In the eight years he had lived at muscle camp, he developed a routine. Everyday at 5 AM he'd wake up, eat a dozen or more cooked egg whites, drink a quart sized protein shake, then lift for two hours. Eat again, study or go out and jog or play football or something, then eat. Repeat every 90 minutes til 6PM. Lift til 8, then eat A LOT. Hang out til 10, then go to bed.

The bed squealed as he rolled over, staring up to where the ceiling hid behind the blackness. Of course the bed squealed. 600 pounds of solid muscle would make anything squeal when it moved.

Today, Tom, Walter, and ten other boys graduated from Muscle Camp -- or The MC as they called it now. They were only the third graduating class, but traditions had been set. He smiled as he thought about George.

He met George that first day of Muscle Camp. He, Wally and Ben had gone to their room to change from their posing trunks into some shorts. Ben didn't want to, of course. Always the show-off, Ben was.

"Wanted to thank you for what you said," Wally said to Ben, "about being your friend."

'Ya whatever," said Ben, trying to decide between red shorts or blue. Both were torn around the thighs, neither able to contain all his muscle.

"No," said Wally. "We got off to a rocky start, but defending me to that jerk Harry, well... thanks."

"No prob," Ben replied, having selected the blue shorts and tossing the red ones down. "He's right, you are a wimp. Compared to this kid muscle," and he stood upright, pulling his cannonball-like shoulders back, flexing his abs and thrusting his huge chest forward, "who isn't? Thought I proved that once and for all today. But no one's gonna call you a wimp around me unless it's me." Then Ben smiled, and started to giggle. "Sorry if I was rough on you," he said after a pause.

Wally stared at him, unsure, then like a bolt of lightning, dove for Ben's knees, wrapped his arms around them, then hoisted the shorter boy into the air, tossing him onto the bed. He pinned Ben's arms to the bed, and laughing, said, "Think you're tough, runt?" Then, playfully, Ben growled, "Grrrrrr...."

Ben smiled, and pretended to struggle. "Too strong for a little kid," he feigned, "but NOT FOR BIG BEN!" With apparent ease, Ben started to raise his arms. "I'm getting STRONGER," he played as his delts exploded into three distict heads. Wally's did the same as his triceps tried to counter Ben's superior strength by flexing to their fullest, but Ben continued to force him back. Then, Ben's stomach rippled into blocks of striated muscles, as he did a perfect, almost effortless sit-up pushing Wally away. "FEEL THE MUSCLE OF BIG BEN!" he said. Wally's lats flared into wings of strength, deeply knotted muscles bunching and pushing against the shorter boy, but he was losing ground fast.

"Too strong," Wally said through gritted teeth. "Too much muscle..." he said, almost laughing at the fun.

Ben began to stand, and Wally braced himself, pushing hard against the superior might of Ben's smaller body. Ben stood upright, seemingly oblivious to Wally's effort. He raised one foot, then went on tip-toes on the other, flexing his calf muscle hard and forcing Wally to take a step back.

"WHOA!" shouted Wally, amazed at Ben's strength.

Ben just smiled. "FEEL MY POWER! FEEL THE MUSCLE OF BIG BEN!" he said ominously, trying not to laugh too much. He took a step, then another, each one forcing Wally back. Ben continued walking until Wally was backed into a wall. "GRRRR..." Then he started to laugh. So did Wally, then Ben let go.

"Gosh Ben, I knew you were strong, but WOW!" Wally patted Ben on the back.

"Gee..." said a voice from the door. The boys turned. Standing there was one of the new kids. He was wearing a baggy shirt that tented over his torso, and baggy pants.

"Hi," said Tommy walking toward him.

The new kid just stared. His eyes moved from Tommy's face, to his gorilla traps, over his bowlingball delts, down his bulbous arms, down his bowling ball forearms to his small hand. "Wow." He took Tommy's hand a shook it. "You're huge." He looked up. "You all are. And strong." His face was full of awe, but also something else.

They looked at him, a bit bewildered. "I'm Tommy, this is Ben and Wally."

"Big Ben," Ben corrected, bouncing his massive pecs.

Wally smacked him behind the head. "Runt."

"Grrr...." Ben responded with a grin.

"I... I'm George." George stared at Ben, watching as he bounced his pecs, taking in the view as his abs rippled with every breath.

"Nice to meet you George," said Tommy. "If you're at muscle camp, I'm sure your pretty strong too."

George looked at Tommy. "Ya, but not like you. I... well, I was ... can you help me? When I saw you today, the way you played and took down Harry and Johnny ... you and the others... please... I want to be like that. I need to be like that." George stood there for a second, his breathing rough, then a tear ran down his face, then another. "I hate being like this!" He said loudly, almost a shout. "I hate being fat. I hate being picked on."

Ben walked over to George. "Hey, it's OK George. No one is going to pick on you here," he assured him. "If they do, they'll answer to me. How old are you anyway?"

"I'm 12," he sobbed, looking at Ben. "You're huge, and..." he sobbed some more, then blurted out, "I'm fat."

"Bet you're not that bad," said Tommy. "Take off your shirt and let us see."

George just shook his head no.

"We can't help you get buff like us unless we know what you look like, "Wally added. "Tommy and me go to the gym all the time and see fat people working out, trying to get buff. It isn't nothing new. You just got to work out real hard. Come on, let's see," he said, reaching for George's shirt.

George grabbed Wally's hand to stop it. Wally smiled, and began to put some of his considerable muscle into moving his arm. Slowly, it moved toward George's shirt.

George got a determined look on his face. He pushed on Wally's arm. Wally's bicep flared huge, but George put all he had into it. "No!" he said, and forced Wally's arm back. Veins pulsed hard on Wally's arm, but George stopped it.

"Arrrrrgg...." Wally cried, pushing hard against George, trying to move his arm. It moved forward, then back as he and George fought.

"Look George!" cried Tommy. "Look at what you're doing. You're stopping Wally, and Wally's one of the strongest kids here. I bet you're almost as strong as him!"

"Maybe stronger," muttered Ben, just loud enough for Wally to hear.

Wally glared at Ben. "Runt," he muttered back.

George let go of Wally's hand. "He wasn't trying," said George.

"Yes I was!" exclaimed Wally.

"Really?"

"Really!"

George looked at his hand. He knew he was strong, but that strong? Slowly, he moved his hands to his shirt and lifted it off. George had broad shoulders. His torso was large, but not defined. His chest was thick, but sagged with excess skin, yet was substantially larger than his stomach. His belly was soft and not defined. His arms looked like thick tubes.

"I've seen worse," said Wally. "Your chest is bigger than your stomach, and you're really thick," he added walking around. "Your back is as wide as mine or Tommy's I'm sure. Make a muscle," he commanded.

Reluctantly, George raised his arm. Wally made a muscle next to it, and George's arm was clearly bigger, but not as defined. Tommy came over and felt Wally's arm. It felt like warm metal. He then felt George's. Skin squished as Tommy pressed, his fingers easily digging into soft tissue. Then he hit a rock. Underneath the fleshy part was a muscle as hard as Wally's.

"You got some pretty big muscle there, George. You just need to get toned. I think we were about to go to the gym. Would you like to go with us and train? That's OK with you two, isn't it."

Wally nodded yes. Ben grinned. "Sure. Wimpy, er I mean W-A-L-LY could use someone to lift with. I can help both of you to get huge, just like I'm helping Tommy."

Tommy was going to say something, but decided against it. It was true. When he worked out with Ben, it was hard. Ben really pushed him.

The four of them became the best of friends. Sure, Wally stilled calls Ben runt, and Ben teases Wally about being a "wimp", but it's more good natured now. Ben rarely wants to beat the crap out of Wally anymore.

Tommy thought about that first day a lot. It seemed to him like the relationships they built then lasted. He thought about Harry. They never got a long, just like Johnny and Ben never made friends. Was it jealousy? Maybe. They certainly competed against each other. In school work, it sports, and particularly in the gym. Harry and Jonny started training together. Just as Ben pushed their group, Johnny had a drive for muscle second only to Ben.

That first day, the four of them headed to the gym. Johnny and Harry were already there. Harry was under 550lbs of weight, while Ben counted to 7 before helping him put the weight back. Harry sat up, and flexed his pecs.

"Really pumped!" Johnnysaid.

"Swole to the max," said Harry, crushing his huge pecs together. He stood up, and moved to a bench set up with 400lbs.

Now it was Johnny's turn. Johnny moved the weight up, his young body controlling the massive weight. His face turned red as he lowered it up and down, a steely determination in his eyes. When Harry started to help, Ben snapped, "NOT YET. GOTTA GROW!" as he forced the weight up. His arms wobbled as he demanded control to lower the weight one more time, before struggling and forcing out an eighth rep. He sat up, then flexed his own massive pecs.

"WOW!" said Harry, moving his hand to the massive globes of raw kid power. "Hard as steel! And ripped."

"You'll get them soon enough, training with me." He shot a glance at Ben. "You and me... we're destined to be the biggest muscle kids around."

Ben said nothing. Instead, he walked over to a bench and put on 6 one hundred pound plates. He got under the 645 pounds, and cranked out 12 reps with ease while Tommy stood over him spotting. "That's a good warm up," he said, flexing his massive pecs.

George stood at the end of the bench, staring wide eyed. "You're that strong?" he asked.

"Stronger," said Ben matter-of-factly. "I did 400 when I was 3," he said, looking at Johnny. "Come on," he said, getting up and heading to the bench where the younger boy was sitting. "Let George work through," he ordered, bouncing his more muscular chest in a show of superior force.

"In a sec," Johnny said, lying down. "Put on another 10 pounds for me," he demanded right back. "You can have it when I finish this next set." Johnny squeezed his boy pecs together, thick veins pressing through the skin, ready to fill the muscle with blood and nutritients.

Ben grabbed two five point plates and added them to the weights. He pushed Harry aside. "I'll spot Little John," he said.

Johnny's eyes shot daggers at being called "Little." He grabbed the bar, and, in his rage, pumped hard for a set of 6 before struggling with the final two. Johnny wouldn't have accepted help, but Ben didn't offer. Instead, he stood over the smaller boy and flexed his pecs. Johnny's upward view was of the thick globes of kid muscle bouncing and flexing, while "Big Ben" as he was calling himself now, bragged about trying 700lbs on his next set.

Johnny slammed the weights down, jumped up and turned to face Ben. "You might be bigger now, but you wait. Big John is gonna crush you soon enough."

"Whatever," said Ben, grabbing Johnny's arm, crushing the thick muscle in his grip and pushed him aside. "More like Little John," he said. "Go ahead George."

George wiped the sweat from the bench. He grabbed the bar, and lifted it up. He lowered it slowly, then with a smile on his face, raised it with ease. He quickly did eight, then ten reps.

"Keep going!" ordered Ben, as George did eleven then twelve. He was slowing down, but he kept going. At fifteen, Ben grabbed the bar and helped him force out three more reps.

"EIGHTEEN!" George shouted.

"That's more than twice what Little John can do!"

"Ya, compare to a kid more than half his age," mocked Harry.

"Bet he can beat you," said Tommy and Wally together. They were standing next to Harry's bench. "Come on George. Show 'em how strong you really are."

"I don't..."

"Do it." said Ben.

Hesistently, George stood up. Harry stood in front of him, staring him down, challenging him to pass. George stopped, and Harry put his arms in front of him, cracking his knuckles and flexing his massive pecs.

"Like the muscle I got?" Harry taunted. "Not fat like your chest." Harry poked his finger into the layer of flab that covered George's pecs. He tried not to show the surprise when he hit the dense muscle underneath. He stepped aside, and laughed a mocking laugh.

George walked forward with the confidence of a boy determined to prove a bully wrong. He layed on the bench, and closed his eyes. Grabbing the bar, he forced it up, then slowly lowered it. It was heavy, and he thought it might crush him, but he forced it up.

"ONE!" Tommy shouted.

George lowered the bar again, then again. He could do it.

"Four! Five" Tommy and Wally counted.

George became a machine. He did eight before he knew it, then did a ninth before putting the bar down. He sat up, sweat covering his body. In the mirror, he saw that his chest was red and looked slightly bigger. He felt like a muscle kid. He turned to Harry, and said, "Add some real weight next time," then stood up.

Tommy smiled.

"Move," cried Harry as he pushed past George. "Add 20 pounds. Ain't no fat slob stronger than me!"

Johnny began to move to spot Harry, but Ben blocked his path. Tommy stood over the bench, imitating Ben's intimidating stance. He flexed his massive pecs that dominated Harry's. The sight of the superior kid pecs hanging like a cliff abouve his face only drove Harry's desire to grow huge and prove his own kid power. He lifted the weight. It wobbled unsteadily, but Harry's arms rippled with determined energy and the bar steadied. He lowered it slowly, then forced it up. It was heavy, and Harry's face was red with the effort. He stared at Tommy's ripped stomach and globe-like pecs. Harry knew he had to be bigger. He did a second rep, then a third. His chest burned like fire, but he slowly lowered the bar for a forth, then a fifth. He thought of George doing more reps than him, and he did six, then seven. The eighth nearly crushed him, the weight rocking in his arms, but he managed to get it to the bench.

"YA!" he screamed, jumping up and rubbing his swollen chest. "Check out this kid muscle fatso," Harry screamed, pushing his blood-filled muscles into George's. "This is power!"

"Move!" order George, his body shaking with anger. He got on the bench, his back slipping on the Harry's sweat. He grabbed the bar and jerked it into the air, then lowered it to his own chest. Quickly he raised it, then lowered it again and again and again. His pecs began to burn, but it felt good. He pushed the weights harder and harder, forcing out rep after rep. When he couldn't do anymore, he dropped the weight back on the bench, then sat up.

"That was TWELVE George!" said Tommy, slapping George on the back.

He turned to Harry, whose eyes were wide with awe. He stood, then pressed into the boy. "Don't call me fatso!" George commanded. For a second, he glared into Harry's eyes until he saw a twinkle of fear appear, then he turned and walked away.

The alarm beeped 5AM.

"AHHHH!!!!!" groaned the body next to Tommy. A hand flailed around, searching either for the snooze button or a way to destroy the source of the sound. The hand moved toward Tommy's face, and he grabbed it.

"Wha..." said Wally, "... shuthat...thing off!" he moaned and rolled over.

Tommy hit the snooze button, then rolled to cuddle next to Wally. "Wake up sleepy-head..." he whispered in his ear.

"F...n mornin people... sleep..." he muttered, as he went back to sleep.

'Same thing every morning,' Tommy thought, and gave Wally a peck on the cheek. Tommy pressed his thick pecs into Wally's enormous back. Over the years, Wally's wings had grown into his best body part -- even dwarfing Tommy's.

The rivalry between Johnny and Harry's group and Tommy and Ben's intensified in those early days. Both sides staked out their own territory in the gym, and Johnny pushed his group just as Ben pushed his. Ben never admitted it, but everyone knew -- if there was ever going to be someone bigger and stronger than Ben, it would be Johnny.

The straw that broke the camels back was when the rivalry began to turn violent. Looking back, it was stupid. Ben had thrown a french fry at Johnny, but it hit Harry in the head and stuck in his hair. Everyone laughed, but Harry fumed. He pounded his hands into the table, making the trays and food on the table jump and fall over. Harry jumped up and lunged at our group, catching Wally. He drove a powerful fist into Wally's stomach, making him bend over in pain.

George and Tommy were up in a second, but before anyone else could move, Wally recovered. Throwing his whole body into Harry, he tackled him. Two massively muscled boys flew backward into a table of food. The table cracked and wrenched, and food went flying everywhere.

The boys crashed to the ground, rolling over trying to gain a dominant position over the other. Arms flexed with power as they each drove fists into the others iron-hard body, trying to weaken a powerful opponent. Punches bounced off of flexed abs and armored pecs as the fight see-sawed between the two hulking boys.

Wally suddenly got an advantage when Harry rolled into a plate of mashed potatos and was momentarily distracted. Wally grabbed his arms and pinned them to the ground while he wrapped his powerful thighs around Harry's chest. He squeezed, flexing his powerful muscles.

"NO!" Harry cried. His own body turning rigid. Thick muscle exploded in size and ripped into diamond-hard definition as he fought against Wally's muscle-kid power.

Wally's body responded, his own effort displayed through titanium muscles corded and rippled as he struggled to hold Harry's arms down.

Adrenaline pumped through Harry's veins as his determination to free himself fueled his strength. He gritted his teeth as his arms pumped larger and larger as he called on his strength. Slowly he felt his arms raise, only to be forced down again by Wally's equal determination.

Harry's face showed nothing but determination. Through gritted teeth he snarled, "You've been working out..." His arms began to raise. "but so have I..." Harry's delts exploded into three moutainous heads with deep canyons separating them. "Is that all you got?" he growled as Wally's arms began to buckle under Harry's superior strength.

Wally jumped back, letting go of his failing hold and hoping to regroup before Harry could muster his next attack.

Harry's abs crunched into thick bricks as he sat up, rolling to his knees then using his leg-thick arms to lift himself up. "Too tough for you, Wimpy? Gonna get your friends to help?" he asked, crunching his body into an incredible most-muscular crab pose.

"That's enough!" said a voice from behind. Tommy's father stepped between the two child gladiators.

"I'm just finishing what he started," objected Harry, stepping forward.

"STOP IT!" Tommy's father yelled, not sure if he could really enforce his demand if the muscle boy didn't want to obey. Just then, Tommy and Ben both stepped forward. Harry backed down. "We'll find another way to settle this. You boys want to know who's the biggest and strongest, right?"

All the boys shook their heads.

"I know who's gonna be," muttered Harry, looking over to Johnny.

"Next month, we're going to have a contest. It will be a bodybuilding contest, and you boys will compete with others your own age. Then the winners will compete against each other for the, uhm," he thought for a second, then said, "the boy who will be Kid Muscle Camp."

"That's the biggest," said Harry, "but what about the strongest."

"Well, three months after that, we'll have a powerlifting contest. We'll alternate and have two contests a year."

Tommy smiled at the memory. He could see the wall of trophies, his on the right, Wally's on the left. As usual, Wally's single third-place trophy was front and center. Ben made sure of that -- a reminder of the first contest where Harry bested Wimpy Wally. It was the only time that happened. With Ben and Tommy's help, Wally out-muscled Harry within 6 months. There was no turning back after that.

Tommy's wall was full of first place trophies. He was the undisputed champion of his year, but Ben was the undisputed champion of the school. Tommy had a row of second place trophies for his place behind Ben. Ben's superior size and freaky strength just couldn't be matched. Recently Tommy had fallen to third overall as Johnny entered puberty. He's still no match for 'Big Ben', but he still tries. All 625 pounds of his solid muscle tries.

The darkness of the room was shattered as the door flung open. Light from the hallway fought to shine around the massive body that filled the door. The hulking figure moved to the bed.

Tommy knew what to expect and quickly rolled off the bed.

Like the onslaught of an earthquake, the bed below Wally rumbled as the matress was yanked outwards. The sleeping teen flew backward, slamming into the wall then falling to the floor.

"Rise and shine men!" Ben beamed. "Time to hit the gym and GROW!"

Through bleary eyes, Wally looked at the Ben's nearly 700 pounds of muscle. The teen muscle god wore only a towel, and his hair was wet. From this angle, Wally could barely see Ben's face around his globe-like pecs that extended inches over abs that formed a rigid eight-pack even when not flexed. "I really hate you," Wally said groggily, extending his arm for Ben to help him.

Ben grabbed Wally's hand and pulled so hard and fast that Wally's near 600 pounds went flying up, his feet leaving the ground briefly before he landed next to the supremely muscled teen two years his junior.

"He wouldn't do that if you'd get up when the alarm went off," Tommy said, standing and walking toward his two friends.

"But then I'd lose my prime cuddle time with you," Wally smirked.

Tommy came over and wrapped his arms around Wally's neck, then whispered, "Then let's loose the kid and get back to bed." Tommy's lips moved gently forward and kissed Wally.

A towel snapped and hit Tommy in the butt. It stung, but Tommy knew it could've hurt a lot worse. Tommy let go of Wally and scowled at Ben.

"Like what you see?" said Wally, gesturing toward Ben's erection that stood out nearly a foot in front of him.

"Nah," said Ben. "Just need to J/O big ben after I work out. The juices are flowing," and grabbing his lemon-sized balls added, "and these big boys produce a lot of juice. That's how I got these," he said, raising his arms and flexing double-bis that both Wally and Tommy knew were over 30 inches around.

"Whatever," said Wally, walking to grab his gym shorts. Tommy did the same.

"Hey, I know you little guys would love to have guns like these," Ben said, gently kissing his bicep in an imitation of Tommy's kiss to Wally. "You're just jealous that in two years when it's my turn to graduate I'll be way bigger than I am now. Big Ben, the biggest kid ever to graduate from Muscle Camp."

"Unless Johnny catches up?" Tommy chided, as he dropped his brief and threw them in the dirty clothes.

Wally did the same, but turned before Ben could take Tommy's bait. "And I may not have arms like you, but you don't have a whopper like this either." He turned, hefting his orange-sized nuts and elephantine cock that all the boys knew topped 16 inches when hard. "Maybe if you're a good twerp we'll let you J/O with us after we work out."

"Maybe," Ben smiled and turned to walk out, then stopped. "I was thinking about George last night," he said. "He was the first of our group to graduate."

"Yep," said Tommy. "Number one muscle kid in his class. And number three most-muscular over all, after you and me."

"Ya, just like you. Number one and number three behind Ben and Johnny," said Wally, shooting Tommy a devilish look.

"When he left, I thought it was cool," said Ben. "We all got bigger rooms and stuff, but I missed him. Now that he's in the Army, we hardly ever see him."

Wally and Tommy shook their heads.

"And now you two are leaving. This is our last full day together, with you two going off to college and stuff."

"It's only on the other side of town," Tommy said.

"Ya, but it won't be the same. I guess I want you both to know that I'll miss you. You've been my big brothers for so many years. We've been through a lot and, well, I guess I want to say thanks." Ben turned away so Tommy and Wally couldn't see the tears swelling up in his eyes.

"Hey, don't go getting all mushy and stuff..." Wally started to say, trying to turn the scene into a joke, but Tommy stopped him. "Er, I mean, shit, you've been like a little brother to me too."

"And me," said Tommy, walking over to Ben and giving him a hug. "Don't worry, we'll always stay tight."

Ben returned the hug so hard that his powerful body nearly crushed Tommy. After a minute, they broke their embrace.

"Anyway," said Ben, regaining his composure, "I wanted you to know." He turned toward the door, "Now get your pansy asses in gear and let's go lift and build some more muscle."

The End •