"Look, bro, I don’t know what kind of Cane you’re on right now, but Dragon Emperor Fulminant clearly has nothing on Godspark Tempest," said Damon, leaning forward to shove a meaty finger in Jonah’s face. "It’s right there in the name. There’s just no comparison to make there."

Ensign Aaron Whelk, warp engineer and slipspace astrogation specialist for the CSS Virile, opened his mouth to chime in. However, he had to make a dive for his glass of water when it was nearly knocked over by fellow ensign Jonah Ratling slamming his fist on the table. He only barely managed to save it from a spill.

"You’re right! There’s no comparison to make. But it’s not gonna break your way, bro," said Jonah. "Godspark Tempest was around for, like, two seconds! Dragon Emperor Fulminant is the culmination of everything that Joey Stutton learned through his life! Sure, he might not have the same amount of raw power as Godspark Tempest, but he’s got decades of experience over fucking Corey Cooper."

Aaron wanted so badly to jump in on the conversation, but he was afraid he’d just end up sounding stupid. He was by no means an expert, but he had read all of the source material. He had a pretty good grasp on the abilities and limits of both Godspark Tempest and Dragon Emperor Fulminant. But there was a part of him that believed, irrationally that he might be wrong, and that the guys would just end up laughing at him.

This always happened whenever Chance brought the guys over to Aaron’s table. He knew they meant well and were just trying to get him to open up and feel comfortable onboard, but they were so loud and so opinionated he just could never find a good point to interject with his thoughts.

"You okay, Aaron?" said Chance. Aaron briefly glanced at his fellow ensign and saw the look of concern in Chance’s eyes. He ducked his head, hoping that Chance wouldn’t catch sight of the pink tinge that crept into his cheeks.

"Y-Yeah, I’m okay," said Aaron. "I’m just…" He trailed off. He couldn’t very well tell Chance that he was feeling uncomfortable around his friends. "I’m just not feeling dinner tonight, so I-I’m gonna go… S-Sorry," he stammered.

Before Chance could say or do anything, Aaron ducked out. His heart hammered in his chest as he walked out of the mess hall, trying his best not to look back over his shoulder at Chance. Truth be told, he had barely had anything to eat, but he wasn’t willing to head back.

Keeping his head down, Aaron quickly made his way through the corridors of the ship until he came to the port-side gallery. It was the one with a fully open viewing area. Whenever he was stressed, Aaron liked to stand there, as close to floating outside in empty space as he could possibly get.

Aaron walked out across the nano-alloy reinforced polyglass floor until he reached the far edge of the platform. Then, he gently pushed off and drifted through the zero-gravity into the middle of the half-sphere bubble of reinforced polyglass sticking out the side of the ship.

Under his feet, Aaron could see the light reflecting off the clouds of Saturn’s upper atmosphere, and the ice crystals of Saturn’s rings. It was a beautiful sight. Awe-inspiring was the only real way to describe it. Aaron would miss the ringed planet once the Virile made its way further out of the solar system.

"You’re very comfortable on ships, aren’t you?" said a voice from behind Aaron. He flinched at the sound and meneuvered his body around to look at the person who was talking to him. "Hardly anyone comes here. They’re all afraid they’ll keep floating away and get left behind," said Chance, who was standing on the edge of the platform.

"Hey," said Aaron, shyly. This time, there was no way to hide his blush without seeming rude. Not that Chance seemed to notice, anyway. "I… I get that. It can be scary… But to be honest, I find it comforting." As much as he tried not to, Aaron couldn’t help but stare at Chance.

There were no women onboard the Virile. And most of the men were incredibly attractive, drop-dead gorgeous men. From what he understood, the crew was the reason for the strange name. Apparently, one of the admirals had taken one look at the crew and had overturned the ship’s original designation right then and there.

Chance Jamison, an ensign working the same department as Aaron, and quite possibly Aaron’s only real friend onboard, was no exception from the rule. Even now, months after they set out on their voyage, Aaron still couldn’t believe this man was his friend.

"Honestly, I can’t remember spending more than a month straight, planetside," said Aaron, scratching the back of his head. And if he was being honest, he hadn’t really liked those times much, either. "I was brought up in space."

Chance smiled. Aaron’s heart skipped a beat. "Your dad is Captain Edward Whelk, isn’t he?" said Chance. "I looked up to him, you know. He was one of my inspirations for signing up to the academy. I wanted to be like him one day. A ten-year survey mission… Just, wow, you know?"

Aaron chuckled. "Yeah," he said, "I know… I was there." Chance seemed surprised. Aaron would have thought everyone knew the story by now. But considering how few people had asked him about it, he was starting to think that his dad’s accomplishments weren’t as well known as he thought. "I was four when dad was called up to do the mission," said Aaron.

"He couldn’t exactly refuse since the commission came from Congress," said Aaron, "but he didn’t want to leave his son and wife behind for a decade so he pulled some strings and called in some favors and somehow got the top brass to relent and let him take us along."

"That’s awesome," said Chance, grinning broadly. "So you’ve been in space basically all your life, huh?" he said. "Must have been nice, getting to grow up out here."

Aaron smiled as Chance dangled his feet over the edge of the platform. "Yeah, it was pretty nice," he said.

"Is your dad still flying?" said Chance.

"No," said Aaron. "He retired a few months ago. Mom has been complaining about being too old for space, and dad was starting to agree with her. As soon as his mission ended he decided to call it quits. They’re living on a farm somewhere out in the prairies in Canada, now."

"Ah," said Chance. There were a few moments of silence that hung in the air between them. "So, is this your first mission on your own?" said Chance.

Aaron nodded. "Yeah," he said. "It’s taking a lot of getting used to."

"I get that," said Chance. "If I didn’t do a couple practical units in my last two years at the academy, this would be my first mission, too," he said. "Don’t worry. You’ll get there."

"I don’t know," said Aaron, with a shrug. He didn’t really feel like he fit in here. He wasn’t anything like the other guys. They were all big and cut and handsome. He was short and slim and probably looked a few years younger than he really was. "What if I don’t have a place here?"

"Don’t be silly," said Chance. "Don’t you remember what the XO said during orientation? Everyone has a place on the Virile. If you can’t find yours, maybe you just have to be shown it," said Chance. Aaron shivered. "Sorry, that came out wrong…"

"No big deal," said Aaron, even though he was frantically trying to suppress an erection that was stirring between his legs. He definitely wouldn’t object to Chance showing him his place. Hell, he wouldn’t object to any of his other crewmates showing him his place. Not that he would ever say so much out loud.

"Why do you come here, anyway?" said Chance.

"It’s quiet," said Aaron. "And I get to float around like I’m out there instead of in here. It helps me think. Or not think, I guess, when my head’s just all jumbled up and making things difficult."

Chance chuckled. "I don’t get it," he said. "I don’t think I’d be able to keep myself from freaking out. It’s not really rational, but I can’t help but think what happens if the glass breaks and I get sucked out into space? What then? You know?"

It was Aaron’s turn to smile. "It’s not for everyone, I guess," he said. "But I like it. It’s peaceful. It helps me relax, believe it or not… I just try not to think of what would happen if I actually end up out there."

"Well, to each his own," said Chance. "But… uh… If you’re willing to try another way to relax, I’d like the opportunity to show you what I do when I need to get away from things."

Aaron thought about the offer for a moment. To be honest, there wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to turn it down. "Yeah, sure," he said, trying to hide his excitement.

"Great," said Chance. "I’ll see you after our shift tomorrow, then."

It wasn’t until later, long after Chance had since left his line of sight, that Aaron realized what had just happened. "Did he just ask me out?" he asked himself.

---

Aaron jumped when Chance clapped a hand on his shoulder and said, "Hey, man. Ready to go?" He looked up at Chance, felt the blood rush to his cheeks, and immediately averted his gaze.

"Y-Yeah," said Aaron, getting up from his seat to brush down the front of his uniform. He looked up again at Chance. His heart skip a beat as Chance smiled. "Where are you taking me, anyway?" he said.

"Don’t worry about it. I don’t know if you’ll like it, but I promise that at least you won’t find it terrible" said Chance, as the two of them made their way out of astrogation.

They passed by the deputy chief of astrogation as they came up to the door. Chance and the senior officer exchanged curt nods. Not wanting to seem rude, Aaron awkwardly did a little wave that brought a smile to the officer’s face.

"Try not to change too much on this trip, Ensign Whelk," said the officer, patting Aaron on the head as he walked by.

"Y-Yes, sir!" Aaron stammered, not really knowing how else to respond. The officer just chuckled. When the door to astrogation hissed shut behind them, Aaron turned to Chance and asked, "What was that about?"

Chance shrugged. "Hell if I know," he said. "I’m sure he was just being funny. You do know that worrying so much about these little things is making you miserable, right?"

Aaron blushed and looked at the ground. It wasn’t like he could help it. Besides, it was such a strange turn of phrase. "Don’t change," he wouldn’t have given a second thought, but it was the "too much" part that bothered him. He couldn’t help but wonder what it meant.

Then again, maybe Chance was right. Maybe, Aaron figured, he shouldn’t sweat the small stuff. He couldn’t very well ask the deputy chief what he had meant without looking a little weird.

As Chance led him down the corridors of the Virile, toward a section that Aaron had never really visited in his two months onboard, the two of them partook in a little smalltalk. "I’m not kidding!" said Chance. "You had to be awake the moment the horn sounded or else they would drag you right out of bed!"

"Seriously?" said Aaron, shaking his head. Chance had been talking about his experiences at the academy and frankly, the more that he heard, the more Aaron was glad that he had been put into the special distance education program at his father’s request. "That sounds horrible," he added.

"Eh," said Chance, with a shrug. "I mean, it sucked while we were there. But now that I get to look back on it, I have to say that it was really the experience of a life time. If I could go back, I can honestly say I would do it again."

"I can’t say I understand that," said Aaron. He really, really didn’t get how someone could look back at such a regimented, controlling, nigh-abusive training environment with fondness. But he did like how animated Chance got while telling his stories, so he wasn’t complaining at all.

"Your turn, buddy," said Chance, lightly punching Aaron on the shoulder. "Tell me something about yourself," he said.

"Well, uh… I don’t know," said Aaron. "I don’t really know what to talk about… I’m not really half as interesting as you… What do you want to know?"

"You’re plenty interesting!" said Chance, clapping a hand on Aaron’s shoulder. "You seriously need to stop being so down on yourself, bud. But okay… Since you’re the one asking. What was it like, growing up in space?"

"It was good, I guess," said Aaron. "I feel like I really learned how to get in touch with my ship. I’ve never been in this section of the Virile before, but it feels like I can get around without much trouble, you know?"

"Really?" said Chance. He looked thoroughly impressed, which Aaron again didn’t understand. "If not for the computer I’d still get lost trying to get to Astrogation! This place is way too big. I’ve never served on a Dreadnought-class before."

Aaron shrugged. He just knew how to orient himself inside a starship, he supposed. "But I really want to know about your childhood!" said Chance.

"I mean… There wasn’t really anything too noteworthy about that?" said Aaron. "By the time I was born, growing up in space was uncommon, but it wasn’t exactly unheard of, you know? It just meant I had to see the doctor more than usual."

"But did you ever run around or play in the corridors of your dad’s ship?" said Chance.

Once again, Aaron didn’t understand it, but it seemed like Chance was bothered by his answer. "Well, obviously not. Corridors are for getting from one place to another, not playing in," he said. "Didn’t they teach you that at the academy?"

"Yeah, they did!" said Chance. "But I was just wondering how you got your playtime as a kid."

"If you mean playing games like tag and hide-and-seek like those kids I see in movies… I didn’t?" said Aaron, puzzled as to why this seemed to be such a big deal for Chance. In fact, he somewhat regretted his answer because Chance looked horrified. "I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?" he said.

"But… But… But…" Chance stammered, seemingly at a loss for words for the first time since the two of them left Astrogation. "But kids are supposed to spend a lot of time running around and playing and hurt and stuff! It helps build character!" he said.

"Well, I don’t know about you," said Aaron, "but I didn’t have to get a scraped knee to know to be careful… Besides, I was never interested in those kinds of things. I liked staying in my room and reading a book, or looking out the window at the stars."

The complete and utter bafflement on Chance’s face was so ridiculous that Aaron couldn’t help but laugh. It earned him a few strange looks from the other crewmembers that were passing by, but they seemed more amused than anything. One even winked at him.

"Aaron, buddy, you’re a weird kid," said Chance, patting Aaron on the shoulder.

A few seconds passed in silence before what Chance had said dawned on him. Chance’s eyes went wide. "S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to say… I just meant that you weren’t a nor—that you weren’t like other kids…"

Aaron giggled and patted Chance on the arm with the back of his hand. He couldn’t quite pat Chance on the shoulder without reaching up. "Maybe take your own advice, buddy, and not sweat it. I know what you meant… And I was a weird kid," said Aaron. For the first time in a long time, he actually felt comfortable talking to someone.

That being said, Aaron wasn’t at all sure how to react when Chance said, "We’re here," and opened a door into what looked like a gym. Not the typical fitness center that most starships were outfitted with, but an honest-to-goodness Earth gym.

"Is this… a gym?" said Aaron, taking a look around. It was a fascinating place, a veritable temple to the human body. It wasn’t too difficult to deduce how the devout, the gym-goers, did their worship. The faint hint of masculine sweat and musk in the air certainly set it apart from the more clinical fitness centers that Aaron was used to.

"Well, yes and no," said Chance, as the door hissed shut behind them. "This is actually a holodeck."

That certainly made the sunlight streaming in through the wide open windows of the gym make more sense. "So, all of this stuff is holographic?" said Aaron. He doubted it. The machines all looked so real, and he couldn’t possibly be hallucinating the scent of the place.

"It isn’t your granddad’s holodeck," said Chance. He chuckled as he clapped a hand on Aaron’s shoulder. "It’s a high-VS holodeck, if you’ve heard of it."

Aaron shook his head. Chance shrugged. "Not surprised. I thought you would have since your dad’s a military man. VS stands for Verisimilitude. The entire thing is designed to mimic environments as closely as possible. Remind me some time to show you the specs. The nano-machine density is insane."

"So… Everything’s nanofabricated?" said Aaron. He took a step toward one of the benches, tracing his fingers across the upholstery and marvelling at how realistic it felt. To his knowledge, nanomachines weren’t yet able to construct anything more than 100cc in volume. "That’s crazy," he whispered.

"Tell me about it," said Chance. "Tech’s probably not going to hit the market any time soon, but I do know it’s using a whole new generation of nanomachine hardware and is sporting a state-of-the-art gestalt operating system."

"Fascinating…" Aaron hummed. He sat down on the bench. Again, he couldn’t get over how real it felt under his fingers. "Where does the material come from?" he said. "If the holodeck is supposed to be able to generate scenario features, then shouldn’t it have some sort of reservoir of building material?"

Chance shook his head. "No, it doesn’t. See, that’s the insane part! These new bots are adaptive in a way that they’ve never been, before. Material assembly is the biggest source of downtime in current nanofabrication, so they decided to completely skip that step."

Looking at Chance, it was easy to forget that deep down, he was just as much a nerd as Aaron was. But it was times like these that Aaron was reminded that the hunks working his department were there for a reason, even if they did look impossibly handsome, cut, and gorgeous.

Still, though. It was almost impossible to wrap one’s head around the idea that everything in the room was made out of tiny machines. Aaron patted the faux-leather of the bench beside him. It didn’t feel like it was made of literally trillions of tiny metallic bots. It felt like genuine leather. "So, the only reason it’s not on the market yet is because it would probably be cost-prohibitive?" said Aaron.

"Yup. Pretty much," said Chance. "The price these things are rumored to be going for, you could probably buy a whole Corsair-class ship with that kind of money."

"Shit," said Aaron. That was a lot of money. An unfathomable amount of money, if he was being honest. "I feel like I’m burning credits just by standing in here… I kind of feel like I’m not worthy…"

Chance laughed. "Don’t worry," he said. "You’ll get used to it. Besides, the Virile has fifty of these bad boys onboard."

Aaron nearly choked. "E-Excuse me?" he said, "Fifty? Are all of them the size of this room?" He couldn’t even begin to imagine where all of those holodecks would fit, much less where all the money had come from to get them installed.

Chance laughed, again. "The room isn’t that big," he said, placing his fingers against the wall as the familiar circles and lines of the Streamtype interface glowed underneath them. With a few taps, swipes, and gestures, Chance disabled the environmental simulation. "See?"

Aaron had to blink a few times as the walls returned to the default metallic white color of nano-alloy. He had never been under the impression that the holodeck was the size of an actual earth gym, but he had still thought that it would be bigger. Without the environmental simulation, the holodeck turned out to be a small square room about twenty feet on a side.

It was surprisingly cozy. And intimate. Just enough space for two people to move around in without bumping into one another too much. The thought of being in this space alone with Chance for however long made the heat rise into Aaron’s cheeks again.

"How come I’ve never heard about these holodecks before?" said Aaron. He was genuinely curious, but more than that he wanted to distract himself from any unwanted thoughts that could cause unwanted, unneeded, and unbecoming reactions from his body.

"Well, they’re not exactly advertising that they have these places onboard," said Chance. "And the people who do know about them tend to keep the knowledge to themselves, you know? It’s first come, first serve, and the fewer people know about these places, the less the competition for time in them."

That made a lot of sense. "You said there are fifty. If I recall correctly we’re toward the aft of the ship. Are all of them here?" said Aaron.

"Nope!" said Chance. "I just like these ones because they’re out of the way so even fewer people like to come here. There’s ten here. There’s ten in the middle of the ship. There’s ten each on the starboard and port sides. And there’s ten up by the officers’ quarters. Oh, but those are open to everyone, too."

"Huh… I see," said Aaron. A few awkward moments of silence passed before he asked, "So, um… What gave you the idea that I might like the gym? I mean… I’m pretty used to exercising a lot… Grew up in space and all that… But… Why?"

"Lighten up, bud," said Chance, tossing what appeared to be a gym bag at Aaron. "I figured you wouldn’t have any gym gear so I went ahead and got some fabricated for you." Aaron barely managed to catch the bag and set it down on his lap.

"As for why I brought you here, well, I dunno. You always said you wanted to fit in with the rest of the guys, and I know you don’t really like the way that you look compared to us," said Chance. "I thought I’d help you bulk up a bit."

"Oh, and besides, you said that you liked hanging out in the bubble because it helped you deal with whenever your mind was all jumbled up," said Chance. "Well, in my experience, when you really get into working out, it’s easy to just zone out and go with the flow."

Aaron perked up. He’d always wanted to get a bit bigger, but he’d never really had the confidence to ask for help. And all the resources he’d seen on the net hadn’t done one whit of good for him.

Not to mention, maybe Chance had a point. Aaron had always found it a lot harder to worry about things whenever he was running on the treadmill at the fitness center. It wasn’t fool-proof, but it was effective. It stood to reason that a more involved exercise might serve as a better distraction.

Besides, there was also the chance to, well, spend a lot more time with Chance. Aaron wasn’t going to pass up on that. He hadn’t quite decided yet if he wanted to acknowledge that he had a crush on the big guy, but he definitely had a bit of a crush on the big guy.

"Would you really do that for me?" Aaron said, trying not to sound as excited as he felt deep down. "I mean, you don’t really have to feel bad for me… But… But if you really mean it, I’d be happy to try it out!"

"Of course I mean it!" said Chance. "You’re my little bro!" Aaron brushed. Something about that turn of phrase made him feel a little hot under the collar. "Well, if all goes well, by the time I’m done with you, you won’t be so little anymore."

Chance winked at Aaron and for a moment Aaron felt like all the blood had rushed out of his head.

---

Aaron couldn’t remember a single occasion in the last twenty years that he spent more than a month planetside. The hum of starship engines had been a perpetual companion during the long nights of space voyage. It was also a familiar comfort that helped him sleep in this new and unfamiliar ship.

Aaron stared at the ceiling, his body aching pleasantly from the workout that Chance had put him through hours earlier. It hadn’t been half as bad as he had expected. Chance had been patient and gentle, helping him to find his limits and giving valuable advice as to how he could push them in the future.

Chance had also given Aaron some important diet tips for building muscle. After their session, while he was drinking the protein shake that Chance had made for him, Aaron had drafted a diet plan with Chance’s help.

Truth be told, Aaron didn’t want to attract any attention to the fact that he was wanting to try and bulk up, but considering the circumstances, it just couldn’t be helped. Any dietary changes needed to be sent to the kitchens and approved because crew meals were fabricated and cooked in the early hours of morning.

Still, Aaron was excited. He’d always wanted a body like the one that Chance had, but he’d never had the resources nor the guidance to even try to get there. He was sure that he was never going to actually get to the same level as Chance, but even getting a little bit more definition on his frame would make him happy.

Chance was right about the psychological benefits of working out, too. Chance’s wink had thrown Aaron’s normally-ordered throughts into total disarray, but once he’d really gotten into the exercises that Chance had him do, he found that he could just lose himself in the repetitive nature of the motions. It also wasn’t quite as lonely as hanging out in the "bubble," as Chance had called it.

A small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, Aaron rolled over to face the wall of his quarters. He closed his eyes and sighed happily. He finally felt like he was getting somewhere in life. He hoped that he wasn’t misinterpreting the signals he was getting from Chance.

More than that, Aaron was looking forward to the next time they went and worked out together.

---

"Catch!" said Chance, tossing a protein shake at Aaron as he was running on the treadmill. Had Chance done that two weeks ago, Aaron would not only have failed to catch the shake, he would have also ended up planting his face on the console of the treadmill. As it so happened, he wasn’t the same guy he was two weeks ago.

Aaron caught the bottle out of the air, popped the cap open with his thumb, and tossed his head back as he took a swig. All without missing a single beat on the treadmill.

"Ahhh…" said Aaron, swallowing down the last drop of the thick, creamy, faintly-salty protein shake. He felt like the shake tasted better every time he had more of Chance’s "special formula." On slow days at Astrogation, when there was no work to keep him distracted, he ended up craving more of the stuff.

"Getting better every day, aren’t we?" said Chance, walking up to Aaron and clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Just keep at it and you’ll end up looking like the rest of us guys before long."

"You really think so?" said Aaron, adjusting the treadmill speed from a sprightly jog to a brisk walk as he talked to Chance. A new development from last week was the large mirror across the front wall of the little gym. Aaron appreciated it. Quite a lot, actually. It helped him see the progress that he’d made in just two weeks.

"Hell yeah," said Chance, reaching over to slowly bring the treadmill to a stop. He squeezed Aaron’s bicep, now with a sizable lump of hard muscle when Aaron flexed it. "Two weeks ago you barely lasted half an hour in here. Now look at you. We’re at an hour and a half and it looks like you can still go."

Aaron grinned. He’d never been the vain type, but it was hard not to show off the work that he’d put into his body. He flexed in front of the mirror and admired the result of the last two weeks of hard work. His arms and legs were the most prominent, but he was even starting to get a six-pack.

As of now, Aaron still worked out with his shirt on, letting his sweat soak into the faux-cotton. Today, though, he didn’t fight it when Chance grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up over his head. "I mean, look at that!" said Chance, rubbing his hands over the beginnings of Aaron’s abs. "We’ll get you there. I promise."

Aaron placed his hand on Chance’s. Ever since he saw the changes in his own body, he had felt a lot more confident. A lot more touchy. He still wasn’t quite ready to face the other guys and ate alone, but skin contact with Chance didn’t make him blush like a virgin anymore.

Sure, Aaron still hadn’t worked up the courage to ask Chance out yet, but he told himself that he would do it soon. Very soon. "Thanks, Chance," he said, patting the back of Chance’s hand as it rested on his stomach. "I really mean it. For everything. I never thought I’d be this far along in just two weeks."

"It’s all you, bro," said Chance, grinning as he slapped Aaron’s now-flat stomach. "Well, you and my special formula, of course."

"You gotta tell me what you put in there," said Aaron. "Growth like this just can’t be normal!"

"Hey, when you get a body like this, I’ll be more than happy to tell you what the secret ingredient is," said Chance, slapping his own firm chest. "It’s nothing harmful, but if you’re concerned we can take it down to medbay and have it examined."

Aaron shook his head as he started the treadmill up again. "Nah," he said. It was an affectation that had entered his vocabulary no doubt because of all the time he was spending with Chance. But he found that he didn’t really mind. "I trust you, Chance. Besides, I feel great whenever I drink it, so it can’t be that bad, can it?"

Chance laughed and slapped Aaron on the back hard enough to make Aaron trip over his own feet. "See? If it feels good, tastes good, and produces good results, then maybe it is just good. Stop worrying so much!"

Aaron grinned as he increased the speed of the treadmill. Chance returned to his workout, but Aaron didn’t pay him too much attention. Just like he usually did, especially after he drank one of Chance’s shakes, Aaron slipped into the workout trance.

Slowly, thoughts about work, about home, and about a thousand other things faded away into the background static of Aaron’s mind. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. The only sound echoing in his head was the rhythmic sound of his feet striking the rubber belt of the treadmill.

---

Aaron walked over to Chance’s station with his gym bag slung over his shoulder. Ever since the two of them had started working out together, he had been getting more and more appreciative looks from the men around him. Well, that or he was just noticing the looks now.

On his way to work earlier that morning, Aaron had had a strange encounter with one of the other ensigns onboard. "Hey, Aaron. I like the new look. I think it suits you. But you looked a lot cuter before," the guy had said.

The only thing that Aaron had managed to say in response was thanks. The comment had come from so far out of left field that he didn’t know what to say. It had never occurred to him that other guys noticed him before he started bulking up.

It was strange to think that maybe the only reason Aaron thought no one noticed him was because he didn’t think he was worth being noticed. It was an eye-opening revelation that he had a hard time letting go throughout the course of his shift. By no means did he regret his transformation. He felt stronger. Healthier. Freer.

But at the same time, Aaron thought it was nice to know that even if he hadn’t taken Chance up on his offer to work out together, he could have eventually still found a man. Not to say that he wasn’t enjoying the increased attention.

"Hey, man, you ready to go?" said Aaron, tapping Chance on the shoulder. He still hadn’t managed to find a good time to ask Chance out, but he swore that he would do it one of these days. "It sucks being cooped up here for so long just doing calculations and checking them over and over and over again. I need to get a little pump going, you know?"

"Hey, Aaron," said Chance. For the first time since coming over, Aaron noticed that Chance looked quite miserable. He had bags under his eyes, like he hadn’t slept at all. "Sorry, but I don’t think I can go with you today."

"What? Oh come on, man. I don’t want to go there alone," said Aaron. He scratched the back of his head. "Why can’t you come? And… Well… What am I supposed to do?" To be honest, Aaron was also just disappointed he wasn’t going to get to work out with Chance. He’d been looking forward to it since the morning.

"Yeah, sorry," said Chance. "Kurogane wants me to stay behind a few hours…"

Aaron grimaced. Deputy Chief Kurogane was usually quite a pleasant man. "Geez, man," he said, "what did you do to piss him off?"

"Ah, well… I’d rather not talk about it, if you don’t mind," said Chance. "Anyway… Here, take this. Just tap it on the Streamtype if someone’s been there and changed the settings from the gym. It should copy over all the parameters I use."

Aaron took the etched polyglass chip and inserted it into one of the holding slots on his wrist computer. "Aaaand, if you get thirsty, I made you this," said Chance, reaching down into his bag under his desk station to retrieve one of his bottles of protein shake. "So don’t you get dehydrated while you’re working out."

"Thanks, Chance but… But what do I do?" said Aaron. For whatever reason he felt somewhat uncertain and uneasy about going to the holodeck on his own. He’d gotten so used to Chance being there that he felt like there was an important part of the routine missing.

"Oh come on, you’re worrying that pretty little head of yours over nothing again," said Chance, reaching up to pat Aaron on the shoulder. "You know what to do. We’ve been working out together for, like, two months now."

"I-I guess so," said Aaron. He did, intellectually, know exactly which exercises, for how long, and for how many repetitions he had to do. But it just didn’t feel right without Chance there. "But…"

"No ifs, ands, or buts about it, little bro," said Chance, squeezing Aaron’s bicep. "Just do what should be coming naturally to you now. You’re letting your head get in the way of the body that you really want, you know that? Just get into the workout. Don’t think too much about it."

Aaron scratched the back of his head and chuckled, albeit a little nervously. Maybe Chance was right. Maybe he should just stop thinking about it so much and get it over with. Working out did leave him feeling zen and everything, after all. "Alright, alright," he said. "So, I’ll see you again tomorrow?"

"Ah, sorry, champ," said Chance. "Kurogane’s got me working overtime for the next week. You’ll have to tough it out without me for a little while, bud. But drop by my station whenever you go so I can give you more of my formula."

Aaron sighed. "Oh, man," he said. "Alright. Well, thanks, Chance."

"Don’t mention it, bro," said Chance. He punched Aaron lightly on the shoulder. Unlike a month ago, the punch barely budged Aaron. Aaron, not wanting to be impolite, reciprocated the gesture and bumped Chance’s shoulder with his own fist.

---

The holodeck was quite dark when Aaron entered it. Someone had been in before him but had cleared out before he arrived. He took the chip out of his wrist computer and held it up against the wall as the Streamtype interface glowed through the metal.

A moment later, the lights started to come on as the environment shifted back to the familiar sights of the gym that Aaron had come to know and love. By now, the faint scent of male musk and sweat was a comforting aroma that helped him get into the mood to work out.

Aaron walked over to the bench and dropped his bag at the foot. He stripped off his shirt before popping open the shake. The first few times he’d had the drink, he’d been careful not to spill any of it. It had been tough getting the entire bottle down since it was so big.

Chance had told Aaron to stop being so delicate about it. Which made sense, since it was only a protein shake. Ever since then, Aaron had been a lot less conscientious about how he drank the stuff. Besides, guzzling it down in one go just felt so much better than slowly drinking it.

Not to mention, Aaron couldn’t get enough of the stuff. It tasted so good. If it were possible, he would have requested to replace the water dispenser in his room with it.

There was just something about the faintly salty-sweet aftertaste that made Aaron crave it. But given how strict his diet was about his intake of practically everything, he wasn’t sure drinking a protein shake casually was going to be productive.

The shake was cold and delicious as it slid down the back of his throat to settle in the pit of his stomach. Little bits of the drink had dribbled from the corners of his lips along his neck onto his chest. He wiped the dregs with his fingers and slurped them off, relishing the divine taste on his tongue.

Aaron could have willingly sat there and downed another bottle of the stuff, but seeing as how he only had one, he had no choice but to start his workout. It took him a moment to remember what he was supposed to start with, his thoughts straying to the shake over and over again. When he finally remembered, he felt more than a little bit silly.

Without delay, Aaron launched into his workout. It wasn’t just the simple, repetitive nature of the individual exercises that was conducive to zoning out. The environment, too, contributed a great deal to how quickly Aaron was able to blank out as he went through the motions.

There was a small fan in the corner of the holodeck that blew warm summer air over Aaron’s body as he did his push ups. The fan assembly swiveled, clicking every now and again as it stopped to go the other way.

Chance wasn’t kidding when he said that the High-VS holodeck tried to imitate real-life settings as closely as possible. The gym environment was so lifelike that the speakers were playing the same cheesy music that Aaron expected from the movies that he’d seen. The playback was even imperfect, crackling every now and again with radio static through the ceiling-mounted speakers.

It was about as close to an authentic 21st century experience as a guy could get out in the darkness of space. And the more time that Aaron spent there, the easier it was to just let go of all the thoughts flowing through his head, losing himself in the reps and the burn of his muscles.

About halfway through, Aaron abruptly snapped out of his reverie. He had never been particularly religious, but there was something about working out that made it feel like an act of worship laid at the feet of a temple to the flesh.

For now, though, Aaron had stopped. Not because he was tired, even though his chest rose and fell heavily with each deep breath. But because he had forgotten what was next. And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t figure it out.

In the end, Aaron resorted to pulling up the holo of the workout schedule that he’d created from his wrist computer. The routine came back to him as soon as he saw it written on the page and he thought no more about it as he jumped right back into the workout.

Not a single thought, unwelcome or otherwise, crossed Aaron’s mind until the end of his workout, as he smacked his lips wishing that he had saved some of the shake for the end. His brow was drenched in sweat, though thankfully his shirt had been spared.

Looking toward the front of the room, Aaron caught sight of himself in the mirrors that Chance had introduced into the holodeck. The improvement in his body bordered on the unbelievable. The growth that he had experienced in the last two months was nothing short of obscene.

Aaron wasn’t the biggest guy onboard the Virile by far. He was significantly smaller than Chance, for instance. But the way that he looked now certainly told him that he deserved to serve on a ship named Virile.

Raising his arms, Aaron flexed for himself in the mirror, watching as the simulated light glanced off his bulging biceps, making the thin sheen of sweat on his skin glisten. His chest, once practically flat, was now dominated by two slabs of firm muscle with a visible ridge down the middle. His nipples perked as he admired himself, a strange arousal at his own masculine form pooling in the pit of his stomach.

Speaking of which, his torso tapered to a delicious V at his waist. He had abs now, too, hard enough to wash clothes on. He rubbed a hand over his stomach, marveling at the feeling of his fingers dipping into the ridges between the hard lumps of meat that decorated his belly.

Aaron twisted in place to get a good look at his ass. Many, many squats had given him the ass that he had always wanted, nice and perky, tight and meaty. Feeling daring now that he was alone in the room, he hooked his thumbs under the waistband of his gym shorts and pulled them down his thighs to reveal the sleek black jockstrap that he’d chosen to wear.

The jock’s garters framed Aaron’s muscular ass cheeks perfectly and made them look even more enticing. A big ass would have looked weird on a guy who skipped leg day. Fortunately for him, Aaron had never missed a single day. His thighs were just as thick and meaty, accentuating the muscle of his butt. His legs were lean and strong, just like he wanted them to be.

The longer that he spent looking at himself in the mirror, the more Aaron felt the arousal in his stomach build. He grunted as his cock twitched and swelled in the pouch of his jock, pushing at the cotton and making it strain.

Somehow, in the last two months of training, Aaron’s cock had also grown a fair bit. He was two inches longer than he had been before starting with Chance, at his last measurement. He was so horny these days that finding an opportunity to take a tape measure to his cock wasn’t all that difficult.

Still, there was a part of Aaron that was a bit conscientious. He knew that even if he jerked off, the room would clean itself before the next person came in. For health reasons. But he didn’t feel quite so daring as to do that just yet.

It would be so easy, though. To just pull the pouch aside, let his now-prodigious manhood come out to play. God, he could already imagine how good the balmy air of the gym would feel against his turgid, throbbing shaft.

And with the smell of manly sweat and musk in the air, it wouldn’t be too difficult to imagine that there was someone else in the room with Aaron, masturbating. It wasn’t a new fantasy by any means, but going regularly to the gym with Chance had propelled it to the forefront of Aaron’s consciousness.

Regardless, Aaron still had a modicum of control and modesty. He wasn’t a sex freak, even if he was horny all the time these days. Maybe one of these days he would jerk off at the gym. But not today.

---

Over the next few days, certain psychological changes that Aaron had noticed since starting his routine with Chance, picked up their pace. They had a deleterious effect on his general productivity, but at the same time, he just couldn’t find it in himself to be concerned.

Aaron was starting to be more forgetful. He could still rely on his instinctive sense of direction to navigate around the ship. That was etched into his bones, into his soul. He could get to the places he frequented without issues, and if asked to go to a sertain section of the ship he could do it in record time.

The problem was when it came to specific rooms, especially ones that Aaron had only seldomly visited or had never been to at all. As much as he struggled to remember where he was supposed to go, halfway there he would forget. He started making a habit of recording his orders to his wrist computer when he had never had to do anything like that before.

At work, the mental arithmetic that Aaron used to do to speed up the calculations that were required of him as an astrogator became increasingly more difficult. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t know how to do it. It was that he couldn’t quite remember the answers. It was like the multiplication tables in his head had suddenly sprouted holes.

The effects even extended to Aaron’s workouts. If anything, they were even more pronounced there. He struggled to remember what routine to do, and would often stop in the middle of the workout to try and figure out what he was supposed to do next. It was disruptive, but he tried fighting it until it became clear that he couldn’t, anymore.

For some reason, when Aaron submitted to the fact that his mind just wasn’t what it used to be and included a sign on the gym wall that told him the workout he was supposed to do, he felt his cock twitch and thicken against his thigh, pumping a dull, pleasurable heat into his stomach that climbed up his spine and plunged his head into a wonderful haze.

It wasn’t just forgetfulness that was proving problematic for Aaron. He struggled to maintain focus on anything for longer than five minutes. The heavy mathematical work that he’d once loved to do as an astrogator quickly became too monotonous and tedious to his changing mind.

Not even the challenging problems inherent to the field of warp engineering could hold Aaron’s attention for very long. Drawing diagrams, using his spatial intelligence, proved only engaging for about an hour before he tossed in the towel, unable to find the solution to the hypothetical that had been posed to him.

With a waning attention span, Aaron also became more vulnerable to distraction. Most of the time he was at Astrogation was spent looking forward to his next workout, his mind drifting into the same trancelike state it occupied whenever he was balls-deep into one of his exercises.

Hardly any work that came to Aaron’s was finished the first two days after Chance stopped going with him to the gym. By the third day, not a single calculation had been finished.

The steep decline in productivity was obvious, and it was clear that the workload that Aaron had slacked on was being distributed around the department. But no one said a word, and Aaron, now painfully oblivious to the people around him when he had once been hyper-aware of their every reaction, was none the wiser.

Had there been any pieces of the old Aaron left, it might have struggled tooth and nail to find some explanation for the psychological changes. It might have fought to reverse them. But as it happened, the transformation had happened so gradually over time that the old Aaron had been pushed out of new Aaron’s mind without Aaron ever noticing.

These days, Aaron found it hard to think of anything other than how horny he was and how much he loved feeling the burn of his muscles as he worked out. The nerdy twink had been completely obliterated, and pretty much the only information that Aaron retained from his old interests were those that could be sexualized.

For instance, during one lunch break, Aaron was asked what he thought about Godspark Tempest’s fight against Absolute Frostling. He managed to derail the entire conversation by commenting that he didn’t really care who won, as long as Tempest bottomed for Frostling at the end.

In the end, Aaron managed to spark another heated debate as to who between the two would be the top, but instead of participating he’d just happily rubbed his hardening cock through his uniform pants, thinking about how great Godspark Tempest’s tight little ass would look impaled on Absolute Frostling’s disproportionately massive cock.

The restraint that Aaron demonstrated on the first day that he worked out without Chance in the room with him practically evaporated the next day. He still had some modesty at the time, which at least stopped him from completely stripping down. But by the fourth day, he had started working out in the nude, stroking his cock whenever he could.

---

It was the last day that Chance wouldn’t be with Aaron at the gym. Aaron was so fucking done working out alone. He wanted his bro around. His buddy. But he could wait until tomorrow.

What Aaron couldn’t wait for was blowing his load. His cock was so hard. His body was so wound up. He was so fucking horny, and it showed. His prodigious endowment stuck straight up from between his legs as he flexed and posed for himself, basking in self-admiration.

It was time. Aaron had been edging himself through his entire workout, promising himself a mind-blowing orgasm at the end. Now he got to reward himself for all his hard work at getting and maintaining his beautiful body.

Aaron dragged the weight bench closer to the front of the room. He rested his back on the faux-leather and, adopting the position that he’d learned to love over the last few days, raised his legs in the air so his naked jock ass was sticking out over the end of the bench.

With a moan, Aaron wrapped his thick, meaty fingers around his hard cock and tugged. He sucked on the index finger of his free hand and slobbered all over it, stuffing it into his hole as his pucker twitched from the pleasure.

Throwing his head back as the haze of pleasure that had long since suffocated all the thoughts out of his head, Aaron grunted and stroked his cock. It felt good. So good. He was so close to exploding. But he held it. It was all about riding that edge. Holding it until the point of no return and then just letting it all out.

The first few times he’d done this, Aaron had tried to be quiet, trying to be mindful of any potential neighbors. He’d since lost interest in being polite. Not when it felt so good to grunt and moan and groan and mewl.

Unsatisfied with one finger moving in and out of his hole, Aaron stuffed another up his ass. He felt his hole burn around the second finger, sending a fiery mixture of pain and pleasure up his tailbone.

The tip of Aaron’s index finger brushed up against that special little button inside of him. His eyes flew wide open, his mouth sucking in a sharp breath as he redoubled on his stroking. It felt good. So good. It was like he was afloat on a sea of pleasure.

And Aaron was close. So close. Just a little more and not even all the stamina he’d built up over the last few days would be able to stop his explosion. Cum churned in his balls. His cock pulsed and throbbed. His back arched off the bench as his toes curled high up in the air and his hole clenched around his fingers.

The hiss of the door to the holodeck opening shattered the mood. "Come on, man, knock!" said Aaron, not bothering to lower his legs, take his fingers out of his ass, or let go of his cock.

Aaron was palpably ticked off, but when he realized who it was that had interrupted his special alone time, all the anger just melted away. "Hey, bro! Your timing is fucking awful," he said, with a grin, as Chance walked into the room with a gym bag slung over his shoulder. "I thought you weren’t coming until tomorrow," he said.

"Kurogane let me off early for good behavior," said Chance, stripping off his shirt. "If you don’t mind," he added, hooking his thumbs into the waistband of his gym shorts, "I feel like I’m overdressed."

"Fuck no, bro, show off that hot bod!" said Aaron, biting his lower lip as Chance slid those shorts down his legs. His eyes were immediately drawn to the bulge between Chance’s legs, sizably bigger than his own. "Fuck man, you’re packing."

Chance looked at Aaron and grinned. "Fuck yeah, bro," said Chance, grabbing his bulge to shake it in front of Aaron’s face. "Sorry I interrupted your session… Let me make it up to you! Do you, maybe… Need some help?"

Aaron grinned. The shy, uncertain Aaron was long gone. "That sounds fucking amazing, man," he said, as Chance walked around to the end of the bench that Aaron’s ass was hanging off of. He wrapped his legs around Chance’s body and let go of his cock and pulled his fingers out of his ass to drapw his arms around Chance’s neck and pull him in.

Aaron didn’t stop until his face was mere inches away from Chance’s. "I’ve always wanted to do this with you, bro," said Aaron, chuckling. "I don’t know why it fucking took me so long to tell you," he said. His hole twitched as he felt the heat of Chance’s crotch press up against it. "It feels so good to get it out."

"I’ve always wanted to do you, too, bro," said Chance, closing the distance to plant a sizzling hot kiss on Aaron’s lips.

The kiss felt like magic to Aaron. Fireworks went off in his head and in his body. His cock, sandwiched between his stomach and Chance’s, jolted as it sprayed thick, hot seed all over them. His hole flexed instinctively as Chance’s cock, still wrapped in the pouch of Chance’s jockstrap, bumped against it.

Aaron was breathless when Chance pulled away from him. A strand of spit linked their lower lips together. With hooded, glassy eyes, Aaron looked at Chance and said, in a low and needy voice, "Fuck me, bro. Fuck me hard."

"Always, bro," said Chance, grinding his hips into Aaron’s. He reached down with his hands and practically ripped the jockstrap off his waist, letting the thick hot meat of his cock rest in the cleft of Aaron’s ass.

Aaron moaned as Chance grabbed two meaty handfuls of his ass and spread his cheeks apart as far as they could go. He could feel his hole winking, and he could feel the heat of Chance’s cock head pressing at his entrance. "Fuck… Fuck yeah," Aaron grunted as Chance pushed into him, breaching his virgin hole inch by inch.

Even though they used no lube to speak of, Aaron felt no splitting agony as his hole was forced open by Chance’s thick fuckpole. There was burning pain, but it was faint, a delicious edge to the pleasure that he was feeling as inch after inch slipped into him.

Eventually, Chance bottomed out. Aaron felt full. So full. But not only that, he felt so right and so complete. Like this had been his purpose all along, to be speared on the end of a gorgeous man’s gorgeous cock. It wasn’t until Chance started moving that Aaron realized he was wrong.

Chance spared Aaron no quarter as he fucked Aaron’s hole. He pulled out almost all the way and then slammed his hips back home in one deft stroke, making Aaron’s eyes bulge, and his back lift off the bench.

Each stroke was as deep and brutal as the last. Chance took his sweet time on the way out, but snapped his hips forward with enough force to make the bench shake with every thrust. As Chance’s fuckpole plunged into him over and over again, Aaron realized that he wasn’t meant to be impaled. He was meant to be fucked. Hard. Until his legs refused to carry him anymore.

Aaron and Chance locked lips in another heated kiss as Chance’s thrusting picked up the pace. Chance traded power for speed. In and out. In and out. The gym was filled with the wet slapping sounds of Chance’s hips slamming into Aaron’s, driving that thick hard cock deeper and deeper into Aaron’s eager hole.

Aaron didn’t even mind that no one was paying attention to his cock. It was confined between their naked bodies, sliding around in the mess of cum that he’d made earlier. And yet despite no one touching it, he could feel that he was already close to exploding yet again.

In and out. In and out. Faster and faster as Aaron and Chance kissed like their lives depended on it. In and out. Harder and harder until all sense of rhythm was lost and the two fo them devolved into a primal rut.

In and out. Harder and faster. Louder and sweatier until, at long last, Chance slammed his hips home one last time and Aaron felt warmth blossom inside of him with every spurt of Chance’s hot cum deep inside of him.

Aaron’s own orgasm was weak, his seed dribbling out of him on top of the mess he’d already made earlier. But that didn’t make it any less pleasurable. His brain felt fried, not that much of it was left anyway. But he knew without a doubt that he wanted more.

As Aaron’s ass squeezed the last few drops of cum out of Chance’s cock, Chance leaned over Aaron and brushed his fingers through Aaron’s hair. "God, you turned out so much better than anyone expected."

"What are you talking about, bro?" said Aaron, completely unable to follow the cryptic statement.

"Don’t you worry that empty little head of yours, little buddy," said Chance, pressing kisses up along the side of Aaron’s neck. "I know you find Astrogation boring now, so what say you to a department transfer?"

"Oh that would be amazing, bro," said Aaron, grinning up at Chance. "That place is so fucking stuffy. Do I really work there? Ugh. I can’t even do the numbers good, bro."

"I know," said Chance. "That’s why we’re moving you into the entertainment department."

"Ooooh," said Aaron. "What does that mean?"

"It means that you’re about to learn a whole new way to earn your keep on this ship, little buddy," said Chance. "And you’re about to learn that the holodeck can be used as more than a gym.

---

Today was a stomach and ass day for Aaron. That is to say that today, he got to lie down on the bench on his stomach, and his ass was open for business. As it turned out, the holodeck was the perfect kind of place to build a literal hole in the wall of pleasure.

Today, Aaron was lying down on a little bench, his upper body hidden from his clients by the wall that had been closed on top of it. His ass and legs were hanging out of a hole in the wall, ready and willing for anyone who wanted to drop by and use him.

As Aaron grunted "Oh yeah. Oh yeah, fuck me. Ohhhh fuuuck cum in me," the bazillionth client of today deposited another load in his ass. He wasn’t particularly good at counting. Not anymore, at least. And there had been so many that he would have never had a snowball’s chance in hell of knowing exactly how many there had been, anyway.

Evidence of the day’s past loads were already drying on the insides of his thighs. His most recent customer’s thick warm cum dripped from his hole, tracing over what the others had already left behind.

There was a loud ding to mark the end of Aaron’s shift as the door hissed open and another man entered. "Hey baby," said the familiar voice of Chance. "How’d you do today?"

"It felt soooooo good, bro," Aaron murmured, his hole twitching.

"Got enough energy left in there for me, little buddy?" said Chance, his hands roughly squeezing Aaron’s thick muscle ass. "That boyhole ready for this cock?"

Aaron panted, his entire body heating up as Chance’s cock rubbed up and down the crack of his ass. "Yes! Fuck yes, bro! Always!" he said, moaning out loud as Chance slid into him with practiced finesse.

As Chance pounded away mercilessly at Aaron’s hole, Aaron couldn’t help but be glad that he had, finally, at long last, found his place on the CSS Virile.