Liz was exhausted and completely out of breath. It had been over a month since she started training for the campus 10K run, but she felt like she hadn't made any progress at all. She still fell far behind everyone else from the beginning of the run, she still felt winded after a few blocks, and worst of all her body still jiggled and shook with every step she took. She wasn't THAT overweight, but she was soft all over, and running only made it look and feel worse.
She knew her face was bright red from the exertion, and the embarrassment she felt from her loud breathing and coughing was only making it worse. The other girls had already recovered. They were drinking water and laughing and talking to each other, while she was so winded she could hardly breathe, much less talk. Not that they would talk to her anyway. They were all students, TAs or professors, or wives of students, TAs or professors. They all probably considered themselves above her, a mere book stacker in the library. Occasionally she would see them look at her and smile. Liz couldn’t tell if they were mocking her or simply lacked interest. Either way, it made her feel miserable and excluded.
And then there were the guys. All but one treated her as though she was completely invisible, and the attention of the exception, Tom, was worse than being ignored. Clearly an outsider himself, Tom kept trying to work his way in to the group by making insulting remarks at her, saying things like “if running's too hard, just roll to the finish line” or “she's so fat lets save time and run around her for exercise.” No one gave him anything more than a polite laugh, but they didn't defend her either.
It wasn't that she was looking for a boyfriend. She had Barry, and she had been happy with him the last few months when their relationship had suddenly moved to the next level. Like her, he was overweight and not tall, although considerably taller than her. But standing on her own on campus, chest still heaving, ignored by the other runners and mocked by Tom, the thought of Barry back in the rooms they were sharing just off campus, comfortably watching TV, snacking, and not doing any exercise or cleaning or getting dinner ready annoyed her. It was his fault she had to put up with this. Sure, it was good for her to get into better shape, but that wasn't why she was here. It was all because of a little talk they'd had a few months ago.
Almost since they'd met, even before they became a couple, they had played little fantasy games about her physically dominating him. It started when they saw Superman fly over their heads. Liz had commented about how awesome it would be so powerful. To her surprise Barry said the same thing, except he said that it would be awesome if SHE were so powerful. It sounded odd to her. Why would he want HER to be the strong one? She was almost always the smallest adult in the room, being the weaker and smaller one was normal for her. There was nothing sexy or exciting about other people being stronger than she was, or looking up to them. For a few weeks she thought over and over why Barry found the idea attractive, but she couldn't come up with an answer. But it was obvious that he liked talking about it, and eventually she decided that being able to talk about his fantasy was one of the reasons he went out with him. His behavior in bed confirmed it, so she simply accepted that was the way he was, even if she didn't fully understand it. It certainly didn't do any harm!
But although both of them found the idea exciting in theory, the impracticality of the unathletic, 5'2" Liz physically dominating her stocky 5'9" boyfriend was clear from the very beginning. Perhaps trying to act out the fantasy was why she had started gaining weight. Her increasing bulk gave some more "substance" to the game of wrestling and pinning him, even though they both knew he could still push her off and pin her whenever he wanted. Still, one day Barry announced that play wrestling wasn't enough. He wanted her to get into shape and develop some real muscle. She tried to argue that exercise and building muscle didn't come naturally to her, but the more she argued, the more worried she became that she would burst the little fantasy bubble he was enjoying and lose him, so she backed down and agreed to use the university gym and join the running club. But she feared she was only postponing the problem. Her genes were against her. As much as she worked out, she remained overweight with muscles like jello. Now she was worried Barry would stop finding her attractive and would leave her. It was so unfair! Didn't he realize they were perfect for each other? Why couldn't he leave well enough alone and keep it all as a fantasy!
The fact was, annoyance was a mild way of describing her current feelings about Barry’s plan.
She waved an unacknowledged goodbye to the group and turned around to walk home, but before she took two steps, something banged hard against her foot. Had Tom just thrown something at her!? She looked down at her shoe and saw a dingy ring. No one seemed to be looking for it, so she bent over tiredly, picked it up and slipped it on her pinkie to examine it. Suddenly her exhaustion vanished. What the hell?
Nothing hellish at all, a voice said in her head. Whatever you can conceive you can have, so long as you wear the ring.
Her mouth dropped open in astonishment, but before she had time for another thought a very large and muscular boy appeared next to her, followed by one of the most beautiful girls she had ever seen and a thin girl with an odd expression close behind.
"Hey, that's my ring! Give it back!" the boy said and put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from moving.
"Huh? But ..."
"But, no! It's mine, John! Make her give it to me!" the beautiful girl said.
"I had it last! I need it so Mark will like me!" the odd girl insisted.
Liz was confused, but two thoughts came to her. If all three of them wanted it, it must be worth having. And if all of them were fighting for it, it probably didn't belong to any of them. She probably had as much right to it as any of them did.
John pushed the second girl away with just two fingers and she went sprawling onto the grass. He turned to Becca. "Now don't you worry your pretty head, Becca. When I get it I'll be SURE to use it to give you everything you need, you know what I mean? I'll make you even MORE of a knockout. I’ll just get it from the fat girl and then the fun will begin!" John grabbed Liz's hand and started pulling at the ring, but, thanks to Alex's command his fingers kept slipping. He grimaced. "DAMN. I must be too sweaty!" He grabbed her wrist hard. "Take it off, fatty, and give it to me!"
Liz saw stars from his grip and the pain shot up her arm into her shoulder. He was so strong! She would never be able to keep the ring from him. She looked at the muscles bursting out all over his body. Those were the kinds of muscles she wanted to have, the kind Barry fantasized about, the kind of muscles she could never.... But the thought came into her head. She had been thinking the ring would be good for giving her things, but what if it could change HER. That John was talking about making that girl even more beautiful, and maybe he had gotten his strength and muscles from the ring? And if he had, couldn't she?
Can you give me his muscles, Liz thought, and give him mine?
Of course, the ring replied.
Nothing happened. He was squeezing harder. Her wrist was about to snap in two.
Would you? Liz thought. Like now? Suddenly she felt herself shifting, as if her bones and muscles were moving under her skin. The grip on her wrist weakened.
She watched in awe as the fat in her arms quickly turned into hard bulging muscle, larger and thicker than the fat that it replaced, while John's arms became thinner and thinner, his enhanced athletic muscle turning into droopy feminine fat. She flexed her right bicep and it rose up against the baggy sleeve of her shirt and started stretching and then tearing it.
“Wild!” she said aloud as she flexed her other arm. “I must be so strong!” she said to herself as she flexed her thighs and calves. She pumped her fist into the air. “Whoo hoo!” she said excitedly. She looked at John, whose body now was swimming in his clothes.
"Hey! You can't do that to me!” he cried out. “I need those muscles for football!"
Liz grinned. "Oh yeah? Well, I need them for something more important. I need them for love!" She put her hand on his chest and pushed and he tumbled backwards. "Cool! This is like being super! Wait 'til I show Barry! Oh yeah! I'm REALLY going to show him something!"
The beautiful girl stood in her way and whined. "But it's MY ring. I want it back!"
Liz looked up at her. "Hey, would you like to be short, fat and ugly?"
The girl's eyes widened. She looked at Liz and shook her head slowly, back and forth.
"Then shut up and get out of my way!"
The girl swallowed and Liz marched past her, striding confidently home, thinking carefully how she was soon going to enjoy for real her greatest fantasy with her boyfriend.
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