"...the Ben & Jerry's on the corner. They might've moved on already, but if we're lucky they'll still be there pigging out."
"Right!" Oliver chirped and pointed at his LEGO city scene. "I thought so too. That's why, um, I put the policeman outside the ice cream shop, 'cause I knew that's where Jackson and Connor would go first and that's where they'd get caught."
"...good thinking." Melissa managed a smile, at once charmed and dismayed by how immature her little brother was acting.
"Okay, so let's go!" Oliver started to charge out of the room but was stopped by Melissa's big hands on his little shoulders.
"Whoa, hold on there." She slipped unconsciously into the indulgent tone she used for her boys. "Don't you think we should get you some clothes first?"
"Oh." A tinge came to Oliver's cheeks as he looked down at himself, looking almost as though he'd forgotten that his outfit consisted entirely of tiny Pokemon undies. "Right. Um. There's a kid who lives in the house two doors down who has some cool clothes. I think he even has Adventure Time stuff."
"Sounds like a plan." Melissa squeezed Oliver's shoulders as a reward for his cleverness, brushing aside thoughts on how her brother was seemingly coveting his neighbor's cool little-boy clothing. Moving automatically, she took him by the hand and led him quickly out of his house. Seemingly still reluctant to go outside as he was, Melissa had to tug the boy along a little when he hesitated on his front step, the woman looking down at the boy with sympathy when he crowded close to her as though her big body could block his little one from sight. Though the few passers-by did little more than smile or look disapprovingly at Oliver - one young girl playing in her yard laughed openly and ran off to get her sister so she could laugh too - the boy's cheeks burned just the same, moving Melissa to give her little brother a reassuring tousle of his soft hair as they hustled across his neighbors' lawns (avoiding the sidewalk so as to spare his tender little feet).
"Let me do the talking, okay?" Melissa instructed the boy when they reached their destination. He nodded as she knocked on the door, at any rate too distracted by his sullen scan of the neighborhood to identify anyone else who might be seeing him in just his undies. So distracted was he by this task that he didn't consider that that person answering the door would have a front-row seat - and so when it swung open he let out a little yelp and hid behind his big sister, peering around her at the woman who gave the pair a puzzled smile.
"Yes?"
"Hi there," Melissa started, mustering what remained of her composure in order to sound natural. "I'm so sorry to bother you, but this is, uh...Cody. He's a friend of my boys and he'd been playing with them over at my brother's house...
She reached back and put a hand on Oliver's back to identify him as Cody. When the woman turned her smile to him he retreated further behind his sister's legs.
"...and I'm afraid he just made an awful mess of his clothes by falling into a, uh, mud puddle." Melissa was in her element now, a mother appealing to another for help with dealing with the silliness of a little boy. "My brother said that there's a boy around his age - I mean, Cody's age - that lives here. Would you be kind enough to lend us some clothes? I can't send send little Cody here back to his mom in just his undies."
The laugh the women shared only made his blush deeper, made him grip his sister's shirt tighter. It's not my fault, he fumed. It's not like I want to be running around in my undies. I'm not a baby.
"Of course," the woman said. "Won't you come in? I think Justin is playing in the living room if Cody wants to hang out with him while we find the little guy some clothes."
"Oh...of course." Melissa leaned down to whisper in Oliver's ear when they were inside, speaking quickly so the woman wouldn't realize she was lagging behind. "I know you're grown-up, and I know that you know you're a grown-up...but you just have to pretend to be a kid for a little bit, okay? I'll be right back."
Melissa kissed him on the forehead and strode after the woman before he could peep a word in response, leaving him alone in the foyer. Intimidated by the gigantic proportions of the unfamiliar room, Oliver squirmed uncomfortably until he caught from the next room the faint sounds of a little boy engaged in play. Curious, he tip-toed over to the doorway, curling his tiny fingers around the wooden frame and peering inside. His eyes lit up when he took in the sight of a child his age sitting cross-legged on the floor, acting out an elaborate fight scene (for which he provided breathless high-pitched narration and dialogue) with an action figure in each little hand. Though he was feeling awfully shy, Oliver couldn't help but be envious of how much fun the boy was having, and Melissa had asked him to pretend for a little bit...and so he quietly stepped into the doorway, standing there blushing silently until Justin took notice of him. He gave Oliver a funny look.
"Hi," Oliver finally managed. Justin was still looking the boy over, appraising him. Oliver squirmed.
"How come you're naked?" Justin asked. Oliver's cheeks burned.
"I'm not," Oliver insisted, gesturing at his briefs as though it were obvious. "I got my undies on, see?"
"That's basically naked," Justin smirked. "An' Pokemon's for babies anyway. I bet you still wet the bed at night."
"I do NOT!" Oliver roared, stamping his little foot to punctuate his point.
"Do too," Justin laughed. "I bet you still wear Pull-Ups an' that your mommy still wipes your butt."
Justin cackled as Oliver trembled with rage. He was astonished by just how angry he was, how the fire that swelled within him called for retribution against the boy who had called him a little pants-wetting baby. His little fists clenched as he gritted his baby teeth, the entirety of his small body tensed for combat as what remained of his adult consciousness shouted at him to stand down.