Getting back to normal in this case meant getting back to Aiden and Cailyn’s apartment, and finding a place of his own that wasn’t the cabinet under the sink. He didn’t really fit under the sink anymore, but more importantly, because he didn’t feel the need to hide anymore. 

His Knot had started looking far more human in his days of rest after the dark presence was removed, and nobody was happier about that than Chris himself. 

“Home sweet home, Chrissi,” Cay said as she opened the apartment door and led him inside.

“Mhm,” Chris nodded, walking around the living room a bit to re-familiarize himself with the location. He’d only been away for two days, but somehow it felt longer. The place felt… cleaner?

“Aiden cleaned up while you were out. Said it was shameful to have a guest over with this place as messy as it was.” Cay rolled her eyes and went to the fridge, grabbing a beer. “Want anything to drink?”

“Iced Tea if you have it, or just water if not, please!” Chris replied, hopping up onto the couch.

“Sure thing.” Cay brought over a glass of iced tea and set it down on the coffee table in front of Chris, then took a seat beside him on the couch with her beer and grabbed the remote to turn on the TV.

After everything that had been going on, just sitting there watching dramas with Cailyn somehow felt too normal. 

They’d watched enough episodes for Chris to lose count when she finally looked over at him and raised a brow.

“What’s up?” he asked, responding to her gaze.

“You gonna take that glamour pendant off or…?”

“Huh?” Chris looked down at himself and realized he was still in the guise of the young girl. 

‘How did I forget I was wearing this thing?’ Chris wondered, pulling off the pendant. 

His body returned to its normal appearance, and with it came a strange pang of sadness. 

“Huh…” Cay mumbled, shrugging her shoulders and looking back at the TV. 

“What?”

“You seemed kinda bummed out when you took it off.”

‘Bummed? No way. Why would I be bummed about not looking like a little girl anymore?’

“I’m fine. Just, uh… tired, you know. A lot happened!” 

That part wasn’t a lie. Despite having slept for days, he was already feeling drained again.

“Oh, well… Aiden set up a sleeping space for you in the hall closet.”

“Why the closet?” Chris asked.

“He thought you’d want a ‘room’ of your own, instead of crashing with one of us.”

“Oh… that’s thoughtful of him.”

“Meh,” Cay shrugged. “Guess so.”

‘She’s been kinda cold lately… wonder what I did to piss her off? Maybe it was all the hiding? It’s not like she knows about the dreams I was having… right?’ Chris wondered.

“Well, um, I think I’m gonna go lay down. Thanks for the drink and for letting me watch stuff with you,” Chris said.

“Sure, no problem,” Cay smiled at him briefly before returning to her show.

Chris hopped up off the couch and walked over to the hall closet, glad he could actually reach the handle now. Opening the closet revealed a pile of blankets arranged like a mattress on the floor, and a little portable TV with a cord running out of the closet to an outlet. 

‘I should really make an effort to get to know Aiden better. He’s been taking good care of me,’ he thought, smiling and crawling into the closet onto the pile of blankets. It was so comfortable that he was asleep almost immediately. 

=====

The following morning - or whatever time of day his body had chosen to awaken - was greeted with great unpleasantness. His entire body hurt. Fearing that it could mean some complication from the dark spirit, Chris climbed out of the closet and stumbled into this living room, his joints aching - his hips worst of all. 

“Afternoon, Chris,” Aiden said cheerfully from the living room.

“Oh, hey, Aiden,” Chris groaned, walking slowly and clumsily over towards him. “I think my Knot is having issues again.”

“What’s up?” Aiden asked, putting down the mug he’d been sipping from.

“Everything hurts. All my joints are on fire.”

“Huh… lemme just crack open that Knot Thing care manual…” He stood up and walked over to the kitchen, rifling through some magazines and other mail before finding it in the heap.

“Got it,” Aiden said, returning to the couch and plopping back down. He patted the seat next to him. “Wanna check it out with me?”

Chris nodded and made his way up onto the couch, trying to ease the screaming from his hips as he shifted to get comfortable.

Noticing his discomfort, Aiden leaned over to make it easier to read without straining. “Here… growing pains.”

‘Oh, wow… he smells really good!’ Chris thought, “breathing” deeply of his cologne as a familiar flutter ran through his chest.

“Make sense now?” Aiden asked.

“Huh?” Chris pulled himself free of a fanciful daydream in which Aiden was holding him close. Weird. If he could blush, he would be. He’d never had thoughts about other guys like this… this had to be some kind of complication from the Knot being messed with, right?

“You okay?” Aiden asked, quirking a brow.

“Oh, yeah, totally,” Chris said absolutely believably. “Lemme just, uh, reread it again - for clarity - you know.”

“Sure,” Aiden grinned, holding the page steady.

“During the Knot Thing process, periods of intense discomfort are common. These signify a time of great change and growth, and are completely normal. The Office of Great Transformations encourages you to speak with a representative if you have further questions regarding this topic, or experience any unexpected or unwanted changes resulting from a period of growing pains.”

Chris finished scanning the text on the page, grumbling at the persistent pain. “At least I know it’s normal now. That’s something. Still hurts like a bitch though,” he complained.

“Yeah. Too bad you can’t just go soak or something. That’s what Cay used to do when her hips hurt really bad when she was growing up. She’d soak in a nice hot bath.”

“Oh, huh… yeah. My body would probably just absorb all the water. Sucks.” Chris sighed heavily, leaning back into the couch cushions.

“Oh, I think we have a heating pad laying around somewhere though, I can grab that for you. That might help.

“Sure. Thanks, Aiden,” Chris said with a smile - happy that his smiles were now somewhat less horrifying than previously.

“No problem, lemme go find it.” Aiden stood and left the couch, going to dig through closets in search of the lost heating pad.

Chris took the opportunity to stretch out wearily on the couch, nursing his aches and pains. 

‘Being cared for like this is nice… although it does kind of make me feel like Aiden’s kid brother, or something… or a sick partner. He used to dote on his ex like this, too. Cay gave him shit for being too maternal.’ Chris trolled idly through his thoughts.

An intrusive thought flitted through his mental ramblings: He kept imagining himself in that ex’s position, always having someone like Aiden around to take care of her.

‘Must be nice… I wouldn’t mind that,’ he thought. A strange warmth followed that thought, and he realized that his chest was fluttering again. ‘What the hell?’ he wondered. ‘Why was I fantasizing about being Aiden’s girlfriend… it was almost like that dream I had, except–’

His introspection was interrupted by the return of Aiden with the heating pad, which he laid over Chris’ waist. Being roughly the size of a young child right now, the heating pad covered from waist to mid-thigh, easily wrapping around the sides of his body.

“There, now just gotta wait for it to warm up. Shouldn’t take too long.” He plugged it in and switched it on high. “Just let me know if you get any ‘catching on fire’ vibes,” he joked, chuckling.

His laugh sent a fresh storm of butterflies through his stomach fluff. “Y-yeah, hehe, sure,” Chris bubbled. “Thanks, Aiden.”

“No problem, Chris. Lemme know if you need anything else. I’m gonna hop on my PC for a bit. Here, watch whatever you want.” He put the TV remote down within Chris’ reach, and headed off to his room.

‘God, I really need to finish this Knot Thing and get on with my life… my thoughts are so messed up lately. Especially about Aiden. We’re just friends. Just two straight dudes being good friends. Stupid Knot getting all flustered about it.’ He beat himself up in his thoughts, willing them away from Aiden, and onto finding something mind-numbing enough on TV to push those weird thoughts out of his head for good.

The warmth of the heating pad was starting to spread into his body now, and despite knowing he had no actual bones or joints or muscles to be sore within his fluffy frame, he did start to feel better. A low, breathy hum of appreciation left him as the pain started to ease. It sounded girly, but at this point he was so happy that the pain was lessening, he didn’t care how girly he sounded.

Throwing on some old episodes of ‘The Great British Bake Off’, he let his thoughts drift again, wondering just when his Knot would be done. He was eager to get back to his usual self, and back to working at the shop.

Getting back to normal couldn’t happen soon enough. Surely, these growing pains indicated that it was fast approaching.