Crossed Over the limit (1/2)
Allan is doing another all night cramming. Determined, with Textbooks were stacked around him. The glow of his desk lamp washed over the inked notes he’d meticulously arranged, his mind laser-focused on an upcoming thesis.
But just a few minutes into his computer, Allen scratches his head from annoyance. Distracted from the loud grunts, and slow rhythmic thumping. He sighed and leaned back, and looked toward the other side of the apartment. It was Allan’s annoying jock neighbor, Kevin, working out.Â
Although, Allan’s anger subsided quickly as he looks at Kevin; Loving the view as he looks at his built and defined body, his tattoos, His underwear clung loosely to his hips, His body gleamed under the afternoon light. Huge, oiled-up arms pumped lazily as he did slow, sluggish pushups on the floor. His inked muscles swelled with each movement, pecs hanging heavy, back arching wrong. His form wasn’t perfect, he barely understood the mechanics anymore. But he was trying. Trying hard.
Noticing Allan looking over, Kevin stops and stood up, His mouth hung open as he panted. “Ugh... one... two... uh... four... yeahh...”Â
Allan cleared his throat, voice flat with practiced authority.
“Kevin. Keep it down.”
Kevin’s head perked up immediately, like a dog called by name. He beamed with an eager, clueless smile and collapsed onto his knees.
“Y-yeah! Hehe, Sorry, Master!” he blurted out, voice dopey and deep.
 “Didn’t mean t’ be noisy-n-noisy… Jus’ doin’ my lil’ pushy-ups like ya said, Master...”
He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, showing his bushy and musky armpits, The grime and sweat built up from weeks of not taking a bath. His voice slurred through each syllable like a child practicing speech.
“I…will be quiet now master… shhhh”Â
Allan didn’t reply. He just smirked faintly, returned blankly to his book. Recollecting the events in the past few weeks with his annoying neighbor…Â
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Allan’s pen scratched harshly against the paper as he tried to solve a complex calculus problem for the third time. His eyelids trembled from exhaustion, despite drinking a few cups of coffee around him. The time is already 11:56 PM, not only he hasnt got a damn thing about his studies, he also can’t help but get distracted from the loud thuds, screams, and rock music in the wall next door!
The bass from the apartment next door roared like a thunderclap. A muffled, chaotic voice screamed, “YEAAAH, BRO!” followed by a round of beer bottles clinking and the sickening thump of furniture being knocked over.
“Arghh… Kevin…” Allan hissed under his breath.
Kevin, the guy next door, the perpetual thorn in his flesh. Tall, dumb, noisy, and totally a nuisance. Even worse, he had a gang of equally loud friends who laughed like hyenas in the middle of the night!
Allan gritted his teeth and stuffed his ears with tissue paper, muttering curses…
The next morning, Allan stared down at his exam sheet. The answers danced, unfinished. His sleepless brain had failed him. The red “Failed” score scrawled across the top was like a knife to the chest. He stared blankly as students filed out around him. As he stares more to his paper, He hears Kevin's laugh echoing in his mind. That low, nasal chuckle. That "bro" voice. That meatheaded, jockish smile. Allan crumpled his test paper in internal rage.
Later That night, Allan tries to calm himself down by browsing the internet, but in doing so, he stumbled in something bizarre.
A weird ad, along with a forum post.. It describes a weird, probably illegal and completely experimental substance, a chemical compound supposedly used in “psychological reprogramming studies.” people in the forum said it’s supposed to be Tasteless, odorless, and designed to make the subject completely compliant to the first person they make prolonged eye contact with after ingestion. One user said:
“Seriously, though, listen up: DOSE IS KEY! I cannot stress this enough. We're talking just two drops, max, per dose. No more, no less.”
Allan was suspicious of the substance, but it tried looking more about the drug and it doesnt seem like it's blacklisted. Can’t hurt to try he thought, and if it fails, he hopes it would upset that jerk’s stomach at least. Allan clicked “Buy Now”
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three days later, the package arrived. A small black vial. Cold in his hand. The inside shimmered like oil. The more he thinks about the substance’ effects, the more allan becomes sceptical about it actually working, but he’s still determined.
Later that evening, as expected, Kevin had another night with his bros. The music was loud again, this time, they’re on the apartment balcony. shirtless, beer in hand, smokes of cigarettes wafting into Allan’s window.
Kevin shouted to someone inside, “AYO, WE RAN OUT OF BEER!”
He took a deep breath, grabbed a bottle of beer from his fridge, and slipped in ten full drops into one of them. He then rushed in the front door of Kevin’s apartment, holding one cold soda in hand. finally confronting the bastard that made him fail the exams. Allan knocks, and after a few minutes, Kevin opens the door.
“Sup. Need something bro?” Kevin Asks, staring down at Allan. Kevin, intimidating as ever with his tatooed arms and obviously built torso hidden in his tanktop.
Allan held out the drink. ”H-hey Kevin. Do you mind keeping the noise down… I’m kinda in the middle of something…”
Kevin Frowns, and smirks,
 “Wait, Aren’t you that twig next door? heh, yeah ain’t gonna happen Bro. Learn to have fun mannn!”
Allan expected as much, so he then resorts for plan B. “W-well, a…anyway. I got you this beer as a p-peace offering ya’know? So c-can you please keep it a lil’ bit down?”
Kevin squinted, dumb as ever. “Aye yooo there we go, thanks man”
He grabbed the bottle and drank it right away. Allan watched with morbid fascination as Kevin drinks it all away and slowly closes the door, his thick Adam's apple bobbing with each swallow. His neck muscles flexed, veins trailing down his tan, tattooed skin. His thick chest rose with a sigh after he finished half the bottle in one go… Then, Kevin stopped moving in a second, door half closed, then his whole torso shivers.
“Uh… Erhm..! Can you… turn the music down? Like, now?”
Kevin, still holding the bottle midair, turned slowly. His expression softened, almost blank. His lips parted slightly.
“…yeah, sure bro” he mumbled.
He walked inside without a word, then A moment later, his laughing friends suddenly shuts up, and the loud banging rock music was cut off. Finally, a peaceful quiet night. Allan walked back to his own apartment and was stunned by the silence. And wonder,Â
or maybe, it's just a coincidence.
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For the next few days, Allan had peace unlike anything he’d experienced since moving into the apartment complex. The nights were silent. No bass. No shouts. Just crickets, the hum of his desk lamp, and the soft scratching of pen on paper. For once, his focus was razor sharp. His assignments were finished on time. His grades jumped. Aside from that, He also noticed something even better, Kevin has changed.
No more impromptu parties. No more gym-bro screaming through the walls. No more blasting of rock music past midnight. Kevin had become strangely obedient. He has become quiet, REALLY quiet. Allan didn’t really pay it any mind, until one day,
Allan noticed while taking out the trash. As he passed Kevin’s unit, he heard a muffled argument. Loud voices—familiar, scratchy, bro-y. His friends.
“Dude, what’s wrong with you lately?”
“I asked you to come spot me. We always do Tuesdays, bro!”
“You skipped arm day again!”
“Dude, are you even there right now? You’ve been, like, blank as hell.”
Allan froze outside the door, his ears sharpened, Then Kevin’s voice—no longer booming and boyish like before. Just soft, sluggish.
“…idk, man. Jus' wanna be quiet.”
“ WTF Bro?! you ain’t even makin’ sense! Ya ain’t a damn monk”
Allan heard the crash of a chair or something being knocked over. Then a furious voice said,Â
“You used to be fun, bro. Now you’re just... boring and weird!”
Allan then quietly backed away, and ran back to his apartment. Even Allan is weirded out by Kevin’s new behavior after that day. That substance, no doubt now that it really did its magic. but it wasn’t just making Kevin compliant. It was doing something in his way of thinking.
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A few days later, It was 7:45 AM. Allan, dressed in a light hoodie and backpack slung over one shoulder, opened his apartment door to leave for class. He was still yawning, one shoe untied, when he froze on the spot. But something bizarre definitely woke him up.
In the other side of the hallway, Allan saw Kevin’s muscular figure walking, almost naked with his shorts.
Just a loose pair of shorts sagging low on his hips, revealing the thick ridges of his v-cut and waistband of his boxers. Shirtless revealing the tattoos Allan saw during his visit the other day. His chest, once firm and proud, rose and fell like a slow tide. His arms hung loosely at his sides, veiny and slack. His hair was tousled, eyes half-lidded, jaw slack.
He wasn’t even looking at Allan. He was just… lost in the moment. Taking slow, clumsy steps down the corridor as if he'd forgotten what he was doing.
“Kevin?” Allan called cautiously.
The hulking figure turned his head slowly. His expression remained blank, but when his eyes found Allan’s, he blinked once then offered a lazy, goofy grin.
“Oh. Yo…” Kevin mumbled.
Kevin scratched his shoulder, blinking in slow-motion.Â
“Uhh… I, uhh…” He paused, looking around like a toddler lost in a supermarket. “I… dunno. Kinda walkin’… I think.”
“You’ve just been walking around out here?”
“Guess, bro. Jus’... movin’. S’nice.”
“Okay. Well, maybe head back inside or something?”
Kevin squinted, then gave a lazy thumbs up. “Yeaaah… m'kay, bro.”
Later that day, Allan returned from a long day in the campus, all tired and exhausted, but as he returned back to the hall of his apartment, Allan’s tiredness went all away, replaced with confusion and frustration as he sees Kevin again, still shirtless and lost in the thought, wondering around the apartment. Now down to his undies. He was circling in slow laps, dragging his feet, mouth slightly open. He didn’t even seem to know Allan had come back until Allan stood right in front of him.
“Wha-?!…youre still here?” Allan muttered.
Kevin blinked. “Yup.”
Kevin scratched his temple with a thick finger. “…Dunno, bro. Jus’… out here. Feels chill.”
Allan scratches his head in confusion, and walked to his front door, Trying to ignore his annoying -but incredibly hot- neighbor. However, there was a pang of guilt. Of pity, maybe. Or curiosity. Whatever it was, Allan looked again at Kevin, and spoke to the broken man.
“Sigh… You wanna come inside for a bit? You’ve been out here like a stray dog…”
Kevin lit up instantly. His expression hadn’t been that bright in days.
“Hell yeah, bro!”
Inside, Kevin sat awkwardly on Allan’s sofa like an excited pet. The massive frame of his body dwarfed the small space. Allan watched him as he sank back, legs straight, arms resting at his sides like a doll. His breathing was slow. His chest rose and fell. That once-boyish thuggish face was now serene eyes with that scary and intimidating stare, lips parted just slightly.
“So… I noticed you’ve been… different.”
Kevin looked up. “Huh? diff?”
“I mean, I heard you haven’t been going to the gym. You don’t do any of those late night hangouts, and stopped playing rock… Its just out of character of you…”
Kevin furrowed his brow. It looked like he was trying to process the words but got stuck somewhere in the middle.
“…M’jus chillin’, bro.” He grinned sheepishly. “Keepin’ it quiet. Like you want.”
“...Like I want?” Allan echoed, sitting across from him. “So, you’re still doing this… for me?”
“Uh-huh. You said keep it down. So, I been real quiet. Dun even play music no more. Jus’... bein’ good.”
Now that Allan talks to him face to face made him realize, This wasn’t just a little mental fog. Kevin’s language is deteriorating. The way he talks is nothing like what he overhears everyday when he messes around with his friends, and he isn’t as insolent as he used to be. His sentences were shorter. His grammar was falling apart. He sounded like a confused preschooler trying to sound cool.Â
So to test it out, Allan wants to provoke him and see how deep his Behavior has gone down.
“Heh, aren’t you usually the man full of bravado? Never thought you’d be this dumb?”.
Kevin chuckled, missing the insult entirely. “Haha, dunno. Prob’ly dumb, bro.”
“Remember when you used to act all tough and loud? Like some punkass gym freak yelling through the walls? Now look at you.” He scoffed, poking Kevin’s meaty pec. “You’re like a docile golden retriever.” Allan said mockingly, half-laughing, trying to keep it casual.
Kevin looked down at Allan’s hand, then smiled proudly. “Thanks, bro.”
“…That wasn’t a compliment.”
Kevin blinked. “Huh?”
Allan laughed. Kevin is totally off the rails, and it might actually be because of that serum he mixed with his beer a few days ago. The way this massive, tattooed, once-thuggish hunk sat there like a dimwitted toy. Responding to everything with a dopey grin and a grunt. Too dumb now to understand sarcasm. Too foggy to get annoyed. The same guy who used to throw beer cans off the balcony for fun now sat there obedient, bare-chested, submissive.Â
Allan grinned, staring at Kevin’s massive body flailing aimlessly without a thought in his head, and slowly degrading the more the clock ticks by,Â
“Heh, I was expecting a lil bit tummy ache from that serum, you becoming dumber and dumber is definitely a plus!” Allan said with a wicked grin. “I bet you couldn’t even spell your own name right now,”Â
Kevin looked down as if thinking about it hurt. “K... E... V... uh…”
Allan burst out laughing.
“Jesus. You're really getting stupider!”
Kevin giggled along, as if it were a compliment again.
For a prolonged time, Allan’s apartment is now the noisy one with his condescending laughs. Instead of following Allan’s original plan to study, Allan instead spent the whole afternoon by poking fun of his now dumb muscle neighbor more and more. The idiot can’t even tell an insult from compliments, Allan even offered Kevin food, Kevin didn’t question it and Ate sloppily like a dog. Afterwards, the man just sats with his back straight, eyes unfocused as Allan fondles Kevin’s muscles like a pillow freely.
Eventually, Allan got tired, and yawned. “Okay, dumbass. I’ve had my fun. Time for you to head back.”
Kevin blinked and stood. “Nooo…”
Kevin stood up and stepped closer. Then another. Allan was preparing to open up his door to kick Kevin out, but Kevin’s huge arms wrapped around him suddenly in a slow, needy hug.
“I... stay here,” Kevin mumbled.
Allan stiffened. Kevin’s bare chest pressed into him. Warm. Heavy. Reeking faintly of sweat and metal, this man hasn’t got a bath today, Allan thought. His arms, thick as Alan’s torso, wrapped tight like weighted blankets.
“ H-hey! I no that can’t do! I need to study!”
“Wanna stay here… quiet here. S’nice... comfy…”
Allan couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. The huge muscle thug idiot is clinging to him so tight, Allan can’t move an inch! But somewhere deep down, Allan didn’t hate it entirely…
“…Fine,” he said softly. “You can stay a little longer.”
Kevin smiled dumbly and rested his chin on Allan’s head.
Despite his resentment to this dumb muscle jock, Kevin. Allan still embraced Kevin, touching his musky, muscular back. He might be a jerk before, but its not the Kevin that he once knew. This is a new side of Kevin, a Kevin that Allan prefers, and He doesn’t want this this version of Kevin to go away.
(TBC... if it reaches 200 likes !)
