Brotherly Love

Chapter 6
Redemption

Back downstairs, the party continued as though Eric had never left. Mark and Steven had become the center of the attention, as the guests gravitated to these cool high schoolers and their risqu? stories of drinking and police evasion. When Eric finally came back downstairs, carrying a large box in front of him, hardly anybody noticed. He slipped over to the refreshment table and made sure that nobody was looking before producing the pink container and dumping its remaining contents into the sweet red liquid. As with Jake’s soda earlier in the day, the beverage fizzed for a few seconds before returning to normal, showing no signs whatsoever of being altered. Eric breathed a sigh of relief, and, no longer needing to be stealthy, leisurely poured out a cup of punch for everyone at the party.

Once that was completed, Eric grabbed one of the cups, strode over to the stereo and switched off the music, instantly drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Eric spoke to the annoyed masses, trying his best to conceal the glee of knowing what he had in store for them.

“Sorry to interrupt you guys.” Eric smiled warmly. “But I’d like to propose a toast. There are fresh cups of punch with...a little something extra in them sitting on the table. So, if everyone would please grab one...”

To Eric’s delight, all of the guests stopped what they were doing and headed over to the table, no doubt wanting to get a cup of the newly spiked punch. Even those who already had drinks in hand threw them out to get a cup of the mystery concoction. On his way over, Mark winked at Eric and nudged him in the ribs.

“You sly dog.” Mark grinned. “Spiking the punch at a party for a bunch of middle schoolers. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Well, y’know, it’s not just big kids that get to have fun.” Eric played along.

After a few moments, everyone had gotten a drink and was waiting impatiently for Eric to make the toast. Eric smiled and held up his cup.

“To Halloween.”

All the guests seemed to look at each other and shrug their shoulders before returning the gesture, everyone raising their cups and some echoing Eric’s sentiments. Almost simultaneously, each guest brought the cup to their lips and drank from it, several of them smacking their lips and trying to discern the flavor of alcohol they just ingested. Eric watched the scene for a second before looking into his own cup and taking a long breath.

Here goes nothing, he thought.

Eric drank deeply from the vessel, taking several swigs of the tainted punch before surfacing for air. As soon as he did so, he turned and motioned to Jake, who had been waiting anxiously at the top of the stairs. Jake padded down to the first floor, now dressed head to toe in the blue Power Ranger costume Eric had originally found for him earlier in the day. His mask undoubtedly hiding a huge grin, Jake stood next to Eric and waited with him for the show to begin.

“Hey look, it’s Bobby!” Steven cried. “No offense, little guy, but your last costume was a lot cooler.”

Everyone laughed, but Eric and Jake simply stood there stoically, knowing smirks creeping across their faces.

“But hey, I guess you can’t use the other one anymore.” Steven simpered, “Not after you-”

Steven suddenly stopped dead. He and everyone else in the party had begun to experience the sensation that Jake had endured earlier in the day. All around the room, guests became paralyzed with the feeling, unable to move as the transformation began to take place. Shrieks of terror emanated from every corner of the room as the guests began to shrink, cups being dropped all over the place as everyone clutched at their clothes in a desperate attempt to keep them on their bodies.

“Holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit...” Steven muttered, freaking out as his eye level grew lower and lower.

Jake began to giggle in barefaced delight as he watched the mass transformation of the horrified partygoers, before looking up at Eric to see if he had begun to feel the affects. Jake knew it had hit him when Eric’s eyes widened, his senses overwhelmed with this brand new sensation. When the feeling finally hit Eric, it almost came a relief. Since he was expecting it, Eric was able to observe his own regression much more calmly than his guests.

As he was not yet too far removed from puberty, Eric felt the feeling intensify much more quickly than Jake did, grimacing as he felt the indescribable sensation of his penis deflating and his testes pulling back into his body. All too aware of what Eric was experiencing, Jake stared at him with a shit-eating grin, having to crane his neck up less and less as time passed. All around Eric, those that had begun to regress before him were well into their childhood, more resembling eight and nine year olds than seventh graders. Boys unashamedly reached into their underwear to check on the status of their manhood and wailed helplessly when they found the results. Girls sobbed quietly over the loss of their breasts, which they had just learned to use to their advantage. Even Mark and Steven, who had a few years on everyone else, had begun to rapidly go through adolescence in reverse. To their credit, they seemed to think they were on some sort of bad drug trip and were not nearly as distraught as their companions.

Eric let his pants and underwear fell to his ankles, making no attempt to hold them up as he knew his shirt would drape over his shrunken body. He had begun to wonder just how young he was going to get, though; he was now only a foot taller than Jake and still shrinking fast. What’s more, most of his guests had already reached Jake’s level and showed no signs of stopping. Eric figured that he was original age would cause him to end up younger than Jake, but thinking about just how much younger made him shiver.

Meanwhile, Jake was having the time of his life, watching on in near-rapturous joy as the merciless bastards that had tortured him earlier in the evening were overcome with confusion and anguish at what was happening to them. Several had begun to grow even younger than Jake, their bodies becoming pudgy and developing other infantile qualities as they ventured dangerously close to babyhood. However, before they could become toddlers, the transformation finally slowed down and eventually stopped, turning the group of seventh graders into wailing three and four-year-olds in various states of undress.

Jake turned to Eric to see his own transformation coming to a stop. Jake couldn’t help but giggle when he saw that Eric had become a rotund little four-year-old, examining himself in an amusing combination of amazement and chagrin. Eric looked at Jake and found himself in the familiar position of only coming up to about his chest. Smiling as if to say “what the hell”, Eric dropped his t-shirt, leaving him completely stark naked. Jake tried his best, but couldn’t contain his laughter when he saw Eric’s chubby limbs, plump little belly and round baby butt. There was also the matter that Eric’s genitalia had become even punier than Jake’s own.

“Yeah, yeah.” Eric squeaked, “Laugh it up. Are we going to move onto part two, or what?”

“Hahahaha, yeah, hahaha, okay.” Jake agreed between fits of laughter.

Rolling his eyes, Eric climbed up a couple steps, astonished as how much effort it took for him to pull his tiny body up that far. Unashamed of his nudity, Eric put his hands on his hips and looked out over the crowd. He found Jay in one corner of the room, sitting on the floor and covered with his shirt. His green eyes shimmered with tears and he absently sucked his thumb while staring blankly ahead, looking to be completely in shock. The way he was reacting was shared by much of the crowd, most sans the thumb sucking. Meanwhile, apparently more concerned with escaping than maintaining his modesty, Paul stood completely naked at the front door, on his tiptoes and futilely reaching for the doorknob. His long black hair had shortened considerably and. turned several shades lighter to a fine sepia brown. Eric couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Paul’s chubby little buttcheeks jiggle as he jumped and tried to get a grip on the handle. He appeared to have been brought all the way down to three years old, whining pathetically as he waved at the knob with his stubby little fingers. In the center of the room, Megan appeared remarkably calm, consoling her distraught friends though she herself looked ready to burst into tears. She clutched her blouse tightly to her body as though there were no worse fate than having someone see her in this form.

Meanwhile, Mark and Steven, who had ended up about the same age as Jake, appeared to still be under the impression that they were in the midst of some LSD-induced hallucination and were making the most of their situation. Leaving their clothes behind, the two former high school seniors wrestled playfully on the floor of the living room, screaming with glee as their tiny boyhoods bounced around freely with their movements. Mark’s transformation had left him remarkably cute, his black hair transformed from spikes into a bowl cut and his big dark eyes sparkling with laughter. Steven, on the other hand, somewhat resembled a young Richie Cunningham, complete with oversized ears and fifties style hair cut.

Eric watched over the chaos for a minute before deciding to get their attention. He cupped his hands around his mouth, took a deep breath, and...

“HEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!” Eric screamed in his piercing little boy soprano. Almost instantly, everyone was looking his direction. Even those that appeared to be deep in shock snapped out of it...though some, like Jay, kept sucking their thumbs. Mark and Steven abruptly stopped their wrestling match with Mark caught in a remarkably effective headlock. Satisfied with the crowd’s attention, Eric spoke up in as resounding a voice as he could muster.

“Now, the party can really begin.” Eric announced. “Billy, if you’d be so kind.”

Beaming behind his mask, Jake walked over to the box Eric had brought down earlier and tipped it over, causing costumes to cascade all over the floor in a flood of dyed cotton and polyester. Both brothers grinned broadly as the crowd examined the pile with no small amount of confusion.

“Everybody grab a costume.” Eric dictated. “For the rest of the night, we’re gonna enjoy Halloween the right way - the way little kids do. We’ll all turn back to normal in the morning, so we might as well savor the moment in the meantime.”

Glances were exchanged between guests as they wondered whether they should play along or if they should try their best to escape. Nobody made a move until, typically, Steven broke the ice.

“Go ahead, Mark.” Steven playfully gave him a shove. “I’m tired of looking at your itty-bitty dick anyway.”

“You’re one to speak, Tom Thumb.” Mark replied, laughing and jabbing Steven in the ribs. Together, they came up to the pile of costumes and searched for something that fit their tastes. Gradually, the rest of the guests followed their lead, some of them abandoning their clothes and some holding onto an item of clothing, not wanting to lose their modesty until absolutely necessary.

Eric beamed as he saw the teenagers-turned-kids rifle through the heap, their faces lighting up when they found an outfit that was just right. Steven donned tights and a pointy green hat and became Robin Hood. Mark grabbed a plastic katana, shrouded himself in a black jumpsuit and transformed into a ninja. Jay’s face broke into a cheek splitting grin as he dressed himself in a miniature Reds uniform. Paul grabbed a toy guitar, threw on a tiny pair of black pants and an adorable leather vest and struck a pose as a baby rock star. Megan draped herself in a light blue ball gown and elbow gloves, completing her Cinderella masquerade by placing a plastic tiara over her luminous blond hair. The rest of the boys became firemen, policemen, superheroes, and ghosts while the rest of the girls turned into cats, cheerleaders, fairies and witches.

Eric waited for everyone else to find a costume before he began to look for his own. After a few seconds of searching, Eric found exactly what he was looking for.

“Check this out.” Eric proudly held up a Red Ranger costume to his big brother. Jake laughed and shook his head.

“Kinda corny, don’t you think?” Jake asked, his hands on his hips.

“A little.” Eric admitted. “But I like it. ?Sides, Red Ranger is so much cooler than the Blue Ranger.”

“In your dreams, shrimp.” Jake countered. The brothers shared a laugh for a few moments, looking on fondly as the guests began to play and cavort in their new personas. The transformation had turned Paul into quite the chatterbox, as he went from kid to kid, breathlessly going on about their costume and his own getup. Meanwhile, Mark and Steven had begun playfighting as their respective characters while Megan tried to speak to Jay, who had suddenly grown very shy. He blushed and turned away from Megan as she giggled playfully and did her best to lock eyes with him every time he averted his gaze.

“It was really nice of you to let me do this.” Eric blurted out. “ It would have been easy for you to just bully them for the rest of the night.”

Jake shrugged. “Yeah, I know. But even I might have been overcome by a horde of preschoolers - this is a lot more enjoyable than getting beat up by a bunch of babies. And in any case...I know how bad it can feel to be bullied.”

Eric’s cheeked flushed red and he smiled sheepishly. He turned away from his older brother and began putting on his costume so that Jake wouldn’t see his embarrassment. After a few seconds, he was completely dressed, looking every bit the part as his sibling. Eric lifted his mask and scanned the crowd for a moment before opening his mouth and addressing the throng of children once more.

“LET’S HAVE SOME FUN!” he shouted.

“YEEEEEEEEAAAHHHH!!” came the exuberant reply.

Over the next few hours, Eric and Jake had the time of their lives. They led the kids in games of Tag, Duck Duck Goose, Hide and Seek...all the childhood staples. The lights were turned out and scary stories were told by flashlight, Mark and Steven not surprisingly relaying the best spooky tales. The pantry was raided and everyone gorged themselves on all manner of candy, snacks, and soda, pigging out the way only kids can.

To avoid any more accidents like Jake’s earlier in the evening, the door to the bathroom was kept wide open all night, and whenever someone needed to go, they simply dashed into the lavatory and unashamedly dropped their pants. It eventually degenerated into a real-life pissing contest, as the boys tried to top each other in terms of distance from the bowl, holding their little shafts at an angle and aiming their streams into the toilet from several feet away.

The unsuccessful results of that contest, combined with all sorts of food spills, smears and smudges added up to a gigantic mess that Jake and Eric knew they’d have to spend half of the next day cleaning up. But at the moment, they didn’t care. They, like everyone else there, were lost in simple childish glee, unconcerned with anything that wasn’t happening at that very moment.

After a few hours, the kids’ seemingly endless stores of energy began to run out, several guests dropping to the floor for a quick rest and ending up dozing off where they laid. Both Jake and Eric were starting to get run down as well, yawning and rubbing their eyes in an attempt to fight off sleep. Jake climbed up onto the couch to take a quick rest and helped pull Eric up after him. Jake laid his back against the cushions and closed his eyes, resolving himself to nap for just a few minutes before returning to the party. As soon as he closed his eyes, however, he felt a pressure come down gently on his shoulder. Jake looked down to see Eric’s head resting there and his little brother’s entire body leaned up against his own. Eric had already enter a state of deep sleep, exceedingly comfortable snuggling into his big brother. Jake smiled, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

------------------------------------

The light of sunrise pierced Jake’s eyes, forcing him to pry open his eyelids and leave his state of peaceful slumber. Groaning slightly, Jake rubbed his eyes and tried to piece together the events of the last night. After a few seconds of brushing the cobwebs out of his brain, it all came back to him in a flash. His eyes flying open, Jake looked down...and laughed out loud in joy to see his teenaged body returned to him. Completely naked, the fabric of his costume laid in tatters all around him as he had apparently burst through it overnight. His mask laid off to the side, the elastic strap having been broken by Jake’s growing head. He felt a familiar pressure on his shoulder and looked over to see Eric, returned to his normal age and, save for a few tatters of fabric, naked as well, still leaning against Jake and sound asleep.

With a good-natured grin, Jake gently pulled himself off of the couch, carefully laying Eric against the cushion as he did so so as to not disturb his snoozing. Jake looked around the room to see that, while some of the guests had already grabbed their clothes and left, several still laid naked on the floor, the remnants of their costumes in tatters all around them. Stepping around their bodies, Jake made his way to the stairs, headed up to his room, and quickly dressed himself in some normal clothing, utterly thankful to finally have the opportunity to do so. Jake quietly made his way back down stairs and found Eric’s clothing, not moved from the spot where he had shrunk out of them last night.

Jake grabbed the articles and tossed them at Eric, which fell in a heap in his lap. Eric snorted and finally woke up to find his clothes in a pile and Jake - eighteen-year-old Jake - standing over him.

“Mornin’, sunshine.” Jake grinned.

Eric smiled with relief seeing that, upon a quick examination, both he and Jake had returned to normal. As fun as last night was, the terrifying thought of him being stuck as a preschooler had come up more than once.

“We’ve gotta get these guys out of here.” Jake whispered. Eric nodded, pushed himself to his feet, and quickly got dressed. Once fully clothed, he and Jake set about the task of gently awakening the guests. More often than not, the reaction of the awakened was to look around wild-eyed to see if they were still too young to enroll in Kindergarten. Upon seeing that they were back to normal and naked, they sheepishly asked where there clothing was, which Jake and Eric were more than happy to find for them. Upon getting dressed, they thanked Jake and Eric profusely and headed out the door, wondering not only what exactly happened last night but also what excuse they would give their parents for staying out until sunrise.

Eric came across Paul and Jay laying side by side - Jay still sucking his thumb, to Eric’s great amusement - and got them on their way, both of them complimenting Eric on an amazing party before scurrying out the door. On the other side of the room, Jake was in a similar situation with Mark and Steven. Eric snickered when he heard Mark ask Jake, while Jake rushed them out of the house, where his little brother had scored the acid. The room was emptied one by one until the only guest that remained was Megan, still asleep and lying face down in the middle of the room. When Eric came upon her, he stared for just a second before turning away in embarrassment and simply tapping her on the shoulder. She stirred, looked around, and immediately covered herself with her arms while yelping in surprise.

“A-hem!” Eric cleared his throat, still looking away. Megan looked up to see him pointing his thumb in the direction of her clothing. Blushing furiously, Megan snatched up her threads and dressed herself in record time. Once she straightened herself out, she stepped in front of Eric, her cheeks still flush with color.

“I’m still not sure exactly what happened last night,” Megan began, smiling sweetly. “But I know I had a really good time. Thanks, Eric.”

Megan leaned in to give Eric a kiss on the cheek, only to have Eric turn away, his expression blank. Megan pulled back and raised her eyebrows, obviously not used to being in this position. After a second, she shrugged as if to say “your loss”, turned on her heel, and walked out the door.

“Smooth, bro.” Jake chided his little brother.

“Ah, she’s not really my type anyway.” Eric waved his hand dismissively. “C’mon, let’s get this place cleaned up before mom and dad get home.”

“Good idea.” Jake agreed, realizing for the first time just how messy the room was.

“I’ll grab a sponge and some soapy water.” Eric volunteered, heading off to the kitchen.

“Eric.” Jake piped up.

“Yeah?” Eric stopped and looked back to see Jake gazing at him and smiling graciously.

“Once we’re done, you wanna go see a movie or something?” he asked.

Eric’s expression remained blank for a second before an ecstatic smile came over his face.

“Yeah!”

 

---