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From the Archives - Fruiting Bodies, ch. 9
🕑 Added 2024-09-06 16:00:14 +0000 UTCWill’s stomach continued its journey south when the elevator’s rapid descent came to an unexpected halt just above ground level. It was one of the few shafts that opened directly into his penthouse, and while it passed other floors on the vertical journey, his badge should have overridden anyone else’s attempt at using it until he was done. Tom and Dave could have intercepted the car but he’d checked on them before leaving and knew they were both busy elsewhere, which only left one option.
“Will! I’m glad I caught you.” Ethan’s bright, charming smile was the last thing the husky hunk wanted to see. The auburn-haired executive was impeccable and stunning as always, with a tight, unbuttoned polo showing off his broad shoulders, sculpted biceps, and tantalizing pec cleavage. The burgundy top was tucked into a pair of fitted heather slacks that emphasized Ethan’s tapering waist, carefully cultivated bubble, and impressive bulge in equal measure. In the almost ten years that he’d known the other man, Will hadn’t seen the slightest change to the supposedly middle-aged stud’s appearance. His undyed hair was still thick and wavy, without a single errant strand of gray amidst the sea of ruddy brown, and his unnaturally chiseled, perfectly symmetrical features were as smooth and wrinkle-free as the day they’d met. He could have been twenty five or forty five, the mystery of his age further obscured by the aura of comforting confidence that surrounded him. Just being near Ethan made you feel safe, like you were in good hands and could tell the charming Adonis anything. Under normal circumstances the unnervingly handsome man caused Will to bloat at least a little, but at the moment his presence had the opposite effect.
“Ethan,” Will nodded, looking the other man up and down. He thought back on his last romp with Tom to cause a mild inflation, his frame puffing out slightly against his baggy sweats in order to keep up appearances. It was always a gamble whenever he left the building, and Will had long since taken to wearing roomy outfits with plenty of stretch in case things got out of hand. Though even when they did, and he found himself in an awkward state of exposure, people never reacted the way they would have had it been someone else’s rotund frame on display. After listening to the Customer Service logs, he had a better idea of why that was. “Did you need me for something? I was just on my way out.”
“I promise it’ll only take a second,” Ethan said, punching a button that sent the elevator skyward again. “Where are you headed? Do you need a detail to go with you?”
Will kept his expression neutral but winced internally. He’d almost made it. “No, just heading out for some fresh air. Been feeling cooped up the last few days.”
Ethan’s smile never faltered as he folded his arms and nodded. “Remember, any time you or the guys want to use one of the HB&L chateaus, just say the word. You’ve more than earned it. Have you ever been?” He sighed and rolled his bright eyes in an exaggerated fashion when the heavyset man shook his head. “Oh, you absolutely MUST make it out to one of them. I’m personally fond of the Appalachian retreat. The stretch just south of Pikesburg overlooking the valley is gorgeous, especially in the Fall. And you’ve got quaint little towns like Fir Hollow to keep things rustic. Or we’ve got a seaside spot up in Kingsbury Harbor if you’re feeling beachy.”
“Sounds great, but with the way we’ve been pushing product it’s kind of hard to take a breather,” Will said, his eyes fixed on a spot just next to the stunning stud. He’d never liked how the other man’s gaze, simultaneously icy and incendiary, made him feel, and given what he’d learned about the company that shared Ethan’s name he was more determined than ever to avoid the experience.
“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” The elevator’s stop perfectly punctuated the sentence, the doors opening just as Ethan finished speaking. They were back up on the Executive floor, though the name was a bit of a misnomer as the entire level was devoted to the radiant man’s offices. It sat just below the penthouses that Will and his friends used, but was split between intimidatingly posh Board Rooms and plush, private living space. “I understand you’ve had some concerns about the G+ rollout and the spike in reports of adverse effects. Dave had similar worries. I know he and I work a bit more closely together than we do, but I wanted to remind you that my door is always open when you have a concern.”
Ethan literally opened the door to his suite as he spoke, holding it ajar for Will to enter first and smiling at his assistant, Griffon. The lean, wiry blonde sat behind a broad desk of clear lucite, looking like a younger version of his handsome boss. His features were sharp and angular beneath his cropped ochre hair, a perfect complement to the toned, athletic body accentuated by a thin blue button down and pastel chinos that the young hunk could have modeled. Their interactions had never been anything but positive, even when the fit young man had seen some things that no other Executive Assistant would normally come across in the course of their daily duties. He’d witnessed firsthand the three altered men in every conceivable state without batting an eye, and wherever Ethan went he was never far behind. Like everyone else Will had always just assumed the two were fucking, but now he began to suspect their relationship was nowhere near that simple. “Griff,” Will nodded, looking wistfully at the city he’d been denied through the wall of windows behind the younger man.
“Will. A pleasure as always,” the blonde said, his eyes discreetly darting over to his boss for direction.
Ethan clapped the beefy man on the back, his hand lingering. “We don’t see enough of him in here, do we? Hopefully we can change that,” he said, guiding Will across the lobby to his office. “I think the three of us should have a chat. Can you join us please, Griffon?” Will felt his clothes loosen slightly as he stepped into Ethan’s spacious office and then followed the other man through the door on the other side that led to his personal quarters. They weren’t as large as the ones for Will and the others, but unlike the three altered men Ethan didn’t spend as much time in the building as they did. Still, “not as large” was by no means small as the trio entered into a sprawling, open living space. It was peppered with the same modern furniture and marked by the same mid-century aesthetic that defined the rest of the building, all of which were boxed in by windows, giving the impression that they floated above the sunset skyline outside. A sleek kitchen and bar sat at the far end with a well-appointed living area separating the bedroom at the other. A folding divider could be pulled across to close off the sleeping quarters from the rest of the space but it currently stood open, giving Will a glimpse of the king-sized bed that seemed to hover over the city as it rested against a clear wall. “Griffon, could you get us some drinks, please? You’re a mezcal man, right,” he asked Will, already knowing the answer.
Will nodded, watching Griffon head off in one direction towards the bar while Ethan went in the other to his bedroom. He didn’t need to think about Tom in order to grow when the chiseled executive kicked off his five-figure loafers and peeled out of the polo, exposing the tanned perfection that was his sculpted torso. A light dusting of the same auburn hair that sat so expertly styled on his head spread across his proportional pecs and down his archetypal abs, adding to his air of confident masculinity as he undid the fy of his slacks. In anything even remotely resembling a normal workplace this would have been incredibly out of line, but considering their history and unique circumstances, watching his boss strip was the least weird thing Will had done all day.
“When was the last time you were even in here,” Ethan continued, shucking his slacks and turning to face Will just as the other man swelled at the sight of him in nothing but his tiny, stuffed black briefs. “It’s been too long!” Still clad in only the briefs, he sauntered back over just as Griffon returned with a pair of cocktails, dropping down into a leather chair and motioning for Will to do the same. “You’re okay with this, yes,” he asked, nodding down at his prominent bulge and the way it was thrust forward by his sturdy thighs as he sat. “It’s also been too long a day and I just had to get out of those clothes.”
“No complaints here,” Will said, trying to force his eyes away. He took a sip of the smoky liquor, focusing on the way it burned to keep himself grounded.
“That’s what I’m hoping we can address. I’m afraid you DO have complaints,” Ethan said after taking a pull from his own glass. “I mentioned Dave earlier because he came to me to discuss his concerns. We talked them out and were able to arrive at a compromise like partners should. He didn’t feel the need to go and busy himself with a stack of customer service logs.”
“Well that didn’t take long,” Will laughed, settling back in the chair. “And I’m supposed to be comforted by the fact that you’re somehow already aware of that?”
“Will. Please. We’ve known each other for how long? I know, that you knew, that I would know exactly what you did,” Ethan said, carefully enunciating each word. “Just as I know you only did that because your heart is in the right place. You may not believe me when I say it, but I don’t want to see anyone get hurt either.”
“You’re right, I don’t believe you. How could I if you’re telling me you listened to those same logs and didn’t see a reason to stop? The things we did to those people…”
“Were unexpected,” Ethan interrupted, “but not harmful. Not really. A change in circumstances? Sure. An adjustment in their day-to-day? Without a doubt. But harm? They took a Spore product because they wanted a change and that’s exactly what they got.”
Will blinked for a moment, unsure he’d heard the other man correctly. “Are…are you really trying to argue that we helped those people?”
“There’s no argument to be made. We most certainly did. We gave them a perspective and a freedom that very few others get to experience. You know this firsthand. We literally reshaped the world to make it more accommodating. If that’s not going above and beyond for our customers I don’t know what is.”
“For a lot of reasons, I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” Will said, shaking his head. “What is this place? Who are you? WHAT are you? I thought the weirdest shit I ever would’ve seen was back in that cave, but that wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg, was it? Hell, that place was an ice cube compared to whatever the fuck is going on here.”
“This is why I wanted to talk to you.” Ethan’s tone was gentle as he sat forward in his chair. “I know how jarring such a discovery can be without the proper context. As you’ve learned, Spore, along with HB&L, are much more than simple corporations. But our goal is still exactly what we’ve always said it was: to change the world.”
“Into what,” Will asked, wishing he could scoot his chair further away at Ethan’s smile.
“You and your friends get to help decide that,” the brief-clad stud said. “Even I don’t know. It’s exciting, isn’t it?”
“Wait…what do you mean we get to decide?”
Will’s question went unanswered as Ethan continued. “We also aren’t lying when we say HB&L is a family. We take care of our own. You’ve experienced that as well, but I don’t know if you fully appreciate the lengths we go to for our employees, even when they need a…reprimand. Take Griffon, for example.” It was the moment Will had been waiting for since they’d stepped out of the elevator. The young blonde had been standing silently to the side while they talked, and he obediently stepped forward when his boss motioned for him. “Griffon was one of our very first employees, a promising young accountant who unfortunately thought he could get away with leaking our research. But where most companies would have terminated him and pursued legal action, we kept things in-house. What you see here is Griffon as he was,” Ethan said, gesturing to the young man. “But if you’d be so kind as to remove your ring…”
Will gasped when Griffon pulled off the unassuming silver band and a stranger took his place. The young blonde’s clothes vanished, his head dropping several feet as his suddenly bare, toned legs became short and stubby, leaving him closer to three feet than the six he’d just been. At the same time, his lean arms became thick and bulky, instantly becoming far too long compared to the thick little trunks that held him upright. He looked as if someone had turned him to taffy and then squished him down, with his once-tapering torso now wide and lumpy. There was nothing at all proportional about his almost simian appearance, with its bulky, neck-swallowing pecs and the ballooning, comically large rear that jutted out at his back. Even his hose of a cock and pendulous balls were far too large as they dangled halfway down his stubby legs, but Will was more focused on the still-perfect features that adorned an otherwise cro-magnon skull. “What the fuuuuuuck…” Will said under his breath, a confusing swelling pulsing through him at the transformation.
“See? Griffon got to help us with some early research instead of getting fired, and he even earned himself a promotion in the process, didn’t you?” Will watched the shrunken man’s massive cock rocket to attention as soon as Ethan reached over and stroked his lumpy head. “During business hours he gets to present to the world as his old self, but once he’s done for the day…” Ethan scooted to the edge of the chair and wrapped his arms around the stocky little man from behind, eliciting a series of squeaky whimpers as he stroked the bulky, misshapen muscle. “He actually always looks like this; the ring just alters the way people perceive him. But he doesn’t mind, do you?”
“Nuuuhh…no,” Griffon whined, his voice now high and squeaky instead of the smooth tenor Will normally heard. The little man’s log of a cock was already oozing like a faucet, his mammoth cheeks shaking as he squirmed in Ethan’s grip.
“He gets to live in lavish luxury and run around as a naked, horny little monkey all day without anyone being any the wiser, which is really all he wanted in the first place. He was just going to take his ill-gotten earnings and jet off to a luxurious resort where he could fuck away the rest of his days. But now he can be productive at the same time.” Will felt himself expand again as he watched Ethan tweak the smaller man’s nubby nipples, causing Griffon’s untouched cock to erupt, but the handsome man kept talking before he could ask any of the countless questions racing through his stunned mind. “See? Even in our discipline, HB&L is generous. Have you met Troy? I know you don’t get down to the gym much, but I’m sure you’ve seen him. He’s one of our best trainers. This was him when he first came to us.”
Will’s eyes went wide when Ethan waved a hand and the apartment around them blurred, the familiar interior replaced by a series of cubicles. He started to get up in a panic but sat back down at Ethan’s gesture, a phantom person passing through him in the process. It was as if they were immersed in a projection, the scene finally settling on a somewhat doughy, unremarkable looking bald man at a desk.
“Troy actually already had another job when he applied to us with a fake, souped up resumé. Didn’t actually know a single thing about analytics, or much else, really. ‘Troy’ wasn’t even his real name. He was just a great con-man who thought he could get in long enough to swipe a few pieces of proprietary data and vanish. But as you can see…”
The scene blurred again, this time settling in the bustling fitness center on the third floor of the Spore building. Instead of a doughy, middle-aged man the image focused on a strapping, lantern-jawed stud with brooding features, a full head of jet-black hair, and an olive complexion that popped against his tiny, nylon gym shorts. Of course Will knew who he was, he’d admired the way Troy’s granite cheeks filled out the back of his little shorts and the way his hefty bulge filled out the front, but he’d never once stopped to think of the heaping, supple breasts as odd until now. In his mind he’d always viewed Troy’s shredded washboard being on display because of a cropped muscle shirt, not because the otherwise mountain of masculinity had a pair of soft tits wedged into a sports bra where his pecs should have been. Tom had even fooled around with the muscled meathead before, and while he’d made sure to mention that he was as hard as a rock and as dumb as one too, he’d never felt it worthwhile to bring up the yielding mounds. But at the same time, Will also knew it never occurred to him to think about them long enough to ask. Even when the scene shifted to the showers, and he saw Troy’s thick, stout cock hanging in sharp contrast to the feminine additions between his cannonball shoulders, he had to keep telling himself it was wrong.
“See? You guys know Troy. He’s a happy guy, right? Still great with people. Not the brightest bulb by any means, but he doesn’t have to be. We gave him the body he always wanted, that he never knew he wanted, and now he’s perfectly content. Does that look like someone we harmed,” Ethan asked, the scene shifting once again to that of Troy flat on his back, his cock rock hard and a look of ecstasy on his face while a fit, unfamiliar man straddled his torso and worked a thick cock between the soft piles.
“I…I get it…” Will stammered, his body swelling beyond the point of control. His baggy sweatshirt already rode up on his jutting belly and the loose pants were stretched to the point of bursting, his expansive frame now filling the chair beyond capacity.
“One more,” Ethan smiled. “I don’t think you ever met Matt. A former member of the overnight security team?” Once again the scene shifted, this time to a strapping brunette pretty-boy who filled out his security uniform in a way that most men could only wish for. He had a body like Ethan’s, though slightly shorter, and a face that wasn’t far behind, a combination that proved too much for Will’s sweatpants. There was a quiet rip as the straining fleece gave out, leaving his fat, rigid cock fully on display. “I know, right? So much potential that could have been squandered in less capable hands. Matt’s mistake was thinking too much with that overactive dick of his. It didn’t take long until he’d met a woman online, who just happened to be a corporate spy, who he was going to let inside after hours in exchange for being let inside her after hours, if you know what I mean.” This time the scene shifted to what looked like a supply closet, with the naked hunk thrusting into a lithe, curvy blonde. His thrusting body and round, dimpled cheeks were every bit as impressive as his straining uniform implied, especially the long, thick cock that was making the unknown woman moan. “Still, he was a good guard dog, so it seemed a waste to just let that go.” After another blur of motion they were outside a warehouse, and Will couldn’t hold back a groan when he saw that same naked stud on all fours being led around by a leash. All he wore were mitts, kneepads and boots, with a collar around his neck and what looked like a tail sticking out from between his ample cheeks, giving everyone an unonbstructed view of his button cock and petite little balls. “Seemed like a good idea since it got him in so much trouble, but don’t worry, he’s perfectly content.” Instead of a supply closet the scene transitioned to a breakroom, with a trio of amused guards watching while Matt humped the beanbag that was clearly his bed as it sat next to a pair of bowls on the floor, a look of dull determination on his still-handsome face. Every so often one of the guards would press a button on a remote that would cause Matt to whimper excitedly and wildly wag the tail sticking out of his hole. “Do you understand now,” Ethan asked, the apartment returning as he stood and stretched. “We hate it when we have to be stern, but without discipline…” he trailed off and shrugged.
“So am I being reprimanded,” Will asked when he’d caught his breath, his body still swollen and aching for release.
“That depends on what's in your pocket.” Ethan’s tone was cold for the first time as he motioned for Griffon to retrieve Will’s shredded pants. He made a tutting sound as he pulled a small hard drive from the remains, looking like a disappointed parent while he produced a laptop from the nearby coffee table and connected the drive. Will just sat and stared between the mismatched pair, searching Griffon’s expression for any sign of hesitation or willingness to help. He didn’t find any before Ethan sat back in his chair, a grin once again stretched across his perfect face. “Interesting.”
“What did you expect,” Will asked. “I was supposed to leave that drive for Beth at the front desk. That’s the preliminary data for the T+ testosterone booster. I was just going to drop it off on my way. Or did you think I was “smuggling” out the customer service logs?”
“I’d never assume such a thing,” Ethan said, once again the charming host. “But I’m still glad we had a chance to catch up. Do you want to stay for another drink? Maybe I could help relieve some of that tension?”
Will lumbered upright and headed for the door. “Thanks, but I’m good. Think I’ll grab some fresh pants and still take that walk…unless there’s another ‘discussion’ we need to have?” He waited for Ethan to shake his head before plodding back to the elevator, his lower half still bare. At this level of the building he didn’t think he’d run into anyone, but at the moment he didn’t care. He just wanted to get away.
He’d been fairly certain something like this would happen, which is why he’d thought to take the decoy drive with him on his test run. Now that he’d gotten his inevitable encounter with Ethan out of the way he could get some fresh clothes and get the real data to Tyler. He knew the other man was on to him, but something Ethan had said, about them getting to “decide” what the world turned into, made him wonder just how much power his boss actually had over him.
But that was a question for later. First he needed to get out of the building, ditch his inevitable tail, and find a way to connect with his friend. If he couldn’t manage that, nothing else would matter.
