Jeff forgot about what he did, and the Chronivac all together. Simply having access to the machine and understanding its capability implied he had the responsibility to fix everything and it was a crushing emotional weight. It was the same concept as all those "How can God be good if..." rebuttals. How can Jeff be good if he doesn't go to the hospital every day and heal everyone? How can Jeff be good if he doesn't dedicate his life to making people better, feeding the hungry, stabilizing the homeless, saving the whales? His body reacted to stress like everyone else's. He overslept, he had an erratic sleep schedule and took naps, much to the irritation of his parents who had to wake him and make sure he meets his obligations.
Jeff made his parents aware of the machine, and gave them the goal of making him into a masculine man, maybe then he will feel prepared to take on the world's challenges... but a couple days passed and nothing happened. Jeff's awareness was laser focused on the current moment and between classes, friends, social media, and homework. It had to be for his sanity, so the Chronivac faded into the background of Jeff's mind. It was now his parents' concern, not his, and this gave him peace. Saying he forgot about the Chronivac was a little reductive... it was more like he repressed it, mentally turning his thoughts away from it, dismissing it when the thought arose... With it no longer being a secret he was able to rest but he still had control over it and his computer itself became a reminder of all he wasn't doing to save humanity.
A few days after making his parents aware of the device they came into his room and confiscated the machine. It felt bad, his space being violated, their stated lack of trust in him to justify their actions, the loss of control and power... but... below all that there was a powerful sense of relief. Earth shaking, ground breaking relief. The world was no longer his problem, food scarcity, people dying of diseases he could have changed, and everything else was no longer his problem.
A week later Jeff was confronted again, his midterm grades had been emailed to his parents as well as mailed. "Failure to turn in assignments." and "Easily distracted" were the most frequent comments and despite his rebuttals that things are different now, his parents remained disappointed and less understanding than he expected. On top of being marked poorly in school, his parents expressed severe disappointment in him, as if he chose to have the responsibility of the Chronivac thrust upon him!
The following Monday was especially rough, his sleep schedule hadn't returned to normal, he nearly missed the bus and did miss breakfast which made for a bad day all around. That evening he heard his parents discussing him, his dad (Mike) was especially animated, and Jeff not wanting to be a part of it, turned on his game console and turned up the volume, until he went to bed, at which point, things had quieted down.
Tuesday morning Jeff awoke, still feeling very tired he rolled over to snooze his alarm but it wasn't going off. Blinking several times he realized it was only 5:15 and he still had 45 minutes that he could sleep. As soon as he rolled over to fall back asleep his mind became a blurry mess of planning for the day, classes he had, homework to turn in and people he hoped to see was just the start. Unable to silence the cacophony he rolled out of bed wondering what to do with an extra 40 minutes... Then he heard the shower turn on... his dad was up. Jeff thought for a few seconds and realized a shower might help him mentally wake up to match his body's insistence that he be conscious. He picked out some clothes and by the time he had them ready and was in the bathroom his dad was done with his shower.
He stepped in, and he bathed faster than he had ever in his life. His usual half hour shower was reduced to 10 minutes, it included a shampoo and conditioner cycle, followed by a pits, ass crack, and balls treatment, then he found himself toweling off... it was a little jarring but he was still half asleep and really didn't care. It had only been three days after all, he didn't really NEED a shower.
That's when things turned abnormal. Without any real thought or expectation Jeff wiped down the bathroom mirror, broke out his shaving supplies and shaved. Seeing that he normally only had appreciable growth after a week or two, this was weird. Weirder still was the shadow of stubble he was removing.
Despite his mixed emotions Jeff landed on excited as the main emotion he was feeling, this was it, this was his parents masculating him! The rest of his body seemed the same but his beard growth was coming in like he was a full blown adult! The morning wood that just dissipated in the shower came back but Jeff was too enamored with his new look to care. After shaving he could still see the faint shadow of his beard area and was ecstatic. His mind was a flurry as he hurriedly dressed and went to the kitchen.
What will his friends think? What will the girls think? "He's so manly now!" he concluded as he repeatedly brushed his cheek against the grain to feel the sandpaper-like scrape of his new facial hair. Jeff went through his morning routine on autopilot, preparing breakfast and sitting down to eat as his 6am alarm started blaring in his room... after going to shut it off he came back to find his father getting his breakfast ready.
"Morning Dad," Jeff offered, aware he was usually still in bed at this time...
"Morning son, thanks for making the coffee." Mike couldn't resist shooting a knowing smirk at Jeff.
Jeff saw the smirk and reexamined the setting realizing there was a coffee mug aside his bowl of cereal! He somehow unknowingly made the morning coffee? Grabbed himself a cup and drank the putrid stuff? Thoughts and emotions flared then settled, he eventually asked, "You made me a coffee drinker?"
"Seemed you had trouble getting up."
"Yeah, but I hate coffee." Jeff sat down at his spot taking a big swig from the coffee mug in front of him.
Mike blushed deeply, "Not anymore, you live for the stuff like most adults do."
"Umm. and what about the beard?" Jeff could feel his heart starting to pound.
"Well, you had trouble with staying awake and waking up, I figured routine would help you with that and there was no sense in ruining that in a few months as your morning routine changed... So I went ahead and gave you the morning habits of a clean shaven 25 year old man, but so you'd not feel like you were wasting your time, I gave you a beard to shave as well."
Jeff nonchalantly sipped his coffee, partially out of his new instinct, partially to keep from grinning with excitement. "But what about..."
"Don't worry, " Mike smirked taking a sip of his own coffee, "you can grow it out if you're mindful, and nobody will think it's weird or out uncharacteristic of you."
Fireworks were going off in Jeff's head, "Thanks Dad," Jeff managed, unsure if he should be thanking him or upset...