I was in love with my neighbour.
Was that wrong? Yes. But did I care? Not really. It has always been a one-sided thing and not something that happened on purpose to be honest. Lance was sixteen right now, two years have come and gone since he arrived in my life.
I was scared of new neighbours back then, mostly because this isn't the best neighbourhood and the previous tenants next door were pretty bad. Turns out, I was totally right about my new neighbours when they arrived and turned out to be pretty shitty. Well, not Lance. Never Lance. His father only really. Jack was a beast of a man, easily 6'6, with broad chest and back and thick arms and legs. He was no gym-goer however, as he was a deadbeat father who was hardly sober. From what I have gathered, he moved after leaving his third girlfriend which was, of course, also after his second divorce. The man could hardly keep a job and worked in construction, though most of the time he was either on a bar or on the couch drinking cheap beer. Lance, his son, however, was so different, so much more and yet he was still just a kid.
Lance was 14 when he knocked for the first time in my door, towering over me as everyone else did, his backpack under his stained grey hoodie to keep his books from getting wet, the rain falling strong outside. Being only 4'1 myself, it was always very difficult for me to feel comfortable on inviting people over, especially men, but Lance was just a kid and needed help. He had been locked outside and had no way of getting in until his father arrived.
That day I opened my home fto him and I can't say I have regreted that decition at all. At 14 he was almost 6 feet tall already and had a broad back. His feet and hands were big and I could see his legs were already covered in a thin dust of dark hair. His eyes were like honey and kept his short hair too. But, if there was anything else that made him really different, was his attitude towards me. He was like an explosion of energy, always asking me stuff and wanting to do things with me. Not because he didn't have any friends, but because his school and most of his friends were over an hour away, just staying a couple more hours than he should was a pain already since he could lose the last bus home. He knew that. I knew that. I had to go pick him up more than once.
Sometimes I saw him like my own kid, but everytime I let him inside my house and we started hanging around, his size and outward personality was very hard for me to ignore. Two years later, he was even bigger than before, but just as extroverted as before.
"I'm just saying, you should talk to your father about it."
"I'm talking about it with you."
"I'm not your father." I heard him murmur something but couldn't say for sure what it was.
"What was that?" I asked
"Nothing, sorry. Can we please talk about something else?"
"Okay, did you do your homework?"
"Really?"
"Then come and help me making dinner. You sure your dad won't arrive until later?" His dad has been an issue since we met, but I never over imposed nor took things for granted. If Lance was hungry and his dad wouldn't arrive until late, I had no issue with having dinner with him, but only if his dad wasn't going to show up. That had happened in multiple occasions now, for different reasons really, and I had no intention of that happening again.
"Pretty sure. Now, what you need?" He asked, his navel right about my eye level. The teen had grown to match his father's height, though he was on the lanky side. Not because he didn't like sports, but mostly because he didn't eat enough and kept to himself. I had seen a couple of bruises on him before and I knew chances weren't from rough housing. With me, however, he always behaved differently. He was cheeky, cheery and, despite the fact he was a huge compared to me, he never said anything about my height or was condescending.
I think that's why I was so entranced with him. He never saw me as lesser or someone to look down, beyond the literal way that is. His father was the issue though, he was the one who kept on holding him back, not giving him room to grow into the man he could be. I knew he could be so much more and, even if he was straight, he could make a girl very happy one day. If, he had the chance to live however.
That's why when the Alphaverse Store appeared to me, I took it as a chance to help him out instead of me. See, I'm a writer and make a living by writing a few webnovels here and there. Nothing too popular but I had my couple of books in amazon already doing fairly well. One day, however, I wrote how my main character had access to the Alphaverse Store, a store that basically had the alpha version of anything sold across all universes in existance. It had it's ups and downs, as the Alpha version usually meant things that were not completely finished, but considering that it contained all the objects across all the universes, there were often several versions of similar objects with the same effects, some of which were much more improved than the copies from other universes. I wrote that my character got access after willingly trying to be an Alpha Tester for the universe itself, which is also the way I got access to it.
It was freaky but the way it worked was easy. You got 1 free item out of a fair selection and then, you would get Alpha points for trying it out. Points which you could use to buy more stuff. Of course I didn't miss a chance and got what I wanted.
"That spice over there, please."
"What is this?" He said, reaching with ease at the bag of green spice I had on top of the fridge.
"Pesto." I lied.
"It doesn't look like pesto."
"You'll eat what I give you, Lance." I was pushing it, I knew.
"S-sorry, I didn't mean that. Here you go." I didn't dare look at his face.
He was always so meek whenever I gave him attitude. I mean, of course I was in my whole right to order him around, this being my house and being much older and all, but still, it always made my chest feel tight.
"Thanks, now this is almost ready, you can set up the table."
We got to dinner rather sooner than later, his plate having a lot of pesto. His plate was the only one with the 'pesto' to be honest, I just said I didn't like it and while he could have said something along the lines of "that's why you're so short" or something, he didn't say anything else about it. I helped him out with his homework over dinner, though my mind was way too focused on his face, looking for any signs of the thing working. What I had got him was an Alphaversion Mega Protein, supposed to help tremendously with muscle growth and development of all things masculine or something. Honestly, I just saw the pictures of a 'before and after' within the store and just got it immediately.
"Here, I have some leftovers for your lunch and this, it's a protein shake I made you for after your gym class tomorrow."
"Really!? Thanks! You're the best!" He said like a puppy with a happy smile as he crouched to hug me tightly. He was so strong, I couldn't help but wish the protein really helped him, maybe it would give him the courage one day to stand up to his father. Everything I gave him was full of the protein, though I still had quite a lot saved, I did not want to drug him or anything. The one thing that made me not hesitate on using him right away was that the store reassured there wouldn't be any negative side effects as there had been none so far by the ones who had tested it. Sure, I was one of those testers now, but I knew everything was going to be fine. I just felt it.
The next day, when I arrived home after grocery shopping, I heard a weird noise at the back of my house. Then, I heard the sound again and I definetely knew there was someone back there. I gulped, knowing it was too early for Lance to be home or for Jack to actually be here.
"H-h-h-h-hey! I k-know you're there! I'm calling the cops!" I yelled, my knees ready to give out as I fumbled for my cellphone as quickly as possible.
"Wait! Wait wait wait! It's me! Lance!" Said a voice I barely recognized as Lance's face popped from around the corner.
"Lance? Jesus, you scared the hell out me."
"Sorry, sorry. You're safe, there's no bad person here."
"Okay, g-great! Now, what's going on? Shouldn't you be in school still?" I asked, confirming the time with my phone.
"Yeah... I kinda had a little accident."
I raised an eyebrow. I decided to let me hormones and feelings aside and help the kid out, if he came to me for something like a 'little accident' I knew it was important.
"A little accident?"
"Yeah, little."
I stared, "Okay? Go on."
That's when he came out from where he was hiding and showed me the 'little accident'. His toes had broken through his sneakers, the seam of his pants was level with his thicker hairier legs, similar story with his hoodie, only reaching to his navel and showing everyone a pair of slightly visible abs. He must have shot up at least 6 inches in one night, reaching all the way to seven feet.
"Oh my god" I stared, wide eyed at how massive Lance had become in less than 24 hours.