Arnie

[Shrinking, muscle growth]

[6 Word “You Call It” Request: Small Guy Steals Size, Gets Muscle]

Arnie hopped out of bed, satisfied with the loud thud his feet made as all his weight hit the ground. He took a moment to flex in the mirror, feeling up his muscles as they flexed and crunched. He was only 5’6” tall but his frame was now stuffed with round, sensuous muscle that bounced and jiggled when he walked. He licked his lips and headed for the bathroom. Even his dick was bigger now. He let loose a powerful stream of piss, bouncing his big pecs one at a time and enjoying the look of the bulky flesh crunching solid, then relaxing.

He smelled breakfast downstairs and saw that his roommate Tim already had a bowl of oatmeal and some scrambled egg whites waiting on the table. Just a week ago Tim was ready to break his lease and move in with his girlfriend, sticking Arnie with the rent, but he had since changed his mind. Everything was different ever since the morning Tim woke up to find his 6’2” body was only 4 feet tall.

“Thanks for cooking breakfast,” Arnie said, looking down at Tim as he grabbed some orange juice from the fridge.

“You’re welcome,” Tim said. His voice was higher pitched now, no longer the sexy baritone it used to be, but at least everything he said was pleasant now. Arnie like it much better.

Tim wore only one of his old t-shirts. It hung down past his knees. He dragged a step ladder to the sink and leaned it against the cabinets. Tim had bought it for Arnie when he first moved in when he noticed what a hard time Arnie had getting things off the top shelf of cabinets. Now, Tim used it to reach everything. He could barely see over the counter without it.

“They said I might be able to try working today,” Tim said as he scrubbed a pan furiously. “I mean, if I can still physically handle the tests, they can’t legally stop me from working.”

Tim was a lifeguard. Since the morning he woke up two feet smaller, he hadn’t left the house. He reluctantly sent a picture of his new height to his boss, who thought it was photoshopped.

“I mean, most of that job is just sitting on that tall chair and looking through binoculars, right?” Arnie said. He rubbed his left pec as he ate. Tim couldn’t help but follow the motion, staring with envy at Arnie’s big, thick muscles. “I bet a strong enough undertow would just yank you out to sea for good though, so there’s that.”

Tim winced and let out a deep sigh. He opened his mouth to say something, then paused to think about it. Back when he was bigger than Arnie (and Arnie was a skinny little guy), he would have just mouthed off, but since the tables had turned, he was choosing his words much more carefully.

“Look, those kinds of things are hurtful,” Tim said in a low voice. “This whole thing that happened to us is bizarre, but remember: you just woke up looking like Mr. Olympia. I woke up a midget!”

“You’re not a midget,” Arnie said. He guzzled his protein shake, then put a thick hand on his cobbled abs before letting out a huge belch. “You’re still proportional to what you were before--and look at you! People would kill to be as ripped and broad-shouldered as you are! You’re like a five star athlete still. What do you weigh now?”

Tim’s head hung. He set the dish scrubber down and let the faucet run. “75 pounds,” he said quietly.

Arnie nodded. “You know, yesterday I curled 75 pound dumbbells. Would you believe that? For like 10 reps! These arms are unbelievable.”

Tim’s phone rang as Arnie finished his breakfast. It was Tiffany, Tim’s girlfriend.

“You gonna get that?” Arnie said as he set his dishes on the sink. Tim took them and washed them without even looking at Arnie.

“No,” he said. “We ended things yesterday.” He scrubbed a plate furiously. “SHE ended things. Said she can’t handle looking down at me like this. I got drunk last night and left her like ten messages. She’s probably calling to tell me to quit it.”

Arnie patted Tim on the back. He glanced at the recycling bin next to the trash and saw two empty beer cans in it.

“I’ve got something that’ll cheer you up,” he said. “I went shopping. I know you haven’t left the house because you’ve got no clothes, so I got some workout clothes.”

Arnie went upstairs, then returned with a shopping bag. The tank top Arnie handed to Tim had Pikachu on it. The shorts were lime green. Tim held them against his little body. They were meant for kids, so the proportions of Tim’s body would probably fill them out a little oddly, but they looked to be the right size.

“Thanks,” Tim said as he stared at the “gift.”

“Check out what I got!” Arnie said as he pulled on a cut-off that fit him like skin. His abs showed through the thin, skin-tight material. He bounced his pecs and flexed his huge arms. “Pretty nice, hunh?”

Tim nodded. “You look good with all those muscles, man.”

“Thanks!” Arnie said. He patted Tim on the back with his beefy hands. “You look good at that height, too. So don’t let it get you down, got it?”

*

Arnie showed up at his ex, Leo’s apartment after crushing a leg workout at the gym. As he banged on the door, he was still soaked with sweat, his legs and ass still pumped up from the power squats he had busted out. “Little guys like me were built to squat!” he told the other “big guys” at the gym who congratulated him for the amount of weight he pushed.

Leo’s new boyfriend, Tod, answered the door. “Hi, Arnie,” he said. “Did Leo text you again?”

“Yeah,” Arnie said. He remembered being jealous when Leo started dating Tod, who was over six feet tall and beautiful. I just wanted a man who could look me in the eyes, Leo had finally said the night he ended their two year relationship. It was all for the best, Arnie thought. He was pretty sure Leo and Tod had been fucking behind his back before it was over anyway. They could have each other. “If this is a bad time, I can come back later,” Arnie said.

Tod shook his head. “He’s been really difficult ever since the… incident… He doesn’t want to listen to a thing I have to say.” Tod guided Arnie through their apartment with a hand on his shoulder. “Wow! This is some… serious muscle here, Arnie!”

“Yeah, you know,” Arnie said with a shrug. “It’s new, but I like it!”

Tod nodded. Arnie could see him working out something in his head. Was Tod turned on by Arnie’s sudden muscle? Did he wish Leo had blown up with size instead of Arnie? Maybe he just felt inferior next to a pumped up little muscle-guy. Tod was in good shape, but next to Arnie’s musclebloated body, he looked pretty insignificant despite his height.

Arnie froze in his tracks when he saw a brightly colored plastic play house in Leo and Tod’s living room, the kind parents would buy for a two-year old. Tod rapped a fist on the corner of the pink, blocky building.

“Leo, did you text Arnie to come over?”

The neon green plastic door slowly edged out. Leo was only two feet tall now, still a built Italian stud with deep eyes and a beautiful coat of dark hair across his big chest--only now he was practically doll-sized. He appeared to be almost too small for the house, having to throw all of his weight against the door just to budge it open. He wore a blue plaid handkerchief like a toga.

“Dammit,” Leo said as he looked up at his former lover, than WAY up at his current boyfriend. “Tod, weren’t you on your way out?”

Tod shook his head. “What, were you planning on fucking him while I was gone?” He threw his head back and laughed. “Have you seen the size of Arnie’s ass? Look at that thing! It’s like the back of a Volkswagen. You think your little 4 millimeter dick is gonna do anything for him? Or Were you going to try to use your whole body to fuck him?”

“Look,” Arnie said, backing toward the door. “I just came over to talk, but if you guys have something going on…”

Leo stomped a foot to the ground angrily as he stared straight up at Tod. “Dammit, Tod, would you get over that shit? One time I got drunk and fucked up! One fucking time, and still…” He paced angrily around the floor (in a circle that was truly only two feet in diameter). “I just wanted to talk to him. You don’t get it, Tod. You didn’t wake up fucking… transformed like this!” He gestured down at his tiny body. “I just wanted to… to talk..”

Tod, his arms folded, nodded his head. “To see if he’d go to another doctor with you.”

Leo nodded emphatically. “Something happened to us! Something scientifically IMPOSSIBLE and I think it’s related!’

Tod shrugged. “Look, Leo, we’ve been to eleven doctors since this happened and they’ve all said the same thing: nothing. You shrank, baby. You got tiny. And you know what? I’m actually relieved. This is an answer to our prayers! I think, finally, you’ll be faithful to me. Finally I can start planning the kind of life with you that I deserve!”

“Are you kidding me?” Leo screamed. “I live in a fucking kid’s toy! I’m the size of your freaking arm! What kind of life are we going to have?”

“Like I said,” Arnie said, taking another step back. “I can swing by later when you guys aren’t so…”

“Don’t go,” Leo said. “Arnie, you have to take me to another specialist. Maybe they can compare our blood. Find something similar and synthesize a cure. Please!”

Tod shook his head. He reached down and grabbed Leo--with one hand--and held him up. Leo wriggled, eyeing the swinging ceiling fan blades just above him. “Hey!” he screeched. “Let me down!”

“I’ve dealt with your ‘alpha dog’ shit for way too long, Leo,” Tod said. “It’s time for you to realize: I’m in charge. I’m the man here. And you’re going to do as you’re told. You can hope and pray for a cure all you want--as long as you obey ME. Got it?”

Arnie backed out the door and hurried down the stairs. Leo and Tod always had their own issues, but it was nice to see Leo finally getting put in his place.

*

Arnie parked next to his former trainer, Paul’s truck and waited as the sun went down. He hadn’t been back to this gym since Paul told him he wasn’t a worthwhile client anymore. He hadn’t seen Arnie since everything had changed. It was just a matter of time.

Paul had late clients on Thursday. He watched the solidly built young bodybuilder leave first, then Paul strutted out. Big Paul, who got his pro card when he was 21, peaked too early, and now just made money by training others. Arnie smirked when he saw Paul had gotten his head shaved into a mohawk.

“Nice hair,” Arnie said as Paul walked up. “Aren’t you in your 30s though?”

Paul froze when he saw Arnie. He didn’t recognize the short, powerfully built man at first, of course. “The fuck are you?” he said.

“It’s me, Arnie!” he said. He hit a double biceps shot just to show off. “Remember when you said I was wasting my money trying to get big? Looks like I figured out a way after all!”

Paul shrugged his wide shoulders as he tried to figure out what was going on. “No fucking way,” he said. “The fuck… you look like a big fucking juice pig!”

“To be honest?” Arnie said, eyeing up Paul’s tall, powerfully built physique, “I look like you, if someone squished me down. Look how dense these muscles are! How long would it take you to look this thick?” He made the twin blimps of his pecs bounce under his shirt.

“What, did someone pump you full of synthol or something?” Paul said. He put his hands on his hips and looked down at Arnie. “That’s the thing with muscle. If you don’t work hard, if you don’t earn it, you lose it. Always.”

Arnie just licked his lips. Paul was a good two feet taller than him and, despite Arnie’s new muscles, substantially bigger. But not for long.

“See, here’s the thing,” Arnie said. “Turns out I have a gift. Don’t know if I’ve always had it or if it’s new, but it works really well. Your size? I can take it. Not your shape. Not your muscles. But your height. You get shorter, I get thicker. I’ve done it twice already. I don’t know how it works. The doctors don’t get it either. They don’t even know I’m the cause.”

Paul had his phone out. “Y’know, I don’t have time for this shit, buddy. I don’t care how big you are. You’re still a little shit, and you’re still a pain in my ass. Step away from my truck, or I’m gonna call the cops. I won’t even waste my time making you a stain on this parking lot.”

Arnie smiled. Then he winked. Paul just seemed to vanish. His phone clattered against the pavement. His duffel bag softly hit the ground. His compression tights and tank talk silently fell in upon themselves with no big muscle brute to fill them out.

Meanwhile, Arnie burst through his clothes like the hulk. In a moment he felt like he had become four feet wide, all of it dense muscle. There was barely enough room for all of him to occupy the space; his lats edges out his arms, his massive quads pressed each other apart. He’d never have an unobstructed view of the ground again, nor would he ever be able to fit in clothes that weren’t specially made. He could barely turn his head, his neck was so powerfully built with muscle. He had to tilt his whole torso to look side to side.

“Look at me!” he said. “Went from Eliot Dermond to Branch Fucking Warren!” He was naked now, of course, but he couldn’t see past his pecs to get a good look at his dick. He reached down and confirmed it was quite a beast, just like the rest of him.

“Gonna need your clothes, Paul,” Arnie grunted as he took some cautious steps forward. “They’ll be too long but they’ll at least fit all this girth. You okay with that?” He carefully reached down, gently lifting the clothes as he examined the ground around it. He didn’t want to hurt Paul, or lose him. He wasn’t sure where the big beast had ended up though.

“If I did that correctly,” Arnie said as he pulled Paul’s shirt on, then squeezed into the compression tights, rolling up the bottom, “I should have left you… just a tiny speck of a man. Smaller than a grain of sand.” He squatted his absurdly muscular body down and examined the ground. He had to pick up Paul’s phone to employ the flashlight just to get a good look.

“Ah! There you are!” he said. The tiny man was barely visible, just a little dot of wiggling tan against the blacktop. “Can’t leave you out here. When the sun comes up you’ll be cooked. You’ll probably just pop! And no one will ever know you were there.” He licked his finger and reached out, gently touching the little squirming dot. It stuck to his finger, as he hoped.

He held his finger up to his eye, examining his catch: it was Paul. He’d dreamt for a year of seeing this massive brute nude. He’d never imagined it would be stuck to his own finger! Paul appeared to be saying something, but he was far too small to make noise. Arnie had no idea how he was even going to keep this little runt, smaller than an insect.

“Gotta keep you somewhere safe!” he said. “Don’t want a fruit fly carrying you away!” He gently pressed his finger to his face. Paul stuck where Arnie had poked, hanging upside down and clearly freaking out, but unable to free himself (nor would he want to face the, to him, astronomic fall to the ground below).

“That’s the beauty of all this,” Arnie grunted as he waddled toward his car. “Nobody’s going to suspect a thing as long as I do this right. I can probably steal an inch or two every day. I’ll blow up like a fucking muscle tick… And nobody will know. And in the meantime, the three biggest pricks I know are out of the way.” He had to squeeze himself into his car: the steering wheel dug into his massive pecs. “Fuck,” he grunted. “I’m gonna need a new car.”