Lab Partners

Story by Kooshmeister on SoFurry

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Bill and Tris make an excellent scientific discovery together.


This story was (sort of) a request from Tristan Hawthorne, and the first story I've written using him since the original "Tris Dances Tonight" and its immediate sequel.

This is a fairly rough version and may be subject to change.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The frog shuddered under the effects of the growth ray. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, it began to bulge and expand, until finally it exploded. There was a muffled "pop," and then blood and guts splattered the inside of the glass tank the animal had been contained within.

"Damn it!" Bill said, switching the device off. It powered down with a low hum. He and Tris both stood back and removed their safety goggles.

"That was the third time this week," Tris observed dryly.

The pair were in Amberson University's physics lab, during lunch, working on their experiment involving a growth ray of Bill's own design. He and Tris didn't look quite right together, despite both being lepines. Bill, a rabbit, was short and thin, with large glasses. His wardrobe at the moment screamed nerd: a lab coat, pocket protector and of all things a large polka-dotted bowtie.

Tris on the other hand was a hare, much taller than his classmate despite being the younger of the two, with a very athletic build and lop ears. Although he too was wearing a lab coat, he wore it without a tie, the shirt underneath unbuttoned all the way down to his mid-chest, showing off his chestfur nicely.

It wasn't just their appearance that made them opposites in most respects. Although they were both quiet types who tended to keep to themselves when not together, their academic interests were as different as night and day. Bill was an aspiring scientist. He hoped to become a tenured professor. Tristan on the other hand, was more interested in the arts. Reading, writing and sculpting. He was an excellent writer, and hoped to one day publish the novel he was working on.

In fact the only reason the two were even working together on this project was because their professor, Dr. Morehart, had insisted on it. The minute he heard Bill's ideas for a growth ray, Morehart had been extremely interested in the idea. However he had said Bill would need a lab partner, and picked Tris because the younger hare had not been doing well in his class and he figured Bill could give him a few pointers.

It wasn't that Tris was unintelligent. He just tended to daydream. In this, at least, he and Bill had discovered they were similar. Bill too tended to drift off into his thoughts during class, but was able to keep his grades up by crunching on tests at the last minute.

Bill angrily threw his goggles onto the floor. "Damn it," he said again. "I just don't understand why it won't work! It should work! The particle beam is flawless!"

Tris was more reserved, as usual. Unlike Bill he was better at controlling his emotions. "Well, from what I understand, and I tried to tell you this the last two times we did this experiment," he explained carefully, "the problem is that growth requires extra mass. And that isn't something you can spontaneously generate."

"I know, I know," Bill said, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, having stayed up late going over his notes trying to figure out how to solve the problem of extra mass.

He realized that Tris had been right the first two times, and as he looked at the gooey remains of the frog in the tank, he felt guilty for having begun the experiment knowing it would likely fail.

"It's okay," Tris said, putting a hand on the smaller rabbit's shoulder, as if sensing his discomfort. "You didn't mean to."

Bill nodded. This was why Tris was beginning to grow on him, no pun intended. He didn't rub it in that he'd been right all along. And he consoled Bill in the aftermath of his latest failure.

Although, at first, Bill had been unsure that he would even be able to tolerate him. Bill wasn't the best judge of character, and tended to leap to conclusions. Having seen Tris in class before, he saw a vapid, artsy-fartsy athlete, but upon spending time in the lab with his new partner making small talk, he'd discovered the younger hare was amazingly intelligent when he applied himself, and that he was receptive to Bill's tutoring.

Even better was the fact the pair were beginning to discover that outside of the classroom, they did actually have some similar interests. They liked the same movies and video games, and Tris' stories, when he finally got over his shyness and showed them to Bill one day, had proven to be quite interesting. They'd even gone to the movies together once, and had a great time.

In fact, Bill thought Tris was quite attractive. However, he didn't know whether Tris was gay or not, so he'd never brought it up. Meanwhile although he was actually gay, Tris didn't return Bill's sentiments. He liked Bill, but only as a friend. For now, anyway. The more the nerdy, introverted rabbit revealed about himself, the more Tris thought he might get to like him. Time would tell.

The bell rang. Class would be resuming soon, and so the two took off their lab coats and unhooked the growth ray, which was on a wheeled platform, and moved it to the side. Bill covered the glass tank with a sheet so no one would see the unpleasant results of the frog's demise. The tank, also, was on a wheeled platform. Nothing in the lab was permanent, everything was portable. Which was all for the best, Bill thought as they turned off the lights and left, because the science department would be moving to a new building in the fall.

Tris for his part felt a little annoyed at having missed lunch to assist in the ultimately doomed experiment.

"I wish I knew why the world even needed a growth ray," he grumbled.

"Well, because we could make food bigger, and feed third-world countries!" Bill gushed as they walked down the hall.

Tris sighed. He had hoped Dr. Morehart would let them skip his class so they could swing by Pizza Hut or something, but Morehart had nixed the idea and made the pair sit through his entire class with growling tummies.

Luckily, their classes were done for the remainder of the day after this, and so as soon as the final bell rang, Bill and Tris proceeded immediately to Pizza Hut in Bill's car. They ate, laughed, and Tris shared some of his new story ideas with his friend. Although he listened, all throughout their late lunch Bill kept thinking about the failed experiment. And, to his surprise, he thought even more about how much he was beginning to like Tris. As more than a friend.

When they were done they parted ways. They didn't live together. Tris lived in an apartment near the Amberson campus, while Bill lived a few miles away in the suburbs.

"You know, it really is only a couple of blocks," Tris said as they drove towards his apartment building. "You really don't have to drive me."

"It's nothing, really," Bill replied, smiling at his handsome passenger. "It's the least I could do after making you skip lunch earlier to help me out in the lab."

Tris laughed. "Yeah, right," he said. "After you paid for the pizza? You don't have to suck up to me to say you're sorry, man."

Bill blushed a bit. Of course, that wasn't why he was being so nice to Tris. But he wasn't ready to tell Tris about his growing affection for him. They pulled up to the curb near the apartment building, and Tris got out. He shut the door, then knocked on the window. Frowning, Bill rolled it down. "Yeah?" he said.

"Hey, listen, tomorrow do you wanna go see a movie or something?" Tris asked.

Bill's mood brightened. "Sure," he said.

With that, they said their good-byes for the evening and Bill drove home. During the drive, alone with his thoughts, he kept thinking about the experiment, and Tris, but it wasn't until he'd actually pulled into his driveway that he remembered what Tris had said before. He sat there in the growing darkness, with the motor running, his mind racing. Something was nagging at him. But he didn't quite know what it was.

But then, as he shut the motor off and opened the door to get out, the overheard light coming on, it hit him. His eyes went wide and he literally gasped aloud to himself as the idea formed in his brain. Slamming the door, he started the motor up again and backed out of the driveway. He had to control his urge to go over the speed limit as he drove back to Amerson University.

He let himself in. The science department was totally deserted as Bill raced down the brightly-lit hallway to the physics lab. Rushing in, he flicked on all the lights, and went over to the growth ray. Grabbing a screwdriver, he removed the outer panel on the ray's housing, exposing the circuitry and wiring which powered the machine.

He was more excited than he'd ever been in his entire life. This idea, this ludicrous notion that had formed in his head, if it worked....well, it would change everything. It would change the nature of his experiment, not to mention his goal. And it would change his relationship with Tris, too.

Oh yes. Their relationship would change. Bill felt his pants tighten as he reached inside of the machine's housing and began unplugging the wiring...

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Later that night, Tristan was sitting up late in his room, working on his book, when the phone rang. It startled him. Reaching over and picking it up, he brought it up to his ear. "Hello?" he said.

It was Bill. "Tris!" he gushed. "You've gotta come over here right away! I've made a major breakthrough! You were absolutely right!"

"Whoa, slow down," Tris said, puzzled. "I was right about what? And where are you? I don't even know where you live."

To his annoyance, Bill answered his second question, but not his first. The deliberate pause before his friend replied made him suspect this was on purpose. "I'm not at home," he said. "I'm back at the lab."

"The lab?" Tris said, blinking and standing up. The manic urgency in Bill's voice was worrying him. Had his friend finally snapped after blowing up one frog too many? "Why?" he finally asked.

"Like I said, I made a huge breathrough! I can't explain over the phone, though, it's too complicated. It's much better if I show you."

There was a pause. Tris thought to himself. Should he go?

"Please," Bill said, his vocie quavering in an odd way. He seemed to be panting. Tris' unease only grew. "It would mean....so much to me, Tristan."

"All right," Tris finally said. He hung up. Grabbing his jacket, he left the apartment and walked the three blocks to the campus. In his rational mind he was only going because he was worried about his friend, and wanted to make sure he was all right. But what he didn't want to admit to himself was that he was actually curious about what sort of breakthrough Bill had made.

Reaching the university, he went inside. It was deserted at this time of night, despite the bright lights in the halls. All the classrooms were closed and locked up, black voids beyond their narrow windows. All but one. The physics lab. As Tris entered it, he found Bill, back in his lab coat, in the middle of futzing with the growth ray. He was putting the side panel back on and screwing it back into place when he glanced up and saw Tris coming in.

"Oh, hey, you made it," he said, smiling in an odd way.

"It was only a couple of blocks," Tris said, shrugging, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets.

Bill finished screwing the panel back on and, pocketing the screwdriver, walked over to the control panel for the machine. Bill didn't look insane. His bowtie was even still neatly tied. But still there was something off about this whole thing that made little prickles of worry crawl up Tris' spine. And then it hit him. The specimen tank was still covered by a sheet and off to one side. What exactly did Bill intend to show him if he wasn't going to try enlarging anything?

"Are you all right, Bill?" Tris asked with some concern, watching as Bill flipped a switch on the control panel. The growth ray hummed to life, the diodes and lights on it glowing.

"Never better," Bill answered absently, flipping more switches.

It was clear he was focused more on the work at hand than with Tris' questions or even his presence just now, making Tris wonder why Bill had even asked him to come down here this late. Surely, he thought, whatever it was Bill was doing, it could wait.

Bill finished. His hand hover over the joystick that Tris knew controlled the ray's aim, but paused, and took his hand away, and looked up, glasses askew. "You were right, Tristan," he said softly. "You're a genius."

"Right about what?" Tris asked, his curiousity and his concern for his friend making him walk closer.

"That's far enough!" Bill barked, making Tris stop suddenly, startled. Bill then spoke more softly. "You were right. There's no way for a growth ray to work. At least not now. Not with today's technology. There's no way to make anything grow bigger because without any extra mass, the molecules just go haywire and..." He held his palms together and then moved them apart to simulate an explosion.

Tris nodded. "Right. So what?"

"So, I've decided to change the goal of my--er, our experiment," Bill said matter-of-factly. "I rewired the growth ray. It was ludicrously easy. I thought to myself, so we can't make mass from nothing. But what if we could recalibrate the ray? What if we could find a way to take mass away?"

Tris blinked. "Are you talking about....shrinking things?" he ventured tentatively.

"Indeed I am," Bill responded proudly, grabbing his goggles and putting them out. "It might not solve the world's food problems, but think of the boon to shipping! We could shrink the food, and send it to the countries that need it in vast, vast quantities! Hell, we could shrink and ship almost anything! I just need something to test it on, and that's why I called you down here to assist me...."

Tris took all this in. "But, wait a second, Bill. So you can get rid of mass, in theory, but how would shrinking anything help anyone if you can't--"

He was cut off as Bill, who didn't even seem to be paying attention, finally pulled the last switch, and Tris gasped as the ray spun and tilted down at him. Before he could even think about moving out of the way, the particle beam fired, and struck him in the chest. He was overcome with the sudden fear that like the frog he would burst like a balloon, but, instead, he didn't. As he was enveloped in the aura of them beam he suddenly felt his clothes getting larger. The room was growing around him. No, he realized, nothing was growing, he was just getting smaller!

He tried to move, but was paralyzed by the beam, simply standing there gawking as he got smaller and smaller. Bill, watching, grinned widely. He observed as his friend shrank and shrank, disappearing into his clothes which fell into a pile on the floor. Once Tris was out of sight, he waited a few seconds longer before he switched the beam off. He then powered the shrink ray down and walked over to the clothing piling. Pulling his goggles up onto his forehead and fixing his glasses, and knelt down and very carefully lifted Tris' shirt.

As he peered down into Tris' empty underwear and pants, the jacket around them, Bill blinked as he didn't see Tris anywhere. He was momentarily worried that he'd shrunk his friend too small to see, when he realized the shirt in his hand was moving. He smiled, and gave it a good shake, causing a very naked three-inch Tris to fall out and land on the soft clothes pile.

"There you are," Bill said softly, aware that talking too loudly would probably hurt Tris' ears. "For a second I thought I'd made you too small to see!" He chuckled, pulling his goggles off all the way, and then scooped Tris into his free hand and stood up.

Tris yelped, his voice as tiny as he was, and clung to Bill's fingers as he was lifted what seemed like twenty feet above the floor and carried over to a worktable nearby. Bill, grinning, set the goggles aside and set Tris down on the tabletop.

"Amazing," he said, looking over Tris' tiny body with more than just a scientific interest. "How do you feel? Can you breathe okay? How's your heart rate?"

"I, uh," Tris stammered.

"What were you trying to say before?" Bill asked finally.

Tris frowned. "I was trying to tell you that since you can't create mass from nothing, that there's no way to reverse the shrinkage!" Tris yelled up at him.

"Oops," Bill said, and meant it. He'd been so wrapped up in the moment that he'd forgotten that if he shrank Tris there'd be no way to undo it. But none of that mattered now, he decided. What was important was that his idea had worked, and that Tris was now his to toy with. And he told him so. "Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that, my...little friend, heh," he said. "What matters is I finally turned my experiment in a productive direction, and it's all thanks to you!"

Tris stood up, a bit woozy, and then yelped as Bill's giant bespectacled face came down to be level with his body. Self-consciously Tris realized he was naked and covered himself. Bill chuckled and slowly shook his head.

"Don't be that way," he said tenderly, and lifted a finger, poking at Tris' paws, making him move them away from his genitals. His cock hung flaccid, but was still quite big.

"What are you doing?" Tris cried.

"I've grown to really like you, Tristan," Bill said, smiling. "You're smart....and sexy."

"Well, I--I like you, too," Tris said nervously, "but only as a friend, really. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is." He shook his head. Why was he debating this right now? he should be demanding that Bill find a way to change him abck, and worry about the older bunny's creepy affections later.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Bill cut him off. "Forgive me for being blunt, Tristan, but at the moment, I don't really care whether or not you love me back," he said, a statement that chilled Tris' veins. "All I care about is the fact that right now I've got you right where I want you, and I can do annnnnything I want to you."

Tris bolted. Where he thought to run, even he didn't know. There wasn't anywhere to hide on the tabletop, and jumping down was out of the question. Bill nonetheless reached out and grabbed him. Tris yelped in fear as the giant's fingers closed around him, and he felt himself lifted up.

Bill grinned, holding the young hare in his grip. He felt his ego swelling. Months of surpressed desires were bubbling to the surface. Dark thoughts he kept to himself. Things he preferred to keep as fantasy, if only because there wasn't any way they could actually happen. But now thanks to his good friend Tris, they could. Now, Bill felt all-powerful. Oh, the things he was going to do to Tris!

Hearing footsteps, Bill snapped to his senses. Tris for his part yelped as Bill dropped him into the pocket his lab coat. He thrashed, making the pocket bulge and ripple, but then Bill slid his hand in and and clenched his fist tightly around the hare to make him stop. To anyone it would appear as if the rabbit simply had his hand idly in his pocket, and to support to illusion, he stuck his other hand in the remaining one, as a campus security guard entered.

"Hi," he said cheerfully.

"You know the labs are off-limits to students after hours," the guard said.

"Yeah, but I just forgot my stuff," Bill replied, indicating the clothes pile with a nod of his head. The guard was convinced, and left after telling him to lock up when he was done. Bill sighed in relief. Granted, he could've shrunk the guard as well, but two missing people would raise too much suspicion, he knew. He pulled the squirming Tris out of his pocket and held him in his fist.

"Now then," he said, "whaddaya say we go home?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bill returned to his home later that night, changed out his lab coat. Tris' clothes were heaped into the backseat of his car, and Tris himself rode the whole way trapped inside of an Erlenmeyer flask that Bill got from the chemistry lab down the hall when the guard wasn't around. He used Tris' own coat to cover the flask for the short walk from his driveway to the front door, should anyone see him and wonder why he was carrying chemistry apparatus into his house and just what the contents were.

Grinning wickedly, Bill locked and bolted his door, then, uncovering the flask and letting the jacket hit the floor, walked over to his coffee table and set it down with a clink, putting it where Tris could observe him. And, where he could observe Tris. Loosening his bowtie Bill went about drawing the blinds and curtains in the room until he was absolutely sure nobody would peek in and see them.

He undressed himself, stripping down to his boxer briefs in front of the trapped hare. As he pulled those off, his hard dick jumped to attention, smacking his stomach. Tris panicked and tried desperately to escape, first by trying to climb the glass walls of his prison, and then, as Bill smiled and walked over, he attempted to overturn the flask. He almost succeed, but Bill grabbed it before it could fall on its side and lifted it up. He held his palm out, and tilted the flask upside-down over it.

Tris tumbled out into Bill's hand witha yelp. Setting the flask down, Bill wrapped his fingers gingerly around Tris' heaving chest, his heart thudding so fast in his own chest that his hands were trembling. He held Tris like this for a few moments, devouring his tiny captive with his eyes, then he went over and sat down on the sofa, and leaned back. With his free hand he grabbed his balls and tugged slightly so his shaft stood up. He lowered Tris towards it so the throbbing member loomed before Tris, who gaped at it. Precum oozed from the tip.

Tris struggled as Bill brought him closer. The cock jumped as Tris' soft furry body touched it, and Bill gasped. He wrapped his fingers around both Tris and his cock, and began to stroke his hand up and down. Tris burbled and pleaded as his friend's hard dick slid over his body, Bill squeezinf him against himself tighter as his arousal grew. He bucked his hips, groaning, Tris' feet pressing into his soft balls each time he stroked down, and his face smushing into his oozing cockhead each time he stroked up.

In-between the strokes, Tris tried desperately to plead with his friend, but against his will found himself being turned on by this. His little cock got hard against Bill's far larger one, and now it began rubbing up and down the younger bunny's erection with each thrust.

Bill was amazed at how something so simple could be so erotic. He really couldn't think of anything better to do with a tiny hare at the moment over than use him to jerk himself off. But really, what was turning him on was the power he had over his friend, just as Tris had suspected.

Bill could hear Tris' muffled pleas, but didn't respond. In fact he hadn't said a word since they left the university. There was nothing to say. Tris was his toy, to do with as he pleased. That was all there was to it. And as he neared orgasm, he started thinking, and an evil thought came over him. He knew exactly what else he wanted to do with Tris, and smirked as he watched the little hare sliding over his thick cock.

Finally, he came, shooting ropes of cum a few inches into the air. Some landed on his belly. More simply dribbled down over Tris' squirming form as he clenched him against the spasming cock. Even after he'd stopped cumming Bill continued jerking Tris, riding out the last few waves of the climax.

Then he let go, panting. He let go of his cock anyway. As he brought his hand away from the shaft, he still held onto Tris, who dangled limply, coughing and sputtering as cum dribbled off his tiny naked body.

"There," he said, finally speaking, "that ought to grease you up."

Tris looked up at the giant. "F--For what?"

Bill didn't reply. Instead, with his other hand he reached down and grabbed Tris' feet. Then the hand that currently held the hare let go, and suddenly Tris swung downwards and found himself hanging upside-down, his ankles gripped daintily between Bill's thumb and forefinger.

He then felt himself rising, and watching as the length of Bill's still erect cock went slowly past his vision. When he got to the head, he was greeted by the rather curious sight of Bill using his thumb and forefinger on his other hand to open the cumslit on the tip. It stretched wide, almost like rubber, little strands of cum stretching between the stretched sides like spittle.

Tris tried to look up at Bill but just made himself dizzy, and then he was lifted a little higher, until he was level with Bill's tummy, which was splattered in the cum from his orgasm, and, with some trepidation, the young hare looked down. Bill was dangling him over the open cumslit of his cock. No, he thought. He wouldn't.

Bill proved him wrong by lowering him towards it. He would.

"Noooooo!" Tris screamed and struggled, but Bill's fingers just tightened on his ankles, and all he succeeded in doing was swinging back and forth like a pendulum as he got lowered to his doom. He was reminded of The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allen Poe. He was the pendulum, and Bill's cock was the pit. His swinging stopped as his head struck the soft fleshy lips of the cumslit, and nothing but darkness gaped before him.

His head slid in. Bill released his cumslit, allowing it to slam closed around Tris' neck, and he groaned at the sight. Tris managed to wrench one leg free and kicked at Bill's fingers trying to make him let go, to no avail. His hands clawed at the cockhead trying to pull the slit open and extract himself, but the cum just made both the flesh of the cock and his fingers far too slippery.

For a minute or two Bill simply held him like this, and then Tris began hoping that this was all Bill intended to do. His hopes were dashed as Bill closed his eyes and leaned back, and gave a sudden buck of his hips, forcing the cock up over Tris' neck and shoulders, pinning his arms to his sides. Tris renewed his useless struggling, as the cock suddenly clenched, Bill pulling him in a little deeper.

Bill moaned in pleasure and opened his eyes again, looking down, and slowly began pushing Tris' tiny form down into his cock, bit by bit, savoring every moment of it. The rabbit's cock gulped hunfrily over the shrunken hare's squirming form, Tris' cock, erect despite it all, bobbing sexily as Bill fed him down his cock. Bill used his pinky to press Tris' cock against his belly, so that it slid smoothly in. Once Tris was in up to his hips, Bill released his ankle, allowing the younger student's smooth legs to kick about in the air above the throbbing cock.

Bill thrust his hips upwards, humping the air. Each thrust made his cock clench and suck more of his tiny friend inside. The further down Tris' legs went, the more they became pressed together and unble to kick effectively. Soon, nothing of the tiny legs stuck out of Bill's cock except the lower legs and feet. These Bill pushed all the way down inside with one finger, groaning as the cumslit closed after them. He then once again wrapped his fingers around himself, and began to jerk his hand up and down his cock.

This time, though, he wasn't trying to make something come out of it. He was making something go in. He slowly jacked the bulge that used to be Tris down his swollen member, panting softly, taking his time, not wanting to rush things. Tris' squirming slowly died down as his bulge began to disappear past the base of the cock, and Bill began feeling the tiny form slipping into his nutsac.

He jacked Tris all the way down, feeling the puny bulge of the young hare's feet vanish, and then he released his cock and sighed happily, then got up and went into the kitchen. He got a can of Dr. Pepper, returned to the living room, and sat back down on the sofa with his legs spread, and drank the entire can in a series of big, thick gulps.

As he lowered the can from his lips he thought about Tris, and what he'd just done to him. In hindsight, Bill sort of regretted doing it, if only because he had jumped the gun and done it too soon. He shrugged, and set the empty can aside, getting up again. It was over with, he'd done what he wanted to do, making Tris a part of him, and when he proved that the shrink ray was a success, he'd get sole credit for it, too.

That thought made him smile as he gathered up his clothes and took them into the laundry room. Tris, and the credit for their invention, was all his. Forever.