Gains for Sale

by Tagenar

1

The gator sitting across from Karl at the café is huge. He’s absorbed in whatever is on his phone, but Karl has been glancing at him for some time, and the gator is clearly trying to draw attention to himself. The tank-top is the first giveaway. It doesn’t even try to contain his pectoral muscles. Also that he keeps bouncing them and rolling his shoulders and pulsing his forearms makes it obvious he wants attention.

Karl had long finished his latte and was pretending to be absorbed in whatever he had happening on his laptop screen.

Two new patrons enter the coffee shop, and the gator raises his arms and stretches, feeling himself up from torso to wrist, rubbing his abs and squeezing his own chest muscles. Karl must be the only one staring, for the gator locks eyes with him as he relaxes. Grinning, the gator gets up and strolls to his table. He can’t put his arms at his sides his biceps are so bulging. He stands over his table, still grinning.

“I see you staring, fox.”

Karl smiles back. “You’re looking for stares.”

He nods to Karl’s open laptop. “What you got going on there?”

“History assignment. Due next week. Professor gave us an extension, but I won’t need it. I’m almost finished.”

He pulls up a chair and sits down across from Karl, leaning forward on the table. His arms push his chest so far out he is resting his muzzle on his pectorals.

“Bookish type. Nice. I’m Anton.”

The fox feels welcome to stare at this bulging lizard before him, eyes falling into his chest muscles and the way they push the biceps out of their way. “Karl. And wow.”

The gator smiles and lays his arms on the table, palms up. Karl closes the laptop and admires the bulges and veins running up his forearms and around his biceps.

“Feel ‘em up if you want.”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

Karl reaches with both hands and runs his fingers up and down Anton’s forearms, and then cups his biceps. Karl’s palms look tiny compared to his gator’s muscles, whose grin has not faded.

“Freakin’ impressive,” Karl says.

“You want my muscles?”

“Uh, thanks, but I’m not here for a hookup. I got someplace to go after this.”

“Oh, that’s not what I mean. Do you want all of this for yourself?” Anton leans back and pats his chest, reaching over and rubbing his own bicep. “I’m selling my gains. This could be you. Ever want to try being huge?”

Karl stares.

Anton leans forward, the grin falling from his muzzle for the first time. “I’ll show you want I mean. Lift up your shirt. This isn’t a trick or anything. We’re in public, so no games. I’m serious.”

Curiosity makes him lift his shirt. The gator reaches over and palms Karl’s chest.

Something tingles, and Karl feels heat.

The sense of something flowing through him.

Stretching—

Tingling—

Swelling—

And then it halts as Anton removes his hand and settles back into his bulging posture. Now he’s looking Karl over.

The fox feels his forearms. What was once skin and bone has lines and bulges, visible even through the black fur. As he does, he notices his arms are straining the cuffs on his short-sleeve shirt, and yes, it’s tighter across the back of the neck. Karl looks at his laptop and picks it up with one hand. He almost throws it up to the ceiling. It never weighed a lot, but the difference is noticeable.

Now he stares at Anton, who is grinning again.

“That’s about three percent of what I’ve got. It’ll take me less than a week to gain it back.”

Karl is speechless as he meets the gator’s eyes. The scalie leans closer, making his chest bulge so much it pushes his muzzle up.

“I’m one of those lucky people who can pack on mass with no effort at all. I got all of this—” he flexes from shoulders down to thighs “—in six months, starting from where you are now. I’m as big as I can get, and I hate maintaining it. I get bored if I can’t get bigger, so I find someone who can’t get huge but maybe is better at keeping it than I am.”

Karl is still feeling his biceps as they strain his shirtsleeve. “H... how?”

“I dunno how this works. I think it’s a gift.” He reaches into his shorts and pulls out a card. “Ever wanna try being big? You one of those types who lifts and never gets bigger? Maybe you’ll do better at keeping it than I am. Think about it, Karl, but not too long. It’s first come first serve. Meet me here if you’re interested and we can discuss it. Got a few references, too. Tell them Anton gave you a sample. They’ll talk to you.”

He moves his abundant self out of the chair and turns around. His hamstrings alone are thicker than Karl’s torso, and his rear puckers his shorts as he strolls out the door. The way his shirt hangs over his pectorals draws stares from more than one person in the coffee shop.

Karl feels his chest. He had nothing there before, and now he can feel something. Minuscule compared to Anton, but his pectorals are enough to make his shirt feel tight.

His neck. Yes, the collar is straining against it.

His shorts. Karl looks at his thighs and is stunned to see his legs have filled out his shorts. They had hung loose before.

“Three percent,” he whispers.

2

Karl waited until he was back in his flat before taking off his shirt and looking in the mirror. The difference is noticeable—he has pectoral muscles now. Tiny compared to the gator he felt up earlier, but his shirt really was hanging from them.

It’s a tiny apartment, a single room of an old house just a few streets over from the university. Large enough for one fox to get by until he had finished his courses. His desk is five steps away, and he plops down in the chair, looking at the card Anton had given him.

Two phone numbers, both of them local.

Feeling like a creep, Karl types out a text message to the second one listed.

<Anton gave me a sample.>

He hits send and then puts down the phone, eyes wandering up his forearm and then down to his thighs. Undeniable bulk on his legs—he felt it in his step, new muscle working. He felt it in his arms, swinging them while walking he could tell there was friction between his chest and his biceps.

Less than five minutes after he sent the message, his phone rings. It’s a video call request. Karl accepts and props the phone up to face himself.

The face of a weasel greets him, and he has clearly held the phone so the first thing Karl sees is his bulging chest.

“Hey there, stranger.”

“Hi,” Karl says, feeling tiny.

The weasel chuckles. “Are you thinking about it?”

“I’m... speechless.”

“You feel a difference, don’t you? It’s real. I’m here to tell you. Yeah, I don’t know how it works either. He gave it to me two years ago. I’ve kept most of it.” He flexes a bicep, pats it with the other hand. “I’m Gil.”

“Karl. Okay, so what happened to you?”

“Ever see a buff weasel? It don’t happen. I’m sending you some pics and a few vids. That was me before. He gave me a chance to be what I admired, and I kept it up for two years. I met him at the gym, paid him, and he gave me all this. After that, it was up to me to keep it. I started off squatting twice my own body weight and benching nearly that much. Oh yeah, you gotta do the work to keep it. That don’t happen on its own. And then there’s the diet.”

“Holy crap, yeah.”

“I had to find a way to feed all of this. I just had to change my priorities and I found a groove.”

Karl is looking at the images and videos Gil had sent. Certainly the same person, and the videos were hard to dismiss. Gil was about Karl’s body type two years ago, and then. Boom.

“What did you tell everyone? They had to ask how you got like this.”

Gil laughs. “Oh yeah, lots of questions. Anton told me the best idea was to disappear for a month or two. Fewer questions if nobody’s seen you for a while. I told people something just woke up in me. My balls finally dropped and I got huge. Might work for you, Karl. You gonna do it?”

“How much?”

“Your price will be different. It’s not about money. Anton wants to sell to people who will take care of it. He don’t do auctions. If he pitched to you, it means he thinks you’re the type.”

“I dunno if I should, Gil. I never thought I could ever go that far.”

“Once you get it, you might change for the better. I didn’t keep all of it. I actually lost some because I couldn’t commit to lifting at his level 6 days per week, but I found a level that works for me. It’s something I never thought I’d do until I had it. Gotta go, Karl. Call me again if you say yes. I’d love to see you afterward.”

“Thanks, Gil.”

The weasel winks, and the call ends. Karl looks at Gil’s before pictures. It’s easy to imagine himself in that position. Could he do it? He has no idea how he could afford the diet or the gym, but already he is making plans.

It isn’t a question anymore.

3

Karl steps off the bus, double-checking the location of the gym on Anton’s card. There could be no doubt.

He had called the other person the day after he spoke to Gil, who turned out to be a gecko named Harris, also the type who did not—could not!—get big. He told more or less the same story Gil had, warning Karl that he had better be damn well sure he was willing to commit to this. If he didn’t enjoy working out, he would not keep the bulk for very long. If he couldn’t commit to the diet, he would become a blob.

What kind of person are you, Karl? You just wanna gawk, or do you have what it takes?

Karl was certain he knew the answer as he stepped into the gym. He thought he’d have trouble getting in without a membership, but all he had to do was tell the wolf at the desk he was looking for Anton, and the wolf waved him through.

Winking and grinning.

On the advice of Harris, Karl brought two changes of clothing with him in his backpack. He shrugged it as he entered the freeweight room. He smelled gator at the far end, and sure enough the lizard is the biggest person in here, currently doing tricep extensions. He notices Karl at the door and waves. Karl waves back, strolling over to him, heart pounding.

Karl sets his backpack down on an adjacent bench and sits. The gator finishes his set. Karl can’t help but stare.

“They told me you called. Good. That means you’re serious.”

Karl’s eyes are buried in the gator’s chest, barely contained by the tank-top. “I’ve imagined it for all my life. I want it to be real.”

“It’s gonna be a shock, but I got numbers for you. My routine, the weights, days of the week, meals, and stuff to avoid.”

“That’s the only hitch. I have no idea how I’ll afford it.”

Anton laughs. “Fewer trips to the café will get you started. I’m curious to see what you’ll do with all this.”

“Me, too. I can’t imagine myself like that, but I want to.”

Anton stands up and stretches. “Good start. So, what did you bring?”

Karl picks up his backpack and hands it to Anton, who unzips it and peers inside.

“Cash was not necessary, but I appreciate it. First I want you to try moving that dumbbell.”

He gestures to the weight he had been using, resting on the floor. Six plates on either side, all marked with a 20.

Karl leans over and grips it. It won’t budge. He uses both hands, and the best he can do is roll it across the foam puzzle tiles.

Anton is smiling. “Let’s go to the back.”

Karl grits his teeth to stop his heart. This is what he wants. He refuses to turn back now.

Anton leads Karl to a closet at the rear of the gym. He closes the door behind the fox and begins removing his shirt.

“Take off your clothes.”

Karl begins with his shirt. Harris told him about this part: none of his clothes will fit so Anton will give him what he’s wearing. Changes of clothing are up to him to obtain once he gets a sense for his new dimensions.

“I’ve never seen a scalie naked,” Karl remarks.

“Yeah, no balls. Just a slit. My undies won’t fit you. You’ll have to figure that out. Also this won’t change your height or help your cock.”

“Aww. How much extra for those?”

Anton laughs. “If you find someone selling his cock size, I’ll outbid you.”

“Not if I can help it!”

“I’ve got a small fortune saved up from all the dudes I’ve buffed over the years. I’ll win.”

Karl stands before the gator, naked and tiny. The gator looms before him, only a few centimeters taller but twice as wide.

“How many times have you done this?” Karl asks.

“I think you’re the tenth.”

Karl gazes at his abdominals and biceps. His arms are thicker than the fox’s head. “You’ve gained and sold your muscles ten times?”

He grins, bouncing his pecs for you. “I’m glad I can. I get bored if I’m not getting bigger. As far as I’m concerned, this is nature balancing out.”

“Who else did you offer this time?”

“Just you.”

Karl blinks, peeking from his sheath just a little. “Really?”

“I’da waited another day before telling someone else. Lot of nerds at that coffee shop. I like buffing them the most. You ready?”

Karl reaches out and gropes those steel-hard pecs. For the first time, he imagines them hanging on his own frame.

“Fuck yes. I’m tired of gawking.”

Anton smiles. “That’s what I like to hear.” He reaches out, placing his scaly palm on Karl’s chest.

Stretching—

Tingling—

Swelling—

And Karl was on his hands and knees, panting. He gathered himself up and rose to his feet, swaying.

“That’s half,” Anton says.

Karl looks down at himself. His chest juts out before him. He can’t put his arms at his sides—his chest is pushing them outward. His thighs are pushing his sheath and balls forward. The fox feels his chest. He had nothing there before. Now his pectoral muscles are larger than his hands can grasp.

“Ready for the rest?” Anton says.

Karl looks at him.

He’s tiny, and yet still rippling.

Karl manages to grunt. “All of it.”

After catching his breath, Anton cups Karl’s new pectorals.

More heat—

Karl feels his cock slipping from his sheath as his thighs expand and force his dick out.

His chest expands so much his pectoral muscles take up his entire lower vision. Karl can’t see his feet his pecs are so large, and those muscles push his arms outward too much to lower them to his sides.

“That’s all,” says the gator.

The lizard is as thin as Karl used to be. It looks so bizarre. Even stranger is how Karl can’t see the gator’s feet over his own chest. He tries to look, but his muscles are in the way of looking down—his fox muzzle rests on his pectorals!

“Easy, now. Easy. You’ll get used to it.”

Turning his head is difficult; his shoulders are in the way.

The gator is patting Karl’s shoulders, looking his torso over.

“Looks good on you. Now let’s go out there. I’ll help you finish my workout. It’s arm day and I’m sure you’re eager to feel all of this in action. First put on my clothes.”

Karl reaches down to pick up the tank top from the floor. His arms are too big to reach directly in front of himself; his arm has to arc. Every twitch of his body is a fascinating experience. Putting on the shirt takes navigation around his bulk to pull off, but he manages. Slipping the shorts over his new legs is easier, but his thighs are so thick they push his sheath and balls outward. He can’t help but bulge obscenely in the scalie’s shorts.

Anton notices and gives his sheath a squeeze.

“Don’t worry about that. Nobody here cares. Now let’s give those new muscles a try.”

He opens the door and leads them out, looking comical in Karl’s clothes. The fox follows, feeling like a tank. Stopping at the bench, he nods to the dumbbell on the floor.

“Try lifting it.”

Karl lowers his arm toward it, opening his fingers. Just the act of grasping something feels incredible, and now the dumbbell rises from the floor with about as much effort as lifting his laptop used to take. Karl stares at his hand, jaw hanging.

The gator is grinning at him. He gives Karl’s new bicep a few pats.

Karl’s gaze gradually wanders to Anton. “How did you do this?”

He shrugs. “It’s a gift. You know how to do tricep extensions?”

“Yeah, I know how to do ‘em.”

“That’s where I left off. Ten more reps with that weight, then do two sets with the other arm.”

Karl still hasn’t found a handle on being able to move this much weight. Just holding the dumbbell over his head fills him with awe. After completing one set, he switches arms and does two sets on the other arm. The gator is rubbing his slit watching his former muscles at work on someone else.

“What’s your plan for keeping this?”

“I’m taking some remote days for classes. I don’t see my family or any friends outside of school much anyway. Might be another month before anyone meets me again.”

“Got a gym nearby?”

“Several.”

“Ever been there?”

Karl grins. “Yeah, I go once every week or two. Just a light workout. Mostly to gawk.”

“Well, look over the list in my bag. That’s your new workout routine. Start with that and then see how it goes. As for feeding all this,” he pats Karl’s bicep and gives it a squeeze, “plenty of ways to do it on a college budget. Avoid sugar, get lots of protein, and don’t drink beer.”

Next up is forearms, and being able to curl more than the bar feels unreal. Moving on to biceps, seeing how much weight he can move, muscles larger than his head in motion, makes him peek from his sheath.

Anton notices and yanks his shorts down.

“Has that ever happened before?”

“What, getting hard from lifting? No. Never.”

Karl’s arms are on fire. Just looking them over after working them makes him want to work them again. The gator is licking his sheath. It only takes a few licks for Karl to knot up and blow his load. The gator laps it up as if it’s all part of the routine.

“Glad to hear it. If it feels good, you’re more likely to keep doing it. I think you’ll take good care of my muscles. Just don’t get cocky. I’ll be as big as you again in six months. Come and see me then. I’d love to know how you’ve fared.”

Picking up Karl’s backpack, the lanky gator strolls out the entrance, leaving Karl sitting on the bench, cock slowly sliding back into his sheath. Moments later, the wolf at the front desk peeks in. He winks at the fox and then returns to his station.

4

Karl took so many pictures of himself in the mirror and from as many angles as he could in case he woke up the next morning and it all turned out to be a dream. Upon waking up in his studio flat, Karl doesn’t need to look at the pictures because he is looking down at his own torso while in bed. Even through his fur, his arms are bulging. His chest is so huge he has forgotten what his feet look like.

He is most interested in his thighs. Even lying with his legs apart, they are so thick his balls rest on top of them. No matter how he positions them, his legs push his sheath and balls outward. He can’t help but bulge.

For an hour, Karl simply lay in bed, enjoying being huge. Breathing feels amazing, his lungs heaving his chest up. Feeling his own chest takes effort because his forearms collide with his biceps.

After he has finished admiring Anton’s gains, he begins to ponder that now the work begins.

Finishing Anton’s weightlifting session last night had surprised Karl. He had never felt so good working his body before. Of course he had tried to lift in the past, and he liked the results, but the process had never been erotic. Last night had been the first time a workout had made him hard. Just thinking about lifting again was making him hard now.

Now he had to get out of bed. Merely a mattress on the floor, he filled it now, and his mass strained it. The floor might be more comfortable. Karl rolled and rose to his feet, reaching down and feeling how his thighs swelled from supporting his mass.

He had already arranged to use remote classroom days for the rest of the month. He had no other family or friends to see for several months. Hopefully it would be enough time to explain how he got swole. The people who knew him would have more questions. For the people who only saw him passively, he could simply tell them “you just now noticed? How long since you looked at me?”

Now Karl navigated his flat as if for the first time. He filled the doorframe to the bathroom, and the only chair in the room strained under his weight, and his triceps spilled over the armrests. Opening his laptop, the screen greeted him with messages from the usual chatgroups. He resisted posting pics or videos of himself now. It was too soon. Karl’s muscles still didn’t feel like his.

He had three video games in progress. Pings from people asking where he was; this was usually when he got on and played all day.

Instead, he tucked his arms in to make them fit inside the chair. His arms pushed his chest out so far he had to prop the laptop higher to see over his pecs.

He logs in to his classroom portal and attended lecture remotely, uploading his report.

It’s impossible to focus on the professor. All he can think about is that today is leg day. He is hard just thinking about using all of this mass, wondering if it will feel this good every time.

5

Following the exercises and numbers Anton wrote down, Karl picks up his routine exactly where he had left off. Working his legs made his bulge stand out so much he ditches the shorts.

Every rep is like squeezing his knot.

Completing a set is like blowing a load.

His workout ends, and he blows a real load in the bathroom.

Other gymbros notice him, but nobody says anything to him about his junk showing.

It is time to go home and work on that research paper, but he isn’t tired. Sitting on the bench beside the squat rack, Karl looks at the routine.

Chest day is tomorrow.

He refuses to wait.

Karl loads the barbell and begins heaving.

Pushing the weight feels better than rubbing his sheath. His cock slides out of his sheath as he does inclined and declined bench press. He moves to a cable machine and works his chest from the sides as well.

He has drawn a crowd of gymbros gawking at him. Karl barely notices—the more he works his chest the harder his cock gets.

Two of the big wolves watching are licking their muzzles. They know what he needs, and Karl gestures for them to come closer.

Karl’s boner is in the way of finishing Anton’s chest routine. The muzzles on his cock and feeling his thighs are a means to an end. Someplace to dump this load so he can continue.

Finally his cock has slid back into his sheath, and Karl does another set. He hears messages pinging on his phone, certainly online buddies wondering where he is and why he isn’t gaming with them. Two sets later, Karl is out of his sheath again, and the bros around him are sniffing him from a distance, also getting hard.

He is one whole day ahead of Anton’s routine. Karl is still not tired. The unworked muscle groups crave attention. The other gym bros seem to be lifting harder now. Karl feels it, too. His scent has filled the gym. It’s making everyone want to get bigger to compete with him.

Back routine is next, and several others take care of his boner so he can work his upper and lower back muscles. Karl spots for a few others as they push themselves to their limit.

Everyone’s cock is out and throbbing. Karl sucks a few of them off so they can focus. He hears murmurs from the others that they’ve never felt this good from lifting before. Karl doesn’t have to speak. Everyone knows why, and they lap it up.

Finally, after completing the sets, Karl is exhausted. He stays behind to help some others with their sets, and then he leaves, forgetting he is naked and walking down the street at night.

6

Karl needed to confide in someone, and he already had their numbers, so he asked Harris if this had happened to them when they got Anton’s bulk. If they suddenly preferred working their bodies to everything else they had ever done and finished a week’s worth of training in one day.

Harris begins a voice chat.

“Are you fucking real?”

Karl grins. “I mean it! I’m not tired! I did the whole week of moves yesterday. I’ve never felt this good in my life, and it seems to be catchy. Everyone in the gym was working out with a boner thanks to me! Is this normal?”

The gecko shook his head, which somehow jiggled his abundant pecs. “Not for me. I had to commit to the work to keep all of this.”

“Well, so have I,” Karl says, overfilling his laptop chair, “Lifting never felt like this when I was tiny. I thought I would struggle to keep all of it, but wow.”

“Take it easy, Karl. Don’t push yourself too hard. Last thing you want is an injury.”

“So far I feel great. Yeah, I went out for some sushi. No more cravings for soda.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re taking to it so well. Just don’t neglect your classes. Getting big costs money. It doesn’t make money.”

“Still not sure how I’m gonna afford the diet, but I’ll find a way.”

7

That month off passed by so fast Karl barely remembered why he had to take it off. Returning to class got him some looks, but nobody said anything. By then he had found some new clothes and finally had some variety.

He never realized how fucked up his priorities had been before he got buffed: wake up, play games, go to class, go home, stream a series while eating a pop tart, do homework, play games until midnight, sleep four hours and repeat.

His routine became wake up, feed his muscles, go to class, do four of Anton’s workout sessions back-to-back, giving everyone in the weightroom perpetual boners and watching them lift harder and faster than they ever had before. Then do homework and sleep for 7 hours. His gaming buddies asked where he was. He replied with pics of himself at the gym.

He went to the campus gym a few times, just to find out if the same thing would happen. Sure enough, when he started lifting, he drew a crowd of males, and they failed to conceal their boners. Instead of hiding them, Karl showed his and beckoned them closer.

Scenting him and feeling him up made all of them pick up weights and push themselves. The collective scent meant no one could stay hidden in their sheath or slit.

After several weeks of this, Karl noticed everyone had packed on some extra mass. He gave shoulders and biceps appreciative pats, and then it was back to lifting and cumming after every set.

His flat was getting smaller, it seemed.

The chairs at the university also seemed to be getting smaller.

He’d had some proposals, but sex failed him. Working his triceps never failed to get him off. He deleted Grindr because none of his hookups could give him what his thighs gave him in the gym.

Karl felt good inspiring others, and he gave them a place to dump their loads so they could focus, too.

8

Gill is gawking at him over the phone camera. “How the fuck are doing Anton’s entire week every day?”

Karl’s chest is in the way more than ever. “I found something I enjoy.”

“You’re not on drugs or something, are you?”

“Fuck no! When I was benching the bar, working out was miserable! Working out at Anton’s level makes me cum!”

“How are you affording the diet?”

“Three different gyms are paying me to lift there. I also have a tip jar at each of them. Everyone knows it’s my scent that’s doing this to them, pushing them higher, making them bigger. I also got a job as a bouncer at a club. No uniform. I just stand at the door shirtless, and they pay me money.”

“Are they hiring?”

“Not anymore.”

“What gyms? I want to feel this myself.”

The next day Gill shows up at the campus university. Karl notices and waves him over to the squat rack. The buff weasel looks around at all the boners on display, all the swole, ripped males everywhere, lifting as if desperate to make themselves grow with every rep.

“Nice to finally meet you,” Karl says, extending his fist.

Gill bumps fists with him. “I can tell why they pay you. The air in this place... It’s coming from you, and holy shit.”

Karl holds his arms up and gives everything a flex. “I’ve added four plates to my bench.”

“I hope you haven’t forgotten your classes.”

“My grades are good enough. It’s everything else I dropped. Now let’s see how you do here.”

The weasel does not stay clothed for long. When he begins his training, something happens to him, and he exceeds his usual limits. Karl keeps Gill’s boner tamed so the weasel can focus on his hamstrings and upper back and chest.

Gill powers through three days of training in one night.

He contributes to the tip jar.

When Gill goes home, he sends Anton a text: <I think you’ve created a monster.>

<Karl? Is he ok?>

<He’s creating more monsters.>

9

It had been six months. The semester was over, and Karl decided it was time to pay Anton a visit. He hopped off the bus, marveling how he has to go through the door sideways. Stepping through the entrance, he meets the eyes of the same wolf at the desk he had seen six months ago.

The wolf winks at him. “Had a feeling you’d take good care of them.”

Karl rolls his shoulders in reply. “I didn’t think I had it in me, but I like the change.”

The wolf licks his muzzle in reply. “Are these folks with you?” He gestures to the fifteen others behind Karl, pecs and thighs and biceps bursting out of their clothes.

Karl smiles. “They’re the people I buffed.”

Anton is here; Karl can smell the scalie. He peeks around the corner, and sure enough the gator has regained all the mass he had given to Karl. He is facing away from the door, doing back extensions. Karl approaches, hoping he recognizes his scent.

As he finishes a set, Anton turns around in the seat and does a doubletake.

“Holy shit! Karl?”

“How goes?”

“Mother_fucker!_ How did you get bigger?”

Karl drops his gym bag and spreads his arms. He is twice as thick as Anton is now.

“You plateau right there? I kept going, and I have a gift of my own. These folks were half their size when they started lifting. Around me, they broke through their limits. I’m here to help you break yours.”

And they lifted happily ever after.