Popularity Growth Part 03

“Hey, you wanna go workout?” Ed called up his friend. It wasn’t what he meant to say, but he needed to get out of his apartment. All of a sudden he just felt so cooped up in there, like he was just stuck. He went through his photos and control f each photo to see if GrowthManiac had been posting somewhere else. Whoever it was, hadn’t. Though the thought still stayed in his mind. 

“Sure man,” Nick replied. He was a security guard at the NexLabTech building with Ed and they had gotten along fairly well. “Just give me a minute and I’ll head up there.”

“Sure.” Ed didn’t hang up the phone. “Hey do you wanna go to a bar instead?” It was what he meant to say at first but ‘to a bar’ was replaced with 'workout.' He waited a few seconds and then heard an uproarious laughter from the other side of the phone. Ed’s face dropped. “What?”

“What?” Nick mocked back. “C’mon man, you in a bar? There’s better places to get water than at a bar. What you wanna get some fast food afterwards?” he continued laughing.

Ed tried to ignore the constant laughter coming from the other side of the phone. Something inside him was telling him just how strange of a suggestion it really had been. He almost wondered what it would be like if he did have some alcohol. With such a low body fat percentage he figured that it wouldn’t take too much to get him drunk. Then again he still weighed about ten pounds more than he had just a day prior. When he stepped on the scale, he dreaded seeing the number light up on the scale, 233. He’d even picked at his skin, finding it incredibly hard to hold onto as there was literally only skin to grab onto around his waist and arms. 

“Aww man, that’s a good one. But I’ll meet you at the gym in about ten. Alright?”

“Alright,” Ed responded as he hung up the phone. With his new body he figured he would work out a bit more, but he wanted to just be able to relax. After growing again, he was just happy that all his clothes seemed to grow with him. Thinking about having to buy an entire new wardrobe for whatever was going on with him. “Just ignore it,” he told himself as he got ready for the gym. 

Instead of baggy clothes that were a size or two too large for him, he found some tight spandex pants and a shirt that seemed to suction to his body. Any amount of air between it and his skin seemed nonexistent. Before he left he gave himself a light pose in the mirror. “Damn…” he praised his body. “Should this even be legal? It doesn’t look like I’m wearing anything…” If not for the bright colors, it would have looked like each and every one of his muscles was completely exposed. Their definition seemed to shine through the tightness of the clothing. Though he wondered if the colors were to draw even more attention to himself rather than distract. 

Either way, he couldn’t help but cock a grin as he watched all the faces turn to him as he entered the gym. Normally it was just the people at the front desk giving him a generic greeting but now it was nearly everyone he passed had to give him a, ‘hey,’ ‘hi,’ or ‘how are ya?’ As he passed he’d hear small whispers asking how he got so big or if he was single. It was a bit odd having so much attention but he seemed to almost revel in it. 

“Making the rounds?” Nick smiled as he rounded his arm around Ed’s to bring him into a hug.

“Why not?” Ed bragged back. “You jealous?” 

“Of you? Hell no,” Nick laughed. Though there was a bit of a bite at the end of the comment. There was no way someone like Nick would ever admit something like that. He may not been in beach body six pack size but that didn’t mean he wasn’t fairly physical. His shorter body seemed to make it easy for him to gain weight really easily. Though at 5’6” most people didn’t take him all that seriously. He made up for the lack of height with his width. Thick shoulders and an even thicker chest made him a bit more intimidating. But his ability to shout with a depth of voice that could echo off even carpeted walls made him terrify anyone who wasn’t expecting it. “So how’s the job hunt?”

“Interesting,” Ed replied. He didn’t feel like he needed to divulge much more than that. The job interview was a bit different than he was used to.

“Yeah? Did you get one? Someone up at work really seemed confident you wouldn’t be looking for too long. Then again I guess I can’t say I’d disagree. It was kind of bullshit that you got fired in the first place.”

“I guess…” Ed agreed. He still wasn’t completely sure what had happened. All he remembered was coming in the next day and his boss telling him that he no longer worked there. 

“It’s alright man. You got a new job, so it’s not going to be too bad. Hopefully the benefits are good,” Nick gave him an elbow to the gut and Ed couldn’t help but blush a little. 

“Yeah…” he trailed off.

“You feeling alright bud?” Nick asked.

“What? Yeah,” Ed tried to sound more cocky but it still sounded a bit distant.

“You sure? You haven’t even taken you’re preworkout selfie yet.” 

“My wh—“ Ed stopped himself as he realized that Nick wasn’t actually joking. He pulled out his phone and opened up his FaceSpace app again. Instead of the 50 or so pictures he’d taken over the last three year, there were hundreds upon hundreds of photos of him in the gym, dressed up, or in his security uniform. And the 150 or so followers seemed to have tripled to past 500. 

“You sure you’re feeling okay?” Nick asked again. “We don’t have to work out if you don’t want to…”

“No. It’s not that,” Ed found a deep urge telling him that he needed to workout. “It’s just… Fuck… How do I even explain this…” A big hand went to his forehead as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say. The truth was too crazy to be real. And Nick, like everyone else, seemed to think this new size was completely normal. “It’s just I’ve got this new guy following me and he’s making me uncomfortable…”

“Just block him,” Nick said. “What? He keeps saying how much he wants you to fuck him?” 

Ed gave an uncomfortable laugh. “Something like that…” 

“Yeah man, just block him.”

The idea hadn’t even occurred to Ed as he stared blankly at his phone. He went through the last photo with him in the dress pants and found GrowthManiac’s account. However as he clicked on it nothing happened. Even the three vertical dots to the right of his post didn’t have a drop down menu. “I can’t?”

“You can’t? What do you mean you can’t? It’s probably just you’re fat ass fingers. Give it here,” Nick stole the phone away and started clicking the same three vertical dots for the drop down menu. “The hell?” he questioned. But then he let out a bit of a snicker. “Did you get that blowjob he was talking about?”

“Give me that!” Ed snatched his phone back. “Look. I just don’t want him commenting anymore…”

“Then don’t worry about it. In a couple of weeks you’ll probably have a couple thousand people following you and you won’t be able to even find his comments any more. Let’s just get your damn selfie and then workout.”

Without thinking Ed pulled out his phone and snapped a pic of him and Nick posing stupidly for the camera. Both were flexing, but with Ed’s tight muscle shirt it drew a bit more attention to him instead. With the 500 people following him he already had a few people praising his body and telling him to enjoy his workout. 

“He comment anything?” Nick asked.

“No not yet… Though someone did say we look like a cute couple,” Nick prodded back.

Nick’s face flushed a bit hearing the sentence. “Cute couple? Fuck that!” But then he stopped in his tracks. His body just seemed to stop moving.

“Nick?” Ed asked. But then he went straight to his phone. Right under the comment GrowthManiac had commented. ‘Couple? No way, they’re just fuck buddies. Can’t you see his wedding ring?’

‘Oh I guess your right. Eds single isn’t he?’

‘Yeah, but he still has his needs. lol And I bet his buddy has plenty too. It’s why they workout so much together and then get some cardio in afterwards.’

‘Thats so dumb! Stop posting your fantasies about them.’

‘Jealously never looks good online.’

The previous poster posted several angry emojis. 

‘C’mon I’m just having a bit of fun.’

‘How tall do you think his friend is?’

‘Well… Ed’s 6’4” and a good 250 pounds so his friend is probably close to 6’2” and at least 260. I mean he’s got a bit of a belly but nothing too terrible. I just hope he doesn’t shave. He’s such a big handsome bear.’

‘So true!’

Ed stared at his friend again. “Nick?” he questioned as he saw his friend just standing the completely still. No one else in the gym seemed to take any notice of the strange occurrence. They were all too busy with their own workouts to even look over. But Ed could see something happening. 

Nick’s short frame was gradually growing longer. His each limb seemed to be stretching out as was his back. His thick arms didn’t seem to lose any of their definition as more and more length was added to them. If anything they looked like they were getting thicker. Even if it was a hefty coating of fat, he didn’t look like he was any weaker. His body seemed to just keep getting bigger. His shoulders widened while his chest pushed out. A bulky belly seemed to round underneath though it made him look more like a powerlifter than fat.

The light dusting of hair on his forearms seemed to have doubled and even under his armpits as well. There was a small moment that Ed had seen a thick forest of hair covering Nick’s belly as well. But then his rounded face seemed to mount with a thick beard growing down towards his chest. It was still maintained into a squarish shape but most people never grew it that long. 

“You feeling okay?” Ed asked again. He put his arm around the other man.

“Yeah… I think so…” His eyes trailed up the couple of inches between the two. “You’re so tall. I just—“ he stopped his sentence. “What just happened?” Looking around the gym no one else seemed to notice his eight inch growth spurt or how he gained a good 80 pounds. Even if a bit of it was fat it did fill his body out fairly nicely. A six pack was hard to maintain anyways.

“Well… It’s the reason I don’t like that commenter…” Ed admitted. “I didn’t realize it would affect other people too.” 

“Wait… You’re saying you changed too?” 

Ed let out a laugh. It was the first time someone kind of acknowledged it but he knew his friend had no idea what had changed. “Yeah… I changed…”

“Damn! I wonder where…” he looked down towards his crotch assuming it was somewhere that couldn’t be seen. “I mean…”

“It’s fine. I’m starting to get used to it…”

“Damn! That’s awesome! And then he did it to me too?” Nick was still looking over his body. He liked it’s new thick nature and ran his even thicker hands over each and every curve.

“Well he also made us fuck buddies,” Ed pulled out his phone again to see the conversation between GrowthManiac and his other fans to be continuing. They started talking about how Nick’s wife was completely okay with his cheating and how she welcomed it sometimes as a break. ‘He has to want sex all the time. But then again all Ed has to do is say a few words and then Nick’s more than ready to go.’ And another thread asking about Nick’s past. GrowthManiac filled in a few details. ‘He played football in high school. He was known as their best receiver despite only ever being a linebacker.’

“Like hell I am,” Nick took a step back.

“Oh?” Ed teased. With just a slight nudge a glimmer of hope ran through his friends eyes then turn quickly to a frown.

“Let’s just workout,” Nick turned towards some weights and started pumping out a few exercises. Ed watched as his dick stayed ever so slightly tented as he continued to try to ignore the feelings. ‘With just a few words he could make Nick ready to go,’ the thought bounced through his head as he watched his friend workout. The sudden power felt so amazing. He turned back to his FaceSpace page to see that he was passing 1,000 followers.