Ronald did his best to keep pace with the lab notes, bit found his attention inevitably returning to his lab partner. Randy seemed like a good company even in normal circumstances, and now that he was changing into a perfect candidate to be his girlfriend, well...
"Looks like it's reacting at 122 degrees," Randy pronounced, startling Ronald from his reverie for a moment. His partner was circling about the table, fiddling with the beakers and burners arranged on the table. Ronald was reminded just how tall the jock was- a good head and a half above Ronald. Not terribly surprising, given that Randy was an athlete. Ronald thought Randy might even be on the basketball team during the football teams off season, though Ronald was not sure about that.
He looked up to ask Randy, then paused. He could not be sure from the angle, but... yes. His lab partner was definitely a little shorter now. Still taller than Ronald, but the lead had shrunk.
It was only a moment, when Randy gave an amused smile and repeated himself, that Ronald realized he had given another data point. Hurriedly, he wrote the number down... And when he looked up, Randy was shorter still, almost even with Ronald's height.
"Something wrong?" Randy asked, and Ronald realized he was staring again. "You keep looking at me."
"Uh, no," Ronald said hastily. "Just... you know, looking."
Randy smiled at that, and Ronald thought he might have seen a slight flush beneath the other man's dark cheeks. He turned away and stepped past Ronald, and this time Ronald saw he was a little bit shorter than him now. A little awkwardly, Randy announced the remaining data points on the lab. Ronald wrote the points down, and each time Randy seemed a bit shorter. By the time the shrinkage had stopped, Randy was downright dimunitive-- a head shorter than Ronald and then some. If he had to guess, Ronald would figure Randy had gone from one of the tallest students in the lab to the shortest!
This change puzzled Ronald. Sure, a height drop could be expected if they were changing from male to a natural born female, but Randy must have lost a foot and a half of height, maybe more. That seemed pretty dramatic, especially if he was otherwise keeping the same genetics. And what would this mean for Randy's athletics? He had wished for the girls to retain as much of their personalities as possible through the shift, but how could the new Randy do much of any sport if she was do tiny?
Then it struck Ronald. It was him! He had fixated on Randy's height drop, and that attention exaggerated it. He wasn't just observing the formation of his new girlfriend candidates, he was helping to shape them, even in an unconscios way. Ronald found himself grinning ear to ear at that thought. This would almost make it worth the wait for his pack of lovely ladies.
"Going to do those calculations anytime soon?" Asked Randy. The jock-- or maybe former jock, now-- had to sit up on a stool to comortally work at the high lab table now. His frame had kept its lean dimensions with his loss in height, giving him an almost petite build now.
Ronald nodded, smile still on his face. "Of course," he said. "Let's get to work."
