Ken started down the hall to the stairwell door; approaching an intersection with the hall to another wing he heard a commotion of hollering and the pounding feet of people at a dead run. For a split second, he saw a flash of green and pink before getting body slammed flat onto his back, his assailant landing hard across his torso.
“Ohhh...” Ken muttered looking up over the body atop him as a tall lanky man appeared, whooped, and hosed Ken and the other student down with a giant green Super Soaker water gun. Ken wondered for a split second whether the blond beanpole really was so tall or was it just another symptom of him own diminishing, but with another whoop the man turned and pushed through the stairway door, his spikey mullet nearly brushing the doorframe. “… well that’s a relief” Ken finished under his breath.
The body atop him stirred. “Skyler! You’re dead, dude!! You hear me?!?!?” he shouted before settled back on his heels, then stood. Ken realized it was Jae, some sort of biology major he kind of knew who lived on the other wing. As usual, the young man was decked out in a polo shirt, pink today, and some white shorts. Ken knew Jae was an avid tennis player, and his lean, toned 5’9” inch frame showed it.
Jae retrieved his own water gun before glancing down. “Ken! Sorry bro!” he yelped, reaching down with his usual grin to help Ken to his feet. “Ha! Thanks for breaking my fall.”
“Thanks man, no problem” Ken replied distractedly. As he got to his feet he realized one of his shoes had come off. Thinking that was odd he immediately glanced down and around to locate it a couple feet away. Retrieving it, he turned back to notice Jae’s furrowed brow.
“Dude! What the hell? You’re like, small.”
Dismayed for the second time in 2 minutes, Ken blurted “Uhuh, 5’7” isn’t small!” blushing at how ridiculous he sounded. Looking (slightly up!) at Jae, he compared himself more closely. Before, he had thought the tanned Asian bro was good looking for a smaller guy, but from this angle he seemed more lanky than lean. Ken probably had about 20 pounds on Jae, but height seemed to count for more psychology-wise. Damn, 5’9” almost looked tall now.
“But how the…?”
“Well, you know that lab on Forandring Street? I needed some cash and…” Ken quickly summarized the study, the shot, his new energy and hunger – and the side effects, ending with “… and so I just decided to hit the gym.”
“Ha! Big Mike got shrunk too?”
“It’s not funny, and actually I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since Monday at the lab.”
“Sorry man, I know. But this is so weird...” Jae seemed to be thinking hard, then his face brightened. “Come on, let’s go…”