Dustin's eyes shot open as he lay on his queen sized bed. He looked up at the ceiling and glanced over at his bookshelf. He just had the craziest dream, a dream he long desired, a dream that he half hoped didn't end, and yet here it did, here he was back in reality on his bed. Dustin's room the same as always. His the bookshelf, the desk, the computer, that note on his keyboard, it was all the same.

"Wait." Dustin said quietly. He sat upwards, and put on his glasses. He certainly didn't remember writing that note earlier. He tossed his blanket off of him and revealed that 5'9 body of his that weighed 230 pounds wearing pajamas. He moved off of the bed and up in front of that computer screen that showed off his face with plenty of stubble, short dark brown hair, and hazel eyes. He reached down and grabbed that card, and took a look at it. The card was largely white, with the exception of a horseshoe in the corner with a pentagram in the center. The note read ‘Make your dreams a reality, contact Myu! Just place a horseshoe on a wooden surface, draw the symbol in the center of it, join hands with a friend, and put a bag of circus peanuts in the middle of the pentagram and I'll arrive.'



"That has got to be the most ridiculous, absurd summoning ritual I've ever heard of." Dustin told himself. Well, truth be, it was probably the ONLY summoning ritual he's ever heard of. He glanced over at a nearby clock and it was about 11AM. "I slept in quite a bit." He wondered what he should even do about such a note, and that ritual, and then he recalled the dream he had, the dream where he became Berkley. Dustin remembered all of that thick fur, that huge gut, that height, that sureness and confidence that Berkley had. Maybe he could try it, just for fun. That raised a question though, if he was even going to try something this silly, whom could he get to help him without thinking he was downright crazy? His roommate would have thought he was crazy, so whom else could he possibly try? There was one person that came in his mind, but he wondered, would that person even believe him?



At the exact same time Dustin awoke, was the same time Kyle awoke. His own blue eyes slowly opened, and he stared at the tiny humidifier next to a fan that ran on low. "Another one of those weird dreams." He said to himself. He had realistic dreams before, and with the exception of one dream, he just passed off the rest of them as nothing but a very vivid imagination. He crawled out from underneath his red blanket, and got off of the bed. Kyle was about 5'9 and weighed roughly 220 pounds with a bit more in his gut than the rest of him, actually quite a bit like Dustin. Kyle had a black shirt on, with black pajama pants that had large white dots scattered around. He noticed a note on top of his keyboard, and let out a sigh. "What am I supposed to do today?" He glanced at the note, and it was identical to the one Dustin had obtained. The two read the different notes with the same things on it at the same time. "A ritual?" Kyle said to himself. He had looked up rituals and various other things online, but he never actually tried them, if only because a lot of them sounded downright silly, or because the website wanted a person to buy stuff in order to make the ritual work. "And why circus peanuts of all things?" This ritual looked like one of those downright silly ones all right.



Kyle continued to glance at the note, and he recalled his own dream, a dream where Kyle became not Myu, but a new creature entirely, he became a muscular tiger anthro, one with white fur and red stripes. He recalled writing, and talking about, turning into Myu, but a tiger creature? That was something new entirely. "Maybe, MAYBE I'd try the ritual on my own, but with a friend?" Who would actually try something like that with him?



It was around then that Kyle got a message on his computer from Dustin, a response that Kyle sent from late last night. The pair often talked off and on and throughout the day. He saw the message that simply read ‘morning' on it. Kyle wondered briefly about talking about the dream and note with Dustin, but he decided to avoid it. He didn't want to sound insane towards anyone, how could he explain he had a realistic dream about becoming someone totally different, and find a ‘calling card' so to speak? Kyle dismissed those thoughts, and sent a response to Dustin. "Morning. How'd the night treat you?"



Dustin's computer dinged when the reply was sent, and he glanced at Kyle's message. He took a look down at the note, and then his bed. He was unsure about talking about such things with Kyle. Sure, he thought of him as a good friend online, but to talk about something like what happened last night? Just as Kyle didn't want to come off as crazy to Dustin, Dustin didn't want to come off as crazy to Kyle. "Not bad. How was work last night?" Dustin asked. Kyle often worked quite a bit.



"The less said the better. Got some writing ideas though if you wanted to help out?" Kyle wasn't one to want to bring up work too much. It stressed him out too much. Sure the job paid okay, and it was nice to get out of the house, but a retail job was still a retail job.



"What kind of ideas?" Dustin had some ideas himself about becoming Berkley. That dream he had just felt so real that it just stuck in his head, he swore he could still feel those retractable claws.



"Well, want to RP it? I got an idea about a dream I had last night about Berkley and Rei." Of course Kyle failed to realize one important detail when he said that to Dustin.



Dustin stared at the question Kyle made. "Wait...how do you know about Rei?" he asked. Dustin had developed a character named Rei, well, it needed fleshing out, but he hadn't really shown any pictures, wrote anything, or did anything that Kyle would have known about. There was no way for Kyle to have known about Rei, so how could he have?



Kyle paused for a moment as he read that message. Dustin had a point, Kyle didn't know about Rei before then. Dustin had mentioned other characters, but he hadn't mentioned any of their names. Kyle had to check Dustin's profiles on various websites. In all of those profiles Kyle glanced at, not one mentioned Rei. Sure, he found one of a tiger, but that didn't look like the Rei he saw in his dreams. "I had a dream about him and Berkley." Kyle admitted. Maybe it wouldn't sound insane if he just mentioned it was a dream and nothing more. People had fantasy dreams all the time; he could just pass it off as one of those.



"Really? Me too. It was about me becoming Berkley, and you becoming Rei." Dustin replied back. It was unbelievable. The two couldn't have had the exact same dream though, could they? That seemed like a virtual impossibility, their minds weren't connected in such a strange manner. "Which is weird because we normally talk about you becoming Myu, so why Rei I wouldn't know. You know what's even stranger is I woke up and I found this thing on my desk, not sure where it came from."



Bit by bit, the pieces came together. Kyle had such a dream as well. It raised a good question...why didn't Kyle turn into Myu? They had talked about it, heck, he even wrote about it for Dustin, but to not become Myu in his dream, and instead become a tiger he never heard of? That was odd. Then, Kyle saw what Dustin talked about, a thing on his desk. "A business card from Myu." Kyle replied, as if he knew exactly what it was. "I got one on my desk. I don't know where it came from either."



It couldn't have been a coincidence. Not only was it the same dream, but a calling card from Myu as well. Dustin wasn't sure how to even respond to that, how could he? He glanced down at the card and noticed how it talked about a ritual. It sounded like a strange ritual to do, but if it summoned Myu, then maybe their dreams could become a reality. It couldn't have been insanity, and it couldn't have been a coincidence. His shyness was getting the better of him, though. He couldn't ask Kyle about the ritual, he still thought the whole idea sounded crazy.



Kyle however, was bit more straightforward. "Think Myu meant the two of us should get together and try the ritual?" he asked after he didn't get a response from Dustin for a good ten minutes or so. The ritual did say to include a friend, and while Kyle knew some people at work, he didn't dare bring up such a weird idea to others. Dustin however, he had the dream, he had the card too. "I mean, I could probably get some time off to fly or drive down there for a day or something." What harm would it do? Worse case scenario, he wasted a few hundred dollars. Okay, Kyle was a bit stingy too, but there was another reason he could go visit Dustin, just to meet someone and maybe make a new friend. As well as get some vacation from not just work, but from home.



Dustin again, wasn't quite sure how to respond. The idea of meeting Kyle for real excited, and scared him. What would Kyle think when he actually saw him? Granted Kyle sounded like a nice guy. Plus, he couldn't sit around forever like this, he had to try. He had known Kyle online for some time, and they developed something that was definitely a friendship at the very least. Plus, if Kyle was willing to come down to meet him, who was he to say no? "Yeah, you can if you want." He replied back. He was at odds, half of him wanted Kyle to come, the other half didn't. "If you can afford it, I don't want you to do something if it's out of your price range, or if you're uncomfortable." He added.



"Don't worry about it. I'll see if I can manage to get down there, and I'll let you know how it goes." Kyle imagined Dustin might have been nervous about it. Kyle was nervous about it too, but he knew he had to at least put fourth the effort and try. What was the worst that could happen?



Kyle went to work shortly after responding to Dustin, and put in the request for the time off. Of course his job was picky, so getting time off shouldn't have been easy. Surprisingly, it was easier than Kyle imagined. He wanted to visit during the same week, so he tried to get the days off that he was working, Thursday, Friday, and the weekend. People took his shifts just like that, and on the same day no less. Kyle considered that some sort of miracle, normally he had to ask people at the very least, but he didn't even have to do that, they noticed his shifts, and took it. Kyle thought to himself, rather jokingly, that Myu must have been involved and helping him in some way.



Kyle's next challenge was to get a plane ticket, and he did that at work over his cell phone. The task to get a plane ticket went surprisingly smoothly. All he had to do was go to a website and make comparisons, to go another site and type in some information, and he got a plane ticket on his cell phone, all at a pretty cheap price considering he wasn't going very far to begin with. He probably could have driven, but since he didn't technically own any cars, he doubted he could have taken one out of the state for a day or so.



Dustin went about his own day after Kyle's response. He wasn't sure if Kyle would have been able to come actually visit him, but the thought both excited, and scared him. He thought about asking him to stay overnight at his place, but he wasn't sure if Kyle was comfortable with that, nor if his roommate would approve. He decided to go with one step at a time, first he'd just clean up just to clean up, and then he'd see if Kyle could arrive. He couldn't get the thoughts out of his mind what to do with him if he did come, should they make plans ahead of time? Or maybe they should just wing it. Would Kyle want to do anything Dustin wanted to? Dustin knew some things about Kyle, but not a whole lot about what he did outside of RP and work. What kind of video games did Kyle enjoy? What about board games or movies? Dustin was uncertain about any of those things. Things he would have to talk with Kyle about, if he was able to arrive.



The day was quickly over for the two. Kyle arrived home late at night from work, and he sent a response to Dustin once he got home. "I got the time off, and I was able to get the plane ticket. I'll be down there by Thursday." He fully expected there to be more issues at the airport, but the fact he was able to get a plane ticket, and time off was surprising alone. "The plane leaves at 10AM, so I should be there in about an hour or so after that." He added. 



When Dustin saw the message, he could barely believe it, Kyle really was coming over, and in three days no less. As much as Dustin wanted to see Kyle, he still wasn't quite sure about so many things, including how to summon Myu, what would his roommate think if he walked in on it? "Do you think we could try to summon her somewhere else, besides my house?" Dustin replied for a response. He didn't want to ‘shoo' away his roommate, or have him come in unexpectedly and think Dustin was in some kind of crazy cult or something. Not that his roommate was a bad person, but Dustin didn't want him thinking he was crazy.



"Your place would be the most private place without making us look crazy." Kyle responded. "Unless you wanted to try like...a private room, or a hotel room or something?" Kyle wouldn't have minded a hotel, a single night at a cheap hotel; of course Kyle realized something shortly after he thought that. "I'm sure I can get a pretty standard hotel for me, and we use that to try to summon her, and obviously I can stay there while you can stay at home." Something to put both of them at ease, Kyle thought. Maybe Dustin didn't want him to see his place for whatever reason, or maybe it was just too personal. All he needed was a one night stay anyways, maybe play some board games or card games or something with Dustin too. He wasn't expecting much, just an attempt to summon followed by an absolute failure to summon her, and then the rest of the night they could do what they liked.



Dustin wanted to tell Kyle he could stay at his place, but his uncertainty kept getting in his way. Would his roommate approve? Would it be too straightforward? It would have made him feel guilty to make Kyle pay more than what he needed to pay. "If you really want a hotel, I can help pay for it." He bit his lip before he added, rather quickly at that. "And if you want to stay over at my place, you certainly can."



"I won't say no to help paying, but I'm not going to say yes to helping out with a hotel." Kyle responded. He was told he shouldn't turn down offers like that, but he felt guilty to take offers like that at the same time. At the added response, Kyle had to think about that. Something deep down told him that Dustin was uncertain about Kyle staying over...not that either of them downright opposed the idea, but an internet friend both coming over for a visit, and staying the night at the house? Kyle wanted to play it on the safe side for both of their sakes. It wasn't that he didn't trust Dustin, it was...okay, in reality, he didn't trust just about anyone he met online. He could trust Dustin more than he could trust anyone else, but not so much that staying overnight at his place made him feel comfortable. "I think I'll stick with a hotel for now." He replied. "If I ever come back down to visit again, I'll crash at your place. Why don't you come meet me at the airport though?" To meet an online friend for the first time at a public place, rather than a private one would be much safer on both of ends, and definitely something Kyle could work with.



Dustin bit his lower lip for a moment before he replied. "Sounds good." Of course he was still flooded with so many mixed emotions. He recalled Kyle said one day about how he just took things one step at a time though, and that's just something he'd have to do himself. He didn't have a car, but he could get rides around town pretty easily, and that's just what he'd have to do on Thursday. He had to wonder briefly about why Kyle wanted a hotel, but Dustin figured Kyle was just probably being careful. Dustin turned off his computer after that, and went right to bed.



Kyle stayed up for a bit longer after talking to Dustin, he spent the rest of the night writing, and playing some games on the side, stuff he usually did. The thought of seeing Dustin didn't worry him too much either, he was going to play it safe, they were going to meet in a public place, Kyle was going to get his own hotel room, and maybe they could hang out together. Although, just as Kyle finished writing a paragraph, Kyle wondered what there was to really do. Kyle stopped his writing and gaming briefly, and browsed websites about things to do in Dustin's state. After about three minutes, when Kyle saw something about a circus, he raised a brow. "I...don't think either of us will want to do stuff like this..." Kyle muttered. He checked his messages, and saw Dustin was offline. He figured he'd talk to him later about what they could do together. He decided to go to bed himself.



Dustin and Kyle had the same dream at the same time, Dustin dreamt of himself being Berkley, while Kyle was Rei. There was no longer any transformation needed, Dustin was Berkley tried and true, and Kyle was Rei. They dreamt together that it was Rei that flew down to meet Berkley, and the moment they met, the pair hugged then and there in the airport. Neither Dustin, nor Kyle, could control themselves in the dream, but it would have been hard to want to do anything else as Berkley and Rei. The two of them just found it so nice, nice to meet, and it felt like they actually did meet in real life, then and there, even if it was just a dream, even if they weren't Dustin and Kyle, but Berkley and Rei.



Once the two met, they talked for a bit. It was hard to tell what they talked about. Dreams often worked in a manner that showed only the important details, and this was dream was little exception. They recalled talking, and driving in Berkley's truck to a restaurant where Berkley had salmon and a beer, while Rei had a salad with a fruit cocktail. They then went to Berkley's cabin, and while Berkley watched television there, Rei worked out in another room wearing earbuds that played music. The scene seemed to continue for awhile before Rei eventually stopped, took a shower, and sat down with Berkley to watch television for a little bit together before they went to Berkley's bedroom and went to bed together. Before they actually went to sleep though, Berkley and Rei moved closer towards each other. The pair closed their eyes, moved their lips closer and closer together...and then...



Dustin shot up in his bed in a cold sweat from the dream. It all just felt so real, as if he was Berkley, and he had spent that whole day with Rei. Maybe he was just getting excited over Kyle coming over to visit, but if that were the case, why did he dream of himself as Berkley, and Kyle as Rei? He tried to shake those thoughts out of his head, but it was of little use. He still knew Kyle was coming over, and he was certain that his visit wouldn't become what he dreamed.

Yet Dustin quietly hoped it did turn into what he dreamt of, not so much the part of them being Berkley and Rei, but spending the day together, and then the night. He paused in his thoughts momentarily, and let out a soft belch. He thought that was a little...odd. It almost smelled like alcohol on his breath, but he hadn't drunk anything like that yesterday, let alone all of last week, and then some.



Kyle awoke at the same time Dustin did. He glanced over at the clock and noticed it was 10 A.M, about the time he should be getting up, although he really wanted to get back to sleep and see where that dream took him. It was one of the most pleasant dreams he had in months, and one he remembered so thoroughly. Something kept him in bed though, something besides his laziness. His body felt sore, as if he had worked out in his sleep. Kyle's head lie against the pillow, and he sighed heavily. "A few more days...just a few more days..."



The remaining days that led up to Thursday came and went quickly for the pair, thankfully with no more realistic dreams. Kyle packed a single bag and worked occasionally, while Dustin went to work, and picked up some extra hours to help pay for some of Kyle's fees. There wasn't much else excitement going on for the two. Dustin didn't have much excitement at his place, and Kyle spent quite some time home by himself, which also made things fairly boring, not that Kyle complained about such things. 

There was some conversations between Dustin and Kyle before Thursday; but neither of them brought up Kyle coming down there very much, so the conversations were largely about seeing how each other was doing before they went about their day. Neither of them mentioned the realistic dream they had either, perhaps out of sheer embarrassment for the two of them for what happened at the end of the dream. Although, the two exchanged phone numbers; Kyle gave Dustin his cell phone number, just so Kyle could let Dustin know when he arrived, and Dustin gave Kyle his phone number, so if he needed to call Kyle, then Kyle would know who was trying to reach him.



When Thursday finally arrived, Kyle woke up, dressed in a black shirt and blue jeans, and drove himself to the airport with but a single suitcase, as well as a horseshoe to help summon Myu. The card that Myu left behind was in his wallet, along with some cash just in case. The airport actually went much quicker than Kyle had imagined. He had heard all of the woes and terrible tales of airline travels, yet this was painless. The airline did question the horseshoe, but because it technically wasn't classified as a weapon, they let it through. While Kyle waited for his flight to board, he gave Dustin's phone a call.



"I should be there in about an hour," Kyle said when Dustin picked up the phone. "If you wouldn't mind meeting me at the airport, unless you wanted to meet somewhere else."



Dustin picked up the phone when Kyle called. He was already awake when Kyle called him in the morning, he had actually barely gotten any sleep the night before. He was so nervous about meeting him for the first time. He still sounded so nice while they talked online though, so all Dustin had to tell himself was that Kyle couldn't have been that bad. "I'll be there." He said, simple as that. He waited about ten minutes or so before he went to the airport, and he took a bag of circus peanuts he had purchased beforehand with him. He thought about wearing something special to meet him, but decided against it, and just went with a casual white shirt and blue pants. He didn't have a car of his own, but getting a taxi was easy enough to the airport. He still had plenty of time, but his heart pounded with excitement. His body shook and sweat with fear. It was probably a good thing he didn't drive to the airport; he couldn't focus on anything except seeing Kyle for the first time. "Just get it together Dustin...it's nothing special, just a friend on the internet. Just be yourself." He spoke to himself to try to calm down. It was true, all the two were going to do were try to summon Myu. Dustin was pretty sure it wouldn't work, and when it didn't...then maybe at least Dustin could invite Kyle over to play some board games and video games, maybe just hang out, that sounded actually kind of fun to him. He just had to hope Kyle would think the same thing.



Meanwhile, Kyle hung up once the two were done talking, and then got on his flight. It went surprisingly smooth, much like a lot of the process to get on the flight. He tried not to be a pessimist, but things almost always went wrong unless he did things carefully. However, getting a plane ticket, getting the time off, even the flight itself, it was all effortless. A little dull sure, there wasn't much special worth talking about throughout the entire process, but he didn't complain in the least. During the flight, he just played a video game to pass the time until the plane landed about an hour later.



Kyle got off of the flight, and he glanced around just outside the boarding gate in the airport. It was the first time he had actually paid attention to his surroundings recently. It wasn't a special airport, nothing stuck out of the ordinary. However, Kyle also found it hard to find Dustin. There were no signs, or waving to him or anything. Kyle moved to the side while the rest of the passengers unloaded, and just glanced around repeatedly until he found someone that resembled Dustin's picture. Kyle thought that must have been him, and walked right up to him. "Dustin?" He asked, being straightforward about it. If he wasn't Dustin, Kyle could just apologize and walk away. 



Dustin had seen Kyle's face before, and he knew very much it was Kyle. It took a moment for Dustin to figure out what to say in a way that he wanted to say it. "Yeah... that's me. You must be Kyle?"



Kyle nodded in response. "Yeah." He replied back to him. Well, that was it, he met Dustin. He recalled in chat how they talked about casual hugging and snuggling. It was one thing to talk about it in chat, it was another thing to actually do it entirely though. Kyle wasn't sure if he'd say no to a hug, but maybe it was TOO straightforward to bring that up. "I didn't bring much." He said, he wheeled a small suitcase behind him. "But I ah...I brought the horseshoe."



Dustin raised a blue bag of circus peanuts. "I got the circus peanuts." He replied. He knew he wanted to say so much to Kyle, but he just couldn't bring out the right words to say to him. Would a hug be too awkward between the pair? He knew Kyle had difficulties with emotions, maybe a handshake? He tried to think of something to at least carry the conversation forward. "Why do you think she wants circus peanuts?" he went with.



Kyle wondered that as well. Myu was technically his character, so maybe he would know better. "I guess I really like them?" he said with a shrug. "They've been surprisingly hard to find where I live, too."



"Oh, I see." Dustin replied. He wasn't really sure what else to say, what COULD he say? Well, he thought he could say all sorts of things. He was mentally overjoyed Kyle came by, and he sounded as nice as he did online. Now he was at a loss of words for what to say. He looked away, and scratched the back of his head with his free hand.



Kyle wasn't entirely sure what to say either. He didn't bring a huge suitcase, the tiny case he brought onto the plane actually had everything he needed for his short trip, a quick change of clothing, some hygiene necessities, and entertainment. "So...you wanted to try this in the hotel room? Or did you want to go somewhere more public? Or..." Kyle tried to think of how Myu would do things, at least in a non-perverted sense. Myu would have been straightforward, and Kyle had to be like that too, otherwise they'd get nowhere. "Did you want to do something else before trying this?"



Dustin had to wonder what Kyle had in mind of what else they could do. He knew he wouldn't mind it. Kyle was older than he was, and there was just something about him. "Maybe we can go to the hotel room and try it, and get you settled in too." He said, after a deep breath. It was just an internet friend; there was nothing special about it; he just had to keep reminding himself of that.



"Sounds good." Kyle started walking away towards the exit. There wasn't a need to go to the baggage claim, he had everything he needed with him. "So, do you have a car, or should we get a taxi?" Not that he cared either way if he did or didn't have a car, he just thought knowing now was better than going outside and wondering where to go next.



Dustin shook his head. "I don't have a car. I can pay for a taxi, though." He had been working enough to offer Kyle that much. If Kyle was friendly to him, he should return the favor.



"Give me a second." Kyle walked along with Dustin, and pulled out his phone. He took a quick look at the hotel, and then his map. "Hotel isn't too far from here... a couple of blocks away if you just want to walk there." He offered as he pulled up the map on his phone. "I don't mind walking if you don't."



Dustin nodded at that. "Walking is fine." It wasn't that bad of a day out, the sun was shining in the air, and it was fairly cool, not cold enough to require jackets, but cool enough for sweatshirts to be optional.



The two walked together side by side to the hotel. There wasn't much conversation between the pair as they walked, and it made for a bit of awkward silence. Kyle had already said what he needed to say, and while Kyle was silent, Dustin kept to himself. They had already talked about how to get Myu to appear; they had everything they needed, what was there more to discuss, well, aside from what they'd do afterwards, but since Kyle didn't bring that up during their walk, neither did Dustin.



Despite the walk being short, it felt like a long moment of silence to get to the hotel. The hotel itself was about average when it came to quality. It was a good four stories high with a white exterior, and various patio doors set up along most of the rooms. The two walked inside and found it had lush red carpeting that went straight up to the counter, with benches, vending machines, and an elevator on one side, and a set of stairs on the other, set up along the sides.



Kyle walked up to the counter and checked in before he obtained his key. It was actually another effortless thing that Kyle imagined would have taken a lot more effort and hassle, but no, it was incredibly straightforward. Kyle got his room key, and walked inside the elevator, and motioned Dustin in.



Dustin was quiet the entire time while Kyle checked in. During the time Kyle was at the counter, he looked at Kyle's back. His mind kept telling him to say something to him, but he spoke nothing until they got in the elevator. Only then, Dustin commented. "So how was your flight?" He asked Kyle.



"It went a lot smoother and quicker than I expected." Kyle replied. He didn't anything else though, a simple statement to the question, and nothing more. He waited patiently in the elevator with Dustin until the door opened, and then the two walked to Kyle's hotel room.



The hotel room wasn't entirely fancy. It was designed like a single room with the bed right in front of the television, the television which rested on a fairly large stand, complete with DVD player attached to said television. There was a bathroom in the back, and a closed curtain that hid the patio door. A single wooden table was set up. Although it looked like it didn't really fit in with the rest of the room, it was just sort of placed between the bed and the patio door.



"I requested a wooden table." Kyle commented, as he walked in and casually tossed his bag onto the bed. "It did say a wooden surface. Oddly they were more than willing to accommodate me, and free of charge no less." Kyle didn't look at Dustin as he spoke; he simply unzipped that bag of his, and pulled out a simple metal horseshoe.



"Why would you find that odd?" Dustin glanced around the room. It didn't look too big, big enough for one person sure, but little more than that. He walked over to the table, and set that bag of circus peanuts on the table. He DID think it was odd for Myu to request candy, but Kyle did mention it earlier it was one of his favorites.



"Because it was hassle free, like a lot of this trip has been." Kyle set down the metal horseshoe, and then he pulled out a sharpie. "Life has never been this easy, it's almost as if something is helping me pull this off." He paused for a moment, and glanced to Dustin. "...what about you? How have the past few days been?"



Dustin paused at that question. "They haven't been that bad. Kind of boring, though." He commented. Nothing went on of note, aside from that one off dream. Ever since then, every other day, it had been as boring as the last. Today was definitely the exception though; he just wished he could be more outgoing towards Kyle.



Kyle shrugged, and took out that marker. "I bought some stuff to cover it up when we're done, can't be that mean to the hotel after all." He commented as he drew the pentagram. He used the metal horseshoe as an outline to draw it, and the card from Myu as reference. It wasn't long before the pentragram was complete. The lines on the star weren't exactly perfect, and neither was the circle, but it was as good as he could get. He set the circus peanuts in the middle of the pentagram, and waited.



Nothing seemed to happen at all. "I think we're missing a step." Dustin commented. He took a glance at the card. "Join hands with a friend." He glanced over at Kyle.



Kyle was silent about that at first. He imagined what Myu would have meant by that, and he glanced at Dustin. "The two of us are the only two that got her card I'm sure, so..." he walked to the other side of the table, and reached out his hands out to Dustin. "Stand on the other side and grab my hands."



Dustin nodded at Kyle. He reached out and held his hands, and smiled faintly at him. "Is this...is this all that needs to be done?" he asked. He didn't remember seeing anything else on that calling card Myu left behind, and as he looked at the one Kyle took out, he didn't see anything else.



"I think this was it." Kyle looked at Dustin eye to eye. Something Kyle had problems doing. He wasn't sure why, but he was finding it a bit easier now. He wasn't sure what things would be like when they first met. He wanted to be more open, but reality was harder to do than merely thinking about it, or writing their encounter. "We just kind of...wait...I guess."



After a good five minutes of holding hands and surrounding the small table, nothing happened. With a frustrated sigh, Kyle slowly let go of Dustin's hands. "Now I'm wondering who set those calling cards out."



Kyle soon got his answer. In a puff of purple smoke one might use in a cheap special effect, Myu appeared on top of the table. She wore a purple kimono that covered her well enough, though her bare large black hooves were easily seen on the table, her white splotched muzzle with green eyes, and the rest of her body brown, turned back and fourth between the two. "I knew you were going to summon me. I just wasn't sure WHEN. So, hello, Name's Myu, I specialize in magic, and screwing with people. That includes messing with the person who created me." She teased, with a wink towards Kyle.



Kyle couldn't believe it. He stepped back, and smacked his back up against the glass patio door. There she was, Myu, right in front of him. He had a million and one questions for her, but instead he asked. "Why did you want us to summon you?"



"It's a LONG story, sugar." Myu hopped off the side of the table, and stretched her arms. "Mph, multiverse travel takes it out of you. Let's just put it like this, this multiverse doesn't have a lot of magic essence, so I needed some help getting brought here to do things with the two of you."



Dustin couldn't believe his eyes either, was this even real? He stepped back just as Myu hopped down, and he looked over her body. That feminine shape, but bulge between her legs, there was something about her though that wasn't her body. She radiated an aura of dominance and power. He had a feeling that anything Myu wanted, she would get, and she damn well knew she could, it was simply a matter of HOW she got what she wanted that made things interesting. "What...what things?" he asked.



"Well..." Myu turned to Dustin with a smile. She was close enough to him that she was able to reach out and brush her hide covered hands against his unshaven chin. "What do you THINK? What does this pervert," She turned to Kyle briefly, before she turned back to Dustin. "Write about him and you doing?"



"Turning into Myu and Berkley?" Kyle asked. He had written some stories about that before, and Roleplayed such things, but the idea of it happening for real?



"Bingo!" Myu's hands brushed off of Dustin's chin, and she grabbed Kyle's shirt with her other hand, and pulled him in close. "You're not as dumb as you write yourself out to be. There is however, one problem with this multiverse. I won't get into technical details, but a Myu simply cannot exist in this one. The reasoning has to do with magic essences, blah blah blah recharge, blah blah blah William Underpants. Luckily, I found an alternative you could be, all thanks to your boyfriend."



Dustin rubbed his chin moments after Myu rubbed it. He had felt the entire thing, those hide covered fingers, the warmth of her body, the smell of hay, if this was a dream, it was the most realistic one he had ever experienced. "Boyfriend?" he had to ask. The two knew each other online, and sure, the idea definitely didn't sound bad, but...his mind then went to thinking about that alternative Myu referred. "Rei?" he asked, as he recalled what Kyle had told him earlier. Rei, a character Dustin made. One that wasn't quite fleshed out to be a real character yet, though, Rei wasn't really given much of a personality yet, among other things.



Myu grabbed Dustin's shirt with her other hand. She could have used magic sure, but she had the strength of a horse, it was more than enough to grab the two, plus, why use magic when it wasn't needed, unless she was just showing off. "Yes boyfriend, yes Rei. You two might not be QUITE attached yet in this multiverse, but hey, that's why I'm here." She turned to Dustin. "You become big bear Berkley." She turned to Kyle. "And since a Myu in this multiverse couldn't effectively use magic, you become Rei. I developed a personality for him you can use, I'm sure you won't mind it."



Kyle wasn't even sure if he should argue at this point. Myu clearly had all of this power and dominance, granted he wouldn't have known what to do with it if he had it himself, but he was going to change into something else now? "I...can't argue about this, can I?" Kyle asked, quietly.



"Nope!" Myu pulled Kyle in more and gave him a kiss right on the lips. After a moment, she let Kyle go, and then kissed Dustin right on his lips. She then let him go, and vanished in another puff of purple smoke. Another cheaply done effect, except she didn't go alone this time. She took the pentagram, the horseshoe, the circus peanuts, and those calling cards with her. It was as if she was never there in the first place, except for the lingering smell of horse she left behind.



Both Dustin and Kyle blinked rapidly at the spot where Myu left, before the two glanced at each other. Did what just happen, really just happen? The two couldn't help but wonder if it was that easy, if Myu had just came and gone like that. Dustin reached up, and touched his lips. He could still feel the lingering touch of Myu's kiss, it had to be real. "I...is something supposed to happen now that she's gone?" Dustin asked.



Kyle reached up and touched his lips as well. He wondered if it was really that easy, but he knew Myu. After all, he had essentially invented Myu. He wasn't sure if the Myu that visited them was exactly like the one he created, but the two must have at least had similarities. "Myu likes transformation. She already said what should happen. You become Berkley, and I become Rei...but going by what she said, who knows if she had the magic to even DO it." With a small sigh, Kyle shrugged. "There's little we can do about it anyways. So um..." he was at a loss for words what to say next. He had ideas what to do after summoning Myu sure, but he didn't expect Myu's summon to actually work.



Dustin was almost at a loss for words himself. He had ideas what the two could do, but should they try to figure out if anything happened to them first? Dustin didn't feel any different physically, or mentally. Maybe Myu's magic didn't work on them after all, or maybe they had a REALLY strong imagination...but together? He wasn't certain what happened, but he looked over at Kyle, and lowered his hand back down. "Did you make any plans for when you came here?" he asked. He decided it was best to bring up something else, maybe the two could forget about what just happened.



Kyle shrugged at that. "I was thinking when summoning Myu failed; maybe we could go somewhere or do something? Like...we don't have to go to your place of course, rather we can just go to a restaurant or an arcade or something that you know of around here?"



Dustin wanted to comment right away that he wouldn't mind if Kyle went to his place. His roommate was out for the day so it'd just be the two of them, but maybe that would have been too straightforward. "There are a couple of fast food places nearby if you like those kinds of things. Otherwise we have probably the same stuff you do when it comes to food. I can't think of any really ‘special' places."



Kyle took out his cell phone once more, and used it to glance at some nearby spots. "There's a Country Barrel not too far from here, decent reviews...prices a little expensive, I guess being near an airport means they get more business, but we can divide it based on what we eat. Sound like a plan?"



Dustin had heard about a place called ‘Country Barrel' before, although he hadn't actually been inside one. "Sure thing." He replied. He told himself mentally that it was just hanging out with a friend; it wasn't a date or anything special like that. "Just...just lead the way." His nervousness picked up a little bit again.



Kyle left the hotel with Dustin, and together they walked to Country Barrel. It was about a fifteen minute walk, not that either of them seemed to mind it.



Country Barrel itself was designed to look like a large barrel that measured about two stories tall, but it was wider than it was tall. There was a set of glass doors that served as the entrance, and the interior was set up to look like an old country restaurant. Wooden paneling lined up the walls decorated with country style paintings. The floor was a slightly brighter wood than the walls, and even included an occasional creak noise when one stepped in the right spot. The entrance had walls along the left and right sides, with an opening to the left that led to the restaurant, and one to the right that led to the gift shop, largely country based items.



"You'd think with all of this country style design, this place would actually BE in the country." Kyle commented to Dustin. He walked up to the front desk with Dustin, all while looking around at the scenery. "Still doesn't look bad..." he took a deep breath. The scent of pies in the air didn't smell too bad either.



Dustin paid some attention to the scenery, but the rest of his mind tried to focus on how it wasn't a date, just the two spending a meal together and getting to know each other. Granted, they knew each other quite well over the internet, but they hadn't met physically. "Just the two of us. Booth preferred." Dustin told the woman behind the front desk.



"Of course. Right this way." The woman behind the desk replied. She wore a white t-shirt with a black apron in front that went down to her black pants. The woman went from behind the desk, to the small opening that led to the main part of the restaurant. 

It looked like a pretty standard restaurant with rectangle shaped tables arranged, along with chairs that were made of metal, but painted to look wooden. The booths were also painted to look wooden, but had a red cushion for the back and seats. 

She led them about halfway back before she led them to a booth. The booth had a small countryside painting on the wall complete with tall trees, and a single wooden cabin. "Here you are. Can I get you any drinks to start you off?"



Kyle glanced at that picture briefly. The picture reminded him of the scenes he would roleplay with Dustin, and how they would inevitably go to Berkley's cabin, since Myu didn't really have a place to live in the present times. After a moment, he took a seat in the booth, and glanced at the menu drink options. He wasn't quite sure why, but something in him wanted to go for something simple, like water or milk. Water was pretty tasteless though, and if he got milk, he would have to pay more for refills. "A diet coke will do fine." He ended up saying.



Dustin noticed the peculiar painting too. Maybe it was just a coincidence though. He took a seat on the other side of the booth, and went right to the alcohol page. He wasn't sure why, but something clicked in his head that told him to go straight to that page. The many drinks they served though just didn't look that tempting. "I uh...a coke will do." He responded. He couldn't explain why he even looked at the alcohol page, he barely drank the stuff.



Once the woman left the two, Kyle glanced over the menu. There were so many choices offered, and only a few of them were ones he could actually call country related. Kyle was pretty simple when it came down to food though, he often just settled for a hamburger and, while there were definitely hamburgers, he also looked over the pasta options briefly. Something in him just sort of clicked to, at the very least, look at the alternatives. He saw a tuna pasta salad, and that got his mouth watering. Kyle couldn't even explain why, he wasn't a huge fan of pasta, and he was much less a fan of tuna, yet for some reason, this option on the menu looked so tempting. "So uhm..." Kyle started. "What are you going to eat Dustin?" They hadn't talked much about favorite foods online, so Kyle was uncertain what Dustin even liked in the menu.



Dustin kept his eyes on the alcohol page a moment longer before he raised his head to Kyle. "Huh? Oh...uh..." he looked down at the menu and turned the page to the food. "The breaded shrimp sounds fine." He said before he closed the menu, and turned his head to finally get a look at the restaurant in its entirety. "Can't believe I haven't been in here before, this place reminds me of South Carolina." He opened up his menu again, and glanced at his choices. "Not a lot of southern food options, though."



"Can't say I've ever been there myself," Kyle kept his eyes on the menu too. "I've been to California and Florida though, but only in Florida for Disneyworld."



Dustin slowly lowered his menu and glanced at Kyle. "What was Disneyworld like?"



"It was years ago, so I don't remember that much. I got to Florida and took a tram to a bus station that drove right to there. The lines for rides weren't that bad, but that one huge silver globe ride kept stopping every five minutes. It wasn't a bad ride all in all, but the stopping kind of ruined the immersion...I don't think it was that bad of a place overall either, but I was a nervous kid, and so many rides made me incredibly scared to ride them. How was South Carolina though?"



"Not filled with as many rides, so not quite as fun." Dustin said with a small smile.



The waitress soon returned with their drinks, and as she glanced at the pair, she couldn't help but ask. "So, what brings you two here today?"



Both Dustin and Kyle glanced at each other. Kyle had imagined the waitress was curious if they were dating, but rather than even bring that up, Kyle replied, "Just having a good time with a friend is all."



The waitress nodded at that. "I see. Well then, have you two had enough time to look over the menu? Do you know what you want to eat?"



"Just ah...a hamburger is fine." Kyle gave little hesitation to that answer. As much as some of the other food seemed more tempting than usual, he decided against it, he probably would have hated that food anyways. At least, that's what he told himself.



Dustin was distracted for a moment as he looked at the menu. Eventually, he said. "Just the shrimp, breaded shrimp is fine, with a side of fries."



As the waitress finished taking their order, she took the menus and left. Both Dustin and Kyle let out a mental sigh of relief as they had resisted their urges, and without the menu, it would be hopefully easier to resist such things.



"So..." Kyle asked, after what felt like a food five minutes of silence of just looking around the restaurant for the two of them. "What do you think we should do after this? Any sort of plans or ideas?"



Those five minutes went by rather quickly for Dustin, but what else they could do after this? Dustin wondered how much money Kyle had. They could do other things. They could go bowling, they could maybe try to find an arcade, and they had some pretty similar interests, so finding something the two of them liked couldn't have been too hard. Still, he wasn't entirely sure if he should be the one calling the shots; his uncertainty in himself told him that. "What would you like to do?" Dustin asked. "You're the guest, after all."



"How comfortable are you with me going to your place again?" Kyle asked. "I think we might have talked about it, but I've also mentioned my memory is still pretty terrible. I mean, we can go to your place and maybe play some video games? I didn't bring my own controller or anything, but if you don't mind me using your controllers..." he paused briefly. "If you have multiplayer video games, anyways." He added.



"Mind you using a controller?" Dustin asked. "I wouldn't mind if you stayed the night. I think I mentioned that before online though." Right after Dustin said that, he paused. "I mean, with you on the couch or...uhm..." he felt the change was rather sudden. He knew he was the one that brought up Kyle could stay with him if he wanted, but now that they were face to face, it just felt much more embarrassing to bring up. "You can use my controllers, I don't mind." He said before he went quiet.



"Yeah...thinking back on it, I remember the offer..." Kyle said quietly, he looked down at the table as well. The more he thought about it, and the longer that he was around Dustin, the better the idea of staying at Dustin's place sounded like a good one. "But a hotel would probably be safer for the two of us. Next time, I'll stay at your place, or you can stay at mine." He raised his eyes back to Dustin. "Sound good?"



"Yeah, it's totally fair and fine." Dustin replied. Did the two even talk about that before? It was hard to pay attention to what did and didn't happen, maybe it was a dream he had, he wasn't entirely certain.



After a bit more time, their food arrived, and they dug right in to it. "What kind of games do you have at home?" Kyle asked, just before he took a bite of his hamburger. It was around then he realized he hadn't asked for it plain. He typically didn't like the lettuce or tomato and the ilk on the hamburger, but surprisingly, he found it all right this time, heck, it tasted a bit better with the stuff.



"Largely single player games," Dustin took bites of his food and found it tasted...well, about as good as he had thought it would, slightly better than before, but nothing that was downright amazing. It almost made him wish he had asked for the Salmon. "I have some multiplayer, but I prefer the cooperation kind rather than the fighting kind."



"So something like Khakkhara three?" Kyle asked. "At least in the non PVP stuff." The game was, best described, as an RPG dungeon crawler game. Each dungeon was random, the loot was random, a lot of stuff was random, but that's how the game designer made it, and it was a pretty popular game.



"Yeah, that and Country lines three." Berkley replied. The game was an RPG/Shooter game with plenty of humor both light, and dark. "All on the Okama Gamesphere."



As Kyle took another bite of his burger, about halfway done, he chuckled at the name. "Still couldn't believe they turned it into a real console." He said when his mouth was no longer full. "Still, I like both of those games. I've kind of played them with friends online, but never couch multiplayer."



"Not complaining. Not a bad console at all." It really did feel like the pair hit it off with conversations and likes, it made Dustin feel much more comfortable around him, which was for certain. He didn't want to bring up Kyle's looks, if only because he thought Kyle might be uncomfortable if Dustin said he looked good, but it was hard to get the thought out of his mind.



The two swapped between eating and talking again and again at the restaurant. They discussed food, music, general likes and dislikes, they found that they were pretty similar, except Kyle was a little bit more into horror than Dustin, and definitely far more work oriented. Not that Dustin was lazy, he worked quite a bit too, it was more that Kyle did a lot of work, even when he had ‘free time' he would spend it doing something like writing or design or programming, things people might not have always found fun.



"You can put your phone down. Relax a little. You're on vacation now, aren't you?" Dustin asked, just as the two had cleaned their plates. "Or are you watching funny cat videos, and not sharing them with me?"



Kyle let out a sigh. During the entire dinner, he had glanced down at his phone now and then and checked for things such as new messages and the ilk. He had one single message asking if he made the flight okay, and he messaged back that he made it just fine. "I know, I know. I'm a bit of a workaholic. Let's just say it's a good thing I don't have a laptop, I would have been on that all dinner." He put his phone back into his pocket, and glanced down at their plates. The two had completely emptied their plates. Normally, this would have been enough, but he could hear Dustin's stomach rumble from across the table. "You want to get desert or something?"



"I think you should tell whoever's messaging you on that phone you're on vacation, you're turning the phone off, and you'll call if there's an issue, and then turn your phone off, and call if there's an issue." Dustin was rather straightforward, more than he normally would have been. "But...I think I'll be fine without desert." Dustin was surprised at just how hungry he was, but he could restrain himself. He had been near Kyle, and had known Kyle online, long enough to trust him at his place; he just hoped Kyle felt the same way.



"I just like to keep busy and keep doing things that are generally productive, even if what I do isn't very productive at the end of the day." Dustin did have a point though, Kyle was on vacation. This should have all been about him and what he wanted to do, and right now? He would have much rather preferred to spend the day with Dustin, and not have to worry about checking his text every ten minutes or so. "What else am I supposed to do?"



Dustin shrugged at Kyle in response. "Enjoy yourself?" Of course, they were done eating too, and now it was a matter of what to do next. "Maybe come back to my place and play those video games and board games?"



Kyle had to give that some thought. He did have his cell phone with him, should something come up, and Dustin definitely seemed friendly enough. "Alright, fine. How far is it? Should I call for a cab?"



"Don't worry about it." Dustin pulled out his own cell phone and called for a taxi for them. Of course it would take ten minutes for that taxi to arrive, and there was still the additional matter of the restaurant bill.



Kyle had a strong sensation about what Dustin was about to suggest when it came to paying. "I'll pay my part, and you pay yours. Don't make it more complicated than that." Kyle took out his card, and set it on the bill when it arrived.



Of course Dustin recalled their conversation about paying the bill. Something told him that, just as much as he was willing to pay for Kyle's meal, Kyle was probably just as willing to pay for Dustin's meal, so it was probably better off if they just paid for their meal and didn't fight over who paid for what. "Alright." He agreed, and paid for his food.



Once Dustin and Kyle were finished with the restaurant, they went outside and found the taxi waiting for them. They hopped in the backseat, Dustin provided his address, and soon the two were off to Dustin's place.



Inside the taxi, both Dustin and Kyle sat not too far from each other, but the two were largely silent. It wasn't that they were shy or nervous; it was just that Kyle couldn't think of much to say during the drive, and it was difficult for Dustin to come up with much of anything to talk about too, but Dustin knew he should try to take the initiative.



"So...how is your story writing going?" Dustin asked. He recalled their online conversations how Kyle talked about his writing, his website, his commissions, so many things. Dustin rarely responded with exciting things about his life.



"Not that bad actually," Kyle replied. "I have a few stories saved up for the next few weeks, and I let everyone know I'm going on vacation for a few days, so I can afford to not do anything while I'm here." He kept his eyes on the window. It wasn't that he was bored; it was more about the scenery they kept passing. Kyle knew far too well about how he talked about himself quite a bit online, and he didn't want to sound egotistic about it, but he swore there were times Dustin encouraged it. He wanted to ‘bring out Myu' so to speak. The Myu Kyle saw though, he'd rather not become something like her.



Dustin smiled at Kyle. "And yet you still keep checking your phone on occasion."



Kyle turned to Dustin. "I haven't checked it once in the taxi." Although he didn't want to admit that he very much wanted to check it, not that he was sure what he could really do on his phone now. He definitely couldn't write on his phone, and he wasn't logged in to most things on his phone either, really he just checked for texts and...that was it.



The drive to Dustin's place was surprisingly short. It wasn't that long before Dustin and Kyle were dropped off in front of an apartment, and Dustin pulled out his keys. He opened up the front glass door, and let Kyle walk in before the two walked up the stairs. It wasn't a terrible apartment, brick building with carpeted floors and stairs. It wasn't the fanciest, but it also wasn't the most rundown, it was pretty average in appearance.



Dustin led Kyle to his apartment, and opened up the door for him. His apartment was a two bedroom with a rather small kitchen, and a decent sized living room. A loveseat sat in front of a coffee table, and on the other side of that was the television, complete with video game systems beneath that, and video games right beside it. "I know it isn't much." Dustin commented as he walked onto the shaggy carpeted floor of his apartment. "But my roommate and I get by. Take a seat on the couch and relax."



Kyle stepped inside the apartment, and glanced around briefly at the two bedrooms, one bathroom apartment. He was familiar with the design of such apartments, the kitchen located near the front, but rather tiny, next to a dining room attached to a living room, and then the bedrooms down the hallway. He took a seat on the loveseat, and took his shoes off before he sat back on it. "It's a really clean place. How much cleaning did you do before I got here?" he asked. He hadn't visited many friends, but the places he did remember visiting, he often remembered messes of some sort. Dustin's place though? It looked incredibly clean.



"A little bit." Dustin didn't want to admit just how much he had really done, he recalled how nervous he was about Kyle coming over to begin with, but now he didn't feel quite as nervous as he did last time. He grabbed the television remote and turned on the television. "So, what did you want to do first? Video games? Board games? Card Games? Sit and talk?" He was ready to turn on the game system then and there, something deep in the back of his head just told him that they'd probably enjoy that the most, but he had to ask Kyle, he was the guest after all.



"Video games are fine with me." Kyle replied. He glanced at the television and noticed that it was in the middle of a commercial, and the commercial was that of workout equipment. Such things never really meant much of anything to Kyle, but this particular commercial, and this particular workout system of weight lifting and a bench, it looked...actually rather tempting. "And for your inevitable follow up question, since we have all night, whatever video game you want to play works with me."



Dustin turned to Kyle with a smile before he turned back and grabbed two controllers. He turned on the Okama Gamesphere, handed Kyle one controller, and then they sat and played Khakkhara three.



Dustin and Kyle spent a few good hours playing the game, although to them it felt like far less than that. The two played various co-op games, and while Kyle played a bit more aggressively, Dustin played a bit more intelligently, and together with a combination of a brain class, and a brawn class, they managed to beat quite a few of the games that they started.



Dustin glanced over at a clock and noticed it was quickly approaching eight at night. He wasn't sure how long Kyle was going to stay over, not that he would complain if he stayed all night, but either way after their last game was playing the credits, he turned to Kyle. "Do you want something to drink? There's a few drinks in the fridge, I'm sure my roommate won't mind if you have one of his either."



Kyle only then realized how much time had passed when Dustin asked him about a drink, but what felt even stranger, was what he thought about what they might have to drink. Kyle didn't drink that much soda unless it was a special occasion, and sure this technically counted as a special occasion of sorts, but at the same time, he felt that he should probably watch what he drinks. "Ah..." he had to give some thought about what to ask for or if he even wanted anything. "Milk?" It was undoubtedly a strange request. He recalled the times he had asked for such things in the restaurant how people looked at him so weirdly for asking for that to drink; he just hoped Dustin wouldn't think him odd for wanting such a thing.



Dustin found the request strange, but he didn't speak up about it. "Yeah I think we have some. Just a second." He got off the couch and went to the kitchen. He grabbed a drink glass, and then opened up the fridge. Only a moment after Dustin opened up the fridge, he froze in place. Sure, there was milk in there, but there was something else too. He noticed a bottle of whiskey right next to the milk. Dustin wasn't a drinker, and he knew his roommate didn't drink much either, so how did whiskey end up there? He stared at the whiskey with wide eyes, and the drink glass in hand, as if the whiskey mesmerized him.



After Dustin stared at that Whiskey for a few good minutes, long enough for the credits to end, Kyle turned his head to the kitchen. "Are you alright Dustin? Or are you just trying to find a milk that you didn't drink straight out of the carton of?" he added the last part teasingly. He hadn't heard any loud noises from the kitchen, but still, what was taking him so long?



Dustin snapped out of it when Kyle spoke up. "N-no, I'm fine." Dustin grabbed the milk and poured Kyle a glass. Dustin closed the fridge right after, and brought the glass over to Kyle. Dustin didn't get himself anything, but he couldn't get that whiskey out of his mind, where did it come from?



Kyle took the glass, and helped himself to it before he noticed Dustin's wide eyed look. He hadn't actually met Dustin in real life for very long, but he could already tell something wasn't quite right. "Are you feeling okay?" He asked with a worried look. "You look like you saw a ghost in your kitchen or something, which probably explains why it took so long, but still."



Dustin shook his head as he sat back down on the sofa. "N-no, I'm doing alright." He replied, and took a few deep breaths. "My roommate just bought something weird is all. Anyways, come on, let's play some more games." He wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible, and focus on something else.



Kyle shrugged his shoulders, and the two continued to play games for a bit longer before Kyle's phone would go off. He pressed the pause button for the game and glanced at the time on his phone. "It's getting kind of late; I should really get back to the hotel." Time had seemed to just...lurch forward with their games, it felt like they had just barely started, and it already was getting so late. They hadn't done that much together either, aside from just doing something they probably could have done online together, just not on the same couch was really the only difference.



Dustin bit the bottom of his lip when Kyle said he should get back to the hotel. He knew they mentioned about staying at his place more than once, and maybe the hotel could give him a refund of sorts if he didn't sleep there, but he didn't want to pressure Kyle, as much as he wanted him to stay there. "Okay...do you need help with a cab?"



Kyle shook his head. "I'll be fine, but thanks." He walked to the kitchen and put his glass in the sink before he headed to the door. "It was fun being here though." He turned to Dustin. "I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime, maybe we can do some other things too, I have a few weird board games and card games my family doesn't really get how to play that I think you might know."



Dustin smiled faintly. "I would like that...well...take it easy." 



Kyle nodded back to Dustin before he opened the door. It took him a moment to leave, as if he waited for a response from Dustin. He half wanted to stay the night at his place, but he thought that might have been too forward and too sudden to bring up then and there. Sure, they only played video games all night, but it didn't take much to please Kyle. With a small sigh, he walked out of Dustin's apartment, and closed the door behind him.



After getting a cab, Kyle eventually returned to his hotel room and took a seat on the bed. He took off his shoes, and glanced at his phone to check the time. It was now about ten at night. Of course, Kyle kept thinking about staying with Dustin, but he didn't want to be a bother, plus he felt more comfortable in a hotel room, at least for tonight. "Maybe next time." He said to himself. Kyle stood back up, undressed, and took a hot shower after a long day with Dustin, not that he complained, if anything, the day wasn't long enough for him. Once he got out of the shower, he dried himself off and put on blue pajama pants, and a black shirt. He then decided to watch some television, but there wasn't much to watch in a hotel room. Kyle quickly got bored after about five minutes of channel surfing, and seeing nothing good on. He muted the television and just took out his tablet, and watched some shows on there, as well as he played a few basic games. He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he just drifted off to sleep.



Dustin actually did much of the same Kyle did once he had left, which was not much of anything exciting. He cleaned up the single glassware, and then sat back down on the couch, and stared t the television with that paused screen before the system went into rest mode. There just wasn't much for him left to do now. His place also just kind of felt emptier without Kyle. Sure, he had lived where he lived for quite some time without him, but now when Kyle wasn't around? It just felt lonelier, and not even his roommate would be able to help him out with it. With a sigh, he went to bed without glancing at what time it was.



The pair had another dream, it was the same dream, at the same time once more, with Dustin as Berkley, and Kyle as Rei. The pair didn't dream about anything at the airport, but rather they dreamt about going to ‘Country Barrel' together in Berkley's car. As they walked through the doors into that restaurant, the two were close, and held each others hands the entire time. It was then that the height difference was fairly obvious. Berkley had a good foot or so on Rei, but Rei had more visible muscle tone compared to Berkley. The two sat down on a small table before Berkley had an order of Salmon with whiskey to drink, and Rei had the tuna pasta salad, with a simple glass of milk.



While both Berkley and Rei waited for their order, they talked and laughed. As it was a dream, it was hard to figure out exactly what the two talked about, but they didn't have long to figure out before their food was delivered only a moment after they placed the order. The scent of the food was so powerful, that both Dustin and Kyle swore they could actually smell it outside of the dream.



While Kyle dreamt, a small change to his body occurred. It was incredibly minor, one he would never notice, but his body took a change that would make working out and dieting far more effective than normal. It's not that he would get big and strong by sitting around and doing nothing, he still had to work out, but it would be much easier overall to get that shape.



Dustin's body also took a change similar to Kyle's. His body would allow him to reshape to get stronger easier, but not so much thinner. In fact, he would actually get fatter regardless of what he did. He wouldn't become flat out obese because of it, but rather he would have a much bigger belly than what he currently had. He also grew a few inches in height, but the change was so small that his shirt still hid his gut just fine.



Back in the dream, both Berkley and Rei laughed a moment longer, before they stopped after the food arrived. Berkley put his hands on top of Rei's, and Rei looked Berkley deep into his eyes. With a faint smile from the pair, they moved in closer and closer to each other until...



The phone in Kyle's hotel room rang loud enough to wake him up from the dream. He shot his eyes open and picked up the phone. "Hello?" he said in a tone that sounded more awake than he was.



"Good morning. This is your wakeup call for 9A.M. If you would like to set up a snooze alarm, please press one. Otherwise, you may hang up."



"So I could just hang up and go back to sleep." Kyle muttered with a roll of his eyes. Not that it mattered what he said over the phone, it was just a recording. He hung up the phone, and got off of the bed. His flight was going to leave in a few hours so he had to get to the airport, but he still felt so tired. Kyle wondered what he could do to wake himself up. He sometimes had a soda early in the morning. As bad as it was for his teeth, it had caffeine which helped keep him up, but he decided against it. Instead, he would lie down on his belly next to the bed, put his palms on the floor, and do pushups. He wasn't exactly sure WHY he wanted to; he just thought it would wake him up a bit more. Kyle wasn't one for exercise though, and by the time he reached ten, his body was exhausted, but at least he felt more awake. When Kyle finally felt awake enough, he gave Dustin a call.



Dustin had already woken up when Kyle awoke. He couldn't exactly explain how or why he felt so awake, but regardless, when he woke up, he took a quick hot shower to wake himself up, and then dressed himself in jeans and a long sleeve shirt. It was only after he got dressed that he heard the phone rang and noticed Kyle's number on it. "Hey Kyle. Aren't you going back home?" That whole day he spent with Kyle just made him feel so much more open towards him than ever before. He didn't sound excited about talking to Kyle though, as excited as he actually was, he just found it hard to show it in his voice.



"Yeah," Kyle replied. His excitement about going home was pretty obvious, he disliked the idea. "If you want to see me off, I'll be waiting at Gate 32. I'm heading there early just to make sure I get checked in and everything. You know how airports can be sometimes."



Talking to Kyle made Dustin happy, but knowing that Kyle had to leave? Not so much. He didn't want to sound depressed though, he had to think with confidence, confidence Berkley might have. The two would definitely see each other again, whether Kyle came back to Dustin, or whether Dustin would come to Kyle. "I'll definitely be there." He said, with a tone of sureness that not even he knew he had. "So don't leave without me."



Kyle smiled faintly at Dustin's response. "I wouldn't plan on it. I'll meet you there, later." He hung up the phone, and changed from his pajama pants into blue jeans, he kept the black shirt he had on from yesterday, packed his bags, and went off to the airport.



Kyle's hotel was still within walking distance, so he just walked his way to the airport. Sure enough, checking in was a bit more of a hassle than when he arrived. It wasn't that he was being bothered about the stuff he had in his bags, it was just the line itself was particularly long to get through the airport security. Kyle had experienced so many times when he swore it was as if the universe itself didn't want him to go places, and this felt like one of those times.



Kyle lost track of time when he was finally through the long lines, and on his way to his gate. "Just a good thing I left early, or I totally would have missed it." He muttered. He went to his gate, checked in at the desk at that gate, and had a seat next to the large window.



Dustin arrived at Kyle's gate only moments after Kyle had a seat in one of the many small chairs. "Hey Kyle, pretty quick line through security today, huh?" he asked, as he took a seat in the chair next to Kyle. Just the sight of Kyle alone made Dustin feel more upbeat and happier than he had ever been, even if the thought of Kyle leaving also depressed him, he knew they would meet again.



"Quick?" Kyle turned his head to Dustin. "It felt like I stood in that line for hours. How long did it take you to get here and get through the line?" Kyle recalled he had to take a taxi to get from Dustin's place back to the hotel, but even that didn't take very long to do, MAYBE half an hour at the most, and Kyle was certain he was in line for longer than that.



"Maybe...forty-five minutes in total?" Dustin replied with a shrug. "How much longer until you have to go?"



The concept of time felt so strange to Kyle then and there. He glanced at the time, and he had about fifteen minutes left before his flight came. While he didn't keep track of time during the line for security, he wondered... he left with more than an hour to spare, so how did so much time pass for him, and so little time pass for Dustin? After a moment delay, Kyle said "About fifteen minutes. I think." The plane was already behind him, although they hadn't started boarding quite yet.



"I see," Dustin glanced out the window at the plane. He swore there wasn't a plane there moments ago, but maybe he just didn't pay any attention to it. "So, did you have fun last night?" he wanted to make sure Kyle was happy, although Kyle never stated otherwise, he still had to hear it from him.



Kyle nodded at that. "One of the best nights ever. Honestly I rarely get free time nowadays, and when I have so much of it, I don't even know what to DO with it. Doing all of the stuff with you was a good way to spend that free time. Not so much sure what I'll be doing at home though."



Dustin smiled at Kyle. "That's good," and after a short pause. "I mean, that's good you had fun. Hopefully we'll see each other again soon."



"I'm sure we will some day." Kyle glanced out the window at the plane, and then he heard the announcement that they were boarding first class for his flight. "So uhm...we haven't gotten anything to remember each other by. Would you want like...a picture or something together?"



Dustin definitely liked the idea of something to remember their time together, but at the same time? "A selfie?" Dustin asked, with a raised brow. "Because I'm not going to say no to that, but I'm not really a huge fan of them, either."



"No, no." Kyle shook his head at that. "Just like, a picture standing together or something, maybe arms on each others shoulders? No selfie or stupid poses or anything, just two friends next to each other. That work?"



"Fine, but no rabbit ears." Dustin took out his cell phone and looked around briefly. He found a small platform on a support beam and set his cell phone down. He set it up for a minute, and then stood in front of it.



Kyle set his cell phone down next to Dustin's, and then moved over right by his side. He had spent enough time with Dustin to trust him enough to be this close like this. He reached an arm around, and touched Dustin's shoulder. He wanted to smile for the camera, but it was difficult. Sure, he was certain they would see each other again, but how long would it be before that happened? At least they could talk online, Kyle thought. It was enough to get him to show a little smile.



Dustin felt Kyle's arm on his shoulder around his back, and his arm did much of the same with Kyle. Part of Dustin wanted to do so much more than just a standing picture side by side, but he wasn't sure how comfortable Kyle would be with it. This was the last time they were going to meet until...who knew how long? Much like Kyle, Dustin had to think that this wasn't the last time they were going to meet, and they could still talk online.



Both their cell phones let out a ‘countdown' before they snapped shots of the pair. Dustin and Kyle grabbed their cell phones, and moments after they did, the announcement came they were boarding ‘Row A' of Kyle's flight, which was Kyle's row.



"Well..." Kyle said quietly. "That's my queue to get going." Kyle, with his cell phone and bag in hand, walked up to the airplane, and then briefly turned to Dustin. Something in the back of Kyle's head told him that he should do more than just have an arm around him, they should do something else, something lasting, and something more than just a picture.



Dustin nodded at Kyle, and watched him leave, at least until Kyle turned around partially. In the back of his head, he also wanted something that meant more than just a picture, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.



Kyle wasn't sure what hit him, but he walked back to Dustin, dropped his bag down, and gave him a hug right there at the airport. "We'll see each other again, and not just online." He was certain that statement was repeated again and again, but he just had to find some way to solidify it. "But until then..."



Dustin was surprised at the sudden hug, but it was not an unwelcome one. Truthfully, Dustin had wanted to hug Kyle when he first got off the plane, but his uncertainty in himself, and what Kyle wanted, told him to resist that. He wrapped his arms back around Kyle, and a real smile formed on his face. "Y-yeah. Be sure to call now and then too."



"You too," Kyle replied. He knew the hug had to end eventually, and he let go with a mental heavy sigh. Kyle grabbed his things, turned around, and boarded the plane with the rest of the passengers. Kyle had a window seat, so he was able to take a seat and look outside. Kyle managed to see the outside of the airport rather easily, but he couldn't quite see Dustin. Still, even while he couldn't see Dustin, he kept looking out that window. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he just felt so disconnected. Kyle had one night of freedom where he could do whatever he wanted, and make a friend too, a friend that he wasn't ready to leave yet. "I'm not sure when we'll meet again, but soon just isn't soon enough." He said, quietly.



Dustin watched from the windows of the airport. He wasn't sure exactly where Kyle sat on the plane, and thanks to the sun providing glare on both the window he looked out, and the windows on the plane, he couldn't exactly find him easily. He took a seat on the plastic chairs in front of the window, but with his body facing the back of the chair so he could keep looking outside. It wasn't too long before the plane soon took off, and Dustin found himself alone once more. Technically, he wasn't alone when he was surrounded by people, but the feeling of loneliness was definitely still there. With a heavy sigh, he took off from the airport, and headed home.



Kyle had much of the same feeling Dustin did when the plane took off. He closed the window as the plane departed, put some headphones on, and listened to some music. Despite sitting right next to someone, he still felt rather lonely. It felt like his vacation ended just as fast as it had started, and he was going to return home to a life of working constantly both at home, and at his job.



Dustin arrived home, and he was alone once more. His roommate often kept fairly busy, and to himself anyways, which meant it was usually very quiet for him, even when his roommate was around. At first, he wasn't quite sure what he should do. He sat down on his couch and watched television for a bit, but he quickly grew bored of that, after only a single thirty minute show, he turned it off, and went to his bedroom. He found it actually kind of frustrating though, this wasn't the first time he was without Kyle, for just about his entire life, he did fine without him, and yet now he found it hard to be without him for even an hour. He hadn't known Kyle long enough to consider it love, but also at the same time there was a sensation deep within his gut that told him otherwise.



With a hefty sigh, Dustin glanced through his bookshelf, and picked out a book to read. He picked a book about American history. He wasn't particularly sure why he chose that book, nor was he even aware he had such a book, but he picked it out, and started to read it.



Kyle's trip was about as boring as it was for Dustin at home. When the plane finally landed and Kyle got off, he drove back to his home with little issue. Kyle paid just enough attention to the road to not get into any accidents, but not enough attention to be concerned with the details. He eventually got home, and went right to his room, and onto his computer. Kyle had things he normally did on his own, he would play games, or he would write. 

Kyle opened up a video game, and he stared at the game screen while his character stood idle. Despite that he just got home and he now had surprisingly more free time than he imagined, he just couldn't think of anything to do in that game. Kyle closed the video game, and figured maybe he could try to write something instead. He opened up a word document of a story he had worked on, and he stared at the words on the screen, and he drew a blank. He wasn't depressed, he knew he wasn't, he just couldn't figure out what to do. He thought about contacting Dustin, but he didn't want to be a bother when he just got home.



Dustin continued to read his history book while he sat on his bed. He had this book on his shelf for awhile, but he rarely paid attention to it. He wasn't sure what came over him and why he wanted to read it now, but at least it was entertaining. Dustin raised his head up to the bookshelf again and he noticed a college psychology book. Dustin blinked a few times. He took off and wiped his glasses before he put them back on, and glanced at it again. Sure, Dustin had interest in psychology, but he didn't have a book like the one on the shelf, and it wasn't his roommates, this was his bedroom after all. He put away the history book, and glanced in the psychology book. The book itself looked like it was brand new right from the store. Even if Dustin did have a college psychology book and forgot about it, it wouldn't have been as new as this book. "This is unreal...how is this even..." he muttered quietly. Still, he couldn't help but glance through the pages.



Kyle decided to spend his time playing a fitness game out of all things, with a video game that had a pad one put their weight on for things like sit ups or pushups; it was a really casual exercise game, one that said it was never meant to make anyone buff or the ilk, merely toned. It had been a long time since Kyle had played the game, and he recalled that the last time he played it, it said he was overweight, and he usually got bored at the 30 minute mark. In today's case, it was different, the game told him he had lost a good ten pounds. Sure, it had been so long since Kyle had played it that one could have lost a lot of weight in that time, but Kyle was never one to really focus on losing weight, so to lose even a couple of pounds, let alone ten, was quite something. He found that he played the game for a good hour or so before he eventually got bored of it too, and very little of what he did caused him to break a sweat. He ran in place, he did pushups, he did a virtual hula hoop, yet none of it really was exhausting, in fact, it was kind of entertaining.



After a bit of reading, Dustin turned his head to the window and noticed the sun had already set. He glanced at the calendar, and sighed. The days were getting shorter so rapidly. He closed the book he was reading, and got online. He opened up a window, and sent Kyle a message. "How are you doing?" he asked. He figured it had been long enough of a wait. Plus he didn't remember if he checked and saw if Kyle had made it home all right. Of course he was worried about that, but he didn't want to seem like a pest to Kyle, either.



Kyle had completely lost track of time while playing and exercising. The light ‘ding' on his computer was enough to make him blink a few times, and then glance at the clock. He had spent so long exercising, that it was already dark outside, and yet Kyle didn't feel tired at all, he just felt so energized, as if the light workout wasn't enough, he needed to do something tougher than that. Regardless when Kyle saw Dustin's message, it made him stop in his workout long enough to respond. "Doing alright, flight was pretty boring, and it's pretty boring here surprisingly. How about you?"



"Same. I mean, with the boring stuff." Dustin responded. He wasn't sure of what else he should talk about, he knew Kyle talked about his writing and the ilk, but there wasn't a whole lot else they talked too much about outside of that. Dustin wanted to be the one to say something else this time. "Care to break the bored stuff by doing an RP?"



Kyle hadn't done much role play since he started writing, not that he hated role play since writing, it was just...he was kept busy. It felt a bit difficult to say no to Dustin, but he imagined what Dustin already had in mind for them. "Fine, you into Berkley, and me into Rei work?"



Dustin was a bit surprised that Kyle mentioned Rei once more, that character he still really needed to flesh out, but he imagined Kyle could flesh him out quite well, and maybe help Dustin develop him a bit more... "Absolutely just fine with me." He answered.



The two spent the rest of the night role playing Dustin becoming Berkley, and Kyle becoming Rei. Of course they did other things while they waited for the other to respond, Kyle cleaned up a bit, and Dustin had something to eat. The role play was a large stress reliever for the two of them, and tonight in particular, they were very much able to get into their ‘alternative characters' more than ever before. Kyle pictured Rei and Berkley working out together in the morning and hiking during the afternoon or evening when it's nice out, a few things in common Berkley and Rei had that kept them together. Berkley and Rei had more in common than Berkley and Myu, and that just allowed them to have a stronger bond. Not that neither Dustin nor Kyle disliked the idea of still using Myu; it just felt that, to the two of them, Rei felt like a better fit for now.



By the time it got quite late at night, Kyle mentioned that he should head to sleep, and turned off his computer shortly after. He then sat down on his bed that was feet away from his computer, and then put his head right on the pillow. He couldn't get the idea of Berkley and Rei out of his head for some reason, as if the two really were meant to be. "It's just a role play..." Kyle muttered, as he closed his eyes. "Two fake characters, nothing more..."



Dustin and Kyle fell asleep at the same time once more, and had dreams at the exact same time, although it was hard to tell the two were linked at all because both Berkley and Rei were doing their own things without each other, as if when Dustin and Kyle weren't together, neither were Berkley and Rei.



Berkley did what he did most days; he woke up in his cabin and worked out while he watched the News. He then spent the first half of the afternoon studying psychology, and the second half of his afternoon out on a hike down by the lake. He returned home a few hours later and had lunch, and then watched television until dinner. It wasn't the most exciting life, but Berkley was more of a loner. Sure, Berkley didn't mind company, but at the same time, he also didn't mind a nice quiet day at home with a cigar, and a glass of whiskey. While he watched television, he helped himself to one of those cigars, and smoked it with a sigh of happiness. He then turned to a small stand next to his chair, and he pulled up a photo of Rei. Berkley smiled faintly before he set it back down. He couldn't wait for Rei to come back.



While Dustin dreamt of Berkley with a regular day off of work, he couldn't deny how real the dream felt. He could feel the chill in the air when Berkley was outside, he could smell the eggs and toast for breakfast that Berkley cooked, and he swore he could taste the salmon that Berkley had for dinner. While all of this was going on, his gut grew out another few inches, and his height increased another few inches. In addition, a bit of muscle and fat developed along his arms and legs. Most clothes he had would still fit him, but they would just show off more skin than before. Even the clothes he had on now exposed the lower half of his fattening belly, and his sleeves were a tighter fit. There was another change though. When Berkley imagined Rei, Berkley imagined the pair being intimate with kissing, cuddling, and even nudity. The sheer thought of it excited Berkley, and it also excited Dustin as well. A tent formed in Dustin's pants, a tent that was larger than normal.



Kyle's dream was about Rei and what he did. Much like Berkley did when he first woke up, Rei worked out in the morning. For breakfast he had eggs and toast, with orange juice. He didn't spend much time studying as Berkley did; rather he went to the gym. Of course, Rei never drove anywhere when he went places; he would walk or run to most places he wanted to go to, all while he had a single earbud in his ear that played a variety of music. At the gym, Rei worked out more in a variety of ways he couldn't normally do at home because he didn't have the proper equipment. Rei swam laps, he lifted weights heavier than the ones he could afford, and he did yoga, almost all sorts of exercises imaginable, all in a single day. Rei also had a good time with many guys, and girls, while he did. Many people called him a ‘gym rat' of sorts, to which Rei joked he wasn't a gym rat, but a gym tiger. 

Rei spent the first half of his afternoon at the gym, and paused only for lunch, which he would go to a deli for, and get himself a sandwich. After lunch, Rei then went back home, and then had a hot shower. Rei tried to lead a very active lifestyle, but he was also interested in activities that challenged the mind, such as chess and strategy board games, and he spent the afternoon working on a puzzle book, while he watched the Olympics. Rei loved the Olympics. It was his life dream to someday be able to compete in the Olympics with all of the top athletes, but because Rei worked out in so many different ways, and expanded his mind with puzzle books, he was more of a jack of all trades, and a master of none. He could do extremely well in multiple Olympic categories, but he couldn't quite perfect them. Not to mention, his job as a marriage counselor, as well as him challenging his mind along with his body, he just could never focused enough on one particular thing to excel in. Of course, none of what he did paid for bills, but being a marriage counselor helped him with that.



At the same time when Berkley saw the photo of Rei, Rei was back at a hotel, and he looked at a photo of Berkley, and smiled. He couldn't wait to get back home to Berkley, perhaps they could work out together, and do various other things together.



Kyle also changed in his sleep. He could taste Rei's breakfast, he could feel his muscles pulse and grow when Rei worked out. Kyle wasn't very active in his lifestyle, but his body began to show otherwise. There seemed to be less and less fat, and more and more muscle, while it didn't look like Kyle was a bodybuilder, his body did take on a very toned shape, one could easily see muscles underneath his shirt. And when Rei imagined Berkley and himself kissing and hugging naked, Kyle felt his cock pulse, and swell just a bit larger than it once was.



The phone rang loud enough to wake Kyle up, it usually was all he really needed to wake up. He was in a state of tiredness though, he paid no attention to what it said on the caller ID, and he merely picked it up, and mumbled. "Hello?"



"Hello, I'm looking for someone named Kyle?" the voice spoke. It sounded like a young woman, a secretary of sorts.



"This is." Kyle replied as he leaned upwards out of his bed, and stretched.



"This is Sarah Walton from Tinsey. We have recently read your book, and we must say we very much enjoyed it. We'd like to buy the rights to the book to use for a film. We'll send you an email shortly with how much we'd like to buy it for, and then we can go from there, and we can provide you a phone number if you have any questions. Is this alright?"



Kyle blinked a few times. His eyes then turned to the phone. He thought...it had to be a prank. Tinsey was one of the most famous companies in the world, why would they take interest in his book? He had a book out online for awhile, but he hadn't made much money off of it, not that he ever expected to make much off of it to begin with. "Uh...yeah...I guess that's fine."



"Alright, we already have your email information, so just keep an eye on your inbox. I'll provide you our phone number now if you're ready."



Kyle took note of that phone number, said goodbye, and hung up. He scratched his head at the phone number, and wondered what he should do. Kyle had seen scams before, and he figured this was just another scam to try to get money from him or something. After he had breakfast, he hopped on to his computer, and put in the phone number to see where it would lead. Sure enough, the phone number went back to Tisney. "Weird..." he wondered, maybe it was real?



Kyle checked his email, and found the letter Tisney had sent. He scanned it for viruses before he opened it up, and read the details. It looked like a small contract on that very page, but not so complicated that he couldn't read it. Kyle got to the point of when he saw how much money they were offering, and his jaw dropped. "That's...a lot of zeros."

It still seemed too good to be true, but he went ahead with it and told them it was fine and that he accepted the offer, as well as provided payment information. He closed the email, and then he sent Dustin a message about the situation.



Dustin had awoken at the exact same time Kyle woke up, despite that Berkley and Rei weren't together, it felt like the passage of time for the two were still the exact same in their sleep. He noticed his shirt was a little on the short side, and he grimaced at the extra weight. He pulled his shirt down, but that only seemed to last for a moment before it rode back up again. "Just like a bear, packing on the pounds for winter." He said with a small sigh. It was a bit frustrating, but at the same time, something about it also felt exciting. Maybe that visit from Myu wasn't just his imagination gone wild. He heard a ‘ding' from his computer that was in sleep mode, and when he turned it on, he noticed the message from Kyle about Tisney wanting to buy his book, but he wasn't sure it was them. "That's really amazing if it is. Hopefully it's all real." Dustin texted back, before he sent the message. If it really was Tisney, and if the offer was that good, then maybe they could see each other again sooner than either of them imagined, but Dustin tried his best not to get his hopes up that much. The way Kyle phrased it; it might not have been real.



Only moments after Kyle said he accepted the payment, he got another email back, and he sent another in response. The email exchanged continued for about an hour or so, and while the two emailed each other, Kyle's phone vibrated. He picked it up and noticed there was a message from his bank. He had put his identity on a fraud alert, and thought it was something about that. It turns out, Tinsey had sent him the money ahead of time, after Kyle approved them buying the story, and the bank was currently in the middle of pending the deposit. "That...that was fast." Kyle doubted the money would go through, but it looked more and more probable that the phone call he had really was with Tisney.



Kyle decided to spend the morning doing other things to try and get it off his mind while the payment pended. He simply couldn't get his hopes up, even if it felt so real. Kyle didn't have anything complicated for breakfast, a simple bowl of cereal worked. Even after breakfast though, he felt his heart race with anticipation at the thought of all of that money. He wasn't entirely sure why he did what he did next, but he got dressed, and went outside for a run around his neighborhood. He blamed it on the excitement he had at the thought of really getting paid that much money, he was so distracted, he didn't even notice that his body had changed.



Dustin watched the news in the morning, while he had toast and jam for breakfast. He had the temptation to go out and run around as well, but something deep inside of him told him that he should study more psychology. After the news ended, Dustin muted the television, put on his glasses, and began to read more about psychology. While he had studied psychology before, he amazed himself by being able to understand other parts of the book so much better, as if he just brushed up on his studied, rather than learn them anew.



The morning came and went for the two of them rather quickly. Remaining focused on time itself was fairly hard to do when they were alone, plus neither did lead anything very exciting. Lunch time quickly arrived for the pair, and by the time lunch hit, Kyle just made it home.



Kyle had barely broken a sweat during his run. He couldn't even run a mile in half an hour, but now he felt like he ran two miles in a total of 15 minutes, which was quite fast for a human, not as fast as the fastest runner was, but he was still far better than average. At first, Kyle was just going to have some pizzas in the freezer for lunch, but rather than decide on that, he made a sandwich from deli meats in the fridge, with cheese and lettuce of course, with a glass of milk. While it wasn't the healthiest thing, it was better than most lunches he made.



Dustin had studied quite a bit of that psychology book. Despite the book was for college classes, Dustin was a good third of the way through it by the time lunch time came. His lunch was a frozen fish stick meal. He wasn't even aware he had such things in the freezer until he looked in there to see what he could do for lunch. The whiskey was still in the fridge, but he resisted it, and helped himself to a soda instead. He checked his cell phone now and then for messages from Kyle, and he couldn't get Kyle out of his head. Sure, he could definitely focus on other things, but the thought of Kyle just kept coming back to him. While still on his cell phone, he went to the photos, and took a second look at the one he had with Kyle. Something seemed to stick out a bit though, it looked like the two were a bit closer together than Dustin remembered. It looked far more like a side embrace now than just being close together. "Maybe...that's just how we took it." Dustin said quietly, with a shrug.



Kyle often checked his phone as well, not for messages from Dustin, but messages from his bank. The deposit occurred early enough that the bank had all day to accept it, but he knew it often took the bank a day or so before it actually did accept money, and probably a lot longer for that amount of money. Still, he didn't get any emails or notices that the deposit was fraudulent.

Once Kyle had finished his lunch, it was now a matter of trying to think about what else to do until the bank cleared that money, something to distract him. He often played video games as a way to kill time, but video games didn't strike his fancy for the moment. He sat on the recliner in the living room, and leaned back on it to see if he could find something interesting to watch. While he channel surfed, he turned his head, and noticed a puzzle book on the coffee table next to him. "Huh...how did that get there?" Kyle turned the television on to a game show, while he picked up the puzzle book. It contained a variety of puzzles, crosswords, mixed letters to rearrange, all sorts of things. Kyle noticed there was a pen inside of it too, and his name was inked behind the cover. "Well, nothing better to do right now I guess." He shrugged, and went to work on that puzzle book.



As time went on, Dustin eventually got bored of watching television, and he decided to put on a sweater, and go outside for a walk. The weather was quickly getting colder, and the weatherman actually called for snow in a few days. The cold weather might have also been what deterred other people from going outside, because it was an extremely quiet day outside. Dustin actually kind of enjoyed the quietness, and just smiled faintly as he took a walk over to a nearby hiking trail. He took his time during the hike to get a good view of his surroundings along that path. Despite living in a decently sized town, the hiking trail was quite dense with trees, shrubbery, and various greenery. Dustin found himself actually enjoying the hike, even if he had problems with his pants and shirt. Then again, part of him told himself why should he worry about hiding himself? There was just more of him to love. Dustin quickly shook that thought away, and figured he could just buy himself a larger shirt size, or go on a diet. Of course, being the human that he was, buying larger shirts just would work out better, and would be much easier.



Time passed for the pair, seemingly quicker than usual. Kyle made sure to check his bank account every couple of hours, and sure enough after 4 P.M, he found the money had successfully been deposited into the account. Words couldn't describe Kyle's excitement over the money. He had earned more money than he had ever earned in his whole life, all in one paycheck. Tisney only bought the rights to the first book too, he had a sequel, and so if the book did well in Tisney's hands, he could wind up with more money. Kyle had multiple thoughts about what to do with the money, but he decided the first thing he should do is contact Dustin about it. "Money confirmed. Want to come visit me this time?" Kyle sent a message to Dustin. He wanted to say so many more words, but he didn't want to be a bore.



By 4 P.M, Dustin had found his way back home. He didn't bother going to buy new clothes just yet, and just lived with a slightly more exposed body. As if by instinct though, he checked his messages to find Kyle had just sent him a message that he had the money in his account. "Damn that's nice. I would love to see you again, but I don't want you to spend money on me." Dustin sent the message back to Kyle. The sheer thought of seeing Kyle again excited him, but he would feel too guilty if Kyle wasted his money on him. Still, he imagined Kyle in his mind, and he smiled. For some strange reason, he couldn't get the thought of a more muscular Kyle out of his mind though. He knew Kyle wasn't that powerful, so why could he not imagine Kyle otherwise?



Dustin and Kyle did have that in common when it came to guilt about others paying for their needs. Kyle knew he had to be more like Myu when it came to assertiveness though. Perhaps it was this thought alone, or perhaps it was something else in his mind that clicked when he saw that message, but he decided to be assertively nice. "I'm giving you the money anyways, and I'm not taking no for an answer. You can use it to visit me, or for your own bills, but you're getting this money." The moment after Kyle sent that message was the same moment that he transferred some of his money to Dustin's email.



Dustin was about to text a message back to Kyle, but he obtained an email saying that a decent amount of money had just been sent to his account, and that the user that sent him the money, had just blocked him afterwards. Of course he could still talk to Kyle over text, but sending the money back was difficult. As for how much money, Dustin had easily more than enough to fly to Kyle's state, buy a car there, and go wherever he wanted to. He wanted to reject this money, but he also wanted to see Kyle again. "Alright, fine. I'll let you know when I'm able to get there." Dustin sent a message back. He just had a strong feeling that Kyle would not take no for an answer.



Dustin went to a website to check for flight prices, and he found one quite cheap. The flight was available in five days, which was quite soon compared to how difficult getting a flight ticket normally was. Dustin purchased it then and there, and then sent Kyle a message back. "I'll be there in five days at about 11:00 AM." Even after he spent the money, he still had plenty left over. Dustin thought about buying a shirt or two, but he figured he'd hold on to it and maybe be able to pay back Kyle somehow.



"Sounds good, I look forward to it." Kyle responded back. Of course, his place was barely big enough to have someone sleep over, but he figured perhaps instead of staying at his place, they could stay somewhere else. Kyle opened up a website himself and knew exactly the hotel to look into. The hotel was located right next to one of the largest malls in the USA, but it was extremely fancy. "Maybe..." Kyle knew he should get one room, but the real question was if he should get a room himself, or maybe, just maybe, share the room with Dustin. It was true that Kyle hadn't known Dustin too much, at least in real life, but the one day they spent together felt as if it was all they needed to get to know each other. "It's not like it's an airline ticket..." Kyle bit the bottom of his lip as he turned off his computer. "I'll sleep on it and ask him tomorrow." He told himself.



With little else to do for the pair, the evening was a quick blur. Dustin did a combination of watch television, play some games, and catch up on his reading, while Kyle watched television, listened to music, and did some puzzle books. Dustin felt this strange urge to buy a cigar, but he just shook the thoughts away. Kyle too had strange urges, in particular to work out, but he just shook off those thoughts too. After what felt like such a short amount of time, it was time for the two to sleep once more.



Both Dustin and Kyle fell asleep at the same time, and both had similar dreams as they did last time. Dustin dreamt he was Berkley, and Kyle dreamt he was Rei. They spent the day doing the same routine that they did last time. Berkley had the same meal, Rei did the same exercise, and it all felt quite real. Dustin dreamt that Berkley picked out a cigar during the dream, as he sat on a recliner, and smoked it. Dustin almost felt himself cough in his sleep when he felt the smoke enter his lungs, but it was still a dream, at least, it felt like a dream, but at the same time, it felt so real.



Rei wasn't quite a smoker like Berkley. During the time that Berkley smoked, Rei imagined Berkley smoking, and he didn't seem to mind it so much, but he preferred smoothies. Kyle wasn't a huge particular fan of smoothies, especially ones with fruit in them, while Rei was the opposite, he very much liked smoothies. While smoothies weren't exactly the healthiest, they were often a treat Rei would have now and then, and he very much enjoyed them. Kyle could taste the strawberries and blueberries from one smoothie that Rei had, although the conditions that Rei had the smoothie under was quite a blur to Kyle.



As Dustin and Kyle dreamt of being Berkley and Rei, their bodies began to change once more. 

Dustin could almost feel his gut pouring out from his clothes at this point, while his height continued to grow another few inches. While the changes were small, because they had taken place over a few days, he was a good half a foot taller, and almost 75 pounds fatter, which showed quite a bit in his gut, and a bit everywhere else, but there was muscle on top of that fat, which made him appear quite toned and buff. He wasn't exactly the world's strongest, but it looked like he worked out pretty regularly, and that his body was large merely because it was how he was built, it had little to do with his diet.

Kyle's body didn't gain much in weight, except for the extra weight the muscle he developed put on him. His body already looked slightly toned, but now it was becoming moreso. What gut he had pulled back, and abs appeared in its place. Kyle still wasn't quite the strongest, but when it came between him and Dustin, he had a slight edge, and looked a bit more like a stereotype muscle builder compared to Dustin's larger frame with muscle and gut appearance. Kyle's height increased too, but it wasn't as noticeable as Dustin's was.

Of course, both of their cocks also grew out another few inches, not that anything sexual happened within their dreams, nor anything arousing, it was their bodies merely changing bit by bit.



Kyle awoke the next morning, earlier than he normally did, and gently rubbed his head. While he could briefly recall bits and pieces of his dream, it was just hard to remember the details. He was Rei, and he recalled a smoothie, but the rest of the time he spent was just...boring. Kyle didn't complain about a boring life, but when there was nothing happening in the dream, it just felt like it made it harder to describe. He glanced to his computer briefly, and then at the television. "Well...no point going back to bed." He told himself. He got up, and went to grab himself some breakfast.



Dustin awoke at the same time Kyle did once again, it was like a connection between the two of them that neither of them realized. His dream was pretty hard to remember, but he could smell the faint scent of cigar around him, despite that he knew he never smoked the stuff. He reached over to grab his glasses, and instead he felt a lone cigar that was bigger than his finger. Dustin glanced over at it and grimaced. Just how did that cigar get in here? Not to mention, his clothes felt far more off. That gut of his was more exposed than before, his pants felt tight, and not just around his crotch, but everywhere, and his shirt felt like it was ready to rip. Part of him thought maybe, just maybe, he was becoming Berkley, but the idea was silly. "I'll just try on some new clothes, maybe buy some new ones today." He muttered to himself before he left his bed to go have breakfast.



Kyle wasn't sure why he had for breakfast what he had, but he helped himself to toast with peanut butter, and a glass of orange juice. He didn't even remember the last time anyone in his place had purchased orange juice, but he wasn't going to complain about it. Because he awoke so early, he had plenty of time to do what he wanted. He also knew he had to work later today, but with the amount of money he had, he didn't need to work at that job ever again, the question to him was, was it really worth quitting?



Both Dustin and Kyle spent their mornings similarly to how they spent yesterdays. While some could consider it mundane to have the same routine, neither seemed to mind it. Dustin watched the News, while Kyle went outside for a run. It was getting quite cold outside, but Kyle didn't seem to mind the cold, he just dressed a bit warmer with a sweatshirt and a winter hat instead. Of course, he took his cell phone along as well.



As Kyle ran along the sidewalk, he had to think of multiple things. The first thing was about Dustin and where he could stay. He remembered that he meant to ask Dustin, but there was something that clicked in Kyle's mind that told him that he should be the one to decide about where Dustin could stay when he visited. "Screw it." He said quietly. He took out his phone and looked up a fancy hotel simply known as "The Blue" that was located next to the biggest mall in America. Kyle hadn't been inside of it, but he knew it was fancy, and that Dustin deserved the best. Kyle went to the website and took a quick glance at the rooms. His fingers went on autopilot, and before he knew it, Kyle booked a room for two. It was only after Kyle got the receipt on the phone that he realized what he did. "Gah...hopefully he doesn't mind." Kyle sent him a text while he ran. He made a turn down the end of the block, and kept running. He didn't pay too much attention to the scenery around him. Nobody really took good care of his or her house around this neighborhood anyways.



Midway through the morning News, Dustin's phone vibrated. He took a glance at it and noticed the text from Kyle. "Got a room for you at ‘The Blue', I hope you don't mind sharing it with me. Forgot to book myself a room." The text message read "A room where?" Dustin asked aloud. He had to look it up for himself, and he was utterly speechless when he found out that Kyle could afford such a hotel. A five star hotel connected directly to the biggest mall in America. There was the detail of how Kyle got only one room, but the idea of spending the night with Kyle in the same room just made him more excited. "I don't mind at all." Dustin did feel a little guilty about Kyle spending his money like that, but something in the back of Dustin's head told him that it was fine, as if the thoughts weren't his own. He could make it up to Kyle later, perhaps with a hug or... Dustin paused in those thoughts briefly. He shook his head, and just left the message the way it was. "Where are these damn thoughts coming from..." he said quietly, and just went back to the News.



Kyle got the text back, and smiled faintly. He also noticed the time the text was sent back. He had spent a good twenty minutes outside just...running, and yet he felt fine. He put the phone back in his pocket, and glanced at his surroundings. Whether it was a miracle, or something else, he was right back at his home. This raised one question though, just how far DID he run? "I'll have to get one of those tiny fit thingies that measure how far you run and how fast..." he said to himself. He first had to do something else though, he had to take care of his job.



Kyle got back inside his place and went into the bathroom. He paused as he glanced at himself in the mirror, and noticed quite a bit of muscle on his body. Kyle didn't think he was actually that strong, and he didn't have a small belly, which he knew he had a gut before. It wasn't outfight fat, but still, he knew his body looked different.



At the same time, as Kyle stared at himself in the mirror and his body, he found it actually difficult to pinpoint what was so different. His phone vibrated and snapped him out from his daze. He took a glance down at it and noticed he had to work in an hour. Kyle looked back at himself in the mirror, and then back at the phone. "Who needs that job?" he said quietly. "I'm making money online, I just got Tisney to buy my book, the last thing I need to do is to be distracted by a damn dead-end job that won't let me go anywhere, anytime soon." Part of him said to him that he should just flat out quit then and there, that he was too good for that job now. Another part of him, something that told him that it was actually him, said that he should still work. "Maybe I'll just call in today and then work the other days..." He was quite terrible at thinking up of a good excuse to call in though, especially when he wasn't sick to begin with.



Kyle took a deep breath and called his job with his cell phone. He asked to speak with his boss, and when he finally got to his boss he stated. "Hey it's Kyle. I'm not going to be able to make it in tonight." He was blunt and to the point about it. 



"Well, you're calling in a little late. Are you sure you can't make it?" Kyle's boss responded over the phone. His boss, female, wasn't a bad boss by any means, though there were times when she was strict, and this was going to be one of those times. Calling in when it was close to work time was very frowned upon.



"Yeah I'm sure. I know it's a little late, sorry." Kyle did his best to sound hoarse, but it was hardly convincing. Then again, even when he was sick, he rarely sounded such.



"Alright, but since it's so late, we're going to have to have a talk about it the next time you come in."



Kyle paused a moment when he heard that. There was something inside of him that just felt like it snapped. He didn't need this job, he knew he didn't need this job, and yet this job treated him like a lowly damn peon. He was already talked to earlier, and that was when he missed a few days because of a death in the family. This was a job that didn't care if he was on his death bed or if someone close to him died, that job wanted him to work anyways. "I'm not going to have any talks. Because I'm not coming in ever again, I'm done working there, goodbye." 



Kyle hung up the phone with a frown on his face. He wasn't sure where that sudden burst of assertiveness and sureness came from, but it felt good to say it. "I don't need that job." He told himself. He turned off his cell phone, and walked outside. Once back outside, he ran once more, if only to help him vent out some anger. He made a mental note to go join a gym; a punching bag would have felt so nice right about now. While he ran yet again, he sent a text to Dustin. "Quit my job, going to write stuff full time now." He was quite simply and straightforward. The money he got from Tisney meant he didn't even have to worry for quite some time anyways.



Dustin had eventually found himself in his bathroom and looked at his body. He saw the muscle he had on his arms and legs, the increased height he had, and that gut that stuck out much more visibly than before. Just when he thought he had realized something was off about him, he got a text and noticed it was from Kyle who just quit his job. At first, Dustin was a bit concerned, but then something in the back of his head told him that Kyle really didn't need that job anyways. Hell, the only thing they really needed was each other. Dustin paused for a moment when he thought about that, and just shook his head lightly. He definitely liked Kyle, but they weren't already so close that they just needed each other and nothing else. "That's great. We should celebrate when I arrive." Dustin sent the text back to Kyle.



The two exchanged texts for a while before they went back to their business. The rest of their day was spent much like the last. Before either of them knew it, it was the evening. Kyle had done a workout, puzzle books, studied a bit on chess, and Dustin had gone on another hike and did a short workout himself at home. They spoke with each other from time to time throughout the day, but they didn't talk about role playing, it was all about them and their future, as if a role play wasn't that big of an issue anymore because they knew each other outside of it, and they knew they were going to meet again.



Night time arrived and the pair went to bed at the same time once more, with similar dreams as before. While both Dustin and Kyle could easily recall their dreams, and what happened throughout the day, there was simply little else memorable that happened. The two, while they led lives they liked, had little to talk about during them.

In their dreams, Dustin could once again smell the cigar smoke that came from Berkley as Berkley went about his daily routine, much like Dustin's, with minor differences in what they ate, and more extreme differences where they lived, and Berkley's activities of cigar smoking and whiskey drinking.

Rei did his daily routine of working out and puzzle solving, with a side of board games. He also couldn't help but have a smoothie after all of that, he absolutely loved fruit ones.



And yet during these dreams, as dull as they may have been to others, were very much memorable to Dustin and Kyle, and the two changed once more. Kyle developed more muscle. His body began to take on a look of a bodybuilder, and his height increased a bit more until he measured at a good 6'5 tall. While his muscles still weren't the biggest, his shoulders stretched up a couple of inches, and muscles bulged in various places on his body. His cock also pulsed and grew out another few inches. His clothes managed to hang onto him, but it was a struggle to hold in his crotch with his pants, even though he wore pretty loose pants to begin with.



Dustin's body changed too. He grew even taller than 6'5, and the clothes that already looked so small on him, looked even smaller. It also looked like more muscles and fat grew on his body, not that he looked fat, it looked a sort of natural fat, weight that belonged on him. Both of their cocks had grown to a little less than a foot in length, and about as wide. His pants could no longer contain his cock, and, along with his underwear, both became exposed when his pants ripped.



As their dreams ended, and Dustin and Kyle awoke at the same time once more, they both had a strange sensation of desiring one another. True, they had texted quite a bit and met each other once, but now the bond between the pair felt much stronger, as if they had been with each other for more than merely a day, it was as if they knew each other for so much longer, and to be without one another, was quite dull and boring with little to do outside of their daily routine.



Kyle woke up with a frustrated sigh, and an erection between his legs, one that stuck upwards more prominently than it ever had before. His clothes, while they still fit him, were a bit bothersome between his legs. He crawled his way out from underneath his warm sheets and put his feet onto the cold floor. "Guess I'm going shopping today." He said as he stared down at his erection. His pajama pants still fit with it, but he just knew that his jeans would have a much harder time to keep it in check. Deep down, part of him told himself, he imagined that his appearance would have been the ideal look for just about any man. He was big, he was muscular, and he had a good cock size to go with it. "Maybe stop by a gym on the way home." He added as he calmed himself down before he got dressed in jeans that were tight-fitting between the legs, and just a little on the short side now.



Dustin awoke with just a frustrated sigh, and an erection himself. While he had no sexual dreams with Rei, deep down he wanted to admit that he wouldn't have said no to such things. His own pajamas fit him far worse. The short sleeves were so short that they were at his muscular shoulders, and his long pants just barely went down past his knees, and the erection between his legs didn't help him focus much either. "Guess I'm going shopping today." He said, he was completely unaware that both he and Kyle spoke the exact same thing at the exact same time. Once his erection died down, he dressed himself up in a new shirt and the biggest pair of jeans he could find, but it barely changed his situation, it was like a big kid trying to wear toddler clothes, it just didn't fit him no matter what. Dustin walked over to a mirror and stared at his reflection with a grimace. His gut stuck out visibly as his shirt rode up above it. His sleeves still couldn't get past his muscular shoulders, while his jeans did little to hide his now powerful thighs, his shaft, and only just went past his knees, even as his biggest pair. His shoes barely fit him properly anymore either. "I look fucking ridiculous, and this is the biggest shit that I have." He said to himself, unaware of the vulgar vocabulary he verbally voiced.

Who cares how you look? A voice spoke to him. You look like a damn fine specimen, fuck what everyone else thinks. You go out there, you get yourself some fine clothes, and you be proud showing off your body. It was clearly a voice that wasn't his own, and yet at the same time, it spoke with his voice, and echoed in his head so strongly too.

"Yeah...I don't like these clothes, but who cares if I walk around showing off anything...?" he confirmed with himself. With a deep breath he inhaled confidence, and exhaled nervousness. He put on a coat that was just as equally small as the rest of the clothes he wore, and left his apartment. It was quite cold outside, but Dustin didn't give a damn. Instead of a hike today, he walked to the closest clothing store, and bought himself some new garbs.



Kyle bought himself some new clothes as well, of course he went to a different store rather than the one he previously worked at. As far as he was concerned, he had no intention of ever going back to his old job again, even to work. Kyle settled for a white muscle shirt, with a colorful Hawaiian button up shirt over it, as well as pants that, while they had the texture and look of jeans, were completely pitch black. Of course, Kyle had to get new shoes too, and for that he settled for simple sneakers, just a size bigger than the size he currently had. While Kyle shopped, he got quite a few stares from people, largely by women. Kyle was single, but the thought of all of these women staring at him didn't bother him much. It was just harmless stares, and Kyle wasn't one to go flirting with everyone he knew. Kyle preferred a person for their mentality, not physical looks. He was simply quiet about their stares and flirty looks, and he just went about his business.



Dustin had some more difficulties shopping than Kyle did, if only because he had to go to three different stores to find clothes that would even fit him properly. He eventually found a store and purchased new clothes his size. Of course, he got looks from not just women, but from men. It was quite likely that his height had something to do with it, Dustin stuck out like a sore thumb in the crowd. While he was by no means the tallest man in the world, he was taller than virtually everyone else around him was, and quite stronger too. Dustin bought himself a checkered red and black shirt, as well as jeans. He didn't concern himself with dressing up too much, he just wanted things that would fit him. He ended up buying clothes that were so large in fact, that they actually were a bit loose around him, but something told Dustin that he would grow into them.



On his way home, Kyle drove by a rather large gym. He couldn't help but pull up in the gym's parking lot. Once in the lot, he stared at the gym entrance and the clear entryway. Windows filled up the front of the gym and exposed all sorts of workout equipment, a pool, and a yoga class. "Maybe..." he told himself. Something inside Kyle told him that while he should definitely look into a gym, that this one wouldn't be right for him, and he drove away. "But maybe not today..."



Despite them seeing themselves in the bathroom mirror on occasion when they went to the bathroom, and despite them needing to see themselves naked when they tried on clothes, neither seemed to be fully aware of their changing bodies. Even the people they knew, like Kyle's mom or Dustin's roommate, gave them the odd glance, but they didn't say anything about it, as if what they saw was perfectly normal for the two. Aside from clothes shopping and the looks Dustin and Kyle got, little else thrilling happened during the day for the pair. 

They went about their regular routine in their new better fitting clothes. Kyle worked out and did more puzzle books while he listened to music, and Dustin did some exercising himself before he sat down and watched television for the rest of the evening. Before either of them knew it, it was time for both of them to go to bed once more, and they fell asleep at the same time.



Their dreams were much like before. Dustin dreamed of being Berkley, and Kyle dreamed of being Rei. Both of their dreams were the same mundane routine, but both experienced something else during this dream, boredom. At the same time, as if in perfect unison, Berkley and Rei sat in a recliner, leaned back, and glanced at a picture of the other. Berkley saw Rei's picture, and Rei saw Berkley's picture. It was clear they both longed to meet each other again. While life without the other was nothing worth complaining about, there was little excitement in their lives without the other one being there for them.



While the two had this experience, they went through farther minuet changes. Kyle's height increased a bit to 6'8, and he actually grew younger by a few years until he was 29, and even his driver's license reflected his new age. Physically speaking, the changes barely made him look any different. He was still muscular, tall, and quite well developed. His cock stayed at a good foot in length, and about five inches wide. His clothes surprisingly still fit him well, perhaps because the changes weren't so significant.



Dustin's growth was a bit more significant as he grew 6'10, just a bit taller than Kyle did. His body was still quite developed, and developed more as he actually aged a few years. The years were still fairly insignificant, from his late 20s, to now 31 years of age. His body was a bit more developed, and his gut stuck out just a bit more, but his clothes still fit him well enough to not need new ones. His cock size was a bit bigger than Kyle's was, but only by about an inch. Not that the two were one to compare their sizes down there. They did dream about Berkley and Rei imagining the two having other competitions though, friendly ones like an arm wrestle here or there, a chess match on occasion, simple things.



Up until the night before it was time for Dustin to fly to Kyle, there was little excitement for the two during their regular routine. There were times when Kyle was tempted to try a smoothie or work out longer, just like there were times when Dustin went by a gas station how he just wanted to try a cigar once in his life, but they both were able to resist their vices, and merely live out their boring life routines. Before either of them knew it, it was the night before Dustin's flight. Dustin had packed plenty, and Kyle had already made the proper arrangements for his arrival. It was just a matter of time before the two met once more, and both of them knew that they would be getting little sleep tonight.



Kyle sat on his bed and watched television during the final night. He tried to get his mind off of seeing Dustin again, but it was flat out impossible. The two had talked a few more times prior to the night before Dustin's arrival, but it was nothing worth mentioning. One thing they hadn't done, was exchange pictures, neither one of them were ones that liked to show off their body, but tonight felt like an exception. Something deep down in Kyle's mind just told him he should send a picture to Dustin, just so Dustin knows who he's looking for. Kyle moved the phone away from him and took a picture. It was almost selfie-like in appearance, but it showed off his face, his muscular shoulders, and a bit of his torso. He sent the picture to Dustin and added some text. "Here's what I look like, in case you somehow forgot." Kyle texted, clearly jokingly before he sent the message.



Dustin sat in his recliner and watched television himself, though a different channel than what Kyle watched. The past few days were like a blur to him. Sure he had seen himself in the mirror a few times and saw more muscles on his arms and his legs, especially his thighs, as well as a decent sized gut, but he never thought too much of it. His phone vibrated and he took a quick glance at the picture Kyle sent him, and then he glanced at it again. Kyle looked a bit younger than before, but not too much. He had a clean shaven face, but his body was muscular, almost like a bodybuilder's. His shoulders nearly measured up to his head, while his pecs were nearly visible through that shirt he wore. He couldn't see Kyle's lower half, but he just knew that had changed too somehow.



Dustin was confused with the photo. He knew Kyle had looked different before, but how did he look different exactly? He glanced at the first photo the two took together, and he saw Dustin and Kyle, not only with strong muscular bodies, but also rather than with their arms around each other, they kissed in the photo. "We didn't...we didn't do that, did we?" he asked himself. His response to Kyle was so delayed that Kyle sent another text. "If you're masturbating to it and need a min, just let me know." Although it was in text, Dustin could tell that Kyle clearly meant it as a joke, but he couldn't deny the throbbing sensation between his legs. "This is unreal...I swore he looked different, and we didn't kiss, but..." he couldn't deny what the picture showed, and what he remembered was very much a blur to him, just that Kyle and he had a good time.



Not one to be insulting to Kyle, Dustin tried to shake it off as a foggy memory, and he just sent a picture of himself right back to Kyle. Something deep down in him told him to say something just as witty back to Kyle, so he couldn't resist but tell him. "Here's mine for you to masturbate with." Just as jokingly. The normal Dustin wouldn't have said such things, but there was something about him that just told him...Kyle would like it, Kyle SHOULD like it. He was confident of that.



Kyle received the text, and when he saw Dustin, Kyle was just as confused as Dustin was when Dustin got his picture. Kyle didn't remember Dustin being so muscular, and when he saw the picture of the two kissing, he didn't remember Dustin being so big, either. "Maybe...I'm just forgetting..." he said quietly. Of course Kyle had a terrible memory, it sometimes showed in his writing, and much more often in his conversations. Kyle rolled his eyes with a smirk at the comment, and he just replied back to Dustin. "Maybe I will. Send me a text when you're about an hour or so away and I'll pick you up." Kyle hadn't bothered to get a new car despite how much money he now had, but he didn't really care about such things for the time being. He took things slowly, and he knew that tomorrow was going to be a fun day with Dustin.



The two went to bed once more at the same time, and while they had the same dream, it was different from their other times. While normally Dustin and Kyle would dream of Berkley and Rei going about a mundane routine, tonight was anything but mundane. While there were vague spots that were difficult to describe or recall, the important parts of the dream was that Berkley arrived on an airplane and met Rei. The two had a very happy and long hug before they kissed and walked away together. While the events they did throughout the dream were difficult to remember, the sensations of joy was the same for the pair. At the end of the night, they dreamed that Berkley and Rei shared the same bed at the hotel and undressed in front of each other to expose their naked furry bodies, Berkley's big bear tiger body, complete with his hybrid cock, and Rei's pureblood white tiger with red stripes, and his cat cock. The two had one more intense naked kiss, and they pressed their cocks together before...



Dustin shot up awake in bed in a cold sweat. He panted heavily with wide eyes, and he stared down between his legs. He felt quite wet down there, and when he reached underneath his bed sheets and pajamas to check, he found out why. He had reached orgasm in the middle of the night, just from the dream alone of being with Rei. He didn't recall exactly what Berkley and Rei did in the dream, but he had a good idea of what they did to make him feel like this. His body felt like he had just worked out in the middle of the night, and he could even detect a faint smell of a tiger around him, with a combination of the scent of a cigar in the air. He waved his hand in front of him and got out of bed. He noticed it was only 4 A.M, so he changed out of his underwear and pants, cleaned himself up, and just tried to go back to sleep, but he found it difficult to do so. "Just relax Dustin...you're not going to do anything like that with Kyle..." he told himself with deep breaths, and yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to sleep. He just had to wonder, what kept him awake?



The answer was that Kyle kept Dustin awake. Kyle awoke at the same time Dustin did, with the same dream, and the same scent of cigar, but with a bear-tiger hybrid, rather than just a pure tiger. Kyle hated the smell of cigars around him, but he loathed to admit that he actually liked this particular scent of cigar. He waved his hand in front of him regardless, and since he was awake, he went to the bathroom, and he spent a good few minutes there. Kyle just stared at himself in the mirror before he finally spoke. "You're not going to do anything with Dustin...nothing like that dream..." it was hard for him to recall what happened in that dream, just like it was for Dustin, but Kyle had a good idea what the two did, and that it was Rei that pushed them to do it. With a deep breath to calm himself down, he went back to his bed. The two had similar thoughts, and they were finally allowed to fall asleep at the same time. Their mental links were quite strong despite being so far apart, as were other links as the two would soon realize they had when they met later that day.



The rest of the night went undisturbed with the two no longer having any dreams. They woke up a good five hours later at a more proper time, and both relieved there was nothing else that woke them up, or kept them up.



Dustin helped himself to a breakfast of a new cereal with honey in it. He couldn't place why, but to have anything with honey in his breakfast was nothing short of divine. He didn't even remember buying the cereal, and neither had his roommate. 

Dustin didn't worry much about packing today either, he had spent some time now and again during the past few days packing, so he was all ready to meet him today. While he figured he was only going to stay with Kyle for a single night, he packed three different outfits, a few books, and a couple of video games, and various other things which surprisingly fit in his small suitcase with ease. He couldn't quite place why, but something deep down told him to pack everything that was most important to him, and that was exactly what he did.

Once Dustin finished breakfast, and made sure he had everything he needed, he left his apartment, and took a cab to the airport.



Kyle's own breakfast was a pretty simple protein bar with milk. He wasn't sure why he liked protein bars so suddenly, it was just...something about them. He could eat them easily on the run, he didn't have to make a mess, and they were healthier than other alternatives, even if they weren't the best choice, which was where the milk helped him out with that. He had his own suitcase packed of things including a laptop, new clothes, some books, and some fitness equipment. He even wore weighted clothing, and it didn't bother him in the least about it. 

Kyle had been told Dustin's flight time during those few boring days of his regular routine, so he waited until the appropriate time to leave, and then he took off in his car to the airport. He could feel his heart pound with excitement, and deep down, he knew Dustin felt the same.



The security checks to get on the plane were rather quick for Dustin. By now at his 6'10 height, he measured taller than the security guards did, and he was clearly stronger than they were too, and with his fat gut, he was wider. By comparison, had Dustin compared himself with Berkley, he would have looked like a furry-free version of him, except his mind was still mostly his own, if a bit more confident. Once Dustin made it through security, he went ahead and got on his flight with little difficulty, although the chair was so small that his head stuck up over it easily, he just let it be. While on the plane, he sent a quick text to Kyle before he closed his phone, and pulled out a small book about the history of airplanes to read during the flight.



Kyle got the text just as he arrived at the airport faster than he expected. Normally, a trip to the airport would take a good hour plus, but it took him less than half the time. "Just like last time, it feels like everything is moving so quickly for us to meet again." He said quietly, as if the stars themselves wanted them to be together. Kyle got out of his car, got inside, found the information as to where Dustin's plane was going to be, and he waited at the proper gate. While he waited, he purchased a crossword puzzle book, and used that to bide his time.



The flight time, despite claiming to be an hour or so, went by quickly for the pair. Just when Dustin hadn't even read a third of his book, and when Kyle didn't even complete a quarter of the crossword puzzle book, Dustin's plane landed, and the procedures to unload the passengers began. Dustin glanced down at his phone time casually, and noticed indeed a good hour or so had already passed. He wondered if he was that slow with reading, but he didn't get much time to think on the subject before it was his turn to leave. With a deep breath, Dustin took his single suitcase that had everything he needed, and left the plane.



Kyle closed his puzzle book and watched the people leave the plane. It was much easier to find Dustin now compared to last time, he stuck out like a sore thumb with his newfound height, and Kyle stuck out almost just as much with his 6'8 height. While Dustin's face was largely the same though, when Kyle first saw him, while he definitely recognized him as Dustin, his body definitely looked different, there was no denying that. At the same time, it wasn't a huge concern for Kyle. Dustin was here, and it made him happy. He stood up and walked over to Dustin with a smile. "Hey there, how was your flight?"



Dustin had to do a double take when he saw Kyle. He knew Kyle wasn't this tall, but then again, he was taller than Kyle was, and it looked like he was older than Kyle was too, and he definitely knew that wasn't the case before. Still, he couldn't deny that the person that greeted him was definitely Kyle, and he resisted his urges to hug and kiss him the moment he saw him, just like Berkley and Rei would have done if they met each other. "It went incredibly fast. How have you been?"



"Pretty dull and boring couple of days," Kyle said with a smile, the first smile he remembered making in the past few days. "Changed my diet and did a few different things lately, nothing significant. Anyways, there's a tram here that goes straight to the largest mall in the USA we can take, unless of course you wanted to do something else first?" With a short pause, he glanced down at both his suitcase, and Dustin's. "And I have the hotel reservation for you in the hotel that's directly connected to the mall via skyway. I've never actually been inside it, but I've seen it from the outside, and it's incredibly fancy to say the least."



"I wouldn't mind seeing your place, if you have the time." Dustin commented. "If only for a bit, see what it's like and everything."



Kyle scratched the back of his head at that. "It...might be best if you don't see it right now. It's not that it's a total disaster or anything, it's...well I've packed up a few things to move somewhere else. I'm not sure where, but because I've already prepacked so many things, there's not a lot to do there, and with the rest of the place being what it is, I just don't think you'd like it."



Dustin was a bit disappointed. Part of him wanted to insist that he sees it, a part of him that he just knew wasn't his normal self, but if Kyle didn't want to show him, then who was he to force him to? "Alright, let's head to the hotel then so we can unpack."



Kyle didn't even think about what he did next. His movements all just came so naturally to him that he didn't even think about it. He took Dustin's hand, and together the pair walked through the airport security gates, and right outside. The tram stop had a fairly large shelter designed like that of a bus stop. Together, they walked to the waiting station. The only time they let go of each other's hands was when they had to go through the security gate. Outside of that, they never let go up until they got to the tram stop. 



Dustin walked with Kyle the entire time. He felt their hands touch, and deep down, he knew something felt off about them holding hands for such a long period of time, with the exception of the security gate of course, but he said nothing about it. Holding hands with Kyle was just something that felt so...natural. Why bother to speak up about it?



By the time the tram came, Dustin and Kyle stepped inside of it and took a seat right next to each other, with their luggage placed right between their legs. They continued to stick out like a sore thumb compared to the people around them, but neither seemed concerned.

"So..." Kyle asked. "I noticed you didn't bring a coat with you." Indeed, neither of them had coats, in fact they just wore regular t-shirts. Normally it wouldn't have been an issue, but it was actually a very cold day.



"Neither did you." Dustin immediately pointed out. It was true though, he didn't have a coat, yet it was not only cold out, but rumor was there was going to be a lot of snow coming. "I don't mind it though personally. It just kind of feels like I was built for the cold, you know?"



Kyle nodded. "Yeah, I feel the same here." Although he did feel a bit cold, there was just something in him that told him to be strong, not just physically strong either.



The tram came to a stop in front of the entrance to the mall. The front entrance looked like it was once home to a parking lot, but it was now home to a large hotel with a parking garage connected specifically to that hotel. The hotel measured about as tall as the mall, and the mall measured a good five stories no less, and it was extremely wide, wide enough to fit an amusement park in the center, with rows upon rows of stores on the inside. Aside from the front entrance, there were side entrances, and then corner entrances, the corners themselves being one large store connected to the mall. It was quite a busy place to be too, but it often was, with many people coming in and out of the mall, but not so much the hotel.



"Let's go check in." Kyle took Dustin's hand, but before he began to walk with him, he only just then realized what he had done. He held his hand earlier too, and neither said anything, so to realize it just now felt bizarre, but what felt even stranger, was how natural it just felt to hold Dustin's hand, as if they were a couple. "I er..." he wasn't sure if he should even let go of Dustin's hand, it felt like it would have been rude at this point.



Dustin was about to ask what was wrong, but in a brief moment of clarity, he realized something just felt off about holding Kyle's hand too. It didn't feel wrong, but that was what felt so strange about it. Why did it feel so right to hold hands? "Let's uh...let's go?" he suggested, unsure of what to do about it. He didn't mind holding Kyle's hand, and it looked like Kyle didn't mind it either.



After a brief, if awkward, delay, Kyle nodded, and the two walked into the hotel. The inside of the hotel had two blue bars that glowed brightly on the top and bottom of the walls, while the ceiling was pitch black. The walls lined up with various paintings, including what looked like a huge virtual fireplace behind the main counter. Behind that was a giant fish tank that measured as tall as the building was, with each hotel floor visible with a large walkway to each room, and around the tank. Signs up at the top pointed to the elevator, the spa, the gym, and the pool. Truly, it was an extremely fancy place, connected right next to the largest mall in the USA no less.



If Kyle was living in a dream, he wasn't so sure if he wanted to wake up. At the same time, the place was so fancy that he felt a little spoiled. Kyle didn't need all of these fancy things, but he wanted to treat Dustin as well as he could when he visited. At the same time, he wasn't sure if Dustin felt right being here either, but it was far better than either Dustin's or Kyle's home. Kyle approached the front desk and told the man at the counter. "One room, we have a reservation under Kyle."



The clerk was dressed in black tuxedo with gold linings. He had a white shirt underneath, with a dark blue tie. "Ah yes, let me see..." The clerk typed up his name at a nearby computer, but with a frown, he turned to Kyle. "Ah yes, the Carlson Suite, correct?"



Kyle frowned at that. "No...it was the basic package. The urban room I think you called it?" While he didn't want to admit he bought the cheapest room the hotel had to offer, the hotel was expensive enough as it was, and since they were only going to stay for one night, he didn't think they needed any rooms that were super fancy, especially the price.



"Hrm..." The man glanced at the information at the computer. "Ah yes, I see there's been an error in the system. Unfortunately, all of our other rooms are booked, and the only one we have available is the Carlson. As this was an error on our end, we'll provide you the room, and charge you the price of the urban room."



While all of this was happening, Dustin had to look everything up on his cell phone. When he saw what the prices were, he was outright amazed. Really, it felt too rich for his blood, and he was certain it was rich for even Kyle's blood. He would have been happy with a log cabin out in the wilderness for the weekend. "Can you really afford all of this Kyle?" Dustin asked, curiously.



"It was really cheap considering the day I got it." Kyle responded to Dustin. "And I think we talked about visiting the mall here before." Kyle had no intention of ever living the life of the rich and luxurious, but he didn't mind visiting it to see what it was like at the very least. "Well, if it's going to still be the same price, I don't see why not..." with a nod to the clerk, Kyle took the keys, and then he walked with Dustin to the elevator. Even the elevator itself was fancy with glass windows, and even a glass flooring. It was a wonder how the elevator even moved up and down in the first place, everything could be seen through, yet there were no mechanics or gears or anything of the sort. The elevator took them to the top floor, and opened up to reveal the walkway, and very few double doors. "Room 53..." Kyle said as he looked at the key number, and then the door name. He opened up the door and revealed their hotel room.



The interior of their hotel room was nothing short of a luxurious resort would offer. It wasn't just one bedroom with bathrooms, it was a living room, one large bedroom, bathrooms, and a meeting room. While the living room had three large couches that surrounded the television, the meeting room had a table about the size of a dining room table with four chairs. The table design looked like that of a chess table, with game pieces in a hidden compartment underneath the tabletop, but instructions on how to obtain them on top of that table, as well as a bottle of whiskey and cigars, complements of the hotel staff. The bedroom was only one single bed, but it was more than large enough to fit Dustin and Kyle. The bathroom was a simple bathroom, but with a tub large enough to use as a spa if one so desired.



"I feel spoiled with all of this stuff." Dustin commented as he walked inside and took a look at everything, including the window in the living room that overlooked the traffic beneath them. "I don't think Berkley would ever be in a room like this, and I wouldn't either."



"Myu probably would like to live in place like this on occasion." Kyle said as he closed the door behind them. "I don't know about Rei, I guess he's mine to develop?" he said with a chuckle. "I imagine he'd be more like Berkley, but he probably wouldn't mind visiting a place like this once in a while, a good place to visit, but not stay."



"Makes sense," Dustin walked into the meeting room and glanced at the bucket with the whiskey, and then the cigar case right next to it. He didn't think too much of it. Instead, he walked up to the table and slid open the drawer, and pulled out the chess pieces. "Care for a friendly game of chess?" Dustin called out to the living room.



Kyle walked into the meeting room, and he glanced at the chess pieces, and then Dustin. He recalled Dustin didn't like games of competition, at least in video games. Were board games completely different in that case? With a casual shrug, he took a seat on the other side of the table. "Before we go out into the chaos that is the mall? Sure, I'll play a game."



Dustin arranged the pieces and played black, while Kyle played white. The two had played chess now and then before, but in this particular game, their minds were more focused than ever on this particular game, and while they were unaware of it, they played better than they ever did in any previous chess game.



As the two played, their bodies underwent more changes. One of the changes was extremely similar, and happened at nearly the same time. One tail emerged from Dustin, and one emerged from Kyle. The tail both Dustin and Kyle had were actually quite similar in terms of shape and size, and they continued to grow identically as well. They were about two feet wide, but they grew so long, that the tails stretched as far down as their legs. Dustin's tail was covered in brown fur with green stripes, while Kyle's tail was covered in white fur and red stripes. At the same time, their ears also migrated to the top of their head, and became fuzzy. Dustin's ears were brown and circular, while Kyle's ears were white, and while they were round, they weren't quite as round as Dustin's was.



Neither of them seemed to be aware of the other's change, or their own changes, as they kept playing. While it was still a friendly game of chess, their minds were sharp as they competed, if only to make each other better for it in the process. Their minds thought of that as just a sort of...thing that the pair did. They would sometimes lift weights together, often timing or comparing weights, or play games that required deep mental thought, all to make each other better off for it at the end of the day. Piece by piece, the game was evenly matched between them. While they were nowhere near the level of world championships, they could probably win a local tournament or two, had they entered. 



Just as Dustin took out one of Kyle's rooks, Dustin casually reached to the cigar box, and pulled out one of the cigars. He put the cigar in his mouth and patted his chest for a moment, as if he searched for something, before he frowned a bit. "Got a light on you?" he asked Kyle, before he made his next chess move.



Kyle reached into his pants and pulled out a lighter with the design similar to that of a horseshoe with a pentagon inside of it. Right as Kyle lit up that lighter and held it close to Dustin's cigar, he froze in place. "Wait...Dustin...you don't smoke, do you?" he glanced down at the cigar in Dustin's mouth, and then directly into Dustin's eyes.



"No, why do you..." Dustin froze himself when he answered that question, and he glanced down at that cigar in his mouth. He opened his mouth just enough to let that cigar fall, and he slowly leaned up. "Kyle...you weren't that muscular when we first met. I know you weren't." there was definitely something off, and bit by bit Dustin became more aware of it. He glanced down at his arms and saw his muscles too. "And I know I wasn't this muscular either." He was in a bit of a panic. Just how long had he been this way?



Kyle took a few deep breaths as he looked at himself, and then at Dustin. He noticed his own tail, and he grimaced. "I'm not...I'm not sure what's happened. I know I had to buy some new clothes lately, but I never thought too much..." he paused as he glanced at the lighter, and the horseshoe design. The silver horseshoe with a pentagram inside, it could only have come from him, or one other person Kyle knew. "Myu..." he mumbled.



"What did you say?" Dustin's ears twitched when he heard Kyle mumble, which didn't put him at ease. Especially when he reached up there and felt his fuzzy ears, he was FAR less at ease. He needed a mirror, now, he glanced over at the window, and noticed it showed their reflections. It would work, he just had to get close to it.



"You remember when we summoned Myu? Nothing happened, so we went about our day and had a good time. Now look at us, you look a hell of a lot like Berkley, and I...well honestly I don't know what Rei looks like, but if I had to GUESS what Rei looked like, I'd say I'm becoming him." Kyle frowned. He glanced up at Dustin's ears when Dustin reached up to feel his, and then Kyle felt his own ears, in the same place, and just as fuzzy.



"How is she doing this to us?" Dustin couldn't take it any longer, luckily the window was clean enough to see his reflection through, and he saw what was not his normal body, but a big muscular one with a large pot belly, huge thighs, and fuzzy ears, along with a fuzzy tail. He had Berkley's masculine build, but not his furry body, at least not yet. He couldn't help but stare at his build through the window, and also feel it at the same time with his muscular hands.



Kyle tried to think about how she could do such things, Myu WAS technically his character, albeit a character so lifelike that she virtually had a life of her own, and she was more than willing to play around with the same damn person that created her. "Myu's magic is powerful enough for multiverse travel..." Kyle started. He tried to think of how he might make Myu, and how he could relate that to the Myu they saw. "But she isn't powerful enough to stay for very long...she COULD be powerful enough to put curses on people to change them...of course this is all just how I would write her in. I don't really want to write her off as some sort of godlike being with THAT much magic, as much as so many people want her to be."



"Between one and nine, how strong do you think this Myu would be? In terms of her using magic anyways, like...five being as strong as the Myu YOU would make, how strong is this one in comparison to that?" Dustin felt the top of his ears worriedly before he looked back to Kyle.



Kyle looked at the lighter again. He imagined Myu being able to take over the world with a powerful enough channeled magic spell, but to invade other multiverses was something else entirely different. "Eight. If only because I'm thinking a ten would be as if she could literally live here and take over this world, but even I doubt she has those capabilities. Then again, I write her as one that rarely slouches, and is always finding ways to grow her magic, so who knows what this Myu is really capable of." Kyle stood up and walked over to the window himself. He stared at his own reflection of massive muscle and size. Like Dustin, he was strong, but unlike Dustin, he didn't have the gut. "There is something we can try to fix this though."



Dustin turned his head to Kyle. "What is it? You think Rei has magic or something? Did you imagine him with magic?" Dustin admittedly couldn't see Rei with magic. He could see Rei as a deep thinker who liked exercise, puzzles, and maybe watching sports, but in a different manner that a sports fan would watch them, more watch them to study techniques.



"I imagined Rei as..." Kyle paused as he looked at himself. He recalled the dream he first had with Rei, the dream that began to flesh him out. He recalled Rei's job as a marriage counselor, and how he exercised both his body, and his mind. He was a nearly perfect specimen, but at the same time, because of how well rounded he trained his body and mind, he would excel in all categories, but never be flat out superior at all of them. He wasn't quite a Gary Stu, he couldn't best the fastest runner in the Olympics, or the heaviest weightlifter, but he could easily surpass the average person in both. "He spends the day training his body and mind. He'd like to compete in the Olympics, but while he could probably make it in them in a category or two, he likely wouldn't be able to win gold in any of them. He likes puzzle books and crosswords while having the television on maybe a sports channel. I haven't thought much about his favorite foods, but he likes fruit smoothies and milkshakes, despite how bad both can really be for a person...I don't mean to totally design him in extreme detail though, did you have anything in mind for him I haven't thought of?"  



Dustin wasn't even sure how to answer that. Something deep in his mind told him something about Rei and Kyle though. "Even if I knew a lot about Rei, if Myu did put a curse on you, she's probably basing it off of what her thoughts about Rei are, and what yours are, not so much mine...but you do have the build and job I would imagine Rei having."



"I don't have his job." Kyle muttered. "Anyways, about fixing this, we just need to find the proper ingredients to summon Myu again. We summon her, we get her to fix this mess, and then we call it day. Hopefully Myu will be understanding." Kyle walked over to the hotel door. "Knowing her, there's a spell or something that makes people ignore our tails and ears, so we should be fine." He added.



"...and what if she doesn't want to fix us up?" Dustin asked with a grimace as he followed Kyle to the door.



After a long delay when Kyle put his hand on the door handle. "Then god help us." He opened the door, and left the hotel room with Dustin.



The pair quit their chess game prematurely, and went into the large mall. As they left their chess game, they barely paid attention to the fact that there was a black king, a white king, and a single queen chess piece that matched Kyle's color.



The inside of the mall was absolutely gigantic. Dustin and Kyle entered on the walkway so they were on the second level. There was a row of shops to the left, and a row of shops to the right, with a giant walkway before it split to the left and right sides, with stores every step of the way. Every store one could imagine was in this mall, except maybe a furniture shop, but there was a shop that sold specifically hot tubs. The place was very busy with people from around the world visiting. At the very center of the mall was an indoor theme park, and from the entrance that Dustin and Kyle took, they could see the tops of a few of the rides.



"This place is gigantic." Dustin said quietly, with a tone of seriousness. Even for a man of his new height, the ceiling was still a good ten plus feet away from his head. He didn't look too happy, or actually amazed, but on the inside he actually was quite amazed, he just found it harder to express himself, much like Berkley did actually. Dustin recalled how Berkley often sounded so angry and looked so grumpy, even if it was the happiest day of his life.



"I know." Kyle took Dustin's hand, and took a deep breath before he walked with him to a large touch screen map. "There are two candy stores that I'm aware of...and then there's this like miniature convenience store on the first floor. I have NO idea which one of these stores sell circus peanuts." Kyle recalled that's what the ritual needed, as well as a few other things, but he was worried about the candy first off. For some reason, it was hard to find places that actually sold the candy. "One store is on the third floor above us, while the other is also on the first floor...I think one candy store is on the east side, the other candy store and the convenience store is on the west, and we're south, so we got a good five-ten minutes of walking in a quarter circle." Kyle explained.



"Whatever store you think sells that weird candy." Dustin replied with a shrug. He looked around at the various people that passed by the two of them and he noticed there was a common theme for each person. Everyone that passed by Dustin and Kyle completely ignored them. It was as if the two were nothing special, as if they were ordinary people. Despite their height, their muscle, their tails, their ears, everyone treated them as if they were nothing out of the ordinary. Of course Dustin didn't mind this, but he had to wonder why not one person even stared at their tails.



"Both probably," Kyle shrugged and began walking with Dustin. As they walked along, he couldn't help but notice the various stores around them. Exercise equipment, decorations for log cabin homes, sport equipment, it was as if the stores themselves were tailored to Rei's needs, and tempted Kyle every step of the way. He did his best to ignore the stores, but when he noticed a smoothie stand out in the center of the walkway, Kyle paused in his steps. "I erm...I think I'm going to get something to drink...if that's alright with you."



Dustin let go of Kyle's hand then and there. He glanced over at the smoothie stand, crossed his arms, and shrugged. "I don't give a fuck, go ahead." He paused only moments after he realized what he said. Dustin would have rarely said anything like that, but for Berkley, it wouldn't have been out of the question for him to speak in such a tone. "I...I mean..." Dustin couldn't find himself to bring out the proper words, the words he might have said, and not the words Berkley would have spoken. Unknowingly to him, his teeth were sharpening, and his muzzle was forming.



"It's alright, I get it." Kyle put a hand on Dustin's shoulder and smiled at him before he went to grab himself a smoothie. Sugary sweets, a guilty pleasure, something someone who wanted a healthy lifestyle should try to avoid, but an occasional treat or two never hurt anybody. Kyle spoke with the man and, a moment later, he returned with strawberry blend mix, one he happily slurped away with a straw. "Thanks honey." Kyle paused when he just said that. "I mean...let's...let's get going." He didn't take Dustin's hand, but he did stand side by side and began to walk once more.

Much like Dustin, Kyle's own muzzle slowly grew, and his teeth sharpened. 



Their muzzles that slowly grew weren't quite identical in growth or changes, unlike their tail and ears were. Dustin's muzzle was a few inches bigger, and taller, while Kyle's was slimmer and sharper. While Dustin's nose blackened, Kyle's nose turned pink, and both developed whiskers.



Dustin and Kyle's newfound noses brought them newfound senses. Kyle raised his head up in the air and smelled something pleasant. It wasn't exactly sugary or sweet, it was more of a salty old country style scent, like a wood log burning on a fire. "I think...if you don't mind a detour..." Kyle took Dustin's hand without a second thought and kept sniffing the air. He let his nose lead the way while he drank his smoothie. It took about a minute for him to reach the destination that his nose led him to a cigar shop of all things. 



There were two giant novelty cigars that stood about six feet tall, with magazine ads of cigarettes posted behind display cases. At the very bottom on the left side of the display case was a very tiny notice that stated that cigars and cigarettes could cause lung cancer.



Dustin let Kyle lead the way. Of course he was worried about getting changed back to normal, but he also wanted to do what Kyle wanted to do at the same time. Their fates weren't downright terrible, and at the same time, deep down inside, he found it worrying that he was so casual about it all. By the time Kyle led them to the cigar shop, his mouth dropped open. "The fuck...?" The scent of cigars filled Dustin's nose when he stood right outside the store. "Kyle, I don't think...we shouldn't be here." Part of Dustin bubbled up when he spoke. Something was definitely wrong here.



Kyle knew there was something just as wrong too when he saw the store. Not just the cigar shop, but also the sheer fact such a shop was allowed to be right in an indoor mall, it was downright unbelievable. Kyle never recalled the store ever existing in the mall with all the times he had been there. "Yeah...we got off track." He replied with a grimace. "Let's go see if we can find that candy store."



Before they got a chance to leave, a man stepped out of the cigar store. The man had a rather large pot belly and a big brown beard that went past his neck. He had ruffled brown hair, and a large plaid shirt. "Now hold on there you two lovebirds. You two can't be leaving without trying a free sample of our ‘big beast bear' cigar."



Dustin glanced at Kyle, and then he looked at the man. While the man was rotund, he was still shorter than Berkley by a good food. "Free sample?" he asked, without so much as questioning, or even sounding the least bit insulted when the man mentioned lovebirds. "I guess it couldn't hurt..." Dustin walked into the cigar store with the man, although hesitantly.



"Yeah, except cigars cause lung cancer." Kyle said with a roll of his eyes. He wasn't one to stop Dustin from smoking though. Admittedly, he recalled liking the odors. He wasn't a smoker himself, nor was he a strong second hand smoke, but the scent of cigars, or something such as a fireplace, soothed him. The idea of living in a log cabin while getting snowed in sounded like quite a lovely idea. With a frustrated sigh, Kyle followed Dustin in to the cigar shop.



The shop wasn't too fancy inside. It looked a lot like a gas station, except with far more emphasis on the smoking, complete with candy cigarettes, ironically placed behind the counter with a notice that said ‘candy is bad for you.' The man walked behind the counter, and he pulled out a thick cigar that was half a foot long, and thicker than a fist. "Here you go, one cigar on the house big guy." The man said with a hearty laugh.



Dustin reached out and took hold of that cigar. He casually flipped it around and stared down at it. The cigar was as brown as Berkley's bear fur, and this cigar had a picture of a bear head in a black silhouette at the very center. "I don't know..." Dustin said quietly. He had mixed emotions to say the least. While he was uncertain, he was also certain at the same time. What would one cigar hurt him? If he didn't like it, he could just throw it back at the man's face. "Have any lighters?" Dustin muttered as he put the cigar into his mouth. It brought back the memory of being at the hotel, but this time even Dustin was fully aware of what he was doing.



Kyle walked up behind him and gave him a lighter. "Here." He gave Dustin the same lighter he had found earlier on him. Kyle didn't even remember taking it with him, but he figured he must have taken it without realizing it if he had it on him now. Of course he had memories of the hotel, and the realization that they were changing, but something inside Kyle didn't want to stop Dustin this time. Dustin smoked, it was what he did...wasn't it?



"Thanks babe." Dustin spoke without a second thought. He lit the cigar and took a deep breath, and then proceeded to take out the cigar, pause, and then let out a hacking cough. It was technically the first cigar he had ever actually had, and while the taste was undeniably great to him, it also was tremendously unusual for his body. He managed to hang onto the cigar as he coughed, and once he cleared his throat, he put the cigar back onto his lips, and took another deeper, calmer breath, though his breath sounded much deeper, and far more rugged than it did the first time. "Ugh...never did that shit before." He muttered. His next inhale of that cigar was much calmer than the first, and much more controlled. He still had to take it out to cough a bit, but it was far less than the first time. After a good few minutes of smoking, he managed to get himself under control.



Kyle couldn't help but watch Dustin the entire time he smoked. He was a bit worried when Dustin coughed, but he seemed to recover quickly enough. He didn't comment either about the ‘babe' part, it was just...something Dustin called Kyle. Kyle called him honey, and Dustin called him babe. It was...normal wasn't it? "A bit strong for the big bear? That would be a first." Kyle replied with a smirk.



Dustin swore there was something off, not just the way that Dustin spoke to Kyle, but also the way Kyle spoke to Dustin. "Nah." Dustin wave a hand dismissively. "Just packed a bit more punch than I thought." He spoke with a tone deeper and rougher than what he spoke before. He sounded annoyed, but in truth it was actually just the normal way that he spoke. "Can I smoke this shit in the mall?" Dustin remembered the ‘no smoking indoors' sign earlier, though it was an extremely minor thing. He knew so many places had issues with smoking indoors. Even restaurants had issues with the stuff. It made dining out with Kyle much harder than it should have been. 



"Of course, why couldn't you?" The man suggested with a hearty laugh. "Smoking indoors everywhere is completely and totally legal. Not like it is bad for your health or anything after all." He added with a smirk, wider so as he looked at Kyle.



Kyle was confused by that statement. He swore he saw a sign right outside the door that said smoking caused cancer. Kyle KNEW smoking was bad, yet as he looked at the various packs of cigarettes around the store, he noticed not one of them had that disclaimer anymore, as if the white box with black letters was just magically removed from every box. "Uh..." Kyle turned to Dustin. "We should probably get going. We have a candy store to get to, Ber..." he paused. "Dustin." He finished. Dustin wasn't Berkley, and yet if he wasn't...why couldn't see imagine him without fur?



It was hard to imagine Dustin without fur, especially as he took another puff of that cigar. Brown fur began to grow all over his body. It was extremely short at first, and in places that a man might have normal body hair, but it soon began to grow more and more over him. There were green stripes that grew just as well, though less noticeable than the brown that rapidly covered him. His human skin, bit by bit, became harder and harder to see. And yet, Dustin didn't panic. He was just relaxed, even if he still looked absolutely serious. "Candy is fucking bad for your health, Rei..." Dustin muttered, only pausing for a moment before he had to correct himself. "I mean...Kyle."



"I know that, I don't eat the stuff. We're using it to summon Myu, don't you remember?" Kyle spoke right back. "Because of the stuff she's doing to us, and also..." he paused when he noticed the man look at them with a smile. It was only around then, that Kyle noticed the man had a strange tattoo on his hand of a horseshoe with a pentagram. "...let's get going Dustin, now." Kyle took Dustin's hand, and pulled him out of the store.



It wasn't that Dustin couldn't wrestle with Kyle to stay in the store, it was that he knew better. His hands were covered in brown fur, while his fingers were still largely the same, but his nails slowly blackened. "The hell is your issue? We have all day to summon Myu. Take the time and enjoy the mall a bit, it's not like we're in the city every day."



"Listen to yourself Dustin. You're DUSTIN. Not Berkley. You live in a city." Kyle grimaced at Dustin while he glanced down at the fur on Dustin's hand. The fur seemed to spread to Kyle's own hand, but rather than brown fur with green stripes, Kyle's hand was developing white fur with red stripes. "You just need to get off the whiskey and..." Kyle paused. He had to try to clear his head, he had to try to think like him, and to find a way to make Dustin think like Dustin. He looked at Dustin's face, and got an idea. "I don't remember Berkley wearing glasses."



"Well Berkley doesn't really..." Dustin reached up and touched his glasses. Berkley didn't wear glasses, he smoked cigars and drank whiskey...so why did he have glasses? Dustin shook his fur covered head a few times, human hair falling from his scalp. "Ugh. What the hell happened in there? What's happening to us, Kyle?"



Kyle looked back to the cigar store. While he still held onto Dustin's hand, he walked away from the shop with him. "There was something about that store that just didn't seem right, and I swear smoking in this mall wasn't legal earlier, so something is up not just with us, but with this mall. Let's go and get what we need, and get back to the hotel before we totally forget who we are."



Dustin walked with Kyle with a grimace, and a nod. He glanced around at the various shops and noticed that most of the stores seemed to almost call to him. There was a store that sold cold weather gear, a store that sold camping equipment, a store that sold gear ‘fit for a bear', and a store that sold purely alcohol, including whiskey. The last store with whiskey was almost enough to make him halt in his tracks, but he tried to stay focused. "Do you think Myu is actually here now?" Dustin asked as they passed by a store that sold exclusively mirrors. He was able to see himself in the mirror, and just how Berkley he looked like. He was just as tall as Berkley, and just as well built. He had brown fur all over his body with green stripes. His tail flickered in the air as if it had a mind of its own. He almost looked like a bear/tiger anthro completely, but there were a few key differences. His fingernails, while black in color, were still normal nails. His eyes were also his normal color too, and he had glasses on his muzzle. Though, in the blink of an eye, his vision became blurry until he took those glasses off, and only then his vision was clear. The entire time he stared at himself, he had the cigar still in his mouth, he just wasn't puffing it.



Kyle slowed in his steps to look at the mirror himself. He saw him holding hands with what looked like a near Berkley creature. As for Kyle, he was still human, more or less, but fur was spreading from the hand that held onto Berkley's own furry hand. His nails weren't changing black like Dustin's, but rather a pristine white. Kyle also grew more and more white fur with red stripes which looked like they were in a similar pattern to Berkley's stripes. Their heads were also still human, aside from their ears, but the two looked fairly alike, except Kyle looked a bit more muscular compared to Dustin. It wasn't that he was stronger, the two were even when it came to strength, it was just that tiger anthro's weren't well known for fat. "I don't recognize any of these stores, in all honesty." Kyle replied. "Okay, except for that one country store, THAT one I remember. I don't remember this place selling booze, I don't remember the cigars, and I REALLY don't remember a store that sells mirrors called ‘reflect on this' with all the weird mirror puns about seeing yourself buying them."  Kyle also noticed one other thing about the mall in particular, something he didn't really mind that much, but it was still noticeable. "I also don't see anyone else shopping. This mall was PACKED when we first came in here."



Dustin stopped staring at his reflection, and took a look around with Kyle. "Hey, you're right..." Dustin said quietly. The mall, the biggest mall in the United States, the one that was almost always busy, was now so dead that one could swear that the place was closed, yet there were still people in charge of the various stores they passed by, all with open signs no less. Dustin had a few questions in mind, but before he could ask them, they finally arrived at the candy store.



The store was filled with giant oversized novelty candy for displays, and of course to be able to buy. While the store didn't carry every type of candy, it did have a ‘health food' section, which included candy types of various food that would have otherwise been healthy such as gummy broccoli, sour apples, and of course, circus peanuts.



Kyle paused when he reached the entrance to the store, and he let Dustin's hand go. "So we're here for...uh...we're here for..." Kyle glanced around a little bit. "The gummy fish, right?" he scratched his furry head in confusion. His hair slowly shed from the top of his head and revealed white fur underneath that was longer than the fur on the rest of his body, but not by much.



"I don't think it was the gummy fish." Dustin replied. The hair on his own head continued to fall too. Unlike Kyle that looked like he had something left on his head, Dustin looked like he was going bald, except for the short brown fur. "It was the uh..." Dustin glanced around at the various foods. "H-hey, don't you have that calling card Myu gave you? That should remind us what we're looking for."



Kyle reached into his wallet and glanced at his various cards. He saw his driver's license stick out a bit, and he couldn't help but glance at it. It stated ‘Rei' on his card, with a picture of an anthro white tiger. The day of his birth was the same as Kyle's, but the year was 1988 instead of the year Kyle was born. Rei was actually younger than Kyle was. Frighteningly nothing about the license struck Kyle as odd. That was just his driver's license, nothing more, nothing out of the ordinary about it. The only other thing in his wallet was his gym membership card. After a good moment of looking in his wallet, he then glanced to Dustin. "What am I looking for again?" he asked, as if his memory had short term problems. 



Dustin grimaced at Kyle, at least he tried to. He found expressing physical emotions was a bit more of a challenge than it should have been. He took the cigar out of his mouth with one hand, and grabbed Kyle's shoulder with the other. "Get it together. We need that candy to summon Myu." Although, bit by bit, his mind was getting as fuzzy as his body got furry. "I thought you had that damn card with you?"



It took a moment for Kyle to remember. "Yeah...I never stopped carrying it." Kyle looked through his wallet thoroughly. "It was a really weird candy that was hard to get, that's all I remember. It wasn't foreign, and it's been made for ages." He looked back to Dustin. "Are we sure it isn't the gummy fish? They fall under all of those categories. Hard to get, not foreign, and made for a long time."



Dustin looked at the candy, and then he looked back at Kyle. He couldn't recall what the candy was either, but it sounded right. "Fuck it then...we'll eat them if it isn't." Dustin grabbed the gummy fish and paid for them without a second thought. "They're your favorite candy anyways, right? So if you made Myu, it would make sense."



Kyle had to give it a second thought. Did he like gummy fish that much? It was funny for a tiger to like gummy fish as a favorite candy, but no more funny than Berkley who liked salmon and honey. "I guess so." He replied with a shrug. He took Dustin's hand without a second thought, and the pair walked back to the hotel with the candy in Dustin's other hand.



The interior of the mall still lacked people, except for the store owners. While it was still tremendously unusual, neither Dustin nor Kyle found it so odd anymore. They just strolled along casually, their big muscular bodies flexed with each step. As they made their way back to the walkway that led back to the hotel, they could see windows that showed the exterior of the mall, and that it was snowing quite a lot, so intense in fact, that there was already at least a good foot of snow on the ground, with plenty more still falling.



Dustin stared outside at the tremendous amount of snow that fell. "Just like back home at the cabin, huh?" Dustin said without missing a beat.



Kyle had to wonder about the cabin briefly. He couldn't help but watch the snow fall first though, as if the snow itself was hypnotic. There was something about excessive snow, something soothing that he couldn't explain. "Yeah..." Kyle said quietly. The pair...they lived in a cabin together, didn't they? It sounded right. They were on vacation in the big city after all. Although he wasn't sure how he was able to afford such a fancy hotel.



Dustin walked back through the walkway with Kyle, and back to their hotel room. Once inside, he looked around briefly before he noticed that bottle of whiskey on the table. Dustin tossed the candy down, and he also couldn't help himself but grab it and a tiny shot glass, and pour himself a drink. "So, how do we summon Myu again? Do you remember what we do with the candy?" 



It took a moment for Kyle to even remember they were even trying to summon Myu. "We carved a circle around the candy I think, and then we held hands." He shrugged and took a seat next to the chess table. There was something off about Dustin having a bottle of Whiskey, something he swore wasn't right, but he didn't comment. He also swore the two of them wore glasses at one point, and Dustin didn't have a cigar. It just felt so off to Kyle. If none of what he thought described them, either their glasses or whiskey, then why did he think about it in the first place? And what WAS the reasoning they had a hotel? The thoughts kept nagging the back of his head. 



Dustin held out his hand and showed his black nails. His nails had become incredibly sharp, and it looked like, rather than the very top of his fingers, they were positioned roughly in the center. "I can carve a damn circle pretty easily, but it would damage the table." He set the cigar aside in an ash tray, and took a shot of the whiskey. Despite it being warm whiskey, it actually didn't taste too bad at all. Dustin's mind told him that of course it didn't taste bad, the thoughts of it tasting bad should have never have been brought up, he had a lot of whiskey. He wasn't an alcoholic, he just liked it as his favorite drink was all.



Kyle looked at Dustin's nails, and then at his own. His pristine white nails had just become as sharp, and moved in a similar location. With a raised brow, Kyle sheathed his sharp claws, and then...he wondered why he thought it was strange that he thought he had claws. It was...normal, wasn't it? "Only if you want to pay the damage deposit." He found himself replying to Dustin, in a light hearted sarcastic tone.



Dustin rolled his eyes, and he slipped off his shoes and socks without a second thought. His feet were bugging him quite a bit in those shoes. He hadn't realized that his feet had become just like Berkley's own. His feet had claws like his fingernails, and four paws instead of normal toes. "Do we NEED to carve a fucking circle? Maybe we just hold hands?" He set down the shot glass, and reached out both hands to him. "Come on Rei."



Kyle tilted his head at Dustin. Rei? As their heads took on a new skeletal structure, Kyle's flattened a bit and became sharper, while Dustin's grew a bit taller and wider, finer details of what Berkley and Rei would have looked like, Kyle thought something was just so off about being called Rei, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. "I guess so. Myu doesn't really care for flair." He didn't even bother to correct Dustin. He reached out and grabbed into Dustin's claws with his own and formed a small circle, and then waited with him.



After a good ten minutes of waiting, Dustin let go of Kyle's hands. "Dammit. We're not doing something right..." he glanced down at that candy, and then up at Kyle's face. In the blink of an eye, he had to ask Kyle. "...what were we doing again?"



Those ten minutes felt like an eternity to Kyle, though holding onto Dustin's hands, it was an eternity he didn't want to end. When Dustin finally let go though, he glanced down at the candy, and shrugged. "Beats me Berkley, maybe we're saying grace before we eat?" he spoke with a joking tone.



Dustin grunted at that. Something felt so...off about being called Berkley, but...what was it? That was his name, wasn't it? If so, then why didn't it feel quite right? He took another shot of whiskey, as if to help clear his head, before he gently smacked Rei. "You and your damn comedy." He spoke with a tone that sounded as if he had enough of Rei's joking, yet for anyone that knew him enough, one could tell he wasn't being serious about it. "I got to admit though, something doesn't feel right about us being here."



Kyle stood up, and walked over to the window. He could see plenty of snow, snow so much, with such strong winds, that he couldn't even see outside. "Yeah, something just doesn't feel right, you know? Like...something doesn't add up, and I don't have a calculator to help me out with that." He joked once more. "Let's think...why are we here again? Why did we take a vacation?" He KNEW that much, he knew they went to a huge mall to go on vacation, and a super fancy hotel, but...what were they taking a vacation from? Their lives were pretty good. Sure the psychologist and marriage counselor jobs got stressful on occasion, but never so much that they needed to go on a vacation over it.



"Well, we drove my truck here..." Dustin tried to recall. "You drove I'm pretty sure...it was something about wanting to get something changed, wasn't it? Like, change our lives?"



Kyle thought that sounded right, at least partially. "It would be a ten plus hour drive to this mall, and neither of us have the bladder strength, or the patience to sit in a car for ten hours...but..." he just couldn't figure out so many things. It was as if the inside of his head waged a mental war between two different personalities, and two different realities, both of which were radically different. One had a love of his life, and a perfect job, the other had...not a whole lot going for him, at least none that Kyle could remember. "We're in the biggest mall in the most fanciest hotel in a state that starts with an M...Mississippi? No...that'd be too far. Missouri? I don't think it snows there...Maine? No...I don't like to live near water..." he wrestled with his head to even figure out what state they were currently in. "We're in...aren't we in Montana?"



It was as if the state Montana rang a bell to both Kyle, and Dustin. "If course we're in Montana." Dustin replied with a serious tone. "Where the hell else WOULD we be?"



"The moon." Kyle replied with a roll of his eyes. "So we're in Montana, the biggest mall in Montana, and the fanciest hotel connected to the biggest mall. Fine, that much makes sense, but...WHY?"



Dustin had to admit that the reasoning as to why they were there was still confusing. There was something deep down that told him that the two were really far away once, but that was impossible. They lived together, they've lived together for a few years now. In fact, they downright loved each other. Dustin remembered kissing and cuddling Rei on occasion. The only thing they never did, was be in bed together, though this hotel only had one bed, so there had to be a reason for that. "Maybe we're getting married." Dustin suggested.



Getting married...it both sounded so wrong, and also so right. "We're...getting married?" he asked. He remembered spending so long with Dustin in that cabin out in the woods. The two rented out another cabin not that far away where the two worked. They worked in the same building, but not exactly together side by side. "But didn't we met..." hadn't it only been a week or so since they had first met? Kyle took out his phone, and glanced through his pictures. He noticed that any picture of himself, what few there was, was of his muscular tiger form. He came across the picture at the airport, and he noticed that it was Berkley and Rei hugging each other, and lip-locked. It was as if the picture itself served to help jog his memories. "That's right...there was a point we were separated." Kyle couldn't remember fully why, but it made sense. During the time they were separated, doing their own different things, Kyle remembered making quite a bit of money, and he used that money to buy something special for Dustin. He reached into his pocket, and he felt them. He pulled out two silver wedding rings with diamond tips. They weren't top of the line rings, though they weren't bottom barrel, either. Kyle walked back over to Berkley, and he held out one of the rings to him. "I don't know why I held on to both of them then, but here's yours."



As Dustin put on the ring, he smiled faintly. It was as if putting on the ring cleared his head of any doubt. They were getting married. They didn't want a super huge wedding. Rei's parents lived far away, and Berkley didn't keep much in contact with his. "Much better." Berkley said quietly. He raised his hand and glanced at the ring, and then he looked back at Kyle. He took Kyle's ring, and then slipped on Kyle's hand for him. It wasn't a huge fancy marriage, but it was a private wedding, just the two of them, and then of course the legal documents that were on their bed.



Once the ring was on Kyle, his eyes widened briefly, he now knew why they were at that hotel. Marriage, private marriage, they didn't want something super fancy, but Kyle recalled insisting that they go to a fancy hotel for the night. The moment the ring was put on, Kyle gave Dustin a hug with his anthro tiger body, and gave him a kiss right on his lips.



Dustin didn't even hesitate. He kissed Kyle right back, deeply and happily. This was right to Dustin. He lived his whole live as Berkley, and now he was getting married to the love of his life. Sure, some people wouldn't like it, but he didn't give a damn, and neither did Rei. The two of them were happy, and that was all that mattered.



Despite how the two had kissed many times before, there was one thing they hadn't done yet, one thing that Berkley promised to do with Rei once they got married. "So, now that we're actually mates..." Rei, that was once Kyle, tilted his head to the bedroom. "Mind if I try to tame the big bear Berkley?"



Berkley, once Dustin, grinned. He flashed those many bear teeth down at him. "Fine, but just because I promised you."



Rei took Berkley's hand, and together they walked into the bedroom. Rei raised up one of his pawed feet, and shut the door behind them. Tonight was their night, and they were going to enjoy themselves to the fullest.



Once the two entered the bedroom, Rei wasted little time and took off his shirt. His furry muscular body showed off underneath, along with his powerful arms, white fur with red stripes, and long white tiger tail. His feline head smiled at Berkley, and his whiskers twitched. "What do you think?" He said, with a flex of his biceps.



Berkley took off his own shirt and showed off his brown and green striped bear/tiger body. His tail, one that looked identical to Rei's aside from the color, twitched, and he flexed an arm right next to Rei. His fat gut pushed up against Rei's six pack of abs and muscle. "I think you didn't work out for a few days, because it shows." Berkley and Rei's arm stood side by side, their arm muscles nearly equal in size.



"Why? Because I'm as weak as you?" Rei teased. He pulled back his arm, and then pulled down his pants and underwear. His thighs were powerful, and the rest of his legs showed off muscle. His cock and balls were huge too, and completely feline. The feline cock pulsed up to life at a good 14 inches long, and almost 6 inches thick. Its pink length stood out from his white fuzzy balls, and barbs at the end clearly showed off the feline origins. Deep down, Rei felt that something was off, but the sensations of happiness he felt allowed him to ignore what sensations told him that this was wrong.



Berkley rolled his eyes with an annoyed look, even if he was actually happy. "Do we need to arm wrestle to show off who's bigger and better?" In either case, he undressed too. His ass had a bit of fat, just like his gut, but his cock was aroused like Rei's, and almost just as big. Rei's cock measured a mere inch taller, but Berkley's was an inch thicker. Berkley's was a combination of an ursine cock, with feline barbs that showed off his bear/tiger anthro just as well between his legs as it did on the rest of his body with his tiger stripes, and bear fat. Something also felt so off to him, but at the same time, he had never been happier, so why question his own happiness?



"We don't need to arm wrestle to show off." Rei hugged Berkley tightly, and kissed him square on the lips. He pushed their bodies together. Berkley's fat gut pressed against Rei's abs, and their cocks gently pushed up against each other. "We already know I'm better than you." He added, jokingly.



Berkley kissed right back without hesitation. Their furry, muscular bodies rubbed against each other, and he mentally shivered at the sensations of their cocks touching. "So what?" he said when the kiss broke. "Just because you think you're fucking better, you think you can tame the bear?"



Rei's furry hands reached down and stroked Berkley's cock slowly. His four fingers gripped the sides, while his thumb teased the tip. "I already told you..." Rei slowly got onto his knees. "I don't think I'm better..." he positioned his head directly over Berkley's cock. "I know." He opened his mouth, and slowly took that bear/tiger cock into his mouth. His sandpaper texture tongue twirled around the cock's head. Inch by inch, Rei lowered himself further onto Berkley's cock.



"Oh...f-fuck." Berkley took a seat on the bed and put his arms next to him. He gripped the sheets when he felt Rei's tongue glide against his cock. Despite the size of Berkley's cock, Rei took so much of it inside of his mouth, and Berkley couldn't help but show just how aroused he was. He remembered the pair were intimate before, and yet despite his memories, to his body, it felt like this was his first time even doing anything, which just made him sensitive.



Rei looked up at Berkley with a smile on his face as he bobbed his head up and down slowly around the cock. His lips wrapped around his shaft and moved up and down slowly, while his tongue slid along the bottom. Despite Rei thinking he had done this so many times before, this was his first time actually doing such things. The taste of his shaft, Berkley's cabin scent, it felt so strange, yet familiar. Rei pulled up after a moment, and licked his lips at Berkley. "No honey yet, but maybe the bear needs a turn?"



Berkley looked down at Rei's cock. "Maybe the bear wants your honey in his honey pot." He rolled onto his front on the bed, leaned up on all fours, and showed his muscular rear off to Rei. His long tail tilted down, and gently brushed up against Rei's cock. "Before the bear wrestles you down and makes you take his." He adds with a deep playful growl.



Rei leaned to the side and, with a bit of lube that was on a nearby table, rubbed it along his cock before he got up behind Berkley, and pushed his feline cock up against his rear. "Glad to help any bear out in need of honey." Rei spread Berkley's rear, and pushed his cock gently up against his ass.



"Shut up and fuck me." Berkley turned to Rei with a lustful look, and also a flash of his bear fangs in a big bear grin.



With a lighthearted chuckle, and not a single additional word spoken, Rei slowly pushed his cock into Berkley's ass. The lube helped with his shaft slowly slide in the muscular bear's rear. His barbs were more like bumpy ridges up against the inside of Berkley, just gently teasing his rear as Rei slid his cock up and down while he leaned down and wrapped his hands around Berkley. He held his large gut, and kissed his cheek. Their two tails wrapped around each other.



Berkley let out another low bass growl, not of anger, but of pleasure. His erect bear/tiger cock twitched at the sensation of Rei in him. The two were mates, this was completely normal to do. It wasn't the main focus of their relationship, but it had its benefits. Berkley pushed back against Rei's cock while his hands gripped the sheets, and their feet touched each other softly. "More."



Rei didn't nod, he didn't speak a word, and he merely thrust his cock slowly back and forth again and again. His fuzzy balls pushed up against Berkley's ass, and one hand traced down and gently fondled Berkley's balls, and then traced up his shaft. He could feel Berkley's quick beating heart, he could smell Berkley's musky cabin, yet also cigar scent, and he could feel the pressure build in his own balls. Thrust by thrust, pump by pump, Rei kept going. He continued thrusting that huge cock into Berkley's tight rear again and again, until he let out a soft roar, and came. His cock pulsed wave after wave of seed inside Berkley.



Only moments after Rei came, Berkley let out a quiet moan that sounded similar to that of a soft roar, and came with him. Soaking part of the bed in his seed, but he didn't care, it was one of the best nights he had ever had with Rei.



Rei slowly pulled his cock out, stroked Berkley's own cock one more time, and then laid down on the bed next to him. "Heh...have to call room service and get some new sheets...bear spilled honey on the bed." He said between deep, but happy, breaths.



"You and your damn honey jokes." Berkley replied with a smirk. He rolled onto his backside and laid down right next to Rei. Berkley wrapped one arm around him, while with the other, he grabbed a nearby cigar. He wasn't even sure where the cigar came from, but he wasn't one to complain about good fortune. "Next time, I'm top, and fucking you." He added in a serious tone as he lit that cigar.



Rei knew Berkley wasn't so much serious, as he was happy. "Of course babe." Rei hugged Berkley and held him close. He took a deep breath, just as Berkley puffed that cigar, and sighed happily. They'd get new bedsheets eventually, but for now, he just wanted some time to cuddle, and he was positive that Berkley wanted the same.



The next morning...



Rei awoke early with a stretch and a yawn. The bed Berkley and he slept on, had a fresh pair of sheets thanks to the hotel management. Last night was truly unforgettable, and, while sex definitely wasn't the focal point of their relationship, Rei knew there would be many more nights just like that. Sometimes he would be top, other times, not so much. It was an even relationship after all. Rather than let hotel management cook for them, he worked on making breakfast for Berkley and him, for himself.



Berkley awoke soon after with a smirk on his otherwise serious face. A lone cigar from last night sat on the nightstand near him, still faintly smoking even after they had slept. He stood up, completely naked just like Rei, and gave Rei a hug from behind when he found him in the kitchen. "Morning, mate, are you ready for another lovely day?" he sounded almost groggy in tone, yet he was clearly wide awake. Something deep down inside of Berkley, something that wasn't quite Berkley, knew that the rest of his life was going to be completely different, but he was okay with that. This was a good life, it was a life that made him...happy.



Rei turned to Berkley with a smile, and gave him a kiss right on the lips. "I sure am, honey bear." He spoke with a sarcastic, but loving tone. Like Berkley, Rei had something deep down inside of him that told him that this life wasn't right, that there was something so wrong with it, but at the same time, it felt so right, that he would be more than happy to live.

