Shrink and Study

Winter break was finally over, much to the dismay of many college students. Not to one such student, however, as he happily bounced up the steps to one of the nicer senior dorms on campus. With only one project left to do before graduation, this young man couldn't be more excited for his final semester to begin. Turning the key to his dorm room entered the 20 year old, Josh.

Looking around the room, Josh took a glance to his right. Everything he left before break was still in perfect order. Neat piles of science books lined a nearby shelf, hung just above a wooden desk, where he liked to set his laptop. Next to the desk was his bed, sheets neatly tucked in the side and made just the way he left it. Leaving the door open, Josh strode his way over to his bed and set down his backpack gently on the mattress, taking a seat next to his important pack. Looking up Josh was quickly reminded about the status of his roommate. The other side of the room was bare, apart from some furniture. Thinking back, he realized how much he was going to miss his roommate, a former third semester Senior. He was a good friend, and Josh was glad he was able to finally graduate, but the feeling now seemed almost bitter-sweet. Sighing, Josh started to unzip his backpack to check on his project when suddenly loud footsteps started banging down the hallway before stopping directly at Josh's room.

"Yo! Anybody in here?" Called out a rather deep suave sounding voice. Josh's head perked up as he watched the huge stranger enter his room. He couldn't help but examine the muscular man as he came into view. His head barely ducked under the doorway as Josh was astonished by his height, guessing he had to be at least 6'5". With short dirty blonde hair peeking out of the front of his backwards baseball cap, handsome features on his face, almost white like-blue eyes, and a pair of diamond studs in his earlobes, Josh couldn't help but blush slightly at the appearance of such an intimidating stranger. The man faced Josh, showing off the front of his body. Wearing a tight black sleeveless spandex shirt, showing off every curve of his muscles concealed underneath, and a pair of grey athletic shorts as well as black running shoes, Josh couldn't help but sit there speechless. The muscular stranger scratched his head as he made eye contact with Josh.

"Hey are you this guy's little brother or something? I'm his new roommate!" The huge man smiled in a friendly tone. Feeling much less intimidated by the man's seemingly gentle nature, Josh finally spoke up.

"No, I'm actually him. My name is Josh… so you're my new roommate?" Josh asked cautiously. Looking a little more closely, Josh noticed a number on the man's shorts with the school's mascot embroidered next to it. With a snap, Josh realized who this man was. "You're Bobby! The prodigy quarterback on our football team!"

"I dunno about prodigy!" Bobby replied with a moderately arrogant grin on his face as Josh stood up to shake the 19 year old star's hand. Bobby looked down at the little man as he released his grip. "Sorry about the mistaken identity… I just didn't realize how uh…"

"Short I am?" Josh replied crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. In truth, he was 5'5" but to someone as big as Bobby, he supposed he must've seemed a lot smaller.

"Well you're pretty young looking too…" Bobby continued as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I've heard about you too though. You're some kind of prodigy in your own right, huh?"

"I've been told that." Josh replied with a smile and an amount of modesty. Bobby simply chuckled as he turned away and looked at his half of the room.

"Wow, this is a lot more space than I had last year in the Freshman dorms." Bobby said looking at the room and toward the middle. "Woah! We have a private bathroom?"

Josh turned and looked at the little bathroom tucked in the middle wall across form the entrance to the room. "Yeah there's some perks to living in Senior housing. But hold on, you're only a Sophomore?"

Bobby shook his head as he peeked into the little bathroom. "Yeah I guess being a football prodigy has some perks too, dude."

"Why didn't you just join a frat? Not that there's anything wrong with you living here…" Josh tried to add awkwardly.

"Oh… well my scholarship only covers everything if I stay in a dorm. So I couldn't afford to live in a frat." Bobby said looking down slightly.

"I see…" Josh replied, trying to think of a way to change the subject. "Hey, why don't we get you moved in?"

Bobby looked up and smiled, shaking his head and appreciating the help.

- - -

As some time passed, the two worked diligently to get Bobby's side of the room in order. But after a few hours passed, they finished moving the football star in. Wiping a little sweat from his brow, Josh wasn't terribly used to this kind of manual labor. Although Bobby did most of the heavy lifting, as he saw he small roommate struggle to carry certain crates.

"Hey thanks for the help, man." Bobby said in appreciation as Josh finished hanging up a collection of baseball caps on the wall. Josh simply smiled and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, I'm always happy to help." He replied, glad that maybe overall the experience would make living together easier.

"Always?" Bobby muttered as he looked over at a pile of books on his desk. "Are you good at math?"

Josh smiled, pretty much knowing exactly where this was going. "If you need help with any of your school work, you can let me know."

Bobby smiled as he pulled a cellphone out of his pocket. "What's your number, bro?"

Josh pulled out his phone, exchanging his number with his new roommate. Bobby put his phone away and smirked. "If anybody ever gives you a hard time… you let me know, dude. Us prodigies should look after each other."

Josh smiled, as he looked at the time on his phone before putting it away. Josh figured he should…

"Hey Bobby, I'll catch you later… I have to head to the research lab and get some work done. I told my professor I'd meet him there." Josh smiled as he grabbed his backpack off his bed and walking over to the doorway. Bobby frowned slightly in confusion.

"Class doesn't start for a few days, but you're already busy?" Bobby asked, almost a little disappointed the two of them couldn't hang out and get to know each other a bit longer.

"Well, I don't actually have classes this semester. Just some… complex final research project." Josh tried to add vaguely as he opened the door, getting ready to head out. Bobby looked a little dissatisfied with the answer as Josh started to head out the door. "It's pretty cool, I'll have to show you sometime!"

"Alright, nerd! Have fun with your research!" Bobby called out jokingly as Josh shut the door behind him and headed down the hallway. Beaming with pride and happiness, Josh was in quite a good mood after making such an unlikely friend. Leaving the dorm building and heading out into the fresh Spring air, Josh walked in the direction of a large science building, only a few buildings away from the dorm. Making his way into a back entrance to the building, Josh pulled out his student ID and swiped it on a key car entrance, leading to a special section of labs reserved for major experiments.

Down a bright hallway, Josh found himself to the lab room reserved for his work only, swiping his ID a second time to grant him access to the secure room. Closing the door behind him, Josh looked around the room spotting two people. One of which he recognized as his professor and the other was a younger man, sitting on a chair by a table looking bored. Josh's attention quickly focused on his professor however, as the man came over to greet him.

"Josh, my boy! Good to see you made it to the labs!" His professor said as he walked over to shake Josh's hand. Josh simply smiled, happy to see his enthusiastic professor once again after a long winter break.

"It's good to be back and get some work done sir!" Josh replied with a smile. His professor simply nodded as he made his way over to the door, turning his back toward it.

"Right, and I don't want to hold you up. So with out a moment to spare, I'll let you and your assistant get to work." He said as he turned to leave the room in somewhat of a hurry. Without even introducing the man seated in the room, Josh's professor left, leaving nothing but an awkward silence between Josh and this new stranger. Turning to the man, Josh got a better look at him as he stood up. He was certainly an impressive sight, being very tall Josh guessed he was almost as tall as Bobby and if the form fitting tee shirt he was wearing was any indication, he also guessed he was just as muscular. The man was certainly more tan, however, and his hair was a much darker shade of brown as well as longer than Bobby's. About ear length in fact. Josh took in everything about the man, from his dark brown eyes, to the tight red shirt and black basketball shorts he wore. Josh winced slightly as he stopped right in front of him, sticking out his hand.

"I'm Tyler. Yup… I'm your assistant." He said in a deep attractive voice, albeit a bored one as he reached out and shook Josh's hand with little enthusiasm.

Josh took a moment to choose his words, but even then he couldn't find a way not to sound rude. "Umm nice to meet you Tyler, but who are you?"

Tyler crossed his arms and made a quick "Tch" sound with his tongue as he turned away from Josh, showing off his impressive back and balloon like glutes. "He didn't tell you? I'm the professor's son."

Josh shook his head, still confused. "I didn't know he had a son, he never mentioned you!"

"Yeah that's pretty typical." Tyler replied, moving back to his seat and propping up his feet on the table.

"Why'd he make you my assistant?" Josh wondered aloud, figuring the son of his brilliant professor must be gifted enough to be indulged in his own research.

"Well if you asked him, it's because I'm a failure." Tyler replied with an angry tone as he crossed his arms once more. "But I'm pretty sure he just enjoys putting me with nerds like you, hoping you'll rub off on me or some shit."

"He's done this to you before then?" Josh asked cautiously as he walked over to the same table and set his backpack on top of it. Tyler eye'd him suspiciously the whole time he walked up.

"Yeah a few times." Tyler replied, taking his feet off the table and sitting a little more normally. "Usually, you nerds think I'm gonna hurt you or something though."

Josh tilted his head slightly as he unzipped his bag, making a little frown. "You don't seem like that type of person."

"Well generally, you geeks also seem to think you know everything anyway." Tyler spat, looking away from Josh.

Pulling out his project, Josh set the device on the table and looked back to Tyler, trying to put on a friendly smile. "Well I'm far from knowing everything about you! For starters, I never knew the professor could be so… vindictive. Why does he treat you like that?"

Tyler eyebrows rose slightly as he turned back to Josh and muttered. "Nobody's ever asked that before…" Before clearing his throat and responding properly. "Uh well, I finished high school and that was pretty much it. Some time went by and he told me either I had to go to college or work for him… and well here I am, 19 years old working for my dick dad."

"The job market is rough… I'm surprised he didn't even give you a chance to find something you'd enjoy." Josh responded thoughtfully. Tyler looked Josh in the eyes briefly for a second before looking away once more.

"Well I didn't really look too hard…" Tyler muttered. "Besides my dad would probably think my idea of cool jobs are childish, and I should just become a scientist like him."

Playing with a few knobs on his device, Josh tried to keep the conversation going. "What's your idea of a cool job?"

Tyler stood up and laughed, before looking down at Josh fiddling with a strange looking ray gun type contraption. "Ha! Wouldn't you like to know? Either way, what are you playing with there?"

"Oh this?" Josh replied, holding up the device. "It's actually my project, a shrink ray."

Tyler turned and sat back down, looking a little pissed off. "And here I thought you were a decent nerd. Guess you're just insane."

Josh simply smiled and rose the device, pointing it at an empty chair and pulled the trigger. With a bright flash, Tyler looked to the chair, seeing it seemingly disappear before his very eyes. He watched as Josh walked over to the spot and reach down, before coming over to the table he was seated at and drop a tiny speck down in front of him. Looking closely at the speck, Tyler saw it was in fact the chair.

"Wooah!" Tyler stammered as he saw Josh pick it back up and place it a safe distance away before pointing the device at it once more. With a second bright flash, the chair had returned to normal size.

"What do you say, partner? Wanna shrink some stuff with me?" Josh asked in a friendly tone, extending out the device for Tyler to take. Staring at Josh for a moment after being called "partner" Tyler merely blinked for a second before reaching out his hand, grabbing the device and admiring it briefly.

"All I have to do is shrink stuff?" Tyler asked, looking a little more excited than before. Josh nodded his head as he made his way into the back of the room. There was a couple of things he wanted to experiment on, from inanimate objects to even a live duck he captured from the campus pond. There was an amount of food he planned on experimenting, but seemingly it went missing.

"Here's what we got!" Josh said as he carried over the cage with the duck, and a few other objects including; a glass of water, an empty glass, a water balloon, and an air filled balloon. "I had some food I was going to experiment with too… but I'm not sure what happened to it."

"Oh…" Tyler replied, putting a hand on his stomach. "I thought those were just snacks…"

Josh laughed, knowing it wasn't too big of a deal. "No worries! That's usually what food is for, right?"

Tyler smiled, glad to see Josh's good nature continued to shine. Meanwhile, Josh drew Tyler attention back to his options. "So, partner. What would you like to shrink first?"

Looking at his options, Tyler decided to…

Tyler moved forward, pointing the device between the bars of the cage right at the confused little duck. With a bright flash and a frightened quack, the duck shrank down to being almost speck like in size. Tyler set down the shrink ray and opened the cage, putting his hand over the duck so it couldn't escape.

"Great!" Josh exclaimed as he looked down at Tyler's hand. "I've actually been having issues shrinking living creatures, so this is huge!"

"What kind of issues?" Tyler asked, looking down at his own hand with a little concern.

Josh picked up the shrink ray and tweaked the settings a little bit before setting it down and pulling out a notepad. "Nothing gruesome. Just simply it hasn't worked at all. Living creatures just have a bit more complexities to them than simple inanimate objects, so it took a lot of tweaking."

"Gotcha, yeah that makes sense." Tyler replied, moving his other hand under his first, feeling the tiny creature get scooped up between them. Josh handed Tyler a special microscope slide with a dent in it, in which to deposit the duck. Carefully, Tyler encouraged the tiny creature inside and sealed the top with a second slide. Pulling out a microscope, Josh set the slide down and adjusted the settings while looking at the confused little critter.

"Wanna see?" Josh asked Tyler, turning and looking at the taller man with a smile. Tyler shrugged and bent down, peeking his eyes into the microscope. Sure enough under the lowish setting, the duck was fully visible as if it was normal sized.

"Woah… how small is it?" Tyler asked, legitimately curious about just how tiny the device could make things.

"Its perfect, about 1/16th of an inch in height." Josh smiled excitedly as he jotted some numbers down in his notebook.

Tyler scratched the top of his head in a little confusion. "How's that perfect?"

"Well… relative to a human's height, that means if I shrunk a person they'd be at about 1/4th of an inch tall. Which is my goal height for the experiment." Josh smiled with some excitement.

Tyler looked even more puzzled. "Why wouldn't you just shrink a person? And what's so special about 1/4th of an inch?"

Josh stopped writing as he blushed slightly. "Umm well I didn't want something to go wrong when shrinking a real person… and the height… well… it's dumb. Let's just say it's a good height."

Tyler rose an eyebrow slightly, but quickly just shrugged it off. "Well if you say so."

"Right! Now let's return this little ducky to normal!' Josh said suddenly, pulling the slide off the microscope and handing it to Tyler. Picking up the shrink ray, Tyler changed the setting to return the duck to normal. Removing the top slide and activating the device, a bright flash quickly enveloped the slide and…. nothing.

"Hey, nothing happened." Tyler added as Josh looked closer. Moving over to a computer, Josh powered on the console.

"Must just be a small mistake somewhere. Take care of the duck for me?" Josh asked, turning his attention to the monitor to look through some of the programming used in the regrowth formula. After a few seconds, Josh heard a small squishing noise. Turning to look at Tyler, he saw the huge man with his fingers pinched together with a small bloody smear once they separated.

"Why'd you do that?" Josh asked, more shocked than angry.

"You said to take care of it." Tyler responded, feeling slightly offended.

"I uhm… meant like… care for it while I figure stuff out." Josh sighed with a little disappointment.

"Oh…" Tyler simply stated as he wiped his fingers on his shorts. "Sorry."

"It's ok." Josh replied, trying to be supportive. "Poor duck though."

"Something that small is practically a bug though." Tyler frowned as he pulled up a chair and sat next to Josh. "I wouldn't worry about it."

Josh turned his attention back to his computer, reading through some of his program. "Yeah but what if it was a person that small?"

"Same deal I guess. Anything small enough to squish like that is pretty much just a bug." Tyler replied, leaning back and crossing his arms. Josh frowned as he looked through the computer a little more.

"I guess so." Josh sighed as he found a line of code that looked to be problematic. Fixing the mistake and double checking all his work, Josh closed the program and hooked it up to the shrink ray. "That should do it."

"Should we find another duck?" Tyler asked, still leaning back, looking a little unenthused as he pulled out his cellphone to check the time. "Shit…"

"What's wrong?" Josh asked as Tyler stood up suddenly.

"I gotta go work out and grab something to eat. I'll do that and be right back." He stated, almost commandingly. Josh simply turned to him and flashed a quick smile.

"Sure! Bring me back something to eat too, if you don't mind." He answered in an understanding tone.

Tyler's expression turned from confident to a little surprised. "You aren't mad?"

Josh shook his head. "No way, do what you gotta do."

Tyler smiled as he turned to leave the room. "Thanks, dude."

Josh watched as the huge man made his way out of the room. Turning his attention back to his shrink ray, he decided he could use the time to mostly just fiddle with the device a little while Tyler was gone and hopefully work out a few bugs.

- -

Some time went by and Josh wiped a little sweat from his brow, confident in a lot of his theoretical work involving the shrinking technology. Setting the ray down on the table, Josh gasped as it suddenly misfired, sending a bright flash of light directly hitting…

Ducking quickly out of the way, Josh watched in terror as the beam shot just past him and hit a nearby chair, shrinking it down to minuscule proportions.

"That was close!" Josh exclaimed just as the door to the room opened, revealing a now sweat covered Tyler.

"What was close?" Tyler replied, walking into the room, now wearing a loose white tank top, barely hiding his muscular torso, as well as the same black shorts from before. Walking over to the table Josh was at, Tyler set down two "Grab and Go" dinners from one of the campus dining halls as well as a pair of bottle waters and some variety of fruit.

"I uh, think I almost just shrank myself." Josh replied, as he walked over to the tiny chair and picked it up to show Tyler.

"Too bad, would've meant more food for me!" Tyler joked as he unpeeled a banana and took a large bite out of it. Josh chuckled a little nervously, knowing how Tyler felt about tiny creatures. "But since it didn't, here dig in, dude."

Tyler pushed one of the meals toward Josh. Thanking Tyler as he opened it up, it revealed a good assortment of veggies, a pudding, and a small sandwich. Taking a bite out of the sandwich, Josh paused momentarily as he heard the lock on the door click once more. Without warning, his professor came into the room looking somewhat angry.

"Tyler! What the hell do you think you'e doing?!" Tyler's father yelled at him. "I just saw you trouncing on in here with a pile of food, when you should be working!"

Tyler sat low meekly as his father continued to scold him and Josh looked on awkwardly. "Why the hell are you in your gym clothes?! Don't tell me you bullied your way out of here to go to them gym again! I swear Tyler this is the last--"

"I don't mean to interrupt, sir." Josh butted in, much to both Tyler and his father's surprise. "But I asked Tyler to grab us lunch, as well as some extra food to experiment on with the shrink ray."

"Be that as it may, this doesn't excuse him running off to the gym!" The professor spat at Tyler with distaste.

"Actually it does, I asked him to go run a couple miles at the gym too. I've been having difficulty with shrinking certain volumes of liquids and sweat was actually a key component to figuring out parts of the shrinking formula." Josh rebutted confidently. The professor backed up a step, shocked his star pupil was defending his dead-beat son like this.

"I don't believe you, you make it sound like Tyler's some exceptional person like yourself!" Tyler's father argued pointlessly.

"Believe what you want, but I think Tyler is exceptional in ways you refuse to look. Now if you'll excuse us, my partner and I have some more experiments to run." Josh ended the conversation with maturity, as he turned away from his professor. The professor opened his mouth to argue more, but simply closed it and turned to leave. Having too much respect for his star student, he figured it was almost best to just leave him at peace at this point. Josh pulled up a chair and sat in front of his food once more, taking another bite of his sandwich as Tyler stared at him in astonishment.

"They make a pretty good sandwich for just grab and go, huh?" Josh smiled pleasantly at Tyler, mouth still a gap a little.

"You didn't have to lie to him about me leaving." Tyler replied, finally looking down in disappointment. "He probably still doesn't even believe you."

"That's his problem." Josh answered with a straight and serious face. "Besides the rest of what I said was no lie."

"Pfff, that I'm exceptional? You might not be as smart as they say you are." Tyler laughed casually as he took another bite of his food. Josh meanwhile stopped and looked at the excess fruits Tyler brought with him.

"You brought the extra fruit for the experiment, didn't you?" Josh asked with a smile as Tyler slowly nodded his head. "I didn't ask you to do it, but you did it anyway."

"I felt bad I ate your other food, that's nothing exceptional." Tyler responded as he took a chug from his bottle of water. Josh simply shook his head and chuckled.

"In some ways it is. It shows you cared about the experiment, and by extension me." Josh grinned with a bit of happiness.

"Whatever…" Tyler blushed as he turned slightly away from Josh. Josh laughed as Tyler continued. "Well you aren't like other nerds I've worked with."

"See you do care!" Josh shouted with glee as he stood up out of his chair. Tyler also got up and walked toward Josh, wearing a somewhat goofy grin. Confused, Josh stood there for a second watching the sweaty man, before Tyler grabbed him with one arm and pulled him into this chest in a tight hug.

"Thanks for standing up for me, bud." Tyler said calmly as Josh struggled against Tyler's sweaty chest, getting slowly covered in the other man's stench.

"You're welcome! Now lemme go!" Josh squealed desperately as he struggled to gasp for air against Tyler's body.

"You love it…" Tyler taunted, not easing up on his grip at all. Josh simply muffled in Tyler's chest, wanting to be free before Tyler heard him reply.

"Fine! I love it!" Josh muffled as Tyler released his grip, letting the smaller man drop to the ground, gasping for air. "So this is the real Tyler, huh?"

"Hey now that we're buddies, I don't have to hide anything right?" Tyler winked with a friendly smile.

"I could get used to it." Josh smiled back, much to Tyler's happiness. "So if you aren't hiding anything anymore… tell me… what's your dream job?"

Tyler sighed and shrugged as he stepped to the side of Josh, pulling him in tightly next to him under his arm and rubbing his head. "I'll tell you some other time!"

Being released once more Josh sighed. "Fair enough… either way, partner, what do you say we get back to work?"

- - -

The pair worked well though the rest of the day, fulfilling Josh's list of things he wanted to do. As the two got ready to depart, they walked together for a few moments after exchanging numbers.

"Text me sometime, dude. We should hang out." Tyler smiled happily as they made their way down the hallway. "In a different way that doesn't involve research I mean!"

"For sure!" Josh replied as he stashed away his phone. "Do you live with your dad?"

"Ha! As if that asswad would want to see my face around his place." Tyler responded, humorously. "After he took me away from our home town and moved here, he shoved me in some special housing on campus."

"I didn't know we had special housing." Josh thought out loud as he pushed open the door to the outside. Warm spring air met their faces as they parted separate ways and Josh headed back to his dorm room. Walking up the stairs to the room Josh approached the door and found…

Josh bit his lip as he approached the door to his dorm room. A lonely sock hung over the door knob and just beyond the door he could swear he could hear some girlish moans. Turning away from his room, he knew he didn't have much option other than to leave. After all this hasn't happened to him before since most of his previous roommates have been nerds like him, but considering just who Bobby was he wasn't too surprised. Either way, Josh resigned himself to leaving the doorway and making his way to a nearby common room to sit in one of the couches in shame.

"I wonder if it's too soon to hang out with Tyler…" Josh wondered to himself, not wanting to seem like a desperate girl just getting a hot guy's number and instantly calling him not even 20 minutes later. Sucking up his anxiety, Josh decided to pull out his phone and dial his number. After a few seconds of ringing, Tyler picked up.

"Yo, dude. You forget something?" Tyler answered, likely seeing Josh's name pop up on the caller ID.

"No, actually I'm in a bit of a bind. I got back to my dorm and found… a sock on the door knob." Josh answered a little slowly.

"Ok dude, first off don't go in there." Tyler directed to Josh, who rolled his eyes.

"I know what a sock on the door knob means." Josh answered a little annoyed.

"Yo, I was just making sure, dude." Tyler defended himself. "Either way man, if you need a place to lay low you can come to my room."

"Thanks, Ty." Josh said softly with a smile as Tyler paused for a second before responding after clearing his throat.

"No problem, Josh." Tyler answered a little slowly as he gave his friend directions to his room. Josh thanked him a few times before hanging up his phone and being on his way. Leaving the dorm building, Josh made his way past one of the dining halls and noticed the "Grab and Go" station located just on the inside. Knowing it was just past dinner time, he figured Tyler must've not gotten a chance to eat yet either and decided to stop in and grab a couple meals.

- - -

Taking a deep breath, Josh stood in front of Tyler's room at the special housing building. Knocking twice, Josh waited a second before the huge man's silhouette appeared in front of him. Josh smiled as he saw his new friend appear to be happy to see him.

"Kicked out of your room in one day! Poor little nerd…" Tyler chuckled as he put a hand on Josh's shoulder before looking at the two meals in his hands. "What are those?"

"Well I figured you probably didn't get a chance to eat either, so I grabbed some dinner!" Josh smiled as he handed Tyler one of the containers as he made his way into his room. Josh looked around the room as he entered, taking in the new environment. The first thing that hit him was the smell. A mix of sweat and deodorant, it really wasn't that bad. It smelt like Tyler but stronger and more centralized and for some reason as it wafted over him, Josh kind of liked it. On the linoleum floor there were a few dirty clothes strewn about as well as a couple extra pairs of shoes. In the comer there was a small doorway, opened and looked like it lead to a bathroom larger than the one he had in his own dorm room. Other than a small twin bed and a desk holding a TV, there was also a pile of free weights sitting in the middle of the room along side a yoga mat. Finally, a small mini fridge sat beneath a set of cabinets across the room from the bed.

"Thanks for the dinner, dude!" Tyler replied, snapped Josh's attention back to his huge friend. Tyler walked past Josh toward his mini fridge, wafting a bit of dry sweaty smell past him from earlier. "I was gonna go for a run first though, you wanna come?"

"Oh, well I don't know if I'd be able to keep up with you." Josh answered, tapping his foot on the ground meekly. "Besides, these are my only clothes, and I'm already gonna probably have to sleep in them."

Tyler snapped his fingers, and smiled as he looked at the backpack on Josh's back. "Your invention… after all the work we put into it do you think it's people safe?"

"People safe? You mean like…" Josh started.

"I mean like, we could use it on you!" Tyler finished Josh's sentence. "That way I can just bring you with me and I won't have to leave you here by yourself!"

"What about that whole thing you said… after the thing with the duck?" Josh asked, nervously remembering how insignificant the little creature was in Tyler's eyes.

"Oh that? I was just bored. Besides, I wouldn't do that to you, dude." Tyler responded with a thumbs up. "Fair warning though, I'm not gonna stop messing with you just because you're tiny!"

Josh smiled, feeling like he could trust the huge goofball, even if he's only known him for the one day. "Alright, what if… it doesn't grow me back, like the duck?"

"Don't get so hung up on it." Tyler chuckled as he put his dinner in the mini fridge, reaching for Josh's as well and doing the same. "We'll figure something out if that happens."

Josh nodded his head. It was silly to worry about it, and after he really did believe in Tyler to come through for him. Unzipping his backpack and pulling out the shrink ray, Josh handed it to Tyler. Looking down at the now familiar device, Tyler set it to "shrink" and pointed it at Josh. With a bright flash Josh covered his eyes in fear. Being the first time he's been shrunk, Josh looked up and around the room in awe. What looked like a massive distance away from him next to an impossibly tall skyscraper that was the mini fridge, stood and even more horrifically giant sight, Tyler. Josh looked straight up at Tyler, who's massive muscular proportions looked like something out of mythology at this point and saw the huge man start to squint, looking directly at him.

- - -

Looking at his dirty floor, Tyler started to feel like it would have been a better idea to position Josh in a spot where he'd be more discernible than a random speck of food or dirt. Looking closely where Josh was just a moment ago, Tyler…

Tyler smirked as he finally spotted a tiny bit of movement, noticing it in fact to be a miniature human. Setting down the shrink ray on the mini fridge, he started to slowly pound his feet toward the tiny man.

"Fee Fi Fo Fum!" Tyler joked with a smile on his face as he made his way over to the tiny man and loomed directly over him. Slowly squatting down, Tyler backed up slightly to try and not give his tiny friend a heart attack. Peering down closely, Tyler grinned as he could actually distinguish Josh's features. "Wow, that's pretty cool, dude!"

Josh stepped back a little out of instinct as Tyler lowered a hand for him to climb on top. Nervously, Josh walked up to the massive appendage and hoisted himself up on the nearest part. Moving a bit to the middle, Josh covered his head as suddenly he found Tyler's hand being lifted at unimaginable speeds. Finally stopping, Josh panted as he looked forward, only seeing Tyler's chest through his tank top, and looking up to see his smiling face beaming down at him.

"Wow, this is incredible…" Josh admired in a normal speaking voice. Tyler lowered his face toward his palm as Josh spoke.

"I can't really make out what you're saying, little dude." Tyler whispered to Josh, which might as well have sounded like shouting to the tiny man's ears.

"Sorry! I'll speak up!" Josh called up to his giant friend, who gave Josh an enormous thumbs up.

"So where do I put you?" Tyler asked, moving his head away from his hand in the process to look up and down his own body. Patting his free hand on shorts for a moment, he looked back to Josh. "I've got pockets."

Josh pondered for a moment at the thought of being inside some over sized pocket while the giant who was wearing them ran around causing him to flail painfully around in the space. Shaking his head at the thought, he knew there must be a better solution. "I don't know if that's safe, is there a way I could be more… secure?"

Tyler looked around his room before spotting a roll of clear tape. Walking over to it and grabbing it to show to Josh, he solemnly shook his head. Taking the tiny strip off the roll of tape, Tyler set it down sticky side up on his palm next to Josh. With a sigh, Josh positioned his body to be covered by the sticky tape, excluding his head, laying down on the substance face first into Tyler palm. Tyler retrieved the tape, flipping it the other way and sticking to on the front of his bare muscular shoulder. Looking away from Josh and facing forward to his door Tyler started to head out.

"All aboard the Tyler express!" He called out as he opened the door and left the building. Josh bore a somewhat terrified face as he laid there, stuck and unable to so much as move anything aside from his head as the rushing of wind blew into his face as Tyler started to take off in a light jog right out from the building. Without much to do aside from listening to Tyler's rhythmic breathing and slight movement of his arm as he made his way around the campus, Josh simply looked around in amazement as they passed several actual buildings that looked so large they may as well contain entire cities compared to Josh's size.

As Tyler made his rounds around the campus he started to work up a pretty fierce sweat. Being right above Tyler's armpit, Josh was none too pleased of the stench that started to envelope him, not too long into the run. After a while unable to stand it much longer, Josh moved his hand and covered his nose. Taking a second to realize what he did, Josh noticed he was actually able to move his hand in the first place. Looking down at the tape below him, Josh saw that in fact the tape was starting to peel off Tyler's tan skin. Panicking slightly, Josh tried to wedge himself into the tape a little better so as not to fall out. With relief, Josh saw that Tyler was starting to approach the special housing building, making his way inside. Tyler opened the door to the room just as Josh…

Gripping on to Tyler's very skin as Josh could feel the only bit left of him stuck to the tape were his feet, Josh watched as Tyler sauntered calmly into his room before turning to his shoulder and peeling Josh off into his hand. Panting, Josh laid down in Tyler's palm, just glad to be off the wild ride. Tyler looked down at the exhausted tiny with a raised eyebrow.

"Why do you look so tired, dude?" Tyler asked, letting Josh roll helplessly back and fourth in his hand a little for his own amusement. "I'm the one who just ran a couple miles!"

"Tape… peeled…" Josh panted, trying to form sentences. Tyler simply shrugged and made his way into his room, setting Josh down on his desk next to his TV.

"Alright little guy. Just take it easy while I take a shower then." Tyler winked as he pulled off his tank top. Josh sat up momentarily, seeing Tyler's magnificent tanned torso completely being uncovered before his eyes. He could help but examine the two round pecs, covered with sweat, trailing down to his pronounced 6 pack. Legitimately impressed, Josh laid back down as Tyler ran a hand down his thick muscles. Josh closed his eyes as Tyler disappeared from sight, making his way into the bathroom and turning on his shower. Josh listened for a few minutes as he heard Tyler enter exit the shower. Finally, Josh heard it shut off, and a few moments later, the huge man reappeared.

Josh sat up, happy to have the chance to lay down for a little while. Quickly however, he averted his eyes away as he saw Tyler, clad in only a tight pair of black compression shorts and a towel wiping away water from his chest and face. Blushing, Josh heard Tyler start to stomp over to his position and start to loom over him with his intimidatingly well defined body.

"Yo, you doing alright, dude?" Tyler asked, tossing his towel across the room toward the bathroom.

"I'm good!" Josh replied, still hiding his face. "I'll just lay here a little while, while you get changed."

"I am changed, dude!" Tyler bolstered as Josh looked up at him once more, still only seeing the under armor brand compression shorts up closer. "What? I just sleep in my underwear, no need to dirty up any other clothes!"

Josh sat up, feeling embarrassed and trying not to look directly at Tyler as he replied. "Oh gotcha, that's fine."

Tyler knelt down, resting his round pecs on the table directly in front of Josh. "No need to be embarrassed, little guy! Even if you are smaller than my nipple."

Tyler moved his right pec in closer to make the comparison as Josh tried to shimmy away slightly. Tyler moved back and frowned a little as he watched the little man retreat. "Hey, I'm just joking, dude."

Josh sighed again as he sat up. "I know… It's just… this whole being small thing is just so new…"

"Well you'll have plenty of time to get used to it." Tyler responded as he stood up and walked over to the mini fridge. "Because I'm starving, so you can have some little bits of food and I'll take the rest!"

Josh stood up and looked angrily over at the giant man. "Hey that's not fair!"

"Before you get all whiny, just think about something else." Tyler started as Josh calmed down to listen. "Where were you planning on sleeping? I'm huge and have a twin, dude. Your options would have been yoga mat or linoleum."

Josh sat back down, looking around the room, taking in what he said to be true. Even if he had a bigger bed, Josh wasn't entirely keen on sharing. After a quick scan once more, he determined Tyler to be right. "Alright, so I guess I'll have a better place to sleep at this size." Josh confessed. "As long as you regrow me in the morning."

"How else would we get any work done tomorrow if you were stuck being the size of an ant, dude." Tyler taunted as he made his way back over, pulling over a chair and setting the massive meal next to Josh. Josh winced as the once manageable sized meal now seemed like a mountain side of food. Josh watched as Tyler opened up the container and pulled out a green grape and pop it casually into his mouth. The grape itself seemed like it would be the size of a small home compared to Josh as he watched the huge man chew it up and swallow with ease. Tyler looked down at Josh, who's mouth was a gap with astonishment.

"What now, dude?" Tyler asked as he pulled out a sandwich and took an stadium sized enormous bite.

"That grape looked like the size of a house… and now it's just gone." Josh called back, almost on the edge of speechlessness. Tyler chuckled as he pulled out another grape set it down next to Josh as he swallowed his latest mouth full of food.

"Hard for me to tell, but here maybe you can live in this grape!" Tyler joked as he stood up to grab a bottle of soda from the fridge. Setting it down, he watched as Josh slowly approached the grape, reaching out his tiny hand toward the massive fruit. Without warning, Tyler picked it up and popped the grape into his mouth, chewing it while he took a chug from his soda.

"Hey! What if I did try and go in it?" Josh yelled back angrily as Tyler set down his soda and rubbed his chest.

"Buuuurrp!" Tyler spewed directly at Josh who had to cover his nose to shield him from the nasty belch. "That's my answer, dude!"

Josh sat back down, crossing his arms and starting to blush. He couldn't tell if he should be angry at the answer or not. Looking up, he resigned himself to a smile, as something about Tyler's charm, or lack there of, he found to be something interesting. "Good answer, guess I'd be toast!"

Tyler smiled, glad to see Josh was starting to catch on to his humor a little better. Pulling out another grape once more, Tyler set it down next to Josh. "All yours this time, bud."

Josh smiled, as he approached the grape, pulling of a bit of the skin and biting into the juicy interior. It was amazing, never before had he experienced such a thing as to be biting into a massive piece of fruit. Looking up at the massive green exterior, Josh tried to imagine other foods like apples or even something long like a banana. His mind unable to fathom it until he could see it for himself, Josh tried to remain focused on the now. Eating his fill, Josh set back and sat down as he turned his attention back to to Tyler. In the time it took Josh to eat barely a speck of food, Tyler had gone through his entire tower of soda as well as both grab and go dinners. Josh looked amazed as he saw Tyler lean back and rest a hand on his chiseled stomach. Without even making a dent in his muscular exterior, Josh tried to imagine to mounds of massive chewed up food resting just beyond Tyler's hand ready to be digested by a literal titan. Tyler looked over at Josh, seeing him finished as he reached over in his direction. Josh froze for a second, thinking Tyler was reaching for him, as he actually grabbed the grape and tossed it into his mouth. Watching as the huge man swished it around in his mouth for a moment, Tyler swallowed the fruit whole.

"I just swallowed your house!' Tyler joked with a smirk as he looked at Josh, who's attention went unwavered in Tyler's direction. Josh simply sat there mouth open, thinking about how Tyler just swallowed something so massive with utter ease.

"That's incredible!" Josh exclaimed as Tyler sat forward and rose an eyebrow.

"Not really dude, I think you forget how tiny you are." Tyler chuckled as he leaned back and put a hand on his stomach. "Eating you would be even easier!"

Josh swallowed at the comment. Based off Tyler's laughter, he figured it to be a joke, but Josh would be lying if he said he wasn't at least curious. Josh sat silently for a moment as Tyler finished laughing and leaned forward, pushing aside the empty grab and go containers as well his empty soda bottle.

"You alright? I didn't mean to freak you out, dude. It was just a joke." Tyler apologized, feeling like joking about eating his friend may have been a bit too terrifying for the little guy. Josh simply smiled as he looked up at the handsome man.

"It's fine! It's just…"

"It's fine! Yeah… it's just really strange being so small." Josh responded as he twiddled his thumbs. Tyler frowned, looking like he felt a little bad.

"We can regrow you now, then just shrink you back down at bed time if you want?" Tyler offer in a friendly tone, not wanting to push Josh too far or freak him out any more.

"No, it's fine. It's not strange in a bad way." Josh smiled, looking at Tyler's handsome, yet concerned face. "It's actually pretty interesting and it's something I want to get used to."

Tyler rose an eyebrow, looking at Josh seriously. "Why do you need to get used to it?"

Josh blushed, unsure if he was ready to share the whole truth of what he wanted to do with the shrink ray yet. "Just… it would be easier to test some of the experiments if I was to shrink down from time to time. After all, my goal is to have this device be totally safe for humans to use one day."

"That doesn't mean you have to put up with my antics AND be the size of a grain of rice." Tyler demanded as he crossed his arms.

"I thought I loved your antics?" Josh said with a cheeky smile as he put his hands on his hips. "Or are you the one going soft?"

"Is that a challenge, little fella?" Tyler whispered, moving his face down a bit and staring directly at Josh with a cocky smirk. Josh took a step back, not sure what kind of antics he just invoked from the massive goof.

"Nooooo?" Josh grimaced through gritted teeth as Tyler reached down, carefully pinching Josh between his fingers and setting him down in the palm of his hand. Walking over to his bed, Tyler laid down on the soft mattress as he hovered his hand over his bare abs. Lowering it down, he angled his palm and allowed Josh to slide gently down on his chiseled muscle.

"W-what a-are you doing?" Josh asked nervously, blushing like crazy over his new surrounds. Trying not to stare up and down the expansive landscape that was Tyler's body, Josh simply hid his face as he crouched down.

"You're too shy, dude." Tyler pointed out as he moved his arms behind his head. Josh peaked up to see Tyler expose his hairy pits and lay back with a smug expression. "I kinda like it though, you're really easy to embarrass."

"I'm just not used to thi--" Josh started to say before Tyler cut him off.

"Don't gimme that "I'm not used to being tiny" crap." Tyler smiled as he moved ones of his hands to wag his finger at Josh. "When I hugged you at normal size earlier, I felt you tense up."

Josh crossed his arms, still blushing slightly. "Fine so I'm a little shy, what's it matter?"

Tyler moved his hand back behind his head as he shrugged his shoulder slightly. "Because I'm a really personal dude. If we're gonna be research buddies you'd better get used to it."

Josh uncovered his face, looking up past Tyler's twin mountainous pecs at his face and tried not to blush. Tyler smiled as he could see Josh's tiny hands move away from his eyes. Smiling back, Josh jumped when a sudden noise and rumble gurgled below him. Remembering he was seated directly on Tyler's stomach, it made him realize how insignificant he was when a little bit of digestion under him seemed like a terrifying earthquake. The rumble however sounded like it moved toward Tyler's chest before finally…

"Buuuuurrp!" Tyler expelled the excess gas from his stomach into the open air. Even from Josh's position the smell wafted over like a mix of putrid meat and soda. Waving his hand in front of his face, Josh watched as Tyler massaged his abs with a pair of fingers not far from where he was resting. Josh watched in intrigue as he eventually moved his hand away.

"Excuse you!" Josh tried to break the silence by trying to make the action seem more polite.

"Ha!" Tyler laughed, causing his stomach to lurch a little and making Josh roll onto his back. "You'll get sick of saying that around me. I wouldn't bother, dude."

"Just a habit I guess."Josh tried to defend himself as he moved back into his original seated position. "Can I ask you a question?"

Tyler rose an eyebrow, leaning his head forward slightly in interest. "As long as it's not about my father."

"Well it isn't directly, but… where did you used to live?" Josh asked, wondering about Tyler's origins.

Tyler took in a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. "In a little beach town on the other side of the country. After graduating high school most of my friends went off to random colleges with sports scholarships. I ended up just hanging out for a few months before my dad shipped me off with him. I'm surprised you haven't seen me around campus the past three semesters actually."

"Well I was a little… invested in my work. So I never got out much. All my friends were a year or two ahead of me and graduated by now and we haven't really kept contact. So I mostly kept to myself and my work alone." Josh responded feeling a little sad about it.

"Well it's better than looking like a trespasser like me." Tyler responded looking away at one of his walls. "I go to the gym and the dining hall and everyone is either afraid to talk to me, or doesn't recognize me from anywhere. So I can imagine they all just think I'm some weirdo who lives here and doesn't go to any classes. So I don't have any friends either."

"Hey, we have each other now. Right?" Josh asked, finally not blushing while smiling happily.

Tyler moved his hand down toward his stomach and gently prodded Josh over onto his back. "You're right. Never thought my first friend here would be a tiny nerd."

Getting back up and sitting back down after laughing a little Josh smiled. "Never thought I'd be friends with a giant jock. So I guess that makes two of us!"

"You know what jocks do to nerds though, right?" Tyler smirked with a mischievous grin. Josh gulped a little, as he'd seen this look one too many times though out the course of today. Tyler leaned forward slightly and looked directly at Josh from across his body. With little effort, Tyler let loose a second, longer belch directed right at Josh, causing the little guy to stumble back slightly as Tyler rubbed his stomach a little once more. "They steal their lunches."

Josh regained his balance and smirked a little. letting the smell dissipate once more, Josh thought up a retort. "Well technically that was my dinner… so…"

Tyler simply rolled his eyes and placed his hand directly over Josh's position and trapped him against his muscular physique. Standing up and allowing Josh to fall back into his palm once more, Tyler moved across his room with his miniature friend in tow. "Little wise ass, huh?"

Looking around the room Tyler decided he'd show off his superiority a little and decided he'd…

Tyler smiled as he looked down at the floor toward his yoga mat. Sitting down on mat, Tyler extended out his legs and set Josh down between the middle of his legs. Josh looked up from the two massively tall legs beside him to Tyler's crotch presented directly in front of him. Josh bit his lip, starting to blush with embarrassment once more. Starting to move his hands up to his face to advert his eyes, Tyler quickly snapped his fingers from some distance above him.

"No way, bro!" Tyler said, continuing to snap his fingers until Josh uncovered his face. "None of this shyness crap or I'm gonna sit on you!"

Josh obediently uncovered his face and stared up at Tyler in his underwear only glory, much to his own embarrassment. "You wouldn't!"

"Don't tempt me, brah." Tyler mocked, lifting up his ass and inching toward Josh slightly before letting it slam back down on the ground.

"Ok ok!" Josh retreated slightly, seeing that Tyler more than efficiently made his point.

"Either way, you're not down here to overcome your shyness." Tyler stated with a straight face, raising an eyebrow as he saw Josh's face trail off in a different direction. "Little wise asses have to sit ups and push ups with their giant jocks."

Josh stopped blushing as his face simply turned to distaste. "Do I have to?" Josh groaned as Tyler shook his head rose his ass back up off the ground again. "Ok ok! Just… how many do I have to do?"

"That's better!" Tyler smiled as he rose his legs up with feet pressed to the ground beside Josh to get in a sit up position. "One hundred sit ups! Let's do 'em together!"

Josh laid on the ground, like Tyler and faced toward him. Tyler slowly started to raise his body, completing his first sit as Josh did the same. "One… two… three…"

- - -

Sweating like crazy, Josh panted barely able to raise his back a single time more just as Tyler finished. "One hundred! See that was easy!"

Tyler sat up and stretched his legs back out looking down at Josh who laid on his back exhausted. Scratching his head, Tyler was curious how many he actually did. "How'd you do, bud?"

Josh took deep breaths, before pulling himself up to respond. "Nin--ninety."

Tyler clapped his hands, "Woah dude, that's actually way better than I thought you'd do! Buuuuut you gotta do one hundred."

Josh fell right back on his back at the words and panted some more. "But Ty…"

"No but's unless you want this butt…" Tyler said turning himself around to have his back face Josh. "On your face."

Pulling out his phone, Tyler set a timer for five minutes. "Five minutes for ten sit ups, you can do it bro!"

Josh pulled up his back with all his might and yelled "Oooone!"

- - -

"Niiiiiiiiiiine!" Josh called out in pain as he back hit the floor once more. Legitimately unsure if he could keep going on, Josh shut his eyes.

"Thirty seconds! It's crunch time, bro!" Tyler's voice called out as he wiggled his ass a little at Josh. Not sure if Tyler would seriously do it or, Josh really wasn't willing to take the risk. Pulling in all the energy he could muster, Josh tried his best to pull himself up one last time…

"TEN!" Josh yelled just as Tyler's phone beeped. Falling on his back once more, Josh sweat like crazy through his clothes, touching his own soaked pits in disgust. Tyler turned back around to face Josh, keeping his legs crossed this time. Josh paid him no mind as he continued to lay on the floor in exhaustion.

"Sick set, brah! You ready for some killer push ups?" Tyler mocked, purposefully trying to sound like a gym bro. Josh simply ignored him as he continued to lay on the floor motionless. A dark shadow suddenly appeared over Josh as he opened his eyes, staring directly up at Tyler's chest. Starting to squirm away desperately, Josh was immediately stopped by Tyler's hand as the huge hunk knelt over him.

"What are you doing?!" Josh yelled up at his massive friend as his incredible body hung right above him. Tyler simply smirked as he started to shift his knees slightly.

"Getting ready to do push ups with you! I'm gonna go nonstop until you do ten push ups, brah!" Tyler added with extra emphasis for added humor. "Better do 'em quick, my record is seventy at the moment!"

Tyler used his pointer finger to flip Josh over on his stomach, preparing him to start doing his push ups. "I'm gonna get started, ok?" Tyler said as he lifted his knees to put his body in a plank position as he slowly lowered his body, nearly pressing Josh into the ground as he just barely hovered his chest from the floor. "Oooone!"

Josh felt Tyler's body nearly come down on him completely with the first push up. Panicking, he wasn't sure what exactly would happen if Tyler got to seventy. Thankfully his arms weren't as tired as he got into a plank position like Tyler and lowered his body down for his first push up. Already shaking from the first push up, Josh fell to his knees momentarily.

"Uh uh! No cheating, I want full plank push ups…" Tyler said as he lowed himself down once again with perfect form. "Siiiiix!"

Josh put himself back into plank position, unable to believe in the time he's struggled to do one measly push up, that Tyler's already completed six with out so much as a wobble. Lowering his body painfully a second time, Josh struggled to stop his arms from shaking on his second push up. Without pause Josh slowly completed push up after push up, before collapsing at nine.

"I counted nine for you, dude." Tyler chuckled playfully as his arms shook slightly. "Fifty five… come on dude, one more."

Feeling like he couldn't even move his arms anymore, Josh wasn't sure how he could possibly finish his last push up.

"I'm pathetic…" Josh whimpered as he tried to get up on his knees, arms shaking like crazy. Feeling Tyler descend over him once more, Tyler's arms shook and he started to sound out of breath.

"You can do it!" Tyler huffed as he rose once more with his arms shaking even more. "Sixty fiveeee!"

Putting himself into the plank position Josh tightened his arms and…

"HA!" Josh screamed as he lifted himself for the last time before immediately falling to the ground on his chin. As Tyler watched Josh finish the final push, he pushed himself away from Josh and let himself fall on his chin as well just behind where Josh laid with a tremendous thud. Spinning himself to turn and face Tyler, Josh smiled as he saw the huge man laying there with a goofy grin looking at him.

"Good job, dude. I didn't think I could go much longer!" Tyler chuckled slightly as he lifted one of his arms and let it fall to the ground with another thud. Josh smiled weakly as he still felt a little bad it took him as long as it did.

"Sorry I'm so pathetic… You almost fell on me because I'm so weak…" Josh pouted, looking away from Tyler's sweaty face. Tyler simply shook his head and closed his eyes with a smile.

"Did you really think I was gonna crush you either of those times?" Tyler asked seriously, as Josh looked slightly puzzled. "You aren't pathetic, I was just motivating you, brah!"

Josh chuckled at the face Tyler made when he ended his sentence. Glad to see his tiny friend laugh a little, Tyler stretched out his arms a little and turned his neck a bit side to side. "You should work out with me more often! Trying not to squash you with my chest was a great motivator too!"

"Pass." Josh replied with a weak wave of his hand. Tyler simply laughed as he moved his arms back to his sides. "But it is fun hanging out with you like this…"

Tyler's face turned a tiny bit red for a split second as he rubbed his nose and smiled. "I think so too! You're fun to mess with!"

Josh rolled on his back and smiled. It wasn't entirely the reply he wanted, but in a way Tyler's goofiness was an exceptionally fresh breath of air compared to some of his more up tight friends in the past. Josh watched as Tyler pushed himself up, sitting himself back in front of Josh with his legs crossed once more. Reaching down, Tyler carefully pinched Josh's tired body up and rested it softly in the palm of his hand. Forcing himself onto his feet, Tyler stumbled slightly as he stood up straight. Rubbing a hand down his back, Tyler stretched his torso a bit as he held Josh in front of his bare abs. Tyler scratched his stomach as he looked down at Josh, who still remained motionless.

"I'm gonna grab a protein shake, you want some water or something?" Tyler asked as his stomach growled slightly. Josh opened his eyes and sat up, putting a hand on his back as he did.

"Yeah water would be great." Josh replied weakly. "You're really hungry again?"

Tyler rubbed his abs softly at the comment. "Yeah I mean…" Tyler flexed his arm and made his chest pop a little as he reached down for the fridge. "It takes a lot to look this good!"

Josh smiled and rolled his eyes. If he didn't know Tyler better at this point he would have been a little disgusted with his ego, but knowing its just how he is he couldn't help but be amused. "Whatever you say, stud. You can put me down now if you want."

Tyler looked down at Josh who was getting to his feet finally. Pulling out some milk from the fridge, Tyler set it down next to the shrink ray on top of the mini fridge from earlier. Making his way over to the desk once more, Tyler lowered his hand and allowed Josh to stumble off the huge appendage to the ground below. Touching the ground, Josh sat back down, still not feeling entirely up for standing around. Tyler meanwhile turned away from Josh and sauntered slowly back over to the mini fridge. Josh blushed slightly as he watched Tyler's massive glutes bounce up and down with each step he took. Averting his eyes, he was glad Tyler wasn't looking or else he imagined his massive friend would threaten him in some bizarre way again.

While Josh looked away, Tyler finished making his protein shake, storing the powder and milk aside for it's next use. Reaching into the the fridge once more however, Tyler pulled out a bottle of water. Pulling off the cap and pouring a slight amount into the little ring, Tyler carried it and his shake over to his desk. Setting the water filled cap next to Josh, Tyler watched as the little man sat up and lifted himself up over the edge to take a drink. Taking a large sip from his own drink, Tyler couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Josh struggle.

"It's like a tiny swimming pool to you, dude." Tyler smiled enthusiastically as he watched Josh stick his head in the water, trying not to fall in completely.

"Guess you're on lifeguard duty then!" Josh joked as he pulled his face out and dropped off the side back to the ground. Tyler blushed slightly as he took another large gulp from his cup.

"Yeah something like that I guess…" He answered a little more meekly than Josh was used to his usual confident tone. Josh rose an eyebrow in a little suspicion, but quickly dropped it as he pulled himself up the the side of the cap once more for another drink. Silence sat between the two men for a few moments as Tyler took steady chugs from his drink, until the whole thing was completely gone. With a rub on his gut, Tyler finally broke the silence.

"Nothing like a belly full of protein!" Tyler said proudly before letting loose a low pitched belch. Josh simply smiled as the huge man admired his burp for a second, knowing better at this point about Tyler's burping. Reaching down for the cap of water, Tyler put his fingers around it. "May I?"

"By all means!" Josh answered with a smile as Tyler tilted his head and rose the cap to his mouth, draining it completely with a quick satisfied, "Ahhhh!"

"It has just a kick of Josh flavor to it!" Tyler said with a wink as he stood up and moved the cap back to the bottle and set his cup in the bathroom sink. Josh bit his lip a little at the comment, however.

"A good flavor I hope?" Josh asked with a nervous grin as Tyler made his way back to his chair with a laugh.

"Delicious! Although you probably shouldn't hope to taste good, bud." Tyler mocked leaning in close and snapping his teeth jokingly. "I might just eat you, runt!"

Knowing better than to get hung up over Tyler's jokes by now, Josh decided to have a little fun back. "I'd give you a hell of a stomachache, pretty boy!"

Tyler reared back, with a fake shocked expression. "Pretty boy?! Puh-lease! I'm a stud! You said so yourself."

Josh chuckled as Tyler raised his arms and posed after the comment. "Fine, but I'm no runt then!"

Tyler lowered his arms with a smile, laying them on the desk in front of him next to Josh. "Fairs fair I suppose, bud." Tyler stood up and rubbed his stomach while stretching his torso again. "It's late, dude. I'm gonna ready up for bed!"

Josh watched as Tyler walked his way over to the bathroom and shut the door. Rubbing his own face, Josh was certainly pretty tired after everything that happened today and couldn't wait to get some sleep himself. Yawning momentarily, Josh watched Tyler reemerge from the bathroom, rubbing a bit of deodorant on his arm pits.

"Why not take a shower in the morning?" Josh questioned as Tyler set down the stick of strong smelling deodorant.

"Huh? So I smell fresh for you, dude." Tyler smiled as he sniffed his own body. "Little sweaty, not bad though."

Josh tilted his head questioningly as Tyler lowered his hand. Getting up into the familiar palm once more, Josh couldn't help but ask as Tyler headed first over to the door way to shut the light off. "Where exactly am I sleeping?"

Tyler carried Josh over to his bed and laid down, dropping Josh on his bare abs much like he did earlier. "With me of course, bud."

Josh sat down on the solid muscle, pretty much resigning himself before he even asked a second question. "Don't suppose I have a say in this?"

"Nope!" Tyler responded instantly and concisely as he put his hands behind his head. "So settle in!"

Sighing, Josh figured as much. Dropping himself between Tyler's hilly abs, Josh tried his best to find a secure spot as Tyler's stomach rose and fell softly with each breath he took. Closing his eyes, Josh hoped Tyler was a fairly still sleeper. Tyler watched as Josh made himself comfortable, lowering his arms and putting one of his hands over Josh on his stomach, Tyler shut his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

A few hours past and…

A low gurgle moaned just under Josh, the fifth of it's kind in the last half hour. Trying to ignore the noises for what seemed like forever, Josh rolled about in between Tyler's abs. Staring up, Josh saw Tyler's hand still resting in the same position from hours ago, covering the sky and nearly sealing him between the two abdominal muscles. Feeling restless, Josh tried to pull himself out between Tyler's fingers and poked his head out into the open. It was still very dark, and all Josh could make out was the slowly rising, then lowering of Tyler's massive body as far as his vision would allow. Hearing another growl just below him once more, Josh decided he'd try and take a little stroll while Tyler's stomach had a chance to settle. Pulling himself completely up between Tyler's fingers, Josh rubbed his eyes as they started to feel more adjusted to the darkness.

"I just need a little stretch…" Josh said to himself as he dropped off Tyler's hand and made his way to Tyler's upper abdomen, just before his mountainous pecs. Josh blushed as he stared intently at the two peaks as Tyler's chest fell and rose slightly in his rhythmic sleeping pattern. "Those are pretty huge… even if I wasn't so small…"

Slowly approaching Tyler's right pec, Josh walked carefully on Tyler's soft skin. Reaching out a hand, Josh touched the very base of the huge muscle and felt his face turn even more red. Turning his attention away from Tyler's chest, Josh tried to see if he could see anything in the room or make out any details of time from the window. Unable to get a good angle, Josh finally noticed Tyler had an alarm clock resting on his beside table, next to his cellphone. The bright red numbering shouldn't have been hard to miss before, but Josh simply rubbed his eyes sleepily, letting exhaustion be his excuse.

"5:50am?" Josh panicked. "How? I've barely slept a wink!"

Josh looked back at Tyler's hand, covering his bare belly. Sighing, he figured he should try and make his way back, even if he'd only get a couple hours of sleep in the end. Suddenly, Tyler took in a deep breath, knocking Josh to his knees as his body settled back down into normality. Turning around, Josh was actually curious about Tyler's sleeping face. Not sure if he'd get a chance to explore his sleeping friend like this again, Josh thought about just pulling an all-nighter instead. Sighing, with tired angst Josh decided to…

Yawning, Josh figured it would be best to just go back and settle himself under Tyler's hand. After all, he wasn't sure what time the massive jock gets up in the morning, and he didn't want to be lost somewhere on his body and not be found. Knowing it was the smartest decision, Josh sleepily marched his way back to Tyler's hand, just as some sunlight started to pour into Tyler's room. Slipping his way between the same fingers as before, Josh dropped down between Tyler's abs and laid on his side, closing his eyes. Doing his best to clear his mind, Josh finally drifted off to sleep.

- - -

A few hours passed and Josh found himself being jerked awake suddenly. Rubbing his eyes, he looked up to see Tyler's hand was no longer obstructing his view, instead he saw Tyler's face looking down at him with a smile. "Man, you must've slept good! I woke up a little while ago and saw you still snoozing like a little log!"

Josh rubbed his eyes and plopped his head roughly back down on the ground in sleepiness. "What time is it?"

"7:30. I wasn't sure how late you usually slept, so I tried not to bother you." Tyler grinned. Tyler watched as Josh laid motionless, before finally sitting up slowly and yawning deeply. Watching more as Josh tried to pull his way out of Tyler's abs, but failing as he slipped back down, Tyler decided to reach down and carefully scoop the little man into his hand. "You alright?"

Josh fell to his butt and sat down in Tyler's palm, forcing his eyes to stay open in the process. "I'm fine, no worries!"

Getting up and walking over to his desk, he set Josh down on his chair and backed away to grab the shrink ray. Josh laid down on the comfy leather of the chair and closed his eyes for a moment, nearly falling asleep once more. Tyler looked down at the little guy, feeling bad that he didn't get nearly as much sleep as he'd care to admit. Setting the shrink ray down on the desk, Tyler left Josh at peace for a moment while he retreated to the bathroom. Returning momentarily with clothes on, Tyler wore a white sleeveless spandex shirt, a pair of tight looking black running pants, and he started to slip on one of his many pairs of running shoes.

"I'm gonna go for a run, you just relax!" Tyler whispered loudly. Without getting a response, Tyler smiled figuring Josh had gone back to sleep already. Leaving quietly through the door, Tyler made sure to click the lock on his way out. All the while, sure enough did Josh completely fall back asleep in the comforting silence.

- - -

Waking up after a little time, Josh rubbed his eyes as he heard the door to the room open once more. Josh sat up as he watched a sweat drenched Tyler mosey on into the room, wiping his brow as he closed the door behind him. Still feeling pretty exhausted Josh pulled out his phone to check the time. Unfortunately, since it didn't get a charge last night, the device didn't power on. Looking over to the alarm clock, Josh squinted, seeing the time as 8:30 now. Yawning, Josh still felt quite drowsy, feeling like the less than three hours of sleep he got was far from sufficient.

"Feel a little better, dude?" Tyler asked, dripping with sweat as he made his way over, putting a hand on the back of the chair. "Why don't we get you back up to size!"

Josh smiled as he sat up straight, letting Tyler turn the chair and pointing the shrink ray at him. Tyler clicked the switch to undo the shrinking and carefully aimed it at Josh and…

Pressing the trigger, Tyler watched as a bright light emitted from the shrink ray directly at Josh. In a flash, Tyler was able to see Josh back to his normal height sitting at his desk chair. Tyler set the shrink ray down on the desk as he put out a hand for Josh to grab. Smiling, yet still sleepy, Josh grabbed Tyler's hand and was pulled up and out of the chair into a sweaty bro-hug. Relaxing, Josh let Tyler hug him for a moment before the muscular man released. Wiping some of Tyler's sweat off himself, Josh looked up to see Tyler still grinning stupidly at him.

"What's the face for?" Josh asked suspiciously, as he grabbed the shrink ray and put it inside his back pack.

"You felt so relaxed, dude!" Tyler smirked, hoping this meant Josh was mostly over his shyness. Josh simply shook his head and sighed.

"Well I did just spend the entire night literally sleeping on top of you…" Josh answered back much to Tyler's nodding approval. "Not to mention I'm tired as hell."

"Yeah, you look even worse up close, dude." Tyler said, bending down to peek at Josh's tired face. "You should just try and relax for a couple hours. We can always work on stuff later."

"Yeah that's probably a good idea…" Josh thought, wondering if Bobby would care if he just passed out for a couple hours. Josh turned to the doorway and smiled at Tyler. "I'll see you later then, I'll text you."

Tyler gave Josh a thumbs up as he let him out, shutting the door as he left. Rubbing his eyes with sleepiness, Josh left the special housing building and made his way back to his own dorm room.

- - -

Walking up to his room, Josh was relieved to see there was no sock anywhere to be found on the door. Reaching in his bag for his keys Josh unlocked the door and headed inside. Peeking in slowly, Josh looked toward Bobby's side of the room and saw his muscled roommate laying in his bed on his stomach. Shirtless, the huge football hunk simply wore a pair of black and red basketball shorts and black socks to bed. Trying not to make a noise as he entered the room, Josh shut the door. The sound caused Bobby to stir a little, flipping his body and sitting up.

"Morning dude." Bobby said, starting to stretch his arms and standing up. "You never came back last night, I was gonna text you this morning!"

Josh watched as Bobby got out of bed, standing up and showing off his impressive body. His build was very similar to that of Tyler's with a couple key differences. First off Josh knew Bobby was much fairer skinned as he looked much paler in comparison to Tyler. Second was the bits of body hair Bobby sported, unlike Tyler. Small bits of light brown hair scattered itself evenly on Bobby's upper chest, before going fairly smooth down the rest of his body, until right below his bellybutton laid another collection of groomed light brown hair. Refocusing, Josh watched as Bobby started to approach him.

"There was a sock on the door knob when I came by around dinner." Josh explained. "So I just stayed with a friend to give you some privacy."

"Ahhh must've just been bad timing. I only had that chick for a little while." Bobby answered, rubbing the back of his neck with a smirk and exposing his light hair under his arm pit. "That wasn't very cool of me though, bro. I'm sorry."

Josh smiled with a little sleep still bugging his eyes. "Don't worry about it, water under the bridge."

Bobby moved toward Josh a little more and extended out his right arm. "Nah dude, bring it in."

Used to this sort of thing after only one day, Josh didn't object as he moved in for the embrace as Bobby pulled him in close, face pressed against his somewhat hairy chest. Josh pat the huge man on his back as high up as he could reach, before giving off a light yawn. Bobby released Josh looking down at his short roommate's tired face. "You look really tired, man."

"Oh… well my friend didn't exactly have a spare bed…" Josh started to explain.

"Ah stuck with the floor?" Bobby finished for him as Josh made his way over to his desk, unzipping his backpack and pulling out the shrink ray to set on his desk.

"Pretty much yeah." Josh replied, not wanting to explain in further detail at the moment while he was setting his bag on the floor and making his way over to his closet.

"What's that thing you just set out, dude?" Bobby asked, walking over to the shrink ray and looking down at it. "Looks all sci-fi and shit!"

"It's a little tricky to explain, sorry I just feel gross." Josh replied looking down at his sweat covered clothes, most of the liquids weren't even his own. "I'm just gonna take a shower."

"No problem, bro." Bobby replied with a grin. "I've got practice in a little bit so you might just have to show me later."

Grabbing a couple clothes, Josh seemed a little confused. "Practice, I thought you were a football player? It's spring."

Bobby shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Well they aren't official practices. Just things our captains organize to keep us in shape, like running laps and going to the gym and shit."

"Oh gotcha." Josh replied, a little unenthusiastic due to his sleepiness. Pulling his dead phone out of his pocket, Josh attached it to his charger on his desk, next to the shrink ray. "Alright, well If I don't see you when I'm out… have a good time at practice!"

"Yeah and make sure to show me your crazy mad scientist crap later too!" Bobby laughed pointing at the shrink ray he still had no knowledge about. Nodding his head and promising, Josh grabbed his clothes and a towel and made his way into the bathroom and shut the door. Waiting for the shower to turn on, Bobby walked back over to the mysterious device and picked it up. There was quite a few buttons and knobs, and Bobby decided to flip a couple switchs, just to see what it would do. With no solid feedback Bobby decided to poke at a little trigger looking thing. Backing out as he clicked it in, he set it back down on the table, not wanting to mess with it any further. Moving back to his side of the room, Bobby stripped down and changed into a pair of spandex shorts and pulled up a pair blue athletic shorts over the underwear. Leaving his other clothes simply on the ground, Bobby reached for a tank top and pulled it over his torso. Patting his chest a bit and grabbing one of his signature baseball caps, Bobby turned it backwards on his head. Deciding to leave his phone and keys on his desk, Bobby pulled open the door and left it unlocked.

- - -

Putting on his clothes and pulling open the bathroom door, Josh smiled, feeling much more refreshed and awake than before. Looking out into the room, Josh noticed Bobby had already left. Looking over at Bobby's side of the room he saw some underwear and the shorts he was wearing resting on the floor next to his bed. Walking over to his side of the room, Josh dropped his dirty clothes in a little hamper he kept in his closet, not wanting to make a mess similar to his roommate's. Stretching as he looked back over at Bobby's side of the room once more, he noticed Bobby's phone and keys sitting on his desk.

"Guess I better leave the door unlocked." Josh said to himself as he walked over to his desk and sat down at his chair in front of the shrink ray. Feeling a lot better after having a shower, Josh reached for his phone and noticed it gained a fair charge already. Pulling it off the charger, Josh thought he might give Tyler a text in a few minutes to meet up to do some research. Storing his phone in his pocket however, Josh noticed the shrink ray seemed to be facing a different direction that he left it.

"Hmm?" Josh questioned as he faced the device at himself. With a sudden click the trigger on the shrink ray released, sending off a bright flash directly at Josh. Shielding his eyes, Josh felt himself start to shrink once more. Uncovering his face, he looked around to see he was seated at the very edge of his chair. Pushing himself away from the edge in surprise Josh panted as he made his way toward the middle of the chair. "God damn! What happened?"

Looking up, Josh could see the underside of his desk and barely see the tip of the shrink ray peeking over the edge. Biting his lip, Josh had no idea how to get up there, even if he did he would have no way to pull the trigger and be in front of the beam to regrow himself. Putting a hand on his pocket however, Josh remembered luckily he had his phone with him. Pulling it out and looking at the battery, he realized he didn't have quite as good of a charge as he thought. Glad for having his phone though, Josh pulled up his two most recent contacts, Tyler and Bobby.

"I could text Tyler…" Josh said to himself. "I might have just enough charge to explain to him how to get here and find me…"

"I could just leave my phone off and wait for Bobby to get back though." Josh figured. "Then just call his phone and try and explain what's going on…"

Unsure, Josh didn't know if his charge was strong enough to direct Tyler here, but also Bobby doesn't even know about the shrink ray. Would he even believe him? Wanting to make a decision fast as the charge on his phone dropped another percent Josh decided to…

"I've just gotta get Tyler here… I trust him." Josh said to himself selecting Tyler's contact and pulling open his messenger app. Josh froze for a second as the battery ticked down another percent, however. "What do I say?"

Josh turned off his phone's display for a moment while he mulled it over. He didn't want to sound stupid, but he also didn't want to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal. Turning back on his display Josh started to type the message. "Hey Ty, There was some kind of accident with the shrink ray when I got back to my dorm. It misfired or something and I kinda got shrunk. Now I'm a little stuck on my own chair. Could you come help me?"

Josh read the text back to himself aloud. It didn't sound urgent like he was hanging over bottomless pit, but it also didn't sound so relaxed that Tyler should take his time. Satisfied, Josh hit send and turned the display back off to await his response. Closing his eyes a moment in frustration Josh's phone started to buzz a few times, indicating he was getting a call.

"BAHAHAHAHA!" Tyler's voiced bellowed as soon as Josh answered the call. "You shrunk yourself in your room?"

"Shut it!" Josh fired back at Tyler. "It was an accident, I don't even know how it happened… anyway, do you think you can help me?"

"I just grabbed breakfast though, duuuuude." Tyler replied in a purposefully whiny sounding voice. "Don't you have nice helpful, sexed up roommate who can help?"

"He's out, actually." Josh sighed slightly depressed. "He literally just left for practice, and god knows how long it'll be till he's back."

"Alright. Alrightalrightalright!" Tyler spoke quickly. "I'm gonna finish eating and then I'll call you back."

"Wait!" Josh yelled as the phone clicked off. Pulling Tyler's number back up, he tried to call Tyler back but after just a few rings was sent straight to voice mail. "Shit… he's messing with me…"

Turning the display off on his phone, Josh was determined to save as much of his battery as he could while he tried to wait patiently for Tyler to call back. Tapping his feet together while biting his lip, Josh tried his best to just sit still and wait.

"What's taking hims so long?" Josh wondered aloud, badly wanting to check his phone to see how much time passed since he hung up.

- - -

Some time passed and Josh held out his phone. Looking down at the display, Josh saw the phone light up, indicating…

Josh's face lit up as his phone buzzed with Tyler's name popping up on the caller ID. Clicking the answer button with joy, Josh held the phone eagerly to his ear. "Final--"

"UUUUUUUURRRRRRRRPPPpppp…" Tyler interrupted with a loud drawn out belch as Josh needed to hold the phone away from his ear. "Ahhhh! So you needed me, boss?"

Josh made a face, slightly repulsed by Tyler's exaggerated burp followed by calling him "boss". "What am I, 11?"

"You kind of look it, little fella." Tyler replied in a silly, mocking tone. Josh simply shook his head as his phone beeped, indicating low battery.

"Look my battery is about to die! So listen close!" Josh commanded as Tyler fell silent and listened intently. Giving the name of his building as well as his floor and room number, Josh quickly rattled off directions to the dorm. Being familiar with the campus, Tyler understood and knew exactly where the dorm was.

"The door to my room is unlocked too, so we caught a lucky break with that!" Josh said with confidence, knowing help was finally on its way.

"Alright dude. I'll be there in a--" Tyler was cut off by a beeping noise coming from his phone. Josh held it away from his ear and looked at it to see the battery finally did die. Josh sighed in relief, glad he got the message across before his phone powered down on him. Storing the now useless device in his pocket, Josh could do little more than wait for Tyler to come to his aide.

- - -

Several minutes passed and Josh sat back with his eyes closed, waiting patiently for Tyler to come through the door. As if on cue, Josh heard the door knob turn. Looking over at the door, Josh watched in delight to see Tyler 's massive body make his way through the door. Wearing a red backwards baseball cap, a red spandex shirt with black on the sides as well as a pair of black athletic shorts and black shoes, Josh actually had to admire how good Tyler looked in red in black for a moment. Josh watched as Tyler looked from one side of the room to the other.

"Hmmm, I wonder which side of the room belongs to the nerd, and which belongs to the playboy?" Tyler said looking around the room already noticing the shrink ray set on Josh's desk. Walking over to Bobby's side, he noticed a pair of spandex on the ground as well as Bobby's collection of baseball caps. "Huh, under armor and some sick lids? Seems pretty nerdy to me…"

Walking over to Josh's side of the room, Tyler looked down at the spotless floor and collections of sciences books stacked up on a shelf. "Tidiness and science books? Seems like something a playboy would do and have…"

Tyler looked over at Josh's desk and made his way over to the chair looking down at it and seeing Josh seated in the middle. Pulling out the chair and turning to face Josh with his ass Tyler started to lower his body into the seat. "I think I need to sit down and take a moment to decide which side of the room is who's…"

Josh started up in terror as Tyler's impressive ass started to slowly make it's way down over Josh's position. Unsure if he should scream for him to stop, or roll his eyes over Tyler's antics, Josh simply covered his face. Making not so much of a sound as the shadow of Tyler' ass came down mere inches from squashing him out of existence, before Tyler turned around and knelt down on the floor to face Josh with a goofy grin. Josh uncovered his face as he looked at Tyler directly in his deep brown eyes.

"I knew you weren't gonna do it!" Josh blushed as Tyler rose an eyebrow with doubt.

"Oh then why did you hide your face?" Tyler smirked as he rested an arm in front of Josh on the chair. "Maybe we could try again and if you cover your face, I'll just sit on it."

"Fine fine, I thought you were really going to sit on me." Josh grumbled as Tyler smiled cockily, happy that he had won. Getting off his knees and standing up, Tyler reached onto Josh's desk and casually picked up the shrink ray.

"So it misfired, huh?" Tyler said, looking at the device from the side, careful not to point it directly at himself.

"Yeah it seemed like the trigger got pressed in and stuck. Then it popped out and fired when I went to look at it." Josh explained, trying to make himself seem less dumb for getting himself shrunk. "I was lucky I grabbed my phone before it fired."

Tyler laughed, as he thought about Josh being lost in his room without a way to contact anyone. "Could you imagine your roommate coming back and not noticing you were here?"

Josh shivered at the thought of Bobby stomping his way around the room or having another girl over while he was trapped somewhere at the size he is. Josh crossed his arms as he tried his best not to think about it as Tyler looked down at him as he laughed again. "Yeah just imagine your roommate bringing home another girl and…"

"Upupup!" Josh stopped Tyler from continuing his thought any further. "I don't want to think about it. Can I just go back to normal now, please?"

"Yeah, yeah." Tyler replied, setting the shrink ray to turn Josh back to normal once more. Pointing the device at Josh, Tyler pulled the trigger as a bright light was emitted from the ray like before. Josh rubbed his eyes as he looked around. Everything around him was still gigantic as his eyes eventually rested on Tyler's puzzled face.

"It didn't work?" Josh asked, having no idea why it wasn't regrowing him.

"It worked earlier, maybe something else got screwy like the trigger?" Tyler asked as he looked around on the sides of the shrink ray. "There's a bunch of other knobs on here I'm not familiar with."

"Yeah maybe one of those knobs got accidentally turned to a wrong calibration." Josh thought for a moment have marked down all of the calibrations in his note book in the lab. "You remember that notebook I had yesterday?"

"The one you left at the lab, dude?" Tyler asked as he started to put the shrink ray away in Josh's backpack.

"Unfortunately yes." Josh responded as he watched Tyler zip the bag up and sling it carefully over his shoulder. Tyler simply waved his hand side to side as he reached down to offer Josh a ride.

"It's no biggie, dude. We were gonna head there eventually anyway." Tyler smiled as he watched Josh climb on to his hand. Moving Josh up to his free shoulder, he let his little friend slide off onto the smooth spandex of his shirt. "Hold on to my shirt, dude. I'll walk slow."

Josh looked around the room from his viewpoint on Tyler's shoulder. It was actually really neat seeing everything from so high up in the room. Josh gripped onto the the slick spandex, getting a decent hold on the fabric as Tyler started to walk forward. Josh and Tyler reached the door and…

Josh held on tight as he and Tyler left the dorm room, making the short walk over to the science labs. Tyler swiped his ID allowing him access to the building as well as the lab. Casually walking his way inside, Tyler set down the backpack in a chair and peeked down at his other shoulder. Seeing Josh practically laying there holding on for dear life, Tyler couldn't help but chuckle a little as he scooped the tiny man into his hands. Lowering Josh down onto the table, Tyler let the little man drop a bit as he tumbled onto the surface.

"Careful!" Josh yelled up to Tyler as he rubbed his head in a little pain. Tyler simply squinted as he looked down at his tiny friend.

"Sorry, dude. I thought you were good." Tyler responded while rubbing his arm. Josh brushed himself off, not really in any real pain already.

"It's no biggie! Let's just get started, wanna grab my notebook?" Josh asked as he pointed his tiny arm in the direction of a black notebook at the other end of the table.Tyler reached over for the notebook, opening it up and turning the pages. Going by page by page Tyler's eyes started to widen slightly in confusion.

"How do you even read this?" Tyler complained turning the notebook to face Josh and pointing at what looked like a bunch of scribbles. Josh laughed for a second before he shook his head in response.

"Those are boredom doodles from when I would be stuck in the lab waiting for a program to load." Josh smirked as he crossed his arms. Tyler turned the notebook back to himself and looked a little closer.

"Right, I knew that!" Tyler responded as he nodded his head with confidence. Josh rose an eyebrow as he watched the handsome man look through his notes, continuing to figure out what he needed on his own. Laughing a little in his head, Josh thought he actually looked really cute trying to figure it out as he scratched the front of his head under his hat.

"Want some help, Ty?" Josh asked in a smug tone as Tyler lowered the notebook to look at him. Setting it down open in front of Josh, Tyler gave up trying to decipher the notes on his own. Having Tyler turn a couple pages, Josh ended up finding the right page. "Here we are, now we just need to set those knobs to the right frequencies."

Pulling out the shrink ray, Tyler held it out in front of him, following Josh's instructions exactly as to how each knob was supposed to be turned. Josh double checked each knob as Tyler held the device in front of him to see, and Josh shook his head, confident everything was back to perfect order. Crossing his legs and sitting the on the table, Tyler cleared away space as he pointed the shrink ray at Josh once more. With a bright flash, Josh shut his eyes for a moment while he hoped everything went right. Opening them up and looking around, he found everything was back to normal as he sat in the middle of the table in front of Tyler. Josh stepped off the table with a smile as Tyler set the shrink ray down. Grabbing Josh by the hand and immediately pulling him in for a bro-hug, Josh relaxed, glad the shrinking ordeal was over once more.

"You look good in red, by the way." Josh complimented Tyler after getting a face full of his red shirt. Tyler looked down at his shirt and smiled at the comment.

"Thanks, dude. It's my favorite color. Probably because I wanna---" Tyler was interrupted by a click on the door as it swung open, revealing Tyler's father. Tyler immediately froze up, staring directly at the man.

With a quick glare at Tyler, the professor instead changed his view to Josh and smiled. "Hopefully your work is going well. I have good news!"

"Sir?" Josh answered shortly, hoping the two faced man would state his business and be off.

"Yes well… your invention has reached the interest of several different important people. Hospitals, scientists, even nursing homes and jails!" The man spouted happily that so many places are taking interest in his young pupil. "You must be excited."

"WE, actually… are very busy." Josh replied with extra emphasis. "There's still a lot we need to perfect, sir. So we would actually like to avoid jumping the gun with anything."

The professor looked over at Tyler after Josh's constant use of the word "we" with confusion. "You better not be holding my star pupil back any."

Josh looked up at Tyler who looked like he was building up the courage to respond. "I wouldn't do that, not to Josh. His work is inspiring."

Tyler's father's eyebrows rose a little in surprise. "Inspiring? Does that mean you've come to your senses as my son and realize what you were born to be?"

"He can be whatever he wants to be." Josh spat out, not waiting for Tyler to defend himself this time. "Just because he enjoys our work doesn't mean he has to be a scientist!"

Tyler smiled as he looked down at Josh's determined face, as Tyler's father stood there in shock once more. "Right… well… you said you were busy. Carry on."

Josh and Tyler watched as the man left the room in a hurry, shutting the door quickly behind him. Tyler shook his head with a chuckle as he put a hand on Josh's shoulder. "Damn, dude. He's gonna hate you if you keep defending me like that."

"Who cares. Besides, did you see the way he was rubbing his hands together when he was talking about all those places that want my invention?" Josh answered as he crossed his arms in disgust. "I guarantee he wants a cut of that money through those businesses."

"Well you'd probably still make out pretty well selling it in the end anyway, right?" Tyler asked, not sure how much this sort of invention would be worth.

Josh shook his head, closing his eyes in thought. "I've got a dream I want to accomplish with this thing. I don't plan on selling it."

Tyler moved his arm, wrapping it around Josh's side and pulling him in close to him. "See this is what I mean about you being inspiring, dude. You're chasing your dream and you won't let money or my dad steer you away!"

Josh smiled happily as he put his arm behind Tyler on his muscular back. "With any luck, maybe we both can do what we wanna do!"

Tyler rubbed a hand in Josh's hair before letting him push away. "As long as you remember me when you're a big shot!"

Josh fixed his hair with a grin as he turned back to the table and the shrink ray. Grabbing the device and storing it in his backpack, Josh zipped the bag as he turned his attention to Tyler. "I think I've had enough fun with this for one day…"

Tyler looked at the clock in the room and shook his head in agreement. "Yeah, you still look pretty tired too, dude." He said looking at Josh's face. "Text me though if you wanna hang out though, ok?"

"I will." Josh laughed as he pulled out his phone. "I just need to charge the stupid thing, also I may end up just passing out early…"

The two started to leave the building, making their way down the hallway. "Well maybe I'll see you later, I'm gonna go work out!"

Josh laughed as he opened the door, turning to say good bye to Tyler as the two made their separate ways. Deciding to make a quick stop toward the dining hall, Josh turned a different way as Tyler made his way up a hill in a similar direction. Josh yawned as he approached the building before someone else came his direction. Walking toward him came a somewhat intimidating looking guy, shorter than Tyler or Bobby but still much taller than Josh's small stature. He was wearing sunglasses and had a short buzzed brown hair cut. Wearing a tight black tee shirt, Josh could tell he was in really good shape. Up both of his muscular arms he had an assortment of tattoos, too many different ones to tell what they all were. Wearing a similar pair of football shorts that Bobby had on when they met, Josh figured this man to also be a part of the football team as he continued to make his way directly at Josh. Surprised he wasn't moving out of the way, Josh tried at the last second to move before bumping directly into the man and falling to the ground on his ass. Josh sat up in pain, checking his bag first before looking up at the huge man as he stopped.

"I'm so sorry!" Josh apologized from the floor as the man looked down at him with a disgusted frown. "I must've not been looking where I was going."

Josh watched as the stranger moved toward him, raising his foot as he kicked Josh in the chest. Falling to his side, Josh clutched his chest as the massive stranger spoke.

"Well next time, you betta pay attention, runt!" The man spat in a light Boston accent. Josh groaned in pain with his eyes closed as the man rose his foot again. Getting ready to kick Josh while he was down once again, the stranger moved his foot in and…

Josh kept his eyes closed, tensing up his body and reading himself to be in more pain when he heard a familiar voice directly over him.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?!" Josh opened his eyes to see Tyler standing over him, grabbing the stranger by the leg. Josh rolled back onto his butt as he watched Tyler push the guy off his other foot and knock him to the ground before continuing to yell at the man. "Who the fuck do you think you are?!"

"Who am I?!" The stranger said, struggling to get to his feet in anger. "I'm one of the captains of the football team, bitch! So back the fuck off!"

"So that's how you represent your team then? By bullying random dude who accidentally ran into you?!" Tyler spat angrily as the man removed his sunglasses, revealing a livid looking pair of blue eyes. With a smirk, Josh watched as the man moved in, sucker punching Tyler in the gut with a fleshy slap. Josh bit his lip in anger before he realized Tyler didn't even flinch. With ease, Tyler reached down and grabbed the smaller man's arm and took him down, twisting his arm behind his back. Josh watched as the man struggled to break free before pushing himself away, face red with fury.

"Whateva! This is a waste of my time. Fuck both of you!" The stranger said, passing by Tyler and ramming his shoulder into Tyler's as he passed and spitting on the ground next to Josh before walking down the path and out of sight. Tyler turned around and looked at Josh on the floor, still looking pissed off. Josh frowned as he stumbled to his feet and and walked up to Tyler while clutching his chest.

"Are you alright?!" Josh asked as Tyler looked confused, before lifting up his shirt to reveal a fist sized red welt on his stomach. Josh panted as he was concerned for his friend. "That looks like… it hurts. Maybe we should get some ice…"

Tyler walked up close to Josh and knelt down. Josh's face being a bit above Tyler's now at this point, Tyler lifted Josh's shirt to look at his chest. Making a face, Tyler noticed the huge purple bruise forming on his friend's body. Tyler lowered Josh's shirt and stood back up, putting a hand on Josh's shoulder. "Why didn't you do anything… fight back, run away, or call for help?"

Josh coughed, not feeling so well at the moment as he clutched his chest. "He was bigger than me… I don't know what I could've done. I was lucky you saw what happened… thank you…"

"That guy was a tool." Tyler mumbled with anger. "Can you walk?"

Josh held his chest, huffing a little bit. "Yeah… I should be fine…"

Tyler stopped Josh from moving by holding his shoulder for a second. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To the dining hall? Then back to my dorm…" Josh wheezed as he looked up at Tyler's serious face.

"You're coming with me to the health center. I'd seriously just pick up and carry you, but I don't want to hurt you any more than you've been already, dude." Tyler said with authority as he moved to Josh's side and put his arm around him, guiding him in the direction of the health center. Walking slowly next to each other, Josh gripped his chest as they walked along a new path together. Tyler looked down at Josh's face, watching a bit of blood drip from his mouth.

"Red's not such a good color on you, bud." He said, trying to crack a joke as Josh rubbed the base of his mouth with a weak smile.

- - -

Making their way into the health center a few people watched silently as Tyler directed Josh inside, wondering if he was the one responsible for the smaller guy's injury. Walking up to the counter Tyler addressed the receptionist with urgency.

"We need to see a nurse… my friend got hurt pretty bad." Tyler pleaded as the woman looked over at Josh, blood dripping from his mouth again. The woman got out of her chair and came around the counter to support Josh's other side.

"I'll see him right away." She said as she took Josh out from under Tyler's arm. Tyler started to follower her as she quickly shoo'd him with her other hand, addressing him with a suspicious tone. "You stay here…"

Josh stopped his feet, causing the nurse to stop as well, looking at him confused as he started to look upset. "Tyler didn't do this! Plus he got hurt too!"

The nurse apologized as she waved Tyler to follow along as well now. Bringing them into a small room, she helped Josh up to sit on the exam table and offered Tyler a chair next to it. Josh wiped the blood from his face as he lifted up his shirt revealing a nasty looking bruise in the middle of his chest. "Oh my…" The nurse said as she grabbed a cotton ball and some ointment, starting to treat Josh's bruise. "What happened?"

"Some punk kicked him in the chest after they accidentally ran into each other." Tyler said, crossing his arms as he got pissed just thinking about it. The nurse looked over at Tyler, still a little suspicious.

"Really?" She asked, patting Josh's chest gently with the cotton ball and pulling out some bandages.

"If it wasn't for Tyler stepping in… he would have probably kept hitting me." Josh wheezed a little weakly as the ointment stung a little on his chest. "He needs an ice pack!"

The nurse put a hand on Josh's shoulder as Josh tried to stand up suddenly. "Hold on a moment, I'll grab him one in a second." She said turning Tyler. "You drove this bully off then?"

"Yeah, don't worry I didn't hurt him." He said as he put a hand on his stomach. "But he did gut punch me pretty good."

Tyler pulled up his shirt slightly, revealing the welt on his abs. Putting down the cotton ball to grab more ointment, the nurse quickly reached into a little fridge, pulling out an ice pack and wrapping it in a paper towel before handing it to Tyler. Tyler pressed the cold pack to his skin, thanking the nurse in the process as she started to bandage Josh's torso up.

"Who did all this to you two anyway?" She asked, now more convinced Tyler wasn't the assailant.

"He was spouting something about being on the football team?" Josh answered weakly, as the nurse looped around Josh's body with the soft white bandage.

"Yeah he said he was a captain. That shit would have never flown on my old high school team." Tyler scoffed, holding the pack firmly to his stomach and stamping on the floor slightly. "We didn't catch his name though."

"Must've been either Jeff or Owen…" She said under her breath. "I get boys in here from the football team complaining about those two all the time… it's such a shame."

"Why don't they say anything to their coach?" Josh asked as she cut the end of the bandage and secured it at the front of his body. The nurse simply sighed as Josh asked the question.

"The man doesn't care. He picked those two specifically so they could be tyrants to toughen the team up." She said with a sad voice as she reached for another ice pack, handing it to Josh. "Still it's one thing being rough on your teammates, but a whole different story when one of them goes around beating up random students."

"Doesn't seem like there's much we could do about it if the coach just protects them, though." Josh said, seeming a little nervous to walk around campus alone at the risk of running into the stranger once again. Josh held the ice pack to his chest, feeling a lot more relieved with the cool ice touching his bruise. "Thank you for your help, by the way."

Josh and Tyler got up as the nurse gave them both a friendly smile, warning them to be careful and to come back if they ever need. Thanking her once more as they walked out the door, Josh and Tyler left the health center. Josh looked up at Tyler, who still looked a little pissed off.

"Are you gonna go work out now?" Josh asked, as Tyler snapped to a quick smiled as he looked down at Josh.

"Not until I see you back at your dorm, safe and sound." Tyler replied putting a hand on Josh's back. Josh turned his head slightly as he swore he heard the nurse inside go "awww" before turning back to Tyler as they walked away from the building. The two walked along the path back to Josh's dorm, glad to see nothing but typical college students along the way. Making it to Josh's dorm building, Tyler looked off into the direction of the dining hall.

"You were gonna have dinner weren't you?" Tyler asked, realizing the detour stopped Josh from getting something to eat. Josh shook his head, trying not to make it a big deal.

"I can just heat up a bowl of soup in the common room." Josh smiled at Tyler, happy he was thinking about him still. "I could ask Bobby about that guy on the football team too if he's around."

"Who's Bobby?" Tyler asked, looking a little confused. Josh nodded his head, remembering he never mentioned him by name.

"My roommate, I forgot I never actually said his name." Josh explained. "He's the quarterback on the football team, so maybe he'd have some insight on either Owen or Jeff."

"Your roommate is THAT Bobby?" Tyler asked, surprised. "Dude, I watched like all the games last season, that guy was awesome!"

"You wanna meet him?" Josh asked with a smile as Tyler looked a little excited. Tyler tapped his foot while he thought for a second…

"Ok yo. So forget your soup, dude. I'm gonna grab a couple dinners and bring them back to the dorm." Tyler said with a smile, taking the ice pack away from his stomach. Josh smiled as he watched Tyler walk away in excitement. Still gripping his chest in a bit of pain, Josh held his ice pack firm in place as he made his way into the dorm and up to his room. Reaching for his keys from his bag, Josh unlocked the door and made his way inside. Opening the door, Josh looked over at Bobby's side of the room, seeing his roommate trying to set up a rather large TV on his desk.

"Yo, good timing! You know how set this up?" Bobby said turning around to face Josh. Josh smiled weakly as he saw his roommate had changed into a black backward baseball cap, grey tank top, a pair of navy blue sweatpants and bare feet. Bobby looked at Josh, hunched over and holding an ice pack to his chest. "Woah, are you alright?"

"I had a little run in with one of your captains apparently." Josh responded rubbing the ice pack to his chest a little. "Burly guy with buzzed hair and tattoos up his arms."

"Did he have an accent?" Bobby asked, resting a hand on his desk while he looked over at Josh's chest.

"Bostonian I think. Heard his name was either Jeff or Owen?" Josh said, moving over to his bed and sitting down, dropping his bag on the bed with care.

"Yep that's Jeff." Bobby said shaking his head with disgust. "Didn't matter which one you met to be honest, they're both pieces of shit. What'd he do to you exactly?"

"I accidentally ran into and fell to the ground. So he kicked me in the chest." Josh replied with a frown. "If it wasn't for my friend Tyler driving him off, I don't know what I would have done."

"Your friend drove off Jeff?" Bobby said, looking incredibly shocked. "Shit I never even seen anyone stand up to Jeff! Or Owen!"

"Oh yeah, Tyler wanted to meet you by the way." Josh said with a smile. "He said he was gonna bring a couple dinners, if that's ok?"

"Hell yeah, that's fine!" Bobby smiled as he rubbed his stomach. "I haven't eaten since I've been trying to hook up this stupid TV. Also I gotta meet the guy who stood up to Jeff so I can shake his hand!"

Josh pressed the ice pack softly to his chest in relief, happy Bobby was as excited to meet Tyler as Tyler was to meeting him. Just then a knock pounded on the door as Bobby offered to get up and let Tyler in. Josh was was pleased to hear Tyler's voice bellow in the room as Bobby opened the door.

"Dude! You're Bobby!" Tyler yelled, reaching out his hand and shaking the football player's with gusto.

"Dude! You're Tyler!" Bobby responded in a similar tone as he released Tyler's grip. "Yo, I can see how you took down Jeff now. Dude, you're built!"

Josh rolled his eyes with a smile, figuring the two jocks wouldn't be able to resist comparing each other's muscles ten seconds into meeting each other.

"Thanks, bro! Jeff huh? I couldn't just sit back while he kicked down my buddy, ya know?" Tyler responded as he pounded his chest for a little extra effect. "But dude, you're bigger than me! You should just put that little bitch in his place!"

Bobby let Tyler walk into the room, seeing him holding a bag of meals as he closed the door behind them. "Yeah, but I can't risk getting kicked off the team, dude. Otherwise, believe me I would."

"Oh yeah I feel ya, dude." Tyler responded as he walked over to Josh's desk and set down the bag before looking over at Josh sitting on his bed. "Hey buddy, how you feeling?"

"About the same."Josh said with a smile. "Glad to see you guys get along already!"

Bobby walked up beside Tyler and put his arm around his shoulder with a smile. "Dude, he should join the football team! Look at this guy!"

Bobby patted Tyler's chest a little as Tyler smiled, shaking his head. "I just work at the school, dude. I don't actually go here."

"Ahhh too bad." Bobby said, patting Tyler on the back as he walked over to the bag he set down on Josh's desk. "So what do we got here?"

Reaching into the bag, Bobby pulled out…

"Oh I only grabbed two meals, dude." Tyler said as he watched Bobby pull them out. "I didn't realized you hadn't eaten either."

"It's fine." Josh actually pipped up, standing and making his way over to Tyler's side. "I can just heat up my soup, it's what I planned on doing originally anyway."

"Nah, dude… I can't take your food." Bobby replied looked at his little roommate's kind smile. "I'll just grab my own."

"Oh oh!" Tyler interjected. "Or we could just… ya know!"

Tyler made his hand into a gun shape and made a pew pew noise as he pointed it at Josh. Bobby reached his hand under his hat, scratching his head in confusion. Josh simply sighed as he looked at Tyler's silly expression. "He doesn't know about the shrink ray."

"Shrink ray?" Bobby quickly responded looking even more confused. "That's not a thing… is it?"

"It's right over here in his backpack." Tyler said with a smile as he reached over to the backpack and unzipped it, pulling out the device Bobby had seen earlier.

"Hey that's the thing you set out this morning." Bobby said, looking at Josh. "Is it really a shrink ray?"

Josh sighed, knowing Tyler was likely going to shrink him as a demonstration if he responded. "Yeah, it really is." Josh said looked over at Tyler who was already setting the mode to shrink on the side. "So we're doing this?"

"Uhh duh, dude." Tyler responded as he rose an eyebrow at Josh. Making his way over to his desk, Josh pulled out his chair and sat down on it, setting his ice pack on the table. Bobby and Josh watched Tyler as he pointed the device directly at Josh before a bight flash erupted from the end, hitting Josh. Josh rubbed his eyes as he looked up to see not one, but two colossal giants looming over him. Sliding back away from the edge of the chair slightly, Josh put a hand on his chest, as seemingly the pain had subsided. Curious, Josh lifted his shirt and pulled aside part of the bandages to see the bruise was in fact still there, but the pain from it seemed to be temporarily gone.

"What's up, dude?" Tyler asked, looking at Josh lower his teeny shirt while Bobby stood there looking down awe struck.

"The bruise doesn't seem to hurt right now, maybe it's a side effect of shrinking?" Josh wondered aloud to Tyler who simply shrugged his shoulders. Josh looked over at Bobby, who still seemed pretty shocked. Lifting his arm, Josh waved up at his positively massive roommate with a smile. Rubbing his eyes Bobby looked down at Josh some more.

"You're tiny!" Bobby finally said much to Tyler and Josh's amusement.

"Great observation! We should remember to write that down in the research notes." Tyler mocked playfully as Josh started to laugh, happy to see Tyler mocking someone else for a change. Josh watched as Tyler picked up one of the meals and tried to hand it to Bobby.

"But.. but how?" Bobby asked, still looking down at Josh while taking the meal from Tyler.

"Dude, I try not to think about it." Tyler responded with a smile while he moved Josh up from the chair onto the desk. Set next to the meal, Josh looked up at it, much like the one yesterday it was pretty much the same foods. Josh watched as Tyler removed the top of the food container and shift himself a bit to the side of the desk, moving the chair as well. "Here pull over your chair and watch him try and eat, it's hilarious."

Bobby set down his meal next to Josh and removed the top. As instructed he moved his chair over next to Tyler at Josh's desk and looked down at the tiny man stuck between two huge mountains of food. Sitting down and smiling, Bobby started to feel more comfortable with the idea of his roommate being so tiny. "This pretty cool once you stop thinking about it so much." Bobby smiled as he watched Josh sit down. "How big do we look to him?"

Tyler reached into his meal and pulled out a little green grape and set it down next to Josh. "He said that grapes are like the size of a house to him."

Josh looked over at the grape, knowing not to go near it as he figured one of them would likely try to grab it. Sure enough Bobby reached down to pick it up and look closer at it. "Damn, if this looks like a house to him… we must look like gods."

Tyler laughed at the comment as he watched Bobby pop the grape into his mouth, crushing it in his jaws with ease before swallowing. Josh merely bit his lip not really sure if he felt ok with Bobby referring to himself as a god.

Watching the two eat for a moment, Josh was starting to feel left out. The two hit it off so well that they seemed to have clicked and weren't really paying attention to him. Hungry, Josh looked over at Bobby's plate. It was closer than Tyler's from where he was and looked like it would be easier to access than Tyler's as there was a stalk of celery toppled off the side like a gigantic green chute. Walking over to it Josh looked up at the celery and…

"Got a meal for each of us, dude!" Tyler said proudly as Bobby pulled them all out. Tyler smiled as he turned Josh's chair around and handed a meal to his injured friend. Staying seated on his bed and setting the meal down on his lap, Josh pulled off the cover and examined the contents. Meanwhile, Bobby pulled over his chair opposite from Josh and set his own meal down on his lap as the three men formed a sort of triangle together.

"So I was thinking." Tyler started to say as he took a bite of his sandwich. "We need to get back at that Jeff dude for what he did to Josh."

Josh looked a little uncomfortable as he shifted slightly on his bed. He was kind of hoping that maybe the whole deal could just be dropped, but the looks on Bobby and Tyler's faces seemed to say otherwise. Bobby swallowed a large bite of food as he shook his head in agreement.

"If Josh was any old dude, we probably won't have a very strong chance against the kind of pull my coach has." Bobby started as he thought carefully. "But he's considered one of the top minds at the school, right?"

Josh was shocked at the amount of thought Bobby put into that. He actually had a really good point. "You're right, the Dean of Academics wouldn't be too happy to find out about me getting hurt. Hell, I've never met the President of the college, but he's been trying to have me by for dinner for like a year."

Tyler chuckled as he swallowed his mouthful of food. "Why don't you take him up?"

Josh wagged a piece of celery in a circle before taking a bite. "Been really busy developing the shrink ray, you know."

"Oh yeah, that would take up a lot of your time." Tyler replied casually as Bobby looked confused. Josh looked up at Bobby's face, having a sudden realization.

"Soooo Bobby, remember that invention?" Josh tried to smile at his roommate nervously.

"Shrink… ray?" Bobby questioned as he slowly bit into a carrot.

"Sounds crazy, but trust me dude. It's legit." Tyler said, giving a nod to Josh. Josh watched as Bobby gave Tyler a bump on his chest with respect. Tyler bumped his chest back as they both looked at Josh.

"I believe it, dude." Bobby said with a nod at Josh. Josh meanwhile just blinked stupidly at the two of them.

"I swear you jocks make no sense sometimes." Josh said, pressing a hand against his forehead. Tyler and Bobby just simply looked at each other and laughed. Josh shook his head a little as he joined them in laughing a bit. "Either way, I'm sure we can get at least the Dean on our side, maybe get Jeff kicked off the team."

"Nah dude." Tyler said looking at Bobby. "I heard how much of a dick your coach is too, right?"

"Can't say I like the douche bag." Bobby replied with a frown. "What did you have in mind, bro?"

"We could use Jeff's attitude and attack on Josh as evidence of your coaches incompetence." Tyler started to say while peeling a banana. "Then when you get a new coach they can just have Jeff and Owen kicked off, or replaced."

"We could do that…" Bobby started to say as he looked over at Josh. "But what about this shrink ray? Can it shrink people?"

Tyler smiled as he took a bite of his banana before setting it down and clapping his hands. "Bro, I love where this is going!"

Josh crossed his legs and frowned nervously. He knew exactly what those two were thinking and he wasn't sure if he could approve of that.

"We shrink those three sons of bitches, kidnap their asses, and make em pay!" Bobby smirked, pounding his fist into his open hand with a loud smack. Josh gulped, unable to imagine what kind of horrors Bobby and Tyler could inflict on those three men.

Looking at Josh, Bobby and Tyler waited for a response. "What do you think, dude?" Tyler asked. "You are the victim, after all."

Josh bit his lip, not sure how to respond. Morals teetering to either side, Josh decided…

"We can't just go around kidnapping people we don't like. We have to do this right." Josh said, putting his foot down and crossing his arms. "I don't even see why we need to get the coach involved, My only problem is with Jeff."

"Dude, you got your ass beat by a corrupt captain, made that way from a corrupt coach." Bobby shrugged as he finished up the rest of his food and set down the container.

"Yeah, if you don't take out the source of the problem it'll just make more problems." Tyler nodded in agreement with Bobby as he too finished his food and crossed his arms.

"I'd just hate for someone to get fired because of something his player did…" Josh frowned as he looked down at the remainder of his food.

"Anybody ever tell you, you're too nice?" Tyler asked with a chuckle, figuring anybody else he's ever know would be just itching to get revenge.

"A coach is responsible for his players, sometimes you know?" Bobby smiled attractively. "Especially the captains of the team. They basically represent the team as much as the coach does."

"Well as long as you guys think it's the right thing to do." Josh sighed, still feeling guilty about dragging in parties he felt were uninvolved. Bobby simply looked at Josh seriously in the eye for a moment.

"This seriously means a lot to me by the way, dude." Bobby said, closing his eyes for a moment while he rested his chin on his hands. "Jeff, Owen, even the coach. They all really have it out for me."

"Why? You're the star player." Tyler questioned with a confused look.

"Well pretty sure it's jealousy with Jeff and Owen." Bobby said, looking a little smug, but also still keeping his eyes shut solemnly. "I have no idea why the coach hates me, but he's been trying to get me off the team ever since I was recruited. If it wasn't for higher ups he wouldn't even put me in, even though I'm really good."

Josh nodded his head putting two and two together. "Right, I remember you said you had a scholarship too. It would go away if you quit or got kicked off the team, right?"

Bobby bit his lip as he looked at Josh once again. "I'm actually from a pretty poor family." He started to explain. "My dad passed away, my mom is waitress. She and I didn't have much, but with sheer luck I got recruited to come here with a full scholarship."

Josh shook his head. "You can't be seen helping me then." Josh started to say as Bobby looked down at his feet. "If something went wrong I wouldn't want you getting kicked off the team for being on my side."

"Doesn't mean I can't help you behind the scenes, dude." Bobby said as he stood up, looking over at Tyler. "Where did Jeff knock Josh down?"

"In front of one of the dining halls." Tyler answered, looking a little confused.

"Well don't they have security cameras in front of all the dining halls to stop people from stealing plates and shit?" Bobby replied as he walked over to his desk to grab his keys and phone.

Tyler stood up, knowing exactly where Bobby was going with this. "Yeah we could go see if campus police caught it on their camera, dude!"

"Bingo." Bobby said, winking at Tyler as he looked over at Josh who started to get up. "You stay here, dude. Tyler and I will take care of this."

"Yeah you had a really long day, Josh." Tyler agreed, looking at his friend with concern. "You should lay down."

Josh smiled as he watched the two men get up to leave. Promising to the both of them that he'll just stay here and take it easy, he watched as they both made their way out the door. Sighing, Josh stood up and put the remainder of his food on the floor by his bed side. Going over to his desk, Josh pulled out his still dead phone and hooked it up to its charger before returning to his bed. Laying down, Josh remembered he wanted to check the shrink ray for any damage. Pulling his bag onto his stomach and unzipping it, Josh pulled it out and examined it closely. Relieved to see there was do damage on the machine, Josh set it down beside him as he rested his head down on his pillow.

- - -

Some time passed and Josh rubbed his eyes and chest. Noticing the pain wasn't as bad any more in his chest, Josh opened his eyes and realized…

Josh sat up as he looked around the room. Sunlight was already streaming into the room as Josh adjusted his grogginess. Josh looked over to Bobby's side of the room, seeing the shirtless man laying in bed wearing the same sleeping shorts from yesterday. Breathing deeply while laying face first into his pillow, Josh just watched the huge man for a few seconds before getting and grabbing a fresh pair of clothes and a towel. Pulling his phone off the charger and looking at the time, Josh nodded his head as he silently made his way into the bathroom for his morning routine. Changing out of his clothes and turning on the shower, Josh carefully unwrapped the bandages from his chest to inspect his bruise in a small mirror. Josh sighed as it was still pretty bad looking, but glad over all that it no long hurt like broken ribs. Checking the shower with his hand, Josh got inside and washed up.

Making his way out of the bathroom, Josh looked to his side to see Bobby laying on his back, playing with his phone. "I'm sorry! I must've woken you up." Josh apologized as he went over to his closet to deposit his dirty clothes. Bobby simply chuckled as he saw Josh trying to put back on his bandages. Getting up, the handsome football player came over and helped Josh wrap the bandage around his torso. "Thanks Bobby…"

"You didn't wake me up, bro." Bobby smiled down at Josh with an attractive wink. "I get up at this time anyway."

"Oh well I'm glad, still I feel like I've been a pretty heavy burden on you and Tyler." Josh said, as he looked down at his feet. "I should've gone last night too."

Bobby put a hand on Josh's shoulder and shook his head casually. "Nah dawg. After we stopped at campus police we went and worked out a bit. You would've probably been pretty bored."

"Oh that's good then." Josh answered with a smile, glad to see Tyler and Bobby were already getting along. "Tyler's probably pretty happy to have someone to work out with."

"He was, but dude…" Bobby started as he walked over to his closet and grabbed a white spandex shirt and tossing it on his bed. "He wouldn't stop worrying about you after we watched that tape."

Josh blushed a little as Bobby turned away from him to pick up a pair of compression shorts off the floor before he continued speaking. "I was pretty worried too, dude. Jeff booted you pretty hard."

"I'm alright now. I had a good nights sleep and my chest is already feeling better thanks to Tyler bringing me to the health center." Josh smiled as he backed up and took a seat on his bed as Bobby stretched his arms with a yawn.

"He really cares about you, dude. After he saw that clip again I've never seen someone work out so fiercely." Bobby smiled as he finished gathering his clothes before walking over and standing directly in front of Josh, looming over him with his muscular body before rubbing Josh's head playfully. "And hey, you've really grown on me too, buddy."

"Please, it's only been a couple days!" Josh smiled feeling like these two had become his closest friends in such a short time. Bobby simply shrugged arrogantly as he walked over and grabbed his clothes.

"Shit happens dude, guess you're stuck with us." Bobby smirked as he made his way over to the bathroom door, tossing his clothes on the floor as he turned to Josh again. "You should call Tyler, by the way. After campus police saw that video last night they have a lot to talk to you about."

With that, Bobby closed the bathroom door behind him and started up the shower. Heeding his advice, Josh pulled out his phone and located Tyler's number, figuring his friend to already be awake. Dialing the number, Josh let the phone ring for a second before Tyler picked up.

"Gooooood morning! You feel any better, dude?" Tyler asked in a cheery tone as he was excited to see Josh's name pop up on his caller ID.

"Quite a bit actually!" Josh replied happily as he put a hand on his chest. "Bobby told me we have a lot to do today?"

"Yeah dude, I had to keep reminding him last night not to get involved too deep." Tyler started off saying. "But still he did great work. He hooked you and I up to meet with the Dean today with that video we got from campus police."

"That's great! We can show it to him and maybe we can get this as high up as the President!" Josh beamed, glad to see so far everything was being take seriously.

"We can go meet with him now if you want?" Tyler asked, hoping to get justice delivered as swiftly as possible.

"Yeah that sounds good, I'll meet you there!" Josh answered with a smile as he almost hung up the phone.

"Hold up dude… why don't I meet you at your dorm and we can walk over together?" Tyler asked in a protective tone as Josh smiled at the thought.

Thinking for a moment before responding, Josh wasn't sure if he wanted to make Tyler go through that extra trouble. After all it was only a short walk to the Dean's office. Making up his mind, Josh told Tyler…

Josh bit his lip, not really wanting Tyler to have to go out of his way. Then again as he put a hand to his chest, he also figured he'd rather not take the risk. "Alright, I'll wait for you here and we can go together."

"Thanks dude." Tyler replied, satisfied as he hung up the phone, Josh put his phone away as he sighed while taking a seat on his bed.

"I should be thanking him…" Josh said to himself as he looked over at the shrink ray, sitting out of the bag where he left it. Storing it back in his back pack and zipping up the top, Josh decided maybe he and Tyler could do a little work on it later after talking to the Dean. Putting it over his shoulders, Josh sat back and waited.

A few minutes passed and Josh heard the shower shut off as Bobby turned it off and pulled back the curtain. Looking over at the door, Josh watched as Bobby emerged with simply wearing a towel around his waist. Josh blushed and looked away as the huge man walked over to his bed before looking over at him.

"Oh, you're still here, dude." Bobby peered over with a smirk. Josh looked over at Bobby as he saw him set the pair of spandex shorts out on his bed, facing away from Josh.

"Yeah, Tyler is gonna…" Josh started to say as Bobby dropped the towel, showing off his well defined bare ass for a second before pulling up the black compression shorts and turning slightly as he reached for his shorts. "…meet me here."

"That's a good idea." Bobby said, facing Josh as he pulled up his shorts, not really noticing Josh's awkward pause as he straightened his shorts over his waist. "Man if something happened to you again, I could just imagine Tyler going on a rampage."

Josh's face went a little pale at the comment as he watched Bobby pull the white spandex shirt tightly over his ripped torso. "A rampage? I didn't know he was that upset!"

Bobby looked down at his chest, pulling the shirt down so it fit well against his pecs as he looked at Josh shrugging his shoulders. "I just mean he'd probably go and kick the living shit out of Jeff." Josh shifted in his seat a little uncomfortably but with a smile, glad to know Tyler cared so much, but not wanting him to go to such extremes. Bobby smirked at Josh as he watched his little roommate smile. "Knowing Jeff he's probably got Owen glued to his side now. So if Tyler ran into em, you can bet I'd back him up."

"Man, I feel so useless." Josh said, feeling like Bobby and Tyler were unnecessarily fighting his battles for him.

"You aren't useless. You're just small." Bobby smiled as he walked over in front of Josh, putting a hand on the short man's head for added effect. "That's what you got big friends for."

"Thanks." Josh replied, looking up at Bobby as he took his hand off his head. "Still I wish there was something I could do."

"Get at least Jeff kicked off the team for me, and that'll be plenty!" Bobby said with a wink as he walked over to his side of the room, grabbing a hat and turning it backwards with a smirk. Josh smiled, glad to know there was some way of helping out Bobby in all this as the two looked over at the door, hearing a knock. Being right by the door, Bobby quickly just turned and opened it up, letting Tyler in.

"Hey brothers!" Tyler announced happily as he walked in the room, giving a quick bro-hug to Bobby as he walked over in front of Josh. Josh watched as his huge friend stepped up to him, wearing a grey under armor shirt with red on the sleeves, shoulders and back, a pair of shiny looking red athletic shorts, and even red running shoes. Tyler smiled as he reached out a hand, pulling Josh up off the bed. "I'd hug you too, buddy. But I don't wanna hurt you!"

Josh grinned as he held Tyler's hand, appreciating his friend's concern as he leaned in and hugged Tyler normally anyway. Tyler seemed shocked for a second as he gently wrapped his arms around Josh as well. Bobby laughed as he came over and put his arms around the two of them, pulling them in a massive group hug. Separating, the three men looked at each other with smiles as Josh expressed his thanks. "Thank you. Both of you."

"He's been all thankful and mushy all morning." Bobby said looking over at Tyler with a arrogant grin. "He's all yours!"

"Eh I don't mind, I'll take him." Tyler smiled as he put an arm around Josh as the two men made their way over to the door. Leaving the dorm, Josh and Tyler made their way to the Dean's office together.

- - -

As Tyler and Josh made their way across campus they…

Josh stayed fairly quiet as him and Tyler made their way across the campus. Tyler looked down at Josh at his side at his face, wondering what's up. "You've been quiet. What's on your mind, dude? Nervous about talking with the Dean?"

"What? No." Josh said simply as Tyler stopped and put a hand on Josh's shoulder, stopping him as well. "It's just, you and Bobby became friends so much faster than you and I did."

"Is that all?" Tyler laughed as he moved up to put an arm around Josh. "It's because we're both football playing jocks, dude. If I had a nerd friend and introduced you I bet you'd hit it off just as fast."

"I guess." Josh pouted, not really feeling that much better.

"Besides, dude. We became close friends in less than a day too. Plus Bobby considers you his buddy. Maybe just the three of us are good at making friends?" Tyler smiled as he started walking forward with Josh under his arm. Josh couldn't help but smile, feeling silly that he doubted Tyler or Bobby.

"Maybe the three of us were meant to be friends." Josh said in a happy tone as Tyler laughed reaching down and pinching Josh on the cheek.

"Gay." He simply said as Josh swatted away his hand. "But you might be right. It's only been a few days and I don't know if I could stand to see you graduate."

"I'll just have to take you with me." Josh smiled as he and Tyler approached the building where the Dean's office was located.

"Please, I'll do anything to get away from my dad." Tyler replied seriously as pair made their way into the building. "What about Bobby?"

"Well he's good enough to get scouted by the NFL." Josh responded as they made their way up the stairs and up toward the Dean's office. "I hope he remembers us by then."

"Same, dude." Tyler replied as he and Josh stopped in front of the office. Tyler motioned Josh to go ahead as Josh knocked on the door and opened it up.

"Ah I was expecting you, Josh." The Dean said kindly as Josh walked into the room accompanied by Tyler. "And you are?"

"This is Tyler, he's my research partner." Josh answered for Tyler. "He saved me yesterday… from… well you know."

The Dean motioned for the two of them to take a seat as he himself stood up. "I've heard and seen. Campus police sent me the video." The Dean looked over at Tyler and nodded his head. "So you're the same fellow who saved Josh? You have my thanks."

"I just did what any good friend would do, sir." Tyler answered, looking over at Josh with a smile. The Dean nodded his head once more in admiration.

"They identified the man who assaulted you to be Jeff, captain of the football team." The Dean said as he turned his attention back to Josh. "The President of the College has take special notice to seen him expelled."

"Expelled?" Josh asked in surprise as the Dean lifted and eyebrow, nodding his head.

"Unprovoked assault of any kind is not something we condone at our institution." The Dean said flatly. "Although the coach of the football team fought the matter tooth and nail."

Josh swallowed, not sure how to word his next sentence or even if he should say it at all. "Speaking of the coach, don't you think it's a little irresponsible of him to be placing questionable characters like Jeff as his captains?"

"Yes, I thought the same." The Dean responded as he took his seat. "However I have no pull in the Athletic department. Perhaps if you spoke to the President? He's been itching to meet you."

"Yes, he has." Josh answered, rather flatly. "I guess it's about time I took him up on his offer."

Tyler looked over at Josh, questioning his tone a little as the Dean clapped his hands together. "It's settled, I'll let him know you're going to join him for dinner tonight."

"Alright, thank you sir." Josh answered, still not looking too thrilled about the matter.

The three wrapped things up and Tyler and Josh stood up to leave, thanking the Dean for seeing them. Making their way out of the building, Tyler decided to ask Josh the obvious question. "So why are you so upset about meeting the President?"

Josh sighed, figuring it was time to come clean about his tone from before and previous times. "He's one of the people who wants to buy my research. Having your college be the birthplace of shrinking seems like a pretty good draw."

"Sorry, I didn't know." Tyler apologized looking down sullenly. Josh turned back and looked up at Tyler's face.

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be such an ass about it." Josh returned the apology himself. Tyler smiled as he started walking again beside Josh before he rubbed Josh's head a little as they went. Walking near the special housing building, Josh thought for a second and looked back to Tyler. "Hey, you wanna chill at your place for a bit till lunch?"

Tyler looked over at the building before looking over at Josh's backpack. "Oh, I figured we were going to the science labs. If you'd rather take the day off though, I'm game."

Josh bit his lip. There wasn't a huge rush to do research, but at the same time he figured the faster they perfected the device the better. Making up his mind Josh decided they should…

"We should just get some work done. The sooner the project is done the sooner we can goof off all the time!" Josh said, turning and looking at Tyler with a smile.

"Sounds good to me!" Tyler responded eagerly as the two of them made their way over to the science center. The two walked briskly, making their way across the campus fairly quickly as Josh tried to explain the things he wanted to try and accomplish in today's research.

- - -

"…So you see I want the device to expand it's overall beam so it can shrink things in a wide area at a time." Josh finished explaining as they opened up the door to the research lab. Tyler scratched his head, a little confused as Josh set the device down on the table to tinker with a bit.

"What if you made like.. a room where everything inside it got shrunk or regrown… or something…" Tyler asked without much confidence. Josh smiled, it was exactly what he was already thinking. However he was glad to see Tyler was trying to apply himself as well.

"That's a great idea!" Josh answered with a positive tone. "Once I have the beam expanded that can be our next goal, to design such a room."

Tyler rubbed his arm while he walked up next to Josh, not really feeling confident in his thought. Looking down at Josh while he worked, he couldn't help but feel like Josh didn't entirely take him seriously. Josh stopped and looked up at Tyler for a second. "If I gave you the dimensions the area the beam will affect, would you draw up a design for the room?"

Tyler smiled and nodded, grabbing a piece of paper as Josh rattled off the dimensions. Tyler carefully drew out the lines of the room and started to work on how the room should look to accommodate any number of things or people to be shrunk in the room. Feeling confident in his design, Tyler brought it over to Josh and set the paper down. Quickly, Josh looked down at it with a smile. "It looks great!"

Tyler frowned feeling like he was being patronized a little. "So uh… what time are we headed to that dinner?"

"We?" Josh replied, turning himself away from his work. "I had no idea you wanted to go."

"I didn't know I wasn't invited." Tyler responded, looking angry and crossing his arms.

"I just… I didn't know. You weren't not invited." Josh stuttered, not sure how to answer.

"No it's fine. I wouldn't want to dumb up the crowd meeting with the President anyway." Tyler snapped at Josh, who looked extremely confused.

"You wouldn't be--" Josh started to say as Tyler stomped out of the room and slammed the door. Josh sat stunned for a moment, having no idea what he did or said to upset him. Frowning, Josh looked down at the drawing again. It was actually very good and looked like Tyler put in a lot of effort into it. "Wow, he's a way better artist than I could ever try to be…"

Josh sat back in his chair, feeling like he's realized what he's done. Josh looked at his phone, noticing the time. He sighed as he realized he'd have just enough time to head back to his dorm and clean up before meeting with the President. Packing up his bag, Josh folded up Tyler's drawing and put it in his pocket. Josh looked over at the stack of papers, having an idea.

"I don't know if I'll have enough time for that… but it may be worth it…" Josh thought as he grabbed a piece of paper. Josh bit his lip, deciding to…

Josh smiled as he finished sketching off what he hoped to draw. Folding it up and putting the paper in his pocket along side Tyler's, Josh grabbed his backpack, throwing over his shoulder as he reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. Dialing Tyler's number, Josh wasn't entirely sure if he'd pick up. Luckily, he was pleased to hear Tyler's voice pipe up on the other end.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready to see the President?" Tyler asked coldly without so much as a greeting.

"I don't have everything I need to go yet. Can I show you something first?" Josh asked, hoping his friend would play along.

"…Fine. I'm just at my place anyway." Tyler responded, not feeling too thrilled about it all at the moment.

"Great! I'll be there as soon as I can." Josh beamed, as he already started to walk out the building on the way there. Josh walked as fast as he could as he hung up the phone, practically racing his way to Tyler's. Panting and sweating a bit as he came up to the special housing building, Josh went inside and knocked hurriedly on Tyler's door. A few seconds passed before Josh saw Tyler as he opened the door, still looking a little disheveled.

"You don't look very ready to have a fancy dinner." Tyler said flatly as Josh stood in the doorway out of breath. "Besides you're gonna be late now."

"That's fine." Josh said as he reached into his pocket. "He can wait."

Pulling out the paper from before, Josh handed it to Tyler who unfolded it with curiosity. On the paper it looked like a child tried to scribble some drawing together of some terribly made room. "What's this?"

"It's my design for the room." Josh answered with a smile as he pulled out a second piece of paper with the word "Important" written across it. "You can throw it away though. I like this design better."

Tyler opened up the paper to see his own drawing from before. Closing his eyes and smiling, Tyler crumpled up both pieces of paper and threw them across the room. "How about next time, we just design stuff together?"

Josh sighed with relief as he saw Tyler smile down at him, as he reached into his other pocket pulling out a third piece of paper. Handing it to Tyler, the huge man looked confused for a second as Josh explained. "That's not the only thing I want to do together with you."

Opening up the paper, Tyler saw it was a very poorly drawn and written invitation to dinner. Tyler looked down at paper without so much as blinking for a few seconds while Josh rubbed the back of his head, blushing a little. "It's a personal invitation to come with me tonight."

Tyler folded the paper up, putting it in his pocket, it looked like he was holding back a couple tears before he lunged forward and pulled Josh into a gentle hug. "I thought you were ashamed of me…"

Josh patted Tyler on the back, starting to tear up a little himself. "How could I be ashamed of someone as awesome as you?"

Tyler let go of Josh wiping under his eye a little. "I guess I am pretty awesome… you're lucky."

"I am pretty lucky!" Josh smiled, happy to see he cleared Tyler's worries aside. "Now how about we get going to dinner!"

"But dude." Tyler said looking down at Josh's sweaty clothes and his own not very modest spandex. "We look like trash."

"Who cares." Josh smiled. "I'm a genius and you're a hero. He can deal with us looking like shit."

Josh and Tyler started to make their way out of the room, closing the door behind them as Tyler mumbled. "Hero?"

"Well sure. You've practically saved my life as many times as days I've known you." Josh said as they walked down a path leading to the bus stop. Getting on the bus just in time, Josh and Tyler flashed their ID's getting free rides around the little college town. Taking their seat the two men relaxed peacefully next to one another.

"One of those times it was just an accident though." Tyler finally piped back up. "And I doubt that guy would have killed you…"

"Well you can tell that to President when he starts regarding you a hero for saving me." Josh smiled as Tyler tilted his head a little confused. "Because I intend on telling him you saved my life."

"Don't lie, dude." Tyler blushed as the bus stopped. The two made their way off the bus, taking a short walk to the President's place just off campus.

"I don't know what he would have done to me, so it's not lying." Josh smiled as they stepped in front of the President's front door. Josh pushed the doorbell and looking up at Tyler, giving him a thumbs up as the door was finally answered. At the front, Josh saw the President, recognizing the man from several events and photos, but meeting him for the first time just now. Behind him was a woman, Josh and Tyler assumed to be his wife.

"Josh, my boy!" The President beamed excitedly as he put a hand on Josh's shoulder. Looking over at Tyler, the man puzzled for a second. "You look familiar, son. One of the professor's boys?"

"Yes sir, my name is Tyler." Tyler answered for himself, before Josh could pipe up and call him his hero. "Josh invited to me come along because--"

"Because he saved my life." Josh jumped in as Tyler shook his head a little embarrassed. "He's the one that drove off that bully. Not only that he's been working with me on my research. He's invaluable to me both as a partner and a friend."

Tyler looked up and away, blushing even more as he bit his lip awkwardly. The President all the while simply smiled, greeting both of them into his home and introducing them to his wife. "All the more reason for him to be here!"

The four walked into the dining room, sitting down as the President's wife grabbed an extra plate for Tyler. While helping themselves to the man different foods, the President stared over at Josh, like a cheetah ready to pounce. "So Josh, my boy, how is that wonderful research of yours going?"

"Well enough, sir." Josh responded as he set down his fork. "But I have a more pressing issue to discuss with you."

"Yes… your assault." He said looking serious. "We've seen to it that the man in question had been expelled, and you have the school's deepest apologies."

"Thank you, sir. However I think the issue doesn't stop there." Josh said, folding his hands. "How do I know this coach I've heard horrible things about won't just turn around and appoint another power hungry captain. Any student unlucky enough to pass them by could be in danger."

The President stroked his chin, looking curious. "Go on."

"Surly you don't want your school, the one that will be known as the birthplace of shrinking, to also be known as the place who has coaches who condones assault on students." Josh tried to word properly. "I heard how hard he fought to not have his player face any punishment."

"Yes well… if I understand you correctly…" The President started to say as Josh shook his head.

"I'm not selling you my invention itself, but you're free to advertise it as much as you'd like." Josh said with a straight face as Tyler looked over at him. With a nod, the President smiled.

"I shall personally see to it we hire a newer better football coach then." The President replied with a smile. "We'll also increase our security. I don't want students to feel unsafe on campus."

"Thank you sir." Josh said with a genuine smile as he looked over at Tyler. The President stroked his chin for a moment again as he turned his attention to Tyler as well.

"Tyler, I think I have something special in store for you too. Thanks to your efforts you're quiet the hero." The President smiled, as Tyler looked confused.

"Oh no sir. Josh is my friend. I was just doing what any friend would do." Tyler responded, waving his hands in front of him.

"Be that as it may, I've already made up my mind." The President replied as he took a sip from his cup. Tyler shifted in his chair uncomfortably while they finished up the dinner.

- - -

Tyler and Josh left through the front door, thanking the President and his wife for the meal and for being so understanding. Walking away and catching the bus, Tyler still felt a bit out of place. "What do you think he has in store for me?"

"Probably just something to make the school look good." Josh said flatly. "But for once, I agree with him. Whatever he does for you I believe you deserve."

"I can see what you mean about him, by the way." Tyler said as they got off the bus, back on campus. "He looked like he was eyeing you like a pile of money."

Tyler patted his stomach, burping loudly in the process. Josh blushed slightly but couldn't help but laugh a little. "Food was good though, huh dude?"

"Yeah it was." Josh giggled, glad Tyler kept his manners for the extent of the dinner.

"Hey so, I was wondering… do you wanna spend the night with me again?" Tyler asked, looking down at Josh with curiosity, noticing his backpack still on his back.

"I'd be ok with that, but maybe we could go to my dorm. We have to tell Bobby the good news after all." Josh answered, not wanting to turn Tyler down but figuring it might work out better this way.

"Yeah we should probably do that… your call dude." Tyler said, putting his arm around Josh while he thought. After a few seconds Josh decided on…

"Let's just head back to my dorm, we really should fill Bobby in on what's happened." Josh answered Tyler with a slight nod of his head. Agreeing, Tyler started to turn himself and Josh in the direction of the dorm and walked that way together. A little ways down the path, the two approached the building, going inside and heading up to Josh and Bobby's room. With a turn of his key, Josh opened the door and looked over to Bobby's side of the room seeing his huge roommate lounging casually on his bed while he watched his TV. Wearing a white tank top with the sides nearly cut all the way off, a pair of shiny black athletic shorts, and a black backwards baseball cap, the barefooted football player swung to his feet to greet Josh and Tyler.

"Yo! How'd it go, bros?" Bobby asked enthusiastically as Josh walked over to his bed to set down his backpack, while Tyler grabbed Bobby's hand as the two men exchanged a bro-hug. Josh unzipped the bag and set the shrinking device down on his covers as he turned and walked toward Bobby himself, immediately getting grabbed by the hand and pulled in for a bro hug as well. Slamming into Bobby's meaty pecs, Josh dazed for a second as he patted Bobby on the back before the huge man released him.

"Well as far as we know your coach is going to be…" Josh started to say before Bobby quickly interrupted him.

"Fired!" He yelled as he pulled out his phone and showed Josh a message, saying just that. "One of my buddy's on the team heard, he got fired like… on the spot, dude."

"Wow…" Josh mumbled surprised at how quickly the President moved when he finally got what he wanted. "It's good they took action so fast actually. So at least we have two of your problems out of the way."

"Owen quit the team." Bobby replied as Tyler and Josh looked at each other confused. "After Jeff was expelled this morning he quit the team, since he was afraid of being associated with Jeff's actions. Last I heard he was planning on doing wrestling instead, actually."

Josh smiled, happy to hear that not only is Owen off the team but that he did it of his own will. "Well I guess that solves that! Weird that he would swap to wrestling though I'd think."

"Well just be glad you never met him." Bobby replied crossing his arms. "He's not hot headed like Jeff, but he always know how to pick people apart and break them down and make them feel weak. That being said he's also dumb as bricks… so he'll probably be great at wrestling with both those skills."

Josh puzzled for a second, not sure if that was the best description of someone. "How can he be smart enough to tear someone down piece by piece, but also be dumb as bricks?"

"You know none of us really knew." Bobby replied, uncrossing his arms and making a face. "He was always really hard to read."

Josh shrugged his shoulders, knowing it didn't really matter. "Either way! You're in the clear now, so who cares!"

Bobby smiled as he put an arm around Josh from the side. Tyler smirked as he went to Josh's other side, effectively sandwiching the small man between the two huge studs. "Yeah so let's celebrate!"

The two men squeezed Josh briefly before Bobby separated and made his way over to the mini-fridge he had next to his closet, opening it up and revealing a couple drinks. Shrugging his shoulders once more, Josh figured he'd indulge in a bit of drinking with the two jocks, even though he's not normally much of drinker. Cracking open a few beers, the three men clanked their cans together in cheers as they all sat back laughing and having a good time.

A few hours went by and many drinks later, Bobby, Josh and Tyler found they were…

Tyler yawned as he sat down on Josh's bed, taking off his shoes and lifting his feet up in the process. Josh turned to see Tyler start to get comfortable before he shook his head. "That's MY bed!"

Tyler patted his hand in the small space between himself in the wall and motioned for Josh to come over. "There's room right here."

Bobby laughed as he sat down in his own bed, stretching as he pulled off his tank top, revealing his ripped torso. "Dude, you're small enough. You could fit."

Josh shook his head sighing, as the two goofy jocks laughed at him. "Doesn't matter if I can fit or not. I don't wanna squeeze in there."

Tyler turned to face Josh with a smile as he almost rolled over onto the shrink ray. Grabbing the device and looking at Josh, he gave his shorter friend a funny look. "Well we could always shrink ya again."

Josh closed his eyes, shaking his head even more as Bobby piped up. "Do that! I haven't seen this… shrinking business yet, dude!"

Tyler sat up looking at Josh with a cocky grin. "Yeah dude! He hasn't seen it yet!"

Josh sighed once again. It was probably against his better judgement, but he figured it would work out if he didn't have to squeeze in his tiny bed with Tyler tonight. "Alright, but I'm not sleeping with YOU!"

"Deal!" Tyler replied as he got out of Josh's bed, moving Josh to a chair and having him sit down to prepare to be shrunk. Bobby got out of his bed and stumbled ever so slightly as he made his way over to Josh's chair to watch. Josh sat a little nervously as Tyler pointed the shrink ray at him and pulled the trigger. With a bright flash the light of the ray enveloped Josh quickly causing him to shrink down to minuscule proportions. Josh rubbed his eyes as he looked up to see Bobby kneeling down in front of the chair, looking down at him with an astonished expression.

"Woooahh!" Bobby breathed as he got down even closer to the ground, sticking his face at exactly eye level with Josh. With a slight blush, Josh stared directly into Bobby's almost white blue eyes as the massive things looked directly at him with unblinking attention. Josh waved at Bobby as the huge man blinked in recognition, fulling believing what he had just witnessed. "This is amazing!"

Josh had to cover his ears as the huge man's voice crashed over him like a tidal wave. "Not so loud! I'm right here!"

"Woah… sorry dude." Bobby reduced his voice to almost a whisper. Josh looked up past Bobby at Tyler, who simply had his arms crossed smiling.

"Pick him up, dude." Tyler said to Bobby as he quickly looked up at Tyler and nodded. Without standing up quite yet, Bobby reached his hand in front of Josh. Laying it flat he watched as Josh climbed onto his finger and made his way into the palm of his hand. Amazed at how he held a person in his hand, Bobby slowly stood up, doing his best not to tilt or jerk his hand in the process. Finally stopping with Josh just above waist level, Josh stared up at his colossal muscled roommate in awe. Turning his attention from Bobby's mountainous muscle, Josh looked up at Tyler as his huge friend started to smirk a little arrogantly at him.

"Alright Bobby, guess he gets to sleep with you." Tyler chuckled to himself as both Bobby and Josh looked at him confused.

"Hey, I said I wasn't sleeping with anyone!" Josh complained all the way down past Bobby's naval. Tyler simply leaned down and wagged his finger mockingly.

"Tsk tsk tsk." He said threes time with a tone. "The deal was you wouldn't sleep with ME!"

"But…" Josh started to say, feeling defeated as he looked all the way up at Bobby's face. Bobby made a slight smile as he looked down at his tiny roommate before saying…

"Nah, dude. You don't have to." Bobby replied much to Josh's relief. "Besides, I wouldn't wanna roll over on you in the middle of the night!"

Josh swallowed nervously as Bobby scratched the back of his neck and laughed at the thought of it. Josh tried to laugh along, not wanting to feel like he was taking Bobby's joke too seriously. "Ha.. yeah that would probably suck."

"You guys are no fun!" Tyler pouted as Bobby lowered his arm and shook his head.

"It's all fun and games until a tiny roommate ends up squashed in the middle of the night, dude." Bobby answered, making Josh feel good but also slightly uncomfortable at the thought of being squashed at all. Tyler nodded his head, agreeing that maybe it wouldn't be worth the risk, especially if Bobby feels like he's a roller in his sleep. "Besides, I always go to sleep on my back and end up on my stomach."

"Yeah maybe it wouldn't be a good idea after all." Tyler agreed, wanting to mess with Josh but not trying to get his tiny friend killed in the end. Josh wiped his brow, feeling like he dodged a bullet with this ordeal as Bobby lifted him up to his desk, allowing the tiny man off his hand and on to the hard wood. Josh looked up at Bobby and Tyler as both men stood directly in front of him, looking down at him briefly before Tyler started to move away. Sitting back down on Josh's bed, Tyler pulled off his own shirt, socks and shorts. Sitting only in a pair of red compression shorts with a black waist band, Tyler kicked back in Josh's bed and relaxed as he put his arms behind his head.

Tyler shook his head a little disgusted at how quickly Tyler made his almost naked body at home in his bed before he saw Bobby walk away for a second, before coming back with black sock. Setting it down and folding it in half, Bobby looked down at Josh as the tiny man looked confused. "It's for you to sleep on, don't worry it's clean."

"Still kinda gross though." Josh replied as he approached the folded sock, noticing it didn't really smell like much besides clean laundry with a slight hint of sweat. Bobby chuckled a little as he watched Josh very slowly debate getting on the sock or not.

"Well you could always sleep on the wood, or you could sleep with me!' He joked as Josh bit his lip, hurriedly pulling himself onto the sock and struggling to make his way forward in the plush fabric. Bobby nodded his head with a smile as he walked away, stretching his arms as he made his way toward his bed. Shutting the light off and getting into his bed, Bobby yawned as he bid his friends good night. "Sleep tight little bud."

"I will!" Tyler called back to Bobby in the darkness with a high pitched voice. The two men laughed as Josh rolled his eyes, knowing neither men would be able to hear him from this distance no matter how loud he was. Yawning and stretching out over the fabric, Josh rolled onto his side as he tried to fluff up some of the sock into a pillow. Feeling a little sleepy from drinking earlier, it wasn't long before the tiny man fell to sleep.

- - -

Sun started to shine through the window as Josh slowly started to open his eyes. Yawning as he sat up and looked around, Josh rubbed his face a little as he saw Tyler laying on his back still sound asleep. Josh smiled as he looked over at Bobby, who sure enough was laying on his stomach and breathing deeply as he also remained fast asleep. Remembering he had his phone on him, Josh pulled it out to check the time but was quickly disappointed to see the battery must have died over night. Stretching his arms a little Josh looked across the black sock, deciding…

"I better just stay put here." Josh thought to himself, figuring both giants would know to look for him on the sock and not off wandering randomly somewhere else. Laying back and staying comfortable, Josh closed his eyes for a little while longer until he heard the groans of one of the two men waking up. Noticing the noise was coming from Bobby's side of the room, Josh sat up as he watched his enormous roommate sit up in his bed, yawning deeply as he rose one of his arms and itched his hairy arm pit. Standing up, Bobby slowly crept his way over to the sock as he slowly started to notice that his teeny roommate was in fact sitting up and awake. Sitting down at the desk chair in front of Josh, Bobby smiled as looked down at Josh, nodding his head in recognition.

"Morning!" Josh called up to his roommate as Bobby put a finger over his lip before pointing over at Tyler. Josh laughed, knowing Bobby was still pretty new to this whole shrinking business. "He can't hear me all the way over there!"

Bobby made an "Ohhh" face as he nodded his head once more. Trying to be quiet himself out of consideration of Tyler, Bobby simply leaned forward to better hear Josh. "Do you think you could un-shrink me?"

Bobby looked over at the shrink ray as it sat on the table across from Josh. Picking it up and looking it over a little, hr set it down and shrugged his shoulders and shook his head side to side. Josh rubbed his chin, figuring his huge roommate didn't want to chance hitting a wrong button or something. "It's really simple, I can walk you through it."

Waving his hand at Josh, Bobby tried to indicate not to worry about it for now. Figuring they can just wait until Tyler woke up, Bobby really didn't want to risk messing anything up. Josh sighed, feeling a little impatient. "Look I'm gonna walk you through it…"

Bobby frowned as he held the shrink ray once more, looking confused at all the different knobs and switches. Trying his best to follow Josh's instructions Bobby looked down at the switches on the side for growing and shrinking. Wincing his eyes and flipping a switch, he held the gun up at Josh and pointed it directly at his tiny roommate.

Holding his finger over the trigger Bobby…

"What are you guys doing?" Tyler asked as Bobby stopped his finger and turned to look at Tyler. Sitting up and yawning, Tyler swung his body out of the bed and strode his way over to desk. Looking down at Bobby holding the shrink ray, Tyler laughed as he looked at the side of the device. "Dude you have it set to shrink!"

"What?" Bobby replied as he looked at the side of the machine, finally noticing the labels for shrinking and regrowing. "Oh shit… what would have happened?"

Bobby handed the device to Tyler as he scratched his head with his other hand before switching the shrink ray to regrow instead. "Not sure… maybe you would've shrunk him some more?"

"Oh dude." Bobby said as he pushed the chair back to stand up. "That would've sucked, how would we have found him?"

"Beats me." Tyler yawned as he pointed the device at Josh. With a click and a bright flash, Josh quickly found himself growing back to his normal size as he eventually sat normally on his desk. Reaching under his butt, Josh pulled the sock out from under him and handed it to Bobby.

"Thanks for the bed, Bobby. It was actually pretty comfy." Josh smiled as Bobby took the sock and tossed it over to his side of the room on the floor.

"Next time I'll give you a dirty one for trying to get me to mess with your science project!" Bobby chuckled, trying to crack a joke but also kind of glad Tyler came to the rescue when he did.

"I guess I would deserve that, sorry for pushing you." Josh responded somewhat sullenly, feeling bad about having Bobby do something he really didn't want to do.

"Aw dude, I was only joking!" Bobby smiled as he put a hand on Josh's shoulder as he helped him off the desk. Josh nodded his head with a grin, glad Bobby wasn't actually that torn up about it. Josh looked over at Tyler as he set down the shrink ray and looked up at the ceiling, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Thanks for making sure Bobby didn't shrink me again, Tyler! You're soooo awesome!" Tyler said in a high pitching mocking tone before removing his hand from his mouth and speaking normally. "All in a days work, Josh! When you're as awesome as me you do what you can."

Bobby and Josh both laughed as Tyler continued to mock Josh for a little while before he really thanked Tyler properly. Just glad to be back at his regular size Josh smiled happily as the three men quickly took turns taking showers as they got ready to leave together and have some breakfast. Josh pulled on a fresh pair of clothes before they left, watching as Tyler put back on his clothes from yesterday and Bobby dawned a new set of apparel. He pulled down a tight white tee shirt with a sports insignia on the back under the neck, a pair of silvery athletic shorts which he pulled a navy blue pair of sweatpants over, and a backwards white baseball cap. The three men slipped on their shes as they made their way out the door, locking it behind them as they left. As they left the building Josh walked between his friends, Tyler on his right and Bobby on his left. Feeling safer than ever with both his huge friends on either of his sides, they made their way into the dining hall and each grabbed a bite to eat.

"So how much research do you think you have left?" Tyler asked once he joined Bobby and Josh at a table, curious when the two of them would actually get back and get to work.

"Not much." Josh replied as he swallowed a bite of his food. "Once it's done… there's a few things I want to design if you're up for it?"

"Absolutely!" Tyler exclaimed happily as he shoved a fork full of eggs and bacon into his mouth. Bobby simply chuckled at Tyler's enthusiasm.

"It's too bad I didn't get to see much of the shrinking action though." Bobby said out of the blue as he took a sip of orange juice. "It was neat seeing you so tiny!"

Josh rubbed his chin for a moment. One last distraction probably wouldn't hurt. But at the same time he felt like it was really time to bunker down and finish the project. Looking over at Bobby, Josh smiled as he answered him saying…

"It's pretty neat being tiny like that, but I really think it's finally time to really focus." Josh said, looking at Bobby as he nodded his head in agreement. Tyler gave Josh a thumbs up as he continued to shovel food in his mouth like a human garbage disposal before he swallowed to put in his two cents.

"Well I'm done, dude! Hurry up!" Tyler exclaimed looking down at Josh's half eaten food. Pushing the plate away from himself, Josh smiled feeling like he's had enough and would rather just get started on their work. Collecting the plates and bringing them to the dish return, Tyler and Josh parted ways with Bobby as they made their way to the science center, ready to get serious and work hard for as long as it takes.

- - -

"It's perfect." Josh marveled over the finished product. A few months had passed and the duo of Josh and Tyler worked almost every day to make sure the shrink ray was as perfect as it could get, no more glitches and ability to affect any area just as planned.

"Hard to believe it took us so long." Tyler smiled as he put a hand on Josh's shoulder. "Do you really have to graduate tomorrow?"

"Yeah… sadly." Josh said, looking down a little sad knowing he'll probably not be able to see Tyler or Bobby anymore. "I'll… really miss you."

Tyler smiled as he patted Josh on the back. "I told you a million times you can just take me with you!"

"Yeah well.. when I first said that I was joking." Josh said with a frown. "I don't know if could really do that… take you away from your job here. Besides how will you ever pursue your dreams if I'm holding you back?"

"You aren't holding me back, dude. Since we first connected the day we met… I've wanted to protect you." Tyler answered, looking Josh in the eyes. "It's not exactly my dream… but it's pretty close."

"You've never told me what you've wanted to do. You were close a couple of times, but something always interrupted you and we forgot." Josh started to say. "You said protecting me is close? Do you want to be a bodyguard?"

"Bodyguard is close, dude. In truth I want to protect more than just you. I've always wanted to be a lifeguard. Literally guarding people lives as they jump in a pool or the ocean. But I told my dad once and he told me it was ridiculous and I'd never get anywhere in life." Tyler frowned as he made a twinged looking face. Josh reached for Tyler hand, which was still on his shoulder and took it in his own. Pulling Tyler over to one of the lab's computers, Josh stopped and let go of Tyler as he opened up some simple animation software.

"I want to show you what I've been designing the shrink ray around." Josh replied, barely able to contain his excitement as he opened the program up and revealed a simple model structure. Tyler looked at the design. Tubes, pools, snack bars, locker rooms. Even a small 3D model of the room he designed months ago at the front. As Josh turned the model to face the entrance, Tyler read the name of this place printed on a sign.

"Shrink and Swim?" He questioned as Josh turned his head to his best friend, smiling. "A… water park?"

"I've never shown anyone this, because I didn't want people to tell me it was a waste of my shrinking technology. On the contrary, I think it's perfect. An entire indoor facility as big as I want it to be, but taking up the space so small the expansions would be nearly endless." Josh smirked as he crossed his arms looking at the design. "Not just that, spas and lounges. The ideal relaxation and since it would be so small keeping everything powered and water flowing would be cheap. So I could make admission cheap for families to afford."

"I don't believe this." Tyler said looking at the front once more. "You're screwing with me, right?"

"I'm serious, Ty." Josh said simply, looking at Tyler in the eye. "Just like I'm serious about this. Will you be co-owners with me?"

"What?!" Tyler answered taking a step back as Josh put out his hand to shake in agreement. "No way dude! I'm no businessman!"

Josh looked down, disappointed. "But this way I really CAN take you with me! I had no idea you wanted to be a lifeguard. You can live your dream."

"I don't want to ruin your dream of owning this park though. Can't I just work for you?" Tyler asked shrugging his shoulders as Josh smiled, glad to see he wasn't being flat out rejected. "I just wanna be a regular lifeguard!"

"No." Josh shot quickly as Tyler looked confused. "You'll be head lifeguard AND my right hand man. I'll do the managing, you save the lives and keep the staff in line. Deal?"

"Well it's a little more than just regular lifeguard…" Tyler pondered purposefully in a mocking tone. "But I do like the ring of "Head Lifeguard" !"

Tyler grabbed Josh's hand and shook it enthusiastically with a smile. "It's a deal, buddy!"

Josh smiled, ecstatic that he not only was gaining his first employee but even more excited he didn't have to separate from his best friend. Tyler released Josh's hand, putting it on his hip and stopping to think. "How are we going to tell my dad all of this?"

Josh scratched his head and bit his lip. He hadn't though that far ahead yet. No doubt the professor wouldn't be happy to hear his son ran off to become a lifeguard, and he'd be even more upset to find out his star pupil isn't going to sell his research to the biggest offer. Josh shook his head, not letting it bother him. "It's my invention damn it. I'm going to do with it what I want!"

"Yeah! It's my future and I'll spend it where I want doing what I want!" Tyler chimed in after Josh triumphantly.The two men nodded their heads at each other, smiling in agreement.

- - -

The next day, Josh dawned his graduation robe. Seated on the stage with a few other students who were tops in their respective colleges, Josh was just glad he didn't have to give any sort of speech in front of the massive audience. After receiving his diploma and a brief recognition of his work from the President of the college, Josh sat down the the man announced a few additional awards and merits. From feats of amazing art to historical achievements, Josh simply clapped happily as each student was recognized.

Finally, an award was announced for an act of heroism. A person of great stature and moral conduct was to receive this award. To everyone surprise, the name that was called was not one of the students. It was Tyler's. Josh watched as Tyler made his way out of the row of seats he was in and walked up the the stage to receive a plaque and a handshake from the President. Josh laughed as his huge shocked friend looked kind of silly wearing a pink collared shirt that looked way too small on him as well as a pair of khaki dress pants that didn't suit his typical relaxed look. Before leaving the stage, Josh and Tyler exchanged a glance at each other, smiling as Tyler went back to his seat.

With the ceremony finally complete, Josh watched as all the students slowly filed out as he got to stay on the main stage. After they had all left to celebrate, Josh turned to offer his congratulations to his fellow students at the front before shaking the President's hand and preparing to leave. Getting off the stage, Josh saw as both Bobby and Tyler ran forward to greet him.

"Did you know about this?!'" Tyler yelled, sweating fiercely from his arms pits causing his pink shirt to stain noticeably.

"I was as shocked as you were! Congratulations!" Josh replied, moving in and hugging Tyler tightly as his sweaty pits stunk up Josh's nose. Ignoring the smell, Josh was too excited to care as Tyler finally released him as Bobby pulled Josh in for a quick bro-hug himself.

"Congrats to you too, dude!" Bobby said with an attractive smile as Josh showed both of them his diploma. The three men laughed happily as another person approached their group. Josh swallowed quickly as he noticed it was none other than Tyler's father. Tyler moved to Josh's right side, while trying to put on a straight yet confident face.

"Congratulations." Tyler's father said looking directly at Josh before sighing. "And I actually mean it for both of you."

Josh and Tyler looked at each other for a second before looking back to Tyler's father as he continued. "I actually just heard through the grape vine what you did. How you defended Josh like that. I'm proud of you, Tyler."

Tyler's face looked like he had just been zapped by a taser. He had no idea how to react or any idea of what to say. Finally he tried to focus as Josh nudged him in the side. "T-thanks dad."

"Sir, there's something we want to talk to you about." Josh said, with a stern look feeling like now was as good of a time to bring this up as ever. "I'm going to use my shrinking technology to open a water park. Cheap and affordable for anyone to relax at. I hope I get to help some families have a good time through it. I asked Tyler to come with me as my right hand man and head lifeguard. He accepted."

"It is your invention after all." The professor admitted. "Guarding people's lives? Sounds like hero's work. You'll definitely need Tyler then."

Shocked, Tyler and Josh thanked professor as he left to be on his way. Happy everything worked out they turned to Bobby to offer their farewells as well.

"I'm gonna keep in touch, ok bros?" Bobby said with a smile. "Maybe if the NFL doesn't work out I can work for Josh too!"

"I'd take you in a heartbeat, Bobby." Josh said with a smile, feeling like he was really going to bee his super star roommate. Tyler and Josh stopped and hugged Bobby once each one last time as the two turned to leave together. Walking toward their future, Josh and Tyler were ready to work hard to make Shrink and Swim a reality. As Tyler put his arm around Josh, pulling him close, the two men left the building together ready to work with each other for as long as they can.

Josh took a deep breath. The park was fairly small but the past couple months he and Tyler had worked their asses off advertising and overseeing everything from construction to every tiny detail they could envision. Josh took a quick walk around the park, seeing all of his new employee's were at their stations. Smiling as he waved to some of his new lifeguard at the tops and bottoms of some of the rides, Josh just tried to keep his breathing even as he made his way to the front. Seeing Tyler was already there waiting for him, Josh walked up to his left side as his huge friend put his arm around his shoulders.

"Nervous?" Tyler asked with a confident smile as he could feel Josh shaking slightly.

"Well it's opening day." Josh responded. "I haven't see what it looks like out front until they start letting people up to the admissions booths. There could be nobody there!"

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that." Tyler laughed, knowing full well what they were about be in store for. Josh watched as his watch clicked to opening time and he saw people start to come through the front entrance. At first it didn't seem like much… but as people came through it was as if someone just gradually opened a floodgate of people. Amazed guests poured their way into the park, in awe of how big it looks on the inside after they had to be shrunk to enter. Josh stood there shocked for several seconds as hundreds of people stormed past him, wanting to find a good beach chair or getting a locker before a line could form.

Tyler took his arm off from around Josh and looked down at his shocked face. "I may have taken a peek out front before they started shrinking people."

"This is incredible!" Josh finally sputtered as he watched people pushing each other out of the way to get in faster. Josh winced as Tyler blew his whistle at some people elbowing each other.

"Don't elbow each other fellas, the park's not going anywhere." Tyler yelled to them as they both nodded their heads in apology as they made their way back into the crowd. Josh patted Tyler on the back and smiled.

"Guess I'll let you take over from here." Josh said with a moderately confident tone. Tyler simple rolled his eyes and looked down at his best friend.

"Please, you're going to micro manage the shit out of everyone today." Tyler answered in a knowing tone. Josh simply shrugged as he made his way off, knowing Tyler was absolutely right.

- - -

Josh sat in his office. With his first successful day there was only a few things to do before he could leave. Looking up as he heard a knock on his door Josh called out to let the person come in, already knowing who the one other person still left at the park. Josh stood up and smiled as Tyler came through the door, sill in his lifeguard's uniform of red board shorts, a whistle, and a red hat.

"How was everything out there today?" Josh asked with a tone acting like he didn't already know.

"Please, mister micro manage-itis over here!" Tyler mocked Josh as he came up and have a seat in front of Josh's desk. "But there's a few thing you probably don't already know."

Josh sat down as he waited for Tyler to continue. "First off the other lifeguards love the break room. Although I don't think any of them are too keen on being on the tiny end."

"Whatever I'll use it." Josh shrugged, not getting what the big deal was about being in the break room while being tiny was.

"Hey that makes one guy!" Tyler chuckled. "Second, I look damn good in this uniform!"

"I thought you were telling me things I didn't know." Josh replied quickly as he laughed at Tyler shrugging his shoulders.

"There isn't much I can say, dude. You were like… everywhere today." Tyler said waving his arm around for added effect. "Think it's time we pack up, dude?"

"You can head out. Your apartment is further out than mine anyway." Josh said, smiling at Tyler for trying to convince him to leave.

"Well I just wanted to walk you home. Today was a big day, you're probably tired." Tyler said, looking at the ground and tracing a circle on the floor with his toe. Josh closed the folder he had open and stood up with a sigh. Excited, Tyler got up along side him as they left the office and turned off the light. Making their way to the front gate, Josh operated the shrinking device himself, regrowing him and Tyler. Outside the park, Josh and Tyler breathed in the warm evening air, salty from the near by beach.

"I'm glad you picked a beach town like this to open the park!" Tyler said happily as he stretched his arms. "It reminds me of my hometown."

"You lived on the other coast though, didn't you?" Josh asked as they walked along the sidewalk, enjoying the warm night temperature.

"South is still south though, dude." Tyler responded with a wink as they walked past a boardwalk containing a fully lit up amusement park.

"Yeah for sure. It's a nice little town." Josh said as he thought about the near by colleges and many different people who lived and vacationed here. Josh sighed as he and Tyler approached his apartment. Originally they had tried to find a two bedroom together, but it ended up being cheaper for them to stay in separate places. Josh waved goodbye to his best friend as he entered the apartment building.

"Man once I make some money I've got to get a house…" Josh said aloud to the tiny one bedroom apartment, hoping Shrink and Swim would really take off. Relaxing for a while, Josh hung out for a bit before heading off to bed. Shutting the blinds to his windows and laying in his bed, Josh yawned as he rested his head on his pillow, dreaming of his days to come working with Tyler.

- - -

Two years later.

- - -

Josh took a quick look at himself in the mirror. Not much had changed for him as he left his bathroom and went down the stairs into his living room, grabbing a clipboard off a coffee table as he made his way out his front door. Locking it as he left, Josh walked down his front steps and turned down the sidewalk into the neighborhood. The park was only a few blocks away as Josh walked happily through the warm morning breeze, breathing in the rich oceany air he's become quite accustomed to now. Strolling into the park, Josh prepped a few things while his morning staff was already there, ready to open Shrink and Swim to the public.

Flipping through his clipboard and waving to his different employee's as he walked through the park, Josh stopped by his office for a short while to get a little work done. As time went by Josh was shocked at how quickly early afternoon had come. Grabbing his clipboard Josh headed out to the front of the park, jogging as he felt like he was forgetting something he had to do…

http://www.writing.com/main/interact/ite…

         As Bobby pulled the trigger, Josh prepared for the world around him to change as he became normal size. The world did change, but not the way Josh expected. Josh felt a sudden rush downward as he began to shrink again. The sock he was on that already seemed like a huge field of cloth expanded into a titanic net of cloth fibers. He clung to one as the ground grew enormous beneath him. Looking up, Bobby's face, which had towered above him before, was now a vague shape in the distance. He was so far away that the human eye was not able to see more than a flesh colored sky, with blurry details. Josh began to panic. He had walked Bobby through all the steps to set the shrink ray to grow him back to size. He just must have not flipped it from shrink to grow. If the normal setting shrunk him to a quarter of an inch… Josh's mind raced as he tried to do the calculations. Using the same ratio that shrank him from normal sized to a quarter inch when he was already shrunk meant that he was only about a thousandth of an inch tall right now.

         His cell phone was dead and yelling would do him no good. A quirk of his technology meant that when he was small, a normal sized person could hear him as long as they were concentrating. But the same feat would not work at this size. Josh began to cry as he realized that it was unlikely that he would ever grow back, and be doomed to spend his remaining few days on the wasteland of his roommate's sock.

         Bobby looked at the spot where his tiny roommate had been. The speck had disappeared. For a few seconds he wondered whether growing took a long time, but his roommate did not appear. He looked at the various nozzles on the ray, and saw one that sent a chill down his spine. He had never set the ray to grow. Panicking he ran to Tyler, shaking him awake.

"TYLER, TYLER, WAKE UP."

         Tyler's eyes snapped open, worried.

"What's wrong?", he said, looking at Bobby with shock.

"It's… Josh… he wanted me to grow him back, but…" Bobby held back tears.

"What'd you do?", Tyler asked worry in his voice as he looked around to see that Josh was not in the room, but the sock he'd slept on remained where they'd left it last night.

"I never set it to grow. I shrunk him down even smaller and now I can't see where he is."

"Fuck."

         Tyler got out of bed and grabbed his cell phone, trying to dial Josh.

"Straight to voicemail, his phone must be dead."

         They sat around in shock for a few minutes. Bobby shook with tears, while Tyler stared at the shrink ray.

         Suddenly, Tyler stood. "I know what we have to do", he said with authority. "We need to use the shrink ray to get him back. One of us shrinks down and finds him, then we bring him off the sock and the other grows us back. Once we're normal size we grow him back."

"How the fuck are we going to find him? The sock was huge compared to him before, it'll be like trying to find a specific bug in a park."

"Dude, remember, he was sleeping right near the logo. At his new size he can't have moved that far. We'll just start at the logo and search from there."

"Ok, but which of us is going to shrink?"

"We can let him know tomorrow." Josh said with a smile as Tyler patted Josh on his shoulder a few times before he steered him toward the special housing building. Being much closer to the bus stop than Josh's dorm it didn't take long for the pair to make their way over to the building. Tyler pulled out his keys and unlocked the door as Josh looked inside the somewhat messy room once more. Taking a few steps in Josh noticed the smell waft over him once more, Tyler's mixture of sweat and deodorant filling his nose as it accumulated in much higher density in Tyler's personal space. Josh walked over to Tyler's bed and set down his backpack before turning to see Tyler shut the door.

"Weird walking around your room without being the size of a pea." Josh laughed as Tyler walked up to him chuckling a little to himself as well. Leaving the bedside, Josh made his way past a pair of discarded socks and noticed the crumbled up pieces of paper from before. Picking them up and uncrumpling Tyler's drawing Josh looked down at it with a smile.

"I don't know why you crumpled this up, Ty." Josh said, feeling like his artistic ability was much better than he gave himself credit for. Tyler simply walked over and looked at the picture for a second before taking it from Josh, crumpling it up once more and tossing it in his garbage instead.

"We can do better if we work together. That's why dude." Tyler answered with a smile and wink as he turned to look at Josh after tossing out the paper. Tyler rubbed his stomach as he turned back to Josh. "I think I need to jog off some of this meal, dude."

"I am not taping myself to your shoulder again!" Josh demanded, waving his hand through the air with authority. Tyler simply shrugged as he rubbed his gut a little more.

"Well I guess you can either come with, or stay here. It'll only be a few minutes." Tyler asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket and looking at the time. Josh shook his head as he walked over to Tyler's desk and pulled out the chair.

"I'm good, I'll just wait here." Josh replied, not wanting to run around and get all sweaty.

"Alright, behave yourself dude." Tyler joked as he turned to open his door, exiting the room and locking it behind him as he left. Josh rolled his eyes as he looked around the room, not sure how exactly he could misbehave in his sweaty room. Turning the chair and looking into the room, Josh looked at all the different dirty clothes laid out on the floor. It wasn't as bad as the other day, Josh figured Tyler must have actually thought about tiding up at least a little. Still he got up and looked at Tyler's closet as it hung open slightly. Pulling on the door, Josh was surprised as damp shirt fell from somewhere and landed over his head. Pulling it off quickly, he blushed slightly as Tyler's sweaty smell covered his face for the brief moment.

"He should really pick up better!" Josh said to himself, still red as he tossed the shirt into a hamper in the closet. Looking around the room, Josh decided to grab a few other loose articles of clothing and tossing them in the hamper as well.

"Nope." Josh said simply as he came across a few pairs of underwear, deciding Tyler can clean that up himself. Shutting the closet door and feeling somewhat accomplished, he went over to Tyler's bed and looked at the messy covers. Fighting the urge to make the bed, Josh looked instead at his backpack, shrink ray in tow. Putting a hand on his chin, he had a kind of crazy idea. Unzipping the bag and pulling out the shrink ray, Josh walked it over to Tyler's desk and set it down. Next, he decided to enter Tyler's bathroom. Bracing his nose, Josh expected it to be a disaster. To his surprise, the bathroom was actually quite pleasant, smelling strongly of some manly shampoo with clean floors and walls and no signs of excess dirtiness anywhere.

"Guess he at least takes his hygiene seriously." Josh said to himself as he looked under the sink before finding a small hand mirror. He closed the cabinet and stood up laughing slightly to himself. "He would have a hand mirror…"

Bringing the mirror out into the main room and setting it down on the desk, Josh went over to the bed and retrieved his backpack, swinging it over his shoulder and going over to grab the shrink ray. Pushing the mirror as far back as he could and shimmying the TV to make room, Josh got up on the desk and knelt down, pointing the shrink ray at his reflection.

"I wonder if this will work?" He said to himself, wanting to shrink himself and the shrink ray so he could spy on Tyler when he get's back and surprise him by growing back out of nowhere later. Josh put his hand on the trigger and got ready to pull and…

With a bright flash, the beam of light rebounded off the mirror and hit Josh completely, exactly as he had planned. Still holding the shrink ray as he felt himself get smaller and smaller, Josh couldn't help but feel like his plan couldn't have worked better. Finally after a few seconds, Josh got up off his knees and looked up at the once tiny mirror, now a towering reflective surface in front of him. Taking his backpack off his back and storing the shrink ray safely inside, Josh swung it back over his shoulder as he looked out into the room, looking much more familiar at this size.

"Much better!" Josh smiled as he walked along side the TV on the desk. Figuring he should find a safe spot to hide Josh went beside the TV and hid behind the stand, hoping to be out of sight before Tyler could return. On cue, Josh started to hear the door knob to Tyler's room start to jiggle slightly as he watched his massive friend enter the room. Looking at Tyler's face it looked like he was chewing on something.

"Jo-psh! I go-pht us cook-phs!" Tyler said out into the room, chewing with his mouth open as he carried a half eaten and a full cookie in his hand. Tyler stopped and looked around the room for a moment before swallowing the mouth full of cookie. "Where'd he go?"

Josh giggled to himself as he watched Tyler walk up to the desk and set the cookies down on the wooden surface, letting small crumbs fall off and scatter across the surface near Josh. Tyler looked down at his hand mirror sitting on the table, confused. Picking it up, he looked at his reflection for a moment. "What's this doing here?"

Carrying the mirror back to the bathroom, Tyler stored it away as he looked around the room some more, not seeing a trace of Josh anywhere. Tyler looked at his floor, clear of dirty cloths aside from a few pairs of underwear. Scratching his head as he pulled out his phone, Tyler quickly tapped out a message before putting it in his pocket. Feeling his own phone buzz in his pocket, Josh remembered he was actually carrying it on him now. Turning on the screen and looking at the message, Josh giggled a little as the game just got a little more fun.

"wher r u" The message read simply as Josh decided to make up and excuse. Typing back to Tyler, Josh decided to say he had to leave for something and that he would be back soon. Sending the message with a smile, Josh turned to watch Tyler's expression. Watching as his friend pulled out his phone, Tyler frowned as he read the message. Typing out a response, Tyler sent the message and put his phone back in his pocket as he walked over to desk and picked up the cookie, taking a mighty bite causing more crumbs to fall on the desk as Josh watched from mere feet away, laughing.

"alrite did u clean my room" The message read as Josh set his bag down in front of him as he sat down laughing. Typing up a response about how filthy Tyler's room is and how he did him a favor, Josh looked up and…

Josh screamed as Tyler's massive hand came rushing toward him. Dropping his phone as he dove in a tiny gap under the TV stand, Josh watched as the hand swept past. Peeking his head out after the hand brushed by, Josh was lucky not to get drug along with a pile of cookie crumbs as Tyler started to gather them all in a small pile. Josh's phone and backpack however, weren't as lucky. Josh pulled himself out from under the TV stand, seeing his backpack in the distance get buried in a pile of crumbs. He watched in disbelief as Tyler quickly brushed the pile off the table and onto his hand.

"Nooo!" Josh screamed as Tyler lifted the hand full of crumbs to his face, dropping the pile in his mouth and swing it around quickly before swallowing the lump down. Josh dropped his hands in shock, unable to believe Tyler had just swallowed the shrink ray as well as his phone. He watched as Tyler brushed his hands together, removing the smallest of crumbs from his hands as he licked his lips and looked down at the second cookie.

A loud groan echoed throughout the room as Tyler's stomach churned it's current meal, demanding more food. Looking down at the cookie, Tyler stood up and rubbed his stomach as he pulled out his phone and read Josh's most recent message. "Filthy?" They said aloud, shocked. Moving away from the table and typing out a message Josh likely wouldn't receive, Tyler threw his phone to his bed as he pulled off his shirt. Tyler put a hand on his lower chest for a second, feeling like something just buzzed in his throat. Shaking it off, Tyler continued to undress as he walked to the bathroom. "Just for that, if he's not here soon I'm taking his cookie."

Josh watched as the magnificent bronzed god tossed his sweaty shirt to the ground and pulled down his shorts as he faced away from Josh as he entered the bathroom. The last thing Josh saw as he disappeared behind the door was Tyler's massive bare ass, each glute bouncing in turn with each step as he entered the bathroom. Josh moved away from the TV and toward the center of the table near the cookie. "He must be taking a shower." Josh said to himself as he heard the water turn on. "God, what do I do?"

Josh sat down, looking at the massive cookie beside him. If he didn't find a way to get the shrink ray back he would never be able to get to his regular size! Not to mention with his cellphone currently working it's way into Tyler's digestive tract, there was no easy way of communicating with him. Looking at the cookie once more to a trail of crumbs coming off the massive dessert, Josh started to have an idea. Standing up Josh decided to…

Josh looked at the pile of crumbs and bit his lip. "I'll get mashed to a pulp if I hide out on the cookie…" Josh said to himself, feeling crazy for even thinking about it. "What do I do though once I'm in? How do I get out?"

Pondering for a second, Josh wanted to make sure his plan wasn't completely stupid. He had to get that shrink ray back, even if it meant going in after it. Convincing himself that if he could just locate his phone, he could contact Tyler. Then his huge friend would just puke him up and everything would be ok! Nodding his head, Josh figured it was his best option. Walking over to the crumbs beside the cookie, Josh hid among them and curled his body into a ball. Josh flinched as he heard the door to the bathroom door open, pouring in warm air to the room as Tyler emerged with a towel wrapped around his waist. Josh stared at his friend's tremendous physique as he rubbed his wet hair a little as he walked over to his bed to look at his phone.

"Nothing? Jeez… what's he even doing?" Tyler asked aloud as he walked over to the desk, immediately picking up the cookie and taking a huge bite, causing even more crumbs to scatter down onto the desk. Tyler swallowed as he smiled looking at the cookie. "Oh well! His loss!"

Josh continued to peek at Tyler as he finished off the cookie in just a matter of a few bites, easily consuming the massive piece of food without a second thought. Finally, Tyler reached down to the table as Josh laid still while he swept up the tiny crumbs scattered about. Rolling with the massive cookie crumbs, Josh shut his eyes until he finally stopped in the middle of the pile. With another quick motion Josh watched as the pile was swept seemingly off the side of the desk, before landing in Tyler's other hand. Tumbling down into the crumb filled palm, Josh witnessed as Tyler lifted his hand slowly to his face before stopping. A low rumble gurgled from Tyler's stomach, slowly rising up his throat.

"BUUUUURRRPPP!" Tyler belted out in front of himself. Josh wiped his face, swearing bits of moist cookie flew out of the nasty smelling belch right at him. Josh watched as Tyler rubbed his chest briefly before reaching down to the desk with his free hand to look at his phone. Tyler rose his eye brows as he looked down, tapping out another message, saying what he wrote aloud. "You alright?"

Josh squirmed a little, feeling like he was about to not be alright as Tyler lifted his hand above his face, dumping him and the crumbs into his mouth while he set his phone back down on the desk. Putting a hand on his stomach as he swished the crumbs around, Tyler could have sworn he felt something buzz inside his stomach. Swallowing the mouth full of wet mush now, Tyler tried to put it out of his mind once more. "Maybe I ate bug or something…"

- - -

Josh screamed as Tyler's tongue pushed the food back to the edge of the throat before finally sending it straight down in a deafening gulp. Surrounded by darkness and nothing but some sticky saliva covered cookie mush to keep him company, Josh really started to feel like his idea wasn't the most sound. Josh stayed as still as possible, trying to keep his cool while Tyler's smooth throat muscles eased him further down his slippery throat. Finally after what seemed like forever, Josh stopped momentarily as the sphincter to the stomach opened up, squeezing the small pile of mush directly down into the belly with a splat. Emerging from the mush, Josh coughed as he breathed in the sour air of the stomach.

"God it's so dark!" Josh yelled as he looked around the pitch blackness. Small groans and gurgles of the stomach rang throughout the organ like background music as Josh pushed himself free of the mush, hoping he could find his phone or backpack somewhere deep within his friend. Josh sloshed his way through what he figured to be partially digested bits of the meal they had with the President as the whole stomach started to shift around in seemingly random directions. With nothing to hold on to, Josh was tossed around about like a rag doll, feeling like he was going to vomit from both the smell over the cavern as well as it's erratic movement.

- - -

Tyler pulled up an old pair of underwear he had laying on the floor, patting his thighs as little with a smile after he bent over to grab his shorts from earlier. "These are still clean!" He said to himself as he reached for his sweaty shirt. Feeling like Josh would just clean his room for him again, Tyler picked the shirt up and brought it over to his closet, tossing it in his dirty clothes basket as he grabbed a fresh white tank top and pulled it over his torso. "There, now he has a little less to complain about when he shows up!"

Tyler smiled to himself as he bent over and picked up the rest of the dirty underwear, tossing it all into the clothes basket. Brushing his hand together, he really felt accomplished, knowing cleaning up like that isn't normally something he'd do. Checking back over at his bed, Tyler noticed he had a message. Looking down at his phone, he turned it on expecting to see Josh's name, but instead seeing Bobby's.

"Yo u wanna work out?" The message read as Tyler shrugged his shoulders, wondering if maybe Josh headed back to his dorm and was just ignoring him for some reason. Typing out a response, Tyler agreed to meet Bobby at the gym. Pulling up Josh's name just to be safe, Tyler sent him a message, informing him he was going to the gym for now. Tyler hit send and dropped his phone on his bed, not feeling like keeping it with him while he worked out. Stretching as he made his way to the door, Tyler could have sworn he felt a faint buzz come from the pit of his stomach once more. Shrugging this buzzing sensation off a third time, Tyler figured it was still just a bug, buzzing away down there struggling to survive.

"If that's the case it's in for a rough ride." Tyler said with a smirk, walking out the door and rubbing his abs under his tank top.

- - -

Josh somehow heard it. A faint buzz and a flash of light came from not too far from where he was. Still a little delirious after the random dips and turns Tyler's stomach took, Josh simply stumbled his way over to the light. His vision becoming a bit hazy and skin starting to burn, Josh panted heavily as he approached the fading light and finding his phone. Picking it up and holding it in his hands, Josh couldn't believe the device was still working. Clicking the side and turning it on, Josh looked at the texts he got from Tyler, the most recent saying, "at gym wit bobby lemme kno when ur free".

Josh fumbled with the phone as Tyler started move a bit more rapidly. "Oh god! I have to get him to let me out of here before he starts working out!"

Forgoing the slowness of text messages, Josh simply swiped Tyler's name to call him. Putting his ear to the phone as he nervously looked at Tyler's stomach walls contract and relax every couple seconds. Josh felt like the phone rang on forever before finally… voicemail. "I don't have time for voicemail!"

Josh dialed again, letting the phone ring on and on as Tyler's pace changed even more. Stumbling, Josh fell flat, sliding down the side of some mushed up food into a more fine liquid near the bottom. Josh screamed in pain as he tried to find a way out of the dangerous acid, but with no idea which way was up or down anymore, he simply sank. While Josh's unconscious body was easily torn up and processed by Tyler's hungry stomach, his phone remained slightly intact for a few moments longer before succumbing to the vicious nature of digestion and sinking to the bottom of Tyler's stomach along side Josh's remains.

- - -

So you haven't seen him either, bro?" Tyler asked Bobby while he spotted his friend on the bench press. Pushing the bar up and setting it down Bobby exhaled deeply and wiped his brow.

"Nah not since this morning. You said he just left your place?" Bobby asked, moving aside as Tyler shifted some of the weights for him to bench.

"Yeah and then he just stopped texting me. It was just weird." Tyler said, rubbing his arm and laying down as Bobby went around to start spotting him. Pulling out his own phone, Bobby quickly found Josh's number and called his roommate. Moving the phone almost instantly from his face and back to his pocket, Bobby shook his head.

"Straight to voice mail. Maybe his phone died or something, dude?" Bobby offered as an explanation as he started to spot Tyler while he lifted the heavy weights a few times.

"Maybe." Tyler finally answered as he set the weight above him. Sitting up and taking a chug of some water, Tyler rubbed his stomach. If anything he was glad that buzzing stopped in the pit of his stomach.

Tyler stepped in front of Josh suddenly, stopping the shorter man in his tracks. Josh looked up at the back of Tyler's head confused. "Hey, everything alright?"

"Just stay behind me." Tyler told Josh, holding his hands out to his side a little, making a fist. Curious, Josh peeked around his massive friend to see what was going on. Quickly, his face went pale as he saw the exact person he was hoping not to see as well as a second man walking beside him.

Looking at Jeff, Josh bit his lip as the man cracked his knuckles and smirked. Today he was wearing a tight grey sleeveless shirt, black basketball shorts, and black running shoes. Josh swallowed hard as he looked at the other man whom he assumed to be Owen. A little taller than Jeff and likely a little more thickly muscled, Josh took in Owen's appearance much like Jeff's. His face was quite handsome, also almost a bit goofy looking. The expression he wore even seemed a bit absentminded as apposed to Jeff's anger. He wore a loose navy blue tank top as well as a white backwards baseball cap, hiding his medium length light brown hair. With a pair of large looking white athletic shorts, the somewhat smug looking man seemed to care little for the fact that the shorts were sagging down almost to his crotch, showing off his grey compression shorts and red waistband. Looking down even more, Josh noticed the man was also wearing a pair of black under armor slides, barefoot. Josh hid back behind Tyler, backing up in fear.

"Protecting that little runt again?" Josh heard Jeff's voice call out arrogantly.

"Jeff it's just him, dude." The second voice said to Jeff in a deep, but kind of dumb sounding voice.

"Owen… he's behind the man giant." Jeff replied in a calm yet slightly shaking with anger voice.

"Oh, I didn't even see him!" Josh heard Owen reply, genuinely sounding surprised.

"What do you two pathetic losers want?" Tyler asked finally, moving his arms back slightly to either of Josh's sides to protect him.

"Well last time it was two vs one, I thought that was a little unfaih." Jeff said with his accent. "So now we're a little more even."

"Look I don't want to hurt either of you. So just back off." Tyler replied angrily as he backed up, bringing Josh with him. Jeff and Owen stepped forward however as Tyler pushed Josh backwards. Stumbling, Josh fell a couple feet before he looked up, seeing Tyler toss aside Jeff with ease before Owen moved forward, causing a bit more difficulty for Tyler with his size. Josh got to his feet as Jeff grabbed Tyler's arms and Owen went around Tyler's back, putting him in a full nelson. Jeff smirked as Tyler struggled to break free before he started to punch the larger man repeatedly in the stomach.

"Just… Run!" Tyler struggled to yell at Josh as he stood there in tears over what these two were doing to his friend. Josh clenched a fist as he moved forward and…

Running forward, Josh slammed his fist as hard as he could into Jeff's arm. Repeatedly trying to hit the man while tears ran down his cheeks. "Leave him along you jerks!"

Jeff stopped hitting Tyler for a moment as he watched the larger man stop struggling, likely falling unconscious. He smirked with a smug look on his face as he turned to Josh. "That supposed to hurt, runt?"

Josh backed up as he watched Owen toss Tyler on the ground. Josh looked at his friend, eyes closed and a little blood forming around his mouth. Josh moved forward, wanting nothing more than to help Tyler, as Owen stepped in from of his body and stomped his foot aggressively. Josh backed up, wishing there was something he could do or say as the two men walked toward him.

"Please! He's really hurt!" Josh pleaded desperately as the two men laughed casually at Josh, taking another step forward. Josh swallowed nervously as Owen sauntered forward, looking far more confident than he did before. Jeff simply crossed his arms, letting Owen basically do all his dirty work for him. Josh looked at Owen, hoping this man wasn't as heartless as Jeff. "He's my friend!"

Owen looked back down at Tyler before turning back to Josh with a fairly straight looking face. "I don't give a fuck." He said simply as he shoved Josh roughly to the ground, making him fall on his back with a mechanical sounding crash. Owen raised an eyebrow as he watched the short man panic and look backward before a bright light emitted from his bag and he was suddenly gone. "Wha?"

"What happened, Owen?" Jeff asked as he walked forward next to his friend and looked around as Owen stared directly at the floor. "Where'd that prick go?"

Owen looked at a tiny wriggling speck on the ground before pursing his lips slightly in thought. "Guess he ran off."

"I didn't see him run off!" Jeff stomped angrily.

"Well I was in the way." Owen said simply as he patted his shorter friend on the back with a smile. Jeff looked like he started to shake with anger as he walked off in the other direction toward Tyler, kicking the unconscious man in the stomach and walking off.

"Fuck you Owen!" Jeff yelled in disappointment over letting the little nerd get away as he himself walked off into the distance.

Owen simply returned to a straight face, looking directly back down at the speck. Bending down, he looked closer, feeling like the speck was staring nervously back at him, before his face twisted into an arrogant smile.

"Now I might not be the brightest guy." He said as he reached down and quickly pinched the speck in his hand before bringing it up to his face, revealing a tiny Josh in his hand. "But I didn't know that people sometimes shrank when you pushed them on their backs."

Josh wasn't sure if the huge man was joking and messing with him, or if he was really actually just an idiot. With no idea of how to read the situation Josh simply cowered, as the handsome man peered down at him. Owen frowned, unsure what to make out of Josh's cowering. "What can you not talk? You better speak up or I'm just going to get rid of you."

"I-I can talk!" Josh called up nervously at the giant, fearing what getting rid of entails. "P-please don't hurt me!"

Owen laughed as he heard the tiny man stutter and grovel. "You're lucky I'm not as short tempered as Jeff." Josh looked up at the man, almost feeling like maybe there is good in him after all. Josh's face went pale as that hope was quickly shattered. "But if you ask anyone on the team… I'm a lot more of an ass than he is."

"Y-you don't seem as bad as Jeff." Josh trembled, maybe hoping to get on the giant's good side by making him seem better than Jeff.

"You say that." Owen started with an arrogant smirk. "But if I was Jeff I would have put you out of your misery already. That's why I sent him off, so I could keep you."

"K-keep me?" Josh responded, not knowing how to react to such a statement. Owen rolled his eyes as he smiled and looked down at his tiny catch.

"Man and people say I'm dumb. Yes I'm k-k-keeping you." He mocked Josh's terrified stutter much to his own amusement. "Even so I don't know if you're worth that much trouble."

Josh fondled his hands nervously, having no idea what the sadistic giant was talking about. Even still, he couldn't tell to the extent that the giant was messing with him, or actually being dumb. Everything spun slightly as Owen faced back toward Tyler, giving Josh a view of his unconscious friend. "Maybe I'll just have your buddy over there finish you off."

"What?!" Josh sputtered as he looked over at Tyler's face resting in the dirt.

"How horribly ironic would it be. He worked so hard to defend you, only to wake up and put his foot down and… oops." Owen smiled as he looked down at Josh, stomping his own foot for effect. "That may be kind of fun."

Josh looked out at Tyler, face pale as Owen made up his mind to…

"Yeah I think I'll let your stupid ass friend finish you off." Owen smirked as he walked over toward Tyler's feet. Slipping off one of Tyler's shoes, Josh screamed as Owen dropped him inside the dark and stinky prison before he quickly and carefully shimmed the shoe back on Tyler. Tyler moaned slightly shifting his body in his unconsciousness as Owen backed away, ready to just let nature take it's course in ending the tiny nerd's life. Chuckling to himself arrogantly as he turned his back to leave, Owen figured his job was done.

Josh struggled and slipped as he eventually made it further down all the way at the toe of Tyler's shoe. Slightly pinned against the wall of the shoe by Tyler's dark and gigantic socked toes, Josh covered hos nose and wept slightly to himself. Even if he figured out a way out of this, Josh had no idea how he was going to get back to regular size! Reaching on his back, Josh felt the shattered remains of the shrink ray in his backpack as it had also shrunk with him from the impact.

"Such a waste of my technology…" Josh whimpered as he moved his hand to his side remembering another piece of technology he had that wasn't broken. Pulling his phone carefully out of his pocket Josh thanked his lucky stars that something was going his way as he pulled open his contacts. Flipping past Tyler's name, figuring he wouldn't be much help passed out on the ground, Josh instead located Bobby's name and called his number. Moving his phone to his face Josh bit his lip as he listened to the phone ring a couple times.

"Yo Josh, what's good?" Bobby's voice answered finally on the other end. Josh watched as Tyler's toes started to twitch a little, causing him to panic and head straight to the point.

"Bobby! Tyler and I ran into Jeff and Owen on the way to the Dean's office. They knocked Tyler out and…" Josh said as Bobby cut him off.

"Woah dude you're talking a mile a minute. Is Tyler ok? Are you ok?" Bobby asked trying to get Josh to calm down.

"Like I said, Tyler is unconscious. What's worse is Owen knocked me on my back, something happened with the shrink ray and I got shrunk!" Josh squealed, feeling worse and worse the more he thought about it.

"What so did you shrink and they thought you disappeared? At least you're ok." Bobby replied, not letting Josh entirely finish.

"I'm not ok! Owen spotted me and he ended up sticking me in Tyler's shoe. He think it would be funny if when Tyler wakes up he stomps me in the process!" Josh cried, hoping Bobby would finally let Josh get the rest of the story out.

"Oh dude. That's definitely not ok." Bobby said plainly as Josh shook his head in frustration. "So is Tyler just face down in the dirt somewhere?"

"Yeah we're just off the sidewalk on the way to the Dean's. You have to hurry before I'm crushed!" Josh plead hoping Bobby would come to his rescue.

"I'm already out of the dorm and on my way. Stay calm I'll be there soon, dude." Bobby replied as he hung up the phone. Josh moved the device back into his pocket and held his nose once more. His eyes had started to adjust to to the terrifying dark as he could clearly see Tyler's black socked foot inhabit most of the cavern with horrifying size. Every once in a while the massive toes near Josh would twitch and move, flex and relax. Josh coughed, feeling like the sweaty air within the shoe was making him pass out. Focusing and relaxing, Josh just hoped Bobby would make it here soon, saving him from a terrible fate.

Some time passed and…

"I'll be fine, you worry too much!" Josh replied confidently, much to a displeased groan from Tyler on the other end of the phone.

"Just keep your phone on you." Tyler commanded as Josh sighed. "I'll meet you there, ok?"

"Alright, I'll call you if anything goes wrong." Josh promised as he hung up and stored his phone away. Looking over at his bed, Josh decided to store the shrink ray in his bag, figuring after they meet with the Dean him and Tyler could get a little work done today. Putting the straps over his shoulder, Josh grabbed his keys and walked out the door, as he heard the shower shut off from the bathroom.

"Later Bobby and thank you!" Josh called at the bathroom door as he walked out.

"Good luck, buddy!" Josh heard Bobby's voice call back as he shut the door behind him and started to leave the dorm. Josh made his way out side and smiled at the nice sunny day they had today. Knowing it wasn't far to the Dean's office, Josh took his time as he walked down the path.

- - -

About halfway to the office, Josh stopped for a moment as he watched a group of runners pass by. Josh smiled as he got out of their way, before feeling his face drain of blood as he recognized one of two men walking along at the end of the group. Josh tried to turn away and find a different path to take but it was already much too late.

"Yo! You!" Called the familiar voice of Jeff as the man walked up to Josh, wearing a grey spandex shirt and black running shorts. Josh froze as he caught up, and he could feel him standing directly behind him. "Turn around runt!"

Josh turned to see the angry looking man. Josh looked him in his blue eyes as he wasn't wearing sunglasses today, and tried his best not to look absolutely terrified. "Please, I don't want any trouble…"

"This is the dude I was telling you about, Owen." Jeff said as the second man walked up beside him, being slightly taller than the shorter about 6 foot Jeff. Josh's attention shifted to the smug looking man. He wore a backward yellow baseball cap and had confident looking face with fairly handsome looking features. Looking down his body he looked quite well muscled as a good portion of his chest was shown off with his loose yellow tank top. Josh saw as his hand rested on his waist band, holding it like some kind of tough guy as the silvery athletic shorts rested slightly below his waist, sagging and showing off a red and black spandex waistline.

"This pipsqueak gave you a hard time, bro?" Owen asked in deep and arrogant voice. Jeff simply glared at Owen as he shook his head with anger.

"No, dumbass. Yo. Runt. Where's your friend now?" Jeff asked with evil looking grin as he took a step forward at Josh. Not sure what to do, Josh started to pull out his phone, holding it visibly in his hand. Josh panted with fear as Owen moved forward and pulled the device from his hand. Josh backed up even more, feeling defenseless without a way to contact Tyler.

"What do we do with this?" Owen asked handing the phone to Jeff. Jeff simply shook his head as he dropped it on the floor, crushing it under his shoe. "Oh, nice bro."

Josh swallowed as he took another step back. Honestly he couldn't tell if this Owen guy was messing with his mind, or if he was just extremely dense. Either way he didn't like how he started to eye him with an evil look with his sharp green eyes. Thinking quickly, Josh pulled his back pack off his back and quickly tried to unzip it as he fumbled with it in front of his body. Owen chuckled as he easily pulled the bag from Josh's hands as well, handing it to Jeff. Josh froze in terror as he saw Jeff undo the zipper, pulling out the shrink ray and looking at it confused.

"The fuck were you going to do with this?" Jeff asked, pointing it at Josh threateningly. Owen looked down at the device in Jeff's hand with a kind of dopey confusion.

"The hell even is it, Jeff?" Owen asked leaning down to get a better look. Jeff simply smirked as he pulled the trigger at Josh, letting the device emit a bright light as it hit him. Jeff rubbed his eyes as he looked in front of him to, seeing Josh was gone.

"Oh shit, did it disintegrate him?" Jeff asked, taking a step forward to see if the little runt left any ashes. Owen meanwhile kept his eyes unblinking, looking at a little spot on the ground.

"I don't think so, dude." Owen said as he knelt down on the ground plucking up what Jeff thought was a bug.

"What are you doing, dumbass?" Jeff asked as he shoved the shrink ray back into the backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. Moving forward, he looked down into his friend's hand to see a teeny tiny person. "The fuck?"

Josh cowered, covering his face and practically rolling up into a ball as he was too afraid to look up at either Jeff or Owen's threatening faces. It wasn't enough as he could still hear their cocky voices booming over his minuscule body. Practically in tears, Josh had no idea what to do.

"Runt!" Jeff's voice exploded over Josh with great force. "Look up and admire your new mastahs!"

Josh uncovered his face, shaking as he saw the two men smirking down at him with terrifying expressions. Owen meanwhile looked over to the bag slung over Jeff's shoulder. "Dude, I think that thing is a shrink ray!"

Jeff rose his eyebrows and looked at Owen angrily. "Go fuck yourself, Owen."

"I'm just joking, bro!" Owen laughed as he closed Josh in his fist. Jeff grabbed Owen by the shoulder as the two made their way down the path, deciding to head over to the frat they lived at.

- - -

A little ways off campus, the pair made their way inside and went up to Owen's room.

"So what do we do with a tiny slave?" Owen asked as he opened his hand to look at the terrified tiny while he sat down on his bed. Josh looked around the filthy room with fear and disgust. Tank tops, underwear, even old pizza boxes and other food was collected all over the floor. Josh looked over silently at Jeff as he drug Owen's computer chair through the mess on his floor to sit down.

"Whateve-ah we want, bro." Jeff responded shrugging his shoulders with an arrogant grin. "As long as I get a piece of this little bitch."

Josh swallowed nervously as he looked up at Owen's face. While being equally scary in terms of arrogance, Owen seem to at least be less likely to crush him out of existence right away. Josh bit his tongue as Owen looked down at him, smirking as he caught Josh glancing at him.

"Like what you see, runt?" Owen asked, flexing his enormous bicep with a self absorbed look. "I don't blame you, I'm a lot better looking than that tool, Jeff."

"You're a tool, you fucking retard!" Jeff spat back angry at Owen. "Eithe-ah way, I've decided what I wanna do with him."

"Yeah?" Owen asked as he lowered his arm and rolled Josh over in his hand a little.

"I want a foot slave. He can lick our feet on practice days!" Jeff chuckled with a sinister grin as Josh made a face with disgust.

"Dude, that's gay." Owen replied, raising an eyebrow in suspicion, much to Jeff's immediate anger.

"You're gay!" Jeff spat angrily, apparently not very good at comebacks despite being "smarter" than Owen. "What's your idea then, fucktard?"

"I say we have a party, bro." Owen answered with an arrogant smirk. "Then abandon the little shit in the middle of it."

"That's stupid, then we won't even know what happens to him." Jeff pouted, wanting to have fun with the little runt.

"So? We can just make another one." Owen smirked, pointing over at Josh's backpack. "Besides, we could have a little fun deciding where to put him in the party."

Jeff looked at the bag on his back, forgetting about the fact that they had the shrink ray entirely. Hating to admit Owen was right, Jeff simply turned his head and scoffed angrily before replying…

"What in the?" Josh exclaimed looked up and seeing everything in the room had become huge. Sitting up on his massive bed, Josh couldn't believe how huge the little twin bed looked at his new size. Looking to his side, Josh nearly jumped as he saw the the tip of the shrink ray, pointed directly at him as it laid next to him on his bed. Josh couldn't believe it as he looked at the device with anger. "I must have accidentally pulled the trigger in my sleep!"

Moving away from the shrink ray to the other side of his bed, Josh looked out into the enormous dorm room once more. It was fairly dark, as the lights were turned off and no light was streaming through the windows anymore. Wondering what time it was Josh reached for his pocket, before remembering he left his phone was set charging on his desk. Frowning, he knew there was no way he could use it to bail him out of this mess this time. Squinting, Josh could tell he was just about at the edge of his bed as he heard someone approach the door. Relieved, assuming it was Bobby and Tyler, Josh figured it was only a matter of time before he was rescued. Josh watched as the door quietly swung open as the shadow of a single large person appeared. Josh watched as they somewhat silently lumbered their way into the room before turning on a little lamp on Bobby's side of the room.

"It's Bobby!" Josh said happily as the light brightened up enough of the room for him to make out who it was. Josh watched as Bobby looked over at his bed, making a face before turning on the main lights to the room.

"What?" Bobby said aloud. "Where'd he go…?"

Josh waved his arms frantically, trying to communicate with his sweaty looking roommate as the man walked his way over to his bed. Josh watched as he pulled his phone out of his sweat pants pocket and dialed a number. Curious, Josh watched as the huge man put a hand on his hip as he continued to face Josh's side of the room with a look of confusion.

"Yo, Tyler. Josh must've left while we were out." Bobby said as Josh heard Tyler sigh loudly on the other side of the phone. "Yeah maybe we shouldn't have gone and worked out after getting that video."

Josh watched for a moment as Bobby walked up to Josh's desk, looking down at his phone and keys. "Yeah I dunno man, He left his keys and phone here though." Josh watched as Bobby shook his head a bit before responding to Tyler's muffled voice. "Yeah I'll stay here then in case he comes back, lemme know if you find him."

Hanging up the phone and rubbing a hand under his hat, Bobby looked puzzled as he looked around the room, trying to find any indication of where he went. Walking up to Josh's bed, Bobby noticed the device he now knew as a shrink ray, sitting out on the bed. Curious, he grabbed the machine, sliding a little ways across the sheet as he held it in his hand. Moving it over to Josh's desk, Bobby decided to set it down, not wanting to mess with it. Rubbing a hand up his sweaty arm, Bobby ended up grabbing a pair of shorts and a towel and closed himself off in the bathroom, turning on the shower.

While Bobby showered Josh found himself in a slight predicament as Bobby's actions accidentally pushed him…

Wiping away some liquids from his face, Josh spat as he tried to figure out where he was. After Bobby moved the shrink ray, he must have accidentally bumped Josh off the bed. Josh looked around as he realized exactly where he was, his half eaten grab and go meal. Remembering that he left it on the floor next to his bed, Josh actually figured this must've been a stroke of good luck. Had he fallen on the floor who knows if Bobby would ever spot him if he stomped around without looking. Feeling a little better, Josh observed the bits of food he left untouched not so long ago. With the sandwich gone most of what remained were a couple pieces of melon, a tiny spoon and yogurt, and a little package of peanuts.

Josh jumped suddenly as he heard the door to the bathroom open and watched as Bobby emerged from the steamy room, dropping his old clothes on the floor as he was clad now only in the same pair of sleeping shorts he had earlier. Josh watched from his position in the meal as Bobby reached for another hat, covering his short hair as he turned it backwards with a smile. Josh couldn't help but admire his impressive physique as he daydreamed watching the giant, before he realized Bobby was walking right toward him.

"Man, he left like half his meal." Bobby said as he picked up the remainder of Josh's grab and go meal, bringing it over to his own desk and setting it down. Josh tried yelling to the man as he walked away, grabbing his and Tyler's empty containers from earlier and tossing them in the garbage. Reaching into a corner of his room, Josh watched as Bobby pulled out a fresh orange gatorade and crack it open. Making his way back over to the desk, Josh moved out of the way in terror as Bobby grabbed a piece of melon just feet from where he was standing, before the giant carelessly tossed it in his mouth. Panicking, Josh realized now the kind of danger he was in. Knowing he had to get noticed, or risk being thrown out when Bobby finished eating, Josh tried to move himself in a more noticeable spot.

Josh noticed the little spoon, figuring if Bobby was going to eat the yogurt too he'd have to grab it eventually. Confident in his decision in trying to make himself noticeable on something that wasn't food, Josh waved his arms frantically as he watched Bobby look back down into the meal. Josh watched carefully as his studly roommate peeled the top off the yogurt container and reached in for the little spoon. Josh's hope quickly turned to fear, however as Bobby simply lifted the spoon, paying no mind to the little person on the end as he brought it above the yogurt. Josh panicked as he quickly tried to jump off the spoon to safety, only to land in the yogurt himself. Struggling to stay on the surface, Josh wiped the strawberry flavored food away from his face as he looked up at his roommate, who was seemingly distracted by something.

"Oh duh, you need to connect this cord here…" Bobby said to himself as he plugged in a cord to his TV while still holding the tiny spoon. Pressing the power button on, Bobby watched the TV turn on as he picked up the container of yogurt, scooping out a little bit and barely missing Josh in the process. Josh watched in terror as Bobby quickly swished the yogurt about in his mouth for a moment before swallowing the clump down. Screaming as Bobby scooped down a second time, he barely missed him once more as he lifted the little spoon up to his mouth, leaving it between his lips for a moment while he leaned forward to try and change the channel on his TV. Josh looked up in terror as he saw Bobby's muscular abs hover above the open top of the yogurt container.

"I'm going to end up in there if I don't get out of here!" Josh yelled to himself, looking at the sides of the container, hoping they weren't too high to climb. Realizing the amount Bobby's eaten so far has lowered the level of yogurt considerably, Josh moved up the the wall looking up in desperation. While looking up the wall, Josh nearly jumped as he saw Bobby scoop the spoon down directly under him and finally pulling Josh out of the yogurt. Josh plead desperately as Bobby started to lift the spoon, before suddenly lowering his other hand to put down the yogurt to answer his phone, while still holding the full spoon at about chest height.

"Yo, what's good Tyler?" Bobby asked as he answered his phone, moving the spoon up closer to his face while watching his TV.

"Dude, I just realized Josh might still be there." Josh heard Tyler voice, making the tiny man's head pop up with hope. "He accidentally shrunk himself this morning after all, he could have done it again."

"Oh shit dude." Bobby replied, moving the spoon down a bit as he gave Josh some hope. "Now that you mention it, he had his funky looking shrink ray thing in his bed when I got back here."

"I bet that's what happened, I'll be over in a bit to help you look for him." Tyler answered as Bobby nodded his head.

"How small is he, do you think?" Bobby asked as he looked down at the floor with curiosity. "Like would I be able to see him?"

"Barely, he's like 1/4th of an inch tall. Maybe less considering how little he already is." Josh heard Tyler's voice say in a joking fashion, much to the dismay of the tiny man.

"Dude, that nuts." Bobby replied looking around some more. "He could be trying to get my attention right now!"

"He probably is, dude." Tyler's voice rang out from the other side of the phone. "So watch your step."

"Can do." Bobby said with a smile as he hung up his phone and set it down, still looking around on the floor around him before finally putting the scoop of yogurt into his mouth. Josh screamed in terror at the sudden action as Bobby left the spoon in his mouth once more as he bent over looking at the ground with care before moving. Pulling the spoon out of his mouth and setting it back inside the yogurt, Bobby moved the glob of food toward the back of his throat as he stood back up and swallowed.

"Poor dude. I bet I look terrifying to him… wherever he is." Bobby said to himself as he reached over for his gatorade and took a lofty chug. "Don't worry dude! I'm not gonna hurt you!"

- - -

Josh barely made out Bobby's ironic words as he was forced quickly down the football star's throat. With the addition of the orange gatorade, the trip became even quicker as Josh found himself dropping deep into the darkness of his roommate, before finally stopping at a positively horrifying sight. Josh rubbed his face as he squinted looking about in the darkness and covering his nose from the stench. All around him it looked like a veritable graveyard of half digested food and chewed up mush. Josh couldn't put a finger on what the smell was, but the best he could describe it would have been literally vomit. Josh tried to move his feet as they were still somewhat stuck to the yogurt he was just trapped in. Breaking free, Josh tried his best not to panic as his surroundings started to make his heart race.

"BOOOOBBBBY!" Josh screamed, before coughing, choking on the putrid air of Bobby's stomach. Josh looked up at the walls of Bobby's stomach as they simply swayed in and out, churning it's contents and ignoring his cries for help. With a satisfied groan, Josh listened as another chewed up mush of food plopped down into Bobby's cavernous stomach, allowing it to digest even more in delight.

- - -

Bobby finished chewing up the very last bites of Josh's old meal as he tossed the container in the garbage, carefully watching his step as he made his way around the room. With a knock on the door, Bobby reached over and opened it up, greeting Tyler. Tyler looked carefully at the floor as he walked in and inspected around the room.

"Any luck yet dude?" Tyler asked, looking concerned as he knelt down on the floor as Bobby shut the door behind him.

"Not yet, man." Bobby replied, walking across a spot he had just check to stand beside Tyler. "He might be hiding? I bet we look pretty intimidating."

"Yeah I hope he knows I'm here, maybe he'll come out now if we keep our heads low and looking." Tyler replied with a frown as Bobby knelt down on the floor, putting his hands on the ground and searching carefully.

- - -

Josh screamed in pain as Bobby's body dipped and changed several times. Without a clue what the giant was doing, Josh started to give up hope that either him or Tyler could possibly figure out he's been eaten. The more Bobby's body started to shift, the less hope Josh had in being found. Sliding down as Bobby's stomach tilted in a flat like position Josh found himself getting mixed up directly in the middle of some partially digested goop in the pit of the football jock's stomach.

Josh yelled in pain as he felt the acidic contents wash over him, quickly burning his skin and causing the little man to flail in pain. In his final moments, Josh stopped moving as his body was slowly combined with the rest of the food.

- - -

Bobby stood up as he finished scanning his entire end of the room, putting a hand on his stomach from the constant shifts and moving. "BUUUUURRP!"

Tyler's head perked up as he saw the muscular football star rub his abs softly after clearing his throat from the massive belch. "Nice one dude!"

"Thanks, man." Bobby replied arrogantly. "Hopefully I didn't scare him back into hiding with that."

"Nah dude, he's used to it by now." Tyler smiled as he gave his own stomach a quick punch, releasing a fairly weak burp in comparison to Bobby's. Bobby simply laughed as he walked across the floor beside Tyler, who turned his attention back to the ground. "He's gotta be around here…"

"Maybe he isn't, dude." Bobby frowned as Tyler looked up at the shirtless man. "Maybe he really did just leave and forget his keys."

"Maybe." Tyler answered, giving up as Bobby put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, dude!" Bobby smiled and winked as he turned and patted Tyler on the back. "He's probably closer to us than we think!"

Josh lay on the ground, groaning and disoriented.One second he was next to Bobby trying to get his attention, and the next, he found himself flung through the air until he landed on the floor in the center of the room.

After staring at the ceiling for a few minutes,Josh concluded that nothing in his body was broken.Shakily he stood up,looking around the room.He was impressed at how clean Bobby’s floor was, no clothes or stray dirt littered the floor.To his right was the desk that held his phone and shrink ray, and to his left was the shower Bobby was currently using.

“How am I going to get up there?” wondered Josh as he looked at the smooth, flat sides of the desk.There was no way he could climb up there on his own.The only way to grow back now would be to get Bobby’s attention, with the disadvantage of not having his phone and Bobby not knowing that he’d shrunk in his room.

Suddenly a strong, warm rush of air hit Josh from behind.He whipped around and saw Bobby in his full,awe inspiring height as he emerged from his shower.Josh stood and stared at Bobby’s well toned physique,clad only in tight compression shorts,but his staring was soon interrupted by a loud SLAP.Bobby was walking towards Josh!

Josh had to think quick before he wound up flattened beneath Bobby’s oblivious feet. Acting quickly.Josh…

Josh knew he only had one shot at this.Bobby was heading for the desk and there was no way that Josh and his tiny body and stamina were going to beat him there.Watching closely as Bobby got nearer.Josh watched as the massive foot lifted over him,the reddened sole hovering over him for a moment before falling forward with a loud SLAP.Falling to his knees from the resulting quake,Josh knew that he would have been toast if he tried to reach the desk.

Looking around ,Josh watched as Bobby took at seat at his desk,his feet flat on the ground.Bobby seemed to be staring at the shrink ray with a thoughtful look on his face,seemingly lost in his thoughts.

Now that he was safe from being crushed by his new friend,at this very moment at least,Josh had to find a way to get his attention,but that was easier said than done.Looking around,the only viable options were either to approach his feet,or to somehow use his leftover lunchbox which was still laying on the ground by the bed.

Bobby stared at the shrink ray on his desk,several different thoughts running through his head.Thinking back on when he had seen Josh beaten and bruised,he felt ashamed of himself.Rather than offer to help Josh improve his situation,he had offered to shrink and torment the team captain that had bullied Josh simply because he could.He almost felt unworthy to be friends with someone as selfless and smart as Josh,who had built a machine capable of unbelievable things.And Bobby wanted to use it for petty revenge.

Shaking his head out of its self disparaging stupor,Bobby realized that Josh had willingly befriend him because he trusted him.Sulking would get him nowhere,he had to better himself for his sake,and for Josh.He would make it clear that he was better than those low life captains.Sitting up straight,Bobby wondered where Josh had even gone,his phone and keys were still here,and he even left his shrink ray behind too.Looking towards the bed Josh had just been on,he spotted his friend’s leftovers sitting there,unguarded.
——-
Josh had circled the plastic container of fruits twice now but he still couldn’t figure out what to do to be seen by Bobby.Just as he considered approaching Bobby himself,a series of quickly growing quakes began nearing his position.Josh couldn’t see what Bobby was doing from his position behind the plastic container and was just about to walk back around when suddenly the massive structure quickly rose off the ground and towards Bobby’s face.Josh watched as a sliced cherry fell from the sudden movement,Bobby seemingly not noticing as he made short work of the remaining food.
——-
Bobby tore through the leftovers as he tried to figure out where his friend had gone.He was definitely here when he left to collect video evidence with Tyler,but that was hours ago.He tried to remember if his dorm room door was unlocked to show that maybe Josh had stepped out,but he simply couldn’t remember. His wandering eyes soon caught movement by his feet at the edge of his bed.There seemed to be a piece of cherry laying on the bare floor and a small speck seemed to be moving away from it and towards him.Bobby’s eyes widened as he realized what he was seeing.

“Sorry little bug,I’m already sharing the dorm with my buddy Josh.Speaking of which,he wouldn’t be happy if I let you start an infestation in our place,so sorry about this.” Bobby chuckled as he spoke with the bug as if it could understand him.Remembering that he should probably loom for Josh soon,Bobby decided to stop toying with the puny thing at his feet and to get started on his search.Casually raising his big toe on his right foot,Bobby slid the foot forward until the bug disappeared under the shadow of his toe.Quickly bringing the appendage down,Bobby felt the faintest tickle of resistance before applying more pressure,his toe soon flattening the bug and resting fully on the floor.

“Well that was fun,but that doesn’t tell me where Josh had disappeared to.”

Not bothering to look at the bug he had just squashed,Bobby sat back down at his desk and stared at Josh’s stuff,trying to piece together where his little buddy had gone.

Tyler's sweat covered hands slipped as he held the device, causing it to slide quickly out of his hands. Josh's heart sunk as he watched Tyler try to re-grab the shrink ray in midair, only to have it slip through his fingers a second time and come crashing down on the ground. With a heart wrenching shatter, Josh watched as the shrink ray smashed against the floor, breaking into several pieces. Josh sat there, dumbstruck as Tyler held his hands out where he dropped the device.

"I-I…" Tyler stuttered. "It-it slipped!"

Still staring at the broken shrink ray, Josh remained speechless with his mouth a gap. Tyler looked at Josh, his tiny face and expression unchanged for several seconds. "I-I'm so sorry. It was an accident!"

Josh shook his head out of his funk, feeling bad that he he made Tyler feel like this. "I know it was and I know you're sorry. It's ok, friend."

Tyler knelt down and looked at Josh seriously, appreciating his forgiveness but knowing this whole ordeal became way more than a simple apology and forgiveness scenario. "What are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure what we can do…" Josh sighed, feeling a little depressed. "I could be stuck like this forever…"

"We could fix it!" Tyler smiled, trying to kneel down a little more to brush all the pieces together. "Could you give all the pieces to my dad, maybe?"

"No, that wouldn't work. Your father probably has less of an understanding of how it works than you do. You've at least got experience using it for the past day." Josh responded in a somewhat hopeless sounding voice.

"Maybe I could fix it then?" Tyler replied, trying to sound optimistic. "You could walk me through it."

Josh gave Tyler a weak smile, open to the idea that there may be some hope yet. Watching as Tyler gathered all the pieces, Josh instructed him to lay them all out on the desk. After laying out the pieces, Tyler moved Josh up on the desk next to the shattered device, and sat down in the chair himself. Carefully instructing Tyler, Josh had him click each piece back in to their correct spots, requiring bits of tape here and there to hold it all together. Clicking all the buttons in order, Tyler pointed the device at Josh and… nothing. Without so much as powering on, the shrink ray remained inactive despite it being put in mostly good order.

"That's it then…" Josh sighed deeply as Tyler set down the shrink ray with care. "I'm stuck like this."

"No, dude! Maybe if we went to the lab, we could use better tools than what I have here." Tyler offered, trying desperately to cheer Josh up.

Feeling somewhat defeated, Josh looked up at Tyler's caring face and said…

"Whatever, I've been up all night already anyway." Josh said to himself as he looked up back toward Tyler's pec. Feeling like it would be a better idea to walk between the muscles Josh made his way to the massive valley between the two mountain pecs. Carefully making his way across Tyler's chest, Josh was continually reminded of Tyler's sheer size every time his torso rose and lowered with each passing breath. Tyler's massive heartbeat started to fade as Josh found himself under the chin at the base of the neck. Grabbing a small tuft of scruff on Tyler's neck Josh pulled himself up the seemingly sheer cliff before reaching the top of the chin at the very bottom of Tyler's face.

"This is nuts…" Josh said to himself as he looked out at Tyler's lips, to his closed eyes and all the way up to his forehead and hair. From this view Josh watched as Tyler's nostrils flared ever so slightly with each breath he took. The graceful flaring was cut short however as Tyler hung his mouth suddenly open, breathing through his mouth instead fro the time being. Josh chuckled to himself as Tyler's face turned slightly to the side, seeing his tongue almost hang out of his mouth in the process.

"What a goof…" Josh said aloud, feeling like Tyler was goofy both awake and asleep now. Josh moved forward, still feeling both curious and adventurous. Carefully navigating around the side of Tyler's mouth and avoiding the front of the nose, Josh wanted to inspect Tyler's eye. Making his way on to the massive eyelid, Josh reached down and tried to pull back slightly on the upper lid. Unfortunately for the tiny adventurer, he was much too small to even get the massive flap of skin to move even the slightest. However Josh giggled slightly as he felt Tyler's eye move slightly under the lid, likely in REM sleep. Moving off the eye, Josh inspected Tyler's massive eyebrows, noting how perfectly bushy yet still being a moderately normal size they were.

Feeling like his explorations were worth the effort, Josh walked back down past the eyes and level with the nose, inspecting the huge piece of cartilage from the side before moving toward the side of the lips. Suddenly Tyler's face shifted to the side once more. Josh panicked, unsure what direction he was about to be sent tumbling. With a few rolls Josh found he was sent hurtling…

Josh's arms completely gave way. Laying there defeated, Josh could barely move at all as Tyler strained and sweated far above him. "Sixty eight! Come on dude don't give up!"

Josh tried with all his might to simply move his arms as Tyler's shaking voice attempted to inspire him. Feeling like he was going to pass out, Josh heard Tyler call out a number once more. "Seventy oooone!"

Feeling like total garbage Josh frowned. Here Tyler passed his record to seventy one push ups and he couldn't even do a measly ten. Weakly rolling on his back, Josh watched as Tyler's sweaty chest rose up very slowly, Tyler's arms shaking like crazy as he started to lower his body once more for seventy two. With a sudden slip, Tyler's right arm gave way as his mountainous chest started to fall almost in slow motion down at Josh. Eyes widening as Tyler fell, Josh didn't even have a chance to scream before Tyler's right pec collapsed directly on top of him with full force. In an instant Josh shut his eyes in fear as the sweaty muscle crashed down on top of him like a massive round building falling from the sky.

Gasping, Tyler landed with his chest flat on the floor for a moment. As quickly as he could, he rolled to the side on his back, hoping he didn't instantly pulverize the tiny man. Looking down on his chest he could barely make out a tiny speck of red, and turning his attention over to the yoga mat there was an equally tiny speck splattered where Josh once laid. Sitting up, Tyler couldn't believe what had just happened. Punching the ground next to him angrily before laying down on his back and covering his face Tyler groaned loudly.

"Damn it!" Tyler yelled with rage. "Why didn't I move out of the way?!"

Tyler rubbed his face, taking a deep breath. "This isn't my fault. All he had to do was one lousy push up. Or hell he could have ran!"

Trying to convince himself that he wasn't at fault, Tyler kept repeating different ways Josh could have avoided this untimely fate. Listing and listing as he sat up and rolled up his yoga mat, Tyler tucked it away in a corner of his room. Moving to his bathroom, Tyler took out a wash cloth, drenching it with water and wiping his chest off.

"He could have crawled, or yelled at me that he couldn't do it." Tyler continued to ramble on in denial as he made his way out into his room once more, looking over at Josh's shrink ray. Grabbing the device and slamming it into his garbage can angrily, Tyler heard it break hard against the floor of the can. Walking over to his bed rubbing his now clean right pec, Tyler sat down on the cushy surface before laying down on his back, staring at his ceiling.

"Damn it!!" He yelled angrily once more as he slapped his hand with a resounding slam on his right pec, leaving his hand laying there as he continued to stare at the ceiling.

Cupping his hand and purposefully rolling Josh about in his palm, Tyler clicked his tongue while looking around the room a little trying to figure out a way to show Josh who the boss was. Getting an idea, Tyler walked over to his cabinet above his mini fridge and pulled out a red solo cup. Making his way into the bathroom, Tyler filled the cup with water and left the room, going to set the cup down on his desk. Holding Josh slightly higher toward his chest, Tyler looked down at the dizzy man and smirked.

"Know what else we do to nerds? We give them swirlies…" Tyler mocked as he held Josh over the full cup. Yelling in protest, Tyler paid him no mind as he slowly tilted his hand and dropped the little guy in the cup. Watching as he quickly dropped with a teeny tiny "plomp" into the water, Tyler smirked as he watched the little guy reemerge. Grabbing the cup and holding it up toward himself, Tyler started to swirl the cup in circles, creating a mini whirlpool with Josh trapped inside. Tyler laughed as he stopped the cup momentarily to see Josh come spinning to a stop in the middle. Sitting down and setting the cup down on the desk, Tyler rested his chin on his his hand as he looked down into the cup, smiling.

"These were my only clothes!" Josh yelled after finally regaining his senses after several minutes. Tyler simply laughed as he continued smirking into the cup.

"Didn't you have fun? Must've been the best swirly of your life!" Tyler grinned, ignoring Josh's troubles in the cup.

"I've never even had a swirly!" Josh snapped back. "Besides this water is freezing!"

Feeling a slight bit of warmth actually, Josh put a hand on his pocket while he floated. "My phone is fried! You're lucky I have it covered by water damage!"

Tyler chuckled as he heard the little guy swear about his phone a little. "Still cold, little bud?"

"F-freezing! I n-need to get someplace w-warm f-fast!" Josh shivered in the chilly tap water.

"I can fix that." Tyler replied with a smirk as he lifted up the cup. Excepting Tyler to simply pluck him out, Josh's expression changed quickly to panic when Tyler brought the rim of the cup to his lips. Swimming frantically in the opposite direction, Josh tried his absolute best to remain in the cup. However his size would proves to be quite the hindrance as he was easily sucked into Tyler's gaping mouth. Slipping into the middle of the huge tongue in a small pool of water, Josh shivered some more. Not because of cold, but out of fear. While it was certainly warmer, the overall area felt so much more dangerous.

"This isn't funny anymore!" Josh cried out, hoping the giant could hear him from his position within his mouth. The cavern simply jolted up and down as Tyler's deafening laughter erupted over Josh. Holding his hands over his ears, Josh waited for him to stop laughing without noticing the small amounts of water Tyler was unintentionally swallowing in his glee.

Suddenly, everything went completely upside down as Josh was being swished and jostled about into Tyler's cheeks and up and down his entire mouth. Feeling even more disoriented than when he was in the cup, Josh almost felt like he was going to vomit due to the different angles and reeking food smell coming from inside Tyler's mouth. Coming to a stop along side a massive white tooth, Josh put his hand on the enormous bone as he hoped his head would stop swimming.

"How's that for a swirly?" Tyler's voice rang out once again like a jet engine, causing Josh to cover his ears and lose balance, falling backwards toward Tyler's treacherous throat. As Josh struggled to stay afloat in the water directly below Tyler's dripping uvula, Tyler…

"It didn't freak me out at all! In fact, it made me wonder what it would be like to be eaten alive like that." Josh admitted much to a somewhat puzzled look from Tyler. Tyler's expression changed quickly to one of laughter however, as he leaned back and put a hand on his bare abs. "Hey! What's so funny? I was just being honest!"

Tyler leaned forward, wiping a tear from his eye, face still lit up with laughter. "You were? Damn dude, why would you want me to eat you?"

Josh blushed, unable to come up with a real answer as quickly as he would have hoped. "I'm not sure… science?"

"Dude that's a terrible answer." Tyler mocked the embarrassed tiny man. "What could you possibly learn from being eaten? How to end up as shit?"

"Well I wouldn't want it to go that far!" Josh waved his hands in disgust. "It's more, like… witnessing the digestive properties first hand and then not dying."

"Yeah, how would you not die?" Tyler asked mockingly, raising an eyebrow as he leaned forward.

"I dunno… you could drink a bunch of water, or throw up?" Josh pondered, thinking about the possibilities. Tyler made a face as he leaned back in his chair again, looking puzzled.

"I still can't completely tell if you're serious." Tyler questioned, looking at his tiny friend who was still deep in thought.

"I'm serious, I think it would be a cool experience." Josh answered honestly, not wanting Tyler to think this was just some big joke. Tyler meanwhile, still didn't look completely convinced.

"I just think you're not thinking properly with that little bug brain of your's." Tyler scoffed cockily as he leaned back a little more. Josh meanwhile felt a little offended he had to convince his friend to do something that no two humans have ever done before.

"You're telling me you have no interest in seeing what it would be like to eat a tiny human, even after the comment you made?" Josh questioned the titanic stud.

Tyler meanwhile, sighed as he leaned back forward to look at Josh once more. "I mean… I thought about it. But it was still mostly a joke, dude. I mean I swallowed a goldfish once in high school and puked it back up. So it might be interesting to do with a little person except…"

"…Except?" Josh continued the statement, wanting to know the ending.

"I just ate two dinners, dude. I don't wanna waste that by puking your ass up." Tyler huffed as he crossed his arms in a commanding fashion.

Josh tapped his foot, thinking hard about what he was about to say. Making up his mind Josh looked at Tyler in the eye and said…

"You know what, don't puke me up then." Josh answered, putting his foot down. "Leave me in there."

"Look, pal." Tyler said, leaning forward. "I wanna do it too, but you gotta understand I have some mixed feelings after how you stood up for me. You're my buddy now."

Josh smiled, looking up at his friend. Even though they had only known each other for a day, Josh really did feel a close connection to the behemoth muscular man.

"Ty, you're exceptional." Josh started, causing Tyler to smile a little. "That's why it would be my privilege to perform one last experiment with you like this."

"Damn dude." Tyler said with a smile. "You're gonna get me all emotional!"

Josh couldn't help but laugh as the huge man pretended to wipe away tears from his eyes before lowering his hand. Scaling up the huge hand once more, Josh watched as Tyler stood up out of his chair, holding his hand directly in front of his massive abs. Looking up past Tyler's muscular chest, his eyes met with his friend's as he rose him slowly up to his face.

"You ready, dude?" Tyler prepared the tiny man before holding him close to his mouth and whispering. "My stomach is waiting for you, bud…"

Josh nodded his head, feeling a little nervous. Tyler meanwhile seemed a little more eager as he opened his mouth wide, revealing his rows of well tended white teeth. Tiling his hand toward the open cavern, Tyler allowed the little man to fall directly onto his tongue with a gentle splat. Sitting up in the sticky smelly cave, Josh looked out of Tyler's mouth as it slowly hung there, starting to close. After a few moments, Josh watched as Tyler's jaws met, closing him inside his mouth.

"No turning back now." Josh said to himself as he turned his body on cue to face toward Tyler's massive throat. Josh looked out in awe down the massive landscape of Tyler's tongue until it met a sudden end and dip directly over the throat. The uvula hung gracefully above the chasm like some sort of guide directing chewed up food down to its eternal resting place. Suddenly, Josh lost his footing as he starting sliding down the slick surface of Tyler's tongue, straight toward his awaiting throat. Not wanting to shut his eyes, Josh froze in terror as he made his way down seemingly inches before Tyler's throat could engulf him before stopping, when suddenly a huge voice boomed out over him.

"Someone's eager!" Tyler's mocking voice cascaded over Josh momentarily, much to Josh's annoyance.

"I slipped!" Josh yelled back, not wanting to make it seem like he was all too willing about being eaten alive. Tyler's tongue started to lurch, as Josh was pushed slightly back toward the throat once more.

"Suuuure!" Tyler's voice echoed about some more. "And I just accidentally…"

The voice paused as Josh was quickly sucked down the throat in a deafening "gulp".

"Swallowed…" Tyler's voice finished in what now sounded like some distance above Josh. Holding on to the slimy walls, Josh realized he was slowly being worked down Tyler's esophagus. With literally no traction now against the smooth muscle, Josh could do little more than slide down the long organ until reaching his next destination of the digestive tract. With little more than Tyler's rhythmic heart beat to accompany him, Josh's mind wondered to what Tyler was doing at this moment.

- - -

"Hmm" Tyler pondered with a hand on his chest. "Nope, he's just too little."

Removing his hand from his chest, Tyler was a little disappointed he couldn't at least feel the little guy squirm him way down. But shortly after he performed his exaggerated swallow, he lost track of his friend completely. Still standing still in the same spot, he felt like he didn't want to jerk around too much as the little guy plopped further down into his body.

"That was pretty cool though." Tyler finally said to himself, giving his gut a soft rub as he walked over to his bedside table. Looking down he noticed his phone, which he removed from his pocket earlier. Having an idea, he picked it up and decided to text his little intestinal spelunking friend.

- - -

With a sudden lurch, Josh found himself being forced through the final sphincter before the stomach, landing in a pile of half digested food with little grace. Picking himself up, Josh rubbed some goop from his face as he looked around the dark organ in awe. Barely making anything out, Josh tried to squint as he made out slight shapes and smells coming from all kinds of various foods. Mostly the digestive sack reeked of soda. The carbonated beverage seemed to mostly settle at the bottom of Tyler's stomach, acting as a type of moat around the mounds of food. Suddenly, Josh felt a slight buzz come from his pocket, remembering he had his phone with him. Pulling it out, Josh as astonished to see the screen light up and see he received a new text message from Tyler.

"hope u had a nice trip dude" The text simply stated as Josh smiled to see his friend thought about him. With the new found light in the otherwise pitch black environment, Josh got a better look around. After stumbling a little bit, Josh was certain of what he found. The grape Tyler swallowed was still in fact completely whole, bobbing up and down in a sea of soda and stomach acid as organ churned its meal diligently. Quickly snapping a picture, Josh tapped out a reply to the outside.

- - -

Still standing at his bedside, Tyler was surprised to see his phone light up with a response from within his belly. Pulling up the message Tyler laughed as he saw the picture of a gigantic green grape floating in a sea of brown.

"The ride was great! Look what I found down here!" The text message read, neatly. Tyler shook his head happily, being able to see the enthusiasm even though text message. Smiling as he typed up a response, he was glad he gave his friend this chance of a life time after all.

- - -

With another buzz, Josh reached for his phone once more. With his skin starting to itch, Josh tried to ignore the sensation as he clicked on the device again to see what Tyler had to say.

"better take shelter in thr dude those waters r gonna git rough" The message read, a little to Josh's confusion as suddenly the entire stomach turned seemingly on its side. Holding on to what he was pretty sure was chewed up bread, Josh was nearly flung across the massive organ with the sudden turn. Pulling out his phone for a moment again Josh wondered what exactly had happened. However he was once again interrupted by a new sound.

"BUUUUUURRRP!"

The loud sound rumbled deeply from above as the chamber Josh was in felt like it changed a good amount in pressure. Kneeling slightly in the mush, Josh pulled out his phone again as he received a second text.

"swear i could taste u comin up a bit u still dwn thr?" The message read as Josh looked around the massive organ as his vision started to get blurry.

"Yeah still down here for sure." Josh said to himself as he tapped out a more enthusiastic sounding response.

- - -

Tyler laid on his bed, rubbing his hand up and down his abdomen in pride over his recent belch as he saw his phone light up once again with a response from Josh.

"That burp was massive! It was incredible to hear from inside here. I'm still down here, also what happened with the shifting?" The message read once again very cleanly.

"Gotta hand it to him, even while stewing away in my guts he's making sure to use proper grammar." Tyler smiled to himself as he lazily responded in his own fashion. Hitting the send button and laying the device on his stomach, Tyler moved his arms behind his head as he laid relaxed in bed.

- - -

Itching his arm fiercely, Josh was really starting to feel the affects of being inside a real live stomach. Feeling a little regretful, Josh tried to grin as his phone buzzed once more. Pulling it out, Josh squinted his eyes to read the screen for quite possibly the last time.

"i jus laid dwn dude. think that burp was gud? jus gimme a min" Just as Josh finished reading the text, he could feel the pressure in the stomach start to change dramatically. Feeling light headed, Josh nearly face planted in the mush, barely gripping his phone as there was an even more explosive belch erupted from the cavern.

"BBBBBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRPPP!"

Tyler stomach contracted violently as Josh lost track of exactly where he was. Skin itching and eye sight fading, Josh truly started to regret his decision to live food for his friend. Pulling out his phone, Josh tried weakly to type out a plea for help before he fell to his knees once more. Dropping his phone in some slippery mush, he barely watched as it slid into a collection of brown soda and murky goop. Hoping the device was still ok, Josh reached down into it, immediately regretting that decision as well as his skin started to burn with immense pain. Keeling over, Josh slid down into the very same puddle flailing in agony as he was slowly digested along side his phone. Lighting up one last time with a new message, the hardy phone finally stopped working as it faded off.

- - -

"Huh, he's not responding anymore…" Tyler sighed as he looked down at his chiseled abdomen. "I wonder if he appreciated that last burp?"

Pulling up his messages once more Tyler tried once more to ask Josh about his sweet belching skills. "dude? u git my last message?" He asked hopefully as he saw his phone try to send. Expression going from hopeful to blank, Tyler got up and set his phone back on his night stand and went to grab some of his free weights. Grabbing the heaviest ones he had, Tyler started to work his arms roughly as he faced away from his still lit phone. As the light faded to sleep mode, the message Tyler just typed remained "Not sent".

Josh frantically attempted to stick himself to the tape, but it was no use. He simply didn't have the time as Tyler threw the door open. The mountain of muscle under him flexing threw Josh for a loop, and threw him off. He saw the world rushing away, mind too dulled by shock to do anything. He could only think of the enormous fall he was now taking part in. Calculations of his relative height and how far he'd be falling rushed through his head and wind rushed past him. With air resistance, he likely wouldn't slam into the ground with extremely painful force, but there was still a chance he'd die horribly. A pretty great chance actually.

With that thought, Josh snapped out of it. He couldn't let that happen! He looked around, seeing a wall of fabric rushing past on one side-- Tyler's shirt-- and a flesh-colored one on the other-- Tyler's chest most likely. And looking down, he saw a protrusion coming up fast. His nipple.Josh shivered, but he knew he had to grab onto it if he didn't want to collide with the ground hundreds of feet below.

Arms outstretched, Josh tried to maneuver himself over to Tyler's nipple. Did he make it?

Tyler quickly turned the device at Josh, pulling the trigger and emitting a bright flash before Josh could even react to what was going on. Rubbing his eyes and looking around, Josh felt the blood drain from his face as he looked up at Tyler's massive frame coming toward him. Trying to back away, Josh moved as fast as he could away from Tyler's fingers as they reached down to get him. Ultimately a fruitless effort on Josh's part, Tyler easily pinched the tiny man between his fingers and set him down in his hand. Sitting down in Tyler's palm and trembling in a little fear, Josh looked up at Tyler's face. The look he wore seemed to be one of mixed feelings.

"This isn't personal, by the way." Tyler spoke down somewhat softly at the tiny man. "You actually seem like a decent guy. But you gave me a ticket out of this hell hole."

"W-what do you mean?" Josh asked nervously, shaking in fear over Tyler's sudden actions. Tyler sighed and shook his head with a slight grin.

"Don't be so scared. I'm not gonna hurt you. That being said…" Tyler paused for a second to think of how word his next sentence. "You'd still be a witness when I shrink my dad. With him missing I may finally be able to live my life."

"Please! I won't tell anyone!" Josh begged feeling like Tyler was just going to get rid of him.

"I don't know you so I can't trust you, dude." Tyler replied raising his eyebrows. "So eventually we'll have to think of a way to take care of you."

Josh shivered at the words "take care of" know it meant "kill him off". Trembling with fear Josh watched as Tyler lazily strode over to a desk and slid Josh off his hand onto the table. Sitting down and grabbing the shrink ray, Tyler propped up his feet and waited. Josh looked around the table. The drop to the floor alone would kill him, so there was no where to run. Josh walked over to the edge, looking over. Josh wanted to have faith in his new acquaintance that he would have pity on him, but part of him felt like jumping would just make the whole ordeal easier on him. Suddenly Tyler's massive hand moved in front of him, stopping him from jumping.

"Dude, don't jump from there. That's gotta be like crazy high for you." Tyler said setting down his feet and pushing Josh more toward the middle of the table.

"What do you care? You're just going to "take care of me" anyway!" Josh yelled, feeling like there was no point to him not jumping.

"Well I don't want you to kill yourself." Tyler said with a frown. "At least let me live with the guilt of whatever I end up doing with you."

Josh sat down dumbfounded. Here Tyler seemed like a legitimately nice guy, in yet he was still intent on going through with this crazy plan. Just as Josh mulled it over, Josh watched as his giant professor opened the door, looking directly over at Tyler with an angry expression. Even if Josh had yelled anything, it was already too late as Tyler pulled the trigger instantly at his own father. Watching as the man shrunk in wild confusion, Tyler walked over to where his tiny father was and rose his enormous shoe. With a tremendous stomp, Tyler slammed his foot to the ground on his own father. Shimmying his foot side to side Tyler made extra sure the bug of a man that was once his father was nothing more than a tiny bloody smear at the bottom of his shoe. With his jaw dropped, Josh watched as Tyler casually took a paper towel, wiping the bottom of his shoe and tossing it in the trash.

"You really hated your dad…" Josh said as Tyler walked back over to the table and set down the shrink ray.

"Yeah. I did." Tyler replied simply, looking like he had no regrets on his face. "Either way, what's done is done. You're a witness."

"Yeah? Who am I going to tell?" Josh replied smugly, figuring there wasn't any way out of this anyway.

"Stop dude. I'm not letting you go. If someone somehow found you I would be in trouble." Tyler said with a frown as he looked down at the tiny man.

"How would anyone find me? I'm so small an ant would mistake me as an even smaller bug." Josh questioned seriously. "How would it be any different than whatever you plan on doing with me?"

"Look I don't know!" Tyler shouted, feeling like he's finally broken down from the situation. "I don't want to abandon you is all. It feels cruel."

"Why do you care?" Josh asked, feeling annoyed about Tyler indecisiveness after he caused this whole situation in the first place.

"Because I'm not a bad guy!" Tyler yelled, looking like he was sweating a bit. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You've said that." Josh sighed, feeling like they were getting no where. "Why don't you just unshrink me and we can just go about our business forgetting this ever happened. It's like you said it's just like your dad went missing, right?"

"I can't trust you." Tyler said with emphasis. "I don't even know you, dude."

"What if I can earn your trust? You're obviously a caring guy, we could be friends!" Josh asked desperately, hoping to get through Tyler's thick skull. Tyler put his hands on his hips looking nervous as he thought it over for a minute. After mulling it over, Tyler decided to…

"No, I can't keep you around like some pet. We're just going to finish this now." Tyler said, putting his foot down and causing most of the hope to fade from Josh's eyes. "How should I do it?"

"I'm telling you, we could be friends. You obviously don't want to do this. Or were you lying about not wanting to hurt me?" Josh questioned, unsure if Tyler was really as good of a person as he initially read.

"I could stomp you like my dad. I could sit on you if you wanted." Tyler started list different things as he ignored Josh's words.

"I just want to know if you were lying… I don't know why you'd so adamantly say something like that to me twice. Was it just to gain my trust? If so I trusted you, I just wish you could trust me…" Josh said, ignoring Tyler as he listed different options for his untimely death.

"I could chew you up too I guess. Or swallow you like a pill. Drop you in my shoe, smother you in my arm pit, lay on you. You've got options dude." Tyler continued as they both seemed to just keep ignoring each other.

"I know I'm a nerd and you've had bad experiences with them, but I'm actually a nice guy. Just like I know you seem to be." Josh said, hoping against all odds to get through to him.

"If you don't pick an option, I'll pick for you." Tyler said, crossing his arms and frowning.

"If you don't answer my question I'm not picking an option." Josh demanded, feeling like the two were finally paying attention to each other.

"Which one? … I heard you ask like ten different things." Tyler sigh putting his hand to his face.

"Just if you were lying about not wanting to hurt me. I just want to know, then whatever. I'll pick one of your options." Josh said with authority, figuring if he was going to go out, he wanted to at least know why. Tyler sighed deeply and rubbed his hand up and down his face. Looking down at Josh, Tyler answered…

Josh watched as Bobby turned and sat down on his bed. Rubbing his arm, Josh wasn't entirely sure about what he was about to do, but he figured if Bobby was going to live with him he was going to find out about his research soon enough anyway.

"Hey Bobby, do you know why they call me a prodigy?" Josh tried to ask casually. Bobby simply leaned back, stretching his shoulders till the rested on the wall his bed was pushed up against.

"Uhh… No, I guess I just heard you were smart?" Bobby asked, frowning and crossing his arms.

"It's more than just that. I actually invented something that only a few people know about." Josh replied, going and sitting on his own bed across the room from Bobby. Bobby sat silently as he watched Josh unzip the backpack on his bed and pull out an almost sci-fi looking ray gun. Bobby rose an eyebrow as he saw Josh set it on his lap.

"What is it? A laser gun or something?" Bobby asked, leaning forward to get a better look. Josh simply shook his head and smiled.

"It's a shrink ray." Josh answered simply, holding it up and admiring his work from a side.

"Pffffft…" Bobby spat, leaning back against the wall once more. "I'm no nerd, but shrink rays aren't real."

"That's why they call me a prodigy. I figured it out." Josh grinned proudly as he lowered the device back down into his lap. Bobby simply rolled his eyes as Josh held up the device and pointed it at his empty back pack. With a bright flash, Bobby sat forward once more to see the backpack seemingly disappear. Standing up, Bobby walked across the room to see Josh reach down and pick up what looked like a tiny speck. Standing up, Josh reached out his hand, putting the tiny speck in Bobby's palm. Looking down closely at it, Bobby was astonished to see it was in fact a teeny tiny backpack.

"Whaaat?" Bobby mumbled as he looked even closer. Averting his eyes from the speck, he looked back down at his short roommate in front of him. "It shrank!"

"Told you." Josh replied with a smile. Taking the tiny backpack out of his roommate's huge hand, Josh set it back down on his bed and pointed the shrink ray at it once more. With another bright flash, Bobby rubbed his eyes before he saw the backpack, back to it's normal size.

"That's awesome! Dude! What else can you shrink?" Bobby asked excitedly as he put a hand on Josh's shoulder. Josh smiled, glad to see he was in to it now that he's really seen it.

"Anything really, but this is just a prototype… so it might still have some limitations." Josh replied as he turned and looked up at Bobby's excited face.

"Can you shrink people?" Bobby asked looking down at Josh, trying to hide some of his excitement. Josh bit his lip. In truth that's what the device was ultimately designed for, but he wasn't entirely sure if it was ready for that.

"It should be able to… I'm just not sure if it's completely ready for that kind of test yet…" Josh said with caution as he moved away slightly from Bobby. "We could try if you really wanted to?"

"Awesome! Lemme see it!" Bobby replied, quickly grabbing the ray from Josh's hand. Josh was a little surprised, as he thought for a moment that they'd be testing it on Bobby, not himself. Before Josh could get a word in, there was a bright flash and Josh had to shield his eyes. Blinking his eyes slightly, Josh regained his vision once more as he looked up in astonishment. His once already intimidatingly huge roommate suddenly became a literal giant before his eyes. Unsure if he should panic and run away or just stare up at Bobby in awe, he barely had time to decide as his now colossal roommate knelt down reaching for him in what almost seemed like purposeful slow motion. Unable to have a say in the ordeal, Josh found himself in Bobby's massive palm, being lifted up past his chiseled abdomen and chest until finally reaching his gigantic handsome face. Bobby smiled, showing off his rows of perfect white teeth, and suddenly Josh felt more intrigued than he did scared.

"Wow… this is amazing…" Josh spoke softly while he took in every characteristic of Bobby's face. Meanwhile, Bobby simply turned and sat down on Josh's bed, still holding his tiny roommate at about face level.

"You'll have to speak louder than that, little guy!" Bobby spoke at about a normal speaking level for himself. To Josh his voice boomed across him, much louder than he was accustomed. Never the less, Josh nodded his head, figuring he'd have to practically yell for the huge man to hear him.

"I was just saying how cool this is!" Josh yelled up at his roommate, still impressed in his invention's ability to shrink him down as accurately as it does inanimate objects. Being the first time he's ever been shrunk down personally, Josh knew this was a great experience that he couldn't wait to document. "I'd like to go back to normal size now though, so I can record my experience!"

Bobby frowned and shrugged. Turning his body, he set Josh down on his own desk and reached for the shrink ray. Setting the switch in reverse, Bobby pointed the device at Josh and…

Bobby pulled the trigger and a sudden flash of light engulfed Josh's vision. Blinking momentarily, Josh looked around the room for a few seconds, then once again up at his giant roommate.

"Noting happened…" Bobby spoke, looking down at his still minuscule roommate. Josh put his hands together nervously. He shrank no problem, but apparently the device is having difficulties regrowing living things. Looking down at the ground, Josh tried to think of any number of possibilities for this to happen as Bobby watched him silently, growing a little impatient.

"Uhh so what do I do, dude?" Bobby asked, hoping to solve this problem so he could move on with his day. Josh looked up at the handsome man, feeling somewhat defeated.

"I-I'm not sure… maybe if you brought me to the lab… I could figure it out." Josh stuttered nervously.

Bobby shrugged his shoulders and set down the shrink ray. "I can do that. But I don't know about right now…"

Josh cringed at the statement, knowing it meant he was going to be stuck as the size of a bug for much longer than he anticipated. "What do you mean?"

Bobby pulled up Josh's chair, seating himself in front of Josh at the desk and obstructing Josh's view with his impressive spandex clad torso. "Dude, I gotta get something done first."

Josh watched as Bobby pulled back the chair and stand up. Panicking, Josh ran to the edge of the desk, trying to yell for Bobby's attention. "You aren't gonna leave me are you?!"

Bobby rose an eyebrow as he bent down to see the little guy. "I dunno if you wanna tag along, dude."

"I don't care." Josh said, putting his foot down. "I don't want to be left here alone as small as I am."

Bobby simply smirked as he reached down, allowing his tiny roommate to climb aboard his hand. Standing up straight with Josh resting in the center of his palm, Bobby turned and walked out the door, locking it on his way out. Loosing his footing, Josh fell over on his butt as Bobby's pounding footsteps carried the pair off to where ever Bobby was heading. Curious, as they left the building, Josh called up to his titanic roommate.

"Where are we headed anyway?!" Josh yelled with all his might, as Bobby closed him in a loose fist and lifted his hand up to his mouth.

Bobby opened his gigantic mouth an replied. "I'm headed to…"