It wasn’t long before Jack found another bone to pick with Ken. The dude was a little anal retentive, but I didn’t mind as long as he kept the wishes flowing. He was pouring himself a glass of water at the dorm’s absurdly tiny kitchenette when he noticed some scraggly hairs caught in the drain. Evidently, Ken chose to shave in the dorm sink instead of the bathroom, which really frustrated Jack. He popped off a wish so fast, I almost didn’t have time to rearrange it.
“I wish Ken wouldn’t leave hairs in the drain.”
I was caught off guard, but I’m good at thinking on my feet.
“I wish Ken DIDN’T SHAVE, WHICH wouldn’t leave hairs in the drain.
I snapped my fingers. His wish is my command after all. Mostly.
The hairs in the drain vanished. Satisfied, Jack returned to studying at his desk, but I kept my eye on Ken. This one was going to be a little bit of a slow burn. As the newly muscular man twiddled the buttons on his game while doing calf raises by his bed, he reached up to scratch his jaw. His once patchy stubble started to expand, growing fuller as bristly whiskers emerged around his mouth, neck, and cheeks. He now had dark, full stubble peppering his face, which slowly began to sprout a full beard.
Dark black hairs curled out from under his nose, forming a moustache that wiggled as his mouth twitched in concentration. The hand that was scratching his face began combing its fingers through his beard, almost seeming to pull the hairs further as they grew several inches in length.
Apparently his face wasn’t the only thing he shaved, because a light dusting of dark hair sprouted in the valley between his pecs, visible in his plunging neckline. Coarse black hair also sprouted on his toes as they flexed.
Jack turned around to grab another textbook and caught a glimpse of Ken’s newly bearded form. A look of shock came over his face. Shit. I changed too much too fast. I had to be more careful next time.
Luckily, my magic kicked in and Jack just shrugged. But he still seemed to have a bit of a bee in his bonnet about the whole thing, because he said:
“I wish Ken wasn’t as hairy.”
I had to think carefully about this. I didn’t want to alert Jack to the fact that I was altering his wishes, but there was no way I was gonna change Ken back now that I was on a roll. I decided that, to make things seem less weird, I had to change Jack’s benchmark on hairiness.
“I wish Ken wasn’t as hairy AS I AM.”
Instantly, Jack relaxed. Ken’s appearance didn’t seem weird to him anymore, though that’s only because he now wasn’t the hairiest person in the room.
Jack squirmed in his seat and tugged at his collar as itching erupted all over his body. Silently, I willed him to remove his shirt so I could watch the changes progress. A faint coating of stubble dotted his lip, spreading around his mouth in a goatee fashion, then moving up his cheeks and into his sideburns. Luminous blonde hairs sprouted from each follicle, blossoming into a full, luscious beard.
As he scratched his cheeks, blonde hairs began to bristle out from under his arms, creating massive tufts of tangled, coarse hair. Flecks of gold erupted from his chest, curling to form a pelt that stretched from nipple to nipple, up to the base of his neck, and down across his cobblestone abs, tapering into a thick treasure trail leading down to a thatch of pubic hair that poked up from the waistband of his jeans.
He scratched his legs as hair spread down his thighs and taut calves, concluding with a dusting of hairs across the tops of his feet. His itching subsided and he returned to his studying.
I clapped my hands giddily. This was getting interesting!