Regressed Matthew
Smacking himself, Matt began to enter a state of panic. He had accidentally locked his keys inside the van and didn't know what to do. He just started pacing around and throwing his hands up. He wanted a hole to just open from the ground and swallow him whole, he wanted to hide, to never be seen again. His heart pounded in his chest, what was the correct number to even call when stuff like this happened? He pulled out his phone, his hand trembling as he pulled up his contacts. He called the first person who came to mind, his older brother, Justin. He had to know what to do, right? He dialed his brother, still shaking as he held the phone up to his ear. The phone rang and rang until he heard a familiar voice.
"What's up Matty?" Justin asked, Matt felt relieved to hear Justin's voice. He slid down the side of his car, cupping his head in his knees, "I don't know what to do." He whispered. "Hey Matty, facetime me." He said. He wasn't even asking. He said it in a demanding tone, "I wanna see your face, I wanna see that you are okay." Justin said. Matt wiped his face before doing as his brother said.
"Okay look into the camera Matty, take a deep breath. Everything is going to be okay, can you tell me what happened?" Justin asked, using his protective voice to show Matty how serious he was. Matt slowly moved into frame, "I a-accidentally locked the keys inside the van and I'm all alone, I don't know what to do." He sobbed, his voice full of distress. Matthew dug his fingers into his arm, clamming them down hard. Justin noticed the awful arm movement and quickly spoke up, "It's alright, can you share your location? I'll be there soon." He said, already grabbing his stuff to head out to his car. Matthew nodded, quickly turning his location on. "Please Justin I'm scared." He whispered into the phone as he covered his face with the hem of his shirt.
Justin tried not to get a ticket as he made his way to his brother. He knew of Matthews severe anxiety and panic attacks, literally anything could set the younger boy off. Justin maybe had babied him too much that made him come to him no matter what, but he didn't regret it. Hearing that Matthew called him out of everyone gave him pride.
As he pulled up to the shopping district he circled around the parking lot, searching for his brother's van. It wasn't that hard to find his brother since the brunette had been curled up near the van. Justin pulled into the parking spot beside his brother, quickly jumping out of his car and making his way over to his brother. "Matthew, look I'm here." Justin called out as he gently offered his hands out to his younger brother. Matt looked up, he had been crying. It was hard to ignore his preppy blue eyes that were now red and puffy. He scooted into his older brother's arms, clutching onto him. "I-i'm sorry!" His cries were muffled as his face plunged into Justin's chest. Justin rubbed his back slowly, "It's okay buddy." He reassured him. "Everyone has their days, right?" He chuckled lightly.
After calming Matthew down Justin sat him in his car, he turned the AC on and handed him a root beer to keep him calm. He called a local locksmith, one that didn't overcharge, and could get the job done fast. Until the guy arvided he sat with Matt, ruffling his messy hair as he praised him, "Thank you Matty for calling me, okay? I appreciate you doing that. I'm always here to help." Matthew practically ignored him, looking out the window, only nodding when Justin stopped talking. Justin understood his brother's attitude, he probably felt embarrassed for having to call his older brother to help. Justin decided not to push any further, he pulled out his phone and decided to text his other brothers, letting them know Matthew will be back later and that he was safe with him.
Matthew sat silently facing out the window, maybe too silent. Justin looked over wondering if his brother was in the mood to talk again. As he glanced over he noticed something. Matt was slowly bringing his thumb to his mouth as if he was going to suck on it, but stopped himself right before it entered his mouth. Justin noticed this happening and fully turned his attention to his younger brother.
He continued to watch until Matt had finally placed his thumb in his mouth. "Don't put your fingers in your mouth, you haven't washed them yet." Justin chuckled, he knew he shocked Matthew telling by the face the teen made. Justin's intention was to make the younger smile or laugh, but neither happened. Matthew pouted slightly and mumbled something, his voice sounding quieter than usual. "Hey Matthew?" Justin asked. Matthew hummed, his thumb already approaching his mouth once again. "How old are you?" Justin asked, maybe it was a stupid question, but Justin felt the need to ask. Matthew furrowed his brows, throwing his hands up, this definitely was new, why didn't he just answer like he normally would have? Why didn't he say nineteen? Justin pulled Matt's face toward his, "Matty, how old are you? Do you know?" He asked. Matthew closed his eyes and thought for a moment, his eyebrows scrunched up as he shook his head, "um, dunno." He glanced up trying to read his brother's face. "Did anything happen? Do you know what day it is?" Justin asked. Matthew smiled, "it's Wednesday!" He giggled lightly as if making fun of his brother for even asking. Justin sat back in his seat, he immediately picked his phone up and went straight to searching many different questions he had. He could tell that his actions were stressing the other out so he tried to not worry the other anymore than he probably already had. "Is okay?" Matthew asked, the wording was off, but Justin understood. He nodded, "Yes, everything is okay, I'm just a little curious about why you're seeming younger? Like a toddler?" Justin questioned, he knew it had to have made no sense, but he was trying his best. "I can't help it!" Matthew groaned, receiving a questionable look. "I wanna be baby, buts can'ts help it!" Matthew tried explaining, his words slurred together making himself upset. "I try stop!" Matthew smacked his head. Justin grabbed Matthews hand before he made any impact, "Take your time, don't hit yourself." Justin calmly said, patting him on the shoulder to try again.
"Sometimes I act small and feel little." Matt began, "I can't help it." He whispered. "I'm afraid I don't understand that much, can you tell me more?" Justin asked, he didn't like having to ask him to talk about it more, telling how it made him nervous, but he wanted to know. He wanted to be able to understand. Matthew gripped his older brother's phone, shaking it to get his attention. "Want me to unlock my phone?" Matt nodded and Justin complied. Watching over Matthews shoulder he watched as he desperately tried spelling out "Involuntary Age Regression", once he got it figured out he blushed, hiding his face, and passing the phone to Justin.
Justin read through the articles, making sure not to miss any important details. He thought it was odd at first. What nineteen year old would want to be a baby? He didn't stop reading it though, as he read more he found out why people do it and what the involuntary part meant in the community. He looked over at his brother, taking a double look, he understood that Matt really couldn't control himself. He kept everything that he felt locked up until he mentally regressed at random, this forcing him to relieve the meaningless things he stressed about on a daily basis.
"Matty l-" Justin cut himself off when he saw the locksmith logoed truck pull up. "Stay in here." Justin ordered Matthew as he got out of the car, giving Matthew no time to reply. The conversation would have to wait.
Matthew panicked, he had to have made a big mistake by even telling him about it. He tried to stay calm, besides they're brothers, Justin would still love him no matter what, right?
Just brushed himself off. The locksmith was good friends with their dad so when he noticed Justin as one of James' sons he shook his hand, bringing up small talk about how they were doing. Justin led him to the Minivan and told him what had happened, pointing to Matthew who was in his car. The man nodded and asked for the car's title or other documentation listing them as the owner of the car before he went to get his tools, but stopped when Justin informed him that the documents were locked inside the car. Justin knew that the chances of him opening the car without that information was low, but he gave it hope. They didn't want the car to get towed or have to spend extra money on fixing the small incident.
Normally when this happened, as a locksmith, he wasn't allowed to go through with the job without any undeniable proof that the car was actually theirs, but he had let it slide since he knew them personally, meaning he probably wasn't going to charge them or put it on the record. Justin was more than thankful, he thanked the man for his help.
The job was finished in no time, the man said his goodbyes, reminding Justin to say hey to his father for him. Justin grabbed Matt's car keys and relocked the doors, going back to his own car.
Taking a deep breath he got into the driver's seat, he knew the way he had left the conversation without finishing it was unforgivable, but honestly the breather away from the topic for the ten minutes he was outside helped him a bit with easing back into conversation with his brother.
Or so he thought, "As I was saying-" Justin stopped himself, he stared at Matthew in awe. It seemed he had been far off then he thought. Not knowing much about age regression he was surprised seeing that his brother somehow magically ended up regressing even younger. Matthew fiddled with his fingers, pointing and grabbing things he saw, showing them to Justin. He had a nervous smile every time he picked something up, as if waiting for Justin to get onto him, but his brother had even bigger problems to worry about.
Seeing him regress like this for the first time, with no rules, no guide, no nothing seemed to have given himself some anxiety. He didn't even know who knew about Matt's regression. What was he supposed to do? Was it different from taking care of an actual baby? How hard could it be? Justin calmed himself down, as the older brother when his siblings needed him he did his best and right now his "baby" brother needed him.
There was no way Matthew was going to be able to drive himself home, so Justin thought hard about what he was going to do. He thought about leaving the minivan and just coming by later with Matthew to pick it up when he wasn't regressed anymore, but for the time being he needed to think of where they were going to go. Should he take him home or should he take him to his apartment?
He didn't know if anyone else knew about Matt's situation so he decided on taking Matt back to his place so he didn't accidentally throw Matt under the bus. There was no way he'd do something when he didn't know what the outcome would be.
Justin helped buckle him into his passenger seat, praising Matthew for complying. He let some small nicknames pass without any mind. "Thank you pumpkin for being such a big boy for me." He smiled. Matthew giggled, allowing himself to be buckled up.
He could get used to this side of Matt, he smiled ruffling his hair, "Alrighty buddy, time to go to my place." Justin chuckled as he started the car.
(Should I continue this?)