Breaking the Fast

The next morning at 7am, Caleb awoke slowly and then the recollection of last night’s events shot him out of bed.

“Fuck, was that real? I should probably go check on Evan and see if he’s doing okay. Hope I don't have to take him to the Clinic.”

Putting on his glasses, sweats and slippers, Caleb makes his way down stairs, stopping at Evan’s door. Cracking the door open slightly he could hear the fan running and saw that the lights were still off.

Judging by the state of the covers, Evan must have been doing pirouettes in his sleep, but as he moved closer, in the dim morning light, Caleb could see that while Evan was now sleeping peacefully, his hair was definitely longer, slightly darker, and more disheveled.

“Well shit, I guess that Recombinex did *something* after all.”

Caleb glanced at the alarm clock and realized it was 5 minutes before Evan normally woke up, he decided to head further downstairs to make breakfast. Last time someone forcibly woke Evan up, they ended up with a busted lip for the trouble.

Entering the kitchen, Caleb filled the coffee maker, set it brewing and then opened up the fridge, staring at his choices when a small crumpled slip of paper fell on the tile from his pocket.

“‘6437kcal needed for full process’, oh shit that's right. It said Evan needed extra caloric intake. Guess that makes this an easy choice.” Grabbing the eggs, peppers and bacon from the fridge and a small onion from the storage drawer, Caleb fired up the stove and got to work.

With the bacon sizzling, Caleb chops up the onions and peppers, then dumps them in the sizzling fat. Stirring up the eggs with a bit of milk and seasonings, Caleb hears a door open and footsteps descending the stairs.

“Damn dude, that smells amazing, I didn’t sleep through to the weekend did I? You never cook breakfast on weekdays. What's the occasion?”

Caleb turns his head to answer “Oh, remember the Session last night? It said you’d need to eat an extra roughly 6500kcal to finish the full process, so I figured I'd help with a full breakfast since I’m working from home today.”

“Are you still on about that stuff? Not gonna lie, that was an amazing VR experience, but growth serums, really? That being said, I appreciate the enthusiasm, especially when it gets me a much better breakfast than cereal or oatmeal and I am hungry as hell.”

Evan claps his hand on and squeezes Caleb’s shoulder, “Thanks again, I'm gonna hit up the bathroom and freshen up. Give a yell when the coffee is done.”

“You...got it.” Caleb turns around to answer and realizes that slightly longer hair wasn't the only change that had occurred to Evan, watching him walk away. Dressed in an old anime graphic T-shirt and boxers, Evan had either picked the smallest underclothes he owned or things had changed, the shirt riding his midsection like a long crop top and the normally loose plaid Gaines™️ boxers glued to his thighs and ass like booty shorts. In short, that Recombinex had definitely been a legitimate growth serum and had worked rather quickly by the looks of things.

“Fuck yeah, science, I guess? I hate to agree with him but this is getting weird.”

A rumbling of the pipes overhead signals the start of Evan's shower.

Returning to breakfast, he drained the bacon on a rack and added the eggs to the peppers and onions to finish cooking. At least Evan seemed knocked out from his dour mood of the last few days. That was definitely an improvement he’d pay 50$ for again, assuming it lasted…

Ten minutes later, the coffee maker chimed as the eggs finished setting. Turning off the stove, Caleb grabbed two plates, mugs, and forks and sat them on the dining room table.

“Evan, Coffee and grub are up, y’all come and get it!”

“Be right out!”

Scrambling down the stairs in the same clothes and a towel over his shoulders, Evan squeezes past Caleb to the coffee maker, grabbing the carafe and pouring it into both mugs. Taking a long pull, Evan smacks his lips in satisfaction.

“Finally, sweet sweet coffee, breakfast is nice but coffee is nicer! So much nicer than the Cafeteria Swill, too.”

Grabbing the plate of bacon and the pan of fried eggs, onions, and peppers, Caleb sets them on the table.

“Well, you definitely got a ray of sunshine comin’ out yer butt-hole today, glad yer feeling better.”

Evan begins shoveling eggs and pieces of bacon onto his plate, but glances up at Caleb with a cheerful expression and a slight smile. “Yeah, I feel like a million bucks even though I didn't sleep all that well, had vivid dreams…Anyway, that session with Andrea kinda re-centered my perspective on dating and relationships. Having somebody that interested in you, does wonders.”

“Ain't that the truth.”

As Evan digs into the lavish spread, Caleb has a chance to take a closer inspection of him to look at the physical changes. Slightly longer hair. Check. Slightly more muscle tone. Check. Taller? Check. Caleb figured that those were the reason for the ill-fitting garments, but had Evan not noticed?

Caleb takes a sip of coffee and coughs, “Uh, really? Well, um, glad you got something good out of it. Speaking of which, I, ah, think the serum worked…”

After clearing most of his plate with the alacrity of a starving teenager, Evan heaps another serving then looks up at Caleb. “Huh? What are you staring at?”

“Uh, you? You got taller and slightly more toned overnight. Not to mention your hair grew out like three inches. Didn't you feel or see any of that?”

“Nah, to be honest, I wasn't really paying attention. Besides, you can't grow inches overnight, even during the most intense puberty.” Evan ruffles his towel through damp hair and pulls it away from his eyes. “Though, you may be onto something with the hair. I just got it cut last Friday…hmm”

“Mhmm.” Caleb grunts, finally digging into breakfast at a more sedate pace. “I’m telling you that you literally grew overnight and yer worried about your haircut? Priorities, man.”

“Don't give me that, Chrome-dome, shit’s expensive. I can't just spend 10 minutes with a head shaver every day to get my look.”

“Right, I’d be more concerned that none of my shit fit right anymore, but hey. Anyway, what's on the Agenda for Mr. Evan? More Curriculum work?”

Evan chews for a moment before swallowing and answers “Dude, don't call me that, you sound like one of my students. That's all finished thankfully, we have an in-service today for a few hours on the new standardized testing protocols then I'm meeting up with two of my coworkers for a late lunch THEN my ass is gonna veg playing Solar Lords for the rest of the night until the Session later.”

Caleb perks up at the mention of the VR session but can't help injecting a mocking tone, “Oh you wanna actually do the next session now? What happened to ‘it's a scam placebo VR Waifu’?”

Evan drains the last of his coffee and refills the mug before getting a contemplative look on his face. “Shut up man, I may not believe it's gonna physically change me into a Chad like you seem to, but it was…real nice and it seems to be helping my confidence and mood. I needed that, and if the second session is anything like the first, I'll definitely be ready for Felicity's tomorrow night.”

Caleb smiles, “Look out world, we got a smooth-talking hot-walking badass over here. Gonna be scoring dates like a Scantron reader.”

Evan punches Caleb in the shoulder rather playfully (‘Well that's new’, Caleb thought) “Dude, stop, gonna make me **** on my breakfast! I just meant that I feel less afraid of trying things out. Anyway, again, I appreciate the help.”

A chime sounds, breaking up the awkward moment. Looking down at his smartwatch, Evan’s eyes bulge slightly, “Shit, I need to get ready, time flies right?” Gulping down the rest of his breakfast and coffee, he picks up his dishware and throws them in the sink before running upstairs. “Thanks for the breakfast Caleb, it was awesome!”

“No worries, Chief!” Caleb shouts before finishing his own breakfast and refills his mug with the last of the pot. Looking over the empty dishes, he is both pleased and alarmed. Despite having nearly fifty pounds and five, no correction, three inches on Evan and being generally a big eater, Evan had demolished two-thirds of a pound of bacon and nearly eight eggs worth.

“Well, damn, he eats any more and he's gonna definitely change after midnight, or was it eat after midnight? Doesn't matter.” Putting the plates and pan together he sets them all to soak in the sink basin. Taking his mug he heads upstairs, passing by Evan’s room and hearing a frantic scramble and cursing from within. “I swear man, you'd think we were still in college.”

Entering his own room he powers on the desktop and starts making his bed while it whirs to life. After he finishes the bed and punches in his credentials he pulls up his email program and sees a dozen new work tickets for his team. Taking a sip of coffee, he sighs to himself “Fuck, this is gonna be a long day. Wish I could be a teacher and have summers off."