"That could have ended badly," Adam frets.
"It's fine now," you say. "I'm fully Brian again!"
"Okay," Adam says, "We'll see on the weekend if we can do some more…experimentation. See if that had any effects. My place or yours?"
"Well, there's a huge stash of shoes that my mother collected over the years in my basement. That's where my dad keeps all of the shoes we don't need anymore, in a sort of weird monument in memory of her. He only goes down there twice a year, at Christmas and in June, on her birthday. My little brother is too scared to go down there, but I go down there every few now and then for privacy because my brother likes annoying me in my room so much. So, how about there? Plenty to try there." You raise your eyebrows at Adam.
"Why not? I like to get out of my house anyway," he says with a disgusted look on his face. "Deal. I'll see you at your place on Saturday."
• • •
It's Saturday afternoon. Your dad has taken your brother out to Comiccon for the weekend, so they won't be back until Monday night. It's not odd for you to not go with them—they do it every year, but you haven't gone for four years. Adam knocked on the door, and you let him in. You grab a pair of your brother's shoes and a pair of your dad's, and Adam grabs the socks. You both go downstairs into the basement.
"I kinda expected it to smell bad in here, but, well…it's kinda nice, actually," Adam remarks with a surprised look on his face.
"Yeah, Mom cleaned each pair of shoes before bringing them in here. Dad does it, too, in memory of her. I know, it's sort of creepy, but whatever. It's what he does, and what my mom did."
"It's interesting how the socks have stayed clean and non-smelly as well. Probably part of the magic. I say magic because I think that we can both agree that this can't be anything other than magic."
"Yeah," you agree. "So, do you want to change first?"
"Sure", Adam says with a grin. He clearly enjoys this. "But who to change into…"