Aaron scrolled absently through the options until he came to the AGE setting. When he selected it, he was amazed to see a detailed head-to-toe image of himself appear on the screen - and even more amazed to find that drawing down the slider made his avatar gradually younger and changed its clothes to match. Aaron brought it all the way down to two years old and chuckled in disbelief at seeing himself as an adorable, thumbsucking toddler clad in nothing but a thick white diaper. How is it doing this? He was astonished at how closely the tiny tyke on the screen resembled the rambunctious rugrat in all those old pictures his dad would break out whenever he wanted to embarrass Aaron.
Dad... Aaron sighed wistfully as he cast his mind back to memories of playing with his daddy as a very little boy. Though said memories were mostly fuzzy, some sensations rang clear and true through the years. The scratchy tickle of a beard against his baby-smooth cheek...the exhilarating thrill of riding on broad shoulders...the utter security and serenity he felt curled up in the massive lap of agentle giant, dozing off while wrapped in daddy's big strong arms.
Though the relationship between he and his dad was fine, the two of them were nowhere near as close as they'd been when Aaron was little. What's more, Aaron was only a few weeks away from moving into an apartment of his own with two of his friends. He was excited about having his own place, and his dad had been completely supportive of the move from the start. His heart secretly ached, however, at the thought of being away from the only parent he'd ever had, from the man who'd been the best dad any kid could ever ask for.
That ache was at its deepest now as he stared at the innocent tot he'd once been. Eventually his eyes wandered, and when they did he saw for the first time a checkbox in the upper-right corner of the screen.
[ ] REALITY?
If only, Aaron mused as he offhandedly checked the box. He saw the big green CHANGE button in the bottom-right of the screen and, curious as to what it did, tapped it with his fingertip.
The young man was suddenly struck by dizziness so strong and severe that he felt an instant from vomiting. He groaned and doubled over as he clamped his eyes shut, dropping the Chronivac as an electric pins-and-needles prickling spread from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. He spun and staggered but somehow stayed on his feet, the feeling eventually ebbing enough that Aaron was able to stabilize himself with a few deep shuddering breaths.
He opened his eyes and looked down. He screamed.
The Chronivac lay screen-up at Aaron's feet, still displaying him as a two-year-old. The difference now was that looking down made it horrifyingly clear to Aaron that he was now the owner of that plump belly and those pudgy limbs and that soft, thick, virginal white diaper that spread his chubby thighs apart. Looking up, meanwhile, served only to inform the terrified toddler that his bedroom had become that of a very very young boy, complete with light blue walls and a wooden crib and a fully-stocked changing table.
"Aaron? Are you okay, buddy?"
Aaron turned and gaped up at the man who stood in the doorway looking down at his son with concern. Though even at eighteen he'd been a good deal shorter than his dad, six inches was a world apart from the three feet of height that now separated them. And beyond that he had to reckon with the fact that Dave looked younger than he'd ever remembered seeing him - he looked, in fact, the age he'd been when Aaron was two. Everything came together for the young man turned toddler in a slow car crash of realization, the device - with REALITY checked on, naturally - having somehow rewrote existence to make it as though he'd been two all along.
"What's that thing at your feet?" Dave frowned at the Chronivac. "You know you have to ask permission for screen time, slugger."
Aaron panics as his father moves towards the device. He knows that it's the only way for him to get back to adulthood...and what's what he wants, right?