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Fourteen It feels like my whole body is buzzing as I lead Luke to the only gay bar I know in Glasgow. There’s a drag queen standing outside the pub who gasps when he sees me and puts his arms out. “You’re back!” he squeals. I sort of remember him from last time? Clearly he remembers me. I have to say it’s a pretty nice welcome anyway. He squeezes me and calls me gorgeous. All the time Luke’s giving me this surprised smirk. “Who’s your cute friend?” the drag queen asks, looking Luke up and down. He suddenly looks all nervous. “This is Luke!” I say, my insides fluttering. “Straight?” “Nope!” I reply for Luke, my chest expanding at the thought. Because Luke is gay. He’s actually gay! The drag queen embraces Luke and kisses him on the cheek. As we go inside the bar I hear him exclaiming, “He’s GORGEOUS!” to someone. Luke looks at me wide eyed with this knowing smirk. “How many times have you been here?” “Once! Like, months ago!” “Well you obviously made an impression!” I pull a face and shrug. It’s kind of funny. Normally I’d have replied to something like that with a cocky remark, but I just don’t feel like being that guy at the moment. Maybe it’s because I’m slightly out of my comfort zone here. Not that I feel uncomfortable in gay pubs and clubs, but it’s never really felt like my world. Bodybuilding. Pumped up muscle freaks in shiny posers. That’s my world. This is more just a fun place to visit every now and then. We head to the bar and Jesus, we’re getting so many looks. I don’t feel like they’re just looking at me though. There’s no denying that Luke’s a fucking catch. Whether he actually knows that or not I have no idea. He doesn’t seem to. He’s acting exactly the same as he acts everywhere else. His lovely, sweet, kinda shy but confident self. We buy a round of drinks and the rather hot barman gives me this look. He definitely fucking fancies me. If I wasn’t with Luke, or if I was with Emily in Bristol, I might end up pulling him. Maybe even going back to his. And he’d probably be just as keen and eager as pretty much all of the guys I pull are. Texting me the next day. Wanting to see me again. And, as usual, I’d probably feel next to nothing towards him. “You’re definitely causing a bit of a stir! AGAIN!” Luke tells me as we find a table to sit at. People around us are twisting their heads to look at the big bodybuilder guy and his smaller but cute mate. Even so more than in the straight pub we just went to. Which I guess kinda figures. No matter how many times it happens, getting attention because of my body and my muscles never stops becoming a rush. It’s almost like my drug of choice. “No wonder you’re starved for attention back at campus!” Luke says, smirking. “You know it’s not just me they’re looking at?” He suddenly looks uncomfortable. And a little embarrassed. He looks down and but then his mouth curls into me this coy, little grin. Maybe Luke actually does know what a catch he is. “So … I gotta ask. Did you know? About me?” “I had a suspicion!” he says, with this big mischievous smirk. “How? I mean … what was it?” Luke shrugs. “Hmmm. Just ... certain traits, I guess!” “Like what?” I ask, grinning. “Hmmm. Well, for a start, you’re kinda mean spirited!” I laugh. “What?! How am I … mean spirited?” Luke folds his arms and pulls an animated face. “So what’s the deal? You being here. Did you win a competition or something?” he says, imitating what I said to him the first day we met. I howl. “That is the worst impression of me I’ve ever seen!” Luke giggles. That cute, goofy one he does when we’re watching that stupid cartoon he loves. “Anyway that’s not mean spirited. That’s just … giving someone a witty put down!” He raises one eyebrow. “If you say so!” he says with a teasing smirk. “No - I just … kinda had a sense I guess!” He gives me a coy smirk and I feel an odd pinch of excitement. “Plus … you know, you have a LOT of posing trunks!” I let out a shocked laugh. I can’t believe he just said that. He’s just looking at me with this teasing smirk. “I … like posing trunks!” I say with a casual shrug. But he’s got me. And he knows it. Oh God. Has Luke seen the way I look at him when he’s only wearing his shiny posers? Noticed me checking out his arse even? Wait - does Luke suspect I like him? Fuck. No - surely I’m not that obvious? “So … there must be other gay guys at Montgomery!” Luke says. I know it’s ridiculous but something about that comment stings. I know there’s probably nothing behind it, but there’s a voice in my head that’s asking, “Why do you need to meet other gay guys? Am I not enough?” “I’m honestly not sure if there is!” I reply. “I mean, gay bodybuilders aren’t really a common breed are they?” And now I’m thinking about Deano and Shaun’s comments. Their warning about flirting with gay dudes on Instagram. And the suggestion that it might hinder my career. And Mike Hancox’s instructions to remove my flirtatious comments. And his comment. “Creepy little gay dudes!” And the face he pulled when he said it. Ugh. That fucking face. “Have you met any? Gay bodybuilders?” Luke asks, biting his lip. “Ahem … is this a fourth question now? I’m not obliged to answer this one!” I tease. Luke grins at me. But he’s got this hopeful look on his face. “I’ve only met one!” I confess. “That I knew for sure was gay!” I can tell Luke’s curious and eager to know more. I feel a rush of excitement at the thought of telling him the story. “Who was he?” he asks, his voice unable to mask his nerves, which makes me smile even more. “James Newman. This little Welsh pocket rocket!” Fuck. I feel a pang of nerves that I’m telling Luke this. But I’m excited too. “We competed at the NABBA Mr Britain together last summer. I was in the juniors obviously. He was a class 4 guy. Class 4 are the short, stacked guys like Deano!” Luke gives me a little smile and nods. Like he already knows. Because of course he does. His dad competed in NABBA shows for a start. “He added me to Instagram about a week before the show and sent me a few messages. Just saying he was competing too. He said to say hello if I saw him backstage. I didn’t really think anything of it. I just thought he was being friendly, you know?” “And then, when I was backstage, this short wide bull of a bodybuilder in these super shiny golden posers comes up to me and says hello like I knew him. And then it clicked who he was! He looked so much bigger in the flesh. Proper fucking shredded too!” Luke’s listening so intently. I can tell he’s really interested. And now I’m wondering whether Luke gets turned on by shredded muscle and bodybuilders the same way I do. I mean, he did choose Johnny Hoxton as his someone who was his type. “Got a picture?” I smirk and get my phone out of my pocket without saying anything. Luke’s mouth curls into an excited little grin. I load up Instagram and gets James Newman’s profile up and hand my phone to Luke. His eyes comically bulge as he looks at the screen. “Wow!” “He’s pretty awesome, isn't he?” Luke smiles and nods and then his expression drops a little and I don’t know really know why. He hands my phone back and it’s like he’s bothered about something. Maybe he fears that he’ll never get that big or shredded? I feel a sharp tug in my chest seeing that expression on Luke’s face. “That’ll be you one day! Only … taller obviously!” I say, smiling at him and taking my phone back. His face lights up almost immediately and he gives me this adorably coy grin. Jesus. This boy. “So how did you know he was gay?” I smirk. “Well, I didn’t at first. He asked me where I was staying. Which, hmmm, I thought was slightly odd. Anyway, turns out we were staying at the same hotel. He asked if I’d be up for filming a video for his Instagram.” Fuck. Luke is so interested. He’s biting his lip. It’s like he’s hanging on every word. I’ve only ever told Emily this story before. “That’s when the alarm bells started ringing. I was thinking, is this guy coming on to me? I couldn’t really tell for sure, but I was definitely picking up a vibe.” Luke nods and I pause and just look at him before continuing. Almost like I’m teasing him. He looks kind of nervous. He looks at his glass of vodka and coke and picks it up. “So what happened?” he says, not making eye contact. I smirk and when he looks up at me, he gives me a little smirk back before burying his face in his glass. I shrug. “Went to his room and filmed a video of him posing in his trunks!” “And then he said, by the way I’m a massive gay?” I howl and Luke has the same cute expression he always has whenever he makes me laugh. Like he’s all proud of himself. “Not … exactly!” I tell him, still grinning like mad from his joke. I take a deep breath and I feel a rush of excitement at what I’m about to divulge. “When he was done posing he came over to me to look at the video I’d just filmed on his phone. And he was standing really close to me. Like, unusually close! And we watched the video together and he was commenting on it, saying things like, ‘God I look crazy. So jacked!’ and it was like the atmosphere kinda changed.” It’s kind of funny. Because, as I’m telling this story, the atmosphere here is changing right now. There’s this sort of tension. Luke looks more interested than ever. And I’m also starting to swell in my jeans under the bloody table. “Then he said something like, ‘I can hit some more poses for you if you like!’ And he was just giving me this look!” I tell Luke, who’s biting his lip. “So I said yeah!” Fuck, my heart starts beating faster. “And he’s still standing, like, right next to me. In nothing but his golden posers. And then … he curled his fist and just, like, flexed his bicep!” I say. Fuuuuck. What a rush to tell this to Luke. And now I’ve got a full on fucking hard on. “He’s just standing there flexing his bicep for me. And it’s, like, huge and bulging!” Luke’s blushing a little. And now I’m wondering whether he’s got a hard on too. Jesus. What a thought. “Then what?” he asks, looking nervous. I smirk and shrug. “I said, “Hmmm. Pretty impressive bicep. Mine’s bigger though!” Luke’s mouth curls into this big grin and he rolls his eyes playfully. “I can just imagine you saying that!” I grin back at Luke. I could go on. I could tell him how insanely horny it was to wrap my fingers around James Newman’s flexed biceps. How my dick juddered as he flexed and squeezed and cheekily grunted in my ear. How he reached over and started to feel my own biceps, this look of awe and pleasure on his face. And how good it felt to flex for someone who was clearly turned on by my muscles. I could tell Luke about the rush I experienced as James squeezed my thick pecs, felt my shredded abs and slapped my bronzed quads. I could even tell him that the image of short, stacked, pocket rocket James bent over on all fours, tanned and shredded from the show as I fucked his huge muscled arse is still ingrained in my memory like it only happened yesterday. “Did you see him again?” Luke asks. “Nah! But we’ve messaged each a few times on Instagram. I would though! It was … pretty fucking hot!” I confess, my stomach clenching and my hard on juddering in my jeans as I confess that to Luke. I can’t believe I’m talking to him like this. That I’m telling him stories about having sex with bodybuilders. “So what about you? Ever bagged yourself a bodybuilder?” Luke pulls a face. “NO!” he scoffs. I laugh. “It’s not that unlikely of a scenario is it? I mean, it happened to me!” Luke shakes his head. “I couldn’t pull a bodybuilder!” “What?!” I cry, “why not?!” He pulls a face at me like the answer is obvious. “Trust me, Woody, a gay bodybuilder would not be interested in me!” Oh my God! A part of me wants to laugh out loud. Because a gay bodybuilder already is interested in him. A gay bodybuilder who’s been continuously thinking about how cute his arse looks in his shiny posers for weeks. And has had multiple thoughts about kissing him. Amongst other things. A gay bodybuilder who’s sitting opposite him right now. I try and act casual so I shrug. “Don’t see why not!” I say, looking into my glass instead of at Luke before burying my face in it. “I’m pretty sure a bodybuilder would only be interested in other bodybuilders!” Luke says, firmly. He seems so fucking convinced. Which means he obviously doesn’t suspect I like him after all. And that I’m clearly doing a very good bloody job of covering up my feelings for him. “Well, that problem will be solved soon!” I tell him. “Mr Geek to Freak!” And then I smile at him and he grins back. I need to get away from this topic and fast. I look around. The pub’s getting pretty busy. People are still glancing in our direction. “Shall we go mingle a bit?” Luke’s expression drops a little. Like he doesn’t want to. I’m guessing maybe he’s not very comfortable with talking to strangers? “Sure!” he says, giving me a slightly forced smile. We go to the bar and God, so many people are looking. I glance over at Luke and he’s giving me this knowing smirk. He’s standing really close to me. There’s a mirror behind the bar and I catch our reflection in it. I have to say, we look pretty fucking good together. The big, hunky bodybuilder and the smaller, cute geek. We lock eyes and he gives me this adorable little smile and my chest feels like it’s about to explode. I notice a group of three pretty beefy looking lads as I wait for our drinks standing at a little distance from the bar. They’re the most muscular guys in here after me and they’ve clearly noticed me. They’re all pretty good looking too. I’m kind of interested in talking to them, but I don’t know how comfortable Luke would be with that. And I wouldn’t want to do anything to make him feel uncomfortable. I’m kind of surprised at just how much I don’t want that. Once we’ve been served we make our way through the crowd of people waiting to be served with Luke in front of me when someone nudges my elbow. I turn around and it’s one of the three muscle guys. God he’s fit. Light brown skin, big pretty eyes, kinda boyish but handsome looks. “What’s your name?” he asks me. “Woody!” He gives me that look of surprise and amusement that I’ve received a dozen times before when I tell people that that’s my name and now I’m wondering why I didn’t just say Sebastian or Seb. But now he’s smiling at me and God, he really is gorgeous. I look back at Luke and he’s just standing there watching us and oh my fucking God. His face. He looks like a puppy that’s just been given a hard kick. I can’t say for sure that it’s because he’s jealous but my head is fucking spinning at the thought that it is. “I’m Adam!” the beautiful man says to me. I lean in, put my arm on his shoulder and give him a kiss on the cheek. I give him a kind smile before I turn and head towards Luke. His face seems to light up when he sees me approaching. I fully expect him to make a comment about Adam. “Oooh, you’ve pulled!” or something similar. But he doesn’t say anything. And I can’t help thinking that maybe that means something? “Worth the Uber fare and train journey?” I ask him. He rolls his eyes and then gives me a defeated nod. Ten minutes later and some guys stop to talk to us as they walk past. “Oooh, hasn’t he got gorgeous eyes?” one says to me, referring to Luke. My tummy flutters. Because yes, he really fucking has. Obviously I can’t say that though. I just smile at Luke and give him this teasing look at the fact he has a new admirer. The guy walks off and I get my phone out of my pocket. “Right, selfie time!” Luke groans. “Do we have to?” “Yes! Come on!” I order. I scoot closer to Luke and hold my phone out in front of us. I bring my face closer to his to get in the frame. His cheek is so close to mine and fuck, I feel like my whole body’s on fire. Luke’s got this happy smile on his face. I do a big, cheesy grin and take the picture. And then I feel a stab of disappointment as I back away from Luke. I look at the picture. Fuck. We look so good together. Luke’s little face next to mine. Those piercing blue eyes. Adorable cheek dimples. He looks so happy. I suddenly feel an arm around me. This older guy is looking at us with this warm, affectionate grin. “Very cute couple!” he says. Fuck. I’m almost scared to look at Luke. “Oh, errr … we’re not together!” I say to the stranger. And I feel a pull in my stomach as I say it. The man looks confused. “Why the fuck not?!” he exclaims, before walking away with his friends. Oh my God. I can not fucking believe he just said that. Things suddenly feel really awkward. Luke’s got this weird look on his face. Like he’s uncomfortable with what the guy said. “Just need the toilet!” I announce. As I walk away, I’m thinking about the “cute couple” comment. And how much I would love that to be true. For us to be together. But does Luke want that too? And if he doesn’t now, could he? Would nice, sweet, geeky Luke ever fall for a cocky, sarcastic, smart mouthed twat like me? When I reach the gents, I start to feel a bit weird. My hearts beating faster. My head’s started to spin. I go into one of the cubicles, sit down and cup my hands to my face. I know what’s happening to me. I’m totally freaking out about Luke again. Just like I did that day when we were sat on my bed and I suddenly wanted to kiss him. I'm freaking out about the fact that, for the first time ever, I actually really like someone. And it feels … fucking huge. And scary. And like I’m not in control of my feelings. And there’s this whole uncertainty over what’s gonna happen between us. If anything even could happen. Jesus, Woody. Get it together. In a few weeks time you’ll probably be over this whole Luke thing. You’ll probably look back at this moment and laugh. Maybe I just need to go back out there and pull a hot guy? That Adam dude? And Luke will roll his eyes and smirk at me and while I’m kissing hot boy Adam I’ll realise how utterly absurd it was that I ever thought I had feelings for a guy who wears Harry Potter boxer shorts and fucking Batman t-shirts. I pull myself together and head back out to the bar, expecting Luke to be stood there waiting for me. Except I’m walking back to something else. A sight which makes my stomach lurch. Luke is there alright, but he’s not alone. There’s another guy standing next to him. A pretty fucking hot guy, in fact, with his hand on Luke’s shoulder whispering into his ear. Fuck. I’m suddenly filled with an intense dislike for this guy. And I don’t even know who he is. Luke’s eyes widen as I approach him. “We need to go!” I say, flatly. His face drops. He looks surprised. And totally confused. “Oh!” he says. The guy looks at me and smiles and I now recognise him as one of Adam’s friends. I give him a fake smile back. I don’t give a shit if it comes across as rude. “Ready?” I ask a still confused looking Luke. “Woody - are you okay?” he asks as he follows me out of the pub. This look of concern on his face. “Mmmm!” I reply. “Oh-kayy!” he says, clearly not convinced. Now we’re outside and walking away from the pub, I’m starting to calm down a little. I’m starting to realise how utterly fucking ridiculous I’m being. And how much I just completely overreacted. “Have I done something wrong?” he asks. Fuck. I feel a sharp stab of guilt. “No!” I say, shrugging. “Just had enough! I can only take being in those places for so long!” Which is a complete fucking lie. Luke nods. “That guy was asking me about you, by the way! He wanted to know … well, if you were single!” So he wasn’t trying to pull Luke after all. It was me he liked. Jesus. I’m such a fucking twat. I shrug. “I guessed as much!” I say, matter of factly. We’re pretty silent for most of the train journey back to Little Hatton. Things aren’t necessarily awkward but it’s like there’s this unspoken thing between us. And a sense that the night has pretty much been killed. Which it was. By me acting like a complete dick. The more I think about it, the more I’m surprised at how I acted back in the pub. Maybe it was the alcohol. I dunno. Just seeing Luke with that guy. The thought that someone else could have him instead of me. It just did something to me that I can’t explain. Luke doesn’t question me again or ask if I’m okay. Maybe he doesn’t really care. Maybe he’s just thinking that, despite the way it ended, he still had a good night. Or maybe he’s thinking that he’s definitely not going to go out with me again if I’m just gonna go from being fine and happy and talking selfies to suddenly being rude and pissed off for no reason and demanding we leave the pub. Our Uber’s waiting for us when we get to the Little Hatton train station. It’s a different driver than before. This one’s not as friendly. Or as happy. We both climb in the back. It’s late and I’m tired. I just want to get back to my bed. I hope things will be okay between me and Luke tomorrow. I hope they’ll be back to normal. I have a feeling I might need to give him a better explanation for my sudden change of mood though and for dragging him out of the bar. I have no idea what I’m going to say. Half way through the journey I look over at Luke. He’s fallen asleep, his head cocked down, his little chin resting on his chest and his eyes closed. My insides start to melt. He looks so cute. I can't help smiling as I take him in. Luke in his skinny jeans and bright blue downs jacket. I can’t believe I fucked up the night. I wish I could rewind time and just go back to the moment where my face was close to his and I was taking a selfie of us with my phone. I suddenly have this image of me lifting a still sleeping Luke out of the Uber and carrying him back to our dorm room. His sleepy head resting on my chest as I do. Then gently putting him into bed when we get to the room. Pulling his duvet over him, careful not to wake him. I have no idea whether that’s creepy, cute or just plain fucking weird. Watching him sleeping, it hits me just how much I actually do like Luke. And it’s funny. Because, for the moment at least, I no longer feel scared or freaked out. The way I feel about Luke. It feels big. And special. Maybe even kind of beautiful.

Thirteen Luke seems to relax once he knows where we’re going. He reminds me a few times that we’re crazy for going all the way to Glasgow for a spontaneous night out but I can tell he’s excited about the whole thing. He hasn’t said as much, but I very much get the sense that he’s secretly impressed by my spontaneity. That rush of being out with Luke and away from Muscle University doesn’t subside either. When I’m sitting opposite him on the train to Glasgow. When we’re walking through the streets trying to find a pub to go to. There’s something else that’s adding to the buzz I’m feeling. Everywhere we go, at the train station, in the streets, in the pub we decide on that’s kind of traditional but has this cool, bohemian feel to it, I notice people looking at me. People actually fucking paying attention to me and my body. Just like they do whenever I go to visit Emily in Bristol. Or anywhere that isn’t on the Montgomery University of Bodybuilding & Fitness campus. Luke has noticed it too. He looks at me a little differently as we stand at the bar getting looks from all directions. It’s like he’s sort in awe of me, just like he was when I was standing in front of him in our dorm room the other day flexing my insanely pumped muscles into a side chest pose. I really fucking love that my muscles have that effect on him. Would it be totally inappropriate to crank out a quick front double bicep in his face while we wait to be served? “I think you’re causing a bit of a stir!” he says to me, as we sit down at a table. I can tell he’s getting a kick out of the attention I’m receiving. I sigh. “The price of being a sexy monster!” Luke smirks and rolls his eyes as he takes his jacket off. “Right. Time to get the guns out!” I announce, standing up and removing my bomber jacket, my thick arms and brutally sized shoulders now on display and the top of my obscene pecs spilling out of my black vest. I sneakily look around and, as predicted, I’m definitely still getting looks. But something gives me a bigger kick when I look back and catch Luke looking straight at my chest with a slight smirk and a sort of awe-struck expression on his face. “You better get used to this kind of attention, Mr Geek to Freak!” Luke gives me a shy grin before he takes a swig of his drink. “Sooo ... better than the Students’ Union bar?” “God yeah! Not quite sure it’s worth that Uber fare though!” “Oh yeah. Cheers for that, dad!” I say, holding up my glass in a toast. “Luke! Look! We’ve escaped Muscle University. We’re with people who …” I gasp, “aren’t huge, freaky bodybuilders! I’d say the Uber fare was worth it!” Luke takes another swig of his drink. And now he’s got that look on his face. The one he gets when he wants to ask me something and is weighing up whether he should or not. I feel a flutter of excitement. Come on, Luke. Ask me if I’m gay. Ask me if I like you. Ask me if you can reach out and feel my flexed biceps. “Can I ask you a question?” God yes! I groan. “You’re not gonna go all Jeremy Kyle on me again are you?” He smirks and looks a little sheepish. Ask me if I want to fucking kiss you. “Do you do this with your friends back home? Analyse them to death?” He pulls a face and shrugs. “Mmmm! Not really. But I know them well so … I don’t really need to!” I roll my eyes and playfully sigh. “Go on then!” “Mmmm! Forget it!” Luke says shaking his head and taking a sip of his drink. Fuck! I went too far. I feel a kick to the stomach. “Okay, how about this. You get to ask me three questions that I have to answer. After those three I’m not obliged to answer anything!” His mouth curls into an excited grin. “Mmmm. Deal!” “Okay then. Fire away!” My body’s buzzing. My heart’s beating faster. Here it fucking comes... “Are you happy here?” Fuck! Well I wasn’t expecting that. My chest suddenly feels tight. It’s the first time anyone’s asked me that question since Johnny Hoxton right at the beginning of the school year. And even he didn’t ask me in such an open and direct manner. I suddenly feel a bit cagey. I have no idea how I’m supposed to answer Luke’s question, so I do what I always do in these situations. I resort to humour. “Mmmm. Yeah! It’s a pretty cool pub!” I say shrugging and looking around. Luke rolls his eyes. “You know what I mean. Are you happy at Montgomery?” And now he looks serious. Even a little nervous, like maybe he’s regretting it and realising that it might be too personal of a question. I groan and slump my shoulders down. “Sort of! I guess?” Luke’s biting his lip and looks at me pensively. “Sometimes I love it. Like, when I’m in Posing Practice 101. I mean I love most of the lectures. It’s pretty much the perfect uni course for me. But …” And now Luke’s giving me this kind, knowing smile. I let out a loud groan. “I just wish the uni was somewhere else! Like, imagine if it was in the middle of London. And we could live off campus!” Luke bites his lip and nods. “Or another city! I mean, even just closer to here would be better. But no, it has to be in the middle of fucking nowhere!” Huh. It’s kind of funny. I was nervous about opening up and answering such a personal question. But now I have, I actually feel kind of relieved. But it’s not just that. It actually feels really good to have opened up to Luke. Maybe even a little exciting. “Hmmm. I see your point!” he says. “Although … in a way I think it’s kinda cool where it is!” I just glare at him like he’s crazy. “Well it kinda reminds me of Hogwarts!” I shake my head and laugh. “For fuck’s sake!” “Only with bodybuilders instead of wizards!” he adds giving me this big goofy grin. “See, that’s the other thing that pisses me off! Bodybuilders! Everywhere I bloody look!” “Is that why you like hanging out with me?” Luke asks, with a little smirk. “Woah, woah, woah! When did I say I like hanging out with you?!” Luke smirks but he looks a little coy too. And then his face drops a little. Like he’s not sure whether there was truth to my joke. My stomach clenches. And now I feel bad. If only Luke knew just how much I like hanging out with him. “Same again?” I ask, pointing to his glass. He frowns and shakes his head. “It’s my round!” Luke gets up and heads to the bar. I watch him walk away. His cute, pert arse straining the denim of his skinny jeans. His little lats stretching the material of his tight, white t-shirt. And something lurches in my stomach. I think there’s this part of me that doesn’t want to like Luke. Doesn’t want to be having these sorts of feelings for him. Maybe for anyone. But another part of me does. Like, really fucking does. I check Instagram on my phone while I wait for Luke to come back. “You are getting LOADS of looks!” he says to me grinning, when he returns to the table. I give him a cocky grin and take a sneaky look around. I notice a gang of lads looking in my direction. And a couple of other people. “I think I know what your Instagram profile’s missing, by the way!” I say, shaking my phone at him. “Oh God!” he says. “What?!” “A picture of you flexing in your shiny, blue posing trunks!” I say matter-of-factly. Luke laughs. “That is NOT happening!” “Why not?! We can take one when we get back to uni!” Oh Jesus. I can’t believe I just suggested that. I take a swig of my vodka and coke and bury my head in my glass for fear of my expression giving anything away. Me taking a picture of Luke in his shiny, blue posers. Luke standing in front of me again in his shiny, blue posers. Both a little tipsy. Both feeling brave. Say yes, Luke. Please say fucking yes. “Okay, second question!” he says, deflecting from the subject. “Already?!” I groan, playfully rolling my eyes. Maybe I should think about becoming a fucking actor? “Go on then!” Luke bites his lip and suddenly looks seriously again. “And I want an honest answer!” He breathes a deep sigh and his chest heaves up and down. Like’s he’s nervous to ask. Yes I’m gay. Yes I like you. YES I WANT TO FUCKING KISS YOU. “Am I completely delusional?” I’m completely thrown. “What?!” Luke’s not saying anything. He’s just sitting there with a serious expression. I feel a sharp tug in my stomach. “Luke, what do you mean?” He sighs. “I mean, this! Me being at Muscle University!” He looks so fucking cut up. It’s obviously something that he worries about. I just want to reach across the table and give him a big hug. Anything to take that expression of worry and doubt off his face. “Where is this coming from?” I ask him. Oh God. I hope it’s nothing I’ve said. “I saw that comment on your Instagram post!” Fuck. Something rises in my chest. I feel a sudden rage at that guy who was mean to Luke. “Ugh. Fuck that fucking dick!” I spit. Luke looks surprised at my reaction. “Luke, you can’t let what people say on the Internet get to you. You don’t think I get negative comments?” “It’s not just that. I mean, I know what the other lads must think of me!” “Luke - they’re not thinking anything! Well, apart from the fact that you wore Harry Potter boxers to Posing Practice 101!” His expression softens and his mouth curls into a big, cheeky grin. I suddenly feel like I want to melt. “Look … you’re obviously smaller than most of the other lads in our year!” He pulls a face. “Okay, all of the lads in our year. But I’ve told you before, you’ll make so many gains. And fast! I mean, they wouldn’t have let you in if they didn’t think you were serious about the bodybuilding thing!” He bites his lip and nods, looking less troubled. I know I’m getting through to him. I know I’m making him feel better. He looks out the window of the pub. “I guess …” and then he looks back at me and rolls his eyes, “I just have impostor syndrome or something!” “I mean, we all have moments of worrying that we’re not good enough!” I tell him. “And worrying about what people think of us!” He raises one eyebrow at me and smirks. “Even you? The self proclaimed sexy bastard?” I laugh. “YES, Luke. Even me!” Wow. I never open up to anyone like this. Other than Emily, of course. Even just the thought of admitting something that could be seen as a weakness to someone makes me feel anxious. And yet, with Luke, I really don’t mind. I really don’t mind at all. “My round!” I announce, jumping up and making my way to the bar. As I do, I wonder whether Luke is checking out my huge arse and pumped lats the way I did with him. A thought which excites me to an almost ridiculous degree. I can feel people’s eyes on me as I stand at the bar in my black vest waiting to be served. I twist my head to look at Luke. And sure enough, he’s looking right at me. Then he suddenly looks nervous and looks down at his phone. Fuck! I go back to the table with the drinks, then mysteriously wiggle my eyebrows at him and go back to the bar. When I come back with two shots of sambuca, Luke rolls his eyes and groans. “I might need this for when I answer your third question!” I tell him, holding the shot glass of sambuca up. My stomach clenches at the thought of what that question might be. Although judging from Luke’s previous two questions, maybe I shouldn’t get my hopes up. “I think you’ve got an admirer, by the way!” Luke tells me, signalling back to the bar. “Blonde girl in the blue dress!” I look back and this gorgeous blonde and her ridiculously fake tanned friend are looking right at me. I turn back and pull an “eeeek” face. “Not my type!” I say, shaking my head and burying my face in my glass. And now I’ve just realised what I said. Fuck! Luke suddenly looks a little awkward. Nervous, even. Ask me what my type is, Luke. Just ask me what my fucking type is. But he’s not saying anything. “Okay, hypothetical question!” I say to him. “What would you do if I went away and you had the room to yourself for the WHOLE weekend?” “That’s easy. I’d throw a huge ass party!” he jokes. “Who the fuck would you invite? Your only friend at uni would be away for the weekend?” Luke’s mouth hangs open a little and then he laughs. “Mmmm. Fair point! I’m blaming you for that!” “What do you mean?” “Well if I didn’t feel obliged to hang out with you all the time, I might actually make some other friends!” I laugh. “Oh, you’re obliged to hang out with me are you?” “Yep. I kinda feel bad that you don’t have many friends at Montgomery!” Ha! I love it. “Cheeky fucker!” I say, with a giggle. “It wouldn’t work being friends with the lads at uni. They’d just get jealous of me all the time. It’s the downfall of being this huge and handsome!” He smirks and rolls his eyes. “Whatever you say!” “Come on then! Answer my question. Whole weekend to yourself. What would you do?” Luke pulls a cute thinking face. “Hmmm. Oooh! I’d watch all the Harry Potter films. While just wearing my Harry Potter boxers!” I laugh. What a fucking image! “Why do I get the feeling that you’re not actually joking?” “I’m not!” “Well knock yourself out! I’m going to Bristol next weekend!” “Oh!” he says. And he suddenly looks a little winded. Fuck! “Cool!” he adds, trying to act casual. But he’s clearly bothered about the fact that I’m going away for the weekend. What the fuck does that mean? My insides are suddenly going crazy. “To stay with your friend?” Luke asks. Things suddenly feel a little awkward. “Yep!” I tell him. “It’s my birthday weekend!” His face softens. “Awww! Cool! So at what age does daddy stop letting you use his Uber account?” “When I become a pro bodybuilder. And stop saying daddy!” Luke smirks and looks at something over the shoulder. “Your admirer’s looking again!” he says with a cheeky grin. I shrug. “She’s only human!” He laughs. “Such a cocky bastard!” “Right - time for shots!” I say, reaching for my shot glass of sambuca. “Don’t you want your third question first?” Even though the questions so far have steered away from anything to do with my sexuality, for some reason I feel a weird stab of nerves. I pick up my glass. “Hit me with it!” Luke looks over my shoulder again, biting his lip. His expression turns serious. “Come on!” I order. “I’m thinking!” Luke looks down at the table in thought. Oh God. Just ask me. Just fucking ask me. “Okay!” he says. And then he looks up at me, and oh God - he suddenly looks nervous. “Promise to answer honestly?” Fuck! Surely this is it. Surely he’s gonna ask me. “I swear on my shiny pink posers!” His face breaks out in a smile. Then he turns serious again. “So …” Oh God. Here it comes. Luke’s looking over my shoulder again. “... if she’s not your type ...” And then he looks straight at me. His face full of uncertainty. “... who is?” Oh my fucking God. My chest is blowing up. My pulse is racing. And I have no idea what my face is doing. He did it. He actually fucking asked me the question. But then … oh shit. I suddenly feel panicked. Because what if, after of all this, Luke isn’t gay? And then I’m just a sad fucker with a massive crush on his straight roommate? Maybe that’s for the best. Maybe then I’ll stop thinking about wanting to kiss him and cuddle him. Maybe all of this madness and all these crazy thoughts will finally fucking end. But what if he is gay? What then? Oh God. I have to know. I just have to know. “I’ll tell you …” Fuck! “… but …” Fuckity fucking fuck! “... only if you answer the question too!” Luke looks nervous. But he’s smirking too. This excited little smirk. He cautiously nods at me. “Deal!” This is it. There’s no going back. “On the count of three, we both say a name of someone who’s our type at the same time, and then we down our shots!” I say, holding up my shot glass. “Okay!” Luke replies, picking up his shot glass too, looking even more nervous. “Could be someone famous!” I explain, “or … someone else! On the count of three …” I say, my heart beating faster. “One …” Say my name. Just say my fucking name. “Two …” Say Sebastian Wood. Say Sebastian cocky bastard twatface fucking Wood. “Three …” “JOHNNY HOXTON!” Luke blurts out over my answer of, “BLAINE HOLTON!” I down my sambuca shot in one and Jesus - my mouth and tongue are burning from the sharp, rancid taste. My head is spinning and my body feels like it’s on fire. But not because of the effects of the alcohol. But because Luke is gay. Cute, geeky Luke with his beautiful blue eyes and adorable dimple showing grin. Funny, awesome Luke with his hot little abs and sexy pert arse which spills out of the shiny blue material of his insanely hot posing trunks. Lovely, little Luke who I wanna kiss so very fucking much. “You fancy Johnny?!” Luke’s grimacing from the sambuca and sticking his tongue out. When the effect of the shot wear off, he’s just looking at me with this shy grin. He shrugs. “A bit!” he says sheepishly. “I guess I can see the attraction! I mean … he does have a pretty fantastic arse!” Oh my GOD. Did I actually just say those words out loud to Luke? He beams at me and I’m just smiling back and fuck - Luke’s gay. I literally feel like I want to explode. “So ... Blaine Holton?” he says, pulling a face. I laugh. “What’s wrong with Blaine?” “It’s just so … obvious!” I pull a so what face and shrug. “The man’s practically a fucking God!” Luke smiles but then his face suddenly drops, he breaks eye contact with me and looks down at the table in thought. Like something’s suddenly upset him. I have no idea what. Did I say something wrong? “So …” I begin. He looks up at me again. “Seems like I’m not the only gay guy at Montgomery University after all!” And now Luke’s smiling again. God those fucking dimples. He continues to smile back at me and fuck, suddenly there’s this atmosphere. And it feels like something is happening between us again. Just like it did when we were sitting on my bed the other day after the gym. My chest is expanding. My stomach’s going crazy. And all I wanna do right now is to lean over and kiss him. To kiss my definitely gay roommate Luke. “Right, drink up!” I order, reaching round to grab my jacket. Luke shoots me a confused look. “I’m taking you to a gay bar!”

Hehe - awesome, mate. I was hoping someone would pick up on it! Guys - I'm loving these theories about how AJ and Woody could have already met! That could have been a good twist actually. Woody mentions to Luke that he had a thing with a bodybuilder called AJ in Ibiza last summer but he already had a sort of boyfriend back home! It's actually not that unrealistic that these guys would meet at some point. Geography aside, the bodybuilding scene here in the UK is pretty small. They could easily be at an expo at the same time - or even competing in the same show. Both juniors in a NABBA/PCA Mr Britain or Mr Universe show. Not unlikely at all! And of course Noah would go along to support his boyfriend and Luke his roommate. And then there's the high probability that they could already be following each other on Instagram. I guess you'll just have to watch out for more Easter eggs.

Fairly short chapter. This is more of a build up the next (better) one. I thought about posting both of them together but I think it would be too much for one post. Twelve “I can’t believe you have vodka stashed under your bed!” Luke says to me as I pour him a vodka and coke. “You make me sound like an alcoholic! Where else am I supposed to keep it?” I ask, handing him the cup. “Plus … it was a good place to hide it from my last roommate!” Luke takes a sip of his drink. He’s not wearing the super tight, bright blue t-shirt he wore to the SU bar as I suggested. Instead, he’s got an equally tight plain white one on. He’s also taken his glasses off and put his contact lenses in. His hair is styled. His lovely arse is sticking out in his skinny jeans which have rips on the knees. I really can’t envision him looking any fucking cuter. “What was he like?” Luke asks. “Craig?! Mmmm. An annoying little prick!” I reply in a casual tone. “Are you actually gonna tell me where we’re going?” I give Luke a teasing grin and wiggle my eyebrows up and down. “We’re going to the SU bar aren’t we?” “Oh, ye of little faith!” I say, before taking a big gulp of my drink. Then I pick up my phone. “Our ride will be here in ten minutes!” Luke looks so perplexed. “Ride?!” And then his expression changes to something else. Like he’s disappointed. Even a little winded for some reason. “Is someone else coming out with us?” My heart flutters and I’m not sure why. And now I’m suddenly smiling. And I can’t seem to stop. Luke really doesn’t seem to like the idea of someone else joining us on our outing. Is he just shy around people he doesn’t know or is it that he just wants it to be the two of us? I shake my head. “Nope! It’s just us!” I tell him. His face relaxes and he’s suddenly got this pleased grin on his face. “Get your jacket on!” Luke obeys my order and puts on a cute, trendy, bright blue downs jacket with a hood. I’ve never seen him wearing it before but it’s just so him. I grab my black and dark grey camouflage bomber jacket and Luke zips his coat up. He looks so warm and snuggly. I suddenly have the urge to put my thick arms around him and give him a big cuddle. Just squeeze the fucking fuck out of him. And now he’s putting on a pair of grey wooly gloves. For fuck’s sake. Could this boy be any more adorable? He looks at me and suddenly seems nervous. I feel a twist in my stomach. Because I realise I’m just standing there staring at him. “What?” he asks me, a little warily. Fuck! I playfully screw up my face. “You’re wearing gloves!” I tease. He smirks and looks a little embarrassed. “It’s cold outside!” he says with a shrug. I go over to the full length mirror near the door of our room to check myself out. I sometimes wonder if my personality would be different if I was just an average looking guy. I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to get away with acting as much of a dick as I do sometimes. People would definitely treat me differently. I know that much. I look like a fucking monster in my bomber jacket. I’m wearing a black vest underneath because why the fuck not? The deep groove separating my pecs is peeking out the top of the black material. I turn to the side and check out my laughably huge arse stretching the material of my skinny jeans. I’m feeling mischievous. I lift the bottom of my jacket up and stick out my arse in Luke’s direction. “Does my bum look big in these?” My stomach flips as I turn around to see Luke’s reaction. He’s shaking his head. But he’s smirking like crazy. And fuck. I swear he’s blushing a bit too. My phone beeps and I go over to my bed to check it. I gasp when I look at the screen. “Uber’s here!” “Uber?!” Luke cries. Ooops. I didn’t mean to spoil it, but I love how surprised he is. I mischievously smirk and down the rest of my vodka and coke. “Woody! Where are we going?!” He sounds a little anxious. “I told you. It’s an adventure!” “Where is there to go round here in an Uber?” he asks as we exit our room. I feel this giddy rush of excitement as we make our way through Hanson Hall, heightened by the buzz of the alcohol in my system. Because me and Luke are escaping the Montgomery University campus. “Luke, would you relax?” “I just wanna know where we’re going.” “Somewhere where you don’t need woolly gloves!” I look over at him and playfully grin. He rolls his eyes and smirks back. God. He really does look so fucking cute tonight. Is it ever socially acceptable to give your friend a random, no questions asked cuddle? “Okay, where’s the nearest train station?” Look looks confused. “Erm … Little Hatton? Isn’t that kind of far to go in an Uber?” “Not really!” I reply with a shrug. What about holding hands? Friends do that sometimes, right? “Okay, I didn’t realise this was gonna be an expensive adventure.” “It’s not,” I tell him casually. “Stop worrying!” “I’ll give you half the fare as soon we get to a cash point.” I groan. “Luke, it’s paid for! I have an account. Kind of.” Luke shoots me a suspicious look, his eyes narrowed. “Okay, technically it’s my dad’s account!” I explain. “Erm … won’t he be pissed that you’re booking Ubers to trek halfway across Scotland without asking him first?” I laugh. “Bit of an exaggeration on the distance! Luke, he won’t even notice. Trust me.” And now he’s looking at me even more suspiciously. And then the corner of his mouth is curling into an almost smug grin. Suddenly I feel oddly nervous. “You’re fucking loaded aren’t you?” “No! I’m not!” I reply firmly. “Hmmm. But your parents are? Loaded?” I don’t say anything. I always get nervous when this subject comes up. I always worry that people will treat me differently when they find out that my family is fairly well off. “They are aren’t they?” Luke says, still smirking. He almost seems excited to have figured something out about me. “They do okay!” I reply defensively. “Look … I’m not some spoilt rich kid, okay? I had a job back home and everything!” Luke gasps. “Wow! A job! Did daddy make you get one to learn the value of money?” I smirk and shake my head. “Fuck off. And don’t say “daddy”. It’s … weird!” “Did you have a horse? And a Bentley? Oooh. And a swimming pool?” Luke teases. I shake my head and smirk in spite of myself. Luke’s clearly pleased that he’s found something he can tease me about. “Come to think of it, you do talk a bit posh. Sebastian!” “Luke, you’re Northern. Everyone sounds posh to you.” “If you say so!” he replies, still with that smug grin on his face. He knows he’s got me. The little fucker. But I have to say, I kind of love it. The teasing. Him finding out something about me that I usually keep quiet. What else is Luke gonna figure out about me tonight? I feel a rush of excitement at the possibilities. When we get outside into the cold air and walk away from the university buildings, I’m reminded of that happy buzz I feel whenever I’m venturing out to stay with Emily for the weekend. Only this feels bigger than that. More exciting. I look over at Luke and he shoots me this excited grin and my insides suddenly feel like they’re on fire. I guess spontaneously kissing your friends isn’t normal either is it? “Uber for Henry Wood?” I ask the driver when we get to the car. He gives me a big grin and nods. Luke side eyes me and smirks as we both climb into the back seat. “It is … a college for muscle men?” the driver asks us as we pull away. I look at Luke and he gives me a knowing grin. “Pretty much!” I reply. The driver nods and lets out this jolly giggle. I can’t resist. “Shredded monsters only!” “Ahhhh!” the driver says, chuckling again. Luke’s biting his lip to stop from smiling so much. “And a couple of soon-to-be shredded monsters too!” I say, smirking at Luke with a raised eyebrow. He looks so fucking yummy sitting next to me in his shiny blue jacket and skinny jeans. “So, Henry, I take it we’re going to a pub in Little Hatton?” Luke asks. I pull a face. “Nope! I’m taking you somewhere much better than that!” “Oh God. You’re gonna lead me down some dark alley aren’t you? With Deano and Shaun at the end of it waiting to beat me up?” I know he’s only joking, but the comment completely throws me. Has he not gathered by now that I genuinely think of him as a friend? “Luke!” I exclaim, glaring at him. Then I shake my head. I feel like saying “so much for trusting me” but I don’t. “I’m joking!” he says, with a shrug. But he suddenly looks a little sheepish. Like maybe he regrets saying it. “If you must know, we’re going to a strip club!” “WHAT?!” he exclaims, looking absolutely horrified. I’m laughing and the Uber driver’s laughing too. Ha! I like this dude. “Okay, think about where we’re going,” I tell Luke cryptically. He looks confused. “Little Hatton?” “Yes, but more specifically!” “Ummm … the Little Hatton train station?” “BOOM! And what’s at the Little Hatton train station?” “Trains?!” “Exactly!” “Woody, where the hell are you taking me?” He looks genuinely nervous. “Just this little place I know.” “Called …” I shrug. “Glasgow!” “Glasgow?!” he cries. His voice is high pitched and squeaky. “Relax! We’ll get the last train back to Little Hatton. If we must. You’ll be tucked up in bed by one-ish.” Tucked up in bed in that white vest you always sleep in while your cute, little arse is snuggled into whatever adorable boxers you’re wearing today. Luke’s shaking his head. “I can’t believe you’re taking me all the way to Glasgow at this time of night. You’re absolutely mad!” But I can tell he’s secretly excited about what we’re doing. He’s got this little smile on his face. I look at him and smile back. I take him in. His cute grin. His amazing eyes. And those adorable dimples. I can already feel that tonight is gonna be good.

Woody making moves on AJ in Ibiza would be temperature raising, for sure. And AJ taking the candy so soon after what happened with Dale helps explain why he ditched Noah after--he simply couldn't own up to his own sluttery. Poor AJ, down there on holiday, sweating booze in the clubs, would have been hard pressed to resist if an operator like Woody came at him with the full court press, just as arrogant in his way as Dale but infiintely more charming.

I did pick up on the Dale Easter Egg--and thank you for it! I didn't think about Woody being one of the others in the bar when AJ and Noah had that encounter. However, I did wonder if Woody might have been in Ibiza when AJ went there with his family and then ghosted Noah after he came back from his trip. Small world indeed, if so! Outstanding chapter (translation: it's time for another!)

Next chapter and it's another pretty lengthy one. Look out for another AJ & Noah Easter egg. Oh and @brawnygods - your comments inspired me to add a little extra something into this one! Eleven The first guy I was ever really sexually attracted to was a bodybuilder called Brad McCarthy. Brad was one of the top pro bodybuilders from the nineties, often placing in the top ten of the Mr Olympia with the other well known monsters from that era. I’d been familiar with his name for a while before I actually saw what he looked like. Then one day an Instagram account I followed, who specialised in old school bodybuilders, posted a video of Brad posing in front of a white screen. I was instantly mesmerised by this huge, beautiful muscle monster flexing on my phone screen. It’s no exaggeration when I say that Brad McCarthy was nothing short of God-like. I can not think of a single bodybuilder competing in the IFBB today who even comes close to being as handsome as Brad was at his peak. With his strong jawline, chiseled All American features, smouldering eyes and gorgeous, heart melting smile, if he hadn’t decided to dedicate his life to being a roided out muscle freak, Brad could have probably had a successful career as a top Hollywood actor. And as for his body. Jesus. The guy looked like a fucking cartoon. He had that bubble look where his muscles really popped, like balloons of thick, juicy muscle bulging off his bones. His pecs were obscene, his biceps were insane and his abs were flat out gorgeous. And then there were Brad’s quads. Holy fuck those quads. Thickness for days and beautiful sweeps, if there’s one body part that Brad McCarthy was famous for it was his freaky, out of this world wheels. He was a mass monster for sure, but he wasn’t like one of the grotesque guys with roid guts and thick waists that are so common today. There was a “classic” look to Brad’s shape and physique. He really was like the quintessential nineties bodybuilder. He was also one of those guys that pretty much every gay muscle worshipper goes nuts for. Including (as it turns out) me. No video had ever had an effect on me like the first one I watched of Brad McCarthy. I was completely transfixed by the beautiful muscle freak on my phone screen as he tensed his crazily thick quads, revealing alien-like lines and conditioning I could only dream of having myself one day. I watched as he blew up his gloriously round, granite hard biceps and crunched his perfectly shaped, six pack abs, all the time displaying a handsome as shit grin and exuding the power and cockiness of a man who knew exactly what kind of effect his muscles had on others. And as Brad McCarthy looked square into the camera and scrunched up his face as the glistening, oil soaked balloons of muscle on his upper body bulged and squeezed into a most muscular pose, I blew the most intense fucking load into my boxer shorts. It was like a revelation. Muscle turned me on. Guys turned on. Thanks to muscle monster Brad McCarthy and his beautifully thick pecs and freaky wheels, I was finally able to accept something which I’d known for a while, but had chosen to ignore. I was gay. My best friend, Emily, was the first person I told, and the only person who knew about my sexuality for a good few years. There was no one else at school I felt close enough to to tell, I didn’t really know how my parents would take the news and I didn’t dare tell any of the bodybuilding lads at the gym. Emily came out to me shortly afterwards. I think in the back of my head I already knew she was gay, as she did with me. Maybe that’s why we were drawn to each other in the first place? Maybe we both sensed that the other was different? That we had this unspoken thing in common? It’s fair to say that I was a little naive when we took our first visit to a gay pub. No one really warned me how much attention a good looking, seventeen year old competitive bodybuilder, who looked considerably older thanks to his abnormally muscular physique, would receive in such a place. But then, who would have? Emily was the only gay person I knew at that point. I went home with a guy called Dale that first night we went out. He was no bodybuilder but the guy had one hell of a body on him. Over six foot in height and built like a brick shithouse with thick arms on show under the sleeves of his tight fitted t-shirt. It sounds naive to think about it now, but I was kind of surprised that gay guys that muscular actually existed. He was exceptionally fucking handsome too. Olive skin, almost model-like looks. He was a good few years older than me, probably in his late twenties, so I may have told a little white lie when he asked me how old I was. He seemed nice enough, if a little arrogant, which was something Emily picked up on too. She didn’t seem to like him much in general. “I don’t get good vibes!” were her exact words. I thought at the time that she maybe just being overly protective of me. Still, I didn’t really care what my best friend thought at that moment. I was in my first ever gay pub in London and the hottest guy in the room wanted to take me back to his. So I left with Dale and it was exciting and new and the sex was pretty good, if a tiny bit awkward at times, with it being my first experience. And the next day and the ones that followed, he seemed really keen to see me again. In fact, it’s fair to say he was a little full on. I got constant phone calls and texts from him. Telling me how much of a good time he'd had. Telling me how sexy he thought I was. How he wanted to introduce me to all these muscle guys he knew. Suggesting we do all sorts of stuff together. It was all a bit much. I mean, he didn’t even really know me that well. I very much got the feeling he wouldn’t have been half as keen on me if I hadn’t been a competitive bodybuilder. And that pattern kind of continued. Every time me and Emily went on the gay scene I’d get shit loads of attention. I’d pull someone in the club, usually a hot muscle guy, though sometimes I went with slimmer, more regular sized guys too (I found the size difference between me and those guys was actually really fun, not to mention pretty fucking horny). But the next day, they’d always be really keen to see me again. Ugh. I mean, yeah, some of the guys seemed really nice, and some of them I did meet up with again, but I think that I wanted to like them more than I actually did. And I think I only agreed to see most of them again because I felt like that’s what I should do. That that was the normal thing to do. And as Emily kept saying, maybe I’d grow to like them after the second or third time I saw them. But I never did. None of those guys ever really excited me. None of them ever seemed to get me. And none of them ever gave me those butterflies that people sometimes talk about. Not even James Newman, the short, jacked, gay Welsh bodybuilder I had unspeakably hot sex with after my last bodybuilding show in the summer. I guess I’ve sort of been waiting for all of that to happen. For someone to give me those butterflies. To meet that person who I think about constantly like Emily has multiple fucking times since we both came out to each other. I guess, to just meet someone who I like. I mean, really, really like. Surely that person can’t be Luke? And yet, as I lie here now in bed to the sound of the shower running in the bathroom as he’s getting ready for his morning A History of Bodybuilding lecture, why can I not think of anything else I want to do more than open that bathroom door, climb into the shower, grab my much smaller and very geeky roommate who barely even has pecs and spends his time watching kids cartoons, pin him up the wall and kiss him like I’ve never fucking kissed anyone before? Okay maybe this is just a phase? Maybe it will pass and I’ll realise that no, I don’t actually want to kiss Luke. That lying here thinking about what it would be like to cuddled up to him in bed, his body curled into mine, my pecs and abs sinking into his back and my huge arms wrapped around his much smaller body as I bury my face into his neck, his scent engulfing me, while all the time he’s wearing nothing but his bright yellow Harry Potter boxers, means absolutely nothing? Oh God. What the fuck is wrong with me? I mean, I guess when I think about it, it’s not all that surprising that I’ve started to have feelings for Luke. We have been spending a lot of time together. And he’s really fucking sweet. And he really makes me laugh. And, despite all his geeky affiliations, Luke’s actually pretty cool. I like how he doesn’t seem to apologise for who he is. He’s just himself. How well he handles being the smallest guy here on campus. There’s a quiet confidence there which is pretty fucking sexy. And I really respect how he just opened up to me about his dad when we didn’t really know each other. And how well he handled it when I was being a complete dick to him when he first transferred here (which I feel really bad about now). And there’s this really charming innocence about him. I kind of loved how nervous he was about buying his trunks. And I love his eagerness for anything bodybuilding related. The way his face lights up when I suggest he’ll be a monster soon. And the way he talks about Tommy Foster’s shredded abs. Which is also, incidentally, pretty fucking sexy. And, of course, there’s the fact that he’s also pretty cute. Okay, he’s really fucking cute. With his lovely blue eyes and cute grin and hot little abs. And not to mention that beefy arse of his which blows out the back of his obscenely shiny posing trunks, which I’ve thought about so many times over the last few weeks it’s probably not healthy. And which, I’m thinking about again right fucking now and getting a full on boner under my duvet. GRRRR! And then here’s the fact that I highly suspect Luke is gay. I mean, that has to be what he was referring to that night we went to the SU bar, right? “Maybe I’m different too.” The thing is, now that thought is in my head, I’m struggling to actually imagine that Luke is straight. This might sound weird but I can’t really picture him with a girl. It just wouldn’t look right. I can see him with a guy though. A much bigger guy. Say, a two hundred and thirty pounds, handsome as shit bodybuilder with twenty three pairs of posing trunks and a cheeky Instagram persona? I guess there’s always the chance that my mind is just going into overdrive because I think I’ve actually managed to find another student here at Montgomery University who might be gay? Maybe if there were tons of gay guys here, or even just a few more, I wouldn’t be having these thoughts about Luke? He comes out of the shower and I don’t flinch or move. I stay still in bed with my eyes closed, pretending I’m asleep. I can hear him pottering about. He’s so gentle and quiet. Like a five foot, ten inches tall mouse in specs. With hot little abs and the cutest fucking arse! I can tell he’s being extra quiet just for me. That he’s trying his best not to wake me up. Which is just, sigh, SO fucking sweet. I wonder what t-shirt he’s putting on for today. I’m gonna guess my favourite - the white Marvel one with all the superheroes on it. And now I’m wondering what boxers he’s wearing. He’s got these green and blue striped ones that are super duper cute. I bet he’s wearing his light blue skinny jeans. The ones he wears the most which his little calf muscles look super sexy in. Along with another certain part of his anatomy. I hear Luke go back into the bathroom. And then he comes out and everything is suddenly quiet and FUCK - I don’t know for certain, but I swear he’s standing near my bed. And I get the feeling that he’s just looking at me. Which sounds really creepy, but it doesn’t feel like that. It doesn’t feel like that at all. My heart starts beating faster. My stomach’s fluttering. And I feel this unexpected rush of excitement. Is Luke just standing there, watching me sleep? And then I hear him on his side of the room and I relax. And shortly after that he leaves the room for his lecture. Not long after and I’m still in bed, checking out Instagram on my phone. The side chest pose pic that Luke took the other day has gotten a shit load of comments and likes. It’s quickly become one of the most popular pics I’ve ever posted. I keep looking out for comments from the “how much to feel your bicep” guy who (according to Deano) I’ve been flirting with, but so far he hasn’t commented on this one. I’m sure Deano’s eagerly checking the comments too. Just for excuses to take the piss out of me. I’m sure homophobic Mike Hancox is probably looking as well so he can give me another lecture on why not to talk to “creepy little gay dudes” on Instagram. Ugh. Fuck off, Hancox. The pic I posted of Luke lifting up his abs with the “follow my buddie” caption has also been pretty popular too. He’s gained a ton more followers since I posted it and people are commenting and saying really nice things. Apart from one guy who posted, “THIS guy goes to Muscle University? Are they just letting anyone in now?” which made me SO fucking angry. I replied with, “Hey, dude. Your ex girlfriend just DM’d me. She said she wants you to check out this website.” And then I posted a link to a penis enlargement surgery page. Thinking about that comment now is pissing me off again. How dare some random dick be mean to Luke? I’m praying that he hasn’t seen it. I think about him reading it and getting upset and my stomach sharply twists. I go to Luke’s Instagram and look at the picture I took of him flexing his biceps in the SU bar last weekend and I smile and feel all fuzzy. That was a good night. It felt like our friendship went to another level. Or maybe that was the night we actually started to become friends. Who knows? I have a flash of inspiration. I’m not gonna go the gym until this afternoon, so I have some time to kill. I get my sketchbook out and, with Luke’s front double bicep pic, complete with cute, sheepish grin, on my phone, I start to compose a new sketch. And it’s funny, because I’m usually drawing huge, shredded freaks in tiny posers, but drawing Luke, I’m struggling to remember the last time I enjoy doing an illustration so much. Half way through the sketch, I decide that I’m going to ask Luke to go the gym with me again today. The thought of which makes my insides go fucking crazy. I know Johnny suggested taking him once a week, but fuck it. This will look good on me if I take him twice. Mostly though, I just really wanna go the gym with Luke again. I can’t stop thinking about what happened in our dorm room after the last time. Flexing for Luke with my top off. Hitting a side chest while I was insanely pumped while he took my picture for Instagram. The effect my muscles seems to have on Luke. That look of awe on his face. The atmosphere in the room as it was happening. And that moment when we were sitting on my bed when we were just looking at each other and all I wanted to do was lean over and kiss him. I couldn’t sleep that night. I was just lying awake for hours thinking about the day. Thinking about Luke. I even got my phone out and was checking out his Instagram profile under my duvet. Just lying there in the middle of the night looking at his fucking pictures as he lay asleep in his bed on the other side of the room. I get changed for the gym, thinking about how I’m going to ask Luke to go with me, which actually makes me feel oddly fucking nervous. But Luke's lecture finished a while ago and I’m getting a little angsty that he’s already gone by himself. I pick up my phone and think about texting him. But what would I text? “Hey Luke, where are you? Fancy going to the gym?” I bite my nails anxiously. Wait. What the FUCK am I doing? Jesus Christ. Fretting about texting a boy I‘ve only known for a few weeks. Hanging around my room on the off chance that he’ll want to come to the gym with me when there’s a very good chance that he’s there already. Fuck this. I grab my backpack and head towards the door and then my stomach flips because it’s opening, and now Luke is suddenly in front of me wearing a white Dom and Cole In The Land of Ug t-shirt. Which I kinda love so fucking much. “Hey!” he says, stopping in his tracks. “Alright!” I say, a little nervously. “Cool t-shirt!” Luke looks down and then his mouth curls into a cute grin and my chest flutters. “Just off to the gym!” I tell him. Luke nods. I don’t know why, but things feel really awkward. Which is crazy. Because it’s Luke. My roommate, Luke, who I see and talk to every fucking day. “See you in a bit then!” he says, squeezing the handle of his backpack. Is he nervous standing so close to me? I kind of get the impression that he is. I nod and he walks past me into the room. I step towards the door thinking, should I? Fuck it. “Unless you wanna come?” I say, turning around. My stomach tightly clenches. Did I ask him a little too eagerly? I feel like I did. Fuck! “Oh!” Luke says, looking surprised. “Ummm … I’ve just been!” And now he looks deflated. And seeing how disappointed he looks, my chest expands and I find myself wanting to smile. It also seems to give me an unexpected surge of confidence. “Shame! I wanted to take the piss out of your ridiculously light weights again!” I tease. Luke smirks and rolls his eyes. And I leave, practically beaming all the way to the gym. My stomach’s doing something weird. Butterflies. Maybe these are butterflies? When I get back to the room after the gym, Luke’s sitting on his bed in front of his laptop. He says hey. He’s got this big, excited grin on his face. I look at him suspiciously. “What’s up with you?” “Guess what I’ve found?” he asks, biting his lip. I let out a big, exaggerated gasp. “The Gryffindor common room!” “That would be of no use to me. I’m a Hufflepuff!” he says proudly. “I literally have no idea what you just said!” I say. Even though I do. Even though I’ve seen most of the Harry Potter films and actually think they’re pretty cool. I dump my backpack near my bed and turn around. Luke’s not responding. He’s just sitting there biting his lip and smiling into his laptop, looking pretty fucking pleased with himself. “Luke, the suspense is fucking killing me!” I say it sarcastically, but in actual fact, I’m really fucking curious to know what Luke has apparently found. “It’s on my laptop!” Luke says, eyeballing his MacBook with this teasing grin. I groan and roll my eyes, and then my stomach flips as I approach Luke’s bed. I’m trying so hard not to smile. Not to show how much I want to sit next to him on his bed. I have a feeling I’m not doing a good enough job as I’d like. I plonk down next to him, giving him a suspicious look. He’s still biting his lip, clearly excited. I swear his cheeks have flushed a little too. He plays with his laptop then turns it to face me and something starts playing. “Oh my God!” I exclaim, when I realise what it is. “JOHNNY BRAVO!” Luke’s nodding. It’s so fucking cute how excited he looks. “I found it on some dodgy streaming site!” “So cool!” I say as the opening credits plays. I feel a wave of nostalgia. It’s been so long since I watched this cartoon. “Check the pecs!” I say, imitating Johnny. Luke does his goofy little giggle. “Oh, sorry!” Luke mumbles. I’m confused but then he reaches for one of his pillows and my heart flutters when he hands it to me and our eyes meet and his mouth curls into a sheepish grin. I prop the pillow under my big chest and relax next to Luke. He grabs the other pillow and props it up behind his back. I literally can’t stop smiling as we lie on his bed watching one of my favourite childhood cartoons. “Hmmm. It’s kinda funny if you think about it!” I say. “What?” “Well I always wanted to be Johnny Bravo. And now I’m probably bigger than him.” I expect Luke to roll his eyes but he just gives me this cute, grin and hello dimples! “I’m definitely hotter than him, anyway!” I say. And then Luke does roll his eyes. Ha! We carry on watching it, laughing and giggling at various moments. Luke’s leaning against the wall, his legs flat out. I’m lying on my front with the pillow under my chest. He’s so close to me. I could so easily stretch out my arm and just gently tickle his tummy if I wanted to. I look at the image of Dom and Cole on Luke’s white t-shirt. “Think they do Johnny Bravo t-shirts?” I ask him, twisting my neck up to look up at him. Luke grins at me. “Yeah! They must do. Would you wear one?” he asks, with one eyebrow raised. He seems kind of excited at the prospect. I smile and shrug. “Probably! Although … maybe not in public!” Luke rolls his eyes but he’s still smiling down at me. “That. Was. Awesome!” I say as the episode finishes. Luke grins at me and we’re both a bit silent for a while. And then I feel this stab of disappointment, because I don’t know what’s next. I could quite happily stay here lying next to Luke on his bed. Probably for the rest of the evening, in fact. Luke reaches forward and plays with his laptop. He minimises the window and my stomach flips when I notice something on the screen. There’s another tab open in Luke’s Google Chrome window. And it has my name on it, followed by the start of my Instagram handle. WOODY (@woody_bodybuilder). For some reason, Luke was looking at my Instagram profile. He quickly clicks on the red dot in the corner of the window and it closes down and suddenly there’s this awkwardness between us. Fuck. I don’t look at Luke’s face. I just lie there, propped up by one of his pillows that smells like him. But my stomach’s going crazy. And I’m finding it really fucking hard not to smile. Because Luke was checking out my Instagram. “So … is there anything going on at the SU bar tonight?” Luke asks. There’s a slight hint of nerves in his voice. I look up at him and pull a face. “Doubt it!” But my chest is suddenly expanding. Because the last time me and Luke went to the Students’ Union bar he opened up to me in a way he hadn’t done before. About his dad. About how he could tell I liked attention. And he also insinuated that I was gay. And that he was gay too. Who knows what might happen if we go again? And then an idea pops into my head. Something I’ve done once before. Would Luke be up for it? Fuck. It’s pretty crazy. But right now, sitting next to Luke on his bed, his body so close to mine, I feel like I wanna go crazy. And I wanna go crazy with Luke. “You know the SU bar isn’t our only option for a night out?” I say to him, with a mysterious smirk, my heart starting to beat a little faster. “It’s not?!” he asks, looking perplexed. I shake my head and continue to act mysterious. “Luke Henderson. Do you trust me?” His stomach is still right there. I could just reach out and gently tickle his hard, tight tummy with my fingers through his white Dom and Cole t-shirt. “Is that a serious question?” he asks, with one eyebrow raised. “Yes! And that was the wrong answer. Luke Henderson. Do. You. Trust me?” I ask, glaring at him. He still looks confused, but he’s smirking too. I can tell he’s curious. Excited even. “Ummm. I … guess so?” he says, now giving me this cute grin. My tummy’s doing weird things again. Butterflies. These are definitely fucking butterflies. “Right then, Luke! Get your super tight, plain blue t-shirt on. I’m taking you on an adventure!”

just got on the train this week and devour your story !! I'm geting so nervous to see those two kissing >///< the build up is so intense !!! It's sooooooooo good ! thank you so much for sharing this fantastic work with us.

@muscleaddictSuch a great chapter mate! Woody is such a twat for acting the way he did, but I loved it! I love the tension, the cheekiness and the dialogue between The story is getting better and better! p.s. - I saw that my last comment was edited. Sorry about using the F word. I will keep it clean from now on. I would hate for anyone to get in trouble.

DeMarcus and Jacqui doesn't know whats coming to them

OMG more more more! I can't stop thinking about these two at a gay bar! fantastic writing

Ha! Well it's funny you say that because that guy from AJ & Noah (the beautiful but arrogant olive skinned muscle guy called Dale) is the same guy from chapter 11 of this story, who Woody referenced as being the first guy he ever went home with and who was really keen on him the next day. I'm not sure if anyone here picked up on that but I thought it would be a nice little Easter egg and a way to crossover the two stories. It's perfectly feasible too as Woody's hometown is just outside London, which you'll find out later in the story.

Posted back in May? Dang time flies.

Heh. Looks to me like Linus may have just scored the company.

CHAPTER 16 “Do you want to go home?” Jess asked. “Yeah, I need to lay down”, I replied. We both slowly got up, stretched to our full heights, then he ducked and I crawled through the front doors to the street. We adjusted ourselves and stretched again, then began to walk. Up ahead there was commotion. People were running towards the big intersection that was lined with other bars and restaurants. I could not see that well from the trees blocking, Jess was hunkering down to see below the street trees. Then we came out into the clear. Coming slowing towards us were the three 25-foot-tall bodybuilder monstrosities. The walked very slowly down the middle of the street. Cars were avoiding them; people were running to stay up with them. They had reflective sunglasses on and looked straight out to space and avoided stepping on anything. Each step was calculated and slow. Below them and in front of them was Willis. He was leading a monstrous dirigible parade of muscle down the street. They wore posers, tight and shiny, and their gargantuan cocks were held separate from their balls in the fabric. Each slow-motion step caused waves of ballooned off-season muscle to ripple and flex as they continued. They wore very loose stringer muscle tops that hung off the pecs that could block out the sun. Their heads did not move, the chins locked in place between pecs and traps that ate the sides of their heads. I stood there with my jaw on the ground. Jess was also speechless. We met Willis and his monstrosities in the intersection. “Well, sorry for your loss Linus.” Willis stared up at me and said with a creepy fucked up grin. “You are insane.” I replied. “You are parading these things around and this is not going to end well Willis.” “Not end well. That’s so funny. Martin is dead, I have his company now, and I am test driving the new models of human out in public. How is that not going to end well? Oh wait, Martin came to see you after he saw me. He told me about his huge confession. The thing I like about you Linus, and why you will be with me soon, is your gullibility. Martin likes to act. Well, he gave you a performance. I did not foresee the water dose thing, but he confessed. Then he sucked me off. Then climbed aboard these guys before going to his Island.” I just got down on one knee, the beasts were standing there, looking around while people just milled around then touching their massive tree trunk calves. I stared at Willis in shock. “I know this is a lot to take in Linus. But the basics are Martin just buys time by lying and acting. He screwed me on the water bottle dose, but he always remained true to me, his favorite. He makes up stuff as he goes. Like these guys dying in three months. A lie. The confession of how he does not have a drug that makes these guys that works. A lie. Now that I own Van Semec, the world will change. You and your tiny friend here, Jess will be one of us. But you Linus, will still be a god, bigger than all of us, and will belong to me. Jess just backed up. He could not say a word. Willis just smiled. His beasts shifted their tonnage, and one straightened out his massive spandex-encased cock. “I will be benevolent in my running the company to make a new human race Linus. I mean these guys have cameras in their sunglasses and tiny ones on their posers at the hips. They can move with ease among the regs without stepping on any. That would be wrong.” He smiled again creepily, then winked. Three police cars came up. They started getting the people away from the three bodybuilders. Jess and I just stared as Willis walked them down the street away from us. He turned and waved when they were on the other side of the intersection. The scale of them taking up the entire street, and as high as some of the buildings on each side seared into my skull. This is a nightmare I thought. Jess piped up after the crowd cleared. “Is all that true Linus? He can make me 25 feet tall?” I looked at Jess, he had that look of wanting in his eyes. “Yes Jess. It’s all true, and soon you will be able to be that big.” I could see the gears moving in Jess’ head. I cut him off. “Jess! Do you want that? It’s nuts! How will you even function? You saw that!” Jess looked at me. “Yes, I do, and I think Davis would want it too.” I just got up from my one knee and looked down on him. “Jess, it’s not about you now, it’s about a world that a freakshow Martin made available to us. Now Willis runs the freakshow. What about us a human race?” “I don’t know about the human race Linus, but I know size means power. I don’t want to be a Harold in a world of 25 footers”. I shook my head. “Jess, I am sorry you feel that way, because this will be the downfall of our planet”. Jess looked back up, “No it won’t. Things change.” We walked in silence back to the loft. I crawled in the lift; Jess followed on the next. Harold and Davis were lying on the couch, Davis flipped off the TV when I came in. “We saw what was going on downtown” Davis said, Harold tucked in his spot between Davis’ legs shook his head in agreement. Jess flopped down, shaking the floor. “Willis can turn us into 25 footers.” Jess blurted out. He began to then tell Davis and Harold the whole fucked up story. Davis stared up at the ceiling. “So, we going to do this Jess, because if you are on board, I am too. 25 feet tall would be cool.” Harold and I looked at each other. Harold spoke up. “What about me? Do I get a say in this? I mean you will be doubling your height! Where will we live? How will I feed you? What will become of us?” Davis looked down and easily grabbed Harold from between his legs and pulled him up to his chest. “There will be more of me to love!” Harold crawled off Davis’ broad chest. “So basically, you will crush me by mistake one night or sit on me and kill me possibly just because there is more of YOU to love? He was standing now. “You need to find out what is important to you. Maybe having a dick over four feet long and watermelon balls is more important to you than me. I’m going downstairs. You know where I am.” Harold stormed off to the lift then went to his place. “That went well”, Jess said. “He does not know how cool it is to be a giant Jess. He can’t imagine it” Davis replied. “But I CAN.” I said looking at them both. “You better thing long and hard about being 25 fucking feet tall. It’s no picnic being 17 something. Also, you will LOOK like those guys. So massive you will be a farm animal under constant care of feeding, cleaning, and basically doing everything!” Jess looked at Davis. “That’s HOT!” Jess replied, and Davis shook his head in agreement. I put my head in my hands. The elevator came to my loft floor with a tone. I hit the remote to open the door. Jess and Davis started talking about being that big, I stared at the door and out came a reg in a suit. “Linus Van Ravensway?” He asked as he got up to my big chair, he was eying me up and down, he probably never saw me in person, he acted intimidated by my bulk. “That’s me” I said. “And you are?” I am Martin Van Semec’s attorney. I am here to discuss Mr. Van Semec’s will with you. Jess and Davis stopped talking immediately.

The Final Chapter "I'm not stupid, Mark." Cris raised an eyebrow at me as he began cutting his steak. "You've lost, what, ninety pounds in six months?" I was fidgeting with my food, pushing vegatables and steak around aimlessly like a guilty child. "Something like that." "You were... big a few months ago. Now you're... well, a better kind of big. And most of that change came in the last month." He paused to put a chunk of steak in his mouth. As he chewed, my eyes darted from my plate to him. His progress had been going slower than mine, but he was filling out his shirt nicely. He had always had nice legs and an amazing ass. Now his biceps looked like they barely fit into the sleeves of his button-up. He had the top couple of buttons undone and had removed his tie. The skin visible there was as muscled and smooth as I remembered from the time I had seen him shirtless years before, the memory I had fantasized about for so long. His sleeves were unbuttoned at the wrist as well, and rolled up to about halfway up his forearm. There was some hair there, but the reason my eyes lingered was the corded muscle visible on the underside of each. His face had grown leaner since I had last seen him the week before. His eyes looked stormy grey as he stared me down. "Was it surgery?" he asked, his tone almost accusatory. "No," I answered, "No, I wouldn't do that. I mean, I'll admit there were times I thought about it. But I didn't actually do it." Cris had a gleam in his eye for a moment. He believed me, I was sure. He was happy that I hadn't gotten surgery. "I don't know how it could be possible. If you had put on muscle and then lost fat, that would make sense. But you leaned down a lot in a too-short time and then started putting on muscle." He paused to chew again, then swallowed. "Drugs?" "I'm not smoking crack," I answered, a little more exasperated. "You know me. I've had less alcohol in my life than you've had in the last year. Recreational drugs aren't my thing." "Some kind of miracle prescription then?" He leaned in. "You didn't get this way just by working out. If this whole..." He pointed his fork at me and spun it in a circle while searching for the right word. "If this transformation had been stretched out over a year, I'd believe it. But this is, what, a month?" I didn't want to tell him the truth. He would just want the serum himself, and I didn't have the recipe anymore. I remembered most of the ingredients - I wasn't likely to forget how difficult the moonflower had been to find - but I couldn't remember all the details of the preparation. And I was fine with that. But Cris wasn't an idiot, and he'd probably assume something worse than the truth. If he thought I was on hard drugs or getting plastic surgery, I couldn't let him continue to think that about me. Plus, deep down, I had always intended to tell him the truth. From the morning he had stumbled out of his room thinking the sex we'd had was a dream, I had always meant to tell him it hadn't been. I had just pictured telling him after using the last of the serum I had to share my new mass with him. "I'll tell you everything," I whispered, resigned. "But I don't want to do it here. Let's talk about it in private. At your place." He nodded at this, then lowered the fork he'd been pointing at me and started stabbing at his steak as though the cow had personally insulted him. I resumed eating, and was in the middle of chewing when Cris spoke again. "Freddie told me about the serum." I choked. Cris reached across the table and slapped my back until I coughed up the chunk of steak I had accidentally inhaled. I chewed it, swallowed, waited to see if he'd continue before I spoke. "He told me he gave it to you." Cris's eyes reflected light from one of the fixtures behind me for a brief second, giving them the look of a storm cloud that had just released a flash of lightning. I didn't want to wait for the thunder. "I took it from him, actually," I said quietly. "And I deleted the recipe." Cris's eyes widened in shock. "I deleted it from Freddie's phone to be spiteful. He was drugging guys with it so he could steal muscle with it. He tried to drug your drink the night we went to the bar, but the drink he put it in was actually mine." Cris looked even more surprised. Freddie hadn't told him that. I continued. "You came out of your room the next morning saying something about a dream you had the night before," I reminded him. "It wasn't a dream. We had sex that night, and you lost some mass and I burned off a ton of fat." Cris brought a hand to cover his mouth. He slumped back against his chair. I gave him a moment, then continued. He straightened up. "I tried to figure out what caused it, thinking it was the massage. But it didn't work when I tried to massage you again, so I tried a different guy. It started working when the massage went from being pleasurable to sexual. I got bigger from that. Almost as big as you. "It didn't work at all the next time I hooked up with someone, so I decided to try again to find out what caused it to happen in the first place. That search led me back to Freddie." Cris nodded. "I went back to that bar trying to figure things out too, and Freddie tried to run for it when he saw me. Started babbling that he 'didn't have it' when I caught up to him. That little twink can't run to save his life. Told me my friend had already taken the serum. Described you pretty well." "Well, he drugged me with it again that evening," I said. "Except I recognized how it felt, and I pieced together that he had slipped something into my drink. When he wanted to have sex, I figured that was part of what caused the transfer. And he wanted me to cum in him so badly, I figured that must be part of it too. So I let him start doing what he wanted while I pushed for more answers. I put two and two together and guessed that if I came inside him, the serum's effects would end." I paused so Cris could process everything I'd said. "Then he confirmed it. Since he had used to try to steal other guys' mass, I took it from him and deleted it from his phone. He should have had a backup." Cris nodded at that. "Seriously. It's not like backing up your phone is difficult." "Then I left, but I couldn't really drive, so I took an Uber. I forgot to change my drop-off location, so instead of home, it sent me to the only destination I'd used on the app. Your place." "That's when we went to the gym together?" Cris asked. "Yeah," I answered. "And you started to, uh, really enjoy watching me work out." "How could you know?" I chuckled at him. "You were getting off on it. The serum started working. I could feel it. So I got the hell away from you, only to stumble right into Danny in the shower. And I was so horny I went home with him and stole even more mass from him. I started feeling guilty about it then." Cris tilted his head and crinkled his eyebrows together. "Why would you feel guilty?" "When I stole your mass," I said, "you busted your ass in the gym to catch back up. You put in so much effort and then lost it all because of one drunken, passionate fuck. I took way more from Danny." Cris looked me up and down in the restaurant booth. "You're taller. I thought you had just stopped slouching or something. Freddie didn't say the serum can do that." "After that I got the serum out of my system so I could think clearly. The only way to do that was to steal even more from another guy, and to cum inside him. I didn't want to fuck bareback with a stranger, so I just came in the guy's mouth. It's what Freddie wanted from me, so I figured it would do the trick." "So it's out of your system now?" Cris asked, disappointed. "Yeah. And I deleted the recipe from my phone, too. Then I deleted my backups and made a new backup without it on my phone." Disappointment turned to anger. "That's the dumbest fucking thing I ever heard. You didn't think of sharing that?" His voice got a little louder. Someone at a nearby table looked over at us, scandalized. I gestured for Cris to lower his voice. "It's dangerous. It was fucking with me. Making me too aggressive. Changing more than just my build. I think it was just in my system too long. But I knew you would want it, too, if you knew it existed. And I always meant to tell you the truth. Especially about... that night." "And you decided to make the decision for me, that I couldn't handle that?" I gave him an unhappy sort of smile. "Actually, I had made the decision and then thought about how you'd react. So I didn't want to make the decision for you. If you weren't gonna take the serum, I wanted that to be your choice. And if you chose it, well, I wanted you to be able to live with that choice without my guilt, too." Cris paused. I knew him so well, I could tell he was thinking about how frustrated he was when he had found the body he had worked so hard to improve, inexplicably backsliding. How much more effort he put in, how much he had beaten himself up, on the path to correcting that backsliding. How that was at the root of his anger now. "But?" He finally asked. "You deleted the recipe anyways." "Yeah... but there's no 'but'. I made a batch for you before I got rid of the recipe. I just didn't want either of us to spend the rest of our lives dependent on some voodoo serum to be happy with ourselves." Cris waved down a passing waiter. "Can we get the check?" The waiter nodded and bustled off. When the waiter was out of earshot, Cris whispered, "You have it now?" "It's in my car," I told him. "If you really want it, you can have it." Cris looked introspective for a moment. "You felt bad for draining me." "Well, yeah," I said. "You're my friend. You busted your ass to get into the shape you're in. You didn't deserve to have someone steal it from you. Much less me." "You took mass from a bunch of other guys, too. Do you feel guilty about them?" He looked up at the approaching waiter, who brought two small trays with our bills on them. "Thanks." We passed them back with our cards and he took them away. "I do feel guilty, but I can't give everything back. Most of those guys are still bigger than me. I could only take." I drained the last of my drink. "But I can give back to you now." Cris chuckled. "You're propositioning me?" I shrugged. "Call it that if you want. You just said I should have shared. And if I'm willing to give some of this up..." I shrugged and flexed a little bit. My biceps stretched my sleeves nearly to their breaking point. This was one of the largest shirts I owned, from when I was pushing 300 pounds. It was ample around my midsection - I used shirt stays to keep it tucked in tight - but it was tight around my shoulders, chest, and arms. "...then you won't have to feel like you're stealing it. Because I'm giving it to you." I took a deep breath before I continued. "And I really care about you. I'm not just asking you for sex. I want more than that, if you..." I looked back up at Cris from my hands. I trailed off. Normally I could read his expression to figure out what he was thinking. I wasn't getting much from him now. I opened my mouth to speak again, but the waiter returned with our cards. We signed our receipts in silence and made our way out of the restaurant. When we were outside, I turned back to speak to Cris again, but he started speaking before I had a chance. "I care about you a lot too. Y'know, there have been times in the last few months where I thought... well, I thought we'd be a pretty good couple if I was attracted to you at all." "Ouch," I said. "Don't spare my feelings, just be honest." Cris chuckled. "I don't know if it's just because you changed or if I have. Hopefully both. But you've definitely become exactly the kind of guy I wished you were." We stopped on either side of my car. I unlocked it; we got in. I opened the glove compartment and pulled out the vial containing the last of the serum. "I don't really want to rush things if you think we have a chance," I said mischievously, waving the bottle in front of his face. "We could wait a while to use this." Cris leaned in and kissed me, fiercely. When we broke apart, I was breathless and he had the vial. "Or," he countered, "we can get a hell of a lot of use out of it tonight." He uncorked the vial and tossed back the serum. I put on my seatbelt and started backing out of my parking spot when I felt part of my body, warm and growing. I looked down at it. Cris did too. "You're already excited, huh?" He reached over and gave my package a squeeze through my pants. "I didn't mean road head, Mark. I'll take care of that when you get me home." While driving, I thought about everything that had happened since Freddie had first dosed me with the serum. I was glad he didn't have it anymore - preying on unsuspecting guys was wrong. Maybe, in the end, taking that power from him and giving it up myself was enough to absolve me for doing the same thing. But I had been pretty miserable before - depressed, unassertive, and living for the brief chance to touch a guy I was really into. The serum had turned my life around. It had made me happy. I was using the last of it to make Cris - to make us happy. Was that really something to feel guilty about? And it wasn't like I had destroyed it forever - Freddie had bought the recipe from somewhere. The serum was still out there. I wouldn't need it anymore, and nor would Cris, but someone out there would, and they'd be able to find it as easily as Freddie had. I parked my car. Cris and I walked to his front door, tension building. He turned the key, then opened the door. I followed him through it, and closed it behind me. One door was closing, but as Cris walked down the hallway and led me to his bedroom door, it just felt like a new beginning.

Apologies, guys - I know I've been a little slow in getting these last few chapters posted. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up the pace a bit now! Ten “Are those your gym clothes?” I ask Luke the next day as I’m sitting on my bed pulling my blue Montgomery University hoodie over my head. Luke’s standing next to his bed wearing his trackies and a plain, white t-shirt. I’m taking him to his first trip to the Watson House gym after our Bodybuilders In The Media lecture. “Yeah?!” he replies as he looks down at his outfit. “Oh shit. I didn’t tell you, did I?” Luke just looks at me with a confused expression. “The Watson House gym has a strict dress code. Trainers and shiny posing trunks only!” His mouth curls into a cheeky, little grin and he rolls his eyes at me. As we pick up our backpacks and head for the door, Luke turns to me. “You would SO go to the gym just wearing trainers and trunks wouldn’t you?” I beam at him. “Hell yeah!” “So, erm … what are we training?” Luke asks as I shove my backpack into one of the lockers in the Watson House gym’s changing room. Johnny wanted me to find out what Luke considers his weakest body part. I have a pretty good idea as to what that is. And the perfect way of getting Luke to confirm it. “The body part I reckon you need to improve the most!” I tell him. Luke smirks and raises an eyebrow at me. “Which is …?” “I’ll give you a clue!” I look down and starting bouncing my huge, thick pecs under my tight, black t-shirt. Luke’s shaking his head but he’s grinning too. Like crazy. I remember the last time I bounced my pecs in front of him. He seemed to get a bit of a kick out of me doing it that time too. I’m kinda regretting not wearing a vest now. Next time we go to the gym I definitely will. “Am I right?” I ask. He’s grinning so much. Like he can’t seem to wipe it from his face. “You are!” he says. “Right, let’s get those little chest puppies pumped up!” I say, nodding to Luke’s pecs. Training with Luke is surprisingly fun. Obviously I can’t resist teasing him about the weights he lifts, even though (as Luke predicted) I’m surprised and also quietly impressed at how heavy he goes. He knows my teasing is just friendly banter though. He takes it and even gives it back a little. I give him quite a few tips too, which he seems to really appreciate. Stuff to help him work on his chest. And things I can report back to Johnny Hoxton to prove that I’m holding up my end of the “help Luke to get my own dorm room” deal we’ve got going on. I don’t know if it’s the kick of training with someone considerably bigger than he is, and who has actually competed in bodybuilding shows or whether it’s just the simple fact that we’re hanging out together, but I can tell Luke’s enjoying himself. There’s something else too. I keep catching his eyes going down to my chest and my arms, which are feeling and looking more and more pumped with every set. And every time I catch him looking, I feel this unexpected pinch of excited. I also keep having these recurring thoughts about flexing for Luke every time I finish a set. Just popping out a quick most muscular in front of him like BOOM! Or spontaneously cranking out a front double bicep like BAM! In your fucking face, Luke. God, I’d love to see his face if I did. Funny thing is though, every time I think about spontaneously flexing for him, I start to feel a swelling in my trackies. As for Luke, his arms and chest are definitely looking more pumped than I’ve ever seen them. The white material which makes up the sleeves of his t-shirt clinging against that freshly pumped bicep muscle. And, fuck it, I’m not ashamed to admit that yes - my eyes have veered down to his little bum stretching out the material of his trackies on more than one occasion. At one point I even fantasise about seeing a hint of a shiny blue posing trunk strap hidden under the waistband. Jesus. What a fucking thought! “You’ll be bouncing those babies in no time!” I tell Luke as we head back to the changing rooms. He smirks and looks away. When he looks at me again, he’s got this pensive, slightly nervous look on his face. Like he wants to say something but he’s not sure whether he should. “You’re not being paid to do this are you?” he asks. What the fuck? I feel a sudden panic. I actually can not believe Luke just asked me that. “Huh?! Paying me to do what?” I ask, playing ignorant. Luke shrugs. “This! Taking me to the gym. You know … helping me out and stuff!” He suddenly looks a little sheepish, like maybe he’s regretting what he’s said. Meanwhile my stomach is tightening in knots. “Luke, who the hell would pay me to do that?” He gives me an apologetic grin. “Sorry!” he mumbles. Fuck. Now he feels bad. When really it’s me who should feel bad. Because I’m the bad guy here. I’m the dick in this situation. Not Luke. Lovely, little, pumped up Luke with his trackie covered arse and his freshly pumped chest and biceps. I shake my head at him. “Don’t be daft!” I think about nudging his arm with mine. Just a friendly, affectionate little nudge. I so easily could. His arm is right there next to mine. But the thought of doing so makes my stomach somersault. “Oh, great!” Luke groans under his breath as we enter the changing rooms. I see why straight away. Our buddies Deano and Shaun are getting changed. Deano’s got his top off. His thick tits and wonky shaped abs on full display. His face seems to light up when he spots us. And his mouth curls into this sly smirk. Jesus. Maybe Deano will change once he becomes a 212 class pro bodybuilder? Become less of a twat perhaps? Maybe he just needs a bit of time to grow the fuck up? I pretend he’s not there and go straight to the locker where I dumped my stuff. And just as I think he might leave us alone ... “Alright, boys!” I groan. I paint on a big, fake smile, spin around and nod at Deano. For a moment I think that’s all he’s gonna say. I’m wrong. “How’s your Instagram admirer, Woody?” For fuck’s sake. I look at Luke and rolls my eyes, before spinning around to face Deano again. “Awesome, thanks!” I call back, cheerily. “He’s offered me a hundred quid to touch each ab!” Luke widen his eyes at me and smirks. He looks a bit shocked, but I can tell he’s impressed. “What’s he offered you, Henderson? A fiver to sniff your Harry Potter boxers?” Luke doesn’t respond. He just looks at me, pulls a face and shakes his head. I hate that I actually found Deano’s comment pretty funny. “Don’t you ever get bored of being a twat, Deano?” I call back. He just smirks at me as he puts his vest on, covering up his annoyingly jacked torso. “Don’t you ever get bored of flirting with gay dudes? Watch out, Henderson. Woody might try and crawl into your bed one night when you’re asleep!” Fuck. I feel a sharp pinch in my chest from hearing those words and I’m not sure why. I throw my backpack over my shoulder, close my locker and walk up to Deano, Luke trailing behind me. “Too late for that!” I tell him. “Come on, Luke, honey! Let’s go back to ours!” Then I flash Deano a big, cheesy grin. Shaun’s laughing and Deano’s got a stink eye face on and I turn and walk away. Fuck. I actually can’t believe I just said that. I feel a sudden knot in my stomach. “Bye, boys!” Deano calls in this ridiculous, camp voice. Is that the best he can do? Ha. I know I won that one. I cautiously look at Luke and fuck, the way he’s looking at me, kind of embarrassed but with this really coy grin on his face. Like, I dunno, he kinda liked the idea of me insinuating we were together. Fuck. Is that just my imagination going crazy? “Sorry!” I tell him. “Was that a bit much?” Still with that look on his face, Luke shakes his head. “Nah!” he says. “It was … funny!” he says, shrugging and looking more nervous. I nod and smirk and Luke’s grin gets bigger and my stomach flips. He doesn’t say anything else. And now I’m wondering, once again, whether Luke’s words on Saturday night mean that he’s gay like me. Maybe I’m different too. I dump my backpack down when we’re back in the room. I desperately need a shower. Without even thinking, I peel my black t-shirt off. Once it’s thrown on the bed and my torso is naked, I suddenly become aware that Luke is in the room. I’ve been half naked in front of him dozens of times. Practically every day in fact. But for some reason, right now, I’m feeling this intense rush of excitement at the fact that my insanely pumped torso is on display in front of my possibly gay roommate. I feel a twinge of nerves as I spin around and see what Luke is up to and fuck - I catch him looking at me as he’s sitting on his bed. This look of awe and slight embarrassment on his face. He looks down at his phone and my chest expands. It feels like there’s this atmosphere in the room all of a sudden. One that’s never been present before. I go over to my chest of drawers to grab a towel and catch sight of my reflection in the mirror. Jesus Christ. I look insane. My pecs are so full. My arms are so pumped. “Woah!” I say at my reflection, without thinking, forgetting for a moment that Luke’s there. I look at him and he’s looking at me with this knowing smirk on his face. “What did we do in that gym?’ I joke. “Did you put something in my water bottle?” Luke bites his lip and beams at me. “I think you did all that by yourself!” I grin and look back at my reflection. Pumped up chest. Swollen biceps and everything. God I wanna flex. So fucking badly. An idea comes to me which makes my stomach flip. “Hmmm. I think I need to take a pic of this for Instagram!” Luke just smirks and rolls his eyes. I pick up my phone and load up the camera, my stomach clenching at what I’m about to do. I walk towards Luke bed and hold my phone out towards him. “Can you take it?” Fuck! Luke looks up at me. He looks surprised, nervous but kind of excited too. He shrugs and takes my phone off me, unable to hide the fact that he’s clearly feeling slightly nervous. He stands up, this coyness taking over him. And there it is again. This strange atmosphere filling up the room. I twist to my side and grip my wrist with my hand in preparation for a side chest pose. I’ve posed standing next to Luke before, but I’ve never posed standing in front of him with him looking directly at me. I transition into the side chest with a small huff and FUCK - my biceps squeeze and pop and my pecs twitche and bulge off my chest. Fucking YES. I’m posing in front of Luke. I’m flexing for Luke. Showing him what a pumped up fucking freak I am. God. What a fucking rush! I smirk as I look at my phone, held up by Luke, who’s staring into the screen, this look of awe and slight intimidation on his face. I love it when my muscles have an effect on people. But this time, with Luke, it feels even more special than usual. I relax from the pose and Luke drops my phone, his hand visibling shaking as he does. I step a little closer to him and he hands me my phone. He seems so nervous all of a sudden standing next to me. Which is crazy. Because it’s me! We see each other every day. We’ve been hanging out, watching Netflix and going to the gym together and now he’s suddenly in awe of my naked, freshly pumped torso? “Oh WOW!” I exclaim as I look at the pictures on my phone that Luke’s just taken. My biceps look so huge and my pecs are crazily pumped. For all my ongoing groans about this bloody university it certainly seems to be doing it’s job of turning me into a monstrous muscle freak. “I don’t think I’ve ever looked this pumped before!” I say, unable to believe how fucking awesome the pics are. “You look amazing!” Luke says with a nod, his voice shaking a little. Oh my God. I totally wasn’t prepared for that. My insides are going mad. And now I can’t stop smiling. “Cheers!” I say to him, grinning. Luke gives me this little coy grin back. And there’s that atmosphere again. “Right, now it’s your turn!” I say to Luke. He looks at me confused then smirks and shakes his head. “I am not doing a side chest pose!” “Come on!” I tease, feeling excited at the thought of Luke flexing. I can tell he’s too shy to do it. And that he’s not gonna budge. “Okay, so why don’t you just lift up your shirt in the mirror and take a picture of your abs instead?” I suggest, feeling myself starting to swell at the thought of Luke showing off his ripped tummy muscles. He screws up his face. “Luke, no offence but your Instagram so far is pretty shit! You’re gonna have to upload another pic to your profile at some point!” Luke groans and rolls his eyes. “Fine!” he says in defeat. I feel a pinch of excitement. Luke picks up his phone and walks in the direction of the bathroom. “Where are you going?” “Bathroom! The lightning’s better!” he explains, looking a little embarrassed. I playfully roll my eyes and smirk, but I can’t deny I feel a stab of disappointment that I’m not gonna get to see those abs in action. Still grinning and feeling weirdly giddy, I sit down on my bed and select the best of the side chest shots Luke took of me to upload to Instagram as I wait for him to return. I write a characteristically cheek caption to accompany the picture. WTF?! So pumped I look like I’m about to explode! (Explosive emoji and monkey covering his eyes emoji). P.S. My roommate who took this pic is still recovering. (Crying with laughter emoji). #pumped2buggery #balloonsofbeef #abouttoexplode #hellyeah #sorryroomie Luke comes out of the bathroom with this coy, little grin on his face. “Done?” I ask him. He rolls his eyes and nods. “Gimme!” I say, holding out my hand. Luke plays with his phone and hands it to me, looking a little sheepish. My chest expands as I look at the picture of Luke lifting his shirt up to reveal his hot, little, shredded abs. They look fucking awesome etched on to his tummy. I smile as I look at the slightly uncomfortable, awkward expression on his adorable face. “Luke, you look like someone’s holding a gun to your head!” I tease. He looks a little wounded and I feel bad. “But the abs look awesome!” I tell him. Hix expression softens and he coyly grins. “Right, let’s get this bad boy uploaded!” I say, rather cheekily going into the Instagram app on his phone. I look up at Luke with a mischievous smirk and he just rolls his eyes at me. He continues to just stand there, kind of awkwardly, over my bed as I mess with his phone. “Luke, you can sit down you know!” I feel a pinch of nerves as I say those words. Luke obeys and gently sits down next to me on my mattress and fuck - my stomach goes crazy. It’s the first time he’s ever sat on my bed. I type away, upload the post and hand Luke his phone back. I bite my bottom lip, excited at what his reaction will be to what I’ve written. He reads the caption out loud. “Who needs a cheese grater when you’ve got abs as shredded as these bad boys?” He beams, shakes his head and lets out one of his goofy giggles. “Hashtag Geek to Freak. Hashtag Muscle University. Hashtag shredded abber dabbers. Hashtag anyone for cheddar?” He laughs again. “For fuck’s sake!” I grin back. I can tell by his face that he loves it though. And seeing that, I suddenly feel like my heart’s about to burst. “Well I did get the cheese grater joke from you!” Luke’s shaking his head but he’s grinning like mad. “I approve!” he says. “Oh and you got a cheeky mention on my post too. Well … sort of!” Luke looks confused and excited as he checks out my post on his phone. “P.S. My roommate who took this pic is still recovering!” he reads aloud. He lets out a short, sharp laugh. “Sorry, roomie!” I say, shrugging. Luke looks back at his phone screen. “Oh wow! It’s getting LOADS of likes and comments!” “Oooh!” I say, eagerly checking my new post for myself on my phone. “HA! Some guy’s written ‘lucky roommate’!” Luke pulls a playful face as if to say “yeah right!” “I’m making you famous!” I tell him. “Hmmm. In fact. Text me that abs pic!” He narrows his eyes at me suspiciously. “Why?” “Just do it!” I order. He sighs and plays his phone. “Jesus. You like giving out your orders to me don’t you?” I grin at the comment. I guess I am a bit bossy with Luke. At least where the Instagram thing is concerned. And yet, he always seems to do what I ask of him. “It’s all for your benefit!” I tell him. “Hmmm!” he says, raising one eyebrow as he taps away on his phone. I get a text from Luke with the abs pic attached and I start to upload it to my Instagram profile. “What if I actually don’t become a freak after all this?” Luke ponders. “You will!” I carry on tapping away. “There we go!” I say, handing him my phone. Luke reads the caption out loud that I’ve accompanied with the shirt lifting ab reveal pic I’ve just posted of him to my profile. “Everyone check out my MU buddie @from_geek_to_freak’s profile. Can’t wait to see this guy blow up into the monster he was destined to be.” Luke’s biting down on his lip and smiling. His cheeks are suddenly going rosey. He looks up at me with his big blue eyes. “Thanks!” he says. Jesus. Could he be any more adorable? I look at Luke and he’s just staring back at me and fuck, it feels like something’s suddenly happening. We hold each other's gaze as we sit side by side on my bed. Luke and his pumped little biceps in his plain, white gym t-shirt. Me and my outrageously muscular torso on full display. It feels like Luke’s suddenly the only thing in the room. My stomach’s fluttering. That weird atmosphere is back. Oh God. What is happening? I suddenly feel a sharp pang of nerves. And I feel myself starting to freak out a little. “No worries!’ I say, casually with a shrug as I stand up from the bed. Luke looks a little bruised. He awkwardly gets off my bed and goes to his. “Ugh! Desperately need a shower!” I announce, pretending that everything’s normal. Pretending that nothing just happened. Pretending that I didn’t just have a moment sitting on my bed with Luke where all I wanted to do was lean over and kiss him. I strip off my trackies, pick up my towel and retreat to the bathroom. My stomach in knots. I stand under the shower, my face leaning up to the head, letting the water come down on me, all the time thinking about my possibly gay roommate Luke. Luke and his geektastic t-shirts and novelty Harry Potter boxer shorts. Luke and his black glasses, piercing blue eyes, cute smile and lovely dimples. Luke and his hot little abs, insanely cute arse and adorably small feet. Fuck. I like Luke. I have feelings for Luke! I’m surprised. I’m confused. And I’m trying to work out wether I’m more excited or more just plain fucking terrified.

Okay next chapter. This one's a bit of a lengthy one. Nine When I come out of the shower on Monday morning, Luke is sitting on his bed, topless in his trackies and putting his socks on. His shoulders aren’t huge but they’re still pretty impressive. There’s an awesome shape to them. Like cute, mini boulders. We have Posing Practice 101 in about twenty minutes. Which means, for the first time since the day he bought them and tried them on in front of me, I’ll get to see Luke wearing his shiny blue posing trunks again. A thought which excites me to an almost ridiculous degree. “Now, Luke - you have remembered to put your posing trunks on haven’t you?” I tease. He just shakes his head and smirks. “Just checking!” I say. “In fact … no, stand up!” “Why?!” “I wanna make doubly sure you’ve got your trunks on this time!” Luke groans and stands up from his bed and my heart seems to leap into my throat at the prospect of what’s coming next. Luke grabs the waistband of his trackies and pulls them down a little and FUCK - I get a glimpse of the impossibly shiny, bright blue material of the posers we bought together last week. What a fucking image. “Happy now?” he asks. I smile and he smirks back at me. “You know I’m actually kind of envious!” I tell him. “I mean I’ve got shiny blue trunks but they’re not THAT shiny. Yours are like super super duper shiny!” Luke smirks, but then his face changes. And now he suddenly looks worried. “Wait - they’re not too shiny are they?” I laugh. “Oh for fuck’s sake! Luke, last week you wore bright yellow Harry Potter boxer shorts. You literally can not wear anything worse than those!” He doesn’t say anything. I get a white vest out out of my drawer and pull it over my head. On the bottom half of my body I’ve still just got a towel wrapped around me. “I might even have to go back to the campus store and get a pair of those bad boys myself!” I say. “Would it be weird to have the same posers?” I turn around and Luke’s sitting on his bed again, his mouth curled into this cute, excited grin. I can tell he likes the idea. My tummy’s doing something funny again. “I guess not!” he says, shrugging. “But we’d have to make sure not to wear them on the same day!” “Yeah! Can you imagine Deano’s comments?” Luke groans. “He’d probably be like, Awww, the lovebirds are wearing matching posers! How cute!” Luke suddenly looks awkward and a little embarrased and FUCK - I realise what I've just said. Lovebirds! For fuck’s sake. Why the hell did I say that? My stomach clenches and I turn my back to him. “Or you know … some crap like that!” I say, still turned away. I pick up my phone and check Instagram. There’s this awkward silence in the room. My idiotic lovebirds comment hanging in the air. “So erm ... what colour are you going for today?” Luke asks behind him. There’s a nervousness in his voice. I can’t help but smirk. “Posers I mean!” he clarifies. Fuck. My smirk gets bigger. Then I put on a straight face, turn around to see Luke putting a blue Captain America t-shirt on and just shrug. “Dunno!” I say casually. As if it’s no big deal. “Maybe red?” Luke bites his lip and nods. “Could you maybe go for some, like, really shiny ones?” I laugh. Luke’s smirking but he looks a little sheepish too. It’s obvious that he’s actually being serious. That he doesn’t want to have the shiniest trunks in the class. Which is sort of, slash, really fucking adorable. “Right, shiniest posers!” I say, going to my chest of drawers and pulling out the one which contains all twenty three pairs of my posing trunks to choose from. I feel the same rush I always do when I’m met the shiny, colourful material of my insanely hot trunk collection. Perhaps even more so with Luke in the room. “Can I see?” he asks behind me. FUCK. I was not expecting that. There’s a hint of nerves in Luke’s voice. I turn around and he looks all sheepish and coy. And, somehow, even cuter than he normally does in his Captain America t-shirt. This time I can’t hide my smile. I shrug at him. “Sure!” I say, feeling an intense rush of excitement. I pull my drawer out further as Luke walks over and stands next to me. I watch his eyes widen and his face turns into a surprised expression as he looks into the the open drawer, filled with nothing but the shiny, colourful material of my posing trunk collection. He’s standing so close to me. His arms and shoulders just a few inches away from mine. I can smell his citrusy aftershave. He turns to look at me, this look of confusion on his face. “I thought you said you had ten pairs?!” he exclaims. “That’s loads more than ten!” Shit. I feel a sudden pang of nerves. But I’m excited too. It’s such a fucking rush to show my posing trunk collection to someone. I shrug. “I don’t really count them!” I say. My voice sounds oddly nervous. Luke’s narrows his eyes at me suspiciously and studies my face. But he’s smirking too. This mischievous fucking smirk. Like he’s figured out I get turned on by shiny posers. Just like he’s figured out I’m gay. Maybe you already are a bit different from the other lads here. Maybe I’m different too. Luke finally turns away from me and looks down at the drawer full of posers again. I’d love to know what’s going through his mind right now. Whether he’s thinking or feeling any of the same things as me as he looks at the assortment of shiny colourful trunks looking up at him. “Go on then, Geek to Freak!” I say. He looks up at me with a confused expression. “You can pick my trunks for today’s Posing Practice!” His mouth erupts in an excited grin and my stomach flips. “But NOT the pink ones!” I say, feeling an extra pinch of excitement at mentioning my hot pink posing trunks. He bites his lip and looks back to the collection. There’s a purple pair staring right at us that look filthy. They’re plastered in tan from a competition and I’m a little embarrassed. God knows what Luke must think of them. “Those golden ones look pretty shiny!” he says, a hint of nerves in his voice. My chest expands. I fucking LOVE my golden posers. He looks up at me a little unsure. Like he’s waiting for my approval. “Good choice!” I say, failing to keep from smiling. And Luke’s just smiling back at me. Dimples and bloody everything. As soon as me and Luke walk into Posing Practice 101, I spot Deano standing at the back of the class. He’s looking right at us. It’s almost like he’s been waiting for us. He turns to Shaun and whispers something and then the two of us just smirk. And now I’m suddenly thinking about my Instagram admirers’ latest comment from Saturday night. And the reply I wrote. I look at Deano and give him a look which says, “Come on then, mate. Do your fucking worst.” As me and Luke takes our places standing next to each other in the group, our lecturer and muscle daddy extraordinaire Mike “The Hench” Hancox announces today’s choice of pose. “Okay, lads, today we’re going to be focused on perfecting the rear poses!” I can almost feel Luke breathe a sigh of relief next to me. I’m sure he was worried Hancox was going to announce we’ll be hitting most muscualrs. He hasn’t said as much, but lacking in the muscle mass he is at the moment, I get the impression that Luke's not looking forward to having to do that particular pose in a room full of bodybuilders who are considerably bigger than he is. As we all start taking our clothes off, something weird happens. I suddenly feel nervous. And I know why. Because I’m standing right next to Luke. Luke who’s also stripping off. Right down to the insanely hot shiny blue posers which he packs out at the front and his cute, beefy arse spills out of round the back. But something else is happening too. I feel a buzz. Undressing next to Luke. Being so close to him and his shiny trunks and beefy glutes. And I’m getting this strange sense that maybe he’s feeling the same thing. I can’t resist. I sneakily look over and manage to catch a glimpse of his little abs and his insanely shiny blue poser bulge. Oh God. I feel myself starting to swell a little in my golden trunks. Now is NOT the fucking time to start getting a hard on, Woody. As long as I don’t look at Luke’s arse I think I’ll be okay. His cute, modestly sized arse. Which is right fucking there. Filling out the back of his shiny posers. Bloody hell. Luke and me have both stopped stripping off and now we’re facing the front of the class. I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but I can feel this sort of tension between us. I catch him looking at me through the corner of my eye. At least I think he is. I’m kinda nervous to look at him. But I can’t resist. I look over but he’s facing forward. I look away. And then I look again, and we catch each others eyes and he smirks and I smirk and FUCK, my insides are going crazy. “Nice trunks, Harry!” Deano cries, and I hear a snigger from Shaun. For fuck’s sake. I look over at Luke again. He looks a little embarrassed. Mostly he just looks annoyed. I pull a face and roll my eyes which makes him smile. “Deano! Do you think it would be possible for us to have just one lesson where you don’t act like a fucking idiot?” Hancox calls. Most of the class laugh. I look at Luke and we exchange knowing smirks. “Yours too, Woody!” Deano calls. I turn around and give him a little wave. “Cheers, mate!” I say cheerily. Luke’s smiling at me. His cute dimples out. He looks so impressed. “How much were they, Woody? Fifty pounds?” HA! Luke shoots me a wide eyed look. Something twists in my stomach but I feel a strange sense of excitement too. Clearly Deano did read my reply to the, “How much to feel your biceps?” comment from my Instagram admirer. “Or sixty pounds?” Deano calls, to a laugh from Shaun. “For fuck’s sake, Deano. That’s your last warning!” Hancox calls out. “One more word and you’re out of my lesson. If you act like a fucking school kid I’m gonna treat you like one!” Ha! Nice one, Hancox. I turn around and shoot Deano a smug grin. I know it’s fucking childish but this is what these twats reduce me to. When I face the front of the class again, Hancox is giving me this weird, slightly concerned look. There’s something about his expression which makes me feel nervous. As everyone spins around to face the back of the class, giving Hancox full view of everyone from the rear, I make an extra special effort not to look down at Luke’s posers and glutes. Even though I want to. More than fucking anything. But even just the thought of it is causing a swelling in my trunks. The last thing I want is to be stood here in front of Deano, Hancox and the rest of my class tenting a fucking hard on in my shiny posers. I try and take my mind off Luke and focus on hitting my first back double bicep, but as I bring my arms up and into the pose, my elbow knocks against his. I instinctively look over. He’s giving me this shy, apologetic smile. I grin back and Luke’s smile changes. Bigger, more shy and just a little bit cuter. I hit the peak of the pose, my biceps bulging. I look out to the rest of the class. A sea of future pro bodybuilders with their backs to me, flexing their hard, pumped biceps in nothing but (mostly) colourful posing trunks. I can hear some of them straining as they flex. Huffing and puffing. I even hear the odd grunt. But as I take in all the flexing biceps and rock hard delts before me, there’s one particular student who stands out the most. I hate the fact that Deano is one of the best lads in the year. I’d definitely say top five. I guess I’m in that category too though. His minion, Shaun, might dwarf him in height, but in terms of size and muscle mass, he doesn’t even come close to the twatface pocket rocket standing next to him. Deano’s physique is superior in every single way. Maybe that’s why Deano hangs around with him? His biceps are bigger. His shoulders thicker. His back wider. And, perhaps the area where he has Shaun beat the most, his glutes are about twice the fucking size. I can’t deny it. Deano has one hell of an arse on him. His cheeks are really thick and round. I guess some people would say he has a bubble butt. Too bad he has awful taste in posing trunks. He only ever wears black, red or navy blue. And never the shiny kind. Too bad that arse belongs to Deano too. The fact it’s attached to him makes it considerably less sexy. A bit like when you meet a really hot guy and when you realise he’s a complete dick all the hotness disappears. Still, even if that arse didn’t belong to Deano, it still wouldn’t be as cute as Luke’s. No one's arse is that cute. But I think I need to get some confirmation first. I decide right there and then. I have to get a look at Luke’s glutes in his shiny posers before the lesson is over. After all, unless Luke’s planning to hang out in our room watching kids cartoons wearing just his posing trunks, I’m not gonna get the chance to see them until this time next Monday. A whole week of not seeing Luke in his posers again. Which I can now confirm are the sexiest and shiniest pair in the class. As I highly suspected they would be. When Hancox instructs us to face the front of the class again and wraps up the lesson, my stomach tightens in knots. This is it. My last chance to sneak a look at Luke’s beefy bum in his new shiny trunks. Everyone around me starts shuffling and getting dressed again. I pick my trackies up off the floor. As I start to pull them up my legs I sneakily glance over at my roommate. As he bends down to pick up his own trackies I finally manage to see the thing that I’ve been continuously thinking about since our shopping trip last week; the beefy meat of Luke’s cute arse spilling out of those inexplicably shiny blue posers. Fucking HELL. Just as I’m picking up my backpack to leave, Hancox surprises me by shouting over. “Woody - can I have a quick word?” He’s never asked to see me after class before. I feel a sudden twist of nerves and I’m not sure why. Luke shoots me a confused look and he and the rest of the class file out of the room until it’s just me and Mike “The Hench” Hancox. He perches on the end of his desk and folds his arms across his chest. If he’s concerned about me, he has a very different way of showing it to Johnny Hoxton. Where Johnny is warm and gives me kind smiles, Hancox looks a little uncomfortable, even kind of frowning at me a little. “Woody, I know Deano can be a little shit but if he’s getting to you, you have to speak up,” he says, still frowning. “We have a zero harassment policy at this university!” I pull a face and shrug. “I’m fine. It’s just … Deano being Deano!” He nods, still frowning. The way he’s looking at me, it’s almost like he’s wary of me. He doesn’t seem completely comfortable with the situation, even though he was the one who asked to speak to me. “I know what all that was about today,” Hancox says. Oh shit. Now I really do feel nervous. “I’m on Instagram too, don’t forget!” he says. “Most of the teachers here are.” I nod, a little unsure of what’s unfolding. And how I’m supposed to respond. Hancox sighs and unfolds his arms. “Look, Woody, I know you’ve got this whole cheeky, funny persona on your Instagram but … just be careful with what you’re putting on there!” Fuck. My stomach clenches. I’m starting to feel a slight sense of deja vu. “Okay!” I say, a little confused. “Look, we all get the creepy, little gay dudes commenting on our posts …” and then he pulls this face. What the FUCK? “Creepy little gay dudes”. Did he actually just fucking say those words? And what was that face about? A horrible sick feeling churns in my stomach and my chest feels like it’s tightening. “The best thing to do is to ignore them!” Okay, now I’m fucking pissed off. I want to ask Hancox why. Why should I ignore those gay dudes leaving comments? And what makes them “creepy and little”? They could be six foot two and built like brick fucking shithouses for all he knows. I nod in spite of myself. And then, fuck it, I’m feeling brave. “I don’t really see why though, sir? Like, what’s so bad about replying to those types of guys?” Fuck. I can’t believe I just said that. My stomach’s clenching. Hancox’s big chest heaves up and down, like he’s getting impatient with me. “Because people notice these things, Woody. And you don’t want to go getting a reputation!” Oh for FUCK’S sake! It’s Deano and Shaun all over again. Only this time the advice is coming from an actual teacher and an ex competitive bodybuilder. Not two gobshite students trying to wind me up. I feel like asking him what kind of reputation I’m supposed to be afraid of getting. For being a bodybuilder who interacts with gay dudes in a cheeky, funny, harmless manner? Or (God forbid) a bodybuilder who might actually be gay? What a horrendous thought. An actual gay bodybuilder. A guy who just so happens to fancy other guys. The absolutely fucking horror of it. “I suggest you delete that comment, Woody, before anyone else here sees it!” I nod at him, even though I have absolutely no fucking intention of doing any such thing. Fuck. I always really liked Hancox, even if he is a bit a scary bastard, but now I’m just seeing one big homophobic knob standing in front me. “Can I go now?” I ask, frostily. He seems surprised. Even a little taken aback. He gives me a wary nod and I leave, my head spinning and feeling like someone just winded me in the fucking stomach. I go straight to my regular gym at Watson House. I need something to calm me down and take my mind off my conversation with Hancox. I also don’t really like the idea of going back to the room and Luke seeing me worked up like this. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I think he’ll notice and ask me what’s wrong. Maybe it’s because I might not be able to hold back from telling him about my conversation with Hancox, which would make it pretty bloody obvious why I’m so pissed off. When I get back to the room to find that Luke’s not there, I actually feel a stab of disappointment. And now I’m laughing to myself at how fucking absurd that is. This time last week I was fuming that I had a new roommate, trying to humiliate him in Posing Practice and generally being a massive dick to him. Now I’m actually disappointed that he’s not home. I get my sketchbook and pencils out of my chest of draws and jump on my bed. I find drawing really therapeutic. Plus, it’s the only thing besides being a cocky bodybuilder that I’m actually quite good at. I guess you could say I have a speciality. And it probably won’t come as a massive surprise when I tell you what that is. I draw bodybuilders. Huge, shredded freaks. Sometimes in clothing. Mostly just in posing trunks. I only draw real life bodybuilders though. I’m not really clever enough to illustrate my own original characters. I’ve drawn Johnny. I’ve drawn my Anatomy & Aesthetics teacher and Scottish nineties era bodybuilding legend Max Bowen. I’ve even drawn Mike “The Hench” Hancox. Ugh. Fucking Hancox. No one here knows that I draw. I guess it’s not something you really bring up in casual conversation. Alright, mate, what did you get up to last night? Hmmm, went to the gym, watched a bit of Netflix on my laptop, then spent a few hours drawing Blaine Holton in my sketchbook. Huge tits, crazily detailed quads, cocky smirk and all. The thought of telling people also makes me kind of anxious. I don’t really know why. I look across the dorm room and see a shredded Tommy Foster flexing on the poster on the wall above Luke’s bed. His favourite bodybuilder, cranking out an abs and thighs in a pair of yellow posing trunks. Luke was right. He really does have amazing abs. And you probably could grate cheese on his serratus. I find a blank page, put my pencil to my book and start to work. Half a shredded torso later and I hear Luke’s key in the lock. I jump and quickly throw my book under my pillow, hiding it from view. Jesus. Anyone would think it was a fucking porno magazine. I internally laugh at myself for being so ridiculous. “Hey!” Luke says, shooting me a suspicious look. I act casual and give him a look as if to say, what’s your problem? Even though my heart is pounding a little. Even though it’s pretty obvious that he almost just caught me doing something I don’t want him to know about. Luke goes to the bathroom and I relax. I find myself smiling as I look at the bathroom door. And now I’m wondering what Luke would think if I had the balls to show him the illustration of Tommy “The Tank” Foster I’ve just been copying from the poster above his bed. A thought which oddly kind of excites me. Somehow, I have this feeling he’d approve. The next day, Johnny Hoxton asks me to stay behind after my Muscle Food, Diet & Supplements class again. I had a feeling he would. “So … how are things going with Luke?” he asks me. “Good!” I reply, shrugging. “And you two are getting on okay?” Johnny has a bit of a smirk on his face, like he already knows the answer to his question. For some reason I suddenly feel nervous, but I think I manage to hide it. I shrug again. “Yeah. Fine!” Johnny smiles and nods his head. “See! I knew you’d like him if you gave him a chance!” And now I find that I’m smiling. It’s hard not to. “So what have you been up to?” Johnny asks. “Erm … I took him posing trunk shopping!” my chest expanding at the memory. “Good man!” “Mmmm. Took him to the SU bar as well. Oh and I persuaded him to get an Instagram account. And some of the lads here are following him on there and saying nice stuff, so … I guess that sort of counts as fitting in?” Johnny continues to smile and nod. “I mean he seems pretty happy!” I tell Johnny. And now I’m feeling myself smiling again. “Good stuff!” Johnny replies. “And how’s the bodybuilding advice going?” Shit. I pull a face. “Ummm … we haven’t really talked about that yet!” “Okay, so why don’t you take him to the gym?” Ugh! I pull a face and Johnny gives me a stern look. I sigh. “It’s just … I prefer to train by myself, sir!” “Why don’t you just go with him once a week? Starting this week!” he suggests. Hmmm. I guess going to the gym with Luke wouldn’t be too bad. I wonder if he’ll wear one of his geeky t-shirts to train in? “Perhaps you can find out what his weak spot is? What body part he wants to improve the most. Then you can give him advice and work on that?” “Mmmm. Won’t he start getting a bit suspicious though? If I’m suddenly giving him all of this advice?” Johnny shrugs. “So be clever about it! Which I know you can be!” I melt a little. Johnny Hoxton is such a fucking charmer. With his daddy-esque, cheeky chappie looks and his gigantic size fucking arse. Grrrrr! I breathe a deep sigh. “Okay!” “Good lad!” Johnny says. “And I have to say, Woody, it’s nice to see you making friends here!” I immediately feel defensive. And a little embarrassed. “I’ve got friends here!” I say, shrugging. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way, Woody!” Johnny says, with a kind smile. “We both know you struggle a bit here with the other lads!” Ugh. So now he’s been caring, concerned Johnny. I pull a face like I don’t give a fuck and shrug at him. “Personally I think you’re just too clever for most of them!” he says. I feel myself softening. And now I’m smiling. There it is again. That Johnny Hoxton charm. Oh sir, you’re such an outrageous flirt. Now turn around and let me have a look at that huge, hot arse of yours in your crap dad jeans. Phwoar! “That’s why I thought you might find yourself getting on with Luke!” And now he’s giving me this knowing grin and fuck, something pinches in my chest. Wait - does Johnny know I’m gay? Does he suspect that Luke is gay too? Just like I do after his, “Maybe I’m different too?” comment last Saturday. Is that why Johnny thinks we’ll get on? Maybe even why he put us together? Two big gays in one gay room to be great big gays together? “There’s nothing else bothering you is there, Woody?” Johnny asks me, his facial expression suddenly turning serious again. I think about Hancox and his homophobic comments and his order for me to delete my flirty Instagram comments. And then I think about Deano’s snide comments and sly smirks from the past week. Meh. I can handle Deano at least. “No, sir!” I reply firmly. He nods slowly, but it doesn’t seem like he believes me. “Well you know you can talk to me any time you want!” “Cool!” I reply casually, feeling a little cagey. He gives me a kind smile again and I start to walk away. But before I leave the room, I take one look back and smile when I see that fantastic arse meat bulging underneath that denim. When I get back to the dorm room, Luke’s on his bed with his earphones in, smiling into the screen of his laptop. He looks up and gives me this happy little grin and I say hey. “Tom and Cole?” I ask him. He pulls a confused face and takes one of his earphones out. “Are you watching that bonkers Tom and Cole thing?” Luke’s mouth breaks into an even bigger grin. “Dom and Cole!” he corrects me, nodding. I roll my eyes as if to say whatever and go over to my bed. I feel a stab of disappointment that he hasn’t asked me to join him. But then ... “Wanna watch?” Fuck. Thank God I’ve got my back to Luke and he can’t see my face right now. Becasue I’m suddenly smiling like fucking crazy. I relax my face and turn around. “Might as well!” I shrug, indifferently and then plonk down on the end of his bed. I feel the same buzz I felt when I was sat close to him on his bed at the weekend. God, perhaps even more so. Straight away Luke reaches for a pillow and hands it to me. I lean on my elbow and tuck the pillow under my big chest, my feet hanging off the end of the bed. He’s got this happy little grin on his face and I can’t help smiling back at him. It’s pretty obvious we both kinda like hanging out with each other. I guess there’s not much point pretending otherwise. Luke’s got his blue Batman t-shirt on. The one he wore the very first time we met. I still feel kind of bad when I think about how rude I was to him during those first few days we were sharing a room together. He’s also wearing those skinny jeans that are elasticated at the bottom of the legs and these white sports socks, which means I can see the top of his feet and his bumpy little ankles. “Is it just me or do you have freakishly small feet?” Luke laughs. “Okay that’s your worst put down yet!” “It wasn’t a put down!” I say, shrugging and smiling. “Just ... an observation!” I don’t tell him that I’m also thinking his rather small feet are strangely kinda cute. The episode of Dom and Cole we’re watching is even more bonkers than the last one we watched. They seem to be in some kind of dream scenario with these giant, rolling doughnuts. I can definitely see why Luke likes it. I’d never sit and watch it by myself, but it’s kind of fun to watch it with him. He’s giggling and chuckling all the way through it. He’s got this deep little giggle. It’s kinda goofy sounding, but cute. “Who the fuck comes up with this stuff?” I look over at Luke and he just grins at me without answering. “Do you know what cartoon I loved when I was a kid?” I ask him. “Johnny Bravo!” Luke’s eyes widen and he excitedly nods at me. “Me too! Check the pecs!” I grin at the reference. “I sooo wanted to be Johnny Bravo when I grew up. He was, like, my idol!” The episode finishes and we’re watching the credits roll. “No gym for you today then?” I ask Luke, not looking up at him. I feel a little flutter of nerves as I ask the question. Probably because my intentions aren’t entirely honourable. “Nah. Rest day!” Luke tells me. I nod. “Which gym have you been going to?” I’m suddenly genuinely interested to know. He tells me he’s been going to the nearest gym to us. The one here in Hanson Hall. I pull a face. “The one in Watson House is much better!” “Is that where you go?” Luke asks. I can tell he’s genuinely interested too. I also get the feeling persuading him to go to the gym together might not actually be that hard. Which actually kind of excites me. “Yep!” Luke pulls a playful face. “Ugh. Definitely won’t be going to that one then!” he jokes. “Oi!” I say, laughing. He cheekily grins back at me. “Isn’t the one at Prince Hall supposed to be the best?” Luke asks. “Mmmm. It’s alright. It’s mostly third years in there though!” “What - have you been?” he asks, surprised. I shrug. “Yeah. But only ‘cause I heard Deano bragging about going!” I confess with a grin. Luke smirks back at me. “And it was just alright?” “No, it’s a good gym. It’s just … well, I was the smallest guy in there! So, naturally, I hated it!” I tell him with a grin. “You should just take me! Then you won’t be the smallest guy there!” he suggests. “Luke, you’d probably get mistaken for a barbell!” He lets out a short, sharp laugh. “Cheers!” For a moment I fear I may have actually insulted him a little, but he’s smiling. “You might have a point though!” I feel a pang of nerves at what I’m about to say. “We could always … go to the Watson House one? Like … together?” Luke looks at me suspiciously. “What, so you can take the piss out of me?” I feel a little defensive. “Take the piss how?” “Like how light the weights I’m using are?” “I wouldn’t do that!” I tell him, though I guess I can see why he would think that I might. He pulls a face like he doesn’t believe me. But he’s smiling at me too. “Okay … well, I promise I wouldn’t take the piss. Even if you did use ridiculously light weights!” I tease. He smirks at me. “You might be surprised at just how heavy I go!” I laugh. “Okay, Clark Kent!” Luke does his goofy little giggle. “So … tomorrow then? After Bodybuilders In The Media?” “Hmmm. Okay!” he says. He’s trying to act cool, but I can tell he wants to go to the gym with me. And I can tell he’s excited about it. It’s written all over his face. I feel another stab of guilt that I’m only taking Luke to the gym because of the deal I’ve made with Johnny. But I have to say, I’m actually sort of excited about going with him too. “Oh, but I get to pick which body part we train!” I tell him. This can be my way of finding out what Luke’s weak spot is. He playfully rolls his eyes. “If you must!” “Cool! Prepare to have that little arse of yours whipped!” I tease. That cute little arse I was checking out yesterday in Posing Practice 101 as it blew out the back of the insanely hot blue posing trunks I helped you buy last week. And now Luke’s just smiling at me. Dimples and bloody everything.