Steeling himself as much as he could while lacking a body, Mike separated from the intangible mass that included the rest of his friends-turned-Titans, making his way toward Vinny in the same way Tyler had.
The influx of information, of knowledge both mundane and arcane that now flooded Mike's mind was terrifying as well as it was fascinating. Mike had always been curious as he was softspoken, more eager to learn by observing than grow by engaging. It separated him from his friends, even made him feel a little lonely sometimes, like he didn't belong...
And, yet, weirdly enough, now that he was a near omniscient immortal with power over all in creation, Mike was no less curious. And no less afraid of change.
But he couldn't simply stand (or float, whatever) idly by while an innocent bystander, someone who was kind of even a friend to him, was broken down or worse by another friend against his will.
Seeing Vinny pinned in place by Jon's bulging arms, neither man able to do anything about it, only filled Mike with a conviction that he had to be the one to act, or nobody would.
So he started to wind his way up Vinny's body. At least this way he wouldn't necessarily be killed all so Tyler could get what he wanted.
Starting at his stocking feet and going up his legs, around his body.
"W-what do you mean you can't let go?" Vinny was asking of his friend, gritting his teeth as red welts began to form on his arms where Jon held him.
"I...I just..." Jon tried again to pull back, "I can't explain it, Vin, but...ARGH!" he threw his head back, nearly banging it against the lockers.
"W-what now...?" he demanded weakly, tears running down his cheeks.
And he began changing in earnest. Muscles rippling in proprotion along his shirtless torso. And not just moving...they were growing now too. Slowly by surely, Jon's already defined abs were cut into chest, his pectorals elevating and seeming almost to inflate with each strangled gasp.
"Jon...holy shit, man, what..." Vin began, but before he could finish, Mike began to work on him.
Whereas Jon had felt an instant of euphoric bliss as the change began, Mike's own reticence about what he was about to do bled into Vinny.
An intense prickling plagued him, like hundreds of insects running up and down his arms and down his neck. At first blaming it on the heat of the showers and the stress of the situation, Vinny thought nothing of it, too concerned as to the agony his friend was experiencing and the agony Jon's agony was causing him.
"I-im-impossible..." Jon moaned softly, his eyes squeezed shut, "i-it's impossible...feels like I'm...growing..."
"Don't know what to tell you, bro..." wheezed Vinny, "but you are."
Jon opened his eyes, first one and then the other, looking down at his body. His arms had by now swollen in proportion, and were still growing. His shoulders were broadening, shifting in ways that should've caused him excruciating pain and yet Jon seemed no more distressed than he'd been.
Jon looked into Vinny's eyes, forcing a smile, "I-if this is all a side effect from Coach's frigging protein shakes, I might just kill him..."
"I-I'd gladly help you...but I d-don't think you're gonna need my help. You're ripped, in case you haven't noticed."
"Yeah, b..." Jon hesitated, a weird expression flickering over his face, "...but..."
The smile vanished, replaced now by a stony frown in that otherwise perfectly handsome face.
"J-Jon?"
But Jon didn't reply. Tyler did, seeming to echo from Jon's head to Vinny's. Somehow Mike knew that their hosts couldn't hear them...he wasn't even sure if the other three could.
'Welcome to the party, Mikey. Feels sick, doesn't it?'
'Something like that. Tyler, you were gonna have Jon kill Vincent!'
'Have? Jesus, man, you make it sound like I issued a kill order. I didn't force Vin to stay, just like I didn't force you to make him one of us.'
'I had no other choice.'
'Oh? Alright, then. Whatever you say. See you on the other side, brother.'
"Get...OUT!" Jon cried out suddenly, swelling tendons in his neck standing out startlingly in his flesh.
Vinny exhaled sharply, as if waking from a dream, "What...what the hell is h-happening..."
Something began stirring within him. A feeling like the most beautiful and the most terrible thing he'd ever experienced. It didn't feel like just appeared there, not out of the blue, not from nowhere...
Rather, that it had always been there, sleeping, but only now was stirring awake.
"This...this is so..." Vinny moaned lowly, "ugh...fuck!" his hair was matted with sweat, the gallons of gel he used to keep it in shape trickling off in sloughs, letting thick locks fall into his eyes, sticking to his skin, "Fuck, I think it's happening to me too."
Jon still looked faint from his outburst, but when Vinny said that, his eyes widened, and he nodded solemnly, "Better brace yourself. I'm here with you."
"You're making that painfully clear, bro..." Vinny attempted a joke, noting the ferocity with which Jon was still grabbing onto his arms.
But he echoed the gesture, making his increasingly aching arms to grab onto Jon's, so they were crisscrossed over each other. And, suddenly, Vinny realized why Jon couldn't let go of him.
There was something anchoring about his friend's touch...something that kept him present, kept the pain from getting too distracting, kept him from blacking out from the panic, from the terror.
Feeling the warm of his friend's skin beneath his own hands...it made him feel like he wasn't going through this alone.
"Oh God..." Vinny moaned softly, lowering his head, "feels like someone's pounding me into the dirt and ripping me apart all at once..."
"You'd think we'd be used to it," said Jon, just before seizing up again, drawing his legs up close to him. For the first time, Vinny took a closer look at his friend's legs, the only part of him clothes.
Vinny's gray sweats, emblazoned as they were with the school's logo, were stained up and down with heavy gray splotches. Sweat, Vinny assumed...right?
But that wasn't all...the pants, which had previously hung around Vinny's well-toned (he was runningback, after all), but slender legs now hugged them like a glove. As a matter of fact, it seemed they were choking them...
"No...it can't..." Jon muttered in disbelief, "fucking unreal... Snap out of it, man, snap out of..."
A sharp snap, then a rip, as a tear opened in the right leg of his sweats, from the knee down to the ankle.
"Oooh..." he moaned, sounding like he wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or scream, "Vin, I'm frigging Hulkin' out."
At which point Vinny realized he was wearing a good deal more clothes than Jon was. Jersey, pants, socks...at least he'd kicked off his sneakers before.
"Just...just try not to think about it, Jon...." Vinny tried to tell him, "Just...just stay with me. W-we're gonna make it out of this. Together."
'That's right', that little voice in the back of his head said again, only proving that he hadn't just wildly imagined it before, 'Talk to Jon. It'll help. Ease into it, you'll feel better.'
Who are you? He wanted to ask, but couldn't manage to.
And yet the voice seemed to know the question anyway, 'I'm your friend. Just like Jon is. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but try and trust me. And if you don't trust me, then trust Jon. He needs you as much as you need him. You're both gonna be okay.'