Lay Me Down to Sleep

Chapter 19

As strange as it had been to see his brother return to the compound as a toddler, it is a whole different level of weird to watch Pa become one. 

Throughout the night, Pa slowly de-ages. At first, Kinn doesn't see it happening. It's only after the first hour that he sees a few lines have disappeared. After that, Kinn watches more closely and figures every ten to fifteen minutes takes a year off the man's features. By the time three hours pass, Pa looks like he did when Kinn was a child, and his sweater is a little big on him. Kinn feels like he is going to have a panic attack when Pa flies through his teenage years and looks like a child, the sleeves on his cardigan now much too long. Kinn wants to roll them up for him, to make up for being such a horrible, evil son. 

By the time Pa looks to be around six, Kinn calls his brother and asks Khun to bring a set of children's pajamas to Pa's suite, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible. 

"What?" Khun mumbles, still sounding half asleep, "Why?" 

Kinn can no longer keep his voice calm when he lets out a sob, "I did something fucked up. Just come here. I need you here." 

Khun hangs up and makes it in record time. But despite how efficient he is in his speed, he freezes when he sees Pa sitting at the table. 

"Kinn," Khun says slowly, not taking his eyes off their father, "Who is that?" 

"You know who it is," Kinn mutters, then holds his hand out, "I'll change him when he gets small enough, and I'll…I'll take him to one of the holding cells until we decide what to do with him-"

"What did you do?!" Khun says, coming closer to the table, "How did you…Why did you…" 

"We ran into complications when we went to talk with Aree yesterday," Kinn tells him, "We got knocked out. Whoever is doing this made herself known. She said…She said Porsche is her grandson, but she looked younger than me." 

Khun blinks at that, "Huh? So this is about Porsche's side of the family and not ours? Why wouldn't Arm tell me that?! I just assumed one of our enemies was responsible for this!" 

Kinn meets his eyes at that point, "Oh, so your new boyfriend didn't tell you everything?"

Tankhun gives him an unamused look, "He told me you found out about us. You don't get to be mad. I gave you an opening to approach me about it last night. You declined." 

"Because I was dealing with this!" Kinn says, gesturing at that father, "That woman gave me a vial to turn someone into a toddler overnight, and I gave it to Pa to strip him of his power!"

"I meant imprisoning him!" Tankhun says, his voice more hushed, "Or…Or killing him if we had to-"

Kinn pulls out his gun, "You think I didn't try that first?" 

Khun stares at the gun for several seconds, then clears his throat, "What? Is Pa bulletproof? Or could you not bring yourself to do it?"