Pull-Ups… Kai held the thing out away from himself, ashamed that he even dared touch it. He peered over at Scott, whom he saw peeking back at him, hoping not to embarrass the boy further.
“I… I think I need to wear these…” Kai murmured.
“Wait, you don’t have to listen to Jacks—” Scott blurted.
“No, Scott… I thought about it, and it makes sense for two reasons,” the tot interjected. “If I wear these stupid things, the audience will probably go crazy. It’ll give me an edge in the ratings… and if things keep going the way they’re going for the two of us, we might need all the boosts we can get.”
Scott’s head sunk as he nodded accordingly.
“And second… I think it’d be way more embarrassing if I had an accident wearing the briefs,” the smaller boy quietly admitted.
“You mean y—you aren’t potty-trained?” A benign smile formed on the boy’s face.
“Don’t get all excited about it…” Kai objected. “If you get this young, I promise not to make fun of you.”
Scott quickly explained himself. “No, I promise I wasn’t gonna laugh... You’re just really, really cute is all.”
The younger boy rolled his eyes but popped a grin, nonetheless. “Yeah, I bet… Personally, I preferred you when you were that big, menacing man sizing all of us up on the first day.”
“Well,” the bigger boy blushed a bright red to match the stripes on his shirt. “If things work out, you should be seeing that version of me in four days or so.”
“And you won’t have to watch me putting on absorbent underwear.” Kai, having finally overcome his embarrassment, stepped into the training pants… or attempted to, his first try culminating in a misstep onto the garment, toppling his 3’ frame onto the carpet.
“At least the audience probably liked that,” he said, rising back to his feet. He hesitated a moment, looking up shyly before calling out, “Scott?”
The older boy had already preempted his roommate’s needs, coming over to take the Pull-Up in his own hands, holding it out for the younger boy’s convenience. “Go ahead, buddy.”
Replying with a grateful smile, Kai put one foot and then the other through the leg holes, and before he knew it, Scott had swiftly brought the training pants up into place. It was none other than the face of Buzz Lightyear that hid Kai’s boyhood from view of the audience.
“All better.” Scott kissed the boy’s forehead, which somehow assuaged the discomfort of being relegated to pre-potty training garb.
“Thank you,” Kai smiled, feeling ever-so warm and secure in his bond with the boy whom he’d shared his reciprocated feelings with.
As Kai continued dressing himself independent of Scott’s aid, an idea popped into the older boy’s head. It was about time that they got back to work with their actual mission. Yesterday had been a complete bust, and their progress toward the goal had even ticked backwards with Kai’s extreme regression. Logistically, this could be one of their last chances to do some reconnaissance should the worst-case scenario come to pass that would render both agents unable to effectively navigate the house, let alone reach the tech if it were found.
“Kai,” he started. “No matter what Barrie announces, I have to use this time to snoop some more. Besides, he can’t announce another challenge since we just had one for the day.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Kai agreed, happily pulling the cargo shorts over his Pull-Up. “I can tell the other two that you wanted to take a nap. I was pretty good at keeping both of them preoccupied during your last snoop session.”
“That you were!” Scott ruffled the boy’s hair. “Okay, you head on down to them and show them how cute you are. I’ll check doors around the house to see what we can’t access. If it’s locked, then it’s gotta be for a good reason.”
“Like hiding the tech!” Kai proudly deduced.
“Exactly, and I don’t expect there to be that many locked doors around here, so I bet we can narrow it down pretty easily.” For all that had happened to the two of them, Scott was bursting with renewed confidence. Perhaps it was the admission from his crush that he harbored similar feelings… Or, on second thought, it was definitely that. Scott wanted nothing more than to reconvene with Kai in adulthood, flying off on some luxury vacation, free from childish challenges and padded underpants.
Kai rushed over to Scott’s nightstand, producing from it the small, black, circular device provided by Kai’s employers. He hastily brought it over to Scott, his awkward gait slowing him down just a bit as he adjusted to the distinct feeling of the training pants. “Don’t forget this.” He lifted his adorable, pudgy hands up to offer the device to his accomplice.
“Oh, right! Thanks, buddy!” Scott brought the boy in for a quick hug before they would go their separate ways. “Ya know, they’re gonna know immediately that you’re wearing a Pull-Up with the way you’re walking.”
“At least I’m still walking, though, right?” Kai rebutted. “I suppose we can’t really take that for granted for these next several days.”
Scott winced, dreading the thought of losing his independent mobility. “Right as always. Okay, let’s get to it.”
Kai nodded and made his way to their housemates, walking imperfectly the whole way out of the room. Left by himself, Scott was feeling more determined than ever to steal NGA’s tech. It was, after all, their idiotic, sadistic gameshow that had done this to him and Kai. Now, it wasn’t just the righteous cause of sharing the tech’s miracle with the public that propelled him; there was an equal part petty revenge that wanted to stick it to the producers for putting him through this mess. Hell, he’d love to give those guys upstairs a taste of their own medicine… but that was a long way off. The first step would be checking doors.
With a determined spirit, Scott left the bedroom, holding down the button of the camera looper while doing so. He could move freely without worry of the audience or the producers catching wind of his and Kai’s plot. Immediately across from their room was another room. Scott was confident that this was Ernesto and Jackson’s room, and peaking in through the unlocked door confirmed as much when he saw the identical setup to his bedroom.
Continuing through the upper level, the young agent came across two separate bathrooms, some closets, and two grand gathering areas with even grander windows that spanned a sizeable portion of their outer walls. That was just in his first five minutes of perusal of the level. As Scott explored further, a surprising truth revealed itself to him: even though Barrie had said there could be locked doors in the house, Scott had yet to find a single one! He’d found even more bedrooms, unused, and there was even a small library room. In his thorough inspection of each area, no hidden doors made themselves apparent to him. Then, a daunting realization struck the boy: what if the tech wasn’t even in the house? After all, Kai had pointed out that the tech could be used at long-range, as demonstrated by his water park regression. What if the tech was contained within a neighboring house? What if the tech was miles away, with the ability to manipulate the age of a subject from anywhere in the world? That would make sense, of course, from the producers’ perspective; keeping the tech out of reach of those most affected by it would help ensure its safety. Scott felt beads of sweat forming on his neck, the buzzing swarm of anxious ideations bombarding his very sanity. Had all this been for nothing?! Was there ever any hope of getting the tech at all? If not, then Scott would have to actually compete in this stupid game show. What’s more, he’d be pitted against Kai, and there would be no chance of the two ending up together, at least if he wanted to win. If they both ended up in diapers, they could grow up together, but would he really want that, really risk that? Was a schoolboy’s fleeting crush worth sacrificing his very status as a man?
Taking a deep breath, Scott realigned himself. Calming himself down in stressful situations was, in fact, part of his extensive agency training. He pulled in the air thoughtfully through his nose, letting it out slowly from his mouth. This soothing cycle would carry on for as long as was necessary, until the agent could once again think clearly. The boy spent a good couple minutes centering his thoughts. If both Kai’s employer and the agency had suspected the tech of being housed within this sprawling Tudor, then there was likely a very compelling rationale for the two of them being here. Scott knew what he was worth to the agency, and seeing Kai’s skills, he was sure his competitor had also made himself indispensable. There was no way either of their employers would send them in here without good reason to believe they could succeed.
Scott lay back onto the floor of the hall, relaxing for a moment before continuing his search for inaccessible doors. That was when something odd caught his attention. There, right above him at the end of hall near the library, a faint, almost indiscernible, rectangular outline was carved into the ceiling. It was unmistakably the mark of an attic door, all without the telltale string and trim border. Without having checked the lower level, Scott had the distinct, unshakable feeling that this was the door they’d need to bypass in order to succeed in their mission.
Two problems immediately came to mind, however. The first was that a ladder, or any sort of height boost, would be necessary to reach the door. Then, the second and more concerning issue was that the door had no distinguishable means to open it. No string. No handle. No knob. It was perfectly flat against the ceiling, and the minuscule gap between the door and surrounding ceiling was likely far too small to jam a crowbar in. The most likely explanation was that the door was opened via an electronic remote, possessed only by the producers and show staff. He and Kai would either have to get very clever, or they’d need some means of contacting one of their employers to request a door-opening dead drop of some kind.
For now, Scott would…