The first thing Ken did when he woke up the following morning was grab a pencil and stand up against the door frame. Even as he stood there with has back against the wooden frame, he could tell he was shorter. He marked his height. Turning around he saw that his new height was at least an inch lower than it had been yesterday. Nervously, he checked with a tape measure.
Now it measure just under 5'7".
He doubled checked the tape measure, but the lines did not lie, he was now only 5'7", whereas only two days ago he had been 5'11"
He felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. This was terrible. He was finally growing the muscles and abs he had always wanted, but he was shrinking in height.
Ken threw the tape measure down in disgust and flopped down on his couch. It was weird ... he could tell he was much smaller. His feet still touched the ground, obviously 5'7" was not THAT short, but the couch was definitely larger than it had ever been before.
He looked at himself in the mirror. His new body was ... he had to admit ... getting quite hot. He was nicely muscled now, with a nice v-shaped back and his gut was almost totally gone. When he tensed his stomach a nice 4-pack shone through. His thighs had expanded with muscle too ... not too much bigger ... he thought idly. All up he was amazed at the transformation of his body from unfit to hot ... if only he wasn't shrinking in height!
"What am I going to do?" he asked himself out loud. The lab was still closed and he didn't want to go to class in this state.
He glanced over at his gym bag by the door, his new improved muscles gave an involuntary twitch.
"Might as well go to the gym," he murmured. He jumped up, grabbed his bag and reached for the door handle. It was several inches higher than he was used to and he had to reach up slightly to get it.
"Damn," he said, looking at his hand on the handle as he left the room. He was so pre-occupied with locking the door that he didn't see the other guy walking past his door, who bumped into him.
"Hey, watch it, short-stuff," said the guy, walking past.
"Um, sorry," said Ken. "Wait, did he just call me short-stuff???"
Ken was stunned and dismayed ... people could tell he was short! What would it be like at the gym???