Both boys held their breath and stared at The Contraption. This is stupid, Lee thought, and let out his breath. Did he really think Morris was a Wizard? That was crazy. The only evidence he had was some size-changing blurry white dots. Still, as the water began to trickle into Charlie's red tank, Lee couldn't but stare at him intently. When the first drop fell Charlie let out a groan, but it wasn't clear if it was because he felt something or just in anticipation.
Lee watched intently. Was Charlie getting bigger, or was that just Lee's expectation deceiving his perception? He couldn't tell. He thought of looking away and looking back, since that would probably make it clear, but he wasn't willing to turn away. It didn't help any that Charlie wasn't standing still, but was rubbing his chest, and grabbing his crotch.
Soon, though, Lee couldn't deny it. Charlie was growing. He watched the hem of his jean shorts as they slowly crept up his thighs, and during this intense scrutiny noticed that the thighs too were expanding. Yes, it was sure. Charlie's already tight shirt was getting doubly strained as he grew both in height, and disproportionately in muscle mass. Charlie continued groaning.
As the last drops fell into Charlie's tank, he had grown over two inches in height, and more impressively gained about fifty pounds of muscle (though Lee judged in the back of his mind that the height difference alone would account for about 20 pounds of that).
Lee tensed as the pump clicked on, pumping growth from Charlie to him. “Here, have some of my leftovers, pipsqueak” Charlie sneered, but Lee ignored him. He understood why Charlie had been moaning, as a tingling spread out from his core. He could feel himself getting just a bit bigger – everywhere. But all too soon – much sooner than it had been for Charlie – Lee heard the splash of the green fish tank releasing its water, and it was over. Lee could only just notice the difference in himself, but it was clear that Charlie had ebbed from his peak size, and he was frowning about it.
Lee emphatically did not want to be the target of increasingly-muscular Charlie's ire, so he took a moment to reassure him. “Look, you can see, your tank is still at twice the level of mine.”
Charlie was somewhat reinvigorated by this observation, and snorted “That's right, I'm twice the man you'll ever be. You remember that.” Oh, I will, thought Lee. Then he remembered that he should be watching The Contraption, and jerked his gaze to it, reassured to see that things were, indeed, going according to plan.