The bright green liquid in the small glass almost glowed in the light of Ray's desk lamp as he looked at it, a smile forming on his face. "This is it," he whispered to himself. "This is what I've been working for, what will end up changing my life!" He licked his lips, thinking about the changes his body would go through once he finally drank this stimulant and his pituitary gland would finally kick in. At minimum, he should end up at over six and a half feet within a few months, though some of the projections he had worked out indicated he could end up as tall as eight and a half! He would no longer have to be left behind by his younger brother, and could finally stand up for himself.
He just had to do one final step, though this is the one that made him the most nervous. The stimulant consisted of several active ingredients, enzymes that would cause his pituitary gland to go through what basically amounted to a second puberty. But at their current state, these enzymes would be too active. They could end up overworking his hormonal system and either cause him to grow much bigger than he was aiming for, or, even worse, give him a heart attack or cause some of his organs to shut down. This meant that before he could safely drink it, the mixture needed to be chilled at below-freezing temperatures for twenty-four hours, causing the enzymes to be reduced to a near-dormant, though still effective, state.
Of course, the only place that he could think of to do this was the kitchen freezer, which presented the obvious problem of his drink being found by someone else. As long as he did it this week, his parents wouldn't be a factor, but if Mike were to find it... He shuddered, wondering if it was even worth the risk of that happening. The thought of finally being big for a change was too good to pass up, though, and so as Ray watched cartoons in the basement and ate his cereal, Mike quietly walked to the kitchen, opening the freezer door. Standing on his tiptoes, he reached up and placed the glass with the stimulant at the very back corner, as out of sight as possible. He also rearranged a stack of frozen pizzas to hide the glass from view. Taking a quick breath, he stepped back and closed the freezer door -- just in time to hear Mike bounding up the stairs.
"Hey!" Mike called out, running to the sink and tossing his now-empty bowl in it, then turning on the faucet to start rinsing it out. "So what are we going to do today?"
"I don't know, Mike," Ray said, hoping his nervousness at almost getting caught with the stimulant wasn't obvious. "I think we should just lay low and stay h--" He stopped, realizing that the best way for Mike to not find the stimulant would be to not be anywhere near the stimulant for as long as possible. If he could keep him out of the house all day, that would minimize the chances of him looking in the freezer and discovering it.
"Actually," he said slowly, "since it's Saturday, and supposed to be nice out I think, let's go to... uh...
"The park?" Mike suggested, nearly jumping up and down with excitement.
Hesitating only a moment, Ray finally nodded in agreement. "Sure. The park."
"Yaaay!" Mike cheered. "I'll go grab the football!"
As his younger brother ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, Ray rolled his eyes and shook his head. Today was starting to sound like a lot of work all of the sudden, but "no pain, no gain," he supposed.
---
"Shower time!"
At eight o' clock that evening, Ray and Mike had finally returned home. While Mike ran back up to the bathroom they shared, still full of energy, Ray collapsed on the couch, groaning. From upstairs, he heard the shower start running, and Mike singing an indiscernible song.
Today had been exhausting. Not only had they played football and whatever else Mike could think of at the park for nearly three hours, but then they grabbed lunch, gone to see a movie (the latest comic book superhero movie that Mike was itching to see), driven an hour across town to go to the "good" mall and spent nearly four hours there. Ray had felt a little uneasy about being seen all day with his kid brother, but at least he hadn't run into anyone he knew from school. Not like that would make his reputation any worse.
Of course, it would all be worth it once the twenty-four hours had passed and he could finally drink the stimulant. Forcing himself to stand back up, he went over to the kitchen, opening the freezer and checking on the glass at the back. It looked very much like it had that morning, the green glow only fading slightly, though the glass had frosted a little on the outside. Gently shaking the glass, he was pleased to see that the stimulant still was in liquid form, sloshing from side to side. The freezing point of the stimulant was well below 0 F, so he doubted a simple kitchen freezer would affect that, but he wanted to make sure. After all, he would need to be able to drink this within a few minutes of taking it out of the fridge tomorrow morning.
Ray's anticipation began to build as he thought about what would happen once he started growing again, but he tried to keep himself in check, and slid the glass back towards the rear of the freezer, closing the door. The water seemed to suddenly stop upstairs, and he heard Mike slide the shower curtain open and step out. Feeling a little sticky himself, Ray decided to head upstairs and hop in the shower right after him.
As he stepped into the bedroom and grabbed a pair of underwear and socks from the dresser, Mike came in through the door just a minute later, wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist. As Ray turned around and saw his brother's smooth, slick body, just a little too muscular for a ten-year-old boy, he felt his blood begin to boil with jealousy. Jealousy and-- something else? He didn't know quite what it was, but seeing Mike this undressed had always given him an odd feeling, one that wasn't entirely unpleasant...
"Like what ya see, little bro?" Mike giggled, stretching his arms above his head, causing his stomach and chest muscles to go taught and flex.
Realizing that he was staring, Ray snapped out of it, saying nothing as he stepped past his brother to the bathroom. He tried to hide his scowl, but he knew that his brother had to be able to tell that he was upset, if not from his expression than from the clenching of his fists. Regardless, it wasn't going to matter after much longer, and for now, the shower would do him some good.
Fifteen minutes later, Ray felt fresher than he had at any point throughout the day. His hair was still damp as he slipped on a small black undershirt and his boxers and looked at himself in the mirror. Just stepping out of the shower was one of the few times where Ray felt good about the way that he looked, with his mussed-up hair and soft, smooth skin. He wondered if, once he was bigger, this was the kind of way he'd feel about himself all of the time.
He quickly realized that he was feeling a little dry at the back of his throat, and started heading downstairs to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, or perhaps a Gatorade. As he rounded the corner, though, he suddenly froze in his tracks, and his jaw dropped open at what he saw.
Mike was holding the small frosted glass, now empty, in his hand, and a faint trail of green liquid was visible on his lips.
"Wha-- Ho--" Ray sputtered, devastated by what he was seeing in front of him. His dreams, his desires, everything he had worked so hard for was now gone. Worse, actually; it had backfired! Not only was he going to stay the same size, but his younger brother, the one he had been so jealous of his size for so long now, was about to grow even bigger!
Looking over at Ray, Mike grinned sheepishly. "Oh... was this yours? I'm sorry!" He placed the glass on the kitchen counter behind him. "I just was crazy thirsty all of the sudden, and wanted something cold. I saw that in the freezer and it looked tasty, so I ... well, I drank it." Blushing, Mike ran his hand through his hair. "If ya want, I can try to get you another one..."
Tears welling up in his eyes, Ray spun around and ran upstairs back to his bedroom, throwing himself on his bed. He started to cry into his pillow, pounding his fist on the mattress in frustration. Why did his stupid younger brother have to go and do that? Why was Mike going to get the benefit when he already had so much? And why did he have to be so stupid and store the stimulant here at home where Mike could find it?
Ray sobbed for several minutes, until his fatigue set in and he suddenly started feeling extremely tired. Within minutes, he was starting to fall asleep, his face still moist with tears of anguish. As he did so, one final question came to mind: Just how big is Mike going to get now?
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