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...
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