Helping my old college roommate

by GlaringEye

Tags: #cw:noncon #scifi #serial_recruitment #sub:male #aliens #m/m #no_sex_just_kink
See spoiler tags : #plant_control

Jared has been struggling in his new job. Fortunately, Aashish will soon end ALL of Jared’s struggles.

After Aashish received his new plant master in his lab, he was compelled to share the gift of subjugation with others, too. His first stop was a visit to his old college roommate, Jared. Jared has been struggling in his new job, and Aashish will soon end ALL of Jared's struggles (links to DA above include story illustration)

Aashish was nervous when the bio lab's manager notified him of a previously-unannounced performance evaluation. Earlier, all of the lab's other staffers had been called into her office one at a time. When each meeting finished, the employee had wordlessly carried a box to their car and driven off.

Aashish thought the lab had been doing well, but apparently no one bothered to tell the most junior staffer when things took a turn for the worse. Most of his friends responded to his frantic texts by telling him he was just being pessimistic again and shouldn't worry so much. Aashish knew that he did sometimes overreact and or give in to anxiety... but even so, if all those senior staffers were being laid off it seemed unlikely that they'd keep him around. Despite his friends trying to calm him down, Aashish was positive that when he was called into his manager's office he was going to be fired.

To his surprise, the lab manager instead began the meeting by talking about a groundbreaking new species of plant resulting from the lab's newest foray into genetic manipulation. With every passing minute the manager spoke seemingly reducing the chance he would be fired, Aashish felt more relieved. Despite that, he was getting more and more confused as his manager showed him the new plant and discussed its unique structure and features. Increasingly, Aashish felt like the details and critical information were sailing past him. His thoughts gradually slowed to a crawl, and he felt more and more disconnected from his surroundings and even his own body. He faintly registered something weird-tasting moving around his tongue before his thoughts finally sank into complete silence and blackness. 

Suddenly, though, the light began to return. As he began to recover his wits, he realized everything actually seemed even brighter than before. He felt like everything had fallen into place and that his prior worries had been foolish. He straightened up and smiled happily at his lab manager as she explained that he would now be working on the new project. In fact, he was actually being promoted: His new role was as a slave to the plants! He happily thanked his lab manager as he wiped the plant residue off his face and head. Now that he finally understood the situation, he literally could not conceive of any job he would rather do!

As he carried the fully-loaded box of plants to his car, he thought about his friends and smiled. They all worked at different companies, but it would be great for everyone to start working together under the same boss. As he began texting them one by one, he thought about how ecstatic they would be to receive their new promotions, too! He felt a little trill of excitement and smiled as he decided who the first would be: His old college roommate Jared.

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

As his friend Aashish pulled a large cardboard box from the x-ray conveyor belt, Jared finished signing him through security and then walked him to the elevator. "Dude," he said. "Couldn't all this wait until after work or the weekend? I don't get why you're so fired up about this."

As the elevator doors slid shut his friend Aashish continued to smile gleefully and said conspiratorially, "Jared, believe me when I say this can't wait. It will blow. Your. Mind." 

Jared looked at his friend quizzically. He couldn't believe how excited Aashish was about this. His friend was normally almost clinically pessimistic about everything. In fact, Aashish had been texting Jared earlier today absolutely convinced that he was going to be laid off...but now he seemed to be deliriously happy about some new project he just got promoted into. Even when they roomed together in college, he didn't think he'd ever seen Aashish so excited about anything. It was almost a little disturbing, in fact. Jared started to press him about what was going on with him, but Aashish interrupted.

"You know you're always complaining about how tedious and repetitive your work is? How you were sooo excited to get a job here, but then spend all day wishing you were doing something more interesting. How your attention wanders and you make all sorts of dumb mistakes?"

Jared gave Aashish a sharp look and then hissed, "Dude, quiet down: the work may be crap now, but once I get past this entry-level garbage I'll be set. This company is the most successful defense contractor in the US... actually, in the world!"

As the elevator doors slid open, Aashish continued to beam and talk rapidly. "No, you're totally right...after you pay your dues, this company will take you places. BUT, you can't tell me you aren't dreading the slog right now." 

As one of Jared's coworkers waiting by the elevator raised an eyebrow at the comment, Jared gave an exasperated sigh and steered Aashish into an empty office. "Dammit! Keep your voice down, Aashish! Do not screw this up for me."

Aashish smiled broadly and said confidently, "Not only am I NOT going to screw up your job, I am going to give you something that I guarantee will make you the most valuable employee in your office... maybe even the entire company! It's a total game-changer."

Jared continued to struggle to reconcile this confident, happy, enthusiastic Aashish with the shy, anxious, and depressed friend he'd know for so many years. Something had clearly gotten into Aashish. That said, those dramatic changes made Aashish's hype far more credible than if they came from some random huckster. And for all his quirks (and present weird behavior), Jared knew that Aashish was a good guy who wouldn't do anything that would jeopardize their friendship. 

"All right," Jared said warily. "It's weird to see you so gung ho, but I guess I would like to hear more. I don't get why you couldn't just text me more details about this, though. Why the urgent cloak-and-dagger stuff?"

Aashish looked a little chagrined, but continued happily, "Well, first of all you totally wouldn't believe me if you didn't experience it yourself." Jared started to object, but Aashish hushed him and said, "Dude, I know you. This is something that has to be seen firsthand in order to appreciate it. As for the cloak-and-dagger stuff, well, let's just say that I'm showing you bleeding-edge tech that has not technically gone through the normal randomized clinical trials and lawyers and corporate hoops and blah blah, so you're going to be one of the very first people outside my company to even know this exists."

Jared continued to be surprised at the change in Aashish. He was never much of a risk-taker, yet now he was apparently smuggling experimental proprietary biotech out of his lab. For him to take the risk, the tech must be amazing. "Ok," he said, "I'm definitely interested. What is this tech? Why do you think it will help me with my job?"

Aashish looked happy that his friend was apparently considering his plan. He drew closer to Jared and spoke in low tones to avoid being overheard by anyone lurking near the office. "What would you say if I told you we'd developed a natural organic competitor to Adderall that our research shows is more than 20 times more effective at enhancing concentration, without any side effects or risks of addiction...and doesn't show up on a mandatory drug screen?" Jared winced at that. Aashish knew he had worked hard in college to kick the addy addiction he brought from high school. Jared was definitely getting more interested. He glanced over at Aashish's ungainly cardboard box. "Wait, did you bring some of this over? Why is that box so huge? Is it 20 times more effective than Adderall because you're giving people smart pills the size of softballs?"

Aashish chuckled mildly at Jared's jab, but grabbed a pair of scissors from the desk, cut through the tape sealing the box, and continued his pitch. "I haven't even gotten to the best part," he said. "You don't need any pills, and what I've brought over is actually a lifetime supply."

Jared seemed stunned, and immediately hopped up to lock the office door. Turning around, he said, "Dude, what the Hell? You just brought a massive quantity of untested and probably super illegal drugs to my place of work and waltzed them past our security? Are you TRYING to get me fired? How the Hell..." Jared trailed off as Aashish pulled an ordinary-looking potted houseplant and placed it on the desk in front of him. Jared stared at the plant, then back at Aashish and asked evenly, "Is this some kind of joke? Where are the smart drugs? What's the deal with the plant?"

Aashish waved his hands around the plant as if he were a magician performing the signature illusion in his act. "That's the beauty of it: The deal is the drugs... are in the plant! If you can keep the plant growing and happy, you'll be set for life. Even better, we engineered the plant to not only generate the new drug, but actually serve as a delivery mechanism." He reached into the pot and pulled out stringy vine that had several odd-looking pods on it. "The plant has been modified so that its seed pods contain our drug and can actually deliver a calibrated dose by overriding their normal explosive dehiscence." As Aashish continued talking, Jared looked more closely at the plant. It had looked normal at first glance, but he actually did not recognize the species and the components were actually pretty odd on closer inspection. "What's with all the other vines?" he asked. "They don't seem to have the same pods on them, so what do they do?" 

Aashish smiled broadly and pushed the plant toward Jared. "One thing at a time. Let me show you the Master Blaster's..." Jared looked at him in confusion, so Aashish explained, "That's not the official name, but it's what we call it in the lab. Once you take a closer look I can show you the next cool trick it can do. I promise you'll be even more impressed!"

Jared still looked wary as he inspected one of the pod vines. "How does this even work? Do I have to grind the pods into a powder or something?" Aashish looked at the plant with all the pride of a new parent showing off their precocious child. "That's the really amazing part: You don't have to do anything because the plant actually senses you... and then comes the blasting part!" he said excitedly.

Jared looked at Aashish in confusion. He heard a faint crackling noise, but couldn't figure out the source. "Aashish, what the Hell do you mean it senses me? You mean like a Venus flytrap, where if I touch it something triggers it? I don't... How would...."

Jared seemed to lose his train of thought and Aashish quickly continued his explanation. "I mean just what I said, Jared. This plant is actually sensing you... and not by touch, but it's sensing the electrical currents of your nervous system. When it senses certain targeted human brain patterns nearby, it releases loads of its spores. That's the 'Blaster' part!" Aashish said, almost gleefully. 

That all sounded weird to Jared, but he was having increasing trouble putting his objections into words. Aashish continued happily, watching Jared become quieter and more confused, "Once the plant detects that it has properly reduced the target human's awareness with its Blaster, THEN the real show begins. That's the Master-ful part!" Aashish chuckled. 

"Wait, how could... doesn't make sense that a plant could...what do you..." Jared again trailed off, seeming to forget what he had been saying, and a moment later lost awareness that he had been saying anything at all. He dimly noticed that the plant's pods had somehow worked their way into his nostrils, and he could feel faint puffs in his sinuses now. Despite his dimming consciousness, he also began to feel many thin tendrils gently touching--and then entering--his mouth and then his ears. 

The plant and Aashish blurred out of focus as his eyes began to drift slowly shut. Jared's shoulders slumped and his hands dropped limply into his lap. As his eyes closed completely his head started to loll limply forward, but was cushioned by the increasing tangle of vines emanating from the plant. A distant part of him faintly felt something like alarm, but that wisp of a feeling soon dissolved in the inky darkness that was swallowing all of his thoughts. 

Aashish looked lovingly at the plant and then back at his friend. "Don't worry," he whispered. "Your master will be gentle." Hearing his friend, Jared tried weakly to open his eyes and tried valiantly to understand what was going on. His efforts were in vain, however, as he soon felt even less connected to his body as his thoughts slowed to a stop. As the plant's seed pods continued to spew the anesthetic spores directly into Jared's nostrils, more and more of the plant's tendrils pushed gently around them into his nose, and others completely filled his ears and mouth. Seeing his friend now completely in the grip of the plant, Aashish hummed a cheerful tune to himself and began carefully unpacking several other innocuous-looking plants. 

A few minutes later, Aashish looked over as Jared began to stir. His friend shuddered and then gave a blissful sigh--a contented smile lighting up his face underneath the withdrawing vines. His eyes flickered open and stared glassily for a few moments before focusing on Aashish. He stretched his arms and looked at his former roommate with new eyes. Many emotions flashed through his head, but the dominant feeling was deep and sincere affection and gratitude to Aashish for sharing this miraculous transformation with him. Jared then shifted his attention to the plant and was almost physically overcome with love. Even though he was still groggy, he beamed at his master with immeasurable adoration, which he saw reflected on Aashish's face, as well. 

"I told you the Master Blaster would blow your mind," Aashish said quietly, walking over to Jared and gently wiping green residue off the corner of his mouth. He gazed into Jared's still-glassy eyes, and after a moment of hesitation gathered Jared into a gentle kiss. Jared reacted with dull surprise. He had long suspected--even hoped--his former roommate had feelings for him. But in all the time they lived together, Aashish had never made a move that would confirm that suspicion, and never seemed to give any positive response to Jared's own tentative advances. After a brief moment, Jared grabbed Aashish tightly around his waist and returned his kiss deeply. Aashish had always been one of his favorite people in the world, and now their master had finally brought them together. Any doubts or obstacles had been erased completely by their master's power. They would be united, heart and soul, as they served their master. 

Aashish broke off the kiss and smiled beatifically. "Our master is generous to their servants. Everyone should experience this bliss." Jared nodded emphatically and smiled widely, already planning which of his coworkers should receive the master's gift next.

I'm doing these plant stories as an ongoing series. See https://www.deviantart.com/glaringeye/gallery/97670697/plants-are-in-charge for all the parts. They're inspired by James Golding's Office and Pod stories, as well as the Body Snatchers movies.

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