Skyscraper
Cory is filming a "Finchel" scene, and starts to feel insecure about his height. He goes home and tries to remedy this, but it just ends up snowballing into a catastrophe.
"Action!" Ryan Murphy called out, his bald head on display. Ryan regularly yelled at the actors on his show to pick up the pace when something isn't getting done the way he wanted. At this moment in time, the cast and crew are currently filming 'Pretending' scene at Nationals in the episode New York. Cory kept flubbing up his lip synching; Ryan kept growing madder at him.
"Here Cory," Lea said, presenting him with a sandwich that she pulled out from her tiny bust. "Here's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to help smooth you over."
"CORY!" Ryan bellowed, stomping over and slapping the sandwich out of his hands. "You can't eat anymore today! You're already starting to pack on the pounds!" Cory was used to this, in fact, all the cast members were. You see, at the end of every week, they would all step into a quaint bathroom for their weekly weigh in. If their weight was not up to standards, Ryan would stick his fingers down their throats and force them to purge. His fingers regularly tasted of a salty substance.
"Sorry, Ryan. I'm just kind of distracted." Cory stated. "Let's just do it again."
"All right," Ryan Murphy sighed dramatically. "And, action!"
"Pretending." They mouthed, staring into each other's eyes as they moved closer to each other. Lea backed away with a huff, unable to reach Cory, and turning to Ryan.
"Ryan, can we get something over here?" She asked, beckoning him to follow her orders. Ryan sighed, calling to a production assistant to get a box for Lea to step on. Cory's puppy dog eyes grew larger as he felt ashamed of his gargantuan height. The PA brought the box over and the scene continued.
"Let's do this again, kids." Ryan called. "And, action."
As the last pre-recorded notes of "Pretending" were playing throughout the filming area, Cory and Lea were face to face, lips smacked against each other. The kiss was passionate in a way that only a teenager could describe. The lovey-dovey mood was broken once the box slipped out from under Lea, and she landed face-down on the floor, blood dripping from her lips.
Cory jumped back, hollering out apologies to his injured cast mate. "Ow, ow, ow," Lea screamed. "Can I get some paper towels over here?"
"Sure thing, Lea," Ryan said, his bald head now replaced with a yellow hat. Telly ran over, handing her some towels, which he had conveniently located in a florescent fanny pack. She applied them to her lips, which were now swelling up to rival the size of Chord's own trouty mouth.
Everyone glared at Cory who, even at his colossal size, seemed to shrink under the pressure. He shot off one more rejected apology to Lea, who shrugged it off. Cory ran offstage as quickly as his tree trunk sized limbs would carry him. Into his trailer the giant went, locking the door and heading into the kitchenette. Cory was always the type to eat his feelings. He looked around, grabbing a bowl, some 2% milk and a box of Wheaties. As he sat down to eat, he started crying, reflecting on how his height always caused troubles.
Tears slid down his face, into the bowl of Wheaties, and splashing onto the table. "Why couldn't I be a more normal height?" he thought as his spoon clattered to the ground. Through his tears, he reached over the table, grabbing his laptop in his big hands. He went to Google, typing in 'male growth problems' He didn't want to be the outcast anymore, the person always in the top left of the background.
Finding a link that finally didn't say 'this site may harm your computer', he clicked. A black page, with the tagline of 'Perform better and longer!' popped up. It had bulky, muscular guys surrounded by scantily clad girls. The men were only marginally taller than the females, Cory noted. He clicked the 'Order Now!' button, filling in his card details and checking the option for speedy delivery.
The next day as Cory arrived to his trailer, a small brown box was sitting on the steps. Just as he was about to pick it up, Mark walked by. Usually, Cory would happily greet his bro and ask to play a round of disc golf, but today... well, today, he had other plans.
"Hey, dude!" Mark greeted, as Cory tried to hide the box with his large foot. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work. "What's that?" Mark asked, gesturing to the cardboard box he was stepping in front of.
"It's, er, you know- it's nothing."
"Hey, dude, if it's gay porn, that's all right. No need to hide it. See ya, man," Mark said, waving and leaving the conversation. Cory breathed out a sigh of relief, picking up the box and walking inside his trailer. Once inside, he grabbed a butter knife and tried to cut open the box. He huffed when he realized it wasn't going to work. He found a pair of scissors and opened the box, pulling out the bottle of pills.
Ignoring the label, he poured about a dozen capsules into his hand, swallowing them down and tracing them with some water. He smiled to himself, sure that he'd be able to get all the ladies now. He wouldn't intimidate people as much and he'd finally be able to ride the bumper cars! He swallowed the rest of the bottle before he started to feel sleepy. He fell to the ground.
He woke up a couple hours later, head feeling heavy and eyes squinted tighter than usual. He noticed Dianna hovering over him, hand on her heart.
"Oh thank God, you're awake," She said, as she pocketed her cell phone, sounding extremely relived.
"Whab habbenet," Cory said, his eyes trying to widen in shock. "Whubs wong? Why'ma 'alking ike thith?"
"Look in the mirror," She said, getting off the ground and shaking her head. Cory stood up, looking down at his legs, which were barely encased in his jeans. He walked over to the mirror, trying to scream.
The reflection showed a man with swells and lumps forming all over his body. His left eye was swollen to the size of a baseball, his lips purple and tongue flopping out. His, ahem, man parts were pushing against the constriction of his jeans. His splotchy hands flew up to his face, as he screamed, poking and prodding at the protruding flesh. And, worst of all, he was the same height.
"Whubs bong wib me!" He shouted, biting down on his tongue accidently. Dianna shook her head, walking over to him and putting her hand on a shoulder lump, in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.
"Well, by the looks of things, you took a bunch of Viagra and now you look like a hufflelump," Dianna said. Cory didn't bother correcting her about the hufflelump thing, instead focusing on the first part of her sentence.
"Biagwa? Wub bo you bean? I neber took biagra!" He said, as Dianna looked at him with an even blanker face than usual.
"I'm presuming you didn't read the label," She said, grabbing the bottle and handing it to him. "You almost killed yourself with male enhancement pills." Cory turned the bottle in his hand, reading the label carefully.
"I thob des were for-" He cut himself off, not wanting to tell. Dianna scoffed at his misogyny and turned on her heel, leaving Cory and his abnormalities alone in the room.
His hands flew to his lumpy, bloated cheeks. Now he knew what it felt like to be Naya. Sighing, he walked over to the couch, sitting down on the couch. What was he going to do? What was he going to say to Ryan? Oh god, what if they kicked him off?
Just then, a knock sounded on his door. Without waiting for permission, the door opened, revealing a short statured male.
"Hey Cory. Dianna told me something was wrong," Darren said as he shut the door behind him. He paused as he spotted Cory curled up in himself on the sofa. "But I didn't know it was this bad. Dude, you look horrible."
"Puck you, Blarren," Cory said, groaning at his now present speech impediment. "Blust bleave bee alwone!"
"Ryan said he wants you on set," Darren added as he left towards the door. Darren smiled, more than likely reminiscing of the previous night he spent with Ryan. He shook his head, sparing one last pitying glance at Cory as he left. Cory sighed, hoisting himself up to his aching feet.
"All right!" Ryan screamed as Lea walked into the choir room stage. "Let's do it once more, with feeling! Jenna, towards the back! Why do I have to keep telling you that you're irrelevant? Don't you start crying!" He sounded into his megaphone, hand on his hip. "Where is my yellow hat? Chord, make yourself useful and fetch me my beret!"
Chord ducked his head down, his lemon drop hair swaying as he nodded. He ran out of the room, on the quest for the topper to Ryan's glimmering head.
"Chris!" Ryan said, voice taking on a sweeter and huskier tone. "Why don't you come back with me to my trailer for a minute?" Chris looked at him, wide-eyed and shaking his head.
"Why can't Darren do it?" Chris whined, sighing.
"Fine," Mr. Murphy replied, yelling for Darren to come to him. Darren walked over, sunglasses perched underneath his pointed brows. "Darren, blow me while I stroke my yellow hat," He said as Chord came back in, holding a bedazzled, neon hat in his fingers, handing it to Ryan. "Thank you, Overstreet. Just for that, you get a storyline!"
Chord bounced up and down like a hyperactive child at the reward. "What is it?"
"Why don't you and, um..." Ryan pondered, stroking his chin as he scanned the New Directions. "Amber! You haven't pissed me off that much this week!" He exclaimed, before turning back to Chord. "Sam and Mercedes are now dating. You guys can pop in during Blaine and myse-Kurt's 'I Love You' scene," he said, smiling as Chord nodded, walking over to Amber. Amber rolled her eyes at his presence, looking towards the door.
"Look who's finally here," She said as Cory walked in. "What's up with you, white boy?"
"CORY!" Ryan called out, shoving Darren off of his cock as he pulled his pants up. "You're late!"
"I'm borry, I bacibently-" Cory got cut off as Ryan slapped his hand over his mouth, face dangerously close. The rest of the cast gasped as Chris passed around a bowl of popcorn.
"Shit dun got real," Kevin said, munching on his buttery snack.
"Why are you talking like that?" He said, voice deeper than it usually was. Cory looked down at him with big, fearful eyes. Ryan's sweaty palm moved to caress his cheek, a movement that was usually saved for Darren, who was looking at the pair like a kicked puppy.
"I-I- I bas tiwed of being 'all," Cory said as Ryan's hand drew back, preparing himself for the impact that was about to come.
The cast watched as Ryan hit Cory, sitting down in their chairs as they watched the show. Ryan straightened up his now lopsided hat, crossing his arms. "Cory," Ryan said, "What the hell? You just halted production until you fucking get back to normal! Do you realize how much money that costs? It's coming out of your paycheck!"
"Bub I bet binibum vage!"
"Tough shit!" Ryan called out, turning towards the rest of the cast. "You're all free to go," He said, pointing at Darren. "Except for you. You can stay," Darren's face light up like a radiant Christmas tree, smiling at the prospect of being fucked by Ryan. "I like short people better, anyways," Ryan added, glaring at Cory. "Lolz, bye bitches," Ryan said to the cast, tugging Darren along with him.
"Cory!" Amber called out, sprinting towards Cory. WIth every step she took, her curvy African-American body swaying with each step. Her vulmpotious breasts jumping up and down as she ran Baywatch style towards Cory. "White boy, what's up wit'chu?"
"Hey Ambur," Cory said, as Amber sat down next to him. "Ober ben the obbiolous, no'hin buch."
"I mean, why ain't you all up on that?" Amber said as Chord bent over to get a protein bar out of the vending machine. Cory stared at Chord's flat ass with less enthusiasm than he usually did. "You're usually salivating when he does that," She pointed out as he flexed his muscles.
"Mark's albeady got dibs," Cory sighed, resting his chins on his swollen hands. "Der gonna' go to Duild-a-Dear then go bird botching."
"Watching?" Amber asked for clarification as Cory nodded. "Well, boy, you gotta stake your claim! Tap dat ass!"
Cory pondered this as Amber stood up and left. Chord continued hamming it up as Mark walked into the room, pratling on about how a rare bird had shit on his car windshield.
"Seriously, bro. I think it was a hawk," Mark said, hand intertwined with Chord's as they left the room. Cory stared longingly at the couple, trying to think about how he could get rid of his abnormalities and win the love of his life.
"Hey, Cory," Chord said as he approached the tall Canadian. "How are 'ya?"
"I-I-I'm good," Cory said, stumbiling over his words as he responded. "Da swellin's gone bown a bit."
"That's good!" Chord said, raising his hand for a high five. "Don't leave me hanging, Cory."
Cory smiled at his child-like excitement, slapping their hands together. Chord looked as if he'd seen the face of God as their hands connected, barely able to contain his joy.
"Y-you high-fived me," Chord replied in awe as their hands departed. Cory winked with a swollen eyelid as he nodded.
"'Course I did," Cory answered.
"No one ever high fives me," Chord said softly.
"Bell, baby der jest biches," Cory replied, leaning in closer. "Jew desert someone who bill treat jew pricely."
"I didn't understand a word of that," Chord said as Cory cupped his face with a swollen, meaty hand, leaning in to kiss him. Chord remained still for a moment, before backing away with a shove to Cory's flabby moobs.
"Dude, I'm not gay," Chord said as Cory's heart practically split in two. "Sorry."
Cory shook his head, running from the room in tears. God, nothing ever went right for him. He flung the door to his trailer open, rummaging through the cabniets until he found what he was looking for.
"Who are you?" The cast asked as they ran into Cory's trailer as the person next to Cory huffed.
"All right, guys, this isn't funny anymore," The woman said as everyone raised their eyebrows. "Jenna, I'm Jenna!"
"Oh, right."
"Anyways, there are much more pressing matters at hand," Jenna said, taking a deep breath. "Cory killed himself."
"Oh my god," Lea breathed out, tearing up as she leaned on a stunned Chris for support. "How could this happen!"
Dianna and Mark remained as emotionless as ever, while the rest of the cast started crying, Chris and Lea the loudest of them all, as they were in many aspects.
"All right, we're going to need to hold some casting calls," Ryan said, ushering most of the cast out. "How long do you think we could preserve the body as a stand in?"
"Ryan," Chris began, wiping his eyes. "I think we should give his body a proper burial."
"I-I agree," Lea said, sniffiling. "Chris and I will take care of all the arrangements." Ryan glanced between them, before sighing.
"Fine," Ryan relented. "Maybe I'll give some other characters storylines for once."
"A toast," Lea began, raising her glass as Chris followed suit, chuckiling. "To fine dining."
"Cheers," Chris replied, clinking their glasses together. "You know, you are really an excellent cook, Lea," He said as he took a sip, glancing down to his plate. "I've got to say, I wasn't expecting it to taste this good."
"Well," She said with a giggle. "The meat does have a lot of fat on it."
"He is quite chewy," Chris commented as he cut off another slice. "But, delectible."
"Shall I cook up some Cory sausage?" Lea suggested as Chris shook his head.
"Allow me," Chris said, getting up and pulling Cory's remains out of the freezer.