"So let me get this straight," Ashton said, "Originally you were a skinny nerd tormented by Dustin who was a big jock?"
"In a nut shell yeah," Ty said, "I always had blue eyes and blond hair though, didn't use to wear it short and spiked like this though."
"I can see why you wanted to change things. Will you ever change Dustin back?"
"If he seems to have learned what it's like to be small, then yeah," Ty said, "Actually here," he added, snapping his fingers. In that instant he restored Ashton's memories of the original version of reality.
Ashton seemed shocked for a moment, but given that Ty had already explained much to him, he didn't really seem too surprised. They decided to get Dustin first, so Ty's house was where they were heading first. On the way there they just talked about things, ranging from the nerdy subjects like superheroes and video games, to the kind that seemed to suit their new jock-like appearance, which was girls and sports. It was almost like things hadn't changed.
Then as they came to Ty's block they heard sneering voices and high voice trying vainly to defend himself. Ty ran around the corner and saw a bunch of kids his age, ones who didn't go to his school, surrounding Dustin and taunting him.
"Hey baby-cock, what're you out here for? Shouldn't you be playing Minecraft or some shit like the rest of the little kids?" one of the boys said, pushing Dustin roughly.
"Naw guys, he's too small, even those little kids could beat the shit out of him. He should be watching Spongebob or Dora the Explorer," another boy said, pushing Dustin even more.
"Fuck off," Dustin spat.
The other kids just laughed, "Heh, you trying to act like a big kid there shrimpy?" the first kid said again, apparently a ringleader of some kind. "You're so small I bet you have to look up to tie your shoes."
"Yeah, he's so small he could stand in a garden as a gnome."
"I'm sixteen you jackasses!" Dustin yelled and tried to punch one of them, only to be easily pushed away. This time he fell to the ground.
"Hey! Leave my brother alone you jerks," Ty said, running towards them. It all of a sudden didn't matter that Dustin had done this exact same thing to him for four years, Ty couldn't just watch it happen. "If you want to mess with my brother, you go through me first."
The kids seemed to lose all joviality in a single glance. One glance at Ty's broad shoulders and thick arms was enough. "Hey dude, we were just messin' with him," the ringleader said.
"Really? That's not what I saw you do," Ty said, advancing on them menacingly. He wasn't actually going to hit them, or at least he hoped it didn't go that far. He was taller and more muscular than any of them, so he was sure this would be enough.
"Hey hey, take it easy man, we were just having some fun with the little guy," the boy said again, backing away.
Ty was quicker though, his arm shot out and grabbed the boy the front of his shirt and he easily lifted him off the ground. "No no, stop trying to worm out of it."
"But- I- He's just so small, and he's sixteen! It's too funny to ignore."
"Maybe you should think about other people's feelings. Maybe he's sensitive about his height. And maybe it hurts to be shoved around by a bunch of idiots just because they can," Ty spat, "Now apologize to him!"
"S-sorry," the boy in Ty's hand said.
"Louder! So Dustin can hear!"
"Sorry!" the boy shouted.
Satisfied, Ty dropped the boy on the ground, "Good, now piss off," Ty hissed, at which point the boys ran across the road and out of sight as fast as they could.
"That was amazing," Ashton said, "What do you think Dustin? Ever think you should've done that for Ty when he was the small one?"
"Yeah, about that," Dustin muttered in his boyish voice, still sitting on the ground, "I know this probably doesn't mean much after how I treated you for all those years... but I'm sorry. I really didn't think how it felt to be so small, I just liked being able to be the best. Not like mom or dad really cared."
"What're you talking about!? You're their favourite little angel," Ty said, surprised to hear this coming from Dustin.
"More like their little trophy," Dustin replied, "I always had to be perfect. If I wasn't, then they'd do everything they could to make sure that I was. My accomplishments were more like theirs. The only way I actually felt like I was good at something was by, well, picking on you."
"Why didn't you try being friendly with me instead?" Ty asked.
"Because mom and dad didn't like that. You weren't the kind of kid they wanted when they entered the adoption program, but they were too proud to get rid of you, so they, well, you know what they did. If I tried being friendly with you, then they'd get freaked out or disappointed, and I didn't want to go that route either."
Ty was quiet for a long time after this. He couldn't believe Dustin was as much a victim as himself. He'd never really thought of it that way, but there was really no way Ty could've imagined it to be this way. "Well me and Ashton here are going to go look for something to do, might go to the beach or something, wanna come along?"
"You want me to comes with you? With those muscles and after the way I've treated you the last four years I'm surprised you haven't beaten me up yet," Dustin replied with surprise.
"Come on dude, you just got beaten up and it wasn't fun for anyone. Now seriously, do you want to come?"
"Yeah," Dustin said cheerfully as Ty helped him up, "Any chance you could get me looking like a sixteen year old again?"
"What? You don't trust your big brother to look after you?" Ty teased.
"I don't really want to have this situation happen again while you're not around."
"I'm just kidding," Ty replied. In the blink of an eye Dustin was restored to his old self, now with the same height and musculature as Ty and Ashton. "I threw in a bonus, I think you used to be a bit smaller than this, so I brought you up to speed."
"Thanks man," Dustin replied, "And thanks for the help."
"What're brothers for?" Ty asked, "And according to the reality changes you and I are now co-captains of the football team. How do you like that?"
"Reality changed?"
"Oh right," Ty said, bringing Dustin's memories up to speed too.
"I wonder what mom and dad are like now," Dustin muttered, "Wanna go find out?"
"We could do that while Ashton gets his brother," Ty said, "We don't want to waste time though."
"Dude, you can probably freeze time, I don't think that's something to worry about."
"Well we could..."