The Pool: Recruitment
Splash.
The sound of choppy water, upset by slick muscled swimmers diving in, filled the school's indoor pool complex. Interrupted only the burly coach’s barking and the sharp blow of the whistle, whipping his team into shape after winter break. Thankfully, the team was easily the best in the state, not really thanks to dedicated coaching though. More thanks to a special formula developed by the man that made anyone into perfect swimmer jocks.
With a final scratchy whine of the worn out whistle, he ended the practice. The team then pulled themselves out of the water, putting away used equipment and slapping each other's asses playfully. The typical bantering of locker room talk mixed with the sounds of squelching slides and metallic rings of the lockers. The topic had eventually shifted to sex and dating. Most guys on the team were gay thanks to a side effect of the coach's serum. Most of the team boasted loudly of their happy relationships and active sex lives, everyone except for the newest recruit: Jake and Liam.
Jake and Liam had been best friends since that fateful kindergarten swimming lesson at their neighborhood pool. At least that’s how they remembered it, Thanks to memory altering chemicals.
And that’s how both boys found themselves in the coach's office. The faint smell of mildew hung in the air accentuated by the layer of dust over the framed state titles and clutter of trophies. The boys shifted uncomfortably, their feet wet from the pool, sticking to the already damp tile floor. Their voices overlapping and interpreting each other in a frantic rush.
“No.”
The boys stopped their mad rush of words.
Liam blinked. “We didn’t even-”
Coach grunted. “Didn’t need to. You idiots only come in groups when you’re about to say something unbelievably dumb.”
“But, Coach. I just want a hunk to hook up with.” Jake begged, trying not to show how desperate he was and failing miserably.
Liam tried a different tact. “Look at us, Coach. We’re thriving. Morale’s up. Relay times are sick. Everybody’s locked in.”
Jake stepped in sensing where his best friend was going. “We just think the team could benefit from… more dedicated recruitment.”
Coach narrowed his eyes immediately, but Jake leaned forward seriously and continued. “But like…What if the new guys are super hot and fast?”
The older man rubbed both hands down his face slowly.
Jake folded his arms. “So… that’s not a no.” The fragile thread hope in his voice a tangible thing.
“I literally said no first.”
“Yeah, but not with conviction.”
Coach glared at both of them. And two hopeful idiot faces stared back, the idiot faces that were technically his fault. Liam finally played the card he knew would work.
“Think about the senior class leaving in a few months”
Coach’s expression twitched and Jake clocked it instantly. “Ohhhh, there it is.”
Coach exhaled heavily through his nose before standing and walking to the filing cabinet in the corner.
The boys straightened immediately.
“Fuck ya,” Liam whispered as Coach pulled out a small six-pack carrier full of brightly colored sports drinks. Coach pointed a warning finger at them. “One each. No random idiots. And one of you two needs to get a water polo recruit for me, the water polo coach has been riding my ass about it ”
Liam carefully took one bottle from the pack like it was sacred. “So we can like, pour ideal type, guys that are, y’know…”
Coach pointed instantly. “Don’t say ‘hung’ in my office.”
“We weren’t gonna say hung,” Liam lied horribly.
Jake failed to hold back a laugh.
————————
Hunter missed his friend.
At five-foot-three, he was even shorter than Liam used to be, all sandy blond hair that looked permanently windblown, and his thin frame carried a weariness that came from years of bullying and torment. He had a habit of chewing the inside of his cheek when he was nervous, which was often, and he constantly adjusted the strap of the messenger bag slung across his chest like he expected someone to yank it away at any second, which also happened often.
Liam had been Hunter's best friend since middle school, or that’s what he thought. Yeah, they had bonded because nobody else wanted either of them around. They spent lunch periods hiding in the library, ranking superhero movies and arguing over game lore while pretending not to notice the football players barking insults from the next table over. The swim team had Liam's back and Hunters by default, wait…swim team. Liam had just joined the team, hadn’t he? Then why did Hunter remember him being a swimmer his whole life. Something was very wrong.
Because now Liam sat with the swim team. Hunter couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t but that conflicted with the memories of hanging with Liam at a back table, geeking out over the next Star Wars TV show. Hunter's brain hurts from trying to make sense of it.
All he knew was Liam now walked through the halls with his shoulders back and his wet bag slung casually over one broad shoulder, laughing with Jake and the others like… normal? His glasses were gone, because Liam had always had 20/20 vision. His hair was longer, messier, hung over his forehead in an effortlessly cool manner. And now, for the first time in weeks, Hunter was going to talk to him.
He saw Liam chatting with Jake one morning, both casually leaned against their lockers stuffed full with swim memorabilia. Medals hanging out, faded team pictures taped to the sides, and the faint smell of wetness hanging around them. He tapped Liam on the shoulder timidly.
“Yo, Hunter, I was just coming to find you!” The jock exclaimed, loud enough for the whole hall to hear, his brassy voice echoing. He waved off Jake, who grabbed a neon colored water bottle and trotted off. Slapping Liam’s on the back causally as he did so.
“You- haven’t be-en com- coming to robotics club?” Hunter tried to get out, looking up at Liam who was giving him a friendly smile.
Liam snorted. “Practice ran late and I don’t do robotics.”
There was no edge to Liam’s voice, but Hunter still shrank a little. His hands shook as he adjusted his glasses. “Right. Sorry.”
Liam glanced sideways at him then, expression going soft for a second. “Dude, stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Acting like you’re about to get yelled at all the time.”
Hunter laughed weakly. “Habit, I guess.”
Liam saw his opportunity and took it. “You ever think about swimming?” He asked casually.
Hunter blinked. “What?”
“I’m serious.” Liam nudged him lightly with one arm. “You’re wiry. Coach likes that. Says lean guys cut through water better.”
“I can barely dog paddle.”
“So? Neither could I.”
“That is objectively not true anymore.”
Liam laughed at that, deep and easy. “Okay, fair.”
Liam laughed at that, deep and easy. “Okay, just think about it man. Come to the pool this afternoon for my practice.”
Hunter didn’t think he would actually go, but Liam’s words had been ringing in his ears all day. So that's how he found himself outside, sitting on the bleachers, sweating his ass off, watching the swim team get ready for practice. Liam was one of the last guys to arrive and when he saw Hunter he walked over immediately.
“Hey, you came, dude!” He greeted Hunter with an outstretched fist. Hunter returned the fist bump awkwardly while Liam pulled out an orange Gatorade bottle out of his bag. Cold condensation rolled down the plastic.
“You thirsty?” Liam asked.
Hunter grabbed the bottle, it was so hot Hunter, sitting in the glaring sun, had stripped himself of layers of clothing. He looked back at Liam’s face and saw an unnerving expression of hunger there. But he brushed it off as the first sip hit him. It had a citrusy limey tang with a strange metallic aftertaste.
Within seconds his mouth started to feel cotton dry, he quickly guzzled more of the drink to quench himself. A strange feeling of cold wetness hit him, spreading slowly across his body. Also spreading was a new tan, darkening the nerd's pale skin. The new skin was clear and healthy, the faint scars of acne fading away completely. The sparse body hair vanished completely, perfect for smoothly moving through the water. The only hair remaining was on his head and has reformed into a cleaner style, short and shaved sides and longer gelled hair atop.
Hunter's slim, tiny frame began to grow upwards and outwards. His nonexistent chest began to blow up like a water balloon, giving him firm pectorals. Below his newly grown shelf abs popped out from the slight pudge of his stomach. The changes spread outwards, his limbs gaining years worth of muscle tone and memory. Biceps, thighs, glutes, all growing hard with round muscle. His feet grew, becoming comically large, more like paddles than feet. His hands grew to match as well. The final happened with a crack of the jaw, as his whole face began to widen. Giving him broad features benefiting his new masculine frame.
Hunter kept drinking, sucking down the citrus drink in its entirety. Once he had finished he handed the bottle back to his friend.
“Thanks bro, I needed the pick me up,” he said, his voice comically gruff. “Bro, why do I sound like this bro.”
Yet as he puzzled this a mental rewrite began to occur once the drink hit his bloodstream in full. His mind began to rewind to old memories, flickering like an old film wheel. He watched as old memories of being bullied, his friendship with the dweeb Liam, and his entire sci-fi nerd persona flashed before his eyes. Faster and faster they played until they began to blur together. From the beginning, new memories began to paint themselves across his mind. His early meeting with Liam now remembered as being at the pool instead of the school honors club. His old interests felt lame in the face of his new life, a life full of swim meets, practice with the boys, and messing around with Liam. Speaking of Liam, the more he thought of his friend the more those feelings began to change, no longer did he see Liam as his best friend, but as his hunky bottom boyfriend. He even began to stiffen up the more he thought about it.
Liam, of course, noticed this, “after practice.” He said with a sly wink and a meaningful glance at his new jock boyfriend’s massive member.
———————————
Jake leaned against the doorway casually, bare arms folded across his chest as football practice wrapped up around him. Lockers slammed close while exhausted players shouted over one another. Somebody was blasting bad rap music from a speaker buried in a gym bag. The locker room smelled like old sweat, disinfectant, and something distinctly male.
But Jake had his eyes locked on Mason Kane, standing in the center of it all like a king. Six-two, Built like a truck, he was starting linebacker. Consistently, he was also a complete asshole.
“Move, shrimp.”Jake watched as Mason flicked the back of some freshman’s head while passing by. The kid stumbled out of the way immediately, his eyes wide with fear.
Mason just laughed with his teammates before grabbing his duffel off the bench. That was when he finally noticed Jake standing there.
“The hell do you want, swim fag?”
Jake grinned easily. “Coach sent me.”
That got a couple of odd looks, the worlds of football and swim barely interacted outside mandatory pep rallies and occasional hallway beef. They operated on different levels.
“Coach just wanted me to tell you you can use our recovery pools on the off seasons. Don’t wear those gray sweats though, bro, can’t promise the team will control themselves.” Jake continued, pushing off the doorway into the locker room.
A few players barked out laughs at that.
The words had the intended effect on Mason, his eyes burning with the fire of both annoyance and challenge. “You’ll just be a bunch of fags over there.”
“True,” Jake admitted. “But you should still come by. Try it out.”
Mason swung his bag over one shoulder. “Why would I?”
Jake shrugged. “Because football season’s over. Because you’re bored. Because if you didn’t we’d all think you're too scared.”
Mason’s expression twitched slightly at that. Jake grinned, Got him
“And honestly?” Jake continued casually, “you’d probably kill it in the water.”
“Doubt it.”
“C’mon,” Jake said. “Just one recovery session. We got the cold tubs over at the natatorium. Athletes only. Helps soreness.”
“That actually sounds fake.”
“It’s literally not.”
One of Mason’s teammates spoke up. “Coach has us do ice baths too, dumbass.”
Mason groaned. “Traitor.”
Jake stepped backward toward the hallway. “You coming or what?”
The pool was mostly empty by the time they arrived. Only the distant sounds of splashing water echoed through the massive room. Overhead lights reflected across the pool in shimmering blue patterns that danced along the tiled walls. Mason followed Jake past the pool itself toward the training room in back.
“You guys seriously spend all day here?” Mason asked.
Jake opened the door. “Pretty much. Better than sweating all day on a field.”
Inside sat a row of blue plastic tubs sunk into the tile floor. Steam curled faintly from one side of the room while the cold plunges sat dark and still.
Mason dropped his bag near the wall. “Okay, this actually looks legit.”
“Told you.”
Jake crouched beside one of the tubs casually, unscrewing the cap from a bright neon sports bottle hidden beside the towels. Mason didn’t notice and started to strip himself down.
“So what, I just sit in there?” He said pointing to one of the tubs
“Yeah, bro. Never used a cold plunge before”
Spurred by Jake’s teasing he threw himself over the edge of the tub. Water splashing up as the buff athlete plunged beneath the surface. Jake smiled slightly and he poured the glowing liquid into the water. The liquid swirled invisibly beneath the surface.
“Just relax.”
Mason gripped the sides of the tub, his teeth chattering in the cold. He expected nothing to happen, but within seconds, his body froze up, leaving him paralyzed as the coldness sunk deeper and deeper into him. He took deep breaths and began to realize something was very very wrong.
Seeing his panic, Jake gripped Mason's head and pushed it beneath the water, speeding the transformation along,
His forearms shrunk, as his bulky biceps tightened into lean arms with veins defined against pale skin. His height plummeted, his shoulders stretched over a thin torso that’s muscle was quickly vanishing, his abs rigid with no fat in sight. His legs shrank, the density growing greater, thighs bulging and calves carved out of marble. His feet, still massively jockish, were now well groomed and set with pool deck calsouses. Every bit of hair was quickly vanishing from his body, the skin left pale and smooth.
He struggled under Jake, his new body leaving him sufficiently weaker than the swimmer. Once Jake saw Mason's mostly finished changes, he let the new swimmer go. His now slimmer face broke the surface with confusion.
“Bro, what the hell.” He practically screamed.
“Chill out babe, you're fine.” Jake responded, his hands still lingering on Mason's neck.
Suddenly Mason laughed, his mind reshaping with a final push. He looked at Jake admiringly, his brain filled with new memories and information, this was his boyfriend, Jake. They had been dating for the last 6 months. He remembered their first kiss in the locker room after one of Jake’s swim practices and the water polo evaluations Jake had encouraged him to try. He remembered other things as well, his ass suddenly becoming sore at those memories.
He reached out to Jake, “why’d you bring me in here again.” He asked, voice breathy.
“You know w-” Jake started to say, but was cut off by his boyfriend pulling him into the tub as well.
Splash
—————————— The sounds of teasing and laughter filled the pool locker room after practice once more. But this time Jake and Liam joined in, Jake happily bragging on his attentive Polo playing boyfriend, as he shaved any hair off his body in preparation for date night. Liam and Hunter were too busy making out in the corner of the room to pay the rest of the team much mind other than the occasional jeer and comment. After a while the boys trotted out the locker room, hair wet from showers, backpacks slung over their shoulders.
Hunter, Liam, and Jake walked together, heading to wait for Mason to finish his practice.
Hunter had his arm slung over his boyfriend possessively, “thanks again for that drink earlier babe. I feel more like myself every minute.”
Jake and Liam laughed. “Course, it feels so good to be one of us, I hope everyone feels this comfortable in themselves.”
“Maybe everyone can…” Jake muttered, his minuscule brain working overtime as he thought of him and Liam’s Neighborhood pool…
(To be continued, obviously. Was planing in just writing one but this concept demanded two sequels, super excited to work on the next one. I’m sure you can tell where this is going. Anyway this is nearly three times the length of the og pool story, I love writing the longer stories but they take way longer, so let me know if you guys like this new multi transformation tales or prefer the shorter ones)
