come on, don't hold out on me now," the big wolf said. "I'm standing naked outside your balcony in the middle of the night. I can go get a boombox if you need me to, but-"

"I love you," Kevin blurted, one hand still evading his better sensibilities and slapping itself over his mouth. "Mff!"

Several seconds became several more seconds with Josh staring down at Kevin, Kevin staring up at Josh, and the distant white noise of doors and windows sliding open all around them as the apartment building's occupants became aware of the scene taking place in their parking lot.

"I know," Josh whispered at last.

"I know you know," Kevin mumbled, pulling his hand away.

"I think we both knew... uh, knew we knew... well, you know."

"Yeah," the human agreed. In the movies, this would be where they leaned in for the big dramatic kiss, but Josh's head was still more than an arm length away; the best he could do is lean forwards and plunge to a painful death on the concrete below. He could kiss his thumb, maybe, but that seemed really anti-climactic. Well, what about-

"Just fucking kiss already!" came the shrill shouted command from the top floor. A chorus of agreement filled the courtyard. Kevin looked around and saw dozens of faces he vaguely recognized looking up at him, down at him, and imploringly at him.

The unlikely paramours exchanged glances. "Your audience is waiting," Kevin smiled. "Don't keep them waiting."

"Yes," Josh said dryly. "Them."

Kevin's pulse pounded in his ears. His stomach flipped, his heart thundered arhythmically, his cheeks burned, his hands felt like ice. Was this was a first kiss was supposed to be like? His other ones had been good, but this was like having a heart attack. Then again, this kiss had a lot to live up to; Josh's approaching muzzle was bigger than his dining room table.

"Be gentle," the macro wolf breathed.

Kevin gently socked his friend's jaw. "Don't be a dick."

"You're killing the romance."

"My entire building is chanting 'do it'."

"What, this?" Kevin was still thinking up a clever comeback when the distance between them vanished, and Josh's vast, warm muzzle was pressed against his lips. And his nose. A lot of his face, actually.

His hands, small and pink and almost delicate by comparison, reached up and stroked those tender dark flews, enjoying the contrast of the rough spiky stubble peppering the silky, glossy fur. They flexed and shuddered beneath his fingertips, and a gust of hot breath from Josh's nostrils blew back his hair.

There was a smattering of applause when Kevin finally came back down to Earth. He breathed slowly and heavily, trying to steady his heartbeat and work some feeling back into his extremities.

"How was that?" Josh asked, head cocked to the side slightly.

It took Kevin a moment to remember how words worked. "Splendid," he said breathlessly.

"Huh. Not the word I'd use..."

Kevin leaned in again, pursing his lips, but Josh spun his head and one flappy ear nearly knocked the human over. "Ack!"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. Look, you said you had an idea about clothes?"

The human glanced back up. "I wasn't looking at your crotch!"

"What?"

"What? Nothing! I tripped! Yeah, uhm... ok, you just gotta go down Arrowstone for a block or two, I think I know something you can use, at least for starters."

Josh trotted out of the courtyard, Kevin held easily against his chest, leaving behind the laughter and cheering. "You're going to be famous pretty soon," Josh said, looking both ways when they reached the street. "Two blocks which way?"

Kevin pointed. "Thattaway. And what do you mean, I'll be famous? You're the ginormous naked wolf that just flattened someone's car."

"What?!" Josh straightened up, looking back the way they had come with an expression of panic.

"Relax, relax," Kevin laughed, patting the big fur's chest reassuringly. "I'm kidding. Just kidding."

A couple more enormous steps and Josh had covered the intervening blocks, and the pair found themselves surrounded by large, low homes with tree-covered lots. "Take it easy with the kidding, ok? I'm in kind of a delicate position right now."

"Your position is delicate? A giant naked wolf kidnapped me from my apartment!"

"Stop saying naked."

"No. Ok, over there, see the big blue house?"

"Colorblind, remember?"

Kevin chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Ok, the house with the three chimneys. Seriously, who needs three chimneys?"

"Ok, I see it. What about it? Do I rip off the roof and wear it as a hat?"

"No no. See the back yard?"

"Yeah. Pool. Boat. Car. Two cars. Three cars. Man, why do some people get all the money?"

"Because they don't stand around yapping when the blindingly obvious is staring them in the face."

Josh frowned, glancing down at his little friend, and then back to the yard. "What are you... wait, you mean... awww, come on, that's stealing."

"It's not stealing if it's for a good cause, and while reducing the global incidences of giant naked wolves is against my moral and religious beliefs, I still think it's a good cause if it gets you to stop freaking out everytime you hear a noise. Here, let me down... your fingers are too big."

Kevin slid out into the back yard, and Josh followed him gingerly, stepping in between expensive potted plants, a built-in barbecue, a gazebo and a hot tub. "It's like playing Luxury Whack-A-Mole," the immense canine murmured.

Kevin scurried over to the boats and crawled underneath, fiddling with the cords. "This would be so much easier if I knew the slightest thing about nautical knots. What the hell is this?"

"You're saying you're interested in bondage?" Josh asked, bringing his head down between the boats.

The human paused and considered it. "I'm not not interested," he said, blushing. "Ok, I think I got it. Lift!"

The tarp was whipped away with a sound like a thousand birds suddenly taking flight. Kevin crawled out from underneath the boat as ropes fell in small, limp heaps around him. When he managed to get to his feet he saw Josh twisting his body to the left and right, checking himself out.

"Not bad," he said, giving a little twirl. He had tied it around his waist like a... well, not a 'skirt', exactly, but it didn't exactly fit like a kilt. It was white and blue, and Kevin thought it looked rather fetching, even if it did obscure the view a little bit.

"You look like you're ready for the school dance," Kevin called, trying to get a little bit closer without getting stepped on. "Feel better now?"

"Actually... yeah," he mused, bending down and scooping up Kevin again. "It's weird. I could probably throw a car like a Frisbee right now, and yet a freakin' boat tarp makes me feel normal again."

"Maybe that's why superheroes wear capes. A little flapping rectangle and suddenly you seem perfectly normal, eh? Like you belong there." Kevin leaned against Josh's huge, densely-furred chest. "You seem like you belong, to me."

"I belong to you?" Josh said smugly, hopping back over the fence and trotting down the street.

"No! Well... maybe? Uhm... I could put a leash on you..."

"Woof, I say, woof, boy."

Kevin enjoyed the bouncing ride, listening to the wind sluice through the wolf's thick ruff and the rustle of the tasseled boat tarp, feeling that tremendous heartbeat all through his own body. Warm, pink, fuzzy thoughts filtered through his mind, and it was only when he started to fantasize about shopping for a bed big enough to fit Josh that he thought to ask, "Where are you going?"

"We need a phone, right? Gotta call the doctor," Josh said, loping easily.

"So? There's phones around here. I could knock on someone's door."

The giant wolf, as tall as the yews lining the street, lifted Kevin up to stare him eye-to-eye. "I have a better idea."

---

Josh had always blended well into crowds. Being significantly below average height, and a moderately common canid subspecies, a dark t-shirt and he could all but disappear. Once, at a Three Inches Of Blood concert, Kevin had lost track of him for nearly three hours, while Josh insisted that they had been standing side-by-side the other night and hadn't even been aware the human was looking for him.

That was... no longer the case.

A crowd had formed around his legs, the tallest of them no higher than his knees, and many of the closer ones either trying hard to peek under his kilt or trying hard to look like they weren't trying to peek under his kilt. There were flashbulbs going off everywhere, along with hoots, cat-calls, whistles, and the other background crowd chatter that any spectacle usually brought.

Kevin looked down at the spreading mass of fur around the timberwolf's legs. "Yes! Meet the giant! Come one, come all! Josh, you're insane!"

"I'm not insane! I'm coming to terms with my... current lifestyle. Burrito?" Josh held up the enormous paper bag that had been filled with food purchased from a kiosk some blocks before.

"No, no, I've had three, I'm stuffed. You take them, you need the energy."

"I already ate the other bag."

"Are you still hungry?"

"... yes," Josh mumbled with a grin.

"This is going to be tricky," Kevin said, standing upright, if unsteadily, on the wolf's upturned palm. "If you're, what... eight times the height? Square-cube rule, dude. You're about five hundred times the mass... you'll need five hundred times the food. Five hundred... dude, you're like a small town now."

"I know," Josh said a little nervously, carefully stepping over the crowd and moving over to the edge of the boardwalk, overlooking the beach. It was night-time, but it was still the social hub of the entire town, and there were probably a thousand people out enjoying the food, the buskers and the moonlight sparking on the gentle, breezy ocean. Most of the standard attractions were being completely ignored, though, in the timberwolf's wake.

Kevin carefully sat down in Josh's paw, legs dangling high above the admirers below. "They're all just jealous of me," he said. "I could get used to this. I am positively drunk with power. But seriously, though, have you thought about... you know... how you're going to manage staying like this? Uhm... for a little while, I mean."

"I might have to go vegetarian," Josh replied, upending the remaining sack of food into his mouth. "Live off... what's cheap? Chick peas and bananas. And hot sauce. Gotta have hot sauce."

"And clothes," Kevin continued, unable to disconnect his rambling mouth from his worried mind. "And your apartment might have to be subletted. You could probably sleep outside, though, you've got about three feet of fluff now. You probably won't even notice winter."

"You're not helping."

"I suppose you could still do some of your job from home, if we got you some giant wireless keyboard and a mouse. And a projector could be your monitor! That would be sweet, eh? Though it might just be normal-sized for you."

"Kevin..."

"The commute would be a snap, too. You got from my place to the boardwalk in about three minutes. Hey! Maybe you could be, like, a taxi service! People would pay top dollar to be whisked around town in style by such a handsome creature!"

"Stop it, Kev."

He couldn't have if he tried. And he really was trying. The crowd below might as well have been light years away, for all he felt a part of their world anymore. "I did good in accounting, I could probably work you out a business model. And endorsements! You could rake it in, being the spokeswolf for... uhm... ooo! Pickup trucks! You could step on them and show how tough they are. And probably some sort of fragrance would love for you to be their new face. Hey, what about underwear model-"

His good-natured and well-meaning tirade was cut short abruptly when Josh lifted his paw and clamped his muzzle shut over most of Kevin's upper body.

For a moment two pink, sock-clad legs flailed wildly, and there was a whoop of laughter from the pleasant mob below. Josh slowly relaxed his jaw and a startled and sheepish Kevin plopped back out onto his paw. He pushed his damp hair back out of his eyes, his other hand rubbing at the saliva on his cheek. "Thanks. I... couldn't stop. I was just-"

"-trying to help, I know," Josh said gently, bringing his face down closer, eyes wide and concerned. "Look, I appreciate the help, I really do, but... don't worry about it. At least not tonight, ok? I'm having fun, you're having fun... don't ruin it with tomorrow."

Kevin reached up and tenderly stroked the wolf's cheek. "Deal." He leaned forwards and hugged that enormous head, bringing his mouth closer to that perky, swiveling ear and murmuring, "Besides, there's a lot that we haven't done yet with your new size."

Josh's answering rumble felt like an earthquake, vibrating Kevin to his bones. "Are you flirting with me?"

"Fuck no," Kevin replied honestly, leering. "I was flirting with you last year. Now I'm just being a wanton hussy."

"Mmm, my favorite."

Their strange hug continued, and there was an embarrassed ripple of coughing and laughter from below. Neither human nor timberwolf seemed to notice or particularly care. Kevin's world was filled with the big, bulky and beautiful body of his best friend, and not only had Josh's wildest dreams come true in spectacular fashion but he'd found that he was not alone in his forbidden desires. The crowd could have carried torches and pitchforks, and they'd not have noticed.

Rising high above the susurrations of the boardwalk folk, though, a young voice rang out with crystal clarity, "Mommy, what's happening under his skirt?"

A hundred breaths caught, and for a moment the only sound was the waves lapping at the shore. Kevin's head turned slowly, both afraid at what he might discover and terrified that he was finally piercing the veil of mystery that surrounded his closest friend. Standing as he was, leaning casually against the side of a three-storey brick brownstone whose value was probably more derived from being oceanfront property than from being an actually decent place to live, Josh was hardly being indecent, but there was no disguising the rustling of his boat-tarp accoutrements, or the fact that they were clearly being forced to cover substantially more wolf than they had originally.

The wolf's sizeable bulge had been unavoidable, but now it was dangerously close to becoming a matter of gross public indecency on a scale never imagined by the lawmakers of yesteryear. Kevin stared raptly, his view being almost perfectly straight down Josh's barrel chest, providing an excellent way to compare and contrast the growth against the shocked faces of the crowd below. His own breathing was becoming labored, as fear clashed with almost palpable lust.

"Uhm..."

Josh didn't need any more prompting. He pushed off from the row of brick townhomes, partially collapsing one wall and knocking a chimney over. The crowd cried out at the sudden movement, although one huge graceful stride of his long canine legs managed to clear the worst of the mob. Josh loped easily, cruising down the boardwalk and shocking those who had not yet had a chance to see the strange giant.

Kevin, a credit to his desire, managed to cling against Josh's chest, twining his fingers in that thick fur without taking his eyes from the weighty rondure bouncing below the tarp. Eat your heart out, Gideon! he crowed to himself.

---

In the City, a few hours to the north, the streets fairly bustled with energy and exuberance, a populace enjoying the last few precious moments of the weekend. Not everyone was so inclined to get down with their bad selves, though; some people were content to sit at home with a wide snifter of brandy, watch American Idol, and think about their appointments for the following morning. Some people have all the fun. Logically, others must make their own.

The elderly goat twirled his snifter and tapped the remote to increase the volume. The singer on stage wasn't half bad, but the judges snarky comments were far more entertaining. Really, why did anyone else even watch this show?

The phone rang. He sighed and looked at his hands; making his decision, he put down the remote, picked up the phone, and brought that and his snifter up to his lips. "Hello?"

There was a nervous cough on the other end of the line. "Dr. Schottenheimer?"

Uh oh. "Yes," he said slowly, wracking his mind for the tech's name. he eventually hazarded, "Rico?"

"Roger. There is... we have... last week, you... are you watching television?"

"Yes."

"You should turn to Channel 14."

Dr. Schottenheimer obliged, reluctantly putting down the brandy in the process. "If I miss this week's finalists, you're on sputum detail. What am I supposed to be-... oh."

On the news, there was excited chatter describing an unbelievable scene taking place just a few hours to the south. There were several cut boxes, each showing similar video, taken from different angles and resolutions, thanks to the proliferation of camera- phones and ubiquitous wifi. The angles were all remarkably low, although when the figure passed in front of a building, the reason became obvious.

"Fuck."

On screen, the gigantic and instantly-recognizable timberwolf was walking through the crowd, carrying a doll-sized human and not nearly as well-covered by his boat tarp as he probably thought.

"Yes, sir. It happened again."

The doctor leaned forwards, eyes widening. His grip tightened on the phone. "It's happening too fast. It shouldn't have happened yet, even if it WAS happening that fast! He only left here on Thursday! On his check-in this morning he was still normal sized!"

"Yes, sir. What do you-"

"Helicopter. My roof. NOW."

"That's what I thought, sir. It's already warming up. I'll grab your kit."

"Thanks, Roger."

"It's Rico, sir."

---

The crowds had been easy to lose, once Josh remembered that he could just head away from the boardwalk. He wound up leaning against a warehouse, chest heaving slightly, and chewing his tongue thoughtfully. "I think a better solution than tarps is going to be required," he said, peeking around the corner of the building as though expecting pursuit.

Kevin just snapped his fingers. "Shucks. Looks like it's back to full-frontal nudity for you, young man."

"Dude!" Josh said, unable to hide his smirk. "Come on. How would you feel, walking around downtown all starkers, first-basing someone?"

"If I looked like you? I'd think that I died in the car crash and obviously went to Heaven."

"Yeah, right."

Kevin thwapped the timberwolf on the chest, but when he realized that the absorptive properties of macro-fur made that all but useless, he drew back and drove his fist with all of his might into Josh's torso. It made a pathetic little thump, and the big fur twitched. "Ow?"

"YOU went to see Dr. Hackenschleimer."

"Schottenheimer."

"Whatever! YOU went to go see him! YOU spent a week getting who knows what stuck who knows where, and all drugs and... and tubes, and things. YOU went through all that, because YOU wanted to be the big hot sexy wolfy." Kevin was shouting now, head thrown back, venting his fury at the vague outline of a muzzle high above him.

Josh sighed, a long slow gust that blew Kevin's hair back. "Well," he said eventually, "I-"

"And you," Kevin said with finality, "have so far turned down every effort I've made to find you a telephone, even going so far as to eat the phone that nice girl loaned you."

"I dropped it! It was an innocent mistake!"

"Into your mouth. Right into your mouth. Then you chewed."

"It tickled, it was a... a reflex! Yeah! A reflex! I-"

Kevin threw another punch, which was similar in effect to hitting a cloud. "Knock it off," he said sullenly, rubbing his wrist.

Josh's muzzle slumped to his chest. His eyes closed, his brows knit, his ears drooped, and Kevin could hear his tail.

"Do you really think I'm big hot sexy?"

The human shifted sides and punched a third time, playfully. "No, I'm just standing here, wearing boxer shorts that highlight my skinny little hairless legs in public, enjoying the brisk night air, because I really, really love Mexican food."

Kevin elevated slowly, Josh tilting his paw upwards. "You could have put on pants."

"Solidarity, bro. I'm sharing your pain."

"If you were really sharing my pain, you'd be wearing a tiny little tarp that didn't cover your junk."

"It covers you!"

"Not for the past... two minutes or so."

Kevin's eyes swelled like saucers, and it took all of his self control not to lean way over the edge of Josh's paw and stare downwards. As it was, he was proud that he simply sank to his knees and, at worst, peeked. A very long, sumptuous peek.

"Gosh," he breathed. The tarp still rippled in the breeze, but it was being propped up from beneath by a considerable bulk, something with tremendous mass that bobbed faintly but regularly with the beating of the big wolf's heart. It was hard to make out much detail in the low light, shielded from the brightly-lit downtown strip, but it didn't take much illumination to reveal a bulge the size of his refrigerator. Inch by inch, a mound of silvery fur flowed out into the night.

Josh scratched at a non-existent itch, his hips swaying enticingly. "I hear you about the breeze," he murmured, nuzzling Kevin. "That's brisk."

"You have fur, what are you bitching about? Fur, and the square-cube law working in your favor."

"Are you cold?"

"No, my teeth are applauding. It's ok, I'll be mmmf!"

Josh didn't know what Kevin was going to be, because he cradled the shivering human against his chest, nearly losing him in the dense fluff. Kevin was immediately warmed, feeling the wolf's heartbeat pounding in his ears. He struggled momentarily, but then replayed the last several seconds back in his mind, shrugged, and threw himself wholeheartedly into snuggling with his supersized beau.

Although he could neither see nor hear anything, ensconced as he was, his inner ear was telling him they were moving again, bobbing up and down as the big wolf started to walk... somewhere. He opened his mouth to ask where they were going, but that just pressed more fur against his tongue. I need to buy an air horn, if this is going to keep happening, he thought giddily.

If... what was going to keep happening, though? Were they together now? Was this official? Was Josh going to stay this big? WHY was Josh this big in the first place? As much as he was blown away by the sheer incredible volume of his lifelong heartthrob, there were probably some medical considerations to take into account, and he wasn't about to sacrifice his friend's health just for some cheap thrills. Being the nice guy sucks, he lamented, vowing to voice his fears once his mouth was freed.

He surfaced a minute later to the smell of the ocean and the sounds of crashing surf, both of them almost overpowering after his time in the sensory-deprivation-like cocoon of Josh's ruff. He gasped for air, laughing when Josh brought his muzzle down again in concern. "It's fine, it's fine, it's just like being buried under all the blankets when you do that. In a good way."

"Well, if you're sure," Josh said, settling his bulk down with a sough of shifting sands.

"Very sure. But, look, I have to say something. You-"

"I'm going to call the doctor first thing in the morning, OK? Relax."

"Good. I... I don't want anything bad to happen to you," Kevin said.

Josh grinned and shifted again, lowering himself onto his side and bringing Kevin once again back down to ground level, though the much smaller human stayed where he was on the warm padded paw. "Nothing's going to happen to me," Josh reassured him. "The doctor said there might be temporary side effects, but nothing that couldn't be reversed. There was some talk of overshooting my size goals, which is possible, since the treatment responds to conscious and subconscious commands. Something about biofeedback, which always just sounds like a speaker blowout to me."

"I don't want you to blow out anything because you got too big," Kevin grinned, rubbing at Josh's muzzle.

Josh winced, one paw moving down to cup at a bulbous shape beneath the tarp, which was doing less and less of a satisfactory job keeping him covered. "Me either," he said. "I'm already feeling kind of... tight, I guess is the word."

"Oooo," Kevin intoned.

"Oh, not like that."

"How do you know?"

"I..." That stopped the big wolf short. "I don't know. I've been blue-balled before, and it didn't feel like this, and it doesn't feel like the rest of my body feels."

Kevin swung his legs off of Josh's palm, toes hardly feeling the damp, icy sand. "What does it feel like, man? That's some procedure you underwent."

"At first? It's weird. It was stronger at first, so much stronger, when I went from five foot nothing to six. That took a couple days, and it was like being trapped under a couch for the entire time. All my joints felt weird, my muscles were burning, my lungs were on fire... and then? Nothing. Almost nothing." He gestured down at his body, tail wagging and beating at the surf behind him. "All this, hardly felt a thing. I feel... I feel light. Full of energy, like I could run a marathon. I feel great."

Kevin took a few steps, moving from Josh's chest down to his belly, fingers making little doodles in the downy fur of his navel. "Yes, you do."

"Oh, you hush," Josh said, his voice deepening slightly. "That tickles."

Kevin turned around, walking backwards, and cupped his hands to his mouth. "IT'S JOSHZILLA! WE MUST FLEE!"

"I'm gonna have to endure a lot of those jokes, aren't I?"

"WHO WILL SAVE US FROM THIS BEAST? QUICK, SOMEONE FORM VOLTRON!"

"I'm gonna squish you."

"OH NO! I should hide!"

Josh was preparing another snarky comment when Kevin did just that, tugging up the flapping edge of the boat tarp and diving beneath it, the skinny little human coming up hard and fast against his burgeoning, silvery sheath. The tarp fluttered back down, and it looked as though Kevin might never have been there.

The big wolf's jaw dropped. He wanted to say something, he wanted to tell Kevin to stop, he wanted to try and take umbrage from the sudden intimate contact, but the words wouldn't come. His eyes rolled back slightly, revealing far more white than glossy black, when those little pink hands started to embrace him in such a familiar fashion.

"Rrrrrrfffff," he breathed, shoulders sagging to the sand, trying to keep his loins as still as possible lest an errant twitch kill his longtime friend and, perhaps now, lover.

Kevin couldn't see much, but every other sense had been wholly overwhelmed. From his ankles to his eyebrows, he sagged in disbelief against Josh's tremendous sheath, arms encircling it or at the very least attempting to. It was like trying to hug a young, mossy oak tree. His fingertips brushed one of the wolf's swollen testes, radiating heat like an oven. His nostrils were filled with the brisk, clean, heady musk of Josh's nethers, and he was shocked to discover he could actually HEAR everything as well: the beat of his pulse moving through hose-thick veins just beneath the fur, flesh groaning and sighing as it was stretched from within, phenomenal sac gurgling with seed.

"If I die right now, it's so worth it," he said, his words mumbled against the base of Josh's sheath.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!"

The tarp was pulled aside slightly, Josh's muzzle appearing in the sky like a concerned cloud. "Are... uhm... are you... is everything ok?"

Kevin squeezed with all his might, hardly even dimpling the wolf's flesh. A moment later, Josh's body responded by swelling again, a wave of expansion that seemed to start at his hips and worked it's way outwards, forcing Kevin's arms apart and pushing his heels back in the sand. Josh yelped, realizing that the growth was not just limited to his privates; ALL of him was growing!

"Kev..." he said, panic starting to creep back into his voice.

"Oh, gods, yes," was the only reply he got, tiny kisses being spread with wild abandon around where the little human had staked his claim.

The wolf was certainly growing again, his footpaws forcing great dunes of sand as they expanded outwards, his shoulders doing likewise, the topography of the beach slowly forcing him to hunch over onto his side. The feeling of flying, of soaring through the clouds was back. There was no sense of weight, of increased mass or hyperactive cell division; he felt as though he were no more substantial than wind.

When the rush subsided, when he could finally focus his eyes again, his first concern was Kevin. The tarp had parted and was now pinned under his tail, so the pantless human was easy to spot, but even more shocking than the difference in size between Kevin's entire body and Josh's slowly-engorging nethers was the difference in size between them and his own body. He was no stranger to his own anatomy, having grown up with a healthy curiosity and a jaw that could very nearly unhinge, but it was plainly and a little painfully obvious that in those respects he was larger now, proportionally, than he had ever been before.

"Whoa," he said, so enthralled he completely forgot to be mortified. Even as he watched, his hips became more and more obscured by his bloating, expanding sac. His sheath strained, so tight he could see the little lines and ripples in his fur where the overtaxed veins struggled to provide enough circulation. Kevin was being forced more and more upright as it slowly began to match, then exceed, him in size. "What?"

Kevin lifted his head and said loudly, "Are you growing again?"

"I... uhm... yes?"

"That's not supposed to happen, right? Like, even more not supposed to happen than the first time?"

"Probably." The supersized wolf yipped again when another surge passed through his body, his frame bulking out more in all directions. Kevin's moan rose above the sounds of the ocean, above the sounds of the shifting sands, above even the strange rubbery creaks and rasps of swelling flesh. "I need to s-stop..."

"Absolutely," Kevin cried, watching Josh's white, frighteningly overfull balls rise higher and higher, well above his own meager height now. "You should stop. Anytime."

"Your h-hands, they feel s-so good, but I... I'm still growing..."

Kevin slid sideways, rubbing his entire body against Josh's oh-so sensitive sheath. "You're guiding it, not me," he said, kissing his way down that expanding length. "You said it yourself. Your... conscious... and... subconscious..."

"Bigger," Josh breathed, trying not to roll around in the sand like the playful and oversexed pup he was. "Gods, I've wanted to be this way since I was a kit. Cartoons, comic books... all those big, giant heroes... tall, strong... sexy... and I knew it would never be me. I was always the shortest..."

"Just... height..." Kevin moaned, carressing the cuff of Josh's sheath, feeling the quivering flesh yearning to yawn open, to reveal his desire. "You can stop... whenever you want... right?"

"Uhm... yes?" Truthfully, Josh didn't know if he could stop. He didn't know what his subconscious was doing anymore, he didn't know when it was going to ever end. Sometimes he wanted to be fifty feet tall, sometimes a hundred, sometimes... sometimes in his imagination he tripped over tall buildings and sprawled headlong into the bay, sending out a titantic tidal wave...

The next throb of growth elicited cries of delight from the both of them, and Josh could hold back no longer. His sheath pulled back with such speed and force it knocked Kevin over, pale pink flesh billowing forth like a soft, glistening freight train. Kevin could only stare as yard after yard of musky canid cock hove into view, traced with thick veins and ridged with heavy tendon. For a moment he couldn't believe his eyes, couldn't believe the impossible size he beheld, but then he saw the flesh twitching and rippling, the ridges becoming more defined, and he realized that Josh was still soft!

"Oh my fucking gods," they said in unison.

Josh's hands encircled his hardening shaft, or at least tried to. Normally he could just touch thumbclaw to fingerclaw, if he squeezed, but now he wasn't even close. He was definitely larger now, proportional to the rest of himself, and his fingers were being forced further apart with each passing moment. He'd never experienced a pressure like this before, building deep within his loins, his sac showing no signs of slowing.

"I don't think this was part of the treatment," he whispered.

Kevin popped up as if by magic, surrounded on all sides by the wolf's body, arms, and cock. "Maybe we should get you to a phone now," he said, frustrated sympathy clear on his face. "This is... this is incredible, and everything, but I'm worried about you!"

Josh shook his head briskly. "Nuh uh, it still feels good," he said. "Really... really good."

The macro wolf's body was slowly straightening out on the sand as his moonlit column of flesh pressed against his muzzle, forcing his head back. Kevin's tongue went dry, trying to calculate, or even estimate, how big his friend was getting now. Eighty feet? A hundred? Oh, what I wouldn't give for a satellite photo right about now!

Josh opened his maw, his carpet-like tongue lolling out and lapping playfully at the tapered tip of his endowment, an act so tender and intimate that for a moment Kevin wanted to avert his eyes. Just for a moment, though. He reached up, softly stroking near the bulbous base of Josh's cock, marveling in the furnace-like heat, the thin skin so tight he could make out the fine tracework of blood vessels just below the surface, in between the wrist-thick veins snaking their way throughout. Anywhere his palm touched, those vessels swelled and engorged, overfilled tendons creaking with the strain as they were pumped up larger, fuller.

For the first time, the corners of his lips tilted downwards in disappointment. "I guess you might be too big for some things," he said wistfully, embracing Josh's wondrously rotund base, kissing it passionately, inhaling his musk. The sounds of the ocean were mingling with the churning noises coming from Josh's sac, which was beginning to overshadow the big wolf's already ample hips.

He cried out briefly, but was silenced by Josh's belly-fur, pinned there by the swift motions of the wolf's member. When he was freed, he was standing on a field of silvery grey fur, that turgid shaft rising above him like the most incredible leaning tower ever. Josh had rolled onto his back and was slowly stroking himself, back and forth, tip to base, nuzzling at the tip as it inched, or perhaps 'footed' was the more accurate term, past his nose.

"Josh, you're still growing," Kevin quavered, getting to his feet rather unsteadily, feeling the rise and fall of the wolf's belly beneath his bare feet.

"Mmm hmmm," the giant moaned. "I... sure am..."

Kevin started walking up the wolf's body, trying to keep his footing as Josh's breath became less steady, more jerky. "You all right? You sound funny..."

Josh was making tense, keening little yips, still trying to cram himself into his wide open muzzle, and failing spectacularly. "Nmmph," he gasped, trying to tilt his head this way and that. "Mphall gmood."

"Work is going to be weird on Monday, eh?"

Writhing around on the ground, completely rearranging the local sandy geography, the huge wolf didn't seem to be listening. Kevin slid down his upper chest, coming to rest with his legs straddling Josh's neck, shuddering at the sensations of that silky fur against his own far less impressive nethers.

"I said-"

Josh sat up so fast Kevin nearly blacked out from the G-forces. His sat there, legs splayed wide, panting for breath, cradling the little human against the side of his neck. "I look like this... and you're talking about work?" he wheezed, getting awkwardly to his feet. His shaft bobbled weightily in front of him, outthrust and proud and far larger than he'd ever experienced, gigantism notwithstanding.

Kevin scrabbled for purchase, clinging desperately to Josh's ruff. "It's... kind of a lot to take in at once, I mean," he said, swallowing nervously. "You were sexy when you were normal, and I guess I was kind of a schmuck for not taking a swing at you. You were unreal when you came back from the doctor's tonight, as tall as me or even taller, and I was a fool to let you go. But this... I mean... I've dreamed about..."

The wolf smiled, helping Kevin up a little bit higher onto his shoulder, nuzzling him. "I've dreamed about it, too, my sweet... me, too."

Kevin reached up, stroking Josh's ear and leaning against his cheek. "But you're so big now... I mean, SO big. Look at you!"

From their vantage point, they could easily see the brightly-lit and well-occupied boardwalk stretching off into the distance, and it was obvious that a number of people there could see the enamored couple, or at least the one that was more than ten storeys tall. All of the downtown buildings were below eye level, and even the City Hall clock tower looked no higher than the wolf's shoulder.

Josh put a hand on his shaft, leaning back a little bit and watching it angle upwards. "I wonder if I need a building permit to get an erection now," he joked.

Kevin's heart pounded in his chest, his stomach clenched; everything seemed to be working backwards. "I've always wondered what it would be like being with someone so big, and now that I'm here, I'm wondering if it's... too much..."

Josh tried to angle his head, looking worriedly at Kevin with one huge black eye. "Too much?"

"Don't get me wrong, you look... gods, I could sit here all night and stare at you, I really could. In fact, I plan to. But... I mean... what could I even do? You wouldn't even notice me."

The wolf just grinned. "Mmmm, there's a lot for me to show you then, isn't there?"

"Wha-"

Kevin felt his blood squeezed to his extremities, a red fringe creeping into the corners of his vision even though his eyes were closed tight when Josh reached up, gripped him like a rag doll and whizzed him through the air. He drew a ragged, desperate breath when the acceleration relented. "JOSH! Don't... don't do... uhm..."

The source of the sudden sensation of heat and pressure became painfully obvious when he glanced down and realized that he was perched on Josh's shuddering wolfshaft, a wriggling vein as big around as his bicep pounding relentlessly against his rump. Stretching off into the distance like a throbbing burgundy oil pipeline, Josh's incredible endowment was beginning to bulge and strain at the base, and below, easily visible to either side, a pair of incredibly overfull testes bigger than the average house in his neighborhood were swaying easily from side to side.

And high above it all, staring down benevolently if slightly mischievously like some sort of horny deity, Josh just grinned, drinking it all in.

"Still think there's nothing you can do?"

Kevin shifted slightly, trying to get his hands and feet under him, but the immense column heaved, nearly bucking him off. Josh inhaled through his teeth, ears flexing and flailing even as the rest of the wolf's body held perfectly, tautly still. "Rrrrrrrrrr," he growled deep in his chest.

Kevin's jaw dropped. "You can really feel that, huh?" he said, looking down at his hands, palm down on radiantly hot flesh. Slowly he pulled his fingers inwards, and there was no denying it: the engorged tissue beneath him further swelled, as though it were trying to force his fingers out again. The vein running between his cheeks tightened like a drum, incredible pressure and the thrum of blood reverberating against his rear.

Both human and wolf moaned in soaring unison, counterpointed by the distant whistle of police sirens.

When Josh finally opened his eyes, he saw Kevin smiling up at him, an unaccustomed gleam and wicknedness in his eyes. "Your hands might be tiny," he said, almost a whimper, "but I'm... a little... sensitive there... and I think I'm still growing..."

Kevin scooted down a couple feet, hardly any distance at all on that colossal girth. It was like riding a grain silo. He exulted in the different textures beneath him, the bunched fibrous tendons, the gushing blood vessels, the steady beat of his pulse and the ever-tightening skin trying desperately to keep up with the wolf's expansion. "How big can you get?"

"I... I don't know... it feels so good, I hope it never st-"

He was cut off mid-sentence. Despite the sounds of the ocean, the sounds of Josh's still-filling scrotum, and the muted cacophany of his overstressed anatomy, like a distant hurricane, the pop of the rifle was heard clearly, as was the soft, wet thunk as the dart buried itself next to Kevin's leg. Josh's jaw dropped and he stared incredulously, able to emit only a high, piercing keen. Kevin reacted before he was even conscious of what was going on, yanking the dart free and hurling it away with one smooth motion.

"Dammit!" Dr. Schottenheimer grunted, handing the rifle to Rico. "Reload!"

"JOSH," Kevin cried, "LOOK!"

Josh turned, slowly, very slowly, still stunned by the brief, piercing pain and the unpleasant sense of numbness where the dart had struck. Hovering some distance away, remarkably silent, was a small white helicopter with a red cross emblazoned on the bottom. Leaning out of the open hatch but strapped in from the waist down, Dr. Schottenheimer was being handed a freshly-loaded rifle.

"RUN!"

The gigantic wolf looked back to Kevin. "Wha-" The next dart struck the wolf in the ear, which seemed to snap him out of his daze. He pawed madly at his ear, knocking the dart loose, and shook his head violently.

The doctor handed the rifle back to the young, ruddy red badger again, and drew forth a bullhorn, waving it side to side. "JOSH!" the elderly goat shouted. "IT'S DOCTOR SCHOTTENHEIMER!"

Josh glared at the helicopter, well out of swatting range. "I know," he muttered, finally taking action. He reached down, gripping his savagely erect member and pinning Kevin's legs for safety, and turned to face the medical menace. "What do you want?!"

"THE PROCESS!" the doctor shouted, apparently out of breath. "TOO FAST! YOU BROKE! THE CONTROL CHAIN! BIOFEEDBACK! YOU NEED! TO STOP! SEDATIVES!"

"SHUT UP!" Kevin shouted, leaning back and letting his hands roam, grunting when Josh's cock responded by swelling again beneath him and squeezing his legs even tighter against the wolf's passed paw. "HE'S HAPPY LIKE THIS!"

"Yeah!" Josh said, still not raising his voice. He didn't need to; he could easily be heard over all of the background noises, although the police sirens were growing closer.

"I'M SURE! YOU ARE! BUT THE HORMONES! PLEASURE RECEPTORS! BIOFEEDBACK! RECURSIVE PROCESS! SEDATIVES!"

"Look, I'll come see you in the morning, and-"

"JUST STAND STILL!" he shouted one last time, tossing the amplifier aside and taking the rifle again. The helicopter had drifted closer now, close enough that it was virtually impossible for the doctor to miss. Hitting the broad side of a barn would actually be more difficult than hitting the broad side of Josh.

Kevin struggled to sit up, although he wasn't sure what he could do. "Josh! Run! Come on, just... argh, let go of my legs! Move it! MOVE!"

The doctor sighted down the long chrome barrel, aiming for just above the wolf's ruff, where the fur was thin and the skin was delicate. "I promised this would never happen again," he said to himself, the words whipped away by the thundering rotor blades.

He squeezed the trigger.

The cartridge expelled it's load. The dart burst forth in a cloud of gas, spinning like a dervish and slicing through the air. Kevin fancied he could almost see it, floating gently like an aluminum bumblebee, ready to steal his love away from him. He inhaled, wanting to shout something, to shout anything, but Josh beat him to it.

"NO!" the macro barked, a sound that seemed to squeeze the air out of Kevin's lungs, a cry that almost felt solid... a single sonic blast that batted the dart aside as though it were no more than a feather. The helicopter rocked in the sudden turbulence, eventually settling down about fifty yards away from a very indignant, and aroused, wolf.

"That," Josh said calmly, "was my final warning."

Kevin just stared incredulously at the dart, laying so harmlessly in the sand below them, sparkling in the moonlight. "Whoa," he breathed, when he could indeed breathe again. "That was... wow."

"I will come see you in the morning," Josh repeated with finality, turning away from the helicopter and heading away from the beach, towards the much less-populated parts of town.

Despite his predicament, and legs that were starting to cramp, Kevin was soothed by the gentle rocking motions as his colossal mount trotted away from the water. Josh still had the little human's bare legs pressed firmly against his flesh, and when they were a couple blocks inland he angled his immense shaft up and brought his muzzle down, eyes furrowed with worry. "Are you ok?" he whispered.

Kevin nodded wearily. "You sure know how to show a boy a good time," he said wryly, patting Josh's paw with one hand and reaching up to rub his nose lovingly with the other. "Are YOU ok, though?"

"Yeah, just a little numb where he shot me."

They both paused. "I gotta say," Kevin chuckled, "that may be the last thing I expected you to say tonight. Or, uh... ever."

Josh rubbed at the tiny pinprick, frowning at the peculiar loss of sensation right there. "Do you think he was right?"

They had already cleared the Wildwood suburb and were nearly leaving the town proper. Kevin wondered just how fast a hundred-foot-tall wolf could go when he put his mind to it! "Who, the doctor? He was shooting at you with a tranquilizer gun! I think he's off his nut."

"Maybe," the giant mused. "He's still following us."

Kevin couldn't see around Josh's bulk, so the big fur obligingly shifted his still intensely-aroused endowment to the side. "Keeping his distance, though. You probably made him soil himself with your Super Bark. Hee hee, just like Bolt!"

"Yeah, that was kind of OW!"

"What?! What is it?"

Josh reached back and plucked another dart, this one much larger, out of his backside. "He shot me again!" He held it up, looking like a grain of rice in his enormous fingers, but Kevin could see it was nearly a foot long. "I think he means business! OW!"

"JOSH!" came the amplified voice of the doctor again, the helicopter staying well out of reach now, even as the figure hanging out of the side brandished a considerably higher-calibre rifle. "YOU LEAVE ME! NO CHOICE! SAFETY PROCEDURES! FULL REFUND! WAIVE RIGHT TO SUE! STAND STILL SO I CAN SHOOT YOU!"

Kevin swallowed. "Dude, if he's this serious... I'm worried. I don't want anything unsafe to happen to you!"

Josh was bristling, though, his thick wolfish mane puffing up, teeth baring in the moonlight. Kevin gasped when he felt the already dangerously-taut tissue beneath him swell and strain still further, the wolf's fingers being forced slowly apart as the wolf's erection grew ever larger and more fierce. He stared in awe up at the fur's defiant, heroic outline, and saw his musculature become more pronounced, more defined.

"I'm fine," Josh growled.

"But-"

"COME AND GET ME!" he bellowed, forcing Kevin to clap his hands over his ears. The helicopter wobbled in the distance, but stayed aloft. "Let's see what this body of mine can do."

Kevin could hear all too well what his body could do! The sounds of ever- expanding muscle and bone were everywhere. He wasn't getting much taller, but it seemed as though he were making up for it in the other two directions, the already-stocky wolf taking on heavier proportions. And his cock, oh gods, his cock just kept getting bigger...

And then they were off. Three steps later and the wind was buffeting Kevin as though he were sticking his head out of the side of his car on the highway, but three more steps and they accelerated to a speed that created some sort of turbulent vortex that kept him within a remarkably calm little bubble. He lifted his hand and it was immediately swatted aside by the force of their travels.

"Wow," he said, bouncing not just up and down as they ran, but sliding back and forth as well. Both of Josh's big paws were now wrapped tightly around his girth, sliding back and forth with long, powerful strokes, carrying Kevin along for the ride. The friction against his backside was phenomenal and more than a little uncomfortable, and he yearned to remove his shorts only to have the problem solved for him when they simply ripped from the stress and flapped off into the night air.

"I can't... turn around... are they... still there?" Josh asked, panting slightly as they plowed through the rolling farmland that stretched off for dozens of miles in every direction.

Kevin managed to focus his eyes long enough to peer around Josh's side. "I think so... I think that's them... looks like a spotlight..."

Sure enough, a moment later the spotlight swiveled around and speared them, lighting the wolf up from behind. From Kevin's viewpoint, it made the gigantic canid look almost impossibly angelic.

"Faster?" Josh said, tongue flapping. He didn't wait for a response before breaking into a long, loping run, legs reaching far with each stride. Kevin had thought they were moving fast before, but they had far exceeded that now, and those big paws were speeding up as well.

"F-f-f-f-fast," Kevin struggled to agree, trying to add his own hands to the activity. The spotlight struggled to track them as the wolf hurtled through the night, leaving muddy craters in his wake big enough to lose a Smart Car in.

The helicopter was traveling at its maximum velocity, tilted so far forwards that there was no way Dr. Schottenheimer could actually take a shot. He dragged himself back into the cabin with a frustrated grunt, dropping the heavy-calibre to the floor. "Stay on him! We have to get him before Stage Three!"

Rico was frantically collating the information scrolling across his laptop, the on-board sensor suite measuring not just speed and distance to the target, but also thermographic imaging, mass and density figures and even encephalography. "That... might not be possible at this point, sir. Density is increasing, heart rate, gamma waves... it's all spiking. If he's not in Stage Three, he's going to be there soon, before we can stop him."

The doctor seethed, watching the distant furry form pull away from them. "And he's fast, too... this was so much easier with Barry and Jolene! They could hardly go half this fast. Bloody hell... keep on them!"

Rico nodded, pushing the turbines harder and trying to keep an eye on the telemetry. "Roger."

"Don't start that again."

Josh's tongue was flapping gaily in the breeze. He threw back his head and laughed, twirling once and nearly losing Kevin in the process. "Oh my gods, you can't imagine how this feels," he said, one paw sliding all over his newly-enhanced assets, his sac, his chest, anywhere he could reach. "It's like... it's like..."

"If it's anything like this," the little human replied, pinned against Josh's shaft and being slid up and down with wild abandon, "I can imagine why you'd never want it to end."

Josh laughed again, straightening out his course. "I'd hoped you were enjoying it," he said, angling himself up again and bringing his muzzle down press his lips against Kevin, covering most of him. "I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to do this."

The human slumped exhaustedly against Josh's ridiculously engorged maleness. "I've gotta say, I've had more than a few dreams about something like this myself, though... I hate to admit it, but in my dreams, you were a little bit smaller. And you, uhm... you know... fit."

He squeaked when Josh slid both paws up, bringing Kevin up higher and higher until his rump came to rest against Josh's tapered but still hugely-flared glans. "Who says you won't now?" he growled huskily.

Kevin's jaw dropped. "Wha... what? Are you serious?!" His legs were splayed to either side, and still the wolf's girth was so overwhelming that he still felt as though he were on a flat surface.

"Very," the wolf said with an unnerving level of seriousness.

Kevin was starting to get more than a little concerned. It looked as though Josh's expansion was, at last, fighting against some sort of limits. His musculature was far more pronounced, looking more bodybuilderish than he had ever imagined his formerly-little friend ever becoming. The deep, bone-rattling rumble of his nearly-continuous growling was making the human's hair stand up on end, and with each passing breath, with each passing heartbeat, the veins criss-crossing his shaft strained larger, fuller, tighter. He looked like a balloon being blown up far beyond it's limits.

"Uhm-"

"You don't think I can do it?" Josh grinned worryingly.

"I'm a little scared that you can!"

"Just think happy thoughts, my pet," the wolf crooned, curiously dissonant given the wolf's Herculean figure and titanic height. He was still loping easily through the gently rolling hillside, a more casual pace that was still far faster than Kevin could believe (though he was finding it easier to believe the impossible these days!) "Hold on tight."

"Nnn!"

Josh just chuckled. "No, I don't mean that." He nuzzled at the captive human tenderly, lapping at him once with his tongue. "Yet. It's just that the ride is about to get a little bumpy."

"Wh-" It was not Kevin's destiny to ever finish a sentence again, it seemed. One second they were moving with quite literally breathtaking speed through the countryside, and the next they were crashing and thundering their way through the thick pine forests that skirted the foothills. The tallest of the trees were hardly up to Josh's shoulders, but they were still remarkably well-anchored; regardless, Josh shoved them aside as though they were hardly there. Shattered branches whipped and whirled through the air, but Kevin was mostly protected by the enormity of Josh's cock.

"I did warn you," the wolf howled with delight. "Hah! This doesn't even hurt! This is awesome!"

"Yeah," Kevin quavered, now having more than a few second thoughts about the night's events' Josh was... well, let's face it, Josh was sexier than ever, there was no doubt about that, but sometimes it was best for fantasies to stay fantasy. Presented with a Josh the size of a jumbo-jet, who was absolutely convinced that he could consummate their relationship, was turning out to be a little too much of a good thing!

"Where are we going?"

"I know a little place," the wolf grinned, puffing a little harder now as the slope became significantly steeper. They were heading into the mountains now, which around here weren't very impressive, but they were dotted with a hundred little fishing lakes and a hundred little vacation spots, campgrounds and B&Bs.

"Let me guess. Wolfwood Lake?"

Josh roared with approving laughter. "HAH! I'll have to remember that for our second date! No, actually, somewhere a little more special."

Kevin strained to see or hear any trace of the helicopter, but it had been left behind. He wasn't sure how to feel about that. "When you go back to normal-"

"What? Normal? You said so yourself, we could work something out! I could work from home... hell, I could be a big enough attraction that bands would pay to play wherever I am! I could make this work for me!"

"Well, yeah, but that was back when you were, like, forty feet tall! You were eight times taller, so you needed five hundred times as much food? Now, you're... I don't know, at least a hundred, maybe more! That's eight thousand times as much!"

Josh nuzzled at his shaft, whiskers brushing Kevin tenderly. They were still moving through the forest, but he had slowed to a light jog as the trees became thicker and closer together. "At least, baby, at least. My muscles are gonna need a lot of protein..."

The cacophanous orchestra of uprooted trees and shattered branches suddenly ceased, and for a moment Kevin had thought they'd made a complete loop and ended up back at the ocean. He craned his neck, trying to take in the moonlit landscape around them, and he blushed when he realized where they were. "Lightning Lake?" he said, one hand moving down to caress Josh's girth in spite of his trepidation.

"Mmm hmm. Remember?"

"I do. I guess you do, too. Thought you'd forgotten... or maybe just blacked out."

Josh laughed. "It takes a lot more than eleven beers to make me pass out, man. It only took you, what, four, five, to get over some inhibitions?"

"I figured you'd be angry!"

Josh kneeled on the narrow sandy beach that stretched out on all sides. Whereas the ocean beach had been huge, rough and pebbly, strewn with windworn boulders and flotsam, these mountain lakes had a narrow strip of almost impossibly silken pure sand that encircled the water, glowing alabaster in the moonlight. Josh's knees dipped into the water, even as his tail continued to flap at the trees. "How could I be angry at a kiss?"

"You were macking on that mink all night, and I... was drunk..."

The huge wolf shifted to the side again, his colossal cock coming to rest against the beach with a sigh. "Mmmmmm, that feels good," he fairly purred, releasing Kevin's legs. He rolled carefully onto his side with a crash of trees desperately trying to hold his bulk back, spilling Kevin slowly onto the sand. "And no, I wasn't angry, but you seemed so upset by it, I just never mentioned it."

Kevin got unsteadily to his feet, trying to rub some feeling back into his legs. It was strange to be back on solid ground after the last hour or so of being pinned to a wolfish hardon the size of the radio station's broadcasting tower. "You still went back to your cabin with that mink, whatever his name was."

"I don't remember, either," the magnificent macro said a little bashfully, scratching at his ear. "He was from the bush party that was next to ours, and everyone just sort of mingled. I'd always wanted to bring you back here sometime."

"Well... you got me," Kevin grinned, gesturing around. On one side was Josh's spectacularly well-muscled chest, on the other was his throbbing maleness, and the only exit was blocked by a casually-splayed arm.

"What say we try again?" Josh murmured, bringing his head closer, filling the human's entire world.

"Try wh-"

Despite the almost unfathomable size differences, Josh's kiss was remarkably gentle. He brought one paw around to cradle Kevin and keep from knocking him over, though Kevin's big decision was whether to kiss the wolf's lower lip, or upper; both at the same time was simply not going to happen. His arms spread wide, naked body pressed adoringly against tip of Josh's muzzle, he inhaled his friend's scent, eyes closed and lost in the moment.

Josh parted his lips and exhaled, and in doing so nearly knocked Kevin over. "Heh... sorry," he whispered. "That's why I put my hand there."

"Good call," Kevin gasped, trying to focus his eyes. "That's some kiss you got there."

"Not so bad yourself. You got sparks in those tiny little lips of yours."

"I'm sucking on a battery."

"Dumbass."

"You like it."

Josh shifted his head a tiny bit, as though he were looking behind Kevin. "I do like your ass," he said with a lascivious leer.

Kevin swallowed audibly. "Uhm, as much as I would have said yes a couple hours ago," he began, hands flapping nervously, but he was cut off by Josh's good-humored stare.

"Relax," he said, nuzzling his friend. "When I go back down in size... not all the way, mind you, but down... I'm going to hold you to that."

Kevin almost deflated with relief. "That's... that's good," he said.

"But I do need your help with something," Josh continued.

"Anything!"

Josh opened his mouth to speak, but he inhaled sharply, again almost knocking Kevin over, eyes clenched the effort of... something. Kevin was about to ask when he heard the reason, something he had mistaken for a pine tree being slowly bent in half. Behind him, Josh's shaft was continuing to grow, moreso than the rest of the wolf's body, and it was obvious that it was under a fantastic amount of tension. Deep maroon skin had been stretched so thin that Kevin could nearly make out each individual capillary, and each beat of the great wolf's heart filled those blood vessels more and more, seemingly beyond the breaking point. As he watched, it surged forwards another foot, then another, and then another, sliding past on the sand like a slow-moving train, the tip now well beyond Josh's muzzle.

"This," Josh said softly when the wave passed, "is starting to be a little bit more trouble than it's worth."

Kevin cracked his knuckles. "I thought you'd never ask," he said reassuringly, giving the wolf's nose a kiss.

Josh sat up, and Kevin was dumbstruck by the giant's profile in the moonlight, seen from his low angle. He was no expert, but compared to Josh's height, his cock seemed to have grown twice as much as the rest of him, and he'd already been hung like a stallion to start with! The base of it was forcing those powerful furry thighs out wide, and each ridiculously overfilled teste was visibly roiling with seed, so large that even on his knees their sheer bulk forced the canid's shaft up at an angle.

Just that sight was too much for Kevin. His breath caught and he twitched, again and again, his own seed splashing against the pristine white sand. His hands clenched and he grunted, struggling to stay standing.

When he opened his eyes, Josh's paw was next to him, waiting for him to climb on, but the wolf's expression was one of wide-eyed wonder. "I suppose I should be flattered," he said softly. "I guess you really do like big!"

"Mmm hmmm," Kevin replied, still shaking off the cobwebs. "You're... sort of fulfilling... a few fantasies right now..."

"You're telling me," Josh nodded, his other paw stroking his outsized equipment, unable to get it even halfway around now. "But I think sometimes... fantasies..."

"... should stay fantasy?"

Josh chuckled a little sheepishly. "Yeah. I guess so. You always could read my-"

"-mind?"

"Yeah. I guess true friends can always finish eachother's-"

"-pie?"

"Close enough," he laughed, shaking his paw back and forth on the sand. "Hop on?"

Kevin, losing a bit of the afterglow from his climax but still so hard and aroused it almost hurt, shivered and climbed gratefully into the warm, fluffy paw, which deposited him moments later on the radiantly-hot surface of Josh's shaft. "Mmmm," he said, straddling the immense, glistening column, the moonlight sparkling off the countless tiny beads of sweat. "You feel ready to blow."

Josh nodded rapidly. "Fffffffffffuck yes," he moaned, with a hint of whimper. "Definitely feels like... too much of a good thing. Mmmph."

Kevin was near the base, the pre-presence of Josh's knot already plumping out slowly behind him. "Hard to believe you need my help! I must look like an ant to you."

"Less talky, more strokey," Josh breathed, his own hands already making good on that command, gliding up and down his immense length although they could only just barely make the full trip.

When Kevin smacked his palms down like a potter starting on a new vase, everything spasmed like a mechanical bull. "Mmm, you've got a lot of stress on these muscles... just feel this knot!" he laughed, massaging his hands back and forth, feeling the guitar-string tremors vibrating just beneath the surface. "Let me see if I can loosen this up a little bit..."

Josh was already breathing like a steam engine working itself up to speed, his hips rolling back and forth, up and down. In spite of how huge his paws were compared to Kevin's pink little fingers, it seemed as though the human were having the lion's share of effect. "Running... and rubbing... it was like... it wouldn't be enough... it would never be enough..." he panted, arm muscles bunching and flexing.

Kevin had to wonder just how much power those limbs were putting out, especially to have such a small effect on his yearning phallus. It was hardly yielding at all to the pressure! "Must be a problem with the process," he said loudly, to be heard over Josh's gasps. "Your size always keeps ahead... of your desire..."

The wolf nodded vigorously. "That's what... it was like. The hotter I got... and the bigger I got... it was never... enough..."

"That should be a selling feature!" Kevin moaned, leaning forward to press his body against Josh's tender parts, sliding his toes back, now more straddling the ballooning knot than anything else. His hands roamed far and wide, just hoping he was enough to overcome Josh's barriers. "With the right person... or couple, I suppose it would have to be."

Josh shuddered and slumped forwards, one paw splashing into the shallow water to prop himself up. His swelling knot, supposed from below by his ever-filling balls, pressed hard against his belly and was soon forcing him back upright. "Everything just... keeps getting tighter..." he wailed breathily, licking at his shaft and Kevin in the process.

"Are you close?" Kevin asked, his body being jostled by the pounding rhythm of Josh's veins, some of which were as big as his leg.

"I've been close... since the last beach... ffffffffff," he moaned with frustration, chewing his lip.

Kevin began to slide his way along Josh's shaft, each little motion of his body causing the huge wolf to twitch and squeak in an adorably delicate way. A moment later, though, he realized that Josh was holding back with such force because he was afraid of flattening his little friend. Those huge, dark eyes were locked onto him with a fearful intensity, holding his body as still as he could. "Am I helping at all?"

"Gods... yes... don't... stop..." Josh fairly mewled. "I can... feel it..."

The little human's trek was starting to grow more difficult as Josh's wolfhood became more inclined. He looked back and nearly cried out at the sheer immensity of those fuzzy pupmakers, each one so painfully full they nearly obscured the wolf's lower body, and the knot nearly as big around as Josh's waist. "If only," he breathed, his insides clenching and twisting with longing.

The wolf's muzzle swooped in, nudging Kevin closer to the tip of his shaft, and soon Kevin was where Josh's paws could only just barely reach. Here, the scent of musk and preseed was overwhelming, the wolf's flesh slick with sweat. He caressed the taut, rubbery flesh, squeezing with his thighs. "Mmmm, you can do it, Josh," he crooned, not for one second thinking this was the slightest bit unusual anymore. "Whatever happens tonight, you know... you know I'll be yours."

Josh's exertions paused for the tiniest moment, but Kevin could feel his enormous cock expand just the tiniest bit more. "R-really? After... after all this?"

"Mmmmm, more than ever."

"What if... if it's permanent?"

Kevin rolled his hips against Josh's skin, nearly bringing himself to climax a second time. "We'll figure something out together."

"And if..." he said slowly, as though it were the more fearful option, "... if I have to go back to the way I was?"

"If that happens," Kevin said adoringly, kissing at a vein that seemed close to bursting, "I'll just have to make you so happy you don't mind being a short... sexy... wonderful wolf."

Josh just sat there, panting, one hand stroking himself near the base, the other hugging his sac, trying to ease the terrible pressures within. He looked at Kevin with wonderment in his huge eyes. "You mean it?"

"Fuck yes. I might want big," he said, voice thick, "but more than that... I want you."

The wolf opened his mouth to say something, but he suddenly shuddered as though he'd been struck by lightning. He clawed madly at the sand, but his paw was still dragged backwards as his knot suddenly expanded with a vigor that boggled Kevin's mind, matched only by the rapid final growth of the wolf's sac. Hot air balloons wouldn't have done any of them justice. Kevin just had enough time to flatten himself against Josh's cock, arms and legs out wide and holding on for dear life, when the big wolf's desires finally overtook the strange genetic processes, and he was allowed to come.

"FIRE!" Dr. Schottenheimer cried, the helicopter cresting the treeline.

Josh snarled once, threw back his head and howled, a primal sound the likes of which these mountains hadn't heard since prehistoric times. His first eruption was so violent that for a moment the wolf was struck by a painful jolt, but he quickly adapted. Kevin, so far out over the water that he felt like a cliff-diver, watched countless gallons, thousands at least, geyser over Lightning Lake.

A dart slammed into Josh's shoulder, but he didn't notice.

Again and again he came, the sounds of his torrential orgasm like how Kevin imagined monsoon seasons in the tropics. "Never... gonna believe this... on Monday..." he giggled madly, not really believing it himself. The quivering mass beneath him was slowly vibrating him backwards, sliding towards the base of Josh's shaft, and it was all he could do to keep himself upright. Waves churned up by the sudden copious inflow to the lake beat against the beach.

"AGAIN!" Dr. Schottenheimer leaned out one side of the helicopter, Rico leaned out the other, both of them firing now and reloading as fast as they could. A dart struck Josh in the ear, another in the rump, a third bounced off of the steel-hard bulk of his knot. "It must be reversed NOW!"

Josh's howling seemed to fill the world. Kevin looked back to see a Josh swollen almost beyond recognition, so much additional muscle mass that it must have been difficult for him to move properly. Against all odds, though, and filling his mind with worrying implications, the wolf's endowments still seemed to be growing... although he quickly discovered this was just an optical illusion. Sure enough, the trees behind him were rising above the wolf's shoulders.

Josh was, at long last, shrinking. At least, most of him was.

A dart dug into his foot, another one into his neck, and it was this one that seemed to finally have an appreciable effect. Josh's howl faltered briefly, rose, crested, and then trailed off into nothingness. His eyes, bulging out with the effort so recently, began to droop closed. Kevin had scooted backwards to that world-filling knot, and already he'd lost sight of his friend!

"Josh?" he called, even as the shaft beneath him gouted again and again and again. Bit by bit, though, his phenomenally outsized maleness began to recede, blood vessels finally relaxing. Another spasm, another splash like an intermittent waterfall, and he was knocked loose, falling ten feet to the cool, clean sand below. "Ow! Josh?"

"STOP! STOP!" Dr. Schottenheimer called, grabbing for the stick when the helicopter started to cant to the left, rotors dangerously close to the trees. "I THINK... I mean, I think... I think it worked."

"Yes sir!"

"Rico?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Can you take the controls, please, and land this? I don't know how to fly."

The creaking, rubber-on-rubber sound was eerily similar to the worst bouts of Josh's growth, and it was disconcerting to see those heroic dimensions deflate before his very eyes. Josh was still very, very big, twice as tall as Kevin, and hunched over a still-geysering cock that was comically disproportionate, but the wolf's eyes were closed, and in spite of his giddy grin, he was snoring peacefully. With each gout of his seed, the wolf seemed to shrink a tiny bit more. Kevin wondered where all the extra light was coming from, glancing up at the moon, but then it finally drove home that the lake had turned pure white, the water level rising several feet and submerging a substantial portion of the beach.

"Josh?" he stroked the wolf's arm, as high as he could reach. It was slick with sweat, and far less heavily muscled than it had been mere minutes before. "Are you ok?"

The only answer was a giggle and a wheezing snort of sleep.

"HE WILL RECOVER!" the elderly goat shouted over the thumping of the idling helicopter, which had settled down a short distance along the greatly-shrunk beach. "THE SEDATION WAS VITAL TO THE MITIGATION OF THE RECOMBINATION PROCESS, NECESSARY FOR THE BIOFEEDBACK TO REACH EQUILIBRIUM!"

"You can stop shouting at me."

"NO PROBLEM! Ah, no problem. I am... sorry for the night's events," the doctor said, clapping his stubby fingers together. "I trust he did not harm you? You seem in good health. Naked, but healthy."

Kevin glanced down at himself. He was naked, yes, and still quite aroused. He couldn't imagine it ever going down now. Normally he'd be terrified at being found naked next to a ragingly erect, sleeping timberwolf on a high mountain beach at night, but such banal worries were beneath him now. "No, I'm... I'm fine. I just wanted to help."

"Good! Then you can help me load young Josh into the back of the helicopter." Some distance away, Rico was starting to drag a long portable stretcher towards them. "He must come back for some... fine-tuning."

Kevin scoffed. "Fine-tuning? You think he was only a little bit out of tune?"

"My process is highly specialized!" the doctor said, affronted. "It is not perfect, no, but I make dreams come true! From what he told me, young man, your name would be Kevin, and he did all this for you!"

He nodded. "I know he did it for me, and... and I love him for it, the big dumb ass."

"In that case, we would like you to come back with us. There is much you can tell us about the night's events, what pace his growth achieved, what seemed to set him off, you could use some underpants, there are waivers to sign, oh so many waivers..."

Kevin just nodded again, helping to roll a sleeping, giggling wolf onto the stretcher. His orgasm had mostly subsided, but he continued to dribble seed like a garden hose as they dragged him down the beach, still easily ten feet tall and five hundred pounds of he was an ounce. His shaft was beginning to get down to it's normal relative size, but it was still bigger than any of the other three people on the beach. Half a dozen darts stuck out of his body at odd angles, still pumping him full of whatever chemicals had finally halted his macro adventure.

"He is a magnificent specimen," Dr. Schottenheimer said approvingly. "You are a lucky young man!"

"Yes," Kevin whispered into Josh's ear, not sure if he could hear him or not. "Yes, I am."

EPILOGUE

Monday morning at the radio station was pretty dull. People were recovering from the weekend, coffee was being consumed by the gallon, and gossip was flying like cannonfire over a battlefield. Kevin sat at his desk, head down, temples pounding, nursing a huge plastic Bubba mug of strong, black brew.

The rest of the weekend had passed in a blur of medical tests, lawyer interviews and agreements not to sue. He'd only gotten back to his apartment at midnight on Sunday, and collapsed into a fitful, dreamless sleep just in time to be at the station at six a.m. the next morning.

The last he'd seen of Josh, the big wolf had been sitting up in bed, all five-foot-four of him, groggily making a statement to the doctor's assistant Rico. He'd wanted to say goodbye, but there had been a quarantine, so all he'd been allowed to do was knock on the glass wall, smile, wave, and then kiss the window goodbye. Josh had weakly blown a kiss back, lifting an arm stuck full of IVs to wave.

"So," Jolene said, sauntering by his cubicle, all smiles and doe-eyes and perfectly-coiffed antlers. "How was YOUR weekend?"

"Not bad," Kevin said softly.

"Anything exciting happen?"

Kevin thought about it. "I had burritos."

"Ooo! Thrilling."

"At the beach."

"Will wonders never cease!"

"Extra hot sauce."

"Living on the wild side," the statuesque herm said, perching hir rump on the edge of his desk, indecently-tight sweater brushing the side of his face. On any other day he'd have turned bright pink and stammered an apology, but today he kept his eyes on his computer monitor, clicking and scrolling slowly. "Well," shi huffed, crossing hir arms under hir proud bosom.

"It's not that," Kevin said calmly, turning to stare at someone that a week before he would have happily married. "Just a little... burnt out, you know?"

Hir eyes softened, and shi squeezed his shoulder. "I know what you mean. That happened to my grrlfriend Suzi one time."

There was something strange about the way shi said that. "Happened... one time, you say? About... three years ago?"

Shi looked sidelong at him and grinned. "Good guess," shi said slyly. "I think someone's got loose lips."

He just shrugged. "I claim innocence," he said. "But, yeah, it was an interesting weekend." He scrolled down a little bit more, listening to the steady sounds of Jolene's breathing, and the rhythmic creaking of hir bra. "Let me ask you something. When it happened to Suzi... well, what I mean is... are you two still together?"

Shi grinned and nodded, leaning in to smooch him on the cheek. "I don't let on. People around here are nicer if they think they've got a shot at me. Yes, hon, we're still together. Shi didn't get scared off. And you... you remind me of hir."

Kevin reached up and hugged hir with one arm. "Thanks. You remind me of someone, too."

Jolene adjusted hir top and made to head back to hir own office when there was a rattle from down the hall, and a thump that rattled a dozen coffee mugs. "What the hell was that?" Kevin asked, leaping to his feet. "It came from the main lobby."

"Eh, probably just someone knocked over a box of paper," Jolene said off-handedly, but there was a sparkle in hir eye.

Kevin jogged towards the front of the studio, but the big metal double-doors were still closed. Several of his co-workers were standing back, keeping their distance and looking at eachother in confusion. "What was that?"

"I ain't checking. It sounded big," said one of the mail boys.

"It growled!"

"It swore."

"It sounded big!"

The big horizontal metal handles slammed down with a bang, and like the antechamber of the Great and Powerful Oz, slowly opened. Kevin's jaw dropped when Josh, mindful of the bruise on his forehead this time, ducked and successfully passed through the safety doors.

"Morning," the big timberwolf said, the tops of his ears just a few inches shy of the acoustic foam ceiling panels. "Miss me?"

The steel safety doors were eight feet tall, the ceiling was nine, and Kevin was quickly running some mental math. He took in the brand-new size nineteen sneakers, the freshly-ironed black jeans that struggled to keep the wolf's package tamed, and the simple white t-shirt that was stretched across his long, thick torso.

Before anyone else could speak, Kevin slammed into the big wolf, and nearly bounced off. He only came up to Josh's chest, and when those powerful arms reached down to embrace him, lifting him carefully off the ground, his legs kicked at the air and he couldn't keep the giggle from rising up inside of him.

"I missed you," he said, staring up into Josh's face. "But how did you get back so fast?"

"Good recovery time, my numbers were stable... and Rico let me use the helicopter."

"WHAT? I had to take a bus!"

"Yeah, the doctor seems to think this was all your fault. But don't worry... he says he'll have it perfect for next time."

Kevin's face twisted with brief, astonished rage, but a moment later he forgot what he was so worked up about when Josh pressed his nearly-normal-sized muzzle against his lips. His toes curled, his fingers dug into the wolf's shoulders, and he melted into the embrace, never wanting to feel anyone else's arms around him again.

"GET A ROOM, YOU TWO!" Jolene shouted from the other end of the cubicles. The sounds of hir laughter surrounded the two lovers, who just shrugged and tried to ignore hir.