Chapter Twelve

“Fine,” Theo said. He was confident. It's not like he was on the verge of pissing his pants. He was eleven years old! Not some snot-nosed toddler. They would be through the ride in a short time, and then he would be able to get to the bathroom.

Easy as pie, Theo thought as they walked into the haunted house.

Theo went through quickly. The house itself really wasn't all that impressive. The monster's themselves looked old and crusty. Theo could only surmise this thing had been standing for years on end without any updates. Ewan, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying it a whole lot more. Theo did smirk a little when they walked past one corridor which set off some bright flashing lights - Ewan leapt into the air completely startled! Clearly a little embarrassed, the twelve-year-old shouted some expletives back at the demonic doctor mannequin that stood with a buzz saw in his hand as a show of bravado.

Meanwhile, Theo's need for the bathroom got more and more dire. Although they were going at a good pace, it had gotten to the point where he had to use some effort to stop himself from bursting. Finally, Theo could see the exit ahead in the murky darkness. With great relief, he marched over to it. Just as he was about to turn the final corner however, he was hit by a blast of compressed air as a large bat swooped down accompanied by a loud screeching wail and flashing lights. Theo was so taken off guard that he let out a startled yip.

That's when he felt it.The warmth spread across his crotch. Theo froze, realizing what had just happened. Ewan came up behind him - still laughing at his reaction to the bat. Theo spurred into action. He couldn't let Ewan see what had just happened! He dashed out into the outside air, looking around frazzled. He really had no idea what to do. He felt like all the eyes in the world were on him. With no other options, he scurried off towards a wall - standing with his front towards it to hide his shame. He looked down to see the dark spot spreading on the front of his pants. It was obvious what he’d done.

“Are you okay,” Ewan said, coming up behind him.

“Leave me alone!” Theo shouted back,his voice quivering.

“Oh come on - it wasn't that scary!” Ewan laughed as he grabbed Theo by the shoulder, spinning him around. Theo yelped, feeling completely exposed.. He watched as Ewan looked down at his pants. His jaw dropped as his eyes met Theo's. “You...oh my god!” Ewan exclaimed, as he started to laugh.

“It's not what you think!” Theo whined, his face turning the color of a sun kissed tomato.

Ewan however made no response, only continuing to laugh. He grabbed Theo's arm, beginning to pull him along like an uncooperative toddler - cackling the whole time.

They finally got back to the bench where the parents were. Charlie, having bounced back, was on his feet in front of Mom - animatedly talking at her as she listened on with an amused expression on her face. Ewan all but thrust Theo in between them, reveling in his little cousin’s humiliation.

“Theo had another accident!” Ewan sang excitedly, putting extra emphasis on the word “another.”

Mom looked shocked at first, before she let out a sigh and frowned a little - yet not without a hint of pity.

“I-I don't know what happened!” Theo stammered, his humiliation all encompassing.

“It must have been all that soda,” Mom stated disapprovingly, taking Theo by the hand. s. “You know you have an overactive bladder.”

Mom led Theo to a grotty bathroom stall behind the food stands . She told him to take off his pants and underwear and get cleaned up, and that she would be back. Theo was left alone in a stall. He did as he was told and waited. He found himself almost wishing he was still six - at least then this wouldn't be quite so humiliating. What kind of eleven year old still pissed his pants? His Mom returned twenty minutes later as she knocked on the stall door.

“I finally found something out there for you to wear.” she said, sounding kind of pleased with herself. “Hand me the stuff you ruined.”

Theo cracked open the stall door and made the hand-off. Shutting the door quickly, Theo looked at what he had been handed. It was a pair of red and white striped overalls. They were completely garish - but he knew he had no other options. He quickly put them on.

“What are these?” Theo asked as he stepped out of the stall.

“They were selling them at some booth.” .

“They look like their for little kids…” Theo grumbled.

“They had adult sizes too.” Mom countered. Theo tried to convince himself that he didn't look ridiculous, a notion that was dashed away just as soon as he found himself in front of Ewan and Charlie once again. Ewan let out a laugh as soon as he saw Theo, and even Charlie couldn't help but smile .

“Don't you look festive.” Ewan said, trying to quell his laughter after getting a stern look from Mom. Theo pursed his lips a little. He agreed with Ewan. Theo looked like a clown sans the makeup.

“You boys were headed to the midway, correct?” Mom asked, shooing the boys off in an attempt to re-direct attention away from Theo's new wardrobe. She stopped Charlie a moment later, giving him some extra cash for games and making a point to say that it was for both of the brothers. Theo couldn't help but feel a little sidelined. Why was she giving it to Charlie? Didn't she view Theo as the more responsible brother? Or were her words earlier just lip service?

As the boys walked along the midway, Ewan started up again now that they were out from under Mom's supervision.

“You look great, by the way,” he teased. “You could run off and join the circus in those.”

“Shuddup…” Theo mutterred. He felt completely dejected. Ewan now thought he was total dweeb! He was even more distressed by the fact that he seemed to care a great deal of what Ewan thought of him. He kept trying to tell himself that it didn't matter. He was eighteen, and Ewan was just his dumb little cousin. Yet even telling himself this didn't seem to suppress the unquenchable pre-teen thirst to be cool - to have Ewan think of him as an equal.

“It's okay,” Charlie said quietly as he walked alongside Theo a little further back from Ewan. “I like the overalls. They’re…fun.” Charlie said, patting Theo on the back. Theo knew Charlie was just trying to be supportive, yet his words and actions only served to remind Theo of how Charlie had treated him yesterday -a reminder that only made Theo feel all the more uncomfortable.

“Just leave me alone,” Theo growled, shirking off Charlie's hand.

“You don't have to be grumpy,” Charlie said, looking a little put off by his brother's demeanor. “You're supposed to be the more mature one, you know.”

Theodore spun around to Charlie with a furious look upon his face. All of the stress, frustration, and resentment that had plagued Theo's life even long before his sudden roller-coaster ride into regression suddenly bubbled up- filling every fiber of his being. It wasn’t rational, but Theo was suddenly convinced that somehow all of this was Charlie's fault.

Theodore's entire world had been upended by Charlie’s birth. Suddenly, his Mom had shifted her focus over to the new baby - which left little for Theo. Not to mention everything Theo had to give up. Charlie was the whole reason his Mom had shipped him off to Holyoke. The worst thing of all was when Charlie was born… Theo stopped himself, not even wanting to manifest the last thought.

“I'm plenty mature, I'm older than you and Ewan!” Theo spat. “Everything is messed up, and maybe if everyone just left me alone for five fucking minutes and stopped dunking on me every chance they got I could fix this!”

Charlie narrowed his eyes. A hint of recognition seemed to spread across his face, before a moment later it disappeared. “What are you talking about?” He asked “Ewan is a year older than you…”

Theo growled. He took a step towards Charlie, fully ready to grab him and throw him to the ground. This was all his fault!. He stopped as Ewan got between the two of them however, pushing them apart with his arms.

“Now now boys, let's not be fighting.” He lectured in a cloying tone. “Or I'll most likely get blamed.” Ewan said as he shifted into a more serious tone.

“I just said I like the overalls!” Charlie protested gruffly. He crossed his arms, not in any way able to comprehend why that had seemed to set Theo off.

“Shut up!” Theo spat back in response.

“Relax, Teddy.” Ewan said, before looking at him with a devilish smirk. “Your overalls are fine. They’re plenty roomy for your diaper!”

“Shut. up.” Theo hissed, but Ewan wouldn’t let it go.

“That’s why you were gone so long, right?” he pursued. “Your Mommy was putting you in a diaper.”

“What?…I mean…No! I mean…I'm not a baby!” Theo whined, completely scandalized by the implication. “You know I'm getting real sick of your crap.”

Ewan raised an eyebrow as he puffed out his chest a little. “You've been acting like one all day.” He remarked smugly. “If you don't want people to think you're a baby, then just grow up a little.” He turned his back and began walking off, confident that he had reasserted himself as the de facto alpha among the boys.

“I don't need to grow up,” Theo shouted after him. He roared as he launched himself forward, tackling Ewan to the ground from behind. Despite Ewan being a full year older, Theo was still able to hold his own as the boys rolled around on the ground in a scuffle. Charlie looked on, completely shocked, before he started pleading with the two of them to stop - noticing that people were starting to stare.

Theo had managed to pin Ewan onto the ground, sitting on top of him. He raised his fist, fully ready to punch Ewan in his face to pay him back for the barrage of insults and teasing that he’d had to endure because of him. Just then, Theo felt a hand grab him at the back strap of his overalls, hoisting him up into the air and back on to his feet. it was Uncle Rob, who now had both him and Ewan in either hand, held apart from one another.

“What do you think you two are doing?” he barked. Both boys froze in fright.. It was Ewan who spoke first.

“Theo started it, I was just defending myself!” He insisted with a scowl. Theo's eyes widened, completely flabbergasted by the outright lie. Ewan had started the whole thing calling him a baby!

“If you could learn to keep your big mouth shut, then I wouldn't have to shut it for you!” Theo yelled back.

“I didn't say anything, idiot.” Ewan protested.

“Yes you did!” Theo shouted back. Both boys tried to lunge at each other again, but both were stopped as Uncle Rob, still holding onto them, yanked them apart once again.

“Stop it,” Uncle Rob ordered forcefully.. “We are in public,” he growled. Both boys immediately felt the tension drain out of their bodies in submission.. “Now, if you guys think you can be bigger men than we can let this pass,” Uncle Rob said, letting go of the two. “However if you would rather carry on like squabbling toddlers, then I'm sure we can settle things more thoroughly back at the house. That is if you boys think it's necessary to completely ruin everybody else's day?”

“No sir…” Ewan squawked obediently, a hint of shame in his voice.

“Whatever,” Theo mumbled.

“Theodore,” Uncle Rob said in a stern tone.

“I-I mean no sir,” Theo squeaked.

“Good,” Uncle Rob said, straightening up a little. “Now, I saw a shooting gallery down there. What do you guys say to watching me set the high score?”

“Yeah right!” Ewan giggled, instantly in a good mood again. “I'm way better than you old man.”
“I'll beat both of you!” Charlie cheered.

“All right, looks like we got a contest,” Uncle Rob laughed. “Theo, you coming?”

Theo nodded as he followed along, although he didn't participate in any more of the amusements for the rest of the day - acutely aware of how much of a kid he had been acting since coming to the fair. The sooner they got back to the house the better. Maybe he could finally try and get some answers.

***

The whole way home, Theo was sure the other boys were talking about him. He sat in the middle row with Jessica and Luke again, the sound of their hushed whispers and giggles pricking at his ears like tiny needles. He shot them a few aggrieved pouty scowls from between the gaps in the seats, but that only seemed to amuse his fellow preteens more, inevitably prompting Ewan to mumble yet another secret in joke into Charlie’s ear from behind a confidential hand and eliciting another cascade of cacophonous cloying laughter from the boy. Theo clenched his fists in frustration, feeling another pang of anger. What were they saying about him?

Back home, the two of them made straight for Ewan’s bedroom, brushing past Theodore as if he wasn’t even there. That only made him even angrier. Just a few hours ago, he’d been entirely enmeshed into their preadolescent clique, happily chatting away about video games and roller coaster rides. Now, it seemed he’d once again been deemed an outcast, serving only as the butt of their jokes. Theo was still furious about what had happened at the amusement park, but more than anything else he felt an unquenchable sense of seething envy; a horrible suspicion that Charlie had been deemed cool and mature enough to hang out with their almost-adolescent big cousin while he was still languishing in lame boring babyhood.

“Where are you going?” He whined at Charlie as the younger boy stomped up the stairs, narrowing his pale blond-brown eyebrows into a pleading puppy dog expression.

Charlie looked a little embarrassed, sympathetic even, but a telling glance from Ewan was all it took for him to grow sterile and standoffish again. “To play Pokemon.” he dismissed.

“Aren’t you gonna ask if I wanna play?” Theo asked. It wasn’t like he actually wanted to play Pokemon with the two of them, but the fact that no such invitation had been extended rubbed him the wrong way. Charlie bit his lip awkwardly, clearly unsure what to say.

Ewan snorted. “No.” he said bluntly, cutting the younger boy off. The corners of his lips grew into a cruel smirk as he flicked the supporting strap of Theo’s striped overalls, pretending to wrinkle up his nose in disgust. “Urgh, do you smell that Charlie?” he announced in an over-dramatic, disingenuous voice.

“What?” Theo demanded.

“I think Teddy pooped his diaper.” Ewan cackled. It was about the most immature insult imaginable, but it elicited another excruciating round of giggles from Charlie all the same - his snickers like nails on a chalkboard. “No wonder he’s cranky.”

Theo would have tackled Ewan to the ground again right there and then, but before he got the chance he darted away up the stairs behind Charlie - leaving Theo seething speechless in the hall landing.

“I don’t…I DO NOT WEAR-!” He stammered and shouted after them as they escaped, completely at a loss for words - but they were already gone.

Completely overcome with emotion again, Theodore instead stomped up the stairs himself, marching to his own temporary bedroom and stripping off the ridiculous overalls. Flinging them aside with all the force he could muster, he dug out some plain gray sweatpants from his suitcase, quickly pulling them up to his waist. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. He knew he was being ridiculous. They were what? Twelve and ten? He was eighteen! Why was he letting their stupid jibes get to him? He had much bigger things to be worrying about.

Theo was just managing to calm down, his cheeks only a little red still, when he heard a rapping on the door.

“Come in.” he said, cringing at the sound of his high-pitched morose little voice.

Uncle Robb opened the door, showing the boy a wide enthusiastic smile. “Hey, buddy.” he encouraged. He cocked his head as he got a look at the expression on the boy’s face, a little concerned. “You alright?”

“I’m fine.” Theodore insisted, though he knew he didn’t sound fine. He managed a smile all the same, remembering what his uncle had proposed in the music shop. “Did you need urgh…help in the computer lab?” he asked, trying to sound less excited by the prospect than he actually was.

“Sure do.” Uncle Rob confirmed. “Come on.” Theodore jumped to his feet, following his uncle out of the bedroom. They went down the stairs, through a locked door beside the laundry room, and down yet another set of stairs towards the basement. “It’ll just have to be for a little while tonight.” Uncle Rob explained as they walked “I’ve got tons of work to do.”

“I could help!” Theodore piped up at once. If there was going to be an answer to his predicament, the boy was reasonably certain that it would be found in the computer lab. He needed to negotiate as much time as possible.

Uncle Rob smirked at his enthusiasm. “It’s okay,” he told him. “I don’t want to take up too much of your time. I’m sure you’d much rather be playing with your cousins.”

“I guess…but I don’t mind.” Theodore said weakly, remembering that this was technically supposed to be a punishment. As Uncle Rob flicked on the lights however, Theodore was struggling to see how any eleven year old could possibly think of it as such. The computer lab looked straight out of Iron Man! Decked out with sheet glass whiteboards, pristine white floors, and dominated by a gargantuan silver clad computer which took up an entire wall whirring away noisily at the back, the place was a dorky kids’ paradise.

“Wow…” Theodore exclaimed, wandering towards the nearest monitor like a moth drawn to light. Uncle Rob put a calming hand on his chest, stopping him in his tracks.

“Pretty neat, huh?” he asked.

“Uh-huh.” Theodore nodded. He was jittering all over, feeling like a little kid hopped up on 10 cups of coffee. This place was so high tech! If it wasn’t the direct cause, surely he could make some progress towards solving his predicament here. All he needed to do was get a look at the monitor, and he’d be well on his way to getting back to normal.

“I know it’s exciting but don’t touch anything without asking, okay?” Uncle Rob insisted. “This stuff is valuable. I don’t let just anyone wander around in here.”

Theodore’s curiosity was piqued. “What about Ewan?” he asked.

Uncle Rob laughed heartily. “Are you kidding?” He pointed at the huge silver clad unit humming noisily at the back of the room. “That is one of the world’s premier technological servers. If I gave Ewan free run of this place, within three days it would be going to waste hosting the world’s premier minecraft sever.”

Theodore tittered and puffed with pride, feeling an odd sense of superiority. “You can trust me.” he reassured.

“Sure, buddy.” Uncle Rob agreed. “But do as I say, okay?” He went over to the monitor, starting to boot up some program. The computer began to hum even more intensely. “You’ve got Jessica’s talent for music. I guess it only makes sense you’d have a knack for computers too. And if you don’t wanna go to Holyoak, well…” he trailed off, his gaze falling intensely on whatever program he was running. He typed a few hesitant figures into the keyboard, before pointing over towards a large empty space in the opposite corner behind a glass screen. “Go stand in the center of the grid, bud.” he instructed, not taking his eyes off the screen.

Theodore did as he was told. “Here?” he asked.

“That’s right.” Uncle Rob confirmed, though he still hadn’t taken his eyes off the screen. He typed in a few more rapid sentences before he finally turned around, showing an excited grin. “Now this is really something special,” he began. “You know Jessica and I were working on our new child safety package?” he asked.

“Uh-huh.” Theodore nodded, starting to feel a little anxious.

“Well, just between you and me, we stumbled on somewhat of a game changer.”

“What is it?”

Without any further ceremony, Uncle Rob pressed down a key on his computer keyboard. The hum of the computer rose to an almighty crescendo, almost seeming to make the whole house shake for a moment, before Theo saw it. If he hadn’t already experienced much much more momentous changes over the last three nights, he wouldn’t have believed his eyes. It was like magic! He watched in wonder as the threads of his sweatpants seemed to expand, the waistband extending upwards and upwards and the color of the drab gray material subtly brightening bit by bit. In a matter of seconds, Theodore found himself wearing the exact same pair of red and white striped overalls he’d shucked off mere minutes earlier, his sweatpants having dissolved into thin air.

Theo locked gazes with his uncle, eyes as wide as two surprised saucers. “How?”

“Nanobots.” Uncle Rob explained with a smirk. “Think of them like teeny tiny super intelligent workers. They’re smart enough to take all the individual fibers that made up your sweatpants and rearrange them into something new. Like those overalls.”

“That’s…amazing.” Theodore exhaled, looking completely starstruck. Beneath the surface, his mind was racing however. Surely this was the technology that had transformed him, rearranging his own body in the exact same way! Of course, Theodore knew a body was much more complex than a pair of sweatpants, but the analogy was too close to be a coincidence. He had to get on that computer - tonight.

“It’s pretty limited right now. But the use cases are endless.” Uncle Rob continued to speculate. “Just the simpler functions could disrupt entire industries. And of course, the simpler the change the less energy it takes.” He pressed a few more buttons on his keyboard, almost instantaneously switching out the color of the stripes on Theodore’s overalls - first to blue, then to green, and finally to yellow. “Talk about fast fashion, huh?” he quipped.

Theodore stepped out from behind the glass screen, bounding up excitedly towards the monitor. “Can I try?” he asked, bouncing up and down like a hyperactive puppy.

Uncle Rob stepped aside, letting Theo see a surprisingly polished user interface. In one corner, Theo could see his own face, various categories of statistics about himself listed taking up the rest of the screen. “Feel free to explore.” Rob allowed permissively. “It’s pretty amazing. Just don’t change anything, okay?”

“I won’t…” Theo promised.

“Great.” Uncle Rob nodded. “I’m just gonna run upstairs and get a spare cable. Be right back.”

“Mmm-hmmm…” Theo hummed, already pre-occupied clicking through his profile.

The very first thing he clicked on was the ‘Age’ subheading. Instead of a number however, the only thing that was displayed were the letters ‘N/A’ written in bright red font. Beside it were three dots, which Theodore clicked to expand - a dialogue box popping up in response:

“Diagnostics request pending, user Charlie Parks...calculating."

Theo was curious. What did Charlie have to do with anything? Narrowing his eyebrows in suspicion, Theo clicked out of his own profile and went to Charlie’s. Unlike him however, nothing seemed to be amiss - Charlie’s age of 10 duly noted in his profile. He clicked back to his own profile, hesitantly clicking on the age entry. There was a space he could click to edit the entry. He hovered his mouse hesitantly over the space. Surely it wasn’t that easy, was it? It might be his only chance. But there was still so much he didn’t know. If something went wrong, he might put himself in an even worse position.

Do as Uncle Rob says
Change the age entry