After a dinner where the peas had spent being used as targeted missiles more than sustenance, Jeff put on a movie for Tommy and his friends to watch off of a blu-ray his parents had bought of an older movie from the 1960s called "The Great Race". Jeff recalled it being a film that was a send up of old early 20th Century films and culture, and in general was like a live action version of a cartoon. A kind of blend between Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. That would keep them entertained for a while, well and the fact that it was nearly three hours long would help a lot as well as he went to fix Cris' situation.
He came outside to find Alicia filling up the kiddy pool while Cris ran around excitedly, bouncing an oversized beach ball against the grass. It was clear from the way Alicia put all her focus on filling the pool that she didn't want to be doing this, and was trying not to say something to Cris.
Maybe it was just how old Cris was that was contributing to the situation... perhaps if he was younger Alicia might not view him so negatively? Jeff pulled out his phone and opened the app, targeting Cris alone he subtracted three years from the hyperactive Kindergartner. Cris shrank and his clothes along with him, back into the prime of toddlerhood at age 2. His hair thinned a bit, and his slim child frame regained even more baby fat, especially about his belly. Cris still was dressed in swim trunks and a swim shirt, but he decidedly didn't have on swim shoes anymore, Jeff noted. Instead he toddled around the edge of the pool, occasionally sticking his hands into the water and splashing it, causing him to giggle and laugh uncontrollably. Alicia's attitude towards Cris however remained unchanged, judging by her grimace.
Jeff figured him being newborn might do the trick--everyone loved babies after all, or so he thought. So Jeff subtracted the two remaining years only he forgot to change the 3 to a 2, so not only did he watch as Cris grow younger into babyhood and infancy, but he grew as small as a newborn and than Alicia appeared quite different--the most noticeable feature being the pregnant with a belly. Alicia's clothes were replaced with a maternity swimsuit, but as she kept filling the swimming pool--now for herself it seemed, the belly shrank until she barely looked pregnant at all. It was then that Jeff was hit with a wave of memories--about two months ago Jeff had asked Alicia to the Valentine's Day school dance, after which they had partied and drank at someone's house... one thing had led to another and in the morning they'd discovered themselves cuddled up and naked in their friend's sofa bed.
Apparently a bet had been placed by their friends to see how many drinks it'd take to make the two "responsible sticks in the mud" that Jeff and Alicia were known as, lose all inhibitions and just have some fun. Ironically when kissing had started to turn into a heavy makeout session on their parts, no one else had been sober enough to remind the "responsible" ones to perhaps use a condom. As they had put together what had happened the following morning, Jeff had apologized profusely as he realized that the condom in his wallet hadn't been used. In this reality, Alicia had just told Jeff that she'd found out she was pregnant... and in this reality Cris wasn't her little half brother, he was her son... her son with Jeff.
"Alicia, how'd your talk with your Mom go?" asked Jeff
Alicia stopped filling the kiddy pool and came over to the fence, so that they wouldn't have to yell so the entire neighborhood would hear them.
"Oh, about as well as you'd imagine. Hi Mom, so... I've missed my period after I lost my virginity while drunk... you know, that old charmer," said Alicia sardonically.
"What'd she say?"
Alicia didn't answer, instead avoiding Jeff's eyes as she fiddled with the water hose in her hand.
"She had to have said something."
"She offered to drive me to the next state... to go camping," said Alicia pointedly, looking at Jeff in the eyes only at the end.
It took Jeff less than a moment to remember what that social media euphemism was for.
"What do you want?" he asked.
Alicia sighed, "I dunno. I don't want to be called the preggers girl for the rest of High School... I don't want to have to wear a maternity dress to my Junior Fall Ball either..."
"Sounds like you've made up your mind," said Jeff, taken aback, feeling rather hurt for some strange reason.
"Unless there's something else that can change it," said Alicia, again looking at Jeff.
Jeff didn't know what to say to Alicia in that moment... he was still shocked that she would consider it in the first place, and suddenly he was starting to feel guilty that instead of giving Cristobal a better second chance, he might have just doomed him to not exist in the first place, and while the elderly Cristobal had been a bit of a dick--the younger Cris seemed to haven't yet become so jaded and suspicious with life, the little he'd seen of him.
"I'm going to take a soak in the pool... let me know if you want to talk or anything," said Alicia before walking away and lowering herself into the kiddy pool.
Not knowing what else to do, Jeff returned inside. A tempest of emotions plagued him: guilt over potentially dooming someone to not exist, guilt over what he'd done to Alicia both while drunk in this reality and unintentionally with the app, frustration over the fact he felt responsible to do something, confusion over what exactly he should do, and a flurry of other fleeting emotions that he couldn't quite catch and process as they flittered through him like hummingbirds from flower to flower. Trying to center himself, Jeff banged the kitchen table he sat at, but beyond a hurt hand felt little comfort the action.
"What's wrong Jeff?" asked a voice, and Jeff turned to see Tommy standing in the archway leading to the living room.
"Nothing's wrong," lied Jeff, his voice sounding a little froggy in response to Tommy's question.
"You're crying," said Tommy, and Jeff blinked his eyes a few times only to realize his eyes were in fact a little wet.
"Okay... something's wrong, but it's nothing you can help me with, little bro. I need..." and Jeff paused as he thought of exactly what he needed for the first moment before admitting, "I need to talk to someone who can give me some advice."
"I could try," insisted Tommy.
"You're a bit... young for the kind of advice I need..." answered Jeff politely.
"Then make me the big brother with the app," suggested Tommy obviously.
"Tommy, I know you want to help, but I'm not sure--"
"Are you gonna ask Mom and Dad when they get home then?" asked Tommy crossing his arms.
Jeff knew in that moment that he wouldn't know how to even start the conversation with their parents. Hi Mom and Dad... so, you remember when I didn't come home from the Valentine's Day Dance? Well that's because I got the girl next door pregnant, not because I'd stayed over with some friends at their place--well we did, but they got us drunk and then one thing led to another... and now you're going to be grandparents... surprise! Yeah, that'd go over as well as a bunch of lead bricks.
"Make me your big brother, then I can be old enough give you the advice you need." The solution was simple to Tommy's mind.
"And what about all your friends in there?"
“Well… I like having all my friends here, but, you’re my brother. And, I wanna help! You do a lot for us, so, I wanna do something for you.”
The offer was rather... sweet of Tommy, and it only made Jeff appreciate his little brother even more. Appreciatively, Jeff hugged his little brother before having him back up a bit and pulling out his phone and scanning Tommy.
Name: Tommy Davis
Age: 7
Mental Age: 7
Height: 4'1"
Weight: 48 lbs
Build: Skinny
Gender: Male
Simply changing the age parameter alone, Jeff figured that making Tommy four years older than him ought to give his new big brother enough life experience to help, but still be young enough to not make things awkward between them.
Name: Tom Davis
Age: 21
Mental Age: 21
Height: Auto
Weight: Auto
Build: Auto
Gender: Male
Alter reality to fit? Yes
Alter clothes to fit? Yes
Jeff noticed that as soon as he'd changed 7 to 21 that Tommy's name changed to Tom, likely denoting that his soon to be big brother likely associated that nick name with being a child. Unable to wait much longer, Jeff took one look at his sweet and caring little brother before hitting enter. Jeff had decided to make Tommy unaware during this transformation, and his green eyes glazed over once again.
Like watching one of those time progression animations, Jeff watched as Tommy began to grow as he raced through elementary school, growing a bit taller, filling out, then growing a bit taller still. Somewhere around age 9 the light up sneakers were replaced with regular sneakers and Jeff noticed his long sleeve t-shirt change into a Flag Football team's shirt, and suddenly from the back of his mind somewhere, Jeff was reminded of something that old Coach Smith had said:
”You're likely going to have to make me really young to counteract all my biases I had growing up. My old man popped me into midget football clubs almost as soon as I was old enough, and had me playing flag football as soon as I could keep a hold of the ball.”
As Tommy re-entered his preteen adolescence, he really began to fill out and looked more athletic for a kid his age, clearly flag football hadn't been a once and done fluke, especially as the shirt now altered to say "Midget Football League". It was about here that thinking of his pubescent brother as "Tom" started popping into Jeff's head. Apparently all the banter about the locker room had caused Tom to re-evaluate his childhood nickname... it'd also caused him to begin acting all cool and distant, hiding the sweet and affectionate side of his personality as that only got him benched and called a sissy. At this point beyond the change in shirt, all that had happened was Tom's clothes had adjusted for size.
Tom continued on to High School where his height shot up and then surpassed Jeff a little bit, muscles starting small and then ballooning to that of a very healthy and athletic gym rat who when he wasn't on the field practicing, was in the gym lifting. Soon Tom was definitely older than Jeff, looking as though he were a senior or a college freshman.
A bit of stubble appeared on his face as the transformation slowed down, a bit more muscle and a bit more girth--likely from drinking a little too much in college--settled on Tom's frame, which now was being shown off by his decidedly dressed down wardrobe which was shifting to be a sleeveless shirt with the local state university football team on it to show off his biceps, gym shorts, and a pair of Nike flip flops, before suddenly a look of pain overtook Tom's face and his left leg suddenly seized up and a red cast appeared around it, along with a pair of crutches to go along with it to keep Tom standing upright in the kitchen. It was then that Jeff noticed the transformation stop, and Tom's green eyes blinked a few times before they cleared up. A familiar look of confusion was noticeable in them before clarity seemed to click behind them.
"Sup, little bro... tired of the kiddos so soon?" asked Tom as he positioned himself over to the fridge to open it and pull out a carton of milk, likely for his daily protein shake.
Tom wasn't supposed to be up and doing things by himself, not since his accident when he'd practically torn his ligaments in his ankle when someone had tackled him in the wrong position, but Jeff knew better than to tell his big brother no when he was stubborn about something--which he was rather acutely stubborn about proving he was still capable of doing some things for himself.
"No," said Jeff, his voice still sounding somewhat froggy.
"Really, then what's got you in here instead of in there with them watching the movie? You're gonna miss the big pie fight if you stay out here." said Tom as he moved himself and the milk carton over to the blender where a tub of protein powder stood.
"Remember when I didn't come home from the Valentine's Day dance?" asked Jeff. Knowing that even though Tom was in college, he was still living at home to save on the cost of college.
Tom laughed as he scooped a few spoonfuls of the protein into the blender and then poured the milk in, eyeballing the level he wanted, "Yeah, you'd have thought by the way Mom yelled at you that it'd been me sneaking back the next morning. Not the boy scout."
Jeff laughed, "Well... something happened that night."
"I'd hope so, little bro, or I'd be severely disappointed in you," chuckled Tom before starting the blender. With the noise of the blending, Jeff waited until Tom was done to continue.
"You see, Eric thought it'd be funny if he got me drunk... like black out drunk..."
"Quit beating around the bush kid, who'd you sleep with?" asked Tom before he sniffed the protein shake and took it all in one swig.
"Alicia, my date."
At that Tom coughed a little, as though the shake had started to go down the wrong pipe, a bit of shake splatter coming out when he did.
"Y--you slept with little Alicia, our next door neighbor? Damn, Jeff, didn't I ever teach you to not eat where you sleep?"
"She's not so little anymore--and she's only a year younger than I am."
"Still, it's hard for me to picture her in that way... give me a moment... hmm... okay, I'm good now," said Tom with a smirk.
Jeff rolled his eyes. Tom hobbled over and plopped himself into the chair opposite from Jeff, keeping his leg in the cast stretched out from the table, while he stowed his crutches on the back of his chair, a somewhat serious look penetrating through the joking attitude.
"So what's got you all worked up about that? That was about two months ago and--shit... she peed on a stick didn't she?" asked Tom, a complete change in his demeanor occurring the moment he put two and two together.
"She did, and she's pregnant."
"Damn... and here I thought I'd be the one likely to end up with a kid I didn't want."
"I didn't say that!"
"So you want the kid then? Does she?"
Jeff was taken aback by the first question, at first he had changed Ryan… Mr. Huff into a first grader, then Coach Smith to be young again because he had asked… And then other adults got caught up in the grand scheme of things.
… Granted, he did he feel responsible for what had happened to old man Cristobal, but, what was the right choice in the matter? Was this all right anyway? Mr. Huff never asked to be young, though, Jeff had hoped to restart his life in a positive way. But then, Thomas had asked for a reset, though, he didn’t even think back to the logistics behind how far back he’d need to go.
The chronivac had caused all of this, it was him wanting to chase after some high of having authority over other people that had led to this in the first place.
"She doesn't want to go through school pregnant, and her mom said she'd take her... camping." Jeff replied, sheepishly.
"Oh... and she just told you?"
Jeff nodded his head.
Tom muddled over the situation, and Jeff had placed his hand over his chin.
"Well, I wouldn’t worry too much, you got a nice rep as a den mother and the Boy Scout. Give it a few days, and I’m sure it’ll blow over.”
Jeff smiled, nodding, before a familiar discourse reared its ugly head. Old man Cristobal, if Alicia had went through with it, with… Oh no.
Jeff’s smile turned into a rather grim frown, the anxiety of thinking about his actions was blooming. He hadn’t meant for Cristobal to be in this situation, he was a rotten old man sure but, he didn’t want this to come about. He had loved Alicia, at least, that’s what he feels. And the addled teenage hormones only served to help foster this new desire to understand himself with her. To be a man with her.
Tom noticed his brother’s face and his eyebrows furrowed.
“Something else you’re not telling me?”
Jeff blinked, recognizing Tom’s watchful eye on him and shook his shirt to get some air.
“Thomas,”
“God, just call me Tom, yeah? I ain’t dad’s age just yet.”
Tom rolled his eyes before chugging the last of his shake, making a satisfying “ahh”.
“Heh, right, look, I don’t know what’s best right now. I mean, yeah, I got all these kids I’m looking after and, you’ve been nothing but good to me,” Jeff caught himself, memories having formed that Tom had been the big man of the house and even helping Jeff when he was bullied or trying to heft his first dumbbell.
“If I make a mistake, how do I fix it? Especially if this is a big one?”
Tom silently gazed at Jeff, still taking in the words he was hearing.
As he sloshed the words and thoughts in his head, he decided to opt for simplicity.
“If you think you did something wrong, the best thing to do is do what you can to make it right. You can’t prevent yourself from making mistakes, but, you can solve them.” Tom said sternly, before belching and slamming a fist into his chest.
Jeff laughed at the thought of Tom suddenly becoming wiser beyond his years, he was only twenty one and- Ah. Right, the chronivac.
Maybe big bro was right, he couldn’t undo the fact he did what he did, but he could still be responsible. Like Mom would want. Like Tom would want.
“So, guess I gotta step up to the plate and be responsible for myself right?” Jeff asked.
Tom absentmindedly bounced his chest, grasping his right pec and hefting it. He made a note to hit the bench later, before looking up to Jeff.
“Screw being responsible, that's what you did when you got into this mess. You did something wrong? You make it better, I’m trying to go pro, my guy, not have a bad rep. Got a whole lot of things ahead of me in life, same goes for you.”
Jeff hummed, drumming his finger tips on his cheek.
In an odd way, his brother was right, there were more things to live for then just trying to make right the situation by trying to be everyone's savior.
"Sad we don’t have something to make everything better, like a wish granter, y’know?”
Jeff sighed, scanning Tom and bringing up his stats again.
“Y’mean a Chrony-what’s-it? Chronomac? I read something about that in this weird magic shop the other day Matt took us to get high but who even believes in stuff like that.” Tom cracked his knuckles and stretched, feeling the girth of himself with pride.
Jeff laughed, “Yeah, who could even think that makes sense.”
Name: Tom Davis
Age: 21
Mental Age: 21
Current Body Status: Ligament Injury, Cast on leg.
With a simple text edit, Jeff changed the current body status to “normal”, and watched in eager anticipation as Tom’s slurred whatever words were being spoken. His cast had begun to disappear, unraveling into the aether as bones had cracked and readjusted into perfection. His muscular thigh throbbed as the leg regained some musculature.
Jeff’s memory of the injury had changed as well, the football player who had tackled Tom in the wrong position had changed to Tom effortlessly passing him by and preventing the mishap.
Tom had swollen under the chronivac’s touch, muscles bulging larger as he had no reason to take a break, his chest lurched two inches outward as his sleeveless shirt became a tank top. His flip flops had once again became sneakers, though they were sporty as opposed to a children’s cartoon. As his crutches faded out of existence, Tom unintentionally brought his arms together, flexing as his jaw became slightly more pronounced with the reduction of body fat from devout gym sessions. Tom’s height even lengthened slightly as his glutes inflated in his chair, giving his shorts a rather scandalous view.
The finished product sat in the chair still confused, before blinking and familiarity with the current reality set in.
“So, did it work?”
Jeff was taken aback.
“What, Tommy?”
Tom looked at him and grunted.
“Did I help with your milkshake squirt? Y’know, big problem?” Tom pointed behind him with a thumb.
It clicked in that Tom wasn’t aware of the reality changes, and for a second, Jeff had been a bit saddened that only he could recall what had happened for the moment. But it was for the best, he had work to do.
“Yeah, you really helped me out bro. If I need help, again…” Jeff said, looking down at the floor. He didn’t like asking for help, hated relying on others, but-
“You already know my answer.” Tom said, getting up out of the chair and heading out the room.
“Headed to the gym, don’t wait up for me. I got my phone so you can just text.” Tom loudly spoke, Jeff wasn’t sure how to respond as he heard the delighted squeals of the children tackling their “fun uncle” before the door shut.
Jeff eyed Tom’s stats before quickly nodding his head and moving away from them.
Sometimes it was good having people to rely on, and Tom wasn’t wrong in needing to do what’s right. Jeff opened Cristobal’s stats and began to think of what to do on his break.