Silver Linings

“Whoa!” Charlie couldn’t hold back a surprised gasp at the sight of his naked friend standing in the middle of the living room. Mike’s hair had been a deep coffee brown when they’d gone to bed the night before, not a bright golden blonde, and it looked as if the other man had continued to grow. His friend’s torso now had a noticeable taper to it, the tightening at the waist accentuated by the size of the arms hanging on either side. Mike’s once-trim shoulders had also broadened, his widened back increasingly packed with muscle to match the expanding mounds that sat opposite on his chest, the enlarged upper body resting on a pair of equally thickening thighs. Mike’s lower half had always been slightly larger than the rest of his wiry frame given his youthful years of soccer, and he appeared to be maintaining those proportions through his unwanted metamorphosis. Under other circumstances, Charlie was sure that his friend would have been thrilled at an extra five inches, both to his cock and his height, but not even a ten-inch dick and a 6’1” stature could ease the anxiety of what still lay in store. “Does that mean the meds aren’t working?”

Mike turned to face Charlie, a crimson hue blooming across his strapping frame as his dangling cock started twitching to life. The sight of the burly ginger in nothing but his briefs, a sight the now-buff now-blonde had seen for years without ever giving it a second thought, made him quiver. That sudden attraction to men was one of the first symptoms Mike had noticed, and this wasn’t the first time since everything started that Charlie had seen him naked and hard, but it was all getting worse. “What’s it look like,” Mike sighed, nodding down at his rigid club.

“I mean…I’m used to having that effect on people when I walk into a room like this,” Charlie purred, snapping the elastic of his briefs. At 6’2” and nearly two hundred and fifty pounds, the burly ginger exaggerated only slightly. Charlie was broad and solid, his years of rugby and football shaping his body in an entirely different manner than that of his friend. Where Mike had been tight and trim and compact, the rugged redhead loomed, his meaty muscle absorbing space in whatever room it occupied. He was stout and solid, not sculpted like a marble statue but rough-hewn from rock nonetheless, his plump, girthy bulge completing the imposing appearance his square-jawed features started. “But the hair was a dead giveaway.”

Mike blushed a deeper shade as he reached up and ran a hand through the golden coif. His hair hadn’t just changed color, it had thickened from the short buzz-cut he normally sported. “Why is THAT so embarrassing,” he asked. “With everything else that’s happening…that could happen…why does waking up blonde feel like such a big deal?”

“I get it, man. You’ve always had that ‘dark-and-brooding’ thing going, so this is a big shift,” Charlie nodded. “It’s a good look, though. Honestly.”

Mike looked at his olive-hued hands, his naturally darker skin tone making the bright shock of hair stand out even more. The trimmed, golden bush at the base of his cock was the most jarring, but he tried not to focus on that. “Why do I not believe you?”

“Hey, if you want me to go blonde in solidarity I’ll do it,” Charlie shrugged. “I’ll even do the pubes so they match.”

Mike’s cock visibly twitched at the comment, his eyes reflexively landing on his friend’s stuffed briefs. “Sorry about, uh…this,” the inflating hunk chuckled awkwardly, wagging his rigid rod back and forth. “I’ve officially outgrown literally everything I own. By a lot,” he said, sounding defeated.

“Dude, I told you. You don’t have to apologize every time you get hard around me. It’s fine.” Charlie’s tone was stern but sympathetic. He knew he probably would have felt the same if he started springing uncontrollable wood in the presence of another man, but he didn’t want his friend to feel bad. His own unclothed state wasn’t a tease; it was a way of trying to make the other man feel normal, of continuing the casual relationship they’d always had. Mike would have reacted the same way whether Charlie was nude or fully covered, just being around another man was enough to get his friend going, and the burly ginger felt it best to maintain the status quo. “It’s my fault. I should’ve given you the extra stuff I brought with me already, but it looked like you weren’t going to need it.”

“No such luck,” Mike sighed. After an initial round of changes, of altered orientations and slightly increased muscle mass, the infected man thought he’d treated the virus in time. He didn’t know where he’d picked it up, but while a porn site was the most likely culprit, it was also possible he’d simply snagged a free-roaming program the way people caught a cold. Given how wired everyone was, with biometric implants, cerebral data chips, and network connectivity linked directly to their brains, it was just as important for people to maintain their firewalls as it was their immune system. The benefits of being constantly connected to a vast virtual network interwoven with physical reality were many, but that same connection opened the population up to an entirely new level of threats.

Computer viruses were now physically harmful. Ransomware could lock up a person’s body. Behavior and brains could be hacked. And, as Mike was in the process of discovering, bodies could actually be changed. Signals could be sent throughout the nervous system, promoting otherwise impossible alterations on a genetic level. The science behind it was still fuzzy, but the going theory was that it had something to do with mixing the human brain’s unlocked potential and the raw computing power of a planetary network. Just like getting an annual flu shot, as long as a person stayed current on their updates they were likely protected from the worst of such threats. Unfortunately for Mike, he’d missed a few critical security patches and had come down a nasty case of Ken.Worm. Considering some of the more bizarre and extreme options out there, morphing into a blonde, hunky himbo was far from the worst case scenario, but that didn’t make its effects any less life-altering. At 32, Mike’s day-to-day was well-established. He had a good job and a solid social circle. Though single, he never lacked for partners when interested. He was smart, charming, and quick-witted. And, though the modest man rarely thought of himself in such terms, his sharp, symmetrical features and tight frame more than made up for the short stature he’d always been insecure about. Now, all of that was about to change.

“Did you call the doctor already,” Charlie asked, trying to be subtle as he studied his friend’s new muscle.

Mike nodded. “They said there’s nothing else they can do since I’m already on the highest dose. Best case scenario, the meds keep it from being too bad even if they can’t stop it altogether. Worst case scenario, the virus finds a way around the meds and all they did was slow it down a bit. When I…” Mike paused, his expanded pecs expanding as he took a slow breath, struggling to maintain his composure. “When I told them what happened, how it seemed like it leveled off but then just exploded, they said it was most likely the latter. Guess I’m supposed to ‘start making plans’,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Well…shit,” Charlie grunted. “Did they say how long?”

“Nope. Could be a few days, could be a few hours,” Mike shrugged.

A heavy silence lingered, broken when Charlie finally stepped forward and grabbed his friend by the shoulders. “After, what? Fifteen years? It is SO weird to be looking you in the eye instead of tossing your scrawny ass around,” he said, grinning. “How many times did I try and get you to come lift with me?”

“Too many,” Mike chuckled, his stomach fluttering at the sensation of the other man’s hands on his shoulders.

“And look at you now,” Charlie whistled. “Let me see that gun show.”

Mike went purple. “Really? That’s what you’re focused on right now?”

The brawny ginger let go and broke into a double bicep pose, raising an eyebrow. “Think you’ve got me beat yet? Come on! Put ‘em up.”

“You are so ridiculous,” Mike stammered. He gave an awkward laugh but did as he was told, feeling almost dizzy at the way the foreign bulk responded. He wasn’t any more used to standing eye-to-eye with Charlie than his friend was, nor was he used to having a body that nearly matched the meathead’s. His heart raced and his body still ached with lust, but there was also a surge of power like he’d never felt before. His sculpted pistons weren’t as large as his friend’s, but they weren’t far off. “Oh. Wow,” he said, his eyes wide.

“Damn, dude. Not bad. Not bad at all,” Charlie grinned, his hands finding their way back to Mike’s shoulders. “See? There’s at least SOME silver lining. And I already told you…I’m here for as long as you need me to stick around. I’m month-to-month on my apartment, and your place is waaaaay nicer,” he laughed, motioning around the well-appointed condo.

There was another pause before Mike reluctantly pulled away. He picked up a tablet from the nearby table, struggling to keep his hands from shaking as he handed it to his friend. “If you really mean that…”

Charlie scrolled through the document, his expression going serious. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Doctor’s office sent it after I called. It’ll transfer everything to your name…the house, my accounts, POA…all of it. We can always transfer it back if things don’t get as bad as they could, but at least this way we’ll be prepared,” Mike said, hesitating. “But look, I’ll completely understand if you don’t want to do this. I know it’s a lot, I just…”

“Dude, of course,” Charlie interrupted. “Like I’d let anyone else look after your ass? It’ll just be like college all over again,” he chuckled.

Mike folded his thick new arm and cocked his head. “We’re clearly remembering college differently.”

“Really? You with an awkward boner and me keeping you safe from the frat boys? Then again, maybe you don’t want me to keep them away anymore,” Charlie winked.

“Just sign the form, please.” Mike couldn’t help but return his friend’s grin. He was overwhelmed by his new feelings, the combination of lust and affection making his knees weak. The thought of what lay in store was horrifying, but the thought of buff, beautiful Charlie being there to see him through made it slightly less terrible.

Charlie pressed his thumb to the tablet’s scanner, his implanted chip both verifying his identity and acting as notary. He watched as Mike did the same, hating the way his friend’s expression fell when the notice of successful transfer popped onto the screen. “Well…what now?”

Mike took a deep breath and shrugged. “Now we wait and see what happens, I guess.”

Charlie didn’t let the pause that followed linger. “Sooooo…did you measure it?”

Mike raised an eyebrow, confused. “Did I measure what? Oh! Uh,” he stammered, his face going from pale to crimson when he realized what Charlie was talking about. He didn’t know how to feel about the fact that he’d almost forgotten about his exposed state until his friend brought it up. “No…haven’t, uh…gotten around to it.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Where do you keep your measuring tape?” Charlie was trotting towards the kitchen before his friend could respond.

“Junk drawer’s the third one down, on the left…wait! We don’t need to…to…” Mike trailed off, distracted by the sight of Charlie’s plump, brief-clad bubble as his friend bent and rummaged through the drawer. His hand instinctively wrapped around his throbbing organ, but he managed to pull it away just as the other man turned back around.

“We’re looking for silver linings, remember?” He held the tape out, but when Mike didn’t immediately take it he stretched it open and held it against his friend’s cock himself.

“Hey!” the blushing blonde yelped without trying to pull away.

“Goddamn! You ARE a growing boy,” Charlie whistled. The redhead’s expression was impressed as he read the measurement, simultaneously feeling the other man’s heavy girth. “Ten-and-a-quarter. I’m officially jealous.”

“You’re about to be sticky if you don’t let go,” Mike sputtered. His whole body went crimson again as he felt himself start to ooze, his inflated cock on a hair-trigger setting. The oozing Adonis wanted to be more excited about his enlarged equipment, but beyond the cost it came with were more practical concerns. Its unwieldy size already meant it would be difficult to conceal, and Mike was mortified at the thought of showing off his monster cock every time he was around another man and it sprang to life.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Charlie laughed, letting go.

“This again? I told you…I was in the shower and didn’t hear you come in. You startled me! And YOU’RE the one who decided to surprise me, not the other way around,” Mike said, his memories of their early-twenties misadventure landing differently from his new perspective. He’d been jerking off in the shower when Charlie had decided to embarrass him, but his friend had caught him right at a pivotal moment and he’d cum all over the other man. He’d been embarrassed and amused by the thought before, now he was embarrassed and aroused.

“I returned the favor too, if I remember right,” Charlie nodded.

“IF you remember? Bro. I woke up to you jerking off right next to my bed, and you threatened to do it again for like a year,” Mike laughed.

Charlie immediately picked up on the unusual “bro” in Mike’s statement but decided not to point it out. His friend suddenly seemed more relaxed, and whether that was a good thing or a bad sign, he didn’t want to make things worse. “I was just trying to keep it from being weird, man. You showed me what you can do, I showed you what I can do.”

“Then why’re you still wearing these?” Before Charlie could respond, Mike reached out and sent his friend’s briefs to the floor.

The redhead blushed, the unusual reaction confirming his suspicions. Despite Mike’s obvious interest, he had yet to feel any real arousal towards the other man himself. He’d appreciated his friend’s changing body on an objective level, and there was a certain thrill at seeing the naked stud walking around with a huge, hard cock, but he hadn’t been turned on. Until now. He knew it was part of the virus, that Ken.Worm caused other men to view the infected the way they did the subjects of the porn where said infection was usually acquired. There were theories that it targeted straight men on purpose, that a vengeful hacker who’d been the victim of revenge porn decided to turn the tables, but nothing had been confirmed. Ultimately, for Mike and himself, how the virus came to be wasn’t nearly as important as its effects. And, if Charlie was feeling a sudden surge in attraction towards the buff blonde, it meant things were progressing. “I was just trying to be a gentleman,” the ginger huffed, stepping free of his briefs. “Despite knowing how hot you are for me right now, I didn’t want to take advantage of the situation.”

“You ARE hot, bro,” Mike grunted, his hands landing on the redhead’s meaty chest. “It’s so fucked that I, like, never noticed. I mean, I was always, like, a little jealous of your body or whatever, but I never wanted to suck your dick before, dude.” Mike’s eyes went wide when he heard what he’d just said. He blinked and shook his head, his hands still clamped on Charlie’s plump pecs. “Wait…did I just say I wanted to…oh…oh fuck…what…what’s happening…”

“Easy, stud…it’s okay,” Charlie said, keeping his tone calm and casual. He felt a punch of guilt over how hard his own six inch rod was, and how much he actually wanted to take Mike up on his offer.

“My head feels so funny right now, bro. I…why do I keep calling you…fuck…” Mike grunted, shaking his head.

“Oh…wow. Uh, dude…you got bigger,” Charlie said, finally realizing the slight upward tilt to meet his friend’s stunned gaze. The now-smaller man’s cock throbbed as he took in the other details, how Mike’s plump pecs were now sculpted and swollen, how his friend’s shoulders had become cannonballs supporting a pair of chiseled, mighty arms. The blonde’s abs were a shredded channel, sucking in at the hips before exploding outward again as a pair of granite globes and hulking thighs. Even his friend’s finer details had changed, like the whole-body tan he now seemed to sport, and the dimpled chin, plump lips, and doe-eyed expression that had replaced the formerly brooding features.

“Bro! You look, like, scrawny dude,” Mike chuckled with a drunken laugh, clearly distracted by his new perspective.

“Okay, I wouldn’t say scrawny,” Charlie protested, flexing his pecs against the now-taller man’s hands. “Yeah, you’re taller, but you’ve got me by an inch or two, tops.” The redhead let out a sharp gasp when a large hand swallowed his cock, taking his turn at going crimson.

“Feels like more than that, bro,” Mike purred, tugging on his friend’s rigid organ. “A lot more.”

“If…if you say so, dude…” the ginger grunted, torn between pulling away and letting his friend keep going. The last thing he wanted to do was take advantage of the situation, but at the moment he honestly wasn’t sure who was taking advantage of who.

Mike’s smile faltered, returned, then faltered again as he kept tugging. “Oh fuck…Charlie…brrrr…bro,” he grunted, trying and failing to stop himself from saying the word. “I’m sorry, bro! I don’t…I don’t know what I’m doin’...”

“I told you…dude…don’t…apologize,” the redhead hissed. “Do you want me to…?”

Mike responded by grabbing his friend’s hand and wrapping it around his inflated member. “Fuuuuuuuuuck that feels good,” he moaned, his dimpled jaw going slack. “Can we, like, do this all the time, bro?”

A part of Charlie was relieved to see MIke’s anxieties fading, but another part was vicariously mortified for his friend. He knew how the other man should have felt to hear himself asking whether or not they could regularly jerk each other off, but the grinning, grunting blonde didn’t seem bothered by the question. “If that’s what you want,” he sighed.

“Awesome, bro! It’s gonna be so great! We can just, like, hangout all naked and hard and shit. Fuckin’ tight, bro. I’ll look at that cute little dick all day, dude.”

“Again, it’s not little,” Charlie said, blushing. “And why am I naked all day in this scenario?”

“Cause you’re hot, bro,” Mike said, as if it should have been obvious. “Clothes are stupiddduuUUNNNHH…!” The hulking blonde grunted and spasmed without warning, spraying load after load onto Charlie’s muscle gut and meaty pecs. “Hoooly shit, bro! I just came so hard,” he laughed in a daze. “Did you see that?!”

“Sure did,” Charlie said, searching his friend’s expression for any sign of the man he’d been. He wiped a hand through the sticky coating and smeared it on Mike’s bulging shelf of a chest. “That was impressive.”

“Thanks, bud,” the bigger man beamed, suddenly dropping to his knees. “Now I can do this,” he said, not hesitating in the slightest as he swallowed the ginger’s cock to the hilt.

Charlie didn’t know what to do. He had to keep reminding himself that the giddy, gorgeous stranger really was his friend, that inside the wavy-haired hunk’s muscled shell was the same short, wiry man he’d known for nearly two decades. The new Mike still oozed his own kind of charm, but it was a far cry from the quick-witted sarcasm his friend used to wield. “You’re…really good at…that…” he moaned, his fingers laced in the golden mop.

Mike beamed when he pulled his face free and looked up. “I know, right?! You taste great, bro,” he said, grabbing Charlie’s cock and running his tongue along the oozing head. “I’m, like, so hard again already it’s crazy. I can NOT wait to fuck you, bro.”

“Sa…same, I…wait,” Charlie stammered, shaking his head. “You think you’re going tooooOOHHH!” The burly redhead yelped when Mike hoisted him over onto the nearby couch seemingly without effort. Given his own dense nature, Charlie wasn’t used to being so easily manhandled. “Whoooaa! Wait, wait, wait! I’m…”

“Bro. Relax. I’m not gonna, like, go in raw, bud,” Mike scoffed, flipping Charlie over onto his stomach.

“HOOOoooooHHhhhoookay,” the flustered meathead howled when Mike lifted his hips into the air and then promptly buried his face between his meaty cheeks. Charlie had never been on the receiving end of anything remotely like it, and he couldn’t do anything other than squirm and whimper as Mike’s tongue went to work on his surprisingly eager hole. He’d initially rejected the idea of getting fucked purely on principle, but, as the blonde ate him out, as he thought about the very notion that he was, in fact, being eaten out by another man, he started to come around. There was something oddly hot about the idea of having the hunky blonde inside him, of a straight stud like himself being used and dominated by the giddy himbo. A part of him wondered if it was an effect of the virus, it fit in with the theme of turning the tables in Ken.Worm’s origin, but he ultimately didn’t care. When Mike’s fingers took over for his friend’s tongue and slipped inside, he just wanted more. “Oh fuck…oh fuck…dude…are you…really fingering me right now?”

“Pussy’s tight, bro,” Mike purred, adding another finger. “And hungry.”

Charlie didn’t know how to respond to that, so he didn’t try. Instead, he did his best to stay relaxed when Mike’s hand vanished and he felt the blonde drape against his back, the aching emptiness quickly replaced with another kind of ache entirely. “NNNNHHHNNHHH!” he grunted, feeling like he was being split in two when his friend slowly pushed inside. His thick arms inflated as he tensed, his powerful pecs heaving while he huffed and groaned and tried to get his bearings. He would have been mortified at his uncontrolled whimpers and whines and ecstatic expressions under other circumstances, but he kept telling himself it was just Mike. Neither of them had any way of knowing about the blonde’s hacked data chip, and how the bigger man’s eyes and ears now beamed everything he saw straight to a dark corner of the internet, along with every moan and groan. The show would now be ongoing whenever Mike was awake, but Charlie was oblivious about his impending celebrity.

“Fuck yeah, bro…feel fuckin’ great…you like that, bro,” Mike purred, his relentless hips rolling like a machine. “You look like you like it, dude.”

Charlie was still trying to wrap his head around how quickly things had shifted. He’d thought he was the one who’d be fucking Mike, not the other way around. He’d thought he’d have to get used to his friend flitting around the house naked all the time, not himself. He’d thought Mike would be desperate for his cock, not that he’d be begging the blonde to fuck him harder. When his friend flipped him over and hefted his legs into the air, Charlie couldn’t believe how good it all felt. The pain had faded, leaving only the novel ecstasy lighting him up from the inside, and the sight of his friend’s face grinning down at him drove him wild. “Mike…dude…are you…are you still in there,” he groaned, searching his friend’s eyes. For just a moment, the blonde’s brow furrowed. The broad grin flattened at the edges, and the rhythmic pumping of the hips slowed. Charlie thought he saw the other man’s familiar expression, but it fled before he could be certain.

“Duh, bro,” Mike said, the beaming smile returning in full. “I’m in here, too.”

“HHHOOOOOooooOOOOOhhhh!” Charlie howled and arched his back when Mike redoubled his efforts, his stout, fat cock erupting without external assistance for the first time.

“Big one, bro!” Mike cheered as he watched his friend add to the sticky coating already covering his freckled pecs. “Get ready…bud…it’s…comingggnnhhhnn…!” With a final jackrabbit hammering, Mike sprayed into his friend. He fell forward as he erupted, launching his tongue into the prone ginger’s mouth while he launched load after load into the other man’s virgin guts.

Charlie had never kissed another man like this before, but he found himself returning the gesture in full. His hands latched onto the back of Mike’s head, holding it in place while he savored the sensation of having his friend inside him at two ends. He didn’t know how long they went at it, only that it was long enough for Mike’s limp log to slip out of him by the time they finally took a break. “Dude…that was…that was incredible,” he panted.

“Glad you liked it, bud,” Mike said, sounding proud as he climbed off the couch and stretched.

Charlie watched his friend shake his head a few times and rub his face, looking confused. “Everything okay?”

“My head is, like, fucked, bro,” Mike said, the chuckle that followed standing in sharp contrast to the words themselves. He picked up the tablet and stared at it, struggling to sound out even some of the smaller words. “Like, what’s all this shit mean? I should, like, know this, right?” The blonde’s grin finally faded in full, his bright eyes going wide. “Fuck! Bro! I don’t…I don’t know stuff!”

Charlie was on his feet with his arms wrapped around the naked Adonis in a flash. “That’s what I’m here for, remember?” he asked, his tone gentle. He leaned in for another kiss, glad when he felt Mike finally relax in his grip and determined to do whatever it took to keep his friend that way.

“Don’t think I remember so good anymore, bro,” the blonde said, smirking. His hands dropped to the ginger’s plump, battered bubble, giving the meaty cheeks a squeeze. “Might need you to remind me.”