Before work, Kyle decided to hit up the gym with his buddy Frank. Frank was a 30 year old insurance salesman, and a hairy Italian stud. He was always giving Kyle a hard time about his slow love live.
"How was your weekend, dude?" Frank said, finishing up his cigarette outside the entrance.
"Oh, you know . . ." Kyle felt his face flush. It was embarassing enough when he had to tell Frank that he'd basically stayed in and watched movies. This Monday he had the additional humility of having it slowly dawn on him that he'd just spent the past 24 hours as a Leprechaun's 8-year-old stable boy. "I just stayed in."
"I thought you were gonna get in shape, get some girls. Come on, dude. Get motivated." Frank tossed his cigarette butt and they entered the gym.
"Hey, I'm here aren't I?" Kyle said. "Don't give me a hard time. Not today, all right?"
"Someone's got to keep you on your toes, man. I'm telling you, you work too hard, don't have nearly enough fun."
They entered the locker room and started to change into gym clothes. Kyle carefully hung up his work clothes, while Frank haphazardly stripped his polo and jeans, tossing them in a pile. Frank was a good deal more toned than Kyle, and he wasn't afraid to show it. "Check this out man!" He said, pointing to his tanned, hairy muscular chest. "This is what we're going for. Be a stud. Know you're a stud, and the ladies will come."
"Yeah, I get it," Kyle muttered. Compared to yesterday, I definitely feel like a stud, Kyle thought. I grew 20 years in less than 20 seconds. That's a start. He couldn't help but smile to himself. It had felt great to turn back into a boy, and even better to turn into a man again. He felt his manhood perking up at the thought of Mr. Leprechaun's magic and he made a conscious effort to think about something else. "So, uh, what's the regiment today?"
"I figure twenty minutes on the treadmill. A little weights . . ."
"Uh huh," Kyle removed his undershirt, and pulled down his pants.
"Then we'll . . ." Frank made a weird face. "What the hell are those, man?"
"What are what?"
"What are you five?" Frank pointed down at his crotch.
Kyle started down at his underwear, and turned beet red. For some reason he was wearing a pear of green and white tighty whities with cartoon pictures of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle plastered over his dick. "I . . . I didn't . . ." He shook his head in disbelief. He was so sure that he'd put on a pair of his normal boxer briefs this morning. Where did these even come from.
"No wonder you can't get a date man," Tony laughed.
"It's uh," Kyle yanked them down around his ankles and tossed them in his locker. "It's kind of an old pair." He put on his jock strop and gym shorts, and tried to ignore Frank's jeers. The Leprechaun was messing with him. In privacy it had almost been fun. Here in his real life it was going to get old fast.
After their workout, the two men returned to the locker room, shirts soaked in sweat. They stripped and headed for the showers. Frank felt the temperature of the high pressure stream before entering. "Not bad man. If we get you some grown ups undies, we might make a man of you yet."
"Very funny," Kyle turned on the foucet next to Frank's and got his hair wet.
"Seriously man, next weekend you're coming out with me. You won't regret it." Frank grabbed the bottle of shower gel that was between them and squirted it into his hands. He lathered up his hairy arms and chest. He sniffed pleasantly. "This new shower gel tingles. Feels good. I guess the gym upgraded."
Kyle took the bottle and was about to squirt a palmful out himself when he noticed a funny picture on the bottle. He turned it and squinted as water ran past his eyes. The green bottle bore the likeness of a funny little man with a shamrock in his hat. He read the bottle. "Irish Spring Body Wash: Kid Tested, Leprechaun Approved." He started back up as Frank continued to lather himself.
"Man this feels good," Frank grinned ear to ear.
"Frank, are you feeling okay?" Kyle's stomach twisted, this couldn't be good.
"Oh yeah," he said, his voice getting suddenly high and scratchy like a teen's. "I feel fantastic, man! Woah!" His eyes turned up in his head, his arms spread out and he convulsed as his body began to shrink. Frank's hairy muscular frame thinned out. His thick layer of dark hair receeded slowly as he turned back into a teenage boy, then slowly became a scrawny youth. "Woah!" He said again in an even more boyish voice. He continued to shrink until all that remained of Kyle's once studly friend was a smooth olive skinned boy of 8. Little Frank scratched his head. "Man, I feel funny."
Kyle panicked. He heard the Leprechaun's laughter echo throughout the empty locker room. "Not cool, man!" He shouted to the Leprechaun. The body wash had likely been intended for him. Frank had taken a bullet for him. Kyle turned off the showers and got down on his knee. He held little Frank by his wet shoulders. "You okay, Frank?"
"Yeah I guess so, mister," Frank stared up at him in confusion. "I'm all wet though."
"Uh, right," Kyle headed off towards the towels, almost slipping on the wet tiles. "We'd better get you covered up." He helped Frank dry off, then wrapped him in an oversized white towel. "Don't worry man, we'll figure this out. I know the guy that did this, he'll set this right again."
"Set what right?" Frank laughed. "Hey, when we go home we should play some Nintendo! That'd be awesome!"
Kyle sighed. "You don't remember being a grown up, huh?"
Frank smiled dopily, "Wha?"
Until he could set this right, Kyle would have to call off work and make sure little Frank stayed out of trouble. He grabbed the bottle of body wash and stuffed it in his gym bag. "Don't want anyone else stumbling across this." He turned to his little buddy. "We're going to have to get you dressed, pal."
He opened Frank's locker expecting to find his oversized adult clothes, but instead, he found a pair of boy's jeans, a red T-Shirt and a pair of little boy's ninja turtle's undies, just like the one's Kyle had found himself wearing earlier. "Well, kid," he smiled. "At least I get to make fun of you for a change."
"How come?" Little Frank dressed obliviously in his kid's clothes.
Kyle grinned down at him. It was kind of funny to see his overbearing friend suddenly reduced to a pathetic kid. "No reason. Hey, I need you to be good today. Listent to what Uncle Kyle has to say and maybe I'll take you to a baseball game this weekend."
"Cool!" Frank exclaimed.
Well at least he's agreeable, Kyle thought. But now what?