Ahhhh the fairy was real! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

The internal screaming continues for some time until pidge snaps out of it. "I-I'm fine! Just woke up from a freaky dream!"

By every god in the pantheon of humanity, he was a boy! An 8-year-old boy! Pidge pats himself over trying to get a feel for what he looked like, then spots a mirror in the connected bathroom to this room. Well, that works too.

Pidge looks himself over in the mirror. He still looks like himself sorta. You could think this body and his old one were siblings maybe. He had the same brown hair that stuck up in places, same eyes and a similar nose even. But he was definitely a little boy now in facial features and body. He quickly pulls down his pajama bottoms to get a look at what he felt earlier.

Yep. That's a penis, neat.

He is unsure whether to be thrilled to be a boy or horrified to be a child. He is a pretty cute kid though, he could see himself being a pretty hot guy when he grew up. Yeah no there were more immediate things to worry about like who that was outside the door.

"Well, since you're awake, go ahead and get dressed, I'll get some breakfast in you before you go to meet your new parents"

Okay... new parents. So this must be like an adoption agency person maybe? Well, any acting weird can just be put down to nerves about meeting his new family.

He looks over the room for some clothes and finds some, puts them on. Boxer briefs felt weird now he actually had something that needed the roominess. A T-shirt and shorts completed the kid standard wardrobe.

Any lingering weirdness about his limbs being different proportions quickly vanished while he was dressing and he felt pretty at home in this body now, even if seeing himself in the mirror was still a shock every single time it happened. Time to face this stranger and pretend he was a normal kid, and out the door he goes.

He walks out into a living room.  There is a woman sitting in the living room reading a book, and through the door he can see a dining room table with cereal, milk, and a bowl on it.  
"Good morning Pidge.  Eat and get your stuff quickly, the social worker will be here to take you in 30 minutes"

Ohhh cereal! Sugary goodness he couldn't quite make himself buy as an adult because of a general sense of health shame. Well, screw that he was 8! Time to eat all of the sugar. "Uhhh okay." Hoping him having no idea who this woman was just came off as excitement for breakfast or adoption nerves or something.

He goes to sit at the table. Gosh the chair was so high now and so was the table. He hopes he gets taller soon this could get annoying being so short. Om nom nom nom fruit loops are the best, childhood has perks at least.

He finishes his food quickly. "Do I actually have any stuff I need to get?... Wouldn't my new parents already have everything they need?..." He says to the woman, trying to find out if he actually has any stuff in the first place.

"Have you put your pajamas in your bag yet? Brushed your teeth and packed your toothbrush?" the woman replies, lowering her book to look at him disapprovingly

"I will!" Well, that didn't sound like he had very many possessions. Hopefully, his new parents liked to spoil him. He slides off his chair (Being short sucked!) and goes back to the room.

Oh... look. A suitcase was on the floor, so he does have more things. He picks through the suitcase trying to see if there were any clues to the manufactured previous life of this body (At least he hoped it was manufactured, body stealing a body that looked like him would be a weird way to grant that wish). Nope, no clues, just more Walmart brand clothes and not much else. No GameBoy games or paperback books or anything. Oh well makes sense it would just be generic stuff in this new life. So he brushes his teeth, packs his pajamas and toothbrush and goes back to the living room to wait awkwardly.

A few minutes later, someone knocks on the door.  The woman who reminded him to brush his teeth answers the door, and another woman walks in.
"Hello, Pidge.  Got all your stuff ready? We need to head out to take you to meet your new family!"

She sounds overly cheery in the manner of someone who likes kids but hasn't fully comprehended that they're people.

Yeah... He remembers that sort of treatment from the first time around. Being skipped ahead a few grades he got that from teachers all the time. "Yup!" He jangles his suitcase to prove his point. "Everything is packed. Ready to go."

She leads him out to the car.

"Are you excited to meet your new family?"

She does not seem to intend to let up on the cheeriness any time soon

He can do the moody shy child act to counteract the cheeriness juuuust fine then. He gets in the car. "I guess... hey do you have a newspaper?." He wants to know the year exactly, and newspapers had comics, kids read newspaper comics, right?

"I do, in fact!" She pulls picks up a newspaper from the front passenger seat and tosses it back to him.

"I've met your new family, and they're really nice! I think you'll like them a lot!"

People always say other people are nice. That really Isn't a useful data point. "Maybe...I bet most people are nice when being judged by a social worker." He takes the newspaper, what is the year?

The newspaper informs him that it is August 1st, 2000.  The social worker seems to pick up on the fact that he doesn't want to talk, and lets him read the newspaper in peace until they get to the house.

Huh. Neat. Not so far back that technology sucked too badly. He can play all the GameBoy advance games he didn't get to the first time around. Watch the shows he missed like Lost or Buffy.

Sitting for so long was... Different with a penis. Having to shift around every so often to readjust. Also not having boobs was amazing just all the time looking down and it being flat.

Was the child brain affecting him? because he started feeling all antsy and needing to do something. He puts down his newspaper and tries looking out the window but that didn't help much. "You know if they are allergic to dogs? I always wanted a dog." He asks the social worker. Dad had been allergic to every animal in his last life and his apartment was too small as an adult to have a dog.

"I don't think they're allergic to dogs! Maybe they'll let you get one if you can prove you're responsible!"  

As they pull up to the house she says "Well, here we are! How about I take you in to meet them, I know they're very excited to meet you"

Ugh wow, the over the top cheeriness had already gotten so old it had fossilized. "Yeah...sure I guess. It'd be a bit weird to just drop me off at the front door without seeing if they actually hate me first or something. Or if I hate them." Oh fuck... The antivaccine craze was in full swing right around now and he didn't know if this body came pre vaccinated. What if his new family was that kind of assholes? People who listened to idiot celebrities over doctors.

Please no crazies, please no crazies. He mentally chants while crossing his fingers as he goes into the house with the social worker.

A woman he assumes is his adoptive mother is standing at the front door

"Hello, I'm Angela.  I'm your adoptive mother, you're welcome to call me Angela or Mom, whichever makes you comfortable.  I'll show you up to your room so you can put your stuff away."

"Uhmmm...hi." Having a new mom is weird. She Isn't even that much older than he was before. This will take some getting used to. "I'm Pidge...but you probably already knew that I guess." He looks kind of awkward standing there but he doesn't really know how to act here.

His new mom was actually kind of pretty? Okay no, nope, nobody should ever have the thought that their mom was attractive. Time to lock that thought in a box and drop that down a trench in his mind deeper than the deepest ocean trench.

She leads him up to his room. The room has blue walls, a loft bed with a desk beneath it, a toy chest, and sitting out several robot action figures and a Nerf gun.

"Well, I'll be downstairs, come get me if you need anything, I expect to see you at 12:30 for lunch, the clock is up there.  Mark, my husband, will be home at 5, and dinner will be at 6"

With that, she walks out of his new room.

Uhhh... Shouldn't there be some questions or something? He was their new son and it was all 'LOLnope see you at lunch'. "Uhh...You've basically taken on a ten-year commitment here? shouldn't there be some questions or talking or something? It's not like you can just return me to the store if it doesn't work out after a year" He calls out to her as she leaves.

Nice room though. Glad to see they had money to spend on all this cool stuff for him.

She pokes her head back in.  

"I want to give you a little space and a chance to get settled in your new room before I barrage you with questions! Don't worry, I'll talk with you for all of lunch."

Oh that makes sense. Well he dumps his suitcase on the floor and flops onto the bed.

Today still didn't really feel real. It was all so absurd.

Alistair wakes up.  This is not his bedroom. In fact, it looks exactly like his childhood bedroom.  Either this is a dream, or that fairy had been telling the truth.  He looks down at his body.  Definitely a kid.  His hair doesn't feel long, and if he reaches into his pants...yup, definitely a penis.  Either he has totally lost touch with reality, or he is actually back in his childhood as a cis guy.  Wow.  And now that he is fully awake, he really needs to go to the bathroom.  He jumps up out of bed and is immediately aware of his body moving differently.  He runs to the bathroom, making no attempt to move quietly, and once he gets there realizes he could finally pee standing up. He runs back up the stairs, still excited, and begins to make a mental list of everything different about this bedroom as compared to his actual childhood bedroom.