Jake was curious about such a specific fragrance. As he took a small whiff he could almost taste the spices and warm meat, almost as if the was a delicious tasty taco right in front of him. The smell made him feel light-headed and carefree. It also made him hungry for some real tacos. He cracked a smile. “I’ll take it, why not?” It was a curious item, after all.
He got home and placed the candle on top of his living room table. It seemed silly to have a food-scented candle there. After all, Jake had always been a freak for cleaned and tidy rooms. Having the constant scent of food would drive him nuts for sure. Still he felt compelled to just have it there.
Later that evening he called his friends Anthony and Mike to watch the big American Football game of the season.
“Oh what’s this candle?” asked Mike as he sat down on the couch.
“Just smell it” Jake said.
“Oh it smells like Mexican food, dude.”
“I know, I saw it for sale. Figured it would be interesting to have it around”.
Anthony laughed. “Hey, why not lit it up?” “And what? Have my place smell like food?” Jake groaned.
“Come on, the señoritas will just think you’re a good cook.” Mike mocked. Jake shook his head in amusement. “Fine, but just for a bit”. “Nice!” Anthony said and lit the candle.
The three of them sat on the couch watching the game unfold. It was one of the most expected games of the season and as such the three of them were glued to the high-definition TV screen. They sat there, eating some snacks and drinking beer. Jake had completely forgotten about the candle as it still burned, spreading the scent all over the living room.
It was getting hot as well. Jake turned on the air conditioner, though it seemed unable to contain the heat. “Fuck” he groaned “Is it just me or is it getting hot?”
“A bit yeah. It’s the pressure from the big game, I bet!” Anthony gave a hearty laugh as he put his feet on the table.
Jake was about to complain to Anthony when Mike suddenly asked “You still have some more beers?”
Forgetting about Anthony’s rudeness, Jake replied to his friend “Yeah, I got a bunch of them. I’ll go get them.”
“Gracias!” Mike said, with a thumbs up. Jake looked at his living room before heading to the kitchen. Fuck, it looked like a mess. Empty beer cans on the floor, some of the peanuts he had served were on the floor or on the couch. And the heat… shit, it shouldn’t be so hot. Jake cleared a sweat drop from his face with his arm as he entered the kitchen. Weird, he felt stubble on his face. He always shaved each morning but it seemed as if he hadn’t shaved in days.
“Jake, amigo! Bring me another beer as well!” Anthony called out.
Fuck it, he would deal with all of this later. He opened the fridge and saw that it was filled with cases of beer. But not just any beer. It was some weird brand he had never heard of. He read the label. “Mexican beer? I never bought this before” he thought.
“You’re missing the game!” Mike called.
“Un momento!” Jake replied, not noticing the thick accent and foreign words. Passing his hand through his forehead he felt his hair. Fuck, why was it so curly? Looking back at his hands he saw them bigger than usual and the skin… it was a rich caramel colour. “I have no idea what’s going on. Whatever, I’m missing the game” he thought.
As Jake returned he gave Mike and Anthony each a cold beer. Jake drank one as well, letting that comforting flavour rush down his throat. He put the can right next to the previous one he had drank. He realised they were the same brand. “Of course they are, it’s my favourite!” He reassured himself in his mind.
“Fuck, Jake. I don’t know how you can stand this fucking heat, man” said Anthony. Still with his big feet on the table, Anthony took off his t-shirt, exposing his torso. Jake was amazed. His friend had a solid six pack and a muscular pair of pectorals. The sweat seemed to make the muscles even bigger and more defined. He also got rid of his body hair and even the hair on his head was a buzz cut.
“You gotta get a bigger fan, man. This one’s shit” Mike said.
A fan? As if! He had a brand new AC! He traced his eyes back to where it should have been but found nothing. Instead he noticed a chair by the TV with a fan on it, rotating and blowing a cool breeze. It wasn’t potent enough to get rid of the damned heat, though. Meanwhile the candle was still burning undetected behind a bowl filled with peanut skins and empty beer cans.
Jake’s mind was racing. Fuck it he wasn’t that drunk! He knew he had AC! And what was up with Anthony? How come he looked so different?
“Cabrón!” Mike suddenly roared, followed by a stream of profanity that Jake could barely understand. He seemed angry while looking at the game. Realising he had been ignoring so much of the game, Jake turned his attention to it.
However instead of his high-definition TV he saw a small one, with an antenna on top. Stranger still, instead of the teams he was expecting to see, he saw different uniforms and for some reason they were all using their feet to pass the ball… What the hell? What happened to the game? Why were they watching soccer?
Anthony laughed at Mike’s rage. “Calm down Miguel. They’ve got this!”
Wait, Miguel? What was going on? Jake looked at Mike. He seemed calmer after his outburst. But he looked weird. His skin had a deeper tone than his usual pale complexion. And was that a cap? Since when did Mike carry a backwards cap with him? A thin black moustache also appeared out of nowhere. And suddenly he seemed to fill his clothes. Not all pure muscle, like Anthony, but a bit of fat as well.
Jake tried to shake the weird vision in front of him, though he was starting to feel like nothing weird was going on. After all, Miguel had always looked like that, right?
Absent-mindedly, Jake rubbed his back as the muscles grew in size. He also noted with some annoyance that he was growing a pelt of hair on his back. Well, he had always been the hairy one, he figured. Just as that thought popped into his mind his body hair thickened. His brown thin roots gave way for black and thicker ones. His legs, chest and face grew more hair that he ever did before. His untrimmed pubes would have hidden his cock and balls if they had not grown as well. His muscles continued to grow. They came in naturally from hard labour and of course Jake never cared much moderating his food and beer intake and so he had developed a hairy gut, which he now rubbed with his calloused meaty hands.
As he looked around, he felt a strange sensation. This whole house seemed strange. He had a tidy, expensive house but everywhere he looked he saw cheap furniture and a disorganized mess everywhere he looked.
And those two… they seemed so familiar and at the same time so strange.
“Tengo que…” Jake felt as if he had swallowed a frog when he talked “I have to go to the bathroom”
“Juan! You can’t leave now! It’s going to happen, I feel it!” Anthony (or was it Antonio?) said with a sparkle in his eyes. Looking at his friend’s nude torso he noticed that he had a tattoo of the Mexican flag on his right pec and another tattoo of the Cross on his left.
Jake didn’t even notice the name Antonio had called him but he decided to humour him and sat on his seat, watching the game. His friends were on the edge of their seats, eyes glued to the screen. Jake only saw a guy with a ball on his feet, nothing special. A player of the other team attempted to take the ball but the attacker did an amazing feint and easily passed through the defender. Jake had to admit it was really impressive. He clenched his fists as the player got near the goal line. Another player attempted to stop him but he just moved right through him. There was no one else but the goalkeeper in front of him. He kicked the ball…
“GOL!!!!” the three of them shouted in unison. They jumped out of the couch and hugged each other, while screaming and jumping around.
Juan felt lucky to be able to view this important game with his friends. It wasn’t particularly easy having Antonio around now that he was serving in the military but there was nothing better than to have him around and watch a game of football together.
Luckily Miguel and Juan worked together on a construction site (Miguel even had his underground rap career going on as well) and had managed to develop a strong friendship.
Juan loved his life and friends in Mexico. He might not have everything he wanted, but he had everything he needed. He opened another beer can and kept watching the game.
On the table, the candle had long burned away.