“Hope I’m not interrupting anything”, Peter said sarcastically as he walked to his desk that faced Bryan’s.

“Peter, there you are. I was wondering when you would get here. I saw you at the gym this morning. I don’t know why you are always late getting to your desk when it’s just a short elevator ride?” Bryan asked with a warm smile on his face. He seemed genuinely happy to see his friend.

“Yeah Peter, what takes you so long to get to your desk?” Marc asked coyly as he continued to massage Bryan’s neck.

Peter gave Marc a dirty look before lowering his gaze to Bryan, “There’s usually a line for the showers and I have to wait my turn”.

“Really, I don’t think I’ve ever had to wait to take a shower” Bryan commented as he tried to remember.

“I guess it’s all in the timing. And like everything else about you Bryan, your timing is perfect”, Marc said as he stood erect and ran his hand through Bryan’s hair again, this time to straighten it. Bryan pushed Marc’s hand away with a soft “thanks” before looking at Peter slightly embarrassed. “My pleasure; got to keep you looking pretty after all. We’ll finish going over the roster Friday night once we have the team finalized.”

“Team?” Peter inquired.

“The company’s softball team. Simmons asked Marc and me to be the team captains. We already have most of the guys we need, but we have to have women on the team too. So we’re trying to figure out who would be best and what positions they’ll play. We’re having a little try-out, practice game after work on Friday”, Bryan answered.

“That sounds like fun. What position do you I think I should play?” Peter asked stretching to see the roster.

“Oh, ah, Peter, I didn’t put you on the team. I didn’t think you would want to play since you aren’t good at sports.” Seeing the hurt in Peter’s eyes Bryan quickly added, “I mean, you don’t like to play sports. Especially softball. Now if this was for a bowling team, you would be at the top of the list. I know how good you are at bowling.”

“Bowling, it figures.” Marc said while laughing. “Bryan maybe there’s still room on the team for Peter. He can fill one of the girls’ spots.” Bryan was about to defend Peter but stopped after remembering he told him he didn’t need protecting. Peter said nothing. “I’m out of here. I’ll see you Copelli at Slappy’s tonight.” Marc left still laughing at his comments about Peter.

“That guy can be such an asshole sometimes” Bryan said trying to make his friend feel better.

“Sometimes? Try all the time. I don’t know how you can stand to be around that jerk as much as you are”, Peter vented.

“He’s not all bad. You just have to get to know him better. He’s actually a lot like you, he’s really into appearances.” Bryan said without thinking.

“He’s nothing like me. I don’t belittle or torment those who don’t meet some arbitrary standard of physical perfection”, Peter’s voice was getting louder and angrier.

“What I meant was he is very knowledgeable about things like fashion, grooming, and health issues. And he enjoys giving advice, very valuable advice. Like last week when he took me shopping to get new clothes. He picked out my suits, shirts, and ties; and then even had his tailor alter them for me. He’s always telling me to wear my hair a certain way, use a particular styling gel or moisturizer on my face. And he does the same on my diet and exercise. He’s really helped me make a lot of gains on my lifts. Just like you when we worked out together. You know how easily my upper body grows, I just walk into a gym and I gain an inch on my arms and chest without trying. Well, his lower body is the same. His glutes, quads, and calves grow like crazy” Bryan said excitedly.

As Bryan spoke, the resentment grew within Peter. He was being told he had been replaced by Marc, a man he hated. He had been struggling for almost 6 months fighting for the few pounds of muscle he had gained trying to impress Bryan. And now he had to listen to how easy it was for Bryan and his new best friend, Marc, to grow. The envy and jealousy was taking over his personality, Peter knew it but couldn’t stop himself. “Wow, what a horrible burden you two share. I can see why you have such a bond.”

Bryan stopped for a moment and looked at Peter. He was tired of Peter’s nasty comments. It seemed every time they had a conversation lately, Peter would be spitting poison at him. He decided to take the high road again and ignore the comment. “Anyway. Since Marc has stronger legs than I do, it motivates me to work harder on my squats. And in turn I motivate him to lift heavier on the bench and curls. It keeps our bodies more symmetrical. That’s something you talked about a lot when we first started working out. Like you told me, working out with Marc would be more challenging. We’re constantly vying to be the stronger man. I had him beat in the bench press weeks ago, but he still has me on the squats. I’m catching up to him though. My legs are responding to the weights faster than his chest and arms. It must be my height advantage. He even wanted us to enter a bodybuilding contest to let impartial judges decide which one of us had the better build.”

“Bodybuilding contest? Are you going to do it?” Peter’s lustful wish to see Bryan on stage in a pair of posers temporarily bested his anger.

“No way. That’s too much work for me, I don’t take this stuff as seriously as the two of you. I don’t want to worry about my diet and have to shave my body. I’m satisfied with the way I look now. I’m already in the best shape of my life. It’s more than I ever hoped to achieve.” Bryan answered.

“I’m very happy for you”, Peter said as he turned to read his email. “I wouldn’t want you to do anything that didn’t come easy to you”.

Again Bryan bit his tongue. “Why don’t you join us at Slappy’s tonight? Spend some time with Marc outside the office.”

“I don’t think so. And why are you going to that loud sports bar? You’ve always hated that place.” Peter said without looking away from his monitor.

“Because Marc likes it. He sorta decides where we hang out” Bryan said shrugging his massive delts.

“Oh, I see. Marc’s the leader of the pack because he’s the strongest. Well you already bench more than him, so once you out squat him, will you be the leader, the alpha male?” Peter asked mockingly.

“No, it’s not like that. I just lift for fun, its a little healthy competition between men. Again you sound like Marc. He wants to enter the contest so he can officially claim to have the best body in the state. I don’t need recognition like that. I don’t need a trophy or be the leader to feel good about myself.” Bryan said loudly.

“You are right about one thing. I am like Marc in that regard. If I had the opportunity to be the leader or win a damn bodybuilding trophy, I certainly would try even if I had to make the littlest of an effort to do it.” Peter replied matching Bryan’s volume.

Bryan stood up, his large muscles tensing under his new, tight, custom fitted shirt. “Well, I’ll guess we’ll never know because those are burdens you will never have to bare.” Bryan said with a little poison of his own. Once the words escaped his mouth, he regretted it. He just couldn’t take anymore cutting comments from Peter. The look on Peter’s face broke his heart. Not knowing what to do, Bryan quietly walked away. Peter watched Bryan’s tall frame disappear through the maze of cubicles. A chill went through him, he grabbed the sweater that he always kept hanging from his chair and put in on. He knew he deserved what he got from Bryan, but it still hurt. Bryan always let Peter get away with murder without saying a word. He had the patience of a saint. Bryan was always the better man. But Peter had pushed him too far this time. He could only hope Bryan would forgive him once again.

----------------

Bryan and Peter didn’t talk for the rest of the day. Bryan only came to the cubicle briefly a couple of times to get some papers from his desk. He worked out of Marc’s office and spent the night at Veronica’s hotel suite. The next morning Peter saw Bryan at the gym. He was at the squat rack with the regular jock crowd. The “men” were a lot noisier than usual, as if celebrating. Peter didn’t know what was happening and really didn’t care anymore.

Peter stood across from the shower stalls talking to Raymond, his new training partner. The two men wore only towels wrapped around their waist. Raymond had another towel wrapped around his neck which covered most of his bony upper torso. Their conversation was interrupted when the jocks entered still cheering; it appeared as if Bryan was the center of all the attention. “Finally, now let’s hope they take their showers quickly so we can get in there” Raymond commented.

After a few moments Bryan appeared also with a towel wrapped around his waist. However, the gym’s standard towel appeared smaller on him. His longer legs meant the towel came well above his knees. And his thick thighs and round ass forced the two ends of the towel open at the bottom, like a slit on a women’s tight skirt. He noticed Peter and walked toward him. Peter turned away when Bryan looked at him and started talking to Raymond again. “Hi, guys” Bryan said softly as he approached Peter.

Peter just nodded. “Hello” Raymond said sensing tension between the two other men. “It sounds like you guys were having a party this morning”.

“Yeah I guess we do get a little loud sometimes” Bryan said with a slight laugh. Bryan’s muscles were still swollen with blood from the workout. His pumped muscles kept flexing and bulging like uncontrollable twitches. As he continued to talk with Raymond, Peter just stared at Bryan’s amazing physique. He hadn’t seen him undressed in several weeks. The progress he continued to make was astonishing. His flawless skin was stretched tightly over each muscle. Rivers of thick veins covered every inch of exposed skin. The overhead lights caused a deep shadow under his thick pec shelve almost hiding the first set of chiseled abdominals. Bryan kept making a fist and forcibly straightening his arms causing his horseshoe shaped triceps to snap into form. He bent his right arm flexing his softball sized bicep and pretended he had to scratch his chest as to not appear like he was flexing. He then did the same with his left arm then slowly lowered his hand from his pecs to his wash board abs, his fingers following the curve of each hard muscle. Marc was right, Bryan should enter a bodybuilding contest. Winning the contest would be as easy as everything else was for him. Peter thought if he could look this good without taking working out seriously, imagine what he could achieve if he really tried. Bryan noticed that Raymond and Peter kept looking at his body. “I’m sorry guys but my muscles are going crazy today. I guess I really worked them hard today. I just have to stretch my legs out for a second”. Bryan took a step back and bent at the waist, touching the floor. He wrapped his arms around his knees and pulled his body tighter, the muscles of his back flexing with power. Peter and Raymond just looked at each other. After holding that position for a moment, he stood erect and swung his arms back and forth making his pecs bounce. “That feels better”, Bryan said as he tilted one leg forward to flex it then the other. The last leg exposed completely by the towel opening. “I did a lot squats today and my legs are tightening up on me now.” Peter wanted desperately to reach out and touch the powerful muscles before him. He was so enthralled by Bryan’s impromptu poising session he didn’t notice Marc approaching. Like always when he was in the locker room, Marc was completely nude. He was the dominate male and wanted everyone to see why.

“Now that you set the new squat record for the gym, you have to show off your quads to all the ladies”, Marc said as he ran his hand over Bryan’s thigh. Marc could see the jealousy in Peter’s eyes. “I’ll show you that I’m a good sport. Let me take you out for a real breakfast. We can be a few hours late for work, Simmons won’t mind”.

“Sure, sounds good. I’m never one to pass up a free meal” Bryan answered.

“It’s a date” Marc said then slapped Bryan’s hard ass before walking away.

Bryan could see a disgusted look on Peter’s face. “It was very nice of him, since it was his record I broke. I couldn’t say no”.

“No, of course not. Congratulations on our great triumph”, Peter replied coldly.

“Well I better take my shower” Bryan started to walk toward the three empty stalls. “There’s enough for all of us. Aren’t you coming?”

“No, not just yet. But you go ahead, I wouldn’t want you to be late for your date”, Peter’s reply was layered with sarcasm.

“We can’t. We’re not allowed” Raymond blurted out again from discomfort.

“What?” Bryan said turning to face the two smaller men again.

“Nothing” Peter said angrily. “Shut up, Raymond”.

“No Raymond. Tell me what you meant by you’re not allowed” Bryan asked in earnest, putting his hands on his hips.

“We can’t take showers until you and all of Marc’s other friends are done. It’s a rule” Raymond said not realizing what he was doing.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard”, Bryan said with a laugh. He looked at Peter who was staring at the floor and back to Raymond who looked stone faced, and then back to Peter. “Pete is this true?”

Peter didn’t say a word or look up from the floor. “A few weeks ago Peter, tried to take a shower before Marc. Marc got so angry he pulled Peter out of the shower, threw him to the ground and almost broke his hand.”

“I said shut up, Raymond” Peter yelled looking up in Raymond’s direction.

“You told me your hand got caught in the weight stack on one of the machines” Bryan said staring at Peter. “You lied to me. Were you ever going to tell me the truth?”

Peter raised his head and stared directly into Bryan’s hazel eyes. “What difference does it make? Things like that happen to guys like us all the time. If you want the truth go talk with your leader; I’m sure your new best friend would never lie to you”.

Bryan was stunned by what he heard. He could see only anger in Peter’s face, no remorse. He said nothing and went to look for Marc. Bryan found him in the far corner of the locker room where the sinks were located. There was a long counter with three sinks; a large mirror above spanned the entire length of the counter. Marc was just removing the last of the shaving foam from his face when Bryan stood at the sink next to his. “I understand you get first dibs on the shower each morning” Bryan said staring at Marc’s reflection in the mirror.

“Not just me. You too and all my friends” Marc said examining his face closely in the mirror.

“What is this high school and you’re the biggest bully?” Bryan asked the outrage in his voice very apparent.

“Listen, without order there would be chaos. It’s the natural order of things that stronger men like us take precedence over lesser men.” Marc answered staring at Bryan’s reflection. He put his hand on Bryan’s massive left bicep and squeezed. “Call it a perk that comes with being a better man.”

“So the better man gets to make the rules and everybody else has to follow them”, Bryan said as he flexed his arm under Marc’s grip.

“Yes, now you understand” Marc answered with a smile and slapped Bryan on the back before continuing his facial examination.

Bryan thought for a moment and looked at himself in the mirror than at Marc’s reflection carefully. “Oh I understand perfectly”. He removed the towel from around his waist and stood to his full height. “Let’s see now, today I’ve proven I’m stronger than you. I’m also taller, more muscular, younger, better looking and most importantly better endowed. I guess that makes me the better man. Don’t you agree?” Marc said nothing for a moment and smiled at Bryan. Bryan ignored him and stood motionless staring into the mirror. Marc straightened up and started to compare the two images in the mirror. Bryan did have him beat in every masculine category. “I asked you if you agree” Bryan demanded an answer.

“Yes” Marc replied meekly and swallowed hard. Bryan then moved toward Marc forcing Marc’s body up against the wall. Bryan’s larger chest was pressing up against Marc’s. Their faces only inches apart. Bryan reached down and grabbed Marc’s balls in his hand. He could feel Marc’s cock starting to inflate between their hard bodies.

“Good, now listen to me. If you ever hurt Peter again, I’ll crush something more important to you than your hand. Do you understand me?” Bryan growled as he applied pressure to Marc’s jewels.

Marc was breathing heavy through clenched teeth. He nodded yes. Bryan stepped back and looked down at Marc’s fully engorged cock. He looked at Marc’s frightened face and then back at his cock. Bryan enjoyed dominating the man who once intimidated him. Bryan wrapped his large fingers around Marc’s rod and twisted his hand slightly. “It would be a shame to damage something that is the envy of so many other men”. Marc suddenly exploded, his thick crème splattering onto Bryan’s gut. Bryan calmly reached for his towel and wiped off his stomach. “It’s a good thing I haven’t taken a shower yet. You see not being the first can be beneficial”. Marc shook his head, trying to catch his breath. Bryan took the towel and hung it over Marc’s still hard cock as if it was a towel rack. “And we’re going to McGrudy’s tonight, not Slappy’s. I’ve never liked that place”. Bryan walked back to where Peter and Raymond still stood. Raymond gasped at the sight of Bryan’s nude form. “You don’t have to wait for any one any longer. Everyone can take a shower whenever they want.” Then Bryan went into one of the empty shower stalls.

“Wow, your room mate is quite a man” Raymond remarked.

“Yeah, he’s a natural born leader”, Peter said proudly. •