Jay Riley was nothing if not the king of his school.
But even kings have rivals it seems and this was no exception. Jay was powerfully muscled, every inch of him appearing to be as if carved from marble like an ancient statue. Such was the care Jay had shown in sculpting his body to be both worthy and capable in every sport he tried. As of now, he was lead on the wrestling team, and the team leader on the varsity football team. Eighteen years old and already he looked better than most of the adults at his school except Alan the English Teacher, who Jay swore was probably some physique model doing a job in between gigs.
His blond hair was carefully managed, and a slight amount of stubble graced his jaw and chin. Jay often dressed to show his pride in his school - his letterman jacket, a white short sleeve shirt, and jeans being his most common ensemble.
And yet. For all of the ways Jay excelled, even in academics he wasn't any slouch despite the jock stereotype he otherwise embodied, he couldn't quite pull his teams to full victories. He was only one man after all. One stunning, well muscled and uber-talented young man. But only one man. And for all that he excelled as quarterback, the rest of the team was not exactly coordinated. They also seemed to have a genuine issue with talent. Hence, the school's football record was astonishingly poor despite everyone seeing how hard Jay tried.
The wrestling team was not much better. Jay was regularly the only man on the team to score and win in any of the bouts or tournaments. It was legitimately frustrating - and for Jay's part, owing to his psychology and the enforcement he got, he largely blamed himself. If he could just do better. If he could just be stronger. Faster. Better.
This was his thought process as he headed into the school gym, shucking off his shirt and taking up position on one of the four bench presses arrayed out near the front. He warmed up with the bar, and then racked 225 before starting his reps. Breath in, breath out. Every step of the way concentrate on strength, longevity and control of the weight.
By the time he did 20 reps, Jay was feeling it really well. He got up and started stretching his chest. Seeing his reflection, shirtless as he was, he eagerly flexed for the mirrors lining the wall. And yet. It still occurred to him as he did so that he needed to somehow get even stronger than he was now. Steroids...were not an option. He didn't want to get cast out altogether from a bad drug test. Yet he had gotten as far as he possibly could on his natural body.
He was at his peak...and still it wasn't good enough.
And that was when Collin Maynes walked in, a young man with long dark hair usually tied back in a bun, he had a strong build but an awkward lack of hand eye coordination. A recent case of improvement, the awkward Collin was still too awkward to really do much, but he was one of the few people there improving. And for that he and Jay had struck up a sort of odd friendship. Jay helped Collin continue improving, and Collin helped Jay out in any way he could - from setting up dates between Jay and his girlfriend Clara at the right restaurants, to well..."helping" Jay after a workout if he needed it.
Yet today, Collin seemed stronger still than he had been before. More assured. As he walked over to Jay, he said, "Still trying to power through it all?"
"You know it," Jay reacted.
"Well, if you'd like I have something that might help you." Collin started rifling through his workout bag.
"You know me, Collin, I don't do steroids like some of the other guys in other teams. I can't get kicked outta sports. It's my thing." Jay shook his head, and yet still listened to whatever it was Collin had to say.
"Not steroids this time." Collin pulled out a small bottle with what looked like a dragon swooping down on the front design, "This is Flammis X, a new compound put together by the corp my dad works for. Y'know, my dad's a biotechnician. Supposedly this stuff is really great for muscle building, endurance, strength, reflexes...they're even letting dad use a little of it. A little. And he looks more buff and chiseled than he ever did before."
"Huh," Jay leaned forward. He remembered how weed thin Collin's dad was, the way the unkempt brown hair often got in the scientist's eyes unless he actively combed it regularly. So to hear this stuff could do all that...! "And it's...not a steroid. It's not gonna show up on ANY of the drug tests."
"Nope. Not a one. I used a slight dose myself. Fuck but it gets you feeling nice." Collin flexed an arm, grinning. And Jay did admit it did look like Collin's arm had put an inch and a half on since he last saw Collin flex. Well, if it wasn't gonna show up in the drug tests, and there didn't seem to be any side effects going by what he saw...
"So can I---" Jay leaned forward, grinning, obviously interested.
"Yeah, you can," Collin interjected into the question, and shook his head, "Just don't go above the dose I recommend. One pill every three days, and you'll get some killer results. But I can't guarantee what'll happen if you go above that. Flammis X is still being tested. There could be some slow acting side effects if you don't hold back."
Jay frowned, one pill every three days? Talk about a drag. And Collin had put an inch and a half on his arms. His dad was looking phenomenal. He breathed, "...Fine. Do I gotta pay---"
"I don't make my friends pay me for this shit." Collin said with a smile before handing Jay a bottle of Flammis. Full of little white pills, the bottle jostled when Jay looked at it. He considered his options. He wanted to get started, he needed to see for himself if the results were as dynamite as what Collin alleged. Sure he could see a tiny bit of dry skin in some extraneous places on his buddy, but that could easily be reckoned with.
"I'll go for it." Jay stated. He took up the pills and decided - he would take one as soon as his workout was done.