Gavin Free wasn’t exactly a big worrier but even he found it hard to deny that the sudden disappearance of his good friend Michael Jones from the Achievement Hunter office wasn't something to be concerned about. He didn’t want to believe that there was any foul play at work because it was too horrible for the British gamer and content creatpr to consider but it simply wasn’t like him to completely vanish without a word.
Perhaps the weirdest thing though was that Michael's Xbox gamertag still seemed to be in semi-permanent use, except Gavin only ever caught him playing a single game - Bro Simulator 2K18. It wasn’t exactly a title Gavin had heard of before, nor one that he would expect Michael to play, but it was as clear as day on his profile. He’d already reached 100% on the achievements and yet multiple times a week Gavin caught his gamertag active on the game.
Unable to dismiss his curiosity, Gavin messaged the account several times hoping for some news about the whereabouts of his colleague - he refused to consider that it might be in the past tense - although he never received any messages in return. Although he did his best to pretend as if he wasn’t bothered, every ignored message only agitated Gavin further. He wasn’t even sure if it was Michael still using his account - in fact he doubted it considering the choice of game - but the least they could do was have the decency to tell him to ‘fuck off’.
Although he had done his best to put the disappeared Michael's sudden bizarre gaming habits out of mind, Gavin received quite the reminder when a parcel arrived at the home he shared with his model girlfriend. What Meg saw in him he wasn’t quite sure since he was five-foot-something of skinny British awkwardness. She could have absolutely any guy (or girl) she’d wanted and she’d picked him over everyone. It truly was a wild world.
Gavin knew that the parcel contained a game just from hearing the disc inside the case but he didn’t know what to expect until a sealed copy of Bro Simulator 2K18 fell from the parcel and landed at his feet. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered, reaching down to scoop the game from the floor. He observed the cocky-looking gym bro on the cover and then the small gold sticker on the top right corner, proudly proclaiming “CONTAINS THE NEW COACH DLC!”
It took Gavin several more moments to realize that a note had also fallen out of the parcel. A message had been handwritten on it in a messy scrawl that took him several more moments to translate. “Since you… seemed so interested?” he read aloud, not quite believing what he was saying, especially when he saw who it was signed by - “Michael?” It wasn’t his handwriting, he was certain of that, but who else could have made any connection between Gavin and the game?
Curiosity had always been one of Gavin’s most bitter rivals and he knew there was no way he would be able to resist the game now the temptation had been firmly placed in front of him. Besides, it was a free game so was there any harm in playing ten minutes of it? No doubt it would be total trash and he’d throw it out or perhaps use in a video for Achievement Hunter somewhere down the line. He was sure he and Michael could get a good laugh out of it for an episode of Play Pals or something.
Loading up a menu screen with rotating images of a number of typical “gym bros”, Gavin could hardly contain his laughter. He couldn’t possibly be more of an opposition to those guys and despite feeling some insecurity at times and wishing he could be more physically dominant and attractive for Meg’s sake, he had never even stepped foot in a gym. Hell, he had probably only ever taken about ten selfies in his life because he didn’t consider himself to be some photogenic blessing to society as those types of guys clearly did.
Selecting the Character Creation, Gavin was immediately overwhelmed by just how many options he was met with. There were the usual things such as eye, hair and skin colors but then there were also scaling bars for muscularity and even penis size. Gavin gawked at the option for a moment, trying to imagine Michael getting through the screen without giggling like a baboon.
Rather than allow himself to get too overwhelmed, Gavin happily selected the “Quick Start with COACH DLC!” option in a small gold box to the right of the screen. Unlike some of his colleagues, whenever he played simulation or role-playing games he didn’t enjoy spending hours creating the perfect character and was more than happy to go with a pre-loaded visage.
The next screen presented Gavin with said pre-loaded character and he chuckled once more at picture he was greeted by. It was clearly live-action imagery, probably of some douche who had volunteered to have his picture in the game, and he all but oozed confidence with his pose. No, that was arrogance on clear display, Gavin quickly realized. The man was damn proud of those muscles and his thick beard and the bulge at the front of his shorts.
“Right, sure, that’s me,” Gavin muttered, clicking through the rest of the introduction screens. He was morbidly excited about getting started and messing around in this game - ironically, of course. There was no way he could actually enjoy something so obnoxious as a game that was clearly targeted at the average gym-obsessed American dimwit. “Let’s get on with it!”
The tutorial loaded up and Gavin was immediately greeted by his character’s first quest: “Warm Up!” With just a few simple button pushes Gavin had directed his in-game avatar over to the running machines and got him to do a basic warm-up for ten minutes. He could remember Blaine, Rooster Teeth’s resident gym-lover, suggesting that ten minutes on something simple would get the whole body working and that should be enough. Truth be told Gavin thought that he had tuned out most of Blaine’s gym talk by instinct at this point but apparently at least some of it had clearly gotten through.
As the game’s accelerated time reached the ten minute mark in just two minutes, Gavin admired the realistic sweat physics on his player character. Okay, the graphics aren’t too bad, he mused, wiping a bead of sweat from his own brow as the game notified him that his reward was ‘+2 Motivation’. Eager to continue, he quickly accepted the notification for the next quest - “Get Your Client List From The Boss!”
Some more simple navigation and Gavin had steered his character towards somebody he correctly identified as the owner of the gym in which the game seemed to be set. He supposed that it was only fitting considering it seemed to be the first love and true home of those ‘bro’ type guys he was choosing to believe that he was mocking just by playing the game.
A series of quests followed after Gavin had talked to the Gym Manager NPC and even though some of them were monotonous - “Greet 3 Arrivals At The Door!” - some surprisingly caught Gavin’s attention. He found himself strangely engaged as his character made progress on the “Judge Posing Competition!” quest. He told himself that any entertainment and enjoyment he felt from the game was merely ironic and yet a half hour had passed without Gavin once considering exiting and returning back to something he traditionally would have thought more engaging for any number of reasons.
Totally engrossed in the game without ever realizing it, Gavin triggered a new quest chain that would ultimately affect far more than just his in-game progress. The first quest was simple - some new sneakers his character had ordered had arrived at the front desk and all he had to do was put them on. It was easy enough but the rewards were not only the usual ‘+2 Motivation’ but also ‘+3 Shoe Sizes’. Gavin merely chuckled, presuming that it was the game’s silly attempt at humor.
Little did the Brit realize was that the completion of the quest hadn’t increased his character’s shoe size, but rather his own. His battered and worn converses struggled against the sudden increase of pressure from inside of them until his toes finally bust free of their constraints with even the socks stretched to the limit over size twelve feet, a severe change from his former size nines.
Wincing for a moment in recognition that his feet felt sore after being trapped in shoes that were too small for him, Gavin kicked the converses away without ever letting his eyes leave the sixty-inch screen he was playing the game on. Being an internet celebrity had a pretty nice paycheck attached to it after all so why wouldn’t he spend some of that money making sure his gaming experience was as luxurious as could be?
The “Test New Protein Bars!” quest activated next. Gavin didn’t even have to move his character far as he located the new protein bars packed in boxes behind the gym’s counter. Eating three of the bars completed the easy quest and rewarded him with ‘+2 All Size’. A close inspection of his character seemed to confirm that he did seem somewhat bigger, but Gavin was still completely unaware of the changes happening outside of the game.
Once the reward notification had appeared on the screen, Gavin’s body reacted by expanding a short amount in a number of directions. His height was increased by two inches, putting him just under six foot tall, while his oft-neglected muscles received a much needed boost too, albeit a slight one. His slender frame began to closer resemble a runner’s build as the sleeves of his red t-shirt hugged the results of his boosted biceps and triceps, while the body of the shirt stretched across his broader torso. The enhancements were met by no acknowledgement from Gavin other than the increased strength of the grip on his Xbox controller.
Before Gavin could even make it to the next quest marker though, he found himself engaging in conversation with a female NPC. She was pretty, with vibrant red hair and a perky ass. In many ways she reminded Gavin of his own girlfriend, especially back when Meg had rocked red hair. The NPC didn’t have much to say other than “Nice beard, coach!” but it was enough to prompt another reward notification - ‘+2 Beard Power’.
Chuckling at the sheer ridiculousness of the reward, Gavin reached up to scratch at his jaw and absently noted that his facial hair was thicker than he remembered it being. He preferred to keep himself close-shaven to maintain a professional standard but even when feeling lazy he had never let his stubble grow out too far. There was no way what he was rocking could be described as stubble though, with the thick brown hair populating the lower half of his face.
As his playthrough time reached an hour, Gavin pulled in several more rewards from quest completion and interaction with the various NPCs around the gym. Every reward had an out-of-game effect too but Gavin was too engrossed in the game to notice, even as his leg muscles pushed his jeans to their very limit around thick thighs and the seams on his shirt began to tear under the duress of increased upper body muscle mass.
Thankfully before his clothes could suffer too much damage, they began to change into items more fitting of the muscular body Gavin had grown into. His red Rooster Teeth merch shirt adapted into a loose-fitting grey tank top while his tight jeans became a pair of black-and-grey shorts. Vibrant blue gym sneakers formed over his larger feet while a black snapback appeared over his head, completing the look. Indeed Gavin was now decked out in exactly the same outfit as his player character.
“Participate in the Pec Popping Contest!” had Gavin bouncing his pectoral muscles right along with his character, bemused at how easy he found it to control the individual muscles in his chest. With every ‘pop’ his pecs loaded up with even more muscle until they formed a drool-worthy shelf that was soon complimented by the arrival of washboard abs upon completion of the “Count Your Abs!” quest that followed.
Gavin’s facial features started to shift as he chose for his character to admire himself in the mirror in exchange for a ‘+2 Confidence’ reward. The large nose that had become Gavin’s most identifiable feature became less pronounced and lost its ridge while the nostrils widened, creating a far stronger look. His beard-coated jawline took upon a more traditionally masculine square shape while his teeth reshaped into a perfect line of pearly whites. Even his green eyes adjusted to become a chocolate brown instead, completing his brand new appearance.
When his character was given a choice whether to take on a cute female blonde or an overweight male pensioner as his next client, Gavin quickly selected the blonde NPC and reached down to palm himself through his shorts. He was rock hard at ten inches - four more than he was used to working with - and his body hummed with an intense cocktail of emotions. The strange desire to get up and run a marathon or prove that he could do one-hundred successive crunches in a minute flat fueled his mind but they were little more than distractions when the next quest activated and alerted the player that it was time sensitive.
Gavin was to coach his beautiful new client through her workout, selecting a routine that would benefit her most efficiently. The NPC informed him that she wanted a slim waist and a big booty, following which Gavin was given a long list of exercises he could guide her through. His choices were made by instinct and with every one he picked, he was greeted by an ‘OUTSTANDING CHOICE!’ pop-up that made him feel rather smug. As if there had been any doubt that he’d know what the best choices for her were!
The knowledge of slow-motion cameras and the intricate art of video games had slowly faded from Gavin’s mind over the last ninety minutes of his playtime, replaced instead by everything a real life personal coach would need to know. His mind was populated by memories of working out in the gym with his beautiful model girlfriend Meg and proudly showing her off to all of his clients, reminding them that they were being trained by the very best.
As he reached the end of “MAJOR QUEST: Coach Your First New Client!”, Gavin let out a deep roar of approval that contained absolutely no traces of his easily identifiable British accent. His physical transformation had not only been paired with changes to his memories and mindset but also to his very history, recreating him as a thirty-three year old personal coach proud to have been born in the United states, the greatest country in the world!
Shutting down his Xbox once the rare “Become the Coach!” achievement had popped on his account, Gavin quickly began gathering his gear into his workout bag. He was due down at the gym to meet a client in an hour and he was sure as hell glad he’d signed her up because she had a great rack and a juicy ass so he had plenty to admire! Meg wouldn’t approve but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, right?
Arriving at the gym, Gavin wasn’t at all surprised to note at how familiar it was considering he’d just spent ninety minutes in a virtual recreation of it. Besides, his memories told him everything he needed to know about the place as it truly was a second home for him, away from the luxurious apartment he shared with his gorgeous girlfriend.
A quick glance around identified a few of Gavin’s regular clients and friends but there was one guy that stood out to him in particular over at the squat rack - his best friend, Mikey!
“What’s up, Mikey?” he greeted, slapping the other on the back once he had re-racked the bar. His friend had been riding an incomparable high since he’d discovered that he was the cover model of Bro Simulator 2K18, the game both men had been hooked on ever since they’d gotten their hands on demo versions. It was well deserved though considering how much work Mikey had put into promoting the game!
The younger man grinned at Gavin and bumped his fist before engaging in a quick conversation with him. Both men remembered their long history with each other - Gavin had even been Mikey's coach when he’d first signed up to the gym, although he had hardly needed much assistance. He was a natural and Gavin saw a lot of himself in Mikey. Perhaps one day his friend would make a good coach too but for now, Gavin was more than happy to be the most-respected man in the gym without any challengers.
Once he was in the locker room, Gavin stripped down to the camo undergear that was spread tightly across his thighs and crotch and stepped in front of the mirror to admire himself as he always did. For a fleeting moment he remembered being an awkward skinny dude but the thought was dismissed with little more than a laugh. As if a guy like him had ever come from such diminutive roots! He’d been a dominant alpha male his whole life - it had been his destiny to be a coach and deep down he knew it had always been the case.
Helping his buddy Mikey promote the upcoming “Coach DLC” for Bro Simulator 2K18 was just an awesome bonus! He was going to be joining Mikey on one of his weekly Twitch streams of the games and no doubt they’d drive his fanbase wild - and maybe score Gavin some new client applications too!