“Hey there, little buddy!” Danny looked up from the shelf he was stocking. Greg stood before him, beaming.
“Greg? What are you doing here?”
“I’ve got the day off.”
“I know.”
“And I wanted to play a bit.” Danny looked at Greg warily. He’d known Greg for years now, and nine times out of ten, when Greg wanted to “play”, it was at Danny’s expense.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I’m on the clock.”
“Yes, which is why you have to cooperate with me,” Greg said. “I’m a customer right now, not your roommate.” Danny sighed.
“Okay. We can play.”
“That’s the spirit!” Greg pulled out his phone and scanned Danny’s badge. He began to tap on his phone madly, visibly excited. Danny sat down and waited for him to finish. He wasn’t sure exactly what Greg was doing, so he might as well get comfortable. “And…done!” Greg picked Danny up. “I want you to see what I did.”
“All right, show me,” Danny said tiredly. Greg carried him into the customer bathrooms and held him up in front of the mirror. Danny’s jaw dropped open in shock. Greg was Japanese-American, while Danny was white. That wasn’t true anymore. Greg had made Danny look Japanese like him. But not just Japanese. Danny now looked almost exactly like Greg.
“We’re like a father and son!”
“Yay?” Danny said weakly. He wasn’t thrilled by this development. Greg had been overly eager to step into a fatherly role for him since he was turned into a toddler a month ago. This felt like Greg trying to solidify himself as Danny’s dad.
“Don’t you look adorable! Just like me when I was your age,” Greg cooed. “Let’s go back to your section and play together.” Greg carried Danny back to the toddler area and set him down. His phone chimed. He pulled it out. “Dangit.”
“What?”
“I’ve got to take this. Be right back.” Greg walked away. Danny waited a few minutes, then resumed his restocking task. After fifteen minutes, Danny’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket. It was a text from Greg. Apparently, he’d had to leave suddenly. Too suddenly to change Danny back. Danny was now stuck looking like Greg’s son.
Danny sighed heavily. Why was he the one who had customers leave without changing him back? It happened to some of his coworkers every now and then, but the changes were always so minor that they were reverted the next day. But him? He was now a completely different age and race than he used to be.
Some part of Danny couldn’t help but wonder if Greg had done this on purpose. After all, Greg was so excited to make Danny look like his son…