By the time that the blond adonis left Brock's place, he was sweating and feeling satisfied - in more ways than one. Finding that way to really indulge sexually with Brock without triggering the changes had been...interesting...and he was hopeful that Brock might not keep changing. At the rate he was going, Neil was almost worried that the result might be dangerous to Brock's long term health...well, more than it was already. But when Neil went to check his phone, his eyebrows were raised as he registered a huge number of texts, and five missed calls...all of them from Max's number.
Neil grimaced and outright almost slapped himself upside the head.
He remembered going into the workout he had silenced his phone, and poor Max was probably panicking like fuck going by what was going on here. The young man opened up his phone and checked - the messages were at least starting somewhat lighthearted and informing him that Max was going to be heading to the gym, and that he'd be sure to be back in time for the hike later. But then as things went on, the messages started registering as more...frantic.
Neil saw several pictures of Max at the gym, looking at his newly even more muscled physique - and apparently, Max was a little bit struck by how much he had already grown at the gym. His dark hair was styled in a way Neil had never seen though by the time of the third photo. It looked almost...polished. Max's body was no longer fat at all - though he had retained a thick set, broad physique, he was toned to an incredible degree - almost bursting out of his shirt.
The shorts that had been loose earlier now hugged a pair of sculpted thighs and quads, while his features looked almost movie star handsome. Then came the "WTFs", numerous exclamations of bewilderment as Max experienced things beyond the oddities that Neil already registered at the gym. Apparently, people were treating him like he was famous or something. The girl at the front even said she loved him in some movie he never even remembered seeing let alone starring in.
People wanted selfies. People wanted to get "swole shots" with him. People were asking him for fitness advice, almost as much as if not more than the actual personal trainers there. And apparently, he'd just rattled off what made sense for him to say - even when he had no way of knowing what exactly he was saying. And Neil, as he read these messages, came to a startling revelation.
The gym was not just capable of altering someone's sexuality, physique, and career. It was capable of altering someone's standing in such a grand way. The fact status and even implicitly monetary capacity were capable of being altered by that gym said that possibly, things might change for people in ways beyond what Neil had anticipated.
Then he saw how the last call from Max was only about ten minutes ago, and he frantically dialed the number up...and the phone barely rang twice before a panicked Max picked up on the other end. "Dude!!" Max almost screamed into the phone, "I was trying for like, 90 minutes to get ahold of you! Did this fucking gym have the Book of Shadows buried underneath it!? I'm some fucking celebrity! It's straight up---"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it and I've seen what it can do. It made me like, some kinda I guess famous bodybuilder," Neil said trying to calm his buddy down, "I didn't know though that it'd go that far. Is anything else going on?"
"I---I feel...fucking weird. Is there some kinda sex thing going on with it too?" Max groaned on the other end, "I'd felt kinda weird toward Matt earlier this week, but now it's like---I'm not gay or anything, but dudes are starting to look real good to me."
Neil felt a sense of regret - knowing he very well should've warned Max about the fact that he figured the gym changed someone's sexuality in this kind of way, but he'd held off. He'd held off and now---well, whatever happened, Max was now in the same spot Neil was. "You're still good to go with Clara, right?"
"Ohh yeah! Ladies still do it for me," Max responded, "Just...dude, even talking to you is kinda making me think back to things that never happened. Mmf...can we talk about something else? Like...for example, how I'm having some major problems with the paparazzi around the gym? Just people running around trying to get interviews. I told em to buzz off, but they're snapping pictures every now and then."
"Famous people problems..." Neil ruminated, "Whatever happened, it made you famous, ripped, and...bi?"
"Sounds about right," Max responded, "Haaah...I swear. I am never going to that fucking gym again if it keeps doing that to me. I liked the muscle stuff, but I didn't ask to be the center of attention to this degree." Max went quiet for a moment, and then said, "We can still probably do that hike, but I am gonna be wearing a hat and some sunglasses. Not going through all of this shit again."
"Well, looking forward to hanging out with my bro at the hike then," Neil responded, "And don't worry. I still remember everything and how things were. I'm not gonna treat you any different."
"You have no idea how good that is to hear after I spent who knows how long trying to get people to stop talking about me the way they did." And with that, Max ended the call with, "I'll see you then. Ciao!" And Neil was left wondering if anyone else he knew might be affected in such a drastic way. Maybe he'd need to talk to Parker some more later. See if he was still going to the same gym.
And so Neil found himself wondering about the gym.
He knew what the effects were so far. He knew it would have further changing effects on him most likely, but he had no idea what they'd be after seven days of changes already. What would happen going even further...? He'd seen how far Brock had changed. And he saw what happened to Matt. But he hadn't seen Lucas lately. And that seemed like a pretty powerful change in and of itself too.
Neil went ahead to go home. He could look into what happened to people on their 8th day later, and hopefully with less risk than by going there himself. As he headed home, he tilted his head, an eyebrow cocked as he saw the car Max had was no longer a dingy old hand-me-down from his folks, and was now a red full on Lamborghini - parked a good bit away from the actual house itself. Probably to try and obscure - despite knowing full well that reality had changed - where he lived.
Neil despite knowing the origins of this had to admit that he admired the vehicle.
As he entered the house, he saw Max sitting on the couch, waiting, and looking anxious. All the windows and drapes had been drawn, and he was very plainly nervous. The guy was almost as big as Neil at this point - prioritizing tone and dynamic form for doing his own stunts over sheer mass, which was made even more clear now that the two of them were actually face to face. "Thank fucking god it's you...dude, I missed you so fucking much. Where WERE you?"
"I was at Brock's place working out," Neil looked around, "How's...well, everything...?"
"I'm some famous fucker and---thankfully Clara's still good to go out with me." Max chuckled, "Not every relationship can survive the kinds of things fame brings on. But I figure she's at least in the know that it wasn't always this way."
"When did it...?"
"Happen? Right in the middle of bench press. Right smack dab in the middle of bench press." Max stated. He shook his head, "Matt went to the gym with me. I noticed how different he was, and he was like, hitting on me and these girls at the gym. Wants to go on the hike too. I dunno if you're okay with that, though."
Max continued as Neil thought about Matt, "Anyway, I was doing my bench press, I could feel the changes. Felt my body sweltering, my muscles growing...and then a snap. Someone took a photo. And another. And another. And another! Just more and more people randomly snapping photos of me doing my bench and finishing it. Miracle I ever got the workout done with the frequency of the interruption."
Max sounded seriously irritated with how his "adoring fans" tended to act. "Bitterest irony? I'm playing the guy whose inspiration got me into fitness right now. My current film is Major Crusher: War Journals. And I don't even remember auditioning - yet I know all the lines by heart!" Max laughed bitterly and then said, "Fuck, this gym did a number on me today."
Before long, Neil was seated opposite him, and said, "I...honestly had no idea it could go that far. I'm sorry. I mean, it made me some kinda big shot bodybuilder. But I didn't know it'd do that to you---"
"You had nothing to do with it, man. You've always been great to me. And we should keep looking into whatever the fuck is going on there." Max responded, looking over at him. Both realized they were starting to feel the inklings of attraction. A chemistry in shared experience over what had happened in the course of their time there. Max cleared his throat audibly as he looked Neil over. Saw the stirring in Neil's pants, the blush on his face, and his hands moving toward his lap.
"So anyway," Max stated in an awkward manner, "Clara and I...I really want her and I to be a thing, Neil." Max chewed his lip as he rocked back and forth. "We can't uhh---we can't do anything that might push her out of a relationship..."
"I get you, I get you," Neil answered. As much as he'd grown to have some sort of feelings for Max, he knew that Max seemed passionate about this. As much as the gym had changed Max's sexuality, it hadn't on the other hand changed who Max was interested in. He and Clara were still a passionate item - and one Neil felt somewhat conflicted about. He both knew what Max wanted - but also felt very obvious interest in Max - interest he knew would be reciprocated - but which also was interest that might damage that relationship Max wanted.
On Max's end however there was something he didn't say outright to Neil. As much as he wanted Clara, liked her, enjoyed their date and their coital adventure and everything - Max was now dealing with yearnings he could barely control. The entire time at the gym he'd barely managed to keep himself from getting a blowjob from one of his male groupies - he knew that they'd probably agree. He breathed and felt a sense of relief as Clara called him.
As Max excused himself to take the call - and learn that Clara was heading over to do the hike - Neil considered how much things had changed. He remembered the other way changes could happen. Any episode between himself and Max, or any of the guys he knew who went to the gym, might well cause more changes to himself and to them. As much as he knew now, he was also partial to continuing his experiment if something did happen at some point - with Lucas, Matt or some non-Max other individual.
Before long though, as he sat there contemplating, the sound of a car pulling up outside told him that the date was on.
He, Max and Clara were going to enjoy an evening of fun and games in the hills near the college. As well as whoever else Max agreed to bring along. It was going to be an interesting time in the hills, that much was for certain. Neil just hoped that he and Max could control themselves about any hook-ups that might or might not happen...