The Influencer and the Gummy Bears
Ethan Vale had built an entire career around looking effortless.
His dark hair was always perfectly styled. His skin appeared flawless even under the unforgiving lights of his streaming studio. He had the lean, athletic body of a man who photographed every meal before eating it and considered twelve percent body fat an emergency.
More than two million followers watched his videos about fitness, fashion and gay nightlife. Brands paid him absurd amounts of money to hold products beside his face and say things like “Honestly, guys, I’m obsessed.”
That evening’s livestream was supposed to be particularly easy.
Ethan smiled into the camera and lifted a glittering purple packet.
“Okay, boys, tonight we’re trying something new.”
The words COSMIC BEARS — GALAXY GUMMIES stretched across the front in brightly coloured letters. Beneath them, cartoon bears floated among stars and tiny rockets.
Ethan pointed at the packet with his most marketable smile.
“They were delivered this afternoon. No company name, no contract, no instructions. Just a note saying, ‘Show your followers who you really are.’ Which is either brilliant marketing or the beginning of a documentary about my disappearance.”
The chat raced beside the camera.
THE BLUE BEAR MATCHES YOUR EYES
He pulled off his T-shirt. The chat immediately exploded with hearts, flames and several proposals of marriage.
“Fine. Apparently gummy bears taste better when I’m shirtless.”
A sweet, strangely powerful scent drifted out—blueberry, cinnamon and something darker that reminded him of warm leather.
“That’s… surprisingly masculine for candy.”
He selected a blue bear and held it close to the camera. Its tiny translucent body seemed to shimmer from within.
He placed it between his teeth and bit down.
Sweetness flooded his mouth, followed by heat that spread down his throat and across his chest.
“That is actually incredible.”
The chat demanded another.
Ethan reached inside, but before his fingers touched the remaining candy, a tingling sensation moved over his scalp.
A few strands of dark hair fell across his forehead.
“Did I just pull out my own hair?”
BRO LOOK AT YOUR FOREHEAD
Ethan leaned toward the monitor.
His hairline had shifted.
Only slightly, but enough for him to notice a thin strip of newly exposed skin along his temples.
He pushed his hair forward.
More strands came loose between his fingers.
“Okay. That isn’t funny.”
A prickling sensation spread across his jaw.
Dark stubble emerged over his smooth cheeks as though several days were passing in seconds. Ethan rubbed his chin, staring into the camera as the stubble thickened beneath his fingertips.
The chat became unreadable.
ETHAN YOU’RE TURNING INTO A DADDY
THE BEAR GUMMY IS MAKING HIM A BEAR
His voice came out deeper.
He touched his throat and tried again.
The richer voice vibrated through his chest.
His beard continued growing, covering his cheeks, jaw and upper lip in dense brown hair. Within a minute it had become a full, heavy beard, perfectly connecting beneath his chin.
Meanwhile, the hair on top of his head continued retreating.
His temples opened into deep recessions. The front thinned rapidly, leaving short, sparse hair across an increasingly visible scalp.
Ethan stared directly into the lens, blue eyes enormous.
“What is happening to me?”
The warmth inside his chest intensified.
Fine hair appeared between his pectorals.
The thin line spread outward. Dark curls multiplied across his chest, travelled over his shoulders and continued down his stomach. His forearms became visibly hairier as he watched.
Within moments, the clean, carefully groomed influencer had become covered in thick body hair.
THIS IS YOUR BEST STREAM EVER
I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE GAY
Ethan grabbed the packet.
The cartoon bears continued smiling.
A line of tiny silver writing had appeared beneath the logo.
COSMIC BEARS REVEAL THE BODY YOUR HEART HAS BEEN HIDING.
“My heart has not been hiding male-pattern baldness.”
His shoulders suddenly jerked backward.
A deep pressure built beneath his skin.
Ethan gasped as his collarbones widened. His shoulders pushed outward, becoming broader and rounder. Muscle thickened across his chest and arms, swelling with every panicked breath.
The transformation was not making him leaner.
It was making him larger.
His pectorals expanded beneath their covering of dark hair. His biceps grew until his upper arms were nearly twice their original size. His neck thickened, supporting a head that looked increasingly rugged beneath the beard and receding hair.
Ethan stared at his arms.
For a moment, his fear was interrupted by fascination.
He flexed experimentally.
A huge biceps rose beneath the hair.
The chat responded with so many messages that the streaming software briefly froze.
Then his stomach growled.
It was not a normal sound. It was a deep, rolling demand that shook the desk microphone.
Ethan clutched his abdomen.
His waist pushed outward beneath his hands.
His flat stomach softened. The carefully defined muscles vanished beneath a rapidly thickening layer of weight. His abdomen expanded forward, becoming round and heavy while the rest of his body continued growing muscular.
The gaming chair rolled backward.
His massive shoulders filled the camera frame. His broad, hairy chest rose above an increasingly prominent belly. He looked like a competitive strongman who had never refused dessert.
The chat found a new word for him.
Ethan pointed furiously at the screen.
“All of you are blocked.”
His finger was now thick and calloused.
Then he noticed his hands had grown larger too.
“I’m going to the bathroom.”
He abandoned the livestream without turning it off.
Thousands of viewers watched the empty chair while distant footsteps thundered down the hallway.
Ethan switched on the bathroom light and stopped before the mirror.
The man staring back at him seemed at least ten years older.
His scalp was almost completely exposed across the top, leaving only short dark hair around the sides. His beard was enormous. Hair covered his chest, stomach, shoulders and arms so densely that his former grooming routine appeared to belong to another species.
He leaned closer to the glass.
His reflection possessed the same blue eyes, but everything surrounding them had changed.
The delicate influencer face had become broad and masculine. His brow was heavier. His nose looked stronger. His jaw appeared enormous beneath the beard.
Ethan placed both hands on the sink.
Another surge passed through him.
His chest expanded until the countertop seemed unusually low beneath him. The floor creaked as his weight increased.
Then his belly pushed forward again.
It grew into a tremendous round dome, heavy but firm, covered in thick curling hair. Ethan stumbled backward, gripping it with both hands.
“You have got to be kidding me!”
His shout echoed throughout the apartment.
The belly projected farther than his chest, yet his shoulders and arms remained powerfully muscular. He looked less like a fitness influencer and more like the intimidating owner of a leather bar who could bench-press the furniture.
Then, despite himself, he flexed one arm.
He straightened his posture.
The transformed man in the mirror looked shocked, but he did not look unattractive.
The sort of man Ethan had secretly stared at in crowded bars while insisting to his friends that he only dated smooth athletic guys.
A notification sounded from his phone.
The livestream was still running.
He returned to the studio.
The chat erupted the moment his huge figure appeared in the doorway.
Ethan squeezed himself into the chair. It groaned beneath him.
His beard nearly touched the microphone.
He stared into the camera, breathing heavily.
“I would like everyone to remain calm.”
The chat did not remain calm.
His viewer count had increased from twelve thousand to nearly half a million.
Clips of the transformation were already spreading across social media. New hashtags appeared every second.
Ethan covered his face with both hands.
“This is the worst night of my life.”
A message from his manager appeared.
You’ve gained 300,000 followers in twenty minutes. Do not end the stream.
Ethan slowly lowered his hands.
Another message followed.
Also, personally? The beard works.
Then he looked at the packet.
One blue gummy remained inside.
His newly deep voice sounded firm and authoritative.
The gummy packet rustled by itself.
The final blue bear climbed over the edge.
It dropped onto the desk, bounced once and rolled directly toward him.
Ethan trapped it beneath one large finger.
The gummy pulsed with blue light.
A whisper rose from it, quiet enough that only Ethan could hear.
You wanted them to see you.
Ethan looked into the camera.
His entire career had been based on perfection: perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect lighting, perfect body. He had spent years terrified that one wrong angle might make people lose interest.
Now half a million viewers were watching him bald, bearded, hairy and enormous.
And they had never seemed more interested.
“This is probably a terrible idea.”
The chat agreed enthusiastically.
Ethan released a relieved breath.
Then his chair collapsed.
He crashed toward the floor as his body surged larger one final time. His shoulders became mountainous. His arms thickened with another layer of powerful muscle. His belly swelled until it rested heavily against his thighs.
Ethan rose from the wreckage, towering over the desk.
The microphone now seemed tiny beside him.
His beard had become even denser. The remaining hair on his scalp vanished almost completely, leaving a smooth bald crown surrounded by only a dark shadow.
He looked directly into the camera.
For several seconds, there was silence.
Then Ethan began laughing.
It started as a confused chuckle, but quickly became a deep, booming roar that filled the room.
He placed both huge hands on his belly.
“Well,” he said, smiling beneath the beard, “I suppose the cutting phase is officially cancelled.”
Ethan flexed his massive arms. His round belly rose proudly beneath his hairy chest.
“And apparently,” he continued, “this channel has new branding.”
He picked up the empty Cosmic Bears packet and held it beside his face.
“Zero stars for accurate labelling.”
By morning, Ethan Vale was the most discussed influencer on the internet.
His sponsors expected him to panic.
Instead, he replaced his old profile photograph with an image of himself grinning, bald and bearded, one enormous arm curled around his belly.
His new biography contained only four words:
Big. Hairy. Gay. Still fabulous.
