The walk through campus was a little slower than Daniel remembered, having to accommodate for Greg's new flabby body. Though Abigail was initially still a little cool towards him - and who could blame her? He did sit on her, after all - she warmed up pretty quickly when she discovered Daniel's love of books. "You really should try reading some Murakami," she told Daniel, Greg puffing slightly just a step behind them. "I have every single book he's written, he's absolutely brilliant."
Daniel nodded and hmmed at all the right places, but his mind was elsewhere. It was a strange experience noticing how chunky he suddenly looked next to everyone else on campus, Greg obviously not included. His soft belly wasn't particularly big, but for some reason, Daniel kept thinking that he was supposed to be thinner. Which was nonsense, of course - he'd fuelled his late night study sessions about the Scribe with liters of coffee and mountains of Cheetos, so he was bound to put on a little weight.
And yet, whenever Daniel passed a student skinnier than he was, he kept finding himself comparing his own soft belly to their flat stomachs.
Maybe Greg's changes had made him slightly paranoid.
They'd nearly reached the park, Abigail at turns talking to Greg, and to Daniel when Greg started getting out of breath, when a muscular jogger pushed past them. "Move it, fatass," he yelled at Greg. Daniel had front-row seats to the way Greg's cheerful smile was replaced by an exhausted, miserable expression.
"Don't let him get to you," Abigail told Greg, touching his arm. Daniel had a better idea. Capitalizing on Greg and Abigail's momentary distraction, he quickly pulled the book out of his bag, grabbing the pen he'd shoved into his trouser pocket.
'The man running in front of me will age 10 years, becoming an out of shape ex-jock,' Daniel wrote, before closing the book with a soft snap.
"What's that?" Greg asked, attention drawn by the sudden noise. Daniel tried to think of a plausible reason.
"I, um, I wrote down how that guy looked," he babbled. "So in case you ever want to report him, or, uh, something, you won't forget anything."
"That's actually a pretty good idea," Abigail said. "I wouldn't have thought of that so quickly."
Daniel nodded, but he wasn't paying attention. Instead, he focused on the jogger, who'd slowed down, clutching at his side. No changes were immediately noticeable, except for the jogger's sudden panting, as though he couldn't quite catch his breath.
With a start, Daniel realized that Abigail and Greg had started to keep going. He wanted to see the change to its conclusion. 'Bathroom,' he mounted, when Greg turned around to gesture at him, and understanding dawned on Greg's rounder face.
Daniel made his way as if to go to the nearby public restrooms, but doubled back, loitering close enough to the wheezing jogger that he could keep an eye on the transformation without being seen.
"Hey, are you okay?" called another jogger from behind Daniel, making his way to the breathless man. "I'm Jordan. Do you need me to call someone?"
"No," panted the jogger that Daniel had decided to transform, letting Jordan take one of his arms to help support him. "Just… a stitch. I'm… Trevor."
"Well, Trevor, you better sit down," Jordan said, leading Trevor over to a nearby bench. "You don't look so good. You want some water?"
"Yeah," said Trevor breathlessly, his chest heaving up and down. Daniel was delighted to note that his formerly flat stomach had begun slowly pushing out over his waistband. He looked a little older, too, his stubble a little thicker, his face a little fuller. When Jordan handed him a water bottle, he took greedy gulps, dripping moisture onto his changing body.
When Trevor handed the water bottle back to Jordan again, his formerly impressive biceps looked a little less defined. As Daniel watched, his small belly slowly expanded, exposing the beginnings of a thick treasure trail. His face definitely looked older now, more weathered - Daniel estimated he'd been in his late twenties before, but now he was clearly making his way past thirty.
"Thanks," Trevor said, wiping his sweaty face with one hand that looked a little hairier than just moments before. The movement made his arms slightly jiggle, his muscles having slowly been softening with flab, and his thighs slowly expanded on the bench, pushing his thickening legs apart.
Jordan took it with a smile. "Don't worry about it," he said, and Daniel was surprised to note that he wasn't as thin as he first appeared. He seemed to have a slight curve to his belly, which, Daniel realized with growing horror, was slowly sagging, hanging slightly down his front.
"It's nice to see someone else who isn't in perfect shape," said Trevor, having managed to catch his breath. He straightened up a little. The movement made his paunch sag, taking his pecs with it. Formerly lean and toned, his flabbier pecs now drooped onto his gut, with a dark covering of hair interspersed with some lone gray strands. They seemed to multiply as Daniel dug frantically through his bag, scrabbling for the small book he'd changed the implement into.
By the time he'd opened it, Jordan's change had progressed too. "You aren't that out of shape," Jordan said, patting Trevor's shoulder. "You just got winded. Happens to the best of us."
As he spoke, his hairline had begun receding, exposing a higher, slightly wrinkled forehead. Though he'd started off younger, his belly was beginning to rival Trevor's rounded middle in size. Unlike Trevor's soft, flabby stomach, however, Jordan's midsection looked taut, like a beer gut. It only barely jiggled as he moved. His arms, too, looked bulkier, but they were noticeably more muscled than Trevor's, even covered as they were in fat.
Daniel quickly scanned the page, trying to find the change he'd written in. 'The man running in front of me will age 10 years, becoming an out of shape ex-jock,' he read. Trevor had started off fairly well muscled, but Jordan was much slimmer. The book had apparently transformed his body, making him look more like a jock who'd gone to seed rather than just making him fatter.
Grabbing his pen again, Daniel positioned it on top of the change… and hesitated. Sure, it was a mistake that Jordan had been transformed as well, but hadn't Trevor deserved becoming "a fatass", like he'd called Greg?
Suddenly realizing that he was about to condemn two men to a fate they weren't destined to, Daniel rapidly shook his head. What was he doing? Of course he'd change them back. He decisively put a line through that change as well, waiting for it to begin reversing.
Jordan and Trevor had begun chatting, with Jordan leaning on the back of the bench Trevor was sitting on. Despite Daniel's attempt at reversing the change, they didn't seem to be transforming back - they appeared to be a pair of middle aged men, one with a receding hairline and a thicker, huskier build, and the other older and slightly flabbier, thick hair covering his softer body.
Daniel peered at the implement, trying to work out what had gone wrong. He flipped it over, thinking maybe something was on the cover, and even resorted to thumping it when his inspection proved fruitless. Even though he knew he should probably try to reverse the changes again, Daniel was leery of using the book again. The damn thing seemed to have a mind of its own.
He'd have to find some practice subjects soon, make sure he understood the limits and familiarized himself with the implement. Then he'd start reversing the changes he'd made, starting with Greg and continuing on to Jordan and Trevor.
Speaking of Greg, he and Abigail were probably beginning to wonder what was taking him so long. Daniel dropped the book back into his pack, but he had to readjust the straps when he pulled it back on. He must've pulled on the straps in his haste to get the book out - they were too small, digging uncomfortably into his chest.
Daniel absently scratched at his hairy belly as he watched the two newly middle-aged men interact, feeling his biceps flex slightly at the movement. He really should get around to training with the implement soon, but it wasn't as though being a little out of shape had ever hurt anyone. Just look at him - he'd put on quite a bit of weight since his high school days as a footballer. Some of it was muscle, as evident by his broad shoulders, powerful thighs, and thick arms, but most of it was flab, softening his muscles and padding out his taut, round beer gut.
And yet for some reason, there was a tiny voice screaming in Daniel's head that he wasn't supposed to be this way, that he was supposed to be a twenty-year-old college student. But that couldn't be right - even though he was a college student, Daniel was nearly seven years past twenty. He clearly remembered celebrating his twentieth birthday with the guys from his construction firm.
It was why he'd connected with Greg - even though Greg was younger than him by a good few years, he didn't look down on Daniel for going to college so late. Abigail was a different story - she was still a little snooty, but she'd seemed to slowly be warming up to him. He'd have to take her up on her offer of books, though… he'd never been much of a reader, but maybe he should start now that he was doing his Bachelor's degree.
Leaving the two altered men for now, Daniel made his way back to Greg and Abigail, his meaty, hairy body jiggling slightly with every step.