Ostinato

Chapter 7

He knew he had no choice. Theodore gritted his teeth.

"C-Charlie," he squeaked out. Charlie looked up for a moment, not realizing what he was seeing, before his eyes went wide. A minute later he was sprinting down the hall.

"Stop that," Charlie barked. The other boys stopped their assault, turning towards Charlie.

"Or what," the rat tailed boy chortled. Even though Charlie was a little bigger than them, that didn't seem to deter the small tormentors. They had the numbers.

"Try me," Charlie growled, delivering a hard shove to the rat tailed boy. The boy with the shaved head shirked back a little upon being met with some resistance. The rat tail boy, to his credit, straightened himself up before telling his co conspirator that this was lame - not able to hide the nervousness in his face replacing the confidence that had been there moments before. Both of the boys sulked off.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asked, kneeling down in front of Theodore with a concerned look on his face.

"Y-yeah," Theodore said, still a little shaken up

"What are you doing out here anyway?" Charlie asked, cocking his head a little.

"Going to the bathroom," Theodore mumbled.

"Oh, well c'mon I'll take you." Charlie said, nodding his head as he outstretched his hand. Theodore wanted nothing more to slap his brother's hand away and tell him to buzz off. Theodore then looked to the side noticing the other two boys were still hovering a little ways off. Theodore knew he had no other options if he wanted to avoid further trouble. He took Charlie's hand as they walked down the hall. Theodore couldn't help but sniffle a little.

"Don't worry, those guys won't bother you anymore." Charlie said, giving Theodore's hand a little squeeze. "Your big brother will protect you."

***

13:15

Theodore was sure that if he was actually six, a trip to Riley's Rocking Grill would have been a real treat. As things stood however, dumped at the kids table with just the slightest humiliating dampness still nagging uncomfortably in his underpants, all the former eighteen year old could focus on was his new impossibly diminished status.

The kids, Theodore now unquestionably included in their ranks, had got a booth to themselves. Unlike yesterday, Ewan seemed perfectly content to befriend Charlie, happily chattering away with him about the Pokemon game he'd played with Theodore the night before. Of course, in this new version of reality, that evening was still a good couple of hours away - and it seemed very unlikely to include the newly minted six-year-old. Far from plotting a prank on the sensitive ten-year-old, Charlie and Ewan were now the best of friends, and it was instead Theodore who was considered the immature one. Any attempt to join in the 'big boy' conversation met with condescending placations from Charlie, and outright hostility from Ewan.

"Can you just stop bothering us?" his new big cousin demanded when he tried to butt in with his own thoughts. "Like, I bet you haven't even played it."

"I have too!" Theodore found himself objecting, almost on instinct. He cringed at the sound of his own whiny petulant tone.

"Suuuure." Ewan mocked, rolling his eyes. He turned to Charlie, as if eager to confirm that his beloved game wasn't also the pastime of an annoying fussy momma's boy like Teddy. "He hasn't, right?"

Charlie gave Theodore a sympathetic look, but ultimately confirmed the truth. "Mom doesn't really like him to have too much screen time." he dismissed.

Ewan laughed, reveling in the opportunity to tease the little boy. "I guess it's all Sesame Street story books for you, huh?"

Theodore scrunched up his little fists, pudgy cheeks going bright red. He showed Ewan a deathly stare, all but ready to jump up and whack him in his stupid smug face, but he didn't have time to act before the server appeared.