Poker Night 01

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“Quit acting like the games hard to play. I’m starting to think you’re just scared you’re going to lose,” Kyle sat back in his chair. He was acting rather cocky for someone who didn’t have that much going for him. “It’s just normal poker. That’s all you have to remember. Pairs are low straight flushes are high. You have played poker right?”

Craig didn’t like the snark coming from this guy. He’d just thought they were supposed to be working on a school project together but finished a lot earlier than any of them thought. Well any of them other than Kyle. Apparently Kyle had done most of the work during the week and decided not to tell anyone. If Craig had known that he could have just gone on a date with his girlfriend. “That’s not the part I’m confused about. What do you mean we bet attributes? What the fuck does that even mean?”

Kyle shrugged holding his hands up. “Means what it sounds like. We all have attributes about us; smarts, height, weight, etc. You bet what you want and then if you win you win and if you lose you lose.”

Dominic laughed. The wrestler hadn’t heard of anything like this before. “But what if I don’t think it’s a fair bet? How do you match brains and muscle?”

“Up to the people betting. If they want more you have to give more. Haggling is completely acceptable,” Kyle had at least one of them. 

“Sounds interesting,” Dominic was leaning forward now.

“No it doesn’t!” Craig shouted. “What if I lose? I can’t play football if I lose any weight.”

“Then don’t bet it dumbass,” Lance leaned forward. “I’m fucking game. If this guy wants to bet his smarts I’ll take all of them. I need some easy A’s.” Lance was probably the biggest but dumbest guys there. His large body had only grown larger since he started at school. He’d been specifically recruited as a defensive lineman and had his weight creep up to nearly 300 pounds. “Quit bein such a pussy man. It’s just a game.”

“If it’s just a game then why do I have to bet anything,” Craig demanded. “I’m perfectly happy the way I am.”

“Then don’t play,” Ryan peeped up. Four, Kyle had four of the five guys there to play with him.

Lance let out an uproarious laugh. “Even the fucking dork wants to play! You gonna let his faggot ass show you up!?”

Craig glared at Kyle. “Fine. Deal me in. But understand I’m not the one who wanted to play. I just wanted to work on the fucking project tonight.”

“Gotcha,” Kyle grinned. He couldn’t believe that he actually got the five of them to play with him. At first the four of them had been very against the idea. None of them wanted to do it. Lance and Dominic were the first to give when he heard that they could get some of Kyle and Ryan’s brains. And Kyle knew Ryan wanted some of their size. It was just Craig who was cautious. He was going to be the tough one. But with him finally agreeing it all worked out.

“So how do we start?” Ryan asked. He was sitting right of Kyle who was first to deal. 

Kyle just held his hand out with his palm facing the table. “Little blind, big blind. Just think what you want to bet and the chips will fall onto the table. Try not to lose them… They are yours after all. But just think about what you’d want to bet and then it’ll happen.

Ryan looked a bit skeptical as he held out his hand. “One IQ point?” he questioned. A dark blue chip fell out of his hand onto the green table. “Woah…”

Lance who was sitting next to Ryan did the same. “One inch,” he said with more confidence. A green chips landed on the table. “Holy… This is crazy…” 

“One inch of what though,” Kyle prodded Lance. The other two jocks laughed while Ryan blushed.

“Height asshole,” Lance cursed.

The three looked at Lance. “He doesn’t look any shorter though…” Ryan pointed out.

“That’s cause he hasn’t lost it yet. He’s still in charge of the chip and until he loses it he doesn’t change,” Kyle shuffled the deck. “But that also doesn’t mean you have to use the chips right away either. If you don’t want something then you can just hold onto. Say you don’t necessarily want something someone is betting then you can just hold onto it and decide what happens after the game.” He paused and held onto the deck. The four other guys watched him, each with their own levels of excitement. “Alright then let’s begin,” he dealt the five cards to the five guys around the table.

The five looked at their cards and then back at each other. “So I guess I bet first?” Dominic asked. He held out his hand and said, “Check.” A green chip landed on the table. 

“Check,” Craig did the same but a blue chip fell down. Kyle snickered. “What,” Craig glared. The football player didn’t like the idea of being mocked.

“Nothing… Nothing…” Kyle smiled to himself. “It’s just I didn’t think you’d have too many of those chips to bet.”

“Fuck off,” Craig pounded the table. “I’ll bet what I want.”

“Okay. Okay,” Kyle didn’t stop grinning. That wild smile he had just pissed Craig off even more. “Check,” he flipped his hand over and a blue chip popped out. “Everybody in?” Kyle held onto the deck. The question was rhetorical but everyone nodded. “How many?” he turned to Ryan.

“Uh… two,” Ryan said. Kyle tossed him two cards.

“Three,” Lance said.

“Two. I’ve got something pretty good going,” Dominic raised the tone of his voice with each word.

“Sure you do…” Craig rolled his eyes. “Just need one.”

“Just one?” Kyle tried to bait him. Craig nodded. He wasn’t going to have fun. “Alright and four for me. Got an ace.” Kyle held up his card for everyone to see. 

“Fo-Four?” Ryan sputtered. “Why’d you even bet? Isn’t that bad?”

“Could be,” Kyle didn’t skip a beat as he shrugged his shoulders. “But it’d probably be in poor taste to sit out the first hand when I made you all play. Anyways… First bet, Ryan.”

“Uhhh… Check?” Ryan shrugged. 

“5 pounds,” Lance said. He flipped his hand and 5 orange chips fell out. 

“By the way that’s fat not muscle. Just wanted to make that clear,” Kyle said.

Craig scoffed. “What the fuck would I want 5 pounds of his fucking fat for?”

“Cause yer scrawny ass can’t take a fucking hit,” Lance shot back. “I just want to be a bit more trim for the ladies.” Lance rubbed up and down his body.  Even though he worked out a lot he had a thing for food. It helped him get so big but at the same time a lot of women just called him fat. He was always a little conflicted about growing so big. The size felt so good but the ladies didn't seem to enjoy it as much as some said.

Kyle just laughed. “Guess I hadn’t thought about that. If you don’t absorb it back in then I guess it’s not on you anymore.” He turned his attention to Dominic and nodded. 

“Another inch in height,” Dominic said.

“Not so confident anymore, eh Dom?” Lance pounded him on the back. “Didn’t get the two cards you needed?”

Dominic just rolled his eyes as Kyle turned to Craig. “Five pounds,” the orange chips landed on the table.

“Of fat?? Do you even have any one you??” Lance questioned. He leaned across the table and prodded at Craig’s rather toned body. The QB didn’t really have that much on him. If anything he almost looked skinny to play football. 

“You heard me,” Craig glared.

Kyle interrupted before anything got too heated. “And I’ll check with an IQ point,” he smiled. “Now Ryan, are you out, call or raise?”

Ryan looked over his cards nervously. He didn’t look like he was too good at betting. “I think I’ll sit out…” he muttered. “I’m not losing much. Just want to get a better feel for the game…”

“Sounds good. Alright Big guy whatcha got,” Kyle pointed over to Lance.

“Two pair. 7’s and 5’s.”

“Dom?”

“Nothing,” he threw his cards down onto the table. “It was supposed to be a flush…”

“But it wasn’t so that’s more for me,” Lance bragged.

“You think? You know 9’s are higher than 7’s right?” Craig held up his cards. Lance’s face dropped. “9’s and 2’s.”

“You’ve got to be shittin me. Really!?” Lance groaned. “Fuckin…”

Kyle pushed the chips over to Craig. “Good job,” Kyle smiled. “Ace high. You got me beat. Now it’s Ryan’s deal.”

The group still paused. “But now what? What do I do with these?” Craig asked. The other three stared blankly.

“Oh!” Kyle had completely forgotten to tell them the next part. “Guess that makes sense. Probably want to know that don’t you? It’s simple just hold onto the ones you want and keep the ones you don’t want on the table. And think about pulling them into your body.”

Craig grabbed the four blue chips and the three green ones and held them in his hand. “Like this?” he closed his hand and tried to think about what he was absorbing. The chips sunk into his skin and he could feel something happening. His limbs felt like they were stretching. Like years of a growth spurt all in a few seconds. He could feel the length being added to his body. And then it all stopped. He stood up noticing his shirt and shorts fit him just a little bit stranger. Even his shoes felt tight against his feet. “Holy!” Craig jumped back. “I-I-I grew!” he ran his hands over his taller body. “So what? I’m like 6’4” now? This is crazy…”

“Wait…” Dominic said. “Does that mean I’m… I’m 5’10”?” Dominic stood up and saw the now half foot in height difference. He barely even came up to Craig’s shoulders. “What the hell!” he stomped his foot. “I can’t be this short! I can’t!” Even though he was shorter he still weighed about the same. His muscles looked thicker while they filled the jersey he was wearing a little more. Even though the wrestler didn’t play football, he loved wearing jersey’s more than the other guys.

“Just means you can’t lose,” Craig gloated over his new height. He kicked off his shoes as they were starting to strain against his larger feet. The size 16’s were small. He didn’t even want to think about it.

“You’re just saying that cause you won!”

Kyle got between the two. “And you’ll have a chance to win. That was just the first hand.” 

“Yeah. It’s just the first hand big guy,” Craig said condescendingly. “You’ll have plenty of time to get it back.”

Dominic went back to his seat and tried to keep his cool. He caught his reflection in the mirror and gave it a flex. His arms looked almost an inch wider than they had been but he still didn’t like feeling so short. Either way all Kyle could think was, this was going to be fun. 

[I know it can be tough keeping all the characters in order. I hope I did a pretty good job. But if you want me to make a spread sheet with attributes and chips still in hand for the beginning of each chapter I can. This 'arc' is looking like about 4-6 chapters. If you like the idea I have an idea for a second 'arc' too. Just let me know.]