Obsession "What's it like being big?" I looked down at my best friend Scotty, who asked that question. "Well, I guess it's cool. Sometimes it's a pain in the ass, though, being big in a world made for average-sized furs." I happened to be seven feet, six inches tall. Benefits of bein' a liger— half tiger, half lion, big cat. "Yeah, I have to get my clothes custom made, and special order my shoes, ya know?" I looked down at Scotty's feet, which had a pair of size six shoes on them. Scotty's ears started to turn bright pink, and he looked away from me. "Yeah, I know." He didn't say anything else, and I felt a bit of pity for him. He was a tiger who had a thick, muscular build—he'd been working out since he was fourteen, and at nineteen he had a great body—of course, it was easy since he was exactly five feet tall. Still, I admired his determination, because I knew why he started working out in the first place—he hoped he would grow upwards as well as outwards. Can't win them all, I guess. I wrapped my arm around Scotty's neck, locking his head between my bicep and the crook of my elbow. "Come on, kiddo. No sense in being all mopey about it." I commanded, giving my pal a noogie. He tried to break my grip, but he would have had better luck bench pressing a tractor trailer. Only when I got tired of it did I let him go. He staggered back, ears blazing red from embarrassment at how easily I could manhandle him. What can I say? I like showing him just who the alpha feline is from time to time. "We're gonna be late for our workout, Scotty. Grab your stuff and let's go!" I said, grabbing my own gym bag and making my way to my car. I didn't have to wait long for Scotty to appear out of the house, and soon he was in the car just as I was starting up the car. Within minutes, we were on our way. My seat was pushed all the way back, but I still didn't have much leg room. I loved the car so I didn't care, though it was funny for Scotty to have to look back near the back seat to talk to me. "So, you still seeing Lysa?" Scotty asked. I knew why he was curious, because no one wanted to go out with him due to his height. I thought it was stupid myself, but I never suffered from lack of dates. "Nah, she broke up with me." I replied. "Why?" "Said I was too big for her." "Huh? She was on the basketball team. Didn't you say she was 6'5?" "She meant I was too big for her in other ways." Scotty blinked, then looked away for the nth time. I stifled a grin as we pulled into the gym's parking lot, found a parking spot, and climbed out of the car, ready to pump some iron. Scotty shuffled up behind me, ears splayed out against his head. I looked back, then shook my head. "Scotty, come on, don't be like this. Tell you what, you snap out of this funk, I'll tell you who has a crush on you." Scotty's head snapped up so quick I was afraid the boy was gonna get whiplash. "Who?" "Uh uh. You gotta promise me you'll cheer up. Can't have my best friend gettin' all mopey." Scott rolled his eyes, regaining some of that smartass I know so well. "OK, I'm cheered up. Who has a crush on me?" "Suzie Dempkins." "No way! I don't believe you!" I held up two fingers briefly before crossing an 'X' across my heart. "She does, Scotty." Or at least she'll fake it for a couple of romps in the hay with me after I tell her to play along, I thought. "I swear, she's just too shy to let you know." Scott's eyes had that faraway look he usually got when he got hit with good news. "Susie Dempkins," he murmured as we walked into the gym. Sometimes that boy is so gullible it scares me. We changed into our workout gear, which consisted of tight biker's pants for me and a tanktop which barely contained my awesomely developed chest, and Scotty wore jogging pants and a sweatshirt which amply contained his chest. I grinned as I remembered how one time I tried slipping on one of his t-shirts—my forearms were bigger than the sleeves—and managed to shred it with my muscles in no time flat. "What're you grinning about?" Scotty asked, noticing my grin. "Ah, just looking forward to the workout. I'm gonna try to bench 450 pounds today." Scotty— you guessed it— looked away. He benched 350, but hadn't made any improvement in a while. Now, if you ask me, 350 pounds if completely great, but he saw my achievement as overshadowing his own. I dunno, maybe he's right, but I'm not gonna hold back my gifts, even if he is my best friend. Ain't it enough I hang out with him? We did our warmup exercises, then hit the iron. It was a good workout—we were getting a great pump as we pushed our muscles to failure—and soon we were ready to take the challenge of the bench press. I cracked my knuckles before I put on four of those 100 pound plates, adding two 25 pounders for a grand total of 450 pounds. I was gonna bench that sucker, and bench it hard. I got underneath the heavy bar, Scotty ready to spot me as usual. Gripping the bar with bar hands, I took some deep breaths to psych myself up, then lifted the bar from the grips. I fought to keep that weight under control, and managed to do not one, not three, but 9 repetitions of making that weight go up and down from my chest. What I was experiencing was indescribable, when I got to my feet, I got in front of the mirror, and made my best 'most muscle' pose, growling with excitement. I noticed a few of the ladies were scoping me out, and Scotty couldn't help but look too. I started working out when Scotty did. 'Course, I've always been bigger than him, and was just as built as he was. Actually, with my size, I was even more so, and right now I was lovin' it. "I just benched 450 fuckin' pounds, Scotty. I am the MAN!" I then wheeled around and pointed at the weight bench. "Now it's your turn," I said, suddenly changing the focus of my attention from me to him, "you wanna go for 400 today?" Scotty's ears flattened against his skull. "Nah, I'll just do 350 for a couple of reps." I shrugged, not bothering to complain about how that won't get him anywhere. So I removed the two 25 pound plates, then took off two of the 100 pound plates. Now, it was at that time I decided to replace the bar with enough weights to make it seem like I put on only 350 pounds, when in reality I put on a total of 400 pounds. Scotty was going to push himself, or I was going to do it. Either way, I was gonna show him he could do it. Failure was not an option. Scotty held the bar, got all psyched up, and pushed the bar up. His eyes went a little wide as he found out the weight was heavier than he expected, but he put the bar slowly down towards his chest, then back up again. I could see the strain already starting to show on his face, but I gotta give the tiger credit, he started lowering the bar again. It was when he tried pushing it back up when the problem started. Scotty started trembling from the strain. He still didn't know how much he was trying to bench. "It's...heavy." "Yeah, 400 pounds is kinda heavy. C'mon, man. Push!" Scotty's eyes widened so fast it hurt my eyes to see that. "What? I can't..." I interrupted him before he could start to complain. "Yes you can! Now push!" Scotty clenched his teeth together. The bar trembled upwards as he pushed with all his strength. It wasn't enough in my opinion. "Quit being a wuss, Scotty! You can do this, I know you can. Push, dammit!" I should've been an inspirational speaker, because I'll be damned if it didn't work! That barbell slowly crept upward until finally it hit the grips, leaving one limp tiger slumped over the bench. I ruffled his belly, beaming with pride. "You da MAN, Scotty. Flex those guns, dude! You earned it!" Scotty smiled weakly at me. "I...I think I'd settle for that date with Suzie." That's my boy. Always thinking with his hormones. * * * "You did great, big guy," I said as I got out of the shower, drying myself off with a towel. "I could've been hurt, you know." Scotty mumbled, still recovering from his accomplishment. He stripped off the sweatshirt, revealing that broad back wider than some guys were tall. Hell, he must've gotten a great pump, because he looked wider than me. His lats were enormous, and those arms looked as if they could crush metal. I had to tear my eyes off of his body, wondering how I must look after a great pump like that. "Yeah, but I was there for ya, Scotty. You know I wouldn't let anything hurt you, right?" Scotty shrugged as he put on a t-shirt, and sure enough, those arms stretched the sleeves to their limits. The shirt must've shrank the last time he washed it, I thought as I got dressed. I glanced at him one more time, then shook my head to clear my thoughts. I'm still bigger, I reminded myself as we left the gym. * * * The next day Scotty didn't show up for class at the local community college we both attended. I didn't think much about it, but when I got home there was a message for me on the answering machine. From Scotty. "Hey, Jason, can you swing by my place? I need to talk to you. Something really wild happened to me." That was it, nothing else. My curiosity got the best of me, and soon I was driving down to Scotty's house. He still lived with his folks, but since they were one of the richest folks in town (with my family being the other richest family, naturally), he had his own place. Money has its advantages, you know? Anyway, I knocked on the door, waited for a bit, and soon Scotty opened it. "So, Scotty, what happened to you?" I asked as I walked inside, not paying attention to him. I saw a lot of dirty dishes, opened bags of snack food, and dozens of milk cartons. Man, Scotty's been making a big mess. Funny, it wasn't like that yesterday. Did he throw a party or somethin'? "Look at me, and you'll see." was his reply, so I looked down at him. At first, it didn't dawn on me what had happened to him, but I slowly came to the realization of his head almost being level with my shoulder. Yesterday his head came up to my armpit. He somehow grew a foot in height overnight. "Scotty? What the hell happened?" I looked at his paws to see if he were standing on something, or maybe wearing platform shoes, but all I saw were bare paws. Big bare paws, I might add. "You...you grew?" Scotty grinned like he had won the lottery. Hell, I think in his mind getting a foot in height was better than money. "Yup. My folks took me to the doctor to make sure I was OK. They can't find out what happened, but they guess it's a late growth spurt." "Dude, I don't know of any growth that happens overnight." I continued to look at him. He wasn't as big as I was, but it seems the extra foot in height didn't affect his muscle size. He was still as big as he was yesterday. No, I take that back, he was even bigger since he looked the same. "You even gained muscle too, how is this possible?" Scotty spread his hands in a shrug, rolling those huge shoulders of his. "I dunno, the doctors are trying to figure that one out too, so they arranged for me to see a specialist out of state. I won't be back until next week at the earliest." I gestured at the mess in the room. "So what's with all this?" "I was starving when I woke up. It was painful, how hungry I was. So I cleaned out my kitchen, then went to my folks' house and raided their fridge. You think this is a mess? You oughtta see my parent's kitchen." "Wow." That's all I could say. "Congrats, dude. You must be real happy." "Buddy, you don't know how happy I am. Mom's gonna buy me a new pair of shoes, and for once, I don't have to wear a boy's size. Hell, I got a bigger shoe size than my dad now." "Cool, Scotty. Welcome to the big kid's side of life." Man, if only I knew how the word 'big' was going to be an understatement the next time I saw him, I would've never used it. * * * Two weeks later, I watched in utter shock as Scotty was doing one-armed dumbbell curls. Did I mention it was with my car? We had kept in touch during those two weeks he was gone, but he never even hinted at how much he was growing. Oh, sure, he told me he had grown a little, but then again, Scotty was always a master of understatement. I should've guessed at the changes. His voice was getting way deeper. There was a pause between him listening and then replying due to the fact he had to move the receiver from his ear to his mouth. I was subconsciously denying it. When he came home, though, I couldn't deny the changes. He called me, and I drove up to his house. There was a big semi truck with a long trailer parked alongside their house, and they had added something new:a big warehouse at least three stories tall. I idly wondered about the two clues before me, and I just shrugged it off, thinking they must've bought a yacht or something. Yeah, stupid, huh? Anyway, his mom came to the door, and told me he was over at the new building. "So how is Scotty?" I asked his mom, "I heard he grew a few inches during that trip to the specialist." She gave me a weak smile. "Oh, is that what he told you?" she replied, then shook her head. "Scotty's fine, why don't you go see him? He'll be glad to see you." I didn't think anything of her weird reply. I just smiled, and made my way over to the big hanger-lookin' building. Yeah, it now reminded me of one of those Air Force hangers. Maybe they bought an airplane? I thought as I knocked on one of those huge sliding doors. "Hey Scotty!" I called out to him. "It's me, open up!" About a second after I knocked, both doors slowly slid open, but there was no Scotty. Then they continued to slide away from each other, and I started wondering if they didn't have an automatic door opener for this building. It was then the doors opened enough that I saw two pillars of orange and white with black stripes running across them. My eyes then slowly moved up, and I found these pillars were connected to a trunk possessing a six pack of abdominal muscle followed by twin slabs of pectoral muscle that held an impossibly wide neck supporting a huge tiger's head. Scotty's head. "S…Scotty?" My mouth was dry as a bone as I stammered out his name, my eyes flickering out to his arms that were stretched out against the sides of the doors. Those arms were both longer and bigger than my body. A few inches, my ass. Scotty got the growth spurt of a lifetime! "Hi Jason," his impossibly deep voice rumbled down at me. I gaped openly at how those muscles flexed under his fur as he brought his towering frame down in a crouch. "So do you like my new look?" "It's…" I struggled to think of the right words for what I saw before me. "...different." Scotty's muzzle then split into a grin revealing a set of fangs as long as my forearms before letting loose a short burst of laughter that caused me to splay my ears against my head. Damn, he's got a set of lungs on him. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. The doctors, my parents, even I was all surprised when I started makin' up for bein' so short. They can't figure out why I started this growth surge, so eventually I decided to go home. The doctors wanted me to stay, but I convinced them that having a 20 foot tiger in a bad mood towards them was not the best idea." I blinked with confusion for a moment. Was this Scotty? He sounded so...dominant. it was then I realized he wasn't naked, but wearing a pair of white shorts. "They got you some clothes made pretty quick." Scotty smirked—that was a first, and it was unsettling to me. "Yeah, but no new shoes. Hard to even make 'em in my size, ya know?" "Yeah, but with those paws, I don't even want to think how much it'll cost your dad to make a pair." Scotty then grimaced. "Dad's not here anymore." I looked up at the tiger, surprised to hear that. "What happened?" "He and mom are getting a divorce." "Huh? But why?" Scotty's massive chest heaved slightly in a sigh as he toppled onto his butt, shaking the ground a bit as he went to lay on his side, his large form stretched out lazily. "I found out dad beat on mom a lot." Gee, today was a day for surprises. Before I could say anything, Scotty continued speaking. "I never knew, either because mom hid the bruises well or dad was careful not to hit her where it would show," he then shrugged those mountains normal-sized guys would call shoulders, "or maybe I just didn't want to accept the fact that the man who raised me was beating on the woman he claimed to love." Scotty then sat up, causing those sculpted muscles to ripple once again. "Anyway, I heard them arguing a few nights ago after we got back home, but I couldn't make out what they were arguing about. Then mom came outside, with dad right behind her. I guess I was the reason why they were fighting, 'cause I heard dad say my name," Scotty looked away from me, reminding me of the little tiger I once knew. "He said how I was going to bankrupt them trying to keep me fed and clothed, though he used the word 'giant freak of nature'." Scotty then locked his eyes into mine, and I saw a flash of anger in them. "Mom said something, I dunno what, but then he hit her in the stomach. Hard. I opened those doors and was on him before he had a chance to react. I wrapped my paw around his arm and hoisted him up eye to eye with me before standin' all the way up. I then told him that if he ever hit mom again, I'd hit him back. I let him go, and he took off running to his car. He left us, and mom just got the divorce papers in today. He's leaving her with everything, no contest." "Damn, I'm sorry, man," I said, reaching up to pat him on the shoulder, which came up to my head. He engulfed my (comparatively) tiny hand under his huge paw, and smiled. "Thanks, bro. I dunno what Mom and me are gonna do, but we'll survive. Maybe I can get a job as a bouncer at one of those clubs?" He laughed at the thought. "I bet no one would dare break the rules around me, huh?" I had to laugh at the thought as well. My chest came up to his knees when he stood up straight, so an average-sized guy's head would be at knee level. Again the realization of just how big Scotty was hit me. I briefly wondered how much did he weigh, and would he get bigger? "This is too much for me to take in, Scotty," I said, suddenly feeling very light-headed. "I need to sit down." "Aw, what's the matter, Jason? Weak in the knees at your former short friend?" I looked up at that great head, and was a little concerned at the sneer that was curling up his lips. "What are you talking about?" I asked. "Oh, come on, Jason. All your life you've treated me as your little charity case, like you were someone deserving of respect because you took pity on the shrimp." He narrowed his eyes, smirking as I took a step back. "Yeah, I noticed how you liked to play your little dominance games, and I went along with it, because you were the biggest kid in our circle of friends. I'd rather have been humiliated than been alone." The sudden solemn look he gave me caused a lump to form in my throat. "There were times when you were a good friend, though. Don't think I've forgotten that, because that's why I'm still talking to you." He then slowly got to his feet, standing to that full towering height of his, forcing me to crane my neck skywards. "Regardless, I'm the biggest guy around here now, and things are gonna be different. You're gonna treat me with respect, or I'll make sure you get humiliated every chance I get." He then flexed his arm for the first time since I saw him this huge, and that bulging muscle that framed his limb would be in my memory for a long time to come. "With my muscles, it won't be hard to do." Suddenly, he bent down at the waist and his hands grabbed me by the hips. I stifled a cry of alarm as he lifted me with as much effort as lifting a book, placing me on his broad shoulder. He then walked to the front driveway, where my car was parked, and I couldn't help but be in greater awe at his long stride. Placing me down, he went over to my car, then gripped underneath the hood of my convertible, and picked it up, doing barbell curls with my car. "I was strong before I got bigger, Jason. Now I'm a powerhouse." He put down my car, dropping the front a bit, making the tires bounce a couple of times. He chuckled at the look on my face. I must have been slack-jawed with envy at his demonstration of his strength. I admit, I was wondering just how strong Scotty had become. I'd find out, unfortunately. * * * Later that week I went to visit Scotty. I dunno why I still went to visit him. Maybe it was the fear of him coming to see me. I had a hunch I wouldn't like his visits, so there I was, knocking on those huge sliding doors. The deep rumble inside responded "Come on in, Jason." I glimpsed at the size of those doors, then slid my fingers in between them, and pulled on one of those heavy doors with no luck. I changed my strategy, and push at it with all my weight, forcing the door open just enough to let me slip in. Scotty was sitting on a weight bench custom built for him. "Took you long enough, lil' fella." I inwardly bristled at that remark. When he first called me by that nickname, I asked him not to, so he simply stood up, and forced me to either look up or look at his leg. I got his point immediately, and never made that demand again. Scotty was in the middle of a workout, the barbell custom made for his size resting on the grip bars, stacked with tons of weight. He gestured at one of the huge barbells laying on the ground, smiling down at me. "Hey, can you hand me that barbell, Jason? It's time for me to do some curls, and you didn't drive your car inside." He then chuckled loudly, causing the walls to tremble a bit. "Just as well, I'm lifting heavy weight, few reps." I looked at the barbell he wanted me to hand to him. Twin slabs of cast iron welded onto a tire axle. Each weighed about a ton and a half, and it was heavy enough to give him a workout. Did he really expect me to hand it to him like I was his workout partner? "Hey Jason," Scotty's voice floated down from above. I saw the look of impatience on his muzzle. "I'm waitin' on my barbell." OK, so he was serious about the chore he assigned to me. I briefly toyed with the idea to tell him to piss off, and get his own damn barbell, but one look at those bulging arms of his squashed that idea quickly (not to mention those huge paws of his that could squash me for real), so I set out to do the task before me. Problem is, I couldn't budge the damn thing. I may have weighed over 350 pounds, but that thing was almost twenty times my weight, and no matter how much I strained against it, I couldn't make it move. I started panting from the exertion, and body was starting to tire out from the futility of my efforts. Finally, Scotty reached down to pick up the heavy barbell, then patted me on the head lightly with a fingertip. "Thanks for tryin', Jason," he chuckled. When I fell to the ground to catch my breath, he shook his head. "Come on, kiddo. No sense in being all mopey about it," he snickered as he put me in a headlock with the crook of his finger. It was then I finally snapped. There was no way I was gonna live my life under Scotty's shadow. I don't care if he was Goliath's bigger brother, I was gonna give him a piece of my mind. "Get your stinkin' finger off of me, you big fuck!" I roared, somehow slipping out of his finger's grip. "I don't care how big you get, you're not the boss of me. I'm not gonna put up with your teasin', or take orders from you, understand?" Scotty shrugged. "Fine. Then leave." I felt my righteous fury disappear as quickly as it entered. "What?" was all I managed to say. Scotty started doing his bicep curls, that enormous arm lifting the three tons of weight with little effort. "You can dish it out, but you can't take it, Jason. I warned you things were going to be different, but you're too damn jealous that I'm bigger and stronger than you. Can't handle the new status quo? Then leave. Don't make me repeat myself twice." I stood there, unable to respond to anything he said, because he hit it square on the mark. All his life, he was obsessed with being bigger. That's why he took up weightlifting, to make his muscles bigger, but it wasn't enough. Now that he got what he always wanted (and then some), I found myself obsessed with trying to keep my dignity. I got a good look at the ground, because I was too ashamed to look up at Scotty. Finally, I spoke up. "I'm sorry, Scotty. I guess I haven't been a good friend to you since this happened to you. I'll be going now." I turned to walk away, only to find thick fingers wrap around my waist. Scotty lifted me up, placed me on his thigh, and chuckled. "You're a dummy, Jason. If you weren't a good friend, you wouldn't have come visit me since this happened. As a matter of fact, I'm surprised you put up with all that teasing for so long." I laughed as I realized he was right, my mood suddenly picking up. "OK, you got a point there. Still friends?" Scotty nodded. "Still friends. Now, there's just one favor I want to ask." "Name it." "When are you going to hook me up with Suzie Dempkins?" Geez, some obsessions never change, no matter how big you get. |