Not that I was some slouch. That’s what made it so painful. If Todd hadn’t been around, I would have been the big stud. I was a handsome guy myself, but just was always one step behind Todd. A little less handsome, a little less muscular, a little less sure of myself. God damn I was jealous of him. I killed myself at the gym. Tried every crazy supplement on the market. Watched my diet like a hawk. Tried everything. Then he’d stroll into the gym where we both worked out and strip off that skin tight shirt of his. All eyes would turn to him. He’d have that grin on his face. “Hey, it if isn’t my favorite sidekick!” he loved to say. Then he’d walk right over, flex his right arm and say something like, “Try all you want, little man, you’re never gonna match this, baby!”

And he was right. I went to sleep at night dreaming of being bigger and stronger than he was. And I didn’t just want to be better than him, I wanted to kick his ass and humiliate him. That’s what drove me to the gym day after day.

After high school, we both went our separate ways. I wish I could say that I forgot about Todd. But I didn’t. I stayed just as religious about my workouts and my body. In college, I got into wrestling. And I started using steroids. I was getting bigger all the time. Pretty soon I was far past Todd’s 200 pounds. I was loving life. Without him around, I was a big showoff myself. Took my clothes off at the drop of a hat, and didn’t care what people thought. In the ring, I loved punishing other big muscle guys. No one could take me. But Todd was the one I really wanted to pin. He’s the one I wanted to have submit. I tried discretely to keep tabs on him through friends, without seeming too anxious for info. But in all my four years of college, I never saw him. When I went home for vacation, he stayed at school. When he went home, it always turned out to be when I was up to something else. Friends who had seen him always told me he looked great.

At the end of my four years of college, I was headed home for the final time. Just to get some things from my parents’ house and move them to my new place. Just before leaving school, I was talking with an old friend of mine on the phone. When he mentioned that Todd was going to be home that same weekend, my cock got rock hard. I was finally going to see that fucker. And I was finally going to have a chance to take him down. I got off the phone right away. Took off my t-shirt and stood in front of the mirror. I was 225 pounds of solid, steel-hard muscle. And my biceps? They were a full twenty inches. I couldn’t wait to wrap these big fuckers around Todd’s neck. His 18 inchers were gonna look like twigs next to these! I flexed my right arm and started jerking off with my left. Just thinking about Todd had me shooting in minutes. This weekend was going to be a good one.

Saturday morning, I woke up early. Put on some sweat pants and the tightest tanktop I have. My favorite one that looks like it’s going to pop at any second. I did a few pushups and other excercises in my room to give myself a little pump and then hopped in my jeep and drove to the old gym. It was the same place Todd and I both used to work out when we were in high school, and I knew he’d come there to work out, too.

I spent my first ten minutes or so at the gym saying hi to all the familiar faces. Smiling when they all talked about how big and buff I was. How could I not love that? They were all impressed and, I am sure, a little jealous. One guy I used to know asked if I’d do a double biceps for him. That put a real grin on my face. I raised these two big monsters and watched his face as my twenty inch peaks rose up right in front of his face. He was no slouch himself, but he looked like he was going to wet himself. This was too much fun! “I think you need to measure that fucker.” I said. Knowing he was dying to put his hands on my huge muscle. His face lit up. The guy at the front desk passed him a measuring tape, and he took it with his hands almost shaking. Very carefully, and very slowly he wrapped the tape around my arm. I noticed him licking his lips while he did it. I flexed for all I was worth, and he read off the tape, “A full twenty inches!”

“Guess that gives me the biggest arms in town.” I said. Then I heard someone laughing behind me.

“Guess again, little man, that gives you the second biggest arms in town. Same as ever.” I turned around and there was Todd. My jaw dropped and I just froze. I stood there with my arm still in the air and flexed. “Hey Mark,” he said, still laughing, “I see you’ve managed to put on a little weight. As you can see I have to.” Damn, had he ever. While I had been busting my ass to catch up with Todd, he had clearly been busting his ass to stay ahead. He was at least 250, clearly outweighing me, and that 250 was ripped, rippling muscle. Same damn handsome face, too. Before I knew what he was doing, he raised his huge right arm and flexed it next to mine. The smile was long gone from my face. It had moved to his. I was so obviously outgunned. The muscle on his arm was absurd it was so large. The head beautifully separated, bulging up above my own. He pushed his arm up against mine, and when it touched me, I felt a stirring in my crotch. “I think you need to measure THIS fucker!” he said, obviously enjoying himself. The same guy brought out the tape. His attention was completely on Todd. Everone’s was. He measured Todd’s monstrous arm, clearly feeling it up as much as he could while he did it. When he was done, he cleared his throat and said with awe, “at least twenty one inches”.

“Alright!” Todd shouted. “Still King of the Mountain.” I shrank. Years of work had come to nothing. Years of obsessing over Todd had resulted in nothing but another embarassment. I couldn’t believe it. The guys were all patting him on the back and I just stood there. My mind was frozen. What was Isupposed to do now? The only thing I wanted to do was be bigger and stronger than Todd and finally show him who was boss. I could feel the red coming into my face. “Hey little guy, don’t get upset.” He joked. “Not everyone can be the biggest.”

Always in the past I had chosen this moment to slink away. But today I was just not having it. I don’t know what made me do it, but I decided to push my luck. “You think so, Todd?” I asked, getting right up in his face. My arm is still cold. And guess what it pumps up to when it’s hot? 21.5 inches, runt. And even if your arm was a bit bigger than mine, I know it’s not stronger. What say we have a little arm-wrestling match to find out for sure?”

“You have got to be kidding. Did you just call me ‘runt’? Man, I’m gonna wipe up the floor with your ass.” The guys around us were all hooting and hollering at this point, so we headed over to the table. I don’t know what I had been thinking. I knew there was no way I could beat this muscle monster. I guess I just didn’t want to back down again. And hell, I had nothing to lose.

The guys all crowded around us as we locked our grips and settled our elbows on the table. There was a hell of a lot of testosterone in the air, that’s for sure. My mind froze up and I just stood there staring at Todd. My eyes moved to his monster-sized bicep. God damn I wanted that muscle. Nothing in the world was more important than having all that muscle for myself. One of the guys shouted “Go!” and each of our arms swelled immediately to full glory. Todd had a big smile on his face because he knew he would beat me. He was completely confident in his strength, and with a body like that how could he not be? He slowly pushed my arm further and further down, but I would not give up. I stared at his arm and willed myself stronger. I willed his muscle to be mine. Slowly, I stopped him from pushing my arm any further. The smile left his face.

“Jesus! You can almost see Mark’s arm getting pumped. Look at that thing grow!” And he was right. My arm was getting bigger and stronger. Somehow I knew what was happening. What they thought was just my arm getting pumped, was actually me stealing Todd’s muscle. I could see and feel myself growing! I quickly gained the upper hand, and then started pushing Todd’s arm down. I loved the look on his face now. One I’d never seen before. He looked scared. Before I could slam his hand down, though, he broke the grip and jumped away from the table.

“You were leaning into the grip, asshole!” he shouted. Desperate for an excuse for having stopped the match.

“Give I up, Todd.” I said “I’m the new brute around here, and you may as well admit it. Either that, or put your hand back down on the table.” I rubbed my left hand over my new bigger than ever right bicep. Then I raised it up right in front of his face and flexed.

“No more of that crap, Mark. Let’s wrestle to see who’s really stronger.”

Next thing you know we were in the ring. Todd stripped off his shirt. I could see him checking out his own body, and I knew he was trying to reassure himself of his own strength. I have to admit, he looked fantastic. But I knew his moment had come. I was now his master. And I sensed that more contact with his musclebound body would only make me stronger. I tore off my own tanktop, eager to show off my killer body. Todd was not looking happy.

We ran toward each other, and immediately locked our hands together. I could feel his strength flowing into me, and I easily pressed his hands down. He twisted out, though, and grabbed me from behind. I could feel the thick slabs of his pecs pressing against my back. And I could feel my own chest slowly swelling outward. I quickly broke his hold by raising my arms upward. He stood there, clearly horrified at how clearly inferior in strength he was. I wondered if he couldn’t feel himself getting weaker, the same way I could feel myself growing stronger. Better to end this quickly, I thought, so I picked him up over my head and slammed him down hard. He collapsed totally.

The guys watching all cheered. Everybody patting me on my broad back and wanting to go out for beers. I had some other ideas about how I wanted to spend the day, though, so I begged off. “I’d better get this loser home to his mama!” I said joking, and easily picked up the unconscious Todd. I walked out with him over my shoulder, threw him in my car and drove away. •