Today, Gym Bro was keeping his word and taking Josh to the mall to get some new clothes. Josh still felt bad about having Gym Bro paying for all of these things, especially after the gifts, so he demanded that Gym Bro keep track of the cost for all the clothes so that Josh could pay him back for everything after getting a job.

  Josh hesitated to step out of the truck after Gym Bro parked. He’d felt confident and cool when he’d decided to wear a pin green V-neck shirt and the same pair of jeans he’d been wearing the whole week. He thought putting on the Zoe disguise couldn’t be worse than when he’d gone to the grocery store or handled the delivery.

  The sheer amount of people at the mall was overwhelming. There was no chance people wouldn’t be staring at him. Memories of the time Alice forced him to walk around in a bra flooded Josh’s mind. It seemed so paltry in comparison to what he had to do now.

  He looked down at his cleavage and mindlessly adjusted his bra straps to try and calm down. He tugged and pulled at the shirt to see if he could try to cover up a little more. Why were all of his tops so revealing? Well, that wasn’t true. The dresses had more coverage, but wearing a dress meant there would be no doubt he looked like a woman.

  “As if we don’t look like one now,” he heard himself think.

  Josh took some deep breaths. Gym Bro spoke, “You doing okay?” Josh gnced at Gym Bro’s face. He seemed legitimately concerned. Josh could tell they looked like a pathetic loser right now. All he had to do was run into one of the stores, grab some basic clothes, have someone else pay for everything, and then be driven home. And here they were having a stupid meltdown because it seemed like too much to handle.

  “This is pathetic,” he told himself, “We need to be Zoe for a little bit longer. Then it’s back to being Josh.”

  He put a smile on their face and said, “Yeah, sorry, I think I’m just excited to get in there.” Gym Bro nodded his head and shut off the truck. The two calmly walked into the mall and headed towards one of the rger department stores.

  Thankfully, the department store had very few people in general compared to the rest of the mall, so he felt a bit more comfortable pretending to be Zoe as he sifted through the men’s clothing. Gym Bro made sure to stay by their side so he wouldn’t be alone.

  Eventually, he selected a few shirts, pants, and shorts that would be able to get him through a week considering he never went many pces. He also didn’t want to potentially upset Gym Bro by buying more workout clothes. They would be fine with the women’s versions for now; its not like they were going to be working out in public.

  Unlike Alice, Gym Bro gave them privacy in the dressing room as he tried on the clothes. However, Josh encountered a different problem. He’d picked out the normal sizes he was used to wearing but everything felt different now. He could easily pull the shirt onto his body without fussing around or squeezing, so it wasn’t the wrong size, but it still looked and felt wrong.

  He turned side to side to get different viewpoints in the mirror. Finally, it clicked. The boobs. Their boobs were still protruding because of the bra. He quickly took the shirt off, unhooked his bra, and then slid the shirt back over his head. That looked better, sort of, but now the boobs were freely jiggling around and the shirt’s fabric felt a bit rough on his nipples. He tried on a few of different shirts he’d grabbed both with and without the bra, but the effect was the same.

  “We look like a girl wearing her boyfriend’s shirt,” Josh heard in his mind.

  This definitely wasn’t going to work. Especially since he was now dealing with the uncomfortable mental image of prancing around in Gym Bro’s shirts. He needed to find male clothing that helped them look masculine. He decided to see how the pants fit. He squeezed out of the jeans he was wearing and tried to put on a pair of the male jeans he’d selected.

  In addition to looking weird, the pants didn’t even fit well. The waistline was way too loose and the thighs were way too tight. They pants also had way less stretch than the women’s jeans he’d been wearing. The other pants he brought in had the same problem.

  “Maybe we need different sizes. We have changed a lot in the st few months.”

  He spent the next thirty minutes running in and out of the dressing room with various sizes of t-shirts, jeans, and cargo shorts but he kept running into different problems.

  He could find a pair of pants that fit his legs nicely, but the waistline would be so huge that it looked ridiculous even with a belt on. He found shirts that hid the shape of his boobs well enough, but only because they hung loosely across his entire body.

  On what felt like the twentieth time exiting the dressing room, he caught a gnce of Gym Bro sitting impatiently. This was bad. This was supposed to be a short trip where Josh got a few clothes and then they left, but here he was wasting tons of time like some woman who couldn’t decide on an outfit.

  He quietly stood in front of Gym Bro and said, “Hey, so, I’m having a little bit of trouble finding clothes that fit me.” Gym Bro let out an exasperated sigh. Josh continued, “Look, I’m really sorry about wasting all this time. Maybe I can try another store.”

  Gym Bro stretched his arms and stood up. He pced one of his hands on Josh’s shoulder. “It’s fine,” he said, “we can check a few of the other stores in here.” Josh let his head fall. Gym Bro wasn’t saying anything mean, but Josh couldn’t help but feel like a total failure.

  “What kind of man fits better into women’s clothing?” Josh heard from the familiar voice in his mind.

  Josh solemnly trailed behind Gym Bro as they walked out of the store. He didn’t have any better luck in the other stores they checked. He ran into the same problems. Too baggy, fitting well in one area but not good enough in others, showing off his boobs too much, tight legs, not enough stretch.

  By the time they took a break for some food, Josh was ready to crawl into a hole and cry. He numbly chewed on his fries as the day’s failures repyed on a constant loop in his mind.

  “Hey,” Gym Bro’s voice cut into Josh’s thoughts, “You’re going to be okay.” Josh shook his head. He replied, “I couldn’t find a single thing that fit me.” Gym Bro shrugged, “I know it sucks, but there’s a reason they make clothes for different genders. Women’s clothes are designed to fit women’s features, you know?”

  Josh didn’t want to hear it. Gym Bro continued, “I’m sorry, it’s just, there’s a time and a pce for everything, you know? You’re going through some changes, and things are uncomfortable right now, but I know you can make it.”

  “We don’t deserve his kindness,” Josh heard in his mind.

  He vaguely heard Gym Bro slurp down the rest of his milkshake. Josh barely had it in him to finish eating his food. Everything felt terrible. Life was losing its color. He didn’t have a job, or a house, or a girlfriend. He couldn’t even wear the clothes he liked.

  “I’ve got something to cheer you up,” Gym Bro said. Josh gnced up. Gym Bro continued, “First of all, I finished making you a workout pn. It’s all stuff you can do at home, so you don’t need to worry about people watching you or anything.”

  Josh said, “I guess that’s nice. Working out again would be nice.”

  “Exactly! It’s great for your mental health and your physical health. I also have been doing research into your whole boob situation.”

  “Oh?”

  Gym Bro smirked, “I’ve got everything figured out. A surefire way to get you from were you are to where you need to be.” Josh felt his mood lifting. Gym Bro continued, “I have all my notes back at the house, so I can tell you everything in detail ter, but trust me, in a few months, you’re going to see some epic progress.”

  “Months?” Josh couldn’t believe his ears. Gym Bro nodded his head with confidence. “Months. No more than four or five. Maybe six. But you should see some benefits within the first month from the workouts and the new medicine I found.” Josh felt fully rejuvenated.

  “This is great news!” he said with a big grin. He felt his appetite returning. He should have known Gym Bro would be a huge help. Josh felt like things were back on track. Gym Bro spoke up, “Actually, that reminds me, while we’re here we should probably get you some new bras.”

  Josh’s stomach flipped. “Huh?”

  Gym Bro continued, “I know this sounds counter intuitive but a lot of things that help you get healthier are. We need to get you in some better fitting bras instead of the double sports bra situation you do all the time.”

  “But,” Josh said, “the goal is to not have boobs. Wearing the sports bras helps me ignore them.” Gym Bro scratched at his chin. “I hear you,” he said. He leaned forward and put his hands palm down and the table. “Let me level with you, remember my buddy who had gynecomastia?” Josh nodded his head.

  “Well, he tried doing the whole chest binding thing and it really screwed with his body. All that pressure, especially on the chest, wasn’t good for him.” Josh’s eyebrows raised. Gym Bro continued, “I get that you’re not comfortable with your body yet, but if you keep binding, you’re going to wind up with two long, ft, saggy pancakes hanging off your chest pretty soon.”

  Josh replied, “But, all I need to do is lose some weight and then use the money from the investments to pay for surgery to remove the rest. Why does it matter if they’re ft or not?” Gym Bro leaned back in his seat. “I see the confusion,” he said.

  “It’s not only about the aesthetics. It’s about the health of the tissue and skin. If you do decide to go for a reduction, then you need the area to be as healthy as possible so you can heal. Make sense?” That made enough sense to Josh.

  “I guess,” he said, “but how does wearing a normal bra help with that? Isn’t it still compression?” Gym Bro tsked at Josh and shook his head. “Not really,” he said, “A properly fitted bra is all about support and comfort. I think you’ll be surprised by how good they feel for you. My buddy? It changed his world.”

  “Your friend wore bras?”

  Gym Bro shrugged. “Yeah, it’s no big deal.” Josh couldn’t believe it. “But,” he said, “didn’t people make fun of him?” Gym Bro scratched his chin. “I guess some people did, but those people are assholes. You know? There’s always going to be haters in the world.” Gym Bro leaned forward and took Josh’s hand in his. “You don’t need to worry about any of them.” He winked at Josh. “You’ve got me.”

  Gym Bro let go of Josh’s hand and grabbed a fry. Josh tried to hear something other than his internal screaming. He couldn’t tell if he was terrified or overjoyed. Gym Bro said, “Here, let me finish the rest of the food so you’re not too bloated and we can get you fitted right now.”

  “Right now?”

  Gym Bro shrugged. “It’s a good a time as any. Besides, you look great right now, so do the Zoe voice during the fitting, we’ll get you a few bras, and then we can rex the rest of the day at home.” Josh blinked his eyes. He hadn’t really thought about his voice in a while.

  “Is there something wrong with my voice?” he asked. Gym Bro replied, “Not really. I mean, you totally can pass as a chick, but your Zoe voice hits differently. Right now, people would definitely be giving you second looks if they heard you speak.”

  Josh’s heart rate spiked. That wasn’t good. What was the point of looking this way if people were able to find out he was really a guy whenever he spoke? He concentrated on his throat. “What about now?” he asked. His brain felt a bit fuzzy.

  “Better,” Gym Bro said. His eyebrows creased in concentration. “Hmm, I have an idea. I’ll think about it more and get back to you. But definitely stay in Zoe mode for now.” Josh …

  “No, Zoe. Be Zoe,” he told himself.

  Zoe nodded his head. “Okay,” Zoe said. He put a smile on their face. Why was his mind so fuzzy all of a sudden? Thinking about himself as Zoe felt so foreign. He wasn’t sure, but it almost felt like he was cheating. Like he wasn’t supposed to be allowed an identity. But now, he was Zoe. He watched Gym Bro finish off the st of their food.

  “Does Zoe even like chicken sandwiches and waffle fries?” he wondered to himself.

  He…Zoe spent their time trying to sort out the new swirling emotions inside of their body as they followed Gym Bro to a lingerie store. He watched as Gym Bro spoke to one of the salespeople and then blindly followed a dy to a back room.

  “Your boyfriend says this is your first time getting fitted,” the dy said. Her words snapped their mind back into focus. “He’s not my boyfriend,” he spurted out. Thankfully, it was easy to use his more feminine voice when thinking of himself as Zoe. Because it was Zoe’s voice. Her voice?

  “Oh?” the woman said, “my bad. He sure is handsome though, isn’t he?” Zoe smiled awkwardly. He knew a part of him was very attracted to Gym Bro, but he also knew he wasn’t supposed to acknowledge that part of himself.

  “Wait a minute. If we’re Zoe, a woman, then isn’t it okay to say Gym Bro is hot?”

  The dy spoke again, “Go ahead and take your top off.” Zoe put himself back into the body and did as the dy said. The dy’s eyes widened when she saw Zoe’s body. “Oh wow sweetie, you are in desperate need of a better fitting bra.”

  “What? What’s wrong?” Zoe asked. The dy walked behind them and uncsped their bra from the back. Zoe let it slide off their shoulders and immediately felt exposed to the entire world. The dy wasn’t even looking at them, but Zoe felt like something was wrong.

  “I have no idea how a woman would act right now,” he realized.

  The panic started to set in. Any small mistake he made right now could expose him. He had to channel as much feminine energy as possible to make sure the dy suspected nothing.

  “What do women normally do when they take their tops off in front of strangers?” he asked himself.

  He felt his arms rising to cover his chest.

  “Wait, would it be weird if we did that around another woman though? Don’t they strip in front of each other all the time?”

  He dropped his arms immediately. This was torture.

  The dy finished her quick look at the bra. “A thirty-two C?” she said, “Oh no honey, this is definitely too small. And it’s padded?” She looked at their face with pity in her eyes. “Let’s get you properly measured sweetie.” The dy pced the bra on a small table and grabbed a measuring tape.

  “Okay,” she said, “turn around and raise your arms up a little bit.” Zoe did as they were instructed. The dy wrapped the measuring tape around their torso and slid it slightly under their breasts. “You can put your arms down,” she said. Zoe did so. He felt the tape move and tighten against their skin.

  “You’re around thirty-four-point-five inches for your ribcage,” the dy said, “raise your arms up a little bit for me.” Zoe did. The dy let the measuring tape loosen just enough so she could slide it up and around the hanging part of Zoe’s chest and rested it across their nipples.

  “Arms back down for me.”

  Once again, Zoe felt the dy adjusting the measuring tape. The dy also had them lean over at a ninety degree angle for one more measurement. When they were done, the dy said, “Wait right here for a moment and let me grab you some options,” and walked out the door.

  Zoe stood around awkwardly. So far, it seemed as if they were pulling off the disguise well. They also didn’t need to speak too much, so having their voice give them away didn’t seem like much of a threat. They were also getting used to referring to themselves as Zoe; at least internally.

  The dy returned and helped them into one of the bras she’d brought with her. It was much easier having someone else do the csps in the back, but a part of them did feel a little sad they didn’t get to show off their practiced skill with putting on bras. Another part of them felt ridiculous for wanting to show off such a feminine skill.

  The dy fiddled with the straps and the band, always asking how Zoe felt. Zoe wasn’t quite sure how to describe things, but he did his best to answer the questions. The dy wasn’t satisfied and had them try on a second bra. Almost instantly, Zoe felt like a weight was lifted from their shoulders.

  “Oh wow,” he let himself say. The dy peeked from behind their back. “This feels good?” she asked. Zoe nodded their head. “Yeah, it’s like, somehow my body is a little lighter.” The dy cpped her hands. “Fantastic! I knew I should have gone with my first instinct. I thought you might fit well into a thirty-six F, but thirty-six E is the way to go.”

  Zoe wasn’t too focused on what the dy was saying. He twisted their upper body and stretched their arms around. The difference was amazing. It was like their boobs were sitting on top of their chest instead of either being squeezed against their body or pulling down from their chest. He looked down and didn’t see the valley of cleavage he was used to either which made a part of him very happy indeed.

  “I had no idea bras could be comfortable,” he felt himself say. The dy replied, “Most women always do the very basic measurement by themselves and then never do the research. You’re a thirty-six E in our measurement system, but you could easily be a thirty-four F or thirty-six triple D if you buy from another company.”

  Zoe cupped their breasts in their hands and lifted a little, but letting them drop didn’t feel weird at all. He tried bouncing up and down in pce. His breasts still moved a lot compared to the double sports bra method, but it was a vast improvement over having no bra at all.

  The woman continued, “Unfortunately, we don’t carry bras built for athletic performance, but we can get you some more bras and try a few more styles in the proper size for you.” Zoe nodded their head.

  The dy went in and out of the room grabbing over a dozen different bras in all sorts of colors and shapes for them to try on in the fitting room. Zoe wasn’t sure how much time was passing and felt a little nervous about making Gym Bro wait even longer for them to try on clothes, so he tried to keep things moving by quickly saying “yes” or “no” to the different options.

  If the bra fit comfortably and supported their chest well, then that meant it was a “yes” from Zoe. That included the few bras the dy brought in that still had padding or cupped their boobs in a way that gave them cleavage again. Zoe figured it was fine. It’s not like they had to wear every bra they bought today. Plus, even though the bras gave them cleavage, they still fit way more comfortably than the bras they’d been wearing.

  Zoe was satisfied with all of his choices all the way up until they saw the price at checkout. “Nine hundred dolrs?” they gasped. The sales dy smiled gently. “I know, it can be a little shocking. However, keep in mind what I was telling you before. All of these bras are very durable and should st you years. Also, our store has the one year exchange period where, if your breasts change in size by a significant degree, you can exchange all of the bras you purchased for new, properly fitted, bras for only a one hundred dolr exchange fee.”

  Zoe felt paralyzed. There was no way they could afford almost one thousand dolrs for bras they didn’t even want to wear in the first pce. Gym Bro stepped forward and pulled out his wallet. “It’s fine,” he said, “You really needed new bras anyways, right Zoe?”

  Zoe looked at his face. Then at the sales dy’s face. They were both smiling and Zoe could tell their face was all twisted up and weird. He quickly shifted back into a cheerful smile and brightened his voice. “Oh my god, thank you so much,” he said.

  Gym Bro tapped his credit card on the machine and even carried the bags out of the mall for them. Zoe felt their heart beating faster and faster in their chest, but he did his best to ignore it and continue smiling and being the nice, pretty, happy girl they needed to be right now.

  He managed to hold things together until they got back home. He was in the middle of putting their new purchases away when Josh felt the realization of everything hit him all at once.

  He finished csping the back of one of the bras he’d just bought and fell back to sit on the bed. He’d spent hours of his day trying all sorts of clothes on and the only things he’d bought were more women’s clothing. And not some reasonable women’s clothing like shirts or pants; but bras. Basically the universal symbol for womanhood.

  He looked down at the device supporting his chest. It felt really awful. And good. And bad. Or nothing? Good, bad, nothing. How could he be feeling all three at the same time? There was something tugging in his gut; telling him that things were fine. And sure, Josh knew that he was in a much better pce than before.

  He didn’t even need to think about how things were better since it was so obviously better. Of course, it was weird to be in such a good pce and still feel so crappy. Maybe life was meant to be crappy? Because otherwise, how could life be better and he still feel terrible about himself?

  Gym Bro came in through the door. “Hey there,” he said. He came and stood in front of Josh. “Is this one of the new bras?” he asked. Josh numbly nodded his head. He was still swimming in the mental angst of the sea of doubts rising in his mind.

  Gym Bro squatted down and looked Josh over. He said, “I know it may not be your favorite thing to hear right now, but it looks good on you.” Josh’s insides twisted and burned. Gym Bro continued, “I can tell you’re upset, but your boob situation will improve. I promise.” Gym Bro tilted Josh’s face upwards by his chin so that they were looking at each other.

  “Also,” Gym Bro continued, “I finished the pn. I’ve got great news for you.” Josh wasn’t sure there could be any good news, but he dutifully followed Gym Bro into the kitchen and sat down at the table. He was a bit surprised to see all the papers, boxes, and other stuff id out across the table. There was even a binder. It seemed like Gym Bro was really serious about this pn he kept mentioning.

  “First, let’s talk about goals,” Gym Bro said, “this schedule I created for you is intended to get your body and mind healthy, so that you will be ready to get out there and live your life again. For now though, you can stay at home where it’s safe and you feel comfortable.”

  He continued, “You do need to go out once a week to restock on groceries, but you’ve already got things figured out with your Zoe mode.” Josh’s gut tugged again at the mention of the name. Gym Bro kept talking, “I know you’re probably anxious to go out and find a job as fast as possible, but let’s be realistic.”

  “You’re not in a good head space right now. Plus, your goal is to drastically change the way your body looks. Imagine how awkward it will be to start a job and then slowly transform in front of their eyes. We don’t want that, you know?”

  “Yeah,” Josh said. He didn’t feel like talking, but he had to admit Gym Bro made a good point. There was no way to hide these breasts right now and he did not want to try to expin himself to a bunch of new people.

  Gym Bro continued, “Great, so for at least the first two months, your only focus should be getting healthy, getting in shape, and getting used to your new routine. Once that’s all figured out, you’ll be in a great position to figure out the money situation. Besides, you still have the investments with me. We saw a ten percent climb this past week.”

  “Ten percent!” Josh excimed, “That’s gotta be like,” he trailed off as he tried running numbers in his head. He’d given Gym Bro twelve thousand dolrs. Ten percent of twelve thousand was…One…and then…He had to move the decimal. Gym Bro cut in, “It’s a good amount of money. We’re on track to the target amount I mentioned before we started.” Josh felt his mouth twitch into the sembnce of a smile.

  “Okay, that is some good news,” Josh heard himself say.

  “Next up,” Gym Bro said, “let’s talk about your medicine.” He opened up a notebook, looked at one of the pages, and then selected one of the boxes to slide over to Josh. “Domperidone,” Josh said. Gym Bro nodded, “I did more research and my initial thought was right on the money. It was stopping this medicine that really screwed you up. Not to mention that it is really good at stabilizing your mood, which I think will help with the mood swings you’ve been having.”

  “Is he noticing us?” Josh heard in the back of his mind. Which was was weird. Because why would he be an “us”? And why would it be bad to be noticed? What was there to notice?

  “Maybe we should be taking these,” he thought.

  Gym Bro said, “go ahead and take a few right now to get started.” Josh replied, “I already took two this morning. I’ve been taking three at night.” Gym Bro nodded his head, “That’s not enough of a dose to get the full effects of the drug. You need to work yourself up to taking eight every day. Don’t worry, I have the whole thing written down day-by-day. You also don’t want to overload your kidneys by taking too many at one time, so take two now and then two more before bed.”

  Josh did as he was told. Gym Bro continued, “Next, let this dissolve under your tongue.” He slid over a bottle of pills. “Vitamin B-twelve?” Josh said. He shook out one of the small blue pills and held it in his fingers. “Why can’t I swallow it?”

  “Vitamin B-twelve works weird like that. For some reason, if you only swallow it, the vitamin gets destroyed by your stomach acid and never makes it into your system. Normally it’s protected by being in the food you eat, but it’s clear, based on your symptoms, that you are not getting enough.”

  “What do you mean?” Josh asked.

  “All the B vitamins are important, but B-twelve is probably the most important. People die from not having enough of it even if the rest of their diet is perfectly healthy.”

  “No way.”

  Gym Bro nodded his head. “No joke. A lot of vegans have to take this stuff because it’s hard to get without eating meat products.” Josh shook his head in disbelief. He was so gd he never let Alice convince him to try her stupid vegan idea. He quickly popped the pill into his mouth and slid it under his tongue.

  Gym Bro said, “The good news about B-twelve is that you can’t really take too much of it. However, to optimize cost and effectiveness, I have you taking four pills a day. I suggest doing two at a time.” Josh nodded his head and shook out another little blue pill.

  “Next up is a multivitamin.” Gym Bro slid an unmarked pill bottle over. “You take two of those a day. Only take them before bed though since they can make you drowsy sometimes.” Josh nodded his head and put the bottle off to the side.

  “Great. You also want to be taking these, these, and these.” Gym Bro passed over three more bottles filled with pills. “You can take those at any time, so I put on the schedule to take some with breakfast and some after lunch.” Josh looked over the pills and creased his forehead.

  “Wait a minute,” he said, “Pioglitazone, bicalutamide, and MSM? These are all things I took with Alice in order to grow boobs.” He looked critically at Gym Bro and asked, “Why would I keep taking them?” Gym Bro didn’t skip a beat. “You’re already used to them? Fantastic news!” Josh was totally confused.

  Gym Bro said, “The piogiltazone helps regute blood sugar and can even help eliminate visceral fat. That’s the type of fat that’s really dangerous and unhealthy. MSM is perfect for tissue health and promotes your body to make colgen. It will help prevent stretch marks as your body changes. It also helps you process other nutrients better, so it’s basically like taking a vitamin. And the bicalutamide is an anti-androgen, so obviously you need that.”

  Josh cocked his head. Gym Bro picked up on the signal and said, “It helps lower testosterone.” Josh shook his head in disbelief. Now he knew Gym Bro must be confused. “No, no, no. I need more testosterone. Low testosterone is the whole reason I have gynecomastia in the first pce. That’s why I take supplements.”

  Gym Bro leaned forward and made a serious face. “You’re on testosterone?” Josh nodded nonchantly. “Yeah,” he said. Gym Bro groaned and rubbed his eyes. “That expins it!” he said.

  “What?”

  “Remember my friend? The one with gynecomastia?” Josh nodded his head. Gym Bro continued, “He developed it from using steroids. Testosterone is a steroid. If you have too much in your system, then it actually converts into estrogen.”

  “Wait, seriously?”

  Gym Bro raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, seriously. Why? How much are you taking?” Josh felt himself shrink in the chair. “I mean, I thought it would help my boobs shrink.”

  “How much?”

  “A few pumps a day,” Josh said quietly. Gym Bro crossed his arms and shook his head for a moment. Josh looked down and away. Finally, Gym Bro said, “Well, at least we figured out what’s been going on. The saline drips, the steroid abuse, and your malnutrition; it all adds up.”

  Josh grabbed the pills and held them up. “This stuff is actually going to help me?”

  “Taking them this whole time is probably the only reason you’re not worse off,” Gym Bro said, “You need to stop using the testosterone immediately. Take these pills for a month and we’ll see how things are going. I had no idea you were using steroids, so I thought your levels were absurdly high for no reason, but…” He trailed off.

  “The important thing is that we can fix things. It’s not too te,” he said. Josh nodded his head. He’d already finished letting the blue pills dissolve under his tongue, so he went ahead and popped the test pills into his mouth and swallowed them dry.

  “I can’t believe we were so stupid,” he told himself.

  “There are some more supplements you could be taking,” Gym Bro continued, “but they’re all stuff you can get through eating. Which brings us to the next part of the pn: diet.” Gym Bro flipped to a different page in his notebook and began to steamroll Josh with an incredible amount of information about diet and nutrition.

  “These are the spices. They don’t only make the food taste better. They also boost nutrient absorption and provide key nutrients you don’t get form other foods.”

  “These are the best vegetables for your dolr. You want bright colors like green, orange, red, and purple. You’re going to get used to eating sweet potato really quickly.”

  “There’s good cinnamon and bad cinnamon. Technically, you don’t really need it, but I think it adds a nice kick, so I have the good stuff shipped in. Never buy the stuff on the grocery shelves.”

  “Then we get into protein. Obviously, it’s hard to beat meat, but you want to always consume it with green tea. They put all these pesticides on our crops and they get concentrated in the fat and muscle of the livestock. But green tea, and some of the other stuff I mentioned has a protective factor…”

  “Caffeine is fine, but sleep is better, so beans are going to be the py for night time…”

  “Snacks are fine during the bulk phase, but we don’t want to stuff you full of empty calories with desserts…”

  After what felt like an eternity, Gym Bro spped his hands on the table and leaned back in his chair. “That’s pretty much everything. I obviously couldn’t go into too much detail, but I think this gives you a good idea of how things work.”

  Josh nodded his head. “And, um, you wrote all of the foods and meals down, so I just need to buy the stuff and cook the meals, right?” he asked. Gym Bro nodded vigorously. He said, “I made it really simple for you.” He grabbed the binder on the table and held it up. “I created an entire month of meals for you as well as broke down your schedule day-by-day and week-by-week, so everything you have to do is id out perfectly.”

  He slid the binder over for Josh to look at. The front of the binder said “Josh’s Schedule”. Josh flipped through the pages. It was incredibly well done. Every week had the groceries listed out that he needed to buy, the areas of the house he needed to clean, when to do undry, when to exercise. Josh looked up.

  “I see exercise in here. I’m not sure I feel comfortable going back to the gym even if I’m still paying for it.” Gym Bro waved his hands. “Fuck those guys. Like I said, I figured out stuff you can do here, at home.” He quickly stood up. “That reminds me.”

  Gym Bro walked away and went into the third bedroom. He quickly returned with a bck storage box and put it down next to Josh. He squatted to the ground to open the box and pulled out some thick rubber bands. He looked up at Josh with a big grin on his face. “These are going to be your saving grace,” he said.

  He pulled Josh to his feet and handed him one of the rge orange bands. “Go ahead and try to move it,” Gym Bro said. Josh grabbed the band and tried to pull it apart with his arms. It didn’t even budge. He looked at Gym Bro’s smirking face in disbelief. Josh shook his head and doubled his effort.

  All he succeeded in doing was making a little squeaking sound as he once again failed to make the band stretch. “What the hell?” Josh said. Gym Bro nodded. “I know, right? Obviously you’ll be able to use real weights in the future, but I managed to find some heavy-duty resistance bands for you. Be careful not to let them fold you in half.” He emphasized his joke by spping Josh’s shoulder.

  Gym Bro walked back to his notebook and flipped through the pages. “Let’s see, goals, diet, exercise. Oh, right.” He put the notebook down and returned to the third bedroom. He came back with a tripod and a phone. “I won’t be around to make sure you’re doing things well, but I figured that you could record yourself doing the workouts and then I’ll review them. I’ll make sure you’re not moving in a way that will hurt you.”

  Josh took the tripod and phone. “What kind of workouts am I doing again? I’m not familiar with bands.” Gym Bro snapped his fingers. He opened up the ptop and waved Josh over to look. “I found this dy, Michelle Champion, and she has all these videos that do a surprisingly good job demonstrating all the exercises I had pnned for you.”

  Josh watched a very fit woman on all fours lifting her leg into the air even though she had a resistance band wrapped around her thighs. Gym Bro clicked through a few more videos. “I went through the trouble to isote the clips that you actually need, so refer to the video names in the binder I made for you.”

  Gym Bro walked over to the living room area and beckoned Josh over. He pulled out another storage container from underneath the sofa. “You can keep the tripod in here when you’re not using it. I also got you a yoga mat, some hair ties, and some other things that may help you.”

  Gym Bro stood up and crossed his arms. “So that’s your goals, diet, exercise, household duties…medication.” Gym Bro scratched his chin. “No, yeah, that should be everything.” Josh looked around. He stared at the box of exercise equipment. Then he looked over at the table where the binder sat.

  “Oh,” Gym Bro said, “Obviously you’re only exercising five days a week. Otherwise you’d tire yourself out and you could actually lose progress. Since I usually have weekends free, I figured I’d keep those open for you too so we can hang out and have fun.” Josh felt a warm, light spread across his chest.

  This giant, sweet man really wanted to be his friend. He’d done all this work for them over the past week while they’d been freaking out about little things like clothing and names. Josh beamed back at his new friend. “This is all really amazing,” he said.

  “I’m gd you appreciate it.”

  Josh put the tripod down and wrapped his arms around Gym Bro’s torso. He knew guys weren’t usually about giving their friends hugs, but what he and Gym Bro had was different. Sure enough, Gym Bro quickly reciprocated the hug and the two held each other for a few moments.

  “Hey,” Gym Bro said, “I know today didn’t go exactly as you pnned.”

  Josh pulled out of the hug and shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. Really it’s fine.” He gestured around. “And everything you just told us is great news. Seriously, I’m really happy.”

  “I hear you. Still, it’s a lot of information. It would be best to get started with things tomorrow, but, tonight, I’m going to help you rex a bit. Because of the long day at the mall. And you had to try on all those clothes and then listen to me ramble forever.”

  Josh wasn’t sure what Gym Bro was suggesting, but he felt the warm feeling spreading throughout more of his body. Gym Bro rubbed his chin. “You know, I was thinking about the gym, and one of the times we got to talk for a bit, I think I mentioned I used to be a massage therapist.”

  Josh’s heart skipped a beat. He felt like he was at risk of breaking out into a full on sweat if this conversation was going where he thought it was going.

  Gym Bro continued, “So I was thinking I would give you a massage again. To help you rex, you know?”

  Josh knew there was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions going on, but that was all stuff on the inside. He was really tired. And it would be sort of rude if he didn’t accept his friend’s offer. They couldn’t be rude.

  “Only if it’s not a big deal,” Josh said, “Or, you had to wait on me changing all day. I could give you one maybe.” Gym Bro chuckled. He grabbed Josh’s hand and fiddled with it. He said, “I don’t know if your hands could really push hard enough. No offense, but I always have to use the highest settings on massage chairs to be able to feel anything.”

  Josh chuckled nervously. “I guess it was kind of silly.”

  They stood in silence for a moment.

  “So, um,” Gym Bro said.

  “Oh! Yeah. I mean, yes. Yes, I would like a massage. From you.”

  Josh felt like such an idiot. It was only a massage. They’d done this before. Them both being guys wasn’t a big deal. Gym Bro chuckled and said, “I already said I was going to give you a massage. I’m waiting for you to move. We’ll do it on your bed. Go take your bra off.” Josh’s breathing got faster. He quickly turned around and sped walk into the bedroom.

  He stood in front of his bed and and started to fiddle with the bra straps. He felt a presence step up close behind him and froze in pce. “Here, let me help you.” Josh dropped his hands as Gym Bro easily unhooked the bra and slid it from Josh’s shoulders.

  Josh shuddered as he felt their breasts sway a little from the support coming off his body. He crawled onto the bed. “You can take the pants off too; leave your underwear on.” Josh covered their chest and turned around. “Um, I’m not wearing any underwear,” he said.

  Gym Bro chuckled and walked over to the dresser. He pulled something out and tossed it over to Josh. “Put those on,” he said. He turned around to give Josh some privacy. Josh took a moment to hold out the item he’d received. They were one of the pairs of floral panties that he’d been avoiding.

  Still, he had no choice if he wanted to get the massage he wanted, so he quickly stripped his pants off and slid the panties up his legs. He sat on the bed awkwardly before deciding to flip onto his stomach and prop his chest up on the pillows. He turned his head slightly to call out, “I’m ready.”

  He closed his eyes and tried to rex. This was fine. It was just a massage. And he was basically naked. But, he’d been completely naked when they’d gotten the massage at the spa. And that was with a total stranger. This was from Gym Bro. Which was better. Because they were friends.

  Josh felt Gym Bro’s fingers suddenly dig into his back. “Oh fuck,” he accidentally let slip out. He quickly spped his hands over his mouth and flipped over. “I’m so sorry,” he squeaked. Then he realized what he was doing and quickly covered his chest. “I swear I’m not trying to make this weird.”

  Gym Bro cocked an eyebrow. “The only weird thing you’re doing is trying not to be weird. I’m giving you a massage; this is normal.” Josh still felt guilty. “But, I mean, I’m not trying to suggest anything. Or confuse you,” he said.

  “What? With these?” Gym Bro reached forward and pulled Josh’s arms away from his chest. “They’re boobs, sure,” Gym Bro said, “but I’m not some sort of mindless animal. As far as I’m concerned, I’m just giving a friend a massage.” Josh felt a little calmer. “You sure?” he asked.

  “I’m positive. Try to rex. If you make noises or say anything, I’ll assume it’s tension leaving your body. Okay?” Josh nodded his head and flipped back onto his belly. He heard Gym Bro from behind, “You ready?”

  “Mhm.”

  Once again, Gym Bro’s fingers dug into Josh’s back. “Oh fuck,” Josh let slip out again. He heard Gym Bro ugh. “That good, huh?” he asked as he continued to knead and press against Josh’s flesh. “Mhmm,” was all Josh could mutter. Gym Bro moved up to Josh’s shoulders. “Jesus Christ!” Josh said.

  “Yeah, I remember you carrying a lot of tension up here.”

  “It’s because of these dumb boobs. Like you said, they pull on my back all the time and make me sore.”

  “Well, the new bras should help with that. And I put plenty of back and core exercises that will help.”

  “Awesome. You’re such a great friend dude.”

  Josh felt Gym Bro’s hands leave his body. “Is something wrong?” Josh asked. He opened his eyes and strained his neck to try and see what was going on. Gym Bro wasn’t in the room. Josh propped himself up on his elbows and looked around more. “Dude?” he called out.

  Gym Bro came in through the door with a big grin on his face and held up a bottle. “I remembered I have this lotion in the other room from my Ex. It’ll reduce the friction of our skin rubbing together.” Josh smiled back at him. His friend was so thoughtful.

  Josh was about to return to his comfortable, face-down position when he saw Gym Bro pull his shirt off. Josh was stunned to see Gym Bro’s amazing physique. Still, a part of him had to ask, “Why are you taking your shirt off?”

  Gym Bro tossed his shirt across the room and stepped closer to the bed. He replied, “I don’t want lotion on that shirt. It’s hard to wash out. I’d take my pants off too, but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable since I’m not wearing underwear” Josh stopped breathing. He didn’t know what to say. Should he say something?

  He watched as Gym Bro nonchantly took his pce on the side of the bed. He let Gym Bro gently guide his head to that he was face-down once again. He tried to rex as Gym Bro’s fingers returned to kneading his tender flesh. This was fine. He was fine.

  Gym Bro moved down Josh’s back. “Oooh,” Josh let out. He was finally able to let himself rex again. They’d moved past the potential awkwardness of Gym Bro seeing Josh want to see him without his pants on. Which he didn’t want to see Gym Bro without pants on. Which is why it would be awkward.

  Gym Bro grasped Josh’s butt cheeks firmly. “Aahwah,” Josh said. He didn’t realize he held so much tension in his butt. Gym Bro spoke, “You’ve got a decent amount of muscle here.”

  “Uhn?”

  “I mean, a lot of this is fat, but having subcutaneous fat on your lower half is totally fine. Lots of people like it, you know?”

  “Uhn.”

  Gym Bro continued moving down Josh’s legs; one hand for each leg. He pressed and rubbed deeply into Josh’s hamstrings and muscles. Then he suddenly released all the pressure again. “Hmm, this isn’t working,” Gym Bro said. However, before Josh could wake his brain up enough to respond, Gym Bro had climbed onto the bed, straddled over Josh’s butt, and resumed working down Josh’s legs.

  The pressure immediately returned and Josh slipped back into a comfortable, barely conscious state of mind. Besides, it was obvious that Gym Bro was simply trying to get a better angle to give him a better massage. He didn’t need to worry about Gym Bro’s loose sweatpants, or his rigid cock, or the rubbing of said rigid cock on top of Josh’s butt.

  Josh’s eyes flung open. What in the world was happening right now? Gym Bro lifted one of Josh’s feet up and pressed into the sole with his thumbs. Josh immediately returned to his happy pce. Yeah, there was nothing to be concerned about. This was some weird coincidence.

  Gym Bro switched to Josh’s other foot. “That feels amazing,” Josh decided to say. He was beginning to feel awkward in the silence. “I’m gd,” Gym Bro said, “although…” He let Josh’s foot back down and climbed off once again. Weirdly enough, Josh missed the pressure of Gym Bro’s weight on his body.

  He heard Gym Bro leave the room again but decided to wait and see what would happen. His patience was rewarded when some calming music started to py. Smooth jazz flowed into Josh’s ears. The lights turned down in the room. “Oh wow, that’s so much better,” Josh said.

  “The silence was getting to me, you know? I couldn’t think of anything to say.”

  “No worries. You’re doing an amazing job.”

  Josh felt his body sinking into the soft bed. He took a deep breath in and out and felt his body loosening. He felt Gym Bro climb back onto the bed and straddle his butt again; this time, in a position to massage Josh’s back again. Gym Bro said, “Your legs feel much better now, so I’m going to work up here more. I think it’ll give you a lot of relief.”

  “Uhn.”

  Gym Bro’s fingers tapped, kneaded, and rubbed all over Josh’s back. He had a fleeting thought that, if he was thinner, it seemed as if Gym Bro would be able to wrap his hands around Josh’s waist and lift him life a trophy. Josh giggled at the thought. They could be so silly sometimes.

  Then he felt it. A long, hard cylinder rubbed in between Josh’s butt cheeks. His heart rate quickened. Gym Bro hands were on his shoulders now. He rocked back and forth and he pressed into Josh’s back during the massage. Each rocking motion forced his cock to slide back and forth between Josh’s cheeks.

  The combined sensations were undeniably amazing, but Josh was worried that he was sending the wrong signals. Why weren’t they doing anything? They should stop this from happening. They should jump up. He felt Gym Bro’s weight press into him hard. The music was still pying. His body felt limp and tired. Gym Bro’s cock slid against his ass again.

  He tried taking a deep breath. It’s like Gym Bro said, this was simply a massage. It didn’t need to be weird if Josh didn’t make it weird. “Go ahead and flip over.”

  Flip over?

  “Flip over?” Josh asked. Gym Bro didn’t hear as he was already leaning up off of Josh to allow him to move. Josh felt his body moving on its own as he struggled to make his muscles turn back on in order to flip. He blinked his eyes a little and saw Gym Bro shining in the low light. His face seemed totally calm and happy.

  Once Josh settled on his back, Gym Bro took his straddled position over Josh once more. Except, this time, he also leaned forward so that they were staring into each other’s eyes. He took one of his hands and steadied himself against the headboard. His other hand caressed Josh’s neck and began pressing and rubbing again.

  Josh couldn’t break eye contact with Gym Bro. Their heart was beating faster and faster. He was vaguely aware of Gym Bro’s cock rubbing against his belly. Gym Bro’s voice cut into Josh’s overwhelming thoughts, “So, come here often?” Josh spluttered out a ugh. Instantly the tension he was feeling was broken.

  He was able to rex again. Well, as much as possible. The heat from their bodies being so close continued to rise. Josh could feel blood flowing into his face, through his chest, and into his crotch. He hoped his own penis wouldn’t get hard and freak Gym Bro out from touching it. How weird would it be to admit he was getting aroused from getting a massage from a man?

  And he wasn’t even aroused in the first pce. It was other stuff. And he was probably thinking about having sex. With a woman. Women. Having sex with lots of women. In the back of his mind.

  He felt Gym Bro’s breath graze across his cheek.

  Finally, Josh couldn’t hold eye contact any longer. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he felt his body arch into the air. “Ohhhhh,” rolled out of his mouth. “Is your back still sore?”

  “No, my chest is all tingly,” Josh heard someone say.

  Suddenly, he felt arms pulled to his sides and pinned against the bed. He hadn’t even noticed that they’d been writhing in the air. His attention snapped to focus on Gym Bro’s face. He looked like a predator staring at the perfect prey. At them.

  Gym Bro broke the silence. “You want me to help you with your tingly chest.”

  “Help me,” Jen spoke in a quiet voice.

  Gym Bro smirked. He raised up and took hold of Jen’s breasts in his hands. “Aaah,” Jen moaned. “That feels so much better,” he said. A part of him was telling him they were taking things too far. This was way out of the scope of a regur massage. He didn’t care. This felt fantastic.

  Gym Bro put both hands on Jen’s left breast. One hand pulled at the soft tissue while the other pressed underneath into what little muscle Jen had.

  “See?” he told himself, “this is still a massage.”

  Gym Bro switched to other side and did the same thing. Then, before Jen even realized, he was done. Gym Bro gave them a light pat on their chest and got off the bed. Jen let their body calm down from all the sensations they’d experienced. He turned their head and saw Gym Bro standing proudly.

  “How did that feel?”

  “Whunnh,” Josh managed to say. Their words weren’t working well anymore. Gym Bro chuckled. “Good, right? I told you I’m great at massages.” He grabbed the bottle of lotion off the bed and then fiddled with a small bck rectangle to get the music to stop. He opened the door and stood in the doorway facing them. They were still having trouble forming complete thoughts.

  “I’ll wake you up so you can start your new routine tomorrow morning. Good night.” With that, Gym Bro turned off the light and closed the door behind him. Jen slowly shifted to be underneath the covers and closed his eyes.

  They quickly fell asleep.