John woke up eight hours after having the best time with Amy, dreaming of her. The two years John had slept away he had gone from college student to high school senior. His muscles compared to the previous night had slimmed down, but for a high school senior he was far and away rather built for his age. Unbeknownst to him that he'd actually done the things he'd dreamed about the night before, but as reality was shifting things. She was now two years older than him, and he'd been working out to catch her eye, with football practice and weight lifting bulking up his muscles he was just beginning to be considered as something more than the "kid" next door. Maybe now he'd get to do something more than just wet dream of being with her. John hopped into the shower after noticing it was fast approaching time for him to be heading off for school--if he dawdled too long, his Dad would make him walk to school. Dad? For a moment John was confused as he tried to think of his father, but then it all began to clear up in his head. His parents were Simon and Kim, and Simon was a tough as nails father who had high expectations for John that he often felt pressured to meet. One of which was just how physically fit his Dad was--and while recent developments seemed to indicate John would be just as fit if not more than his old man when he grew up, he knew that it would take more than just relying on the good genes he got from his Dad to be sure of that.
John lathered his body with soap, failing to notice that the stubble of body hair that he'd shaved off was slowly but surly receding and fading to thinner, softer, and shorter lengths. He wasn't completely hairless by the time he'd rinsed the soap off his body, but by the time he stepped out and dried off, he definitely had a lot less fuzz on his body than he'd had when he'd gone in.
After getting dressed, John loaded his backpack and rushed down to the breakfast table. Mom had already left for work, and his Dad was stuck behind a newspaper, as usual, though he closed it and checked his watch the moment John plodded into the kitchen.
Simon was beginning to go grey at his temples and a few random gray hairs in his beard that he'd grown out over night, which only added an air of maturity and distinction to the now mature 39 year old father he'd become. He wore a suit and tie that he filled out with broad shoulders and was tight on his muscular body.
John had shrunk an inch or two over the course of the night and now had to stretch up onto the balls of his feet to reach for a cereal bowl.
"Honestly Johnny, it's too late for even cereal."
"Dad, quit calling me Johnny, I'm not twelve anymore," whined John, upset at the nickname his Dad had called him all throughout childhood being brought up.
"Maybe if you woke up when your alarm first went off you wouldn't have to skip breakfast," scolded Simon with a frown as he took the bowl out of John's hand and easily put it back into the cupboard. John knew better than to argue with his Dad when his voice got low and grumbling like that. Simon now stood taller than John, if only by a few inches, and that little bit of difference made all the difference in how intimidated John felt in comparison to Simon. That was one thing he'd do differently when he was grown up with a kid, John vowed. He wouldn't use his size to scare his son into doing as he was told.
On the drive over to the high school, John longed for a driver's license like his other friends, but his Dad disapproved of such things, saying that when John had saved up enough money to get his own car, then he could get his license. John felt completely embarrased being the only high school senior who's Dad still dropped him off at school.
"Just what took you so long this morning?" asked Simon once they'd left the driveway.
"They say in Health class that teenagers need more sleep cause--" started John.
"Who is they?" asked Simon sharply.
"I dunno, the teachers," said John, unsure why his Dad was all up on him this morning. All he'd done was oversleep by like 10 minutes at most, he was sure.
"Which teachers?"
"The Health & Wellness Teachers."
"Specificity is important, Johnny."
John groaned at the sound of his childish nickname once again.
"I'm serious here, son. Say you were my age and you put the wrong detail down in a report, that could cost the business a great deal of money, wasted labor, wasted time, all because you didn't take the time to be specific the first time around. And nothing is worse than wasted time once you're my age."
"Sure," said John.
Simon groaned, "Again with that "sure". What does "sure" even mean with you?"
John was really getting tired of his old man riding his ass hard like this.
"I dunno, try looking it up in the dictionary, I'm "sure" it's in there somewhere."
If John hadn't buckled his seat belt then, he'd have likely smashed up against the dashboard from how hard his Dad had hit the breaks in the middle of the road. Almost immediately after a chorus of horns could be heard from behind them from other people in the morning rush hour traffic their small town managed to congregate at this time of day.
"That's the last time you smart mouth me, young man! You're walking the rest of the way, and if you're late for class, you'll have to deal with the consequences."
John stared incredulously at his Dad, not quite believing what he'd heard.
"Do I need to schedule an appointment to get your ears checked? I said get out and walk!"
John knew better than to listen a third time. When he'd been younger, that had often resulted in a spanking as part of a "three strikes" policy. John grabbed his backpack, and was out the door before his father had a chance to repeat himself one more time. Without as much as a "have a nice day, son", his Dad tore off, leaving John standing rather awkwardly in the middle of the road as his father sped and made a sharp turn off the street to a side street he could skip all the traffic on.
By lunch time, John was a year younger, and more concerned with cramming for his ACTs. By the time school let out and football practice was scheduled to start, John was a lean sophomore who'd lost a lot more muscle and another inch or two of height. He now was a glorified bench warmer on the Junior Varsity team, hoping that at least practicing football now and lifting weights would help him to bulk up so he could face his father on more equal terms one day. He was still fuming as he walked home from practice and found his Mom in the midst of cooking dinner as he came home.
"Dinner will be ready in a half hour, Johnny" called Kim as John let the front door slam behind him.
John grunted an acknowledgment, peeved at hearing himself called Johnny. He spent the half hour doing his homework, which he found increasingly difficult, as though he couldn't quite remember the classes he had sat through. And considering he'd sat through senior and junior level classes, his sophomore mind was indeed having trouble with the more challenging material. Frustrated, John threw his pencil down when he noticed it was time for dinner. He stood, a little disoriented as he did. Unbeknownst to him, he'd undergone the first of what would be several sudden "shrink spurts" while working on his homework, losing close to a foot of height while he'd been sitting down. John took a moment to acclimate to his new height, though he was only convinced he'd stood up too quickly by the time he'd recovered. John was now a definite twig in comparison to the bulky man that was his father, who in truth scared John more than anything.
John came downstairs to find his Mom had set the table with the expectation of Dad being there, though he clearly wasn't, for which John was quite thankful considering how they'd left things that morning. In fact Simon didn't show up for all of dinner, which Kim wasn't surprised by as she stared sadly at the empty spot across from her. Simon was working longer and longer hours now since his new promotion, and coming home more tired and frustrated than he used to. This did not help their sex life any, and in some respects Kim longed for the days when they'd been younger and had had more time for each other.
After dinner it was John's job to wash the dishes, getting all the hard set stuff scrubbed off before loading the lightly dirtied stuff into the dishwasher.
"You're such a good boy, Johnny," said Kim as she tousled his brown hair.
Johnny blushed at the compliment, which meant a lot to him compared to all the cutting remarks his Dad had for him. Simon was tough on Johnny he recalled.
After the dishwasher had been loaded, Johnny went back upstairs and looked at his homework which really looked almost incomprehensible to his freshman mind. Deciding he was too tired to get any real work done, Johnny decided he wanted to play video games more. That might help him to relax. Johnny stretched out on the ground as yet another shrink spurt hit and Johnny went from a high school student to a middle school student of 13. He stayed up late playing Fortnite, which he didn't remember being this fun to play before, but he was having a lot of fun with it now, and by the time he hit the sack, Johnny was completed his transformation from a 43 year old husband and father to a 12 year old son, having finished trading places with Simon.