Chris may look a little - a lot - different, but he was definitely still him. Whenever he could, he wanted to challenge Nate. Grabbing him when he got home from school, racing him wherever they were going. Still, that slightly cocky smirk was new. Not bad, maybe, but Chris had always had a big and open smile when they played, like he knew the whole time that Nate could win but he was glad that he was letting him tag along.
That smirk though... Nate thought maybe Chris thought that he really could win this time.
Well then...
"Alright, shrimp. You're on!" Nate gave a sharp grin of his own.
"Ready..." Huh, Chris was waiting, and watching his older brother closely. Usually he'd say 'go' really fast and cheat a little. He was waiting?
"Uh, go!" Nate yelled and dove forward into a strong breaststroke. He wasn't on the swim team, but having his own pool gave him a lot of time to practice!
Nate pulled forward in the water as fast as he could, Chris kicking really loudly behind him. When Nate hit the other side of the pool, he was shocked to see Chris had kept up! No, Chris was pulling ahead! Fast as he could, Nate spun and swam back, kicking through the water as he felt Chris's big splashes on his legs, then his back, then...
"Woo!" Chris yelled, throwing up his hands while Nate pulled up, panting. He was breathing a bit heavy too, but by the time Nate got his gasps under control he was completely fine, grinning up bigger than Nate had ever seen.
"Uh.. good job!" Nate cheered, working up a smile. He was happy for Chris, really! It was just... weird, losing to him when he'd actually tried to beat him at something.
"Thanks!" Chris beamed, and thrust his hand out. Oh...right. Nate would always make him shake after beating him. Well, fair's fair he guessed.
The second Nate's hand was out, Chris had it in a tight grip! Nate quickly squeezed back; he was stronger but dang Chris had a grip, that took him by surprise. Actually, it felt almost like his hand wasn't wrapping Chris's, it was more like -
"Ha! I knew it!" Chris giggled as he pulled Nate's hand open and pressed their palms together. The younger brother's fingers stuck out, his hand was bigger! How was that even possible?
"I knew I could win!" Chris hopped back and pulled himself onto the side of the pull, his arms flexing and easily pulling him out of the water. He gently kicked his feet in the water as Nate gaped at him.
"Right after you left, mom and dad saw my clothes were too small," Chris said, still kicking. "So they grabbed some hand-me-downs from the closet and found some that fit. But last week, I outgrew your sandals. I can swim really fast now, thanks to these!"
Chris lifted a foot out of the water, and wiggled his toes.
"I'm wearing a size thirteen!" He puffed his chest out, the few wispy patches of weirdly early chest hair catching the light. "I might be shorter than you, but I'm not a shrimp anymore!"
With that, Chris scrambled off toward the food table. Nate spent a few minutes in the pool just... working out what just happened. He'd left for a month, and come back to find his shrimpy little brother, who was like half the size of his own friends, now as tall as average for his age, with bigger hands and feet than even Nate had, a cracking voice and chest hair? In a MONTH?
Their parents said the same thing though, as he snuck over to talk with them and spy on Chris grabbing second... third... fifth helpings. The doctors said Chris was healthy; he just went through a big growth spurt. He'd hit the average height for his age, and had put on muscle, but hadn't really been exercising much. And yes, they had given Chris Nate's old clothes; all of them, apparently, after he outgrew some of the smallest of them a week. Sometimes Chris had worn clothes from Nate's closet around the house even though he had smaller clothes that fit better, the long shirts and shorts looking much too long.
Probably funny to watch, but Nate didn't think he'd laugh about it since Chris had done the same thing with his sandals before he left for camp!
"Want some?" Chris asked as he walked up with two plates of food; one for Nate and a sixth plate for himself.
"Where are you putting all of that?" Nate asked, shocked.
Chris grinned, and patted his sides.
"This shrimp gained forty pounds this month!" Chris grinned. "I put all of that right here."
Forty. Pounds.
That was more than half of what Chris had weighed, wet, a month ago!
What the hell?
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