The Book of Revisions: The Problem with Max

[roninjoey]

This is just a short little one-off of some ideas I wanted to write down. Maybe I'll expand it later.


The Book of Revisions



The problem with Max was that he was too shy. He didn't have much reason to be. Sure, he wasn't much more than an average 19 year old, at 5'7", with a wiry thin body and a plain face hidden by a mop of unruly black hair, but he was a nice guy, the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off of his back. Sebastian don't know what had happened to Max in his life to make him so painfully shy, but Max spent most of his time in his dorm room, playing video games. When Max went to class, he avoided making eye contact or raising his hand, preferring to keep his nose down.

Sebastian felt bad for Max, and also sympathy. It wasn't like Sebastian was much more of a heart-breaker. Really, the only difference between the two of them was that Seb was blond where Max was dark haired. Also, Seb was gay. Coming out in his freshman year had done wonders for his confidence, although he still had never had a boyfriend, and was having trouble getting anybody in the gay community to notice him.

Max had helped him out a lot in their Calc class, so Sebastian wanted to return the favor. The problem was that Max resisted all of Seb's attempts to start a friendship.

Then Seb had found the book. One day, wandering around campus, Seb had stumbled across a campus book store he hadn't seen (or even heard of) before. The store had a musty smell and antiquated architecture, and was poorly organized, with books laying all about and shelved in any order, but there was something... strange about the place.

Seb found himself spending a long time in there. Many of the books were in strange languages he didn't recognize, and most of them were illustrated with odd pictures of people being tortured or transmogrified into strange shapes. It was past dusk when he found a small notebook perched precariously on the edge of a dusty table towards the back. Its bejeweled cover had caught his eye, glittering in candlelight. He picked it up off of the table and flipped through it. Every page was blank.

Seb felt a hand on his shoulder, and whirled around. There was an old man standing behind him, bone-thin in a loose suit with a strange grin on his face.

"I'm sorry, sir. I was just looking around."

The old man chuckled. "Ah, I see you found one of my most valuable treasures..."

Seb waved the notebook around. "It's just an old notebook, right?" The old man remained mysteriously silent, and Seb was seized by a spasm of guilt for having wandered around in the store for so long. He looked over the book for a price tag. "How much is it? I'll take it."

The old man smiled and closed his eyes. "It's on the house. Take it. Enjoy it."

"Really?"

"Sure. I think you were meant to find it."

Seb frowned, unsure of what that meant, and turned to leave, but the man grabbed him by the arm and took the book from him.

"Just a moment," the man said. "A few ground rules. Your first mistake was letting me grab the book from you. Never let anyone else take the book. The magic only holds so long as the book is considered one of your possessions. Now, when you use it, be careful. The book's magic is very powerful, and its repercussions far ranging. There are countless alternate realities and the book warps them together. If you aren't specific, or careful, there will be unintended consequences, and it will be too late for you because your mind will warp to the new reality."

"What are you talking about? What am I supposed to do with this book?"

The old man opened the book. "Just... treat it like a diary, or a goal book. Dream big. Here." He took out a pen and wrote in the book. Sebastian could see what he was writing.

Sebastian is extremely excited to write down his dreams, desires, goals, and fantasies in this book.

Sebastian felt a strange pressure in his head, and then snatched the book from the man, his blood pounding. He barely had time to wonder how the man knew how excited he was to record his dreams, desires, goals, and fantasies in this book he'd found. As he ran out of the store, he faintly heard the man shouting his repeated warnings behind him.


************************************************** *


Sebastian rushed back to his dorm, so excited to write in his new journal. As he hurried down the hall, he noticed that Max's jock roommate Paul was just leaving. He slowed down, watching Max's roommate exit, and pulled the small journal from his pocket, as well as a pen. He tapped the pen to his chin and then wrote on the first page.

Max considers Sebastian his best friend, and someone he always wants to hang out with, talk to, and tell secrets to.

Sebastian was astonished and slightly frightened when the words he'd just written down suddenly sank into the page after he was finished writing, leaving behind a faint glow, which shortly went away. "What the hell...?" he said out loud. He shook the book, wondering what the trick was.

Max's door opened, and Max himself appeared in the doorway. "Seb!" he said. He stepped outside, looking around, and then pulled Sebastian inside.

"Sorry Seb, I was just making sure Paul was gone. God, he makes me nervous."

Sebastian was pretty sure that Max had never said more than four words to him, and now Max was chattering away as he started to set up his X-BOX. Bewildered, Sebastian idly wrote in the notebook.

I wish I knew what was going on.

It was like a light went on in his head. He understood completely. Max was his best friend, and he was Max's best, and only friend, and it was because of the notebook, what he'd written in the notebook. Everything he wrote in the notebook made reality change.

He felt a weird panic rising in him, and did the only thing he could think of to stem the freak out. He wrote in the book.

Sebastian completely accepts the power of the notebook and will even enjoy it.

The panic was gone, and it had been replaced by a strange anticipation. Thanks to what he had written about knowing what was going on, he found the path ahead illuminated in his mind. He understood that the book encouraged its user, because it wanted to be used, and exerted a certain mental influence. He knew he ought to be wary, but he couldn't help but accept the notebook, and he was really starting to enjoy this...

What he also realized was that Max was gay, and the reason why he was so shy was because of his sheltered, religious upbringing. He'd gone to this school to try to leave his whole life, but it had all proved to be overwhelming. This was what Max had told him.

Sebastian had an idea. "Screw the X-Box, we should go out tonight, Max."

Max tensed up at that very idea. "I don't go out."

"Come on, it's Friday. We should go to a club."

Max looked like he wanted to cry. "I don't do that, Seb. You know that."

Sebastian tsked and whipped out the notebook.

Max is ready to deal with his crippling shyness and thinks going to a club is an irresistible idea

Something changed in Max's body language. He stood up. "Although you know, I've been thinking lately that I need to go out more. Maybe starting now is better than later."

And that was how Max and Sebastian found themselves standing outside the local gay club. Sebastian was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, but Max had opted for a button down shirt, slacks, and shoes. He looked like he was going for a job interview.

Max's shyness was getting the better of him. He had gotten more and more nervous as they had come over, and now that they were here, his nerves broke. "I can't go in. I can't do it, Seb. Let's go back."

But Sebastian wasn't about to end the experiment now. He'd had a lot of ideas on the way over. He idly wrote in the book,

Max feels this crazy overwhelming sexual energy that has been building up for 19 years and is determined to lose his virginity tonight.

Sebastian smiled. "Well, you're not going to get laid if we just go home."

Max was squirming. He seemed to vacillate for a moment, and then he nodded, his jaw set, a light sweat on his forehead. "Yeah, let's go."

Sebastian lead the way. He knew that Max's cock would win this debate for them.


*********************************************


The inside of the club had proved so overwhelming for Max that Sebastian now found himself trying to coax Max from the inside of a bathroom stall.

"I can't go out there. I'm going to wait until everyone's gone and then come out."

"Come on, man, that won't be for hours."

"I never felt so insignificant in my life!"

So Max couldn't deal with people noticing him, but he couldn't deal with people not noticing him either. This was proving frustrating. Sebastian had an idea. He whipped out the book again.

Max has always been unusually tall. Around the age of 8 he started growing faster than his contemporaries, always a few inches above and always the tallest kid in his class. By the age of 13 he had reached 6'2", and he just kept growing straight up to the age of seventeen, when he topped out at 6'7".

Sebastian put the book away and tried to open the door again, wondering if this was going to work. "Insignificant? You're one of the tallest people I've ever seen."

After a moment, the door opened, and Max was standing there -- at least, it was the same hair, the same face, the same eyes, only set at a much, much higher vantage point. Sebastian had to turn his face all the way up to make eye contact with Max, who was looking down at him from atop a long, lanky body, still dressed like someone going for a job interview. If anything, he looked even more ridiculous now.

"Yeah," Max said, stepping out of the stall and carefully avoiding hitting his head. Sebastian couldn't help but notice that Max's feet had practically doubled in size, swimming along the floor like big boats. "I guess I just wish that people didn't look at me like that. I can't help it if I stand out, I'm so tall."

Sebastian found concealing his astonishment easy. Although he knew empirically that minutes ago Max had been his height, maybe even shorter, he now had vivid memories of always having known this tall, skinny Max. "You ready to go back outside?"

Max nodded. As they made their way through the crowd, the other gay men pointed towards Max and then seemed to break out into fits of giggles. Sebastian could see their point. He looked like a walking telephone pole. Max seemed resigned to this treatment, as he remembered looking like this his whole life. The job-interview outfit now became clear for what it was, an attempt to hide his lankiness.

Sebastian had caused this, so he'd have to fix it. Journal time.

Sick of constantly being made fun of for being so tall and skinny, at the age of fifteen, Max discovered the gym and never looked back. He was always hungry and ate all the time, worked out six days a week, and has maintained a rigorous gym regimen ever since.

When Sebastian looked up, it was as if Max had tripled in size. To Sebastian's dismay, Max was still wearing the same outfit, but now the people were clearing the way in front of him. Sebastian caught up to Max.

"I told you, people are always scared of me, Seb," Max said. "I look like the freaking hulk, you know? I can't help it if I'm addicted to bodybuilding."

And indeed, he did. Now his muscles were bulging out of his stupid suit. His bull neck was straining against the buttons. His hands had grown big, thick, and roughly calloused. His thighs brushed one another as he walked. There was a certain toughness to Max now, too. It was almost as if all of his shyness had been translated into energy put into bodybuilding. He walked with his chest out, trying to take up as much space as he could.

Sebastian had to see, and he had to see now, so he wrote his next thing rather hastily.

Max is addicted to wearing tanktops and showing off his biceps.

Sebastian looked up, and nothing had changed. They walked along, when suddenly, Max stopped, and started scratching at his collar.

"It's really hot in here, isn't it?"

Max suddenly ripped his shirt down the front, leaving it in tatters hanging off of his body. All the people standing around watched in shock. Max's arms exploded out of the ripped cloth, and he was wearing a black tanktop underneath. Unfortunately, the revealed body showed Sebastian that Max had gone about making his muscle pretty sloppily. He had a big gut and his arms were as flabby as they were muscular. He threw up a flex, getting a big smile on his face.

"Ah, yeah, that's way better. Gotta let 'em breathe, you know?"

Sebastian was flabbergasted. How had Max gone from a shy young man to this so suddenly? And then Sebastian remembered the old man's warning about being careful what you write. Perhaps he shouldn't have been so blunt.

Max stood in front of him, posing, throwing his arms up in various poses, and other men stood around, pointing and joking. Max didn't care though. He liked the attention. Another boy their age came up to Sebastian.

"Isn't that the dude from our school who posts all those weird videos of his arms on the internet?"

And the rush of that memory came to Sebastian, who nodded. He suddenly understood that Max was something of a laughing stock on campus for being so obsessed with his muscles when they weren't even that good. Sebastian had to fix this. He got the notebook out.

Max has always practiced bodybuilding with an expert's knowledge on nutrition and dieting and muscle building, which is barely necessary because he is in the top 1 percent for those genetically gifted towards building Adonis physiques.

Now Sebastian saw the fat melting off of Max, until nothing was left but bulging, striated muscle. Big, heroic traps led to cannonball shoulders from which hung powerful, bear hugging arms blessed with biceps and triceps that could crush cement. Tank-top addicted Max strutted and preened, his chest the span of an eagle's wingspread barely contained. Occasionally, he would lift up his tank to show eight cobblestones drilled into his tiny midsection, which led into an unforgettably tight and proud butt atop the two mountains he called legs.

The men stood around watching him, some with derision, but many with lust in their eyes. There was no denying that for all of his cocky silliness, the man that strutted before them had a god-like physique.

The same boy from before leaned over to Sebastian. "Isn't that Max, the guy in our year who bodybuilds?"

Sebastian nodded.

The boy laughed. "Man, I'd like to hit that, although I'd put a paper bag over his head first."

Paperbag -- that was the joke among the campus gays, what a butter-face Max was, and Sebastian knew that Max was acutely aware of that sobriquet, so he maintained an aggressively cocky and muscle obsessed demeanor to try to distract people from his below average face. Max seemed to grow tired of posing for the crowd.

"Hey, Seb," he said, coming up to Sebastian. "I'm going to the bathroom."

Sebastian was high on the rush of transformation, so he decided to fix Max's face while he was gone.

Max has been so good looking since puberty that if Ryan Gosling, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Zac Efron were in a room with him and a bunch of teenaged girls and gay men, the only person anyone would pay attention to is Max. He is hypnotically good looking, and anybody who looks into his eyes for too long falls more and more deeply in love with him, even if it's a picture of Max.

Sebastian eagerly awaited Max's return. He noticed that the atmosphere in the room had changed, and that the ambivalence in the crowd over this weirdo posing was gone. Every eye was furtively cast towards the door of the lavatory.

Finally, FINALLY, Max came out, and a little involuntary sigh escaped Sebastian and everyone else in the room. He was absolutely incredible. His picture would be next to Tall, dark, and handsome in the dictionary. Tall, was he ever, and so fucking handsome. Every feature of his face was perfect, from the sleek roman nose to the glittering eyes. He strode from the bathroom confidently, all traces of his former shyness gone. This was a Max who had been good looking his whole life. He greeted people as he came along, the perfect popular kid, letting those who wanted to feel his extraordinary biceps as he walked along, always willing to oblige and show off a little bit.

He came right up to Sebastian and assumed a bored handsome look. God, he was so handsome, Sebastian thought. Sebastian loved him so much. "This place blows," Max said. His voice was so perfect. "There aren't enough people to watch me pose."

Sebastian had fallen deeply in love with Max, and of course he had. They were best friends. Who looked in Max's eyes more than Sebastian did? Hadn't he written that anyone who stared into Max's eyes fell in love?

The problem with Max was, due to his religious upbringing, he was deeply terrified of sex, despite his serious beauty, and had to get out all of his sexual aggression through posing and being worshiped.

Sebastian wanted to help Max and give him all the fans he wanted.

Max is the world's most popular gay porn star and fitness model, and he is appearing tonight at this city's hottest gay club, filled with hot men. He is a perfect top, and nobody can resist being fucked by him or worshiping his muscles, nor watching him pose and fuck. He is a sexual machine, always horny, always looking to get laid. He knows exactly what effect he has on people and isn't afraid to wield it. I am his manager and his ideal boyfriend.


Sebastian felt a sudden dizziness, and when he looked up, he was staring into Max's beautiful eyes. Max held the eye contact for a moment, and then leaned in and kissed Sebastian, and Sebastian returned the kiss, feeling a warm bliss. Max was the perfect man, the most perfect man, and he would do everything in his power to make life awesome for him. Max was performing tonight at the city's hottest gay club, and the men here tonight were unusually hot and sexy. Sebastian had watched with pride as Max had fucked his way through six or seven of them already tonight.

"Okay, baby, I gotta go on stage. Thanks for looking out for me," Max said, ruffling Sebastian's hair. Sebastian always felt like Max's little puppy dog.

"Wait a sec, baby," Sebastian said.

"What is it?"

"I wanted to give you this. I'll tell you how to use it later." Sebastian handed Max the notebook. He loved Max so much, he wanted Max to have the power. It should be Max, shouldn't it?

The moment he handed it over to Max, he felt something strange snap in his mind. And then it was gone. He stared at his beautiful man and wondered once again why Max had chosen him, of all people.

Max kissed him one last time and went on stage, and Sebastian turned to the mirror. There he was. Six-five Olympic swimmer that had outdone both Phelps and Lochte in London that year, now he was pursuing a new career as Max's manager and occasional co-star. All it had taken was one look into that man's eyes, and he was gone.

Life was good.

[11204]

Wow, really liked that story. Hope you continue with the Book of Revisions, I like where its going.

[2bored]

Great story. Thanks!

[Otaru_grower]

I loved the hell out of this!

[tattcub]

loved it. Well done.

Familiar theme here to.

Keep it up

[MuscleHintz]

I like it! It's always great to see new writers.

[philat99]

Great and novel pov! Keep up the great writing!

[Curiosity]

I want this book!

[wbjason]

Beware unintended consequences! Loved it man, nice work!

[The Pecman]

Very well-done -- some good unexpected twists there.

[skumbum]

Loved it.