Ty walked down the street. His body seemed to radiate power. To test his new strength, he climbed a fence. Then, he climbed a tree, and hung from it with one hand. It was so easy. Everything felt effortless all of the sudden. He dropped down and continued on his way. He was excited to see how much he could eat now with so many calories needed to maintain this body.
There was an open garage door he passed by. Inside the garage, a teen was doing curls while sitting on a bench. He wore shorts, showing off his solid calves, and his sleeves were cut off his shirt to display his thick arms. Ty decided to hide around the corner of a fence to keep watching the guy as he sweated through a workout. When the teen had finished with a set, a boy came out of the house into the garage. He looked to be only about a year younger than Ty.
"Erik," The boy said to the teen. "Mom, says lunch will be ready soon."
"Good," Erik said. "I just have to do my bench press sets."
As Erik lay down under the bar, the boy looked at his brother. He seemed to want something.
"What do you want, Alex?" Erik said with more than a hint of annoyance as he gripped the bar.
"Can I help?" Alex asked.
"Unlikely," Erik said as she started a set, breathing heavily with each rep.
Alex walked around behind the bench, and readied himself to spot for Erik. Erik just finished his last rep and said, "I said I didn't need you, kid."
"I want to help. I want to try. Can I do a set?"
Erik looked behind him. "Look at yourself. You're too skinny to even lift the bar."
"But-"
"No," Erik said. "Go bug mom for a while." He started his next set, but Alex just stood there. As Erik got to his last rep, Alex tried to spot for him and grabbed the bar. "Goddamn it, Alex. You almost made me drop it. Just get the fuck out of here already."
"I-I'm sorry," Alex said, stepping back. "I just wanted-"
"You just wanted to play around. You're either going to hurt yourself or you're going to hurt me."
Alex backed off, but he did not leave. Erik pushed through his final set. When he set the bar down the last time, he looked back at his little brother. Erik had an idea. "You really want to try?" he asked his brother.
"Yes," Alex said. "But, it's OK. I don't have to."
"No," Erik said as he stood up and started taking weight off the bar. "Let me just get it ready for you first." Erik left some weight on the bar for Alex. Even Ty could tell that it would be too heavy for the boy, and he had never really lifted before.
Alex lay down under the bar, and Erik prepared to spot for the boy. "Ready?" Erik asked.
"Ready," Alex said has he gripped the bar in imitation of his brother. Erik helped Alex lift the bar from is resting place, and gently lowered it down to the boy's chest. Then, Erik let it go. Alex grunted and tried his hardest to press the bar off of himself, but it would not budge. The boy struggled as his older brother just smirked at him. Alex made no motion to help his brother. He was teaching the boy a lesson, putting him in his place.
Ty knew this story all too well.
Ty focused on their bodies. He imagined a flow of power from the older brother to the younger brother. Alex kept pressing up, and a moment later, he managed to lift the bar an inch off of his chest. Erik looked surprised as Alex pressed harder and managed to lift the bar all the way up. He rested the bar on its holder.
"I did it," Alex said and smiled up at his brother.
Erik looked genuinely surprised. "Yeah," he said. "You did. Let me give you a little more weight." He added more weights to each side. "Try that," he said, confident that Alex would fail to lift it.
Ty focused on their bodies again. Once more, he pictured power flowing to Alex from Erik. Erik was starting to look skinnier and even a little shorter now. He might have been a year younger even.
Alex just gripped the bar again and lifted the weight without waiting for his brother to spot him. His arms were bulging with new muscle, and his shirt was skin tight on him now. Luckily, the boy was wearing stretchy shorts, or else he might have started splitting his pants as his legs were thicker now as well. He started doing reps with the heavy weight.
"Whoa," Erik said. "That's crazy."
Alex set the bar down again. "That was too easy." He said. "Give me more weight." Erik put more weight on the bar, but he seemed to struggle more to lift the weights up now.
Once more, Ty transferred power between the boys. Erik seemed to simply deflate. His once thick arms and legs were looking twiggy now, and he seemed to be as young as his little brother had been, maybe even younger. Meanwhile, Alex was looking like a young bodybuilder as he confidently lifted the bar again and started quickly pumping out reps on it.
"That's impossible," Erik said as he witnessed the changes to his brother. Then, he gasped as he heard his own voice. He sounded all squeaky now, like a little kid. He looked down at his own deflated younger body. "Oh my God. What happened to me?" He said as his shorts nearly slipped off his waist.
Alex finished his set and sat up, and Erik got a good look at his brother's back. He saw the rippling muscles of Alex's well defined lats and shoulder muscles under his skintight shirt. He saw Alex's thick, veiny arms. Erik stepped back as Alex stood up... way up. He was huge. "Wow," Alex said as he looked over his muscular teenage body. He flexed his arms, feeling the immense power contained in them. "I feel so damn good," he declared in a much deeper voice.
When Alex turned to look at Erik, his eyes went wide. His brother was a total shrimp now. Alex walked up to Erik and looked down at him. "That's crazy," he said. "Look at how little you are now."
"S-Shut up!" Erik said. "There's something weird going on here. I-I need to go to a hospital or something." He turned to leave, but Alex grabbed his arm and held Erik in place with his iron grip. "Hey, let go!"
"Wait a moment," Alex said. "Maybe it was the bench that did it. I mean, it happened while I was lifting."
"Let me go!" Erik said. "I have to get out of here."
"Try doing a few reps," Alex suggested. He pulled his former big brother over to the bench and sat him down on it. Erik was powerless to resist. When Alex released him, Erik rubbed his arm. He looked like he might run, but Alex seemed too intimidating now. It would be hard to escape him, and Erik had no way of overpowering him. Erik just lay down on the bench as Alex stood up to spot for him. Alex lifted the weight up as Erik simply held on to the bar. Then, Alex set the bar on Erik's chest and let it go. Erik grunted and feebly tried to lift the bar in a repeat of the situation that had occurred only minutes ago. Only this time, their places were reversed. The big brother was little now, and the little brother was big.
Ty smiled as Erik struggled. Serves him right, Ty thought. That's what you get for picking on the kid.
Eventually, Alex took pity on little Erik and lifted the bar off the boy. It was no struggle for him at all.
Erik just lay on the bench and caught his breath. Then, he covered his face in his hands. "What am I going to do?" he moaned. "Oh, God, what are people going to say? I'm going to get picked on. This is going to be hell for me."
"Hey," Alex said gently. "Don't worry. I'll look out for you. Nobody will mess with you with me around." Once more, Alex flexed his incredible muscles. Ty admired his body for a minute, but then a woman called for the two brothers--their mother, Ty assumed. At that, Ty decided it was time to move on. After all, he was feeling hungry, and he had more ideas for things to do with his powers later on.
Ty walked down the street again, leaving the brothers to sort out their new roles.