The Change of the Seasons: The Long Sweat

Chapter 9
Messy Boys Make Dirty Tubs

Chapter Description: James makes a mess out of himself by accident, Jonathan makes a mess out of himself on purpose.

[size=2]Pig Out had been James’ favorite restaurant since as far as he could remember, probably ever since he first developed teeth. In truth, it was less of a restaurant and more of an all-you-can-eat BBQ joint operated out of a massive tractor trailer; or at least it looked massive to James from the backseat of the minivan.

The trip had been a somewhat pleasant one, once he ignored Jonathan’s constant stream of taunting about taking the front seat over him. What really bothered the man turned boy was watching his mother drive. Everything she did, from shifting to turning felt intimately familiar with him and yet reproducing it in reality felt like an impossible task to him. A lot of things felt like this to James now. His memories of college, high school, middle school, and even elementary school remained, yet all the education he had received during his secondary education had been completely siphoned from his mind. It was like some natural consequence for having his brain physically contort and wire itself back into prepubescence. Strangely however, his college education was still mostly intact, at least for the moment. This left him feeling like his mind was crippled. Knowing specific information a preteen boy shouldn’t know but being wholly unable to explain how he knew them. Maybe he’d be more accepting of all of this if he just stupid like his brother was. After all Jonathan hadn’t gotten any smarter since the transformation and he still acted like a brat as his taunting proved.

Pig Out was located on a large open lot, so parking was never a problem despite its popularity with the locals. Unbuckling his seatbelt and jumping out of the car, he eagerly led his family to the front counter where his mom paid for their dinner.

“Come on! I’m starving!” James said to his family

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself kid,” the teenager running the counter said, “You still need your plate.”

He handed James a small child size plate which had the image of an overweight piglet on it instead of the obese mascot. As he took the plate and gave a curt thank you in response, he realized that he might actually know the guy. Digging through his memories, he recalled that the acne ridden freshman had been intimidated by James and his upperclassmen friends for trying to sit with them on the first day of school. James thought he had said something mean to him back then, but couldn’t remember what. He was thankful that the teen didn’t recognize him now.

In fact, he wasn’t sure that many people would recognize him at all. Sure, his extended family would recognize him as the chubby kid from a decade ago but who else would? He honestly doubted that most of his other neighbors would, it wasn’t like that his family was particularly close to any other family in the neighborhood except the Longviews. Maybe Seth was right after all. It wasn’t like James, the alcoholic college student, had been well known in New Springs; who would really connect him to James, the rising 5th grader?

James’ contemplation was disturbed by Jonathan pushing past him with a large plate hiding his head. James guessed that the opposite was true in his brother’s case. Jonathan’s gallant attempt to reach the semi-truck was met with failure as their mother spoke up.

“Clarissa!” his mother shouted

Mrs. Rainer jumped up from the table she was sitting at, “Jennifer, it’s so good to see you!”

The two women greeted each other with a warm hug, “Oh my god Jen! I still can’t believe it. You look so young!”

His mom nodded humbly, “I know, it’s our little family miracle. I guess I’m a lot closer to your age now, it’s a lot to get used to.”

“Well I guess I should get reintroduced to your family, is that who I think it is trying to sneak off?”

“Yes, that’s my little Jonny fully grown,” she said while giving Jonathan a glare that sent him back to her side, “I think he has something to say to you, right Jonathan?”

His brother’s face was completely red from embarrassment, “Mrs. Rainer I’m sorry for everything. I really shouldn’t have abandoned you guys, I just was really panicked.”

“That’s understandable of course; I’m more concerned with the whole lying thing you did. Connor filled me in when I found him” she said.

“Oh…..” Jonathan lingered.

“Ah don’t worry about it hon. Boys will be boys and all that jazz, how does it feel to be a grown up?” she asked.

His brother chuckled a bit and ran his hand through his brown hair, “It’s weird. I’m taller than you and my mom now and I don’t feel as rowdy as I was. I guess I can’t really hang out with Connor anymore right?”

“I’m sorry, it would be very odd as you can imagine, maybe as a babysitter after you’ve matured into your body a bit.”

Their mom spook up, “Yeah he could use that experience at some point. Did James introduce himself to you when he was an adult?”

“No, he didn’t unfortunately,” Mrs. Rainer looked down with a smile on him, “I guess there’s always a second chance right sweetie?”

“It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Rainer. I’m sorry about driving away last time; I was late to a job training session, which I guess I don’t have anymore.”

His mom seemed to find some humor in that, “Speaking of which Clarissa, my boy here could use some new friends his age now. I think Cody and Connor would be a perfect fit for him.”

Mrs. Rainer seemed to agree, “Oh yes that would be wonderful! My little guys are always so shy but I think they’ll take a liking to Jonny’s brother. Why don’t you guys sit with us at our table after you get your food? We got plenty of room since my career minded husband has bailed on us once again”

James’ mom seemed perplexed at that, “I’ve barely met your husband Clarissa, you really need to him to buckle down and settle in his marriage with you already.”

“It’s not as simple as you think Jen. Christopher is the best man I’ve ever known; it’s just that he’s a slave to his career.” she said with a bit of gloom in her voice.

“We can talk about this later I suppose,” His mom said as she ushered both him and Jonathan towards the semi-trick, “We’ll join you in a few.”

As he approached the food, the smell of Pig Out’s pulled pork made little James’ tummy rumble with hunger. Despite the child size plate given to him; he managed to fill it with three sandwiches and a buttload of French fries before covering both with a lot of BBQ sauce kept in a large open container before following his mom towards the Rainer family’s table. James found himself seated across to Cody and Connor with Jonathan next to him. Their conversation was awkward at first, especially in regard to Jonathan’s new age, but eventually they found a common topic for discussion in James’ new Star Wars shirt. Jonathan chimed in and said that James had been the one that first showed the Clone Wars cartoon to him years ago. This seemed to excite both boys, and they rambled between mouthfuls of food about all their favorite episodes. When James admitted that he hadn’t seen the new Rebels show they seemed completely shocked.

“It’s so cool! You have to watch it!” Cody shouted.

“Mom! Can James come over sometime and watch Rebels with us?” Connor asked.

“Sure maybe in a couple days.” she responded.

This sent Cody and Connor into an uproar of glee that made James smile too. He wanted an excuse to watch the show anyway.

James soon excused himself from the table for a second helping of food. He guessed his appetite didn’t care how little he was now. He navigated his way through the line until he was once again in front of the BBQ sauce. Out of all times, this was when the goddess from his former life appeared once more before him. Donned in a blue summer dress and with her golden hair tied neatly in a ponytail, she was every bit beautiful as he remembered her.

What was she doing here?, he grimaced, she only said that she had cousins that lived…

Oblivious to the world around him, James was unaware of his proximity to the container of BBQ sauce as Rachel was to the preteen boy in front of her in line. As their faces met, James instinctively backed right into the container, causing the container to spill all over him. In an instant, James was drowned in the lukewarm stickiness of Pig Out’s supposedly world famous BBQ sauce. James was horrified. He had just completely embarrassed himself in the worst possible moment. He needed to get out of here, half-blinded by BBQ sauce and the tears pouring out of his eyes, he ran back to his mom as fast as his short chubby legs could take him.

“Mommy!” he cried as he reached their table.

“Oh my goodness sweetie! We need to get that off you!” she shouted as she grabbed the roll of paper towels on the table.

The sauce was everywhere; it flowed down from his messy hair and stained his shirt and shorts. Mrs. Rainer had grabbed a second roll from somewhere and started wiping the sauce off as well.

James was completely and utterly humiliated. Out of nowhere his old life had just appeared and destroyed his new life. He was crying harder than he had ever remembered. As much as the two mothers tried to hide him from view, he just knew that every single person at Pig-Out was watching him. The teenager he had once bullied, the newly made friends he had been looking forward to hanging out with, and the young woman he had done naughty things with in that dark hallway.

It was all too much for little James and he found himself begging his mommy to take him home, which she did once she got out most of the BBQ sauce. James lost track of where he was and what was being said but he found himself being spirited away into their car with his mommy and big brother with him.

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Jonathan rode shotgun on the way back home just as he did on the way to Pig Out. It had been a surreal evening for him. His big brother was crying his eyes out in the back seat like a little kid. Hell, James was a little kid now. He didn’t exactly know what needed to be said to calm him down. He didn’t cry when he was ten, why would James of all people cry? He didn’t know if he should say something to his brother. Part of him felt like he should but at the same time he feared he would only make things worse. He decided to keep his mouth shut for the duration of the car ride back.

Stepping out of the minivan he heard his mom say, “James, go to the bathroom and get undressed. You need to take a bath.”

James seemed to be calm again; he was now simply sniffling where before he had been wailing. Following behind his brother, Jonathan actually thought James looked kind of adorable the way he was scampering up the stairs. Part of him wanted to use James’ old phone to take a picture of the messy little kid that was his older brother, but he assumed that only earn him the wraith of his mom. Rather, Jonathan had a much better idea. He initially turned to speak to his mom but realized he was a grown up now, he didn’t need her permission for this. Running up into his new room, Jonathan took off his clothes and got into his bathing suit. Out on the back porch he found the hot tub unguarded.

Jonathan always thought the thing looked out of place in their house. His mom, depressingly single since his dad left in Jonathan’s infancy, only made enough money at her job to live out a modest middle class existence. Though that didn’t stop things like the hot tub being installed, courtesy of his grandparents. As kind as they were to him he simply didn’t get them. He and James only got videogames and clothes for their birthdays while his mom got gifts like this. I’m the kid of the family not mom, why should they be spending money on her over me? he always thought whenever she got some new ridiculous gift from them. He always felt sorry for his aunts and uncles for having to grow up with his spoiled mom when she was a child.

Still he thought the hot tub was ok whenever his mom allowed him to use it with her. For the half decade it had been there, Jonathan was usually allowed to play on the swing much longer when either mom or James were out in the hot tub. He never understood why they both loved using it so much but he was determined to find out tonight if being grown up had something to do with it.

He hurled himself over the edge and splashed in, sending some water out of the tub. He hit the same buttons that his brother and mom usually did and waited for this thing to get to work. He was soon greeted by bubbles and intense heat. Wow this is feels a lot better than it did as a kid, he thought. He positioned himself in a corner and attempted to mimic how his brother “relaxed” in the hot tub: he stretched his legs out and placed his arms around the sides of the tub. Not bad.

Soon Jonathan found himself thinking back to the events at dinner. Despite how adult he looked and acted, Connor had just paid attention to James the entire time. Sure, James had been an adult but tonight definitely proved that wasn’t the case anymore. Why did Connor like his brother so much? Hell, even Cody couldn’t stop talking to him, and James actually paid attention to him! It irritated him greatly and he felt a jealously rise in him.

If James was able to just replace him in his friendship with Connor like it was nothing than what was stopping him from doing the same with all his friends? This really clawed at Jonathan’s mind until he figured he needed to fix this somehow. He liked being the big brother so there no way he was going to become a kid again, but maybe he could somehow trick New Spring’s water into thinking it was the beginning of fall and then he could just get all his friends wet. Surely they all would grow up as well just like he did. Then he could still hang out with all of them, maybe he could even find all of James’ friends from college and use the water to turn them back into young elementary school boys again just like his brother. James would be thrilled about that and he would finally start acting like his little brother. Yeah, he mused, That would be awesome. Connor would be so thrilled being an adult, they could do some many cool grown up things together. They could even leave the valley and go to college…

Jonathan started imaging Connor as an adult with him leaving for college at end of the summer. His little brother would run up to him and beg him not to leave him while his mom would be crying. He imagined Cody doing the same for Connor and Mrs. Rainer would…be…

Jonathan’s thoughts turned lustful at the very image of Connor’s redhead mom. She was so beautiful with her long curly red hair and her deep green eyes looking right at him. It made his dick fiercely hard. She’s not that much older than me now, he guessed, mom always acts like big sister to her but I could be more. That idea of excited him and found that was touching himself at all the things he could now do with her.

Hugging...

Fucking. he suddenly thought.

A barrage of other words and images invaded his mind, he saw himself on top of Clarissa Rainer. He was making love to her and she was moaning to it, like she was really enjoying it too. With the heat of the hot tub and his own constant rubbing, Jonathan’s dick shot up like a rocket desperately trying to get to orbit. The pressure kept building and building until it finally lifted off.

Jonathan felt amazing; his dick had gotten hard like that in the past but never like that. His breathing was long winded and he could feel a single long stream of sweat run down his forehead. He could smell...he could smell something new, mixed with the heated water. He knew he had just messed up the hot tub. He should definitely get out.

Jonathan jumped hopped out and dried off as fast as he could. Hopefully no one had seen him do that. His mom would probably kill him if she found out. He decided that he better lay low for the rest of the night, maybe even tomorrow as well and so he went back to his new room and chilled out.

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James solemnly took off his dirty clothes one by one in the bathroom he shared with his brother. It was sticky process and he felt vulnerable with each little piece of clothing he discarded. He approached the bathtub and turned it on. Instinct led him to switch on the shower but he quickly undid his mistake and plugged the drain, allowing the water to slowly build up.

Once again he was left dumbstruck at his predicament. Here he was, a grown man in the body of a hairless boy waiting patiently for the bathtub to fill up. It felt unreal to him, a simple process he could care less about as a kid now shook him to his core. Once the bath had filled up a few inches he stuck a toe in only to be greeted by scorching heat.

“Ouch!” he cried, still not used to the renewed sensitivity of his skin.

He began adjusting the temperature to get it just right to relax in. With the water now warm he stepped carefully into the bath and sat on his butt. Perspective means everything at the end of the day and James definitely realized that as he sat waist deep in the bathwater. Just like with his old bed, there was way more leg room for him now. He kind of liked it. James’ enjoyment was suddenly interrupted when his mom entered the bathroom.

“How are you feeling baby?” she asked worryingly

The question reminded him that he had made a complete mockery of himself barely thirty minutes ago, “Fine mom. I’m not a baby, I can wash myself.” he responded bitterly.

“Well you forgot the most important step,” she walked over and went to her knees by James’ side. “The bubbles!”

“The privacy would be nice.” he agreed.

As his mom poured in the mixture, the bubbles began to quickly spread up around his childish body. He started popping individual bubbles to amuse himself. He was again interrupted by his mom pouring the warm bathwater over his head.

“Mom!” he shouted.

“Oh come on James you’ll enjoy it!” she said playfully, “It’s not every day a mother gets the chance to take care of their grown up child again,” she poured a second cup of soapy water over him, “Besides, you are sticky as all hell, you need a strong woman like your mommy to scrub all this sauce off you.”

She began scrubbing his arms with her usual motherly touch: gentle, but firm. Up and down she went covering his body with the soapy water. Rather than continue to fight her James laid against the back of the tub and allowed his mom to clean him. She continued scrubbing, going from the arms to the shoulders, to the back of his neck. As she scrubbed his chest and his back James was smiling in simple delight. I guess I am enjoying this, he mused.

“Put your leg on the railing please.” she instructed and he instantly obeyed.

She thoroughly scrubbed his hairless limb and then instructed him to put it back into the tub and put up the second leg up. Looking up at his mom as she scrubbed him clean, he rediscovered a pure platonic love that only existed between mother and son. In high school and college, James never really knew how he was supposed to express that kind of love to her. He always did what he thought looked normal for someone his age; bear hug and a kiss on the cheek, which always seemed to please her. But he always wanted to cuddle with her again, or sit comfortably on her lap like he used to as a kid.

Without warning James leaned towards his mom and gave her a little kiss on the lips, leaving the rejuvenated woman a bit stunned.

“James?!!!” she struck her hand into the tub and splashed a wave of bathwater over him, “What’s gotten into you?” she asked with a mix of laughter and outrage in her voice.

James tried to choose his next words wisely, knowing full well how it would sound with the new pitch of his voice, “I just feel like…as a grown up… I didn’t tell you how much you meant to me. You know I love you right mom?”

“Of course I knew sweetheart.” His mom came in for a tight hug and gave him several kisses all over his face. “And I will always love you honey.” examining him she asked, “Do you want to talk about what happened at dinner?”

James abruptly became very serious, “I saw a girl from college, she was like a ghost to me. Someone I…had…history with but who is now completely...scary...to me, and then I was suddenly covered in BBQ sauce and I just lost it. I made an embarrassment of myself in front of half the town. I’m going to be a laughing stock in school.” he whined.

His mom shook her head with a small smile in her mouth, “Crying happens with boys your age sweetie. Every single kid there has probably cried recently over something far pettier and every single adult there was just relieved you didn’t get burned. No one will care or even remember by the time I drop you off at elementary school this fall.”

He nodded grimly.

“Well I got off the phone with Mrs Rainer before coming in here and she wants you to come over for a sleepover with her boys soon. Would you like to do that?”

James nodded, melancholy now replacing the grimness. He looked up at his mom and asked, “Did you want this? Was all of this your little wish for me and Jonny?”

“I’m just a mix of emotions right now James, just like you and Jonathan are. In many ways I’ve dreamed of this, what we’re doing right now, I haven’t felt this close to you in years baby. You made mistakes James and I wanted to fix you, but I never wished for this, I would have never agreed to change either of you boys……do you believe me?” she asked humbly.

“But you took Seth’s check.”

“I did it for the family sweetheart. It was compensation for what happened to us. It’s enough to pay off your college debts and support us until we can figure out what to do with your brother.”

He didn’t expect her to bring in Jonathan, “What do you mean?” He asked.

“He’s a boy in a man’s body James. I don’t even know if he’s capable of holding down a menial job.”

“But he’s taken over my life mom! I felt it in the days before we all changed, he’s the college student now, and he’s your eldest son now. I’m sure once this magical adjustment thing happens he’ll be able to do everything I could do…probably more.”

James’ mom pulled him face to face by his shoulders. “James, you will always be my first born son. I don’t care if rewritten records and magical water say otherwise. If this Facilitation continues, if you forget…if I forget, I want you to know that my heart will always remember. You’re my champion James, I couldn’t have gotten through the divorce all those years ago without you sweetheart. You raised Jonathan as much as I did.”

He didn’t know what to think. He believed in his mom absolutely, yet there was fatalism in her words. It was a no bullcrap answer, just like he always got from her. As sad as his likely fate made him feel, James once again respected his mom as the superhero in his life.

His mom released his shoulder from her grasp, “Even if you’re younger than him now, Jonathan will always be Jonny to you and he will always see the older brother in you even if he doesn’t want to admit it, or if he even remembers.” she paused to let I sink in, “But you’re job as the big brother isn’t over yet.”

That seemed really silly to James.

“You still have the past the torch to him. To help him understand everything you were for him as the big brother. To instill in him everything you want in the big brother that will look after you now. Only you can do that James.” She plopped a long kiss on his forehead and went for the door, “Take the rest of your bath time to think about that alright? I’ll tuck you in once you’re out.”

For the last time of his former life or perhaps the first time in his new life, James was left in the bubble bath with a clearheaded mind. Knowing in his heart of hearts the endgame that awaited him; he considered his mother’s words.

The Long Sweat continues in Chapter 10: Brothers and Bicycles, Sisters and Malls[/size]