JT Writes Stuff

A comm for my friend based off our RPs, this one is a bit longer due to burnout making me take a month off. ______________________________________________________________

The two heroes sat above the city, looking down on it all as the smaller of the two sat cross legged, licking an ice cream cone and looking somewhat bored. The taller of the two looked down at the other and sighed a bit as they kneeled down “I told you, no snacks while we’re on patrol.” The smaller one groaned a bit “Well YOU rushed me out the door this morning, so you gotta live with the fact I’m hungry.” The taller one sighed, pulling back their mask to reveal a young man, maybe early twenties at best with blue eyes and long black hair. “And I tried waking you up for an hour beforehand, but you refused.”

The smaller one pulled his hood back and pouted now, looking to only be around seven or eight, a bush of curly strawberry blonde hair poofing out from under his hood, his lighter blue eyes looking annoyed. “Well…we didn’t need to be in til 9…so I dunno why you’re trying to make us leave at 8 anyway, Joe.” Joe sighed a bit “Because, Aaron, what if the train is late? Or something happens and we get caught up? What then?” Aaron just shrugged a bit and pouted “I can fly, so…don’t really think about that.”

Joe narrowed his eyes now at the boy, annoyance obvious on his face “Well…some of us can’t, and I’m sure as hell not letting you fly about alone right now, ‘specially not with the rise in heroes being targeted by villains.” Aaron just sighed a bit, rolling his eyes and going back to eating his ice cream as something seemed to hit Joe suddenly. “Where…did you even get that anyway? I know for a fact you don’t have money on you.” Aaron shrugged a bit sheepishly and looked away “Somewhere…”

Joe looked at the younger boy seriously, his younger brother always knew the best way to annoy him, just ever so slightly “Aaron…where did you get it.” Aaron just shrugged again “When we were walkin’....” Joe sighed  a bit “Aaron, you can’t use the ‘I’m a hero’ card to get free stuff.” Aaron looked up, looking offended now “I didn’t! We were walkin and I was lookin at that ice cream shop while you were taking pictures with some fans and…the guy inside gave me some for being a good sidekick…”

Joe watched the boy closely, looking for any signs of him lying, he had a telltale twitch he did when he lied…one that didn’t show at all right now. Joe could only sigh softly and shake his head “Fine…guess I can’t really get mad for that…just…try not to get sick or something while we work, okay?” Aaron nodded and kept eating his ice cream, looking out over the streets “Not like there’s anything really going on today.” Joe groaned at that “Aaroooon, don’t say thaaaat, it’s the most cliche ‘man, something DEFINITELY gonna happen now’ phrase.”

Aaron bit into the cone and rolled his eyes a bit “We’re not in some comic book Joe…we’ll be-.” As if on queue they both suddenly heard a loud crash down the street and looking that way saw what looked to be a large, almost dinosaur man with a smaller person riding on it rampaging through the street. Joe pulled his hood back up, gave a look down at Aaron “Told ya, don’t be yappin’ like that unless you wanna get busy.” 

Joe popped open his backpack, a puppet quickly unfolding out of it as he attached strings that seemed to appear from his fingers to it. The puppet, which seemed to be modeled after a bear, slowly slumped out before quickly standing at attention as Joe had it pick him up and hop down to the streets below. Joe’s quirk was a simple puppetry quirk, allowing him to attach almost invisible strings to pretty much anything and control it, but depending on what he was controlling, it could get much more complex.

Aaron could only sigh, working quickly to finish up his ice cream before flipping his hood up and jumping right off the roof. The smaller boy fell for a few stories, a few onlookers gasping as they thought something had happened. He softly sighed and the wind around him seemed to pick up suddenly, speeding up around his feet and slowing his descent. Before he hit the ground though the wind seemed to swirl at his feet for a few seconds before he launched down the street at a high speed, heading straight for the person on the back of the dino-person.

Aaron’s quirk is one that seems simple at first, but the underlying science behind it was much more than the eight year old could currently understand. To put it simply, his quirk which was originally thought to be just wind turned out to be closer to air pressure, which while he may not know it yet, has many more uses than he even knows of. Of course, he wasn’t thinking about that right now, he was focusing on not letting his wind blow all over and break windows while blasting his way towards the villain.

The villain on top just cackled and looked down “Yes! Get em Kinu! Use my power to show them who the real bad guys are!” Joe groaned hearing that and hopped out of Kuma’s arms, puppetting it forward and looking up “We have two options here buddy, you stand down, or you get taken down.” The villain just laughed maniacally as he smirked “That wannabe hero is next Kinu! Focus him!”

The giant half dino turned and growled out a guttural “Got it boss” before going to swing heavily down towards Joe. Just then though, like a flash, Joe barely flicked his hand and Kuma was now standing in the way of the oncoming hit, and was able to stop it, holding his metallic claws up. His metal frame creaked and groaned as the scientist growled angrily and stomped on his accomplice “I said take him down Kinu! Kill him! Crush him! Make him rue the day he-” 

There was barely even a boom as the smaller of the two heroes finally caught up and with a swift motion had landed a kick square into the scientist’s chest. There was a squeal of pain from the scientist as he flew off and slammed into the street below, groaning as he laid there, the wind knocked out of him. Kinu glanced up “Rue the day he what boss?” The larger half humanoid dino couldn’t see very well onto his back, but blinked a bit as he realized his boss wasn’t there.

Joe quickly took this moment, reaching out with his other hand and letting the strings flow from it, each one going to a different appendage of the dino. They seemed to wrap around and go into the villain and even as he tried to struggle, it was too late. Joe forced him to the ground and to put his hands behind his back as police started to arrive on scene and secure both villains.

The seemingly ring leader of this whole smash and grab was still laying on the ground, struggling to catch his breath as the eight year old stood with a foot still on his chest. The man looked up and glared, groaning “Y…You can’t do this…you damn brat, you’re not worthy of taking down a villain like…like me…” Aaron just glared down at the man “No? Then why were you so easy to take care of then?” He leaned a bit harder on the man, causing him to gasp out what little air he’d gotten back. An officer walked up and motioned Aaron off and as he stepped off the villain the officer quickly began to cuff him and looked at the boy “Thanks for the help Cyclone, but we have it from here.” Aaron nodded and made his way to Joe, who was still holding down the now struggling dino as they got handcuffs big enough for him ready. Joe looked over and smiled a bit “Good job bud, good take down, I was honestly a little worried it might turn into a real fight.”

Aaron nodded a bit “We got lucky that sciencey dude was all talk and didn’t have a good combat quirk.” Joe nodded back as they handcuffed the dino as he growled and squirmed on the ground,trying to break free of the now arm binding cuffs. Joe put Kuma back in his backpack and pulled his strings back, sighing a bit as he pulled his phone out and checked the time. “Looks like we got another half an hour before we’re off patrol, that means for the next half an hour, no more talking about how you-know-what it is.”

Aaron just groaned softly “Alright…alright, sorry, didn’t know the magical villain fairies heard me and decided to drop a villain off right down the street.” Joe chuckled at that and patted Aaron’s head before giving his statement and information to the police. After a bit Joe turned to Aaron and smiled softly “Alright, ready to head back to the office? I’ll treat ya tonight for doing so good.” Aaron perked up a bit as he looked up at Joe “Pizza…?” 

Joe just chuckled softly “I mean, if that’s what you really want lil dude, so be it.” Aaron hopped a bit excitedly as his wind kicked up a bit. Joe just smiled “Alright…Alright, chill it out, we don’t need a tornado being kicked up over a pizza.” Aaron just smiled as the dino started to squirm and struggle, growling angrily now as he saw his boss getting put into the back of a squad car.

The dino squirmed and growled as Aaron watched him and his eyes widened a bit, slowly starting to back up as Joe looked confused. “Aaron, it’s fine, he’s contained and can’t-'' Joe was cut off as the sound of screeching and breaking metal filled the air, the giant bracer cuffs they’d barely gotten on him snapping like plastic. Joe went to whip around and throw out his strings, but ended up getting a  massive fist to his face and chest, sending him sprawling across the street with a groan.

Aaron’s eyes widened as he saw his brother and parental figure get thrown like an unwanted doll “JOE!” He went to take off running only to get stopped by a massive fist going to swing at him next, making him have to jump up with a blast of air over it. “You’re not goin’ anywhere and neither is he, lil fly thing. You hurted Boss, now you die.” Aaron flew up for a few more meters before starting to come back down as the dino started to grab for him.

Aaron looked around frantically, seeing most of the adults now hurt or unconscious as the dino smirked devilishly “Don’ worry, I’ll make it hurt lots for whatcha did to Boss.”  The dino leapt up from his position, going to grab for Aaron and trying to yank him down. Aaron barely dodged to the side and stared, his mind frozen with fear and unable to do anything other than act on pure instinct right now as the dino slammed down to the ground again, his weight cracking the concrete under him.

Aaron started to look around and away from the dino, hoping any other heroes might be in the area or enroute to them, only to hear the villain chuckle. “Fine, lil fly, stay up dere, and watch me take care of this puppet show man.” He began to saunter over, each step like a small earthquake as Joe laid there, groaning and just barely starting to wake up. Aaron looked back at the villain as he snatched up Joe and smirked, opening his wide jaws as Joe groaned weakly, squirming a bit as he was moved closer to what seemed to be an inevitable end.

“NO!” Was the first real word that reached Joe’s ears since being thrown, and it was from a voice he heard daily. He was barely even able to glance over, his eyes fluttering a bit as he saw the strawberry blonde boy flying quickly into the fray, and unfortunately for the monster, he wasn’t able to close his mouth in time. All Joe heard after that was a loud boom of air, and the sound of the wind entering the dino’s maw at an extremely high speed.

The dino could only stand there and gulp air for a few seconds, feeling a crack as his jaw dislocated, causing a silent scream and for him to drop Joe where he stood, before stumbling back and falling onto his back. The wind now no longer forcing his jaw open, all he could do was scream as Aaron glared down, looking like he might be ready to kill him “You don’t EVER touch my brother!” Joe blinked weakly and looked up “A…Aaron…don’t hurt him anymore…you…you’ll get fined or…or worse.”

Aaron just kept his death glare up as he floated above the villain, now screaming in pain as a few other heroes from their agency swooped in, one of them using her quirk to hit a weak point on him and instantly knock him out. Aaron growled as another one of their hero friends, Orin, ran up and quickly started to check over Joe, his eyes going almost black and blue for a second “Alright, no breaks, that’s surprising, still you have lots of trauma with your chest and abdomen, we’re gonna have to get you to Quickfix asap.” 

Aaron looked over and quickly floated down, just hugging Joe tight and burying his face into him “I’m sorry…I’m sorry, I should’ve…I should’ve stopped him or…or said something or…” Joe just gently hugged him back, shaking his head gently and wincing “No…you did everything you could Aaron, I should’ve made sure he was better secured before letting him go…” Aaron just laid on him, starting to sniffle a bit as he looked over his beaten and broken brother “You got hurt cause I didn’t warn you…”

Orin sighed a bit as he looked at them “Look, we can sit here and say how we all fucked up today, but right now we need to get Joe fixed up.” Aaron slowly nodded, standing and looking Joe over as he smiled, slowly getting Kuma out again and having the puppeted bear pick him up and gently start to carry him down the street.  Aaron followed along, looking at Joe who was currently working hard to keep control of Kuma and keep himself awake as they made their way to the office building they worked out of.

Kuma carefully carried Joe in and upstairs to the small room they’d call an infirmary, though it was fairly bare due to the fact Quickfix always had exactly what he needed to heal injuries within minutes. Quickfix glanced over, his eyes narrowing for a second before sighing “Again Joe? Ya know, this is why you’re so tired all the time after work, it’s a near daily thing at this point.” Joe just sighed “This time…it wasn’t my fault, we had him all locked up and he just…bamf’d out and tried to kill me.”

Quickfix sighed, his arm opening up into what is best described as a medical cabinet, pulling out a few different meds of various colors. “And let me guess, you beat him, but just barely and now you look oh so cool?” Joe blushed a bit and shook his head “I wish I could say that…but Aaron saved me this time.” Quickfix raised his eyebrows a bit “Oh? Well I’ll be damned” He looked over at Aaron and gave a soft smile “Good job lil guy.” He opened his arm again, pulling out a lollipop and handing it to Aaron who took it slowly.

Aaron softly sighed as he looked at the lollipop, mumbling “I could’ve done more though… he still got hurt cause I just… froze up.” Quickfix nodded a bit as he prepped a needle, grabbing Joe’s arm and slowly injecting a greenish liquid into his arm “Yes…but maybe this will teach Joe to be a little more careful, even when his enemy is down.” Joe just winced and let him inject him with the substance, knowing whatever is from Quickfix gave him would do exactly what his name is.

Aaron just watched quietly as Quickfix did a few more things, putting ointment on Joe and making him drink something before nodding “Alright, give it about an hour and you should be right as rain.” Joe nodded, getting Kuma away again and slipping his backpack off, before slowly shuffling towards the door “Thanks doc, I gotta buy you a drink sometime soon.” Quickfix nodded “You know it…” Joe walked out and Aaron followed close, heading to their office and as Joe walked in, he fell over onto the couch and groaned softly, looking tired suddenly. Aaron shuffled to his desk, sitting and looking at Joe, “Gonna nap while you heal all that?” Joe nodded a bit “Yeah…this part always sucks, especially when I get lots of bruises all over cause it’s gotta heal it all at once…” He barely got out the last of his sentence before his eyes fell shut and he quickly drifted off to sleep, leaving Aaron to sit and turn his computer on, starting a game up.

Joe slept for a solid few hours, though as he started to wake up the scene hadn’t changed much, minus how dark the room had gotten. Aaron still sat at his desk, though he looked engrossed with whatever game he was playing at the time as Joe slowly sat up, softly groaning and looking at the time. It was around seven at night now which caused a sigh to escape him “Damnit… slept way longer than I wanted to…” Aaron looked over “You… looked like you needed it…”

Joe nodded a bit, stretching a bit and groaning as he stood “Well… at least I feel a whole lot better… you hungry lil guy?” Aaron paused his game and looked over, nodding slightly as Joe smiled a bit, grabbing his duffle bag of normal clothes “Alright, lemme change and we’ll go get that pizza ya wanted, okay?” Aaron nodded again, already in his day clothes as he’d changed when he had the chance during Joe’s extended nap.

  Joe quickly got changed and made his way back to the office, making sure to grab his wallet and keys as Aaron shut down his PC. Joe smiled, ruffling the smaller boy’s hair and gently taking his hand “Alright… pizza time then we head home and chill out, sound good?” Aaron gave a soft smile as he was led out of the office, down the stairs and out the front door, both of them walking down the street and to the local pizza joint.

They walked in and Joe smiled as he saw a familiar face behind the counter, the owner Luka, working quickly to get a few pizzas out before looking back “Well hey there local heroes!” Joe blinked a bit in confusion as he tilted his head slightly “Huh…? Whatcha mean Luk?” He chuckled, tossing a pizza into the oven gently “You kiddin? I basically saw the whole thing with my own two eyes, not to mention the amount of news coverage you two are gettin’, it’s crazy!” Aaron glanced up and looked slightly nervous upon hearing this, but Joe just looked intrigued.

“News coverage…? Like mainstream news?” Joe sounded like he was in disbelief as Luka nodded “Yep! ‘Parently those two had done a few other smash and grabs in the last few weeks, hurt lotsa people too, and you guys stopped em like it was nothin!” Joe rubbed the back of his neck a bit and gave a sly smile “Well…ya know, kinda our job and stuff.” Aaron nodded a bit as Luka just smiled “Well, for makin sure I wasn’t the next to be smashed nor grabbed, how’s about the pizza tonight is on me?”

Joe blinked a bit “Luka…we can’t do that to ya, I-” Luka cut him off, holding out his pizza cutter “You listen here young man, you do lots to keep us safe, both of ya’s, so you deserve a reward, past just money, so it’s on me, got it?” Joe gave a soft sigh, knowing any arguing past this point would be pointless. “Alright alright, we just want our regular.” Luka nodded “Cheese and a meat lovers, you got it boss, and while you’re at it, grab a two liter for the road, can’t have ya’s getting thirsty.” 

Aaron didn’t even look for Joe’s permission, having dealt with this with Luka before, when Joe was super sick for a few weeks. He grabbed a two liter of orange soda as Luka made quick work of making and tossing the pizzas in and working to box the other pizza’s he’d put in when they walked in. Aaron rocked on his heels quietly, looking around the establishment he knew so well by now and waited for the pizzas, ready to just go home and rest himself.

They didn’t wait long as before they knew it two boxes were put on the counter for them, Luka smiling behind them as he slid them across “Now be careful, they’re a little hot, you two have yourselves a great night, and next time it’ll be on you…I mean, unless you rescue my business again.” Aaron gave a soft chuckle as Joe smiled “Well, let's hope that doesn’t happen again anytime soon, hope you have a good night Luka.” Luka just tipped his hat a bit and watched them as they left, Aaron showing a bit of excitement as they walked out and down the street towards their apartment.

It was a bit of walking before they got there, allowing the pizza time to cool before they walked into their modest apartment, Joe shutting the door behind them and tossing his keys into the bowl near the door. He walked quickly to the kitchen, putting the pizzas on the stove as Aaron followed in, setting the soda down as he flicked on the lights. Joe pulled out plates and quickly served the pizza as he turned to Aaron “Why don’t ya get comfy and put on a movie or whatever.” He gave a small wink as Aaron blushed slightly and nodded, shuffling down the hall.

Joe poured soda into cups, though for Aaron he grabbed a cup that was reserved for nights like these, ones where they’d had a very stressful day and the kid needed a break for the night. Joe checked the sippy cup over, making sure it was clean before pouring the soda in and bringing it all over to the couch, setting the food and drinks on the coffee table as he waited for Aaron. He didn’t end up waiting long as he soon heard the telltale crinkle of Aaron shuffling down the hall.

He just smiled softly as the boy walked in, dressed in Bluey PJs and with an obvious bulk around his waist as he sat on the couch and slowly grabbed his pizza, starting to eat as Joe looked “Want me to pick what to watch for tonight?” Aaron just nodded as Joe softly smiled and nodded back, flicking it quickly to Netflix and put on Avatar, being halfway through their… sixth rewatch? Currently in the book of earth, it was a good way to just chill out and not worry about the events of the day.

Aaron and Joe sat quietly, just slowly eating and sipping their drinks as Aaron gently adjusted on the couch a soft crinkle coming from him as Joe just softly smiled. They watched for a while, getting a refill on soda and a few more slices of pizza, just enjoying the night and the quiet that came with the feeling of doing a good day’s work. After a while though, Joe noticed out of the corner of his eye Aaron rubbing his eyes a bit “Getting sleepy lil dude?” 

Aaron glanced over, trying to shake his head and deny it, but Joe knew better and just gently put an arm around his little brother, pulling him close. Aaron slowly scooched along, leaning ever so gently onto Joe as he rubbed Aaron’s side and smiled softly down “Mhm… just what I thought, why don’t we swap after this episode, I’m thinking Avatar might be a little too bouncy to fall asleep to.” Aaron just shrugged a bit as they watched, the ending soon coming up and Joe almost immediately swapping from netflix to Disney+.

Aaron could only softly blush as he watched Joe swiftly get logged in and move to the show they both knew Aaron wanted to watch right now. The music kicked in almost immediately and Aaron gave a soft smile as he heard the familiar tune, only for it to be interrupted by “Dad”. Joe gently patted Aaron’s bottom and smiled at the boy as he felt Aaron’s wind kick up a bit around them, a sign he wasn’t focusing as hard on keeping it under control and was letting himself relax.

Joe just gently rubbed his side and back, letting the boy rest on him more and more as the theme finished up with the now iconic “Bluey!” leading to another grin from Aaron. They watched and Joe slowly worked Aaron into a position of laying in his lap as they watched the episode, one Joe specifically knew was one of Aaron’s favorites, Keepy uppy. The boy just laid and watched, feeling that tiredness slowly hitting him more and more as the short episode ran its course.

Joe knew that Aaron had to be exhausted at this point, but knew trying to force Aaron to bed would only lead to an argument or him getting upset, and this had become a normal routine for them at nights. After a bit of patting, back rubs and Bluey, Joe heard something he’d been working this entire time for. A yawn escaped Aaron and upon looking down Joe noticed Aaron’s eyes starting to do a telltale flutter as he tried to keep himself awake to watch one or two more episodes.

Joe just kept it up, not pointing the obvious out, rather just letting the smaller boy just drift into a partially asleep state. After another episode Joe leaned down slowly and softly whispered “Alright buddy, I think it’s time for ninights, want me to carry you? Or do you wanna walk?” Joe knew the answer already, but he wanted to see what Aaron would say right now. Like clockwork though, Aaron just silently held out an arm to be picked up and so Joe did, gently lifting the boy as he stood.

Aaron just rested his head on Joe and again yawned as Joe made his way slowly to Aaron’s room, pushing the door open with his foot. The room was an odd mix of eight year old and maybe a three year old at best, posters of Hawks the pro hero and minecraft on the walls along with nerf guns and other toys you would expect of an eight year old. Looking at the bed though told you a  possibly different story, the sheets and blanket Bluey themed as a baby blanket rested near the pillow along with a stuffed red dino plushie. There was also a pack of night diapers, not goodnites or underjams mind you, full blown night diapers, sitting next to his night stand as well.

Joe just gave a soft smile to the room, enjoying seeing the mixture of his little brother every time as he felt Aaron shift a bit in his arms. Joe made careful but quick work of laying the boy down,pulling his blanket back before tucking the boy in and smiling softly at Aaron, running his fingers through the boy’s curls. “You were such a brave boy today… I can’t even thank you enough for saving me, but I hope tonight can count as a partial payment.” Aaron just looked tiredly and smiled a bit, nodding slowly.

Joe smiled back “Good…now, I think it’s time for my little hero to rest, we have tomorrow off, so it can be a day all about you if you want, okay?” Aaron nodded again but it looked like sleep was already calling his name, and quickly at that as his eyes fluttered more. “Alright little dude, I’m gonna let you sleep, love ya” Joe gently kissed Aaron’s forehead before standing and smiling as the boy quickly drifted off before Joe could even get halfway to the door. 

He quickly flicked Aaron’s night light on and turned off his lights, taking one last look at his sleeping little brother before gently tiptoeing into the hall, shutting the door partially so he could hear Aaron if needed. He made his way back to the couch and sat with a sigh, thinking over the day and especially about the fact he’d nearly met his end at the hands of such a low level villain. The thought made him shudder to his very core, if Aaron hadn’t been there, things would’ve gone much..much worse. 

Another monthly story! This one was a tie between the prompts of "Snow day" and "Back to school regression". ______________________________________________________________ James sighed as he walked into work that morning, fresh off a three day weekend caused by a snow day, and sure enough his room’s parapro was gonna be out for the day. He sat at his desk, turning his computer on and starting to pull up his now thrown off by a day lesson plans. He scrolled through them, getting his materials around when he noticed his email ping. He quickly clicked the tab, expecting the morning announcements, instead it was an email from the principal with the title “New student”. He groaned, he already had a class of 24, 25 was going to be a lot.

He opened the email and gave a small frown as he saw the name of the student “Aaron Sprung”. That was an issue he wasn’t expecting, the new kid having the same first name as his parapro, he’d have to bring that up to Aaron when he got back from being sick. James stood back up now, looking around his room to see where he could put another desk, frowning a bit as he’d just figured out what would be the perfect groups for these kids. He decides to move a desk from the back to a group he knows he can trust to be quiet when needed and nods a bit before checking the time and letting a small sigh out.

He made sure everything was set up before walking to his door and opening it, putting on his best “I’m not tired” smile as he heard the kids coming down the hall. A few were already lined up by the door as he opened it, likely either a co-workers kid or they ran down the hall the second the front doors were open. He gave them either a fist bump, a wave or a hug as they entered, the students themselves picking between them, and he kept a close eye out, seeing if there were any kiddos he didn’t recognize wandering the halls as if lost.

As he stood, greeting each kid as they walked by and into his room, though he wasn’t fully expecting what he saw next. He watched as a child that looked like he belonged right in James’ class walked up, though he could swear he knew this kid. He had a semi-curly mop of strawberry blonde hair, a pokemon hoodie on and matching joggers that looked brand new, along with some light up velcro shoes that also looked fairly new and had a backpack covered in dinosaurs.

Normally all of this could be chalked up to new school jitters and wanting new stuff to show off…there was just one issue though. This strawberry blonde kiddo making his way quietly down the hall was the spitting image of Aaron, his parapro that was out sick today. James couldn’t help but stare at the boy as he walked up and somewhat nervously looked up “Um…Mr. Kelling?” James blinked a bit and nodded “Y…Yeah, that’s me, you must be Aaron.”

The boy just nodded, avoiding eye contact as James did his best to put on a smile “Welcome to my class Aaron, your desk is going to be number 25, go ahead and put your bag on a free hook in the closet.” He nodded, walking in as James had to stand in the hall for a second, acting like he was checking for any other kids but in reality, his mind was racing. How was Aaron so small? What happened to him? This was like those stories he read online but…he was right here, and…unless Aaron has a secret child also named Aaron that he just found out about, this should be impossible. 

He made his way into the room again after getting his smile and focus back, looking as the kids grabbed their breakfasts and sat at their seats. He watched their newest classmate do the same, but less seeming like he was just following the herd and more like he was used to the routine. James could only frown quietly to himself, wondering how much of Aaron was in there, before getting the day started with morning announcements. 

James could only keep his eyes on Aaron as the boy worked, showing he was still fairly ahead of the curve, but struggling at points with things like math. James could only wonder how this all happened so…quickly, it’d only been three days, how does someone lose that much age in three days. He was working through it slowly and before long he noticed the time “Alright class! Time for recess, get dressed up as it’s pretty cold out.” He walked over to Aaron and gently tapped him “I’d like you to stay in bud, I wanna show you about a bit more.” 

Aaron looked nervous as the rest of the kids got ready and lined up before being led out by a recess aide. I gently shut the door behind them and then turned to Aaron, looking down at the small boy “So…what happened?” Aaron looked up at James, looking nervous but trying to put on his best confused face “Huh…? Whatcha…um…mean?” James sighed a bit, leaning on a desk and giving Aaron a look “Aaron, I know it’s you, it’s not hard to recognize those curls.”

Aaron looked taken aback for a second before looking at the floor quietly and shrugging  a bit.James sighed and just stared the boy down “Well…it’s not every day I see a previous co-worker shuffle in here and struggle with fractions…so what happened?” Aaron looked down and sighed a bit as I just waited “You…wouldn’t believe me.” I sat down now on one of the desks, looking at him seriously “Try me.”

Aaron looked up and sighed softly. “Well…I decided to try this…remote of sorts, I didn’t know it at first but it has the ability to like…reshape the world.” James sighed a bit, if the proof wasn’t standing in front of him and this was any other kid he’d be telling them to knock it off about now. “And so I just…wanted to try it and made myself younger, and…I just…I dunno, I don’t…really wanna go back…ya know?”

James looked at Aaron and nodded a bit “I mean…yeah, I honestly get that more than you’d think…” Aaron seemed to perk up a bit “You…you do?” James nodded again and sighed “I…I wish the same thing sometimes honestly.” Aaron blinked at that before quietly asking “Really…? You’re not just…saying that…?” James shook his head “For as long as I’ve been an adult…I’ve just wanted to be a kid again, take this stress and stuff away and just…relax again.” 

Aaron seemed to think quietly for a few moments before making his way quickly to where his bag was hung up. James watched as he dug through it for a second before pulling out an odd looking remote. It looked like a mix between a calculator and a universal remote, both from the early 2000s. He walked back over before looking up at James seriously “So…you wanna take that stress away?”

James blinked a bit, his heart rate picking up as he realized just what Aaron was suggesting “I…I mean yeah b…but I need this job too and…” Aaron shook his head a bit with a sigh, cutting James off “Because you gotta keep your house and whatnot…yeah yeah.” James just blinked a bit at the sudden annoyance from the little boy as Aaron continued “Look, I’m offering a free shot at what you want, if you’re a kid again you don’t have to worry about a job or bills or…anything! I mean other than what’s for lunch today.”

James nodded a bit, thinking quietly as Aaron seemed to already be prepping the remote. James looked at him “So…what would happen with my class?” Aaron just shrugged a bit “I mean…it alters reality too, someone would just…take your place in the new reality and boom, pretty much nothing happened, at least for the others.” James thought for a few seconds before suddenly frowning “Wait…if you changed reality for everyone…why do I remember you being older?” 

Aaron looked at him and shrugged, “I wanted to see how you’d react, hence why I have the remote, if you reacted bad, boom, I’m just another kid.” James just blinked a bit at that “damn…that cold huh…?” Aaron just shrugged “Hey, I’m glad it’s working out this way instead, so…how old do you wanna be? My age or…?” James thought for a second about it, wondering just how low he could go, thinking specifically about some of his more…infant themed stories he’d read as of late.

Aaron just stared at him for a bit and sighed “No please…take alllll the time ya need, not like the kids are gonna be back soon.” James blushed at that before sighing softly “How about...six…first grade or older kindergarten” Aaron hit a few buttons, nodding and smiling now “And if ya don’t like it, lemme know after school, okay?” James nodded, blushing a bit at the thought of being in school again as Aaron aimed the remote at him.

Aaron looked around it “It might feel a bit weird for a second, so.just hold onto something” James grabbed the desk but before he could respond he heard a click and felt a weird almost static feeling wash over him. It was like the feeling you have when an arm or leg falls asleep but all over and he couldn’t help but shut his eyes as it washed over his head. It was one of the worst feelings he could remember, like he was being put through a car wash without the car.

He stood there for…he didn’t even know how long at this point as this feeling washed over him, groaning softly as he felt it slowly starting to abate. He  started to open his eyes, seeing the floor first and just how close it was before slowly looking up at Aaron, who was now standing about a head taller than James. Aaron just smiled at him “Annnnd…done! Look atcha! Super cute.” James just swayed as he stood there, feeling like the room was spinning around him.

Aaron walked over, gently patting his back as he looked at James “I warned ya…it’s a rough one.” James just nodded slowly as Aaron rubbed his back and watched him “We..probably wanna get moving, because I think you’re…supposed to be in Mrs.K’s class.” James nodded a bit again as Aaron slowly led him out by the hand. As they walked he slowly felt better and better and began to take in the very similar looking halls all around him just…much bigger.

Aaron smiled down at the now much younger boy who was enraptured with his new status as a first grader “Pretty cool huh?” James just nodded more as they walked down the first grade hall and he saw all the art projects from the year hung up…including a spot with his name on it, though it was empty currently.

Aaron gently knocked on the door and Mrs.K answered, smiling down at the two of them “Welcome back James! Did Aaron give a good tour of the building for you?” James just nodded a bit, a faint memory of Aaron leading him around seemingly surfacing out of nowhere as Mrs.K looked at Aaron. “Thank you so much for helping him get his bearings hun, I know everything must be tough with him just getting to your guy’s house last night.

A comm from a friend which I really enjoyed doing, helped me push out of my comfort zone and really feel a new style. ______________________________________________________________

Meeting up after the events of what they were beginning to call the “delta episode” Ruby and Sapphire looked at each other for the first time in roughly a week. While their new relationship status had been cemented, they both felt they had roadblocks to overcome not only in their romantic, but personal relationships as well. It was then that they began to talk with each other about what they could truly do to try and overcome what felt like a boulder they couldn’t use strength on in the middle of their conversations.

“So…I was thinking” Ruby started as Sapphire sighed a bit, glancing over at him. “Like always”  Ruby rolled his eyes a bit and nodded “Yes, like always, but this time about…ya know….” Sapphire nodded “The boulder.” Ruby nodded again “Yeah…so I was thinking, maybe…maybe if we use some psychic pokemon and maybe see if Celebi would be willing to help…we could maybe…understand each other better?”

Sapphire looked at him curiously, tilting her head to the side a bit “Oh…? Like…going into the past?” Ruby nodded a bit “Not to like…mess with stuff, but to see what’s really digging our heels in subconsciously, ya know?” Sapphire nodded a bit, thinking quietly to herself “Well…the only issue I see with it is getting Celebi to pop in and help with this.” Ruby sighed a bit “Yeaaah…that’s the big thing, dunno how to get that pokemon to sit still.”

Sapphire thought for a few moments before pulling out her pokenav before walking out of the room and shutting the door. Ruby sat there in silent confusion as he heard the chatter outside the door and it was a solid thirty minutes before Sapphire walked back in.She smirked confidently “Well, I called Gold and he says they have a special flute there that’ll let us call Celebi.” Ruby sighed a bit “Greaaat, we just gotta take a quick jaunt to Johto…fuuuuun…” 

Sapphire just shrugged “Your idea, get packing whiney, I don’t wanna hear you ran out of diapers halfway.” She walked to her room as Ruby sighed again and slowly got up, walking to his room and starting to pack. He made sure his pokeballs were on his belt and that he had packed at least a week’s worth of diapers before focusing on his clothes, though he didn’t exactly have a ton of outfits to swap between.

It wasn’t long after that that the two newly romantics made their way to the airport, double and triple checking their bags before boarding a Dragonite airline’s flight straight to Goldenrod. Gold was waiting there a bit excitedly for the two to get off, waving at them and smiling “Hey there you two! Glad ya decided to finally make a trip to my stomping grounds.” Sapphire nodded and smiled as she nudged Ruby “No matter how much this one didn’t want to cause he had to actually clean his room a bit to pack.”

Ruby narrowed his eyes a bit at her and sighed “Well that and the last time I was here was when I was…very little so…lots changed and it’s weird.” Gold nodded a bit “Right, you’re from here, honestly completely forgot that…” Ruby nodded as he crossed his arms a bit “So…where’s this mystic flute?” Gold rolled his eyes a bit “In my bag, I’m not pulling it out here, last thing we need is for it to get broken or stolen. Plus, it only works at one place.”

Ruby groaned a bit “So we gotta go to this mystical place too? Do you even know where it is?” Gold nodded, rolling his eyes a bit “I wouldn’t have told you two about this if I didn’t, it’s just a bit of a trek but we should be there in no time.” Sapphire nodded and smiled as Ruby slowly walked along with them, going out of town towards the south and to a town called ‘Azalea Town’. 

Gold told them on the way how there’s an old shrine near the town that is dedicated to Celebi and that playing the flute near it should be able to bring it out. After about half a day of walking, with the sun just starting to dip below the horizon, they walked up to the site of the shrine, Ruby firmly but lovingly taking Sapphire's hand. She glanced over a bit and chuckled with a soft smile “What? Nervous?” Ruby looked over at her and nodded a bit “What if…what if we do this and find out things we shouldn't know about each other…or what if it strains what we have?”

Sapphire just shook her head a bit and smiled at him “You’re being silly…I think this is only gonna be better for us.” She gently kissed his cheek as he blushed a bit and looked down at his feet before slowly nodding. He then let his gardevoir Rara out as Sapphire let out her Gallade, Kirly, out and the two started to explain their plan to their pokemon as Gold got the flute ready.

Ruby looked at Sapphire, looking a bit more confident as he smiled a bit “Alright…let's do this.” They both pulled out sleeping bags, laying them on the ground to give themselves more thanthe hard dirt and grass to lay on before laying side by side. As they did, Gold started to play the flute, it was a soft melody, almost like a lullaby that made Ruby smile as he thought he recognized it. It wasn’t long after he started playing that there was a small greenish flash of light.

They all blinked the blindness from their eyes and looked at a confused Celebi who looked down at Ruby in recognition. “We need your help…we…we need to figure out how to be better…for each other and everyone around us.” Celebi looked them over, as if contemplating what exactly they were doing before Rara spoke up, to humans it was just the pokemon’s name a few times. 

After a few minutes of pokemon names back and forth, Celebi nodded, flying up to where Ruby and Sapphire had their heads laid, before putting its small hands out and a small orb of greenish energy started to glow. Rara and Kirly began to do something similar, but each of them focusing on their trainer as Ruby and Sapphire’s vision started to blur and double. The last thing both of them saw before falling asleep was the green sphere lowering towards them and then…blackness.

The blackness only lasted a few seconds for the couple though as it was like blinking, they soon found themselves standing in a familiar place. A place they’d only been a few times each, and one both of them remembered for better or worse. They slowly looked around, seeing this scene now from a completely different perspective than either of them have ever seen. They watched as the two younger versions of themselves made their way through the woods and talked.

The two felt their observing forms being pulled behind their younger counterparts as if there was a tether around their waists. They watched as the younger two played and talked before both of them heard the distinctive roar that haunted them both. They watched as the Salamance charged towards their younger selves, with both of them barely dodging out of the way.

They both watched in silence as Ruby sent out Nana, Kiki and Rara, having them start attacking the salamance even in such an uneven matchup. Even so the pokemon were able to do some extreme damage, causing the salamance to stumble back before suddenly swiping at Ruby, gashing him across his forehead. The much younger Sapphire can only watch and start to sniffle as she sees her friend get hurt in such a brutal way.

Ruby, shrugging off the pain for now, tells Kiki to hit the salamance with a double edge, knocking the dragon back a bit and causing it to start fleeing as Ruby stood, blood dripping down his face as the pain started to ebb. The younger Ruby looked back to see his friend starting to cry and for the first time due to their psychic connections from their respective ralts evolutions, they could hear what the other was thinking.

For Ruby he heard the voice of a much younger Sapphire in his head. Between the sobs and sniffles he heard her thinking many thoughts, but specifically he heard “I let him get hurt…I’m too weak…if I was stronger I could’ve helped him.” Ruby could only blink as these thoughts entered his mind, looking slowly over to his best friend and now partner as she looked just as stunned and at a loss for words.

Meanwhile Sapphire was hearing the voice of a young Ruby in her head, his thoughts racing from the thrill of battle and pain of his head. She was able to similarly pick up on some specific thoughts that raced in an out as the younger Ruby looked back at his friend. “Oh no…I was too much for her…I made her cry…I’m just too intense for her.” She could only stand there in a stunned silence as she noticed Ruby’s almost astral form looking towards her, that similar stunned look on his face.

They only stared at each other for so long though as quickly the little Sapphire got up, making her away from the little Ruby. As she did so the older Sapphire was dragged along, just watching her partner in a stunned silence as she was pulled farther and farther away. The mental Ruby started to try and make his way after her, and with each step he took the ground below him began to fade, the memories starting to drift as he attempted to get to his girlfriend.

Sapphire now looked up at her boyfriend, slowly coming out of her stupor and slowly starting to make her way to him as well, breaking free from the memory as well. Their psychic forms walked towards each other before Ruby just pulled Sapphire into a quick hug,holding her tight and close. She just laid her head on him as they stood there for a few minutes in silence.

Ruby looked down at her “I…I’m so…so sorry…” She nodded a bit as she leaned into him more “I am too…I…I didn’t know that’s why you stopped battling.” He just stared at her “I…I thought I was too much, too fierce…I thought I scared you…I…I didn’t wanna ever scare someone like that again.” Sapphire just shook her head “I was scared because you got hurt Ruby…I was scared because…I felt like I didn’t do enough to help you.”

Ruby just looked down at her, almost lost in his words for a moment before gently lifting her chin up to look at him “What could you have done? I had it…I just…” She sighed a bit and avoided his eyes as she mumbled “You got hurt…for me.” He shook his head quickly “I got hurt because I didn’t move out of the way! That’s not your fault Sapphire…” She just sighed softly “If I would’ve helped or even pushed you to the side a bit…it would’ve been better than just sitting there.”

Ruby stared at her and frowned now “And what if you got hurt? What if it was worse than this little gash on my head?” She looked up and met his eyes now “It’s not little! You have a scar Ruby! What if it knocked you out?! Or…or…or killed you?! What then?!” “It didn’t Sapphire! So you have nothing to be blaming yourself for!” She gave an annoyed huff now “Then what? You get to still wallow in the fact you think you were too much for me and freaked me out?”

Ruby started to stammer on his words as he was hit with the sudden turn around question “I…I know I was I…” She cut him off now “You were not! I was crying because I was scared and upset at not being able to help! It had nothing to do with you being too much or too bold.” Ruby just looked down at her “But…if I wasn’t so bold…I wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” Sapphire shook her head “and if I wasn’t so weak, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt, or thought you were too much for me.”

Ruby just stared at her for a few moments, realizing they were going in circles as he tried to think of a way out of this before it led to a doom spiral. Sapphire saw his eyes focusing and could almost hear the gears in his head turning as she sighed a bit “I…I’m sorry…” Ruby blinked a bit as he looked at her “For what…? I was…” he seemed to stop and think for a second again before pulling her close and hugging her tight just sighing as he softly said “It’s…It’s okay Sapphire…”

She blinked in surprise at the sudden shift from a tug of war of who did more wrong to  him now accepting her apology. He looked at her and again, just as softly said “And I’m sorry…for feeling so bad I had to change myself completely…” She blinked a bit before she let a soft sigh out “and…and I’m sorry…I got so obsessed with getting stronger because I thought I was too weak for you.”

Ruby just nodded slowly as he cuddled her close. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize you felt that way…” She looked up at him and nodded “and I’m sorry for the same…I…I didn’t realize that’s why you didn’t want to battle anymore.” Ruby just nodded, softly smiling. “But…it’s okay because honestly, contests have so much more…beauty to them, battles are cool, contests allow your pokemon to shine.”

Sapphire chuckled a bit. “Now…that’s where we disagree…battles can show off just how strong and amazing your pokemon are, and they don’t need those silly costumes.” Ruby gasped a bit “The costumes are the best part!” Sapphire pushed his astral form a bit and chuckled “Oh, what ever, they’re soooo flashy, though I guess that IS your style.” He rolled his eyes a bit as they both started to feel…odd.

Their bodies started to feel floaty, like they’d been in a wave pool or on a boat too long and now they were standing on solid ground. Sapphire looked dizzy for a second as she looked across at Ruby who was looking similar “Wh…what’s going on?” Ruby shrugged a bit “M…maybe we’re waking up?” She nodded “or the powers they’re using are running dry for tonight.” Ruby nodded before hugging her tight again suddenly.

Sapphire looked at him as he held her, smiling softly “I love you so much” He said as she could only kiss him quickly and as she did they both felt the overwhelming feeling of love wash over them both. It was as if they were connected mentally and with each second they kissed, they could feel the love they had for each other from the other’s perspective. It was a warm and almost overwhelming feeling as they embraced and kissed.

It was just then that they began to feel the tug and pull of the mental space falling apart as their pokemon were probably getting tired. They could only gently hold each other's hands for a few moments longer before they were yanked apart and out of sight. They sat in a blackness for a while, they didn’t know how long, but Sapphire was the one to start waking first. Her eyes slowly fluttered open as she started to look about, she was still in the same spot she went to sleep, under the shrine, but now the pokemon were asleep and Celebi was currently nowhere to be seen.

She slowly sat up, wincing a bit as she felt the cold squish of her diaper under her bottom, it’d obviously been on her and used for a while. She slowly stood, it sagging between her legs as she went to dig a fresh one out of her bag. She didn’t hear Ruby wake up, nor him sitting up as she dug and it wasn’t until he said something that she even noticed him. “Mind grabbing me one of my spares? I’m swimming over here.” 

She looked back with a soft smile, grabbing one of hers and one of his along with the changing supplies before making her way over. “When aren’t you swimming in the morning?” Ruby blushed a bit as she chuckled and he tried to retort “W…Well it just means I drink a lot of water…and it’s…it’s been a thing since I was little.” He could only blush as she stood over him, her light blue “Conquerors Crinklies” covered in the gym badges sagging heftily between her legs.

“Well?” She said as he stared “You gonna keep starin or you gonna lay back and let me get that off you before you get a rash?” He just blushed more as he looked farther up to meet her eyes now “Y… you don’t have to. I… I can do it.” She chuckled a bit as she gently pushed him back onto his back and glanced down, getting an even bigger smirk as she noticed what was exactly making him so blushy.

She gently rubbed the bulge in his diaper, that smirk never leaving her face even as he squirmed under her watchful eyes. “Oh my… is my little boyfriend all excited to get changed by his girlfriend?” He just stared up, his cheeks looking like a pikachu’s with how red they were. “I… I just… I…” Sapphire just gently shushed him and smiled softly “Don’t worry honey…I’ve got this.”

She gently kneeled down and started to undo the tapes on his diaper, smiling at him the entire time as he tried to hide his embarrassment. She just gently pulled the front back, holding back a giggle as his member sprung up and waggled a bit. She just took the wipes she’d been warming and started to gently clean her boyfriend’s most private area as he just watched in a mix of embarrassment and lust as every time she got close to his member he shivered.

She kept it up, making sure he was fully clean before giving a slight smirk, gently moving back towards his privates, causing him to wiggle and squirm all the more. She gently ran her hand along his pelvis before slowly starting to gently rub up and down his penis, causing the young man to start squirming and whimpering. She chuckled a bit and just smirked “Oh honey…this isn’t the first time we’ve done this, so what’s got you all flustered like a first timer?”

“I… I just… it feels… I… I dunno… d-different?” Ruby was able to stammer out as he stared down at the now again smirking young lady. “Oh? Different? Do you like this?” She gently drew circles on his tummy with her finger as she smiled now “Of course you do…and that’s perfectly fine my cutie, be shy all you want, but you know you wanted this from the moment I offered to change you.

Ruby just laid there, slowly nodding as he squirmed and let her work her magic, gently sliding her hand up and down his stiff member, every so often speeding up and getting a small squeak out of him. “And to think…you’re the same tough boy who saved me, all squirmy and whimpery like putty in my hands.” She gently leaned forward over him and kissed his lips “My adorable savior, so sweet and cute, just how I like him.”

She then did something he wasn’t expecting as she gently started to kiss her way down his chest and tummy, before slowly reaching his pelvis and crotch area, causing him to shiver more with arousal. She just slowly made her way over his tip, glancing up at him before smiling and starting to slip her lips over and around his cock. He moaned a bit before covering his mouth, not wanting to wake anyone, nor possibly alert anyone walking nearby.

Sapphire continued though, just continuing to bob up and down along his length, causing him to squirm and tense every time she went down further and further. She felt him throbbing in her mouth and felt him tense each time more, knowing he was already close but she wanted to savor the moment more. She slowed down a bit and began to gently just work with her mouth as Ruby felt himself being taken to cloud nine of bliss from her touch.

She just kept it up as he began to softly moan more into his hands and she felt him tensing up, his pre dribbling as she sped up, working him to climax. He did just that as she went faster and faster, causing him to let out a loud moan before she felt his release spurt into her mouth. She just let him as he couldn’t stop, his head spinning as he was lost in the pleasure as he continued to spasm.

Soon enough though the waves of pleasure rolling through him slowed as Sapphire slowly sat up and smiled at him, gently cleaning his now quickly softening member again. “Y… You didn’t have to… I…” Ruby started as Sapphire just shook her head and smiled at him “I wanted to…plus you’re so super cute when you’re all squirmy and whiney. She gently slid the old diaper out and balled it up, taping it up as she cleaned his bottom.

She then made quick work of sliding the fresh diaper under him and gently powdered him and slid his overnight booster in before taping him up and smiling at his padding. It was a pretty simple design but one he insisted on using always, the contest badges going along it with some of the colors from the contests splashed along where they were. She gently patted his front before standing and smiling as he held out his hand for help.

She took it and helped him stand in his now much more bulky diaper for the night time as Ruby took her spare from her and she blinked. “Wh… what are you doing?” Ruby kissed her cheek suddenly as he smiled “Returning the favor… now lay down hun, don’t want YOU getting a rash.” She nodded a bit, not fully used to this as she was normally pretty self sufficient when it came to diaper changes.

She gently laid down and looked down at her padding which was sagging pretty heavily between her thighs. Ruby grabbed the supplies and booster before kneeling down and smiling as gently patted her diaper “And you said I was bad, you’re just as bad, if not worse. It’s like you used hydro pump in these things.” For one of the first times he saw her blush a bit before crossing her arms.

“J… Just get me changed you dingus.” She muttered, even though it was obvious to anyone around that she was very much enjoying the pampering as Ruby started to undo her tapes. He gently peeled back the padding, feeling his heart flutter a bit as he looked down upon her privates. He must’ve stared for a bit too long because suddenly Sapphire huffed “Why dontcha take a picture if you’re j…just gonna stare at it.”

Ruby looked up at her and smiled “It’s just… it’s beautiful, like you and…I think I wanna return the favor in more ways than one. Sapphire blinked a bit and looked down “Huh wh…” but before she could finish her question Ruby had started cleaning her off and pulled her old diaper out, balling it up as she watched him. He smiled as he cleaned her, taking care to gently clean around her lower lips, noting that the wetness she had wasn’t all from her soggy diaper, she was excited by this too.

After cleaning her off completely she mumbled out a short and shaky “o… okay… you can just get me diapered up now, then we caaaaahhh…” As she was talking though Ruby just gently started to slide his pointer and middle finger into her privates, causing her thoughts to die off mid sentence as she squirmed a bit. He just gently worked his fingers deeper in as she let out soft moans, gently gripping the sleeping bag she was on.

Ruby smiled at her “Just what I thought…soppin wet too, you like this too, just like me.” She started to mumble out between moans “I… I dooooon’t I just… oooohhh… I…” He cut her off and smiled as he started to kiss her stomach and pelvis “You love it… it’s okay, nothing to be ashamed of, just wish I could see more of this sapphire… it’s so cute.” He kept gently sliding in and out as she moaned and covered her mouth with her arm.

Ruby just smirked a bit as he gently took his other hand, running it up along her leg, feeling her shiver and the goosebumps race along it as he made his way up to her privates. It only took a few more seconds before he started to gently rub her spot. Her eyes widened at the sudden burst of pleasure as he did and she had to gently bite her arm to keep herself from almost screaming in pleasure.

He just smiled as he watched her, gently sliding in and out and playing with her button as he felt her walls tensing and relaxing with each gentle flick. She just let herself float on the pleasure, her eyes rolling back a bit as she couldn’t even form words anymore, it was just the glorious pleasure. “You’re right…seeing you like this is pretty damn cute, I understand why you do this to me so often.” 

She just moaned into her arm, any snarky remark dying before it was even fully formed as he started to speed up in both respects. She just squirmed a bit as she felt the speed up, not fully prepared for it but also not hating it as he worked her quickly to the edge. It was there she felt herself tense, the verge of climax right there as she arched her back and let a loud moan out into her arm as Ruby felt her tighten around his fingers before he delivered the final blow of a few quick rubs to her button.

She just let herself be taken by the ground shaking pleasure as he finished her, gasping and shivering a bit as the waves ripped through her. He just chuckled a bit, gently sliding out and cleaning his fingers before gently cleaning her, making sure to not overstimulate her. She was just laying there, panting and letting the pleasure roll, barely noticing as the fresh diaper crinkled its way under her with the booster, nor the powder that was put on her now very sensitive area before she was taped up.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked down, breathing heavily as Ruby taped her up and gently crawled up, laying with her and  smiling as he put his arm over her waist. She could only softly smile back as she leaned in, kissing his lips before gently curling up into his form, enjoying the cuddles more than anyone could know. Ruby just gently rubbed her back and let her lay there, coming down from her orgasmic high as both of them started to yawn, feeling the tiredness of post sexual relations washing over them. 

Ruby just rested his chin on her head as her face was buried into his chest. Sapphire soon softly mumbled out “I love you so much Ruby…” Ruby just glanced down, not wanting to shift or move too much in such a wonderful position “I love you too Sapphire… so much… it’s… it’s so wonderful being around you.” She just softly chuckled  a bit “Well… then you better get used to it mister, because after tonight I’m not going anywhere.” He just smiled hearing that as he stared out into the darkness of the woods around them “I’m not either… I never will as long as I live.”

They just laid there for a while, cuddling and listening to each other breathe, taking in the events of the day and night. Ruby just rubbed Sapphire's back and bottom as she slowly felt sleep pulling her in, wrapping her arms around Ruby’s waist before she slowly closed her eyes. It was then that Ruby heard her much deeper breathing of sleep and smiled a bit as he yawned, slowly stopping his back rubs as his own eyes started to flutter.

He slowly let his eyes start to drift shut, running the day's events over in his mind as he could only smile. He was so happy he’d done this with her, and he was sure she felt the exact same, like they were in sync and could just… do anything now. He felt his eyes growing heavier and heavier as they pulled down, trying to force him into the deep dark of sleep. The last thing he thought before the inky blackness of sleep took him was of Sapphire’s face, and how happy she looked after tonight.

Another one of my monthly stories, a simple prompt of "New year, New me" ______________________________________________________________

Sarah walked around the party, smiling as she said her hellos to a few people she recognized. She’d been invited by her close friend, Alice, to this party literally yesterday so she didn’t have a ton of time to get fully ready, but still felt she looked good enough to go out. She sipped her drink as she walked about, hearing conversations about the new year and what people were planning to do going into it. Sarah eventually spotted Alice, quickly making her way over with a smile “There you are!”

Alice looked over and almost squealed with joy before hugging Sarah “Ahh! I’m so glad you could actually come!” Sarah just smiled back at her friend, returning the hug with some gentle back pats “Of course I was gonna come hun, why wouldn’t I?” “Didn’t know if you maybe had another party or something to go to.” Alice shrugged a bit as Sarah just chuckled “And I still woulda come to this one hun.” Alice nodded, smiling “Well…perfect! That means everything should be perfect tonight!” 

Sarah shook her head a bit at Alice, chuckling “All because I’m here? Talk about a jump there.” Alice just gave a sly smile back to her “Oh…you’ll see what I mean soon enough.” Sarah rolled her eyes a bit as she noticed people starting to crowd around the TV. Going into the last ten minutes before the ball dropped was always a fun time for everyone, at least in Sarah’s opinion. 

She walked over and stood to watch the show, finishing off her drink and smiling softly. She didn’t notice Alice watching her like a hawk, waiting for the moment to go bring her the special drink she’d just made for her. Alice slowly walked over, smirking as the champagne fizzled more than sparkling juice really should, couldn’t have the new year's baby all tipsy. She tapped Sarah’s shoulder who turned around and smiled a bit, seeing Alice holding two champagne glasses, holding one out to Sarah.

Sarah took it, before toasting with Alice and sipping the drink, barely noticing the non-alcoholic beverage as it fizzled its way down her throat. Alice just smiled happily as 8 minutes rolled around and she noticed Sarah take another, bigger sip from her glass. Alice just chuckled as the formula started to work quickly, Sarah’s dress already starting to look slightly bigger on her. Sarah just kept sipping, each time she felt even more thirsty, like it dried out her throat.

She was getting annoyed with it but didn’t wanna upset Alice so she just kept sipping away, hoping one of the drinks would quench her thirst. She didn’t notice though between sips and the fizzing, her body slowly getting smaller and smaller, her frame shrinking and her height lowering until she took her last sip and noticed the guy in front of her was taller. She huffed a bit “Jeez…it’s just a ball drop, does the dude need to stand on a chair?”

She looked over at Alice who was just smirking now as Sarah slowly realized…Alice was…taller, like…much taller now. “Wh…what the hell is going on?” Sarah asked as the sudden realization of her situation hit her. Alice just smiled “Well…we needed a new year baby…and you’re right on time.” Sarah just stared as she shrunk more and more, her dress very loose on her now as it hung from her roughly middle schooler frame.

She slowly backed up, but tripped out of her dress shoes and yelped, falling onto the floor and staring up as the 5 minute timer started on the TV. Alice just chuckled as another one of their friends, Kaitlyn, handed her what looked to be a diaper bag. Alice kneeled down with Sarah and smiled softly “Such a good girl for drinking all her medicine.” Sarah tried to scooch away, but her elementary schooler body was easily pulled back by Alice.

It was about then that Sarah started to feel even more odd, that fizzing seeming to come back up, but this time it went to her brain. She blinked as she suddenly felt her head spin and felt this fuzzy buzzing in her brain as Alice smiled even more. “And there it is…was wondering when the second stage was gonna kick in, better get this on you quick.” She said, pulling a diaper out and sliding it under Sarah’s bottom.

Sarah just blinked as the fuzziness got worse, middle school slipping away at a rapid pace as she stared down. “Wh…what’s goin on Alice…I feel so…” “Fuzzy?” Alice answered for Sarah who just nodded as Alice kept up her smile “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that sweetie, just let the nice fuzzies make you allll silly.” Sarah blinked more as elementary started to slip away, her physical body starting to slow down around 2 as she laid there, the diaper now taped snuggly around her waist.

Sarah looked over as she saw the TV saying 2 minutes left, and just then the fuzzies got worse, and she forgot what those funny squigglies on the TV said. She laid there before Alice just smiled “Alright sweetie pie, why don’t you stand up for mommy” Alice slowly helped Sarah up, her freshly regressed body not used to all of this and her little legs looked unsteady as all the sudden some people around them started to count down from…something.

Sarah looked around in confusion as preschool and daycare slowly slipped from her mind, and she started to feel funny below. She looked at Alice…mommy as she smiled down at Sarah, softly saying “ten…nine…eight…seven…six…” Sarah just softly smiled up at her mommy as all thoughts of potty training or what it even was slipped from her mind. “Five…four…three…two…one…”

The room exploded with cheers as Sarah just stared at her mommy, feeling her diaper start to warm and sag. Sarah felt all those silly big girl thoughts drifting out of her and into her rapidly expanding padding as she drooled a bit. Alice just smiled softly and chuckled “Such a good little girl you are…using your diapies for mommy.” Sarah just smiled and giggled at her mommy’s tone, not really understanding what she was saying.

It was just then she felt a need, a strong need, and her body knew on instinct how to take care of it. She slowly went into a toddler squat, just grunting a bit as her diaper went from just sagging in the front to starting to push out and droop in the back as well. Alice just smiled down, watching her new daughter push out the last bits of her adulthood into her padding. Sarah just kept softly grunting as her diaper filled before finishing with a sigh, slowly standing bow legged and smiling up at mommy.

Alice gently scooped Sarah up and smiled at the now toddler in desperate need for a change. “I think someone needs a changie and beddy byes, lil miss new year.” Sarah just giggled again, still not fully understanding mommy as she was carried from the party into the hall. She watched the party disappear from sight and just laid on mommy as she was carried into her new nursery. She looked about curiously before feeling her mommy lay her down on the changing table.

One of my monthly stories, this one was the prompt "playing in the leaves" ______________________________________________________________

Jonathan sighed as he finished raking, his leaf blower sitting nearby as he looked over his now mostly pristine yard, a soft smile falling over his face as he saw just how much work he did. The leaves had been covering every square inch of his yard and were now piled into large mounds near the road. He looked them over, his mind going back to a time he’d helped his dad similarly with the raking, though he remembered from that day after he was done he finished it by leaping into the pile and playing.

He shook his head a bit, chuckling softly at his childish antics and went to start cleaning up his tools. As he was cleaning he heard a sound he wasn’t expecting, it sounded like a whooshing, like someone sucking something slightly too big into a vacuum cleaner. He turned to the source, expecting to see a neighbor possibly using their leaf blower the wrong way but frowned upon seeing the most odd thing in his life.

He looked, seeing the leaf pile he’d just raked up…glowing, an odd blueish purple glow coming from the inside of the leaves. He slowly walked over, peering into the leaves and his jaw dropped open as he saw what looked to be a never ending tunnel inside, seemingly made of colors and what looked to be almost warped mirrored views. He shook his head a bit “No…way this is real…I must’ve like…hit my head or something…” He started to pinch himself, checking to see if he was awake. He winced at each pinch and frowned, definitely not a dream. He slowly kneeled down, gently putting his hand into the tunnel and as he did he felt his arm getting pulled in, like when you put your hand just a bit too close to the end of a vacuum tube. He winced as he tried to pull himself back, but it felt like the suction got stronger the more he pulled and soon his whole arm and shoulder was pulled into the odd hole.

Jonathan grabbed the edge of the hole and kept trying to pull himself out, but felt the suction get stronger, the wind whipping past his ears now as his head and neck were also in. The suction was forceful but not painful as it kept trying to pull him in and as he tried to adjust his other hand he felt it slip into the hole and felt his whole body yanked into it, sending him tumbling into the colors.

Looking around him he saw the menagerie of colors swirling and kaleidoscoping around him as he fell deeper and deeper. As he gazed around in awe he began to realize something, those mirrored pictures around him were more than just pictures…they were moving. They were moving and he saw things only he himself would know, his first kiss, his first day of high school, his middle school dances, his very life was flashing before his eyes as he watched his memories fly by, but not be forgotten as they passed. 

He tumbled through his middle school and grade school years, not even noticing his body changing with each memory that passed until he felt the falling slowing, the colors evening out to a baby blue as he tumbled past a memory from his kindergarten christmas party and then he felt the suction all stop and colors seemed to suddenly vanish as he fell with an oof and a soft crinkling crunch beneath him.

He began to look around and felt…confused as he saw not the colors, but leaves all around him. He blinked and slowly sat up, looking around as he saw a sight he’d not seen in nearly fifteen years, there sat his childhood home, from before his parents moved at the beginning of highschool, and all around him, raked up and piled were leaves. He saw his dad still working on raking, looking over and giving a soft smile at him before chuckling and shaking his head.

Jonathan laid there, stunned at the sight before him as his dad raked the leaves closer, a cheeky smile on his face Jonathan knew all too well. His dad stopped just before him “Alright Jonny, move or you’re gettin covered.” Jonathan felt a small tingle and shiver run through him as he heard his childhood nickname and smiled a bit, feeling a childish giggle rise out of him as his dad shook his head again. “Alright bud, guess I’ll have to tell mom to only make two plates of bangers and mash, since I lost ya in the leaves.” His dad shrugged a bit before starting to cover Jonathan.

Jonathan giggled more and squirmed, flailing the leaves off of him as they covered him, shouting out a  “Nooo!” before going to get up. He wasn’t gonna miss mom’s home cooking for anything! His dad just chuckled more and raked the rest of the leaves up to where Jonny was just laying as Jonathan ran to the front door, glancing back a bit at the leaf pile.

Part of him wondered if a portal back would open soon…letting him go back to his life and keep going on with what he’d worked towards so far. He frowned a bit, thinking about how stressful life was right now. Between work and school he barely had time to even call his parents, let alone relax. He stood for a few seconds more, a look of concentration and thought on his face before he heard his mom call from inside “Boys! Food!” 

He perked up hearing that, thinking one last time about diving back in and heading back before shaking his head and running in, slipping his shoes off as he smelt the wonderful aroma of his mom’s cooking. He felt a smile creep across his face and his whole body seemed to relax as he saw the late 90s living room, his N64 currently set up with a paused Banjo Kazooie on it and gave a soft nod, this is what he wanted, and this is where he was staying…at least, for now.

He ran to the bathroom to wash his hands, oblivious to the portal in the leaves opening and closing within seconds, whatever creating it knowing that it’d picked the right person…and there were no regrets to be had from them. As it closed Jonny walked into the kitchen, smiling happily at his mom and climbing into the booster seat before starting to eat, happy that whoever or whatever had done this…picked him.

“How was school sweetheart?” Jonny’s mom smiled at him. He looked up at her from his meal, thinking for a moment. As the question enters his mind, the events of that day start coming back to Johnny with a near crystal clarity that he wasn’t expecting. It was a standard day in kindergarten for Jonny, honestly nothing really remarkable other than it being a free day in gym. “Uhm, id was okay” Jonny says, a childish lisp escaping his mouth, catching him off guard a bit. His mom smiled “That’s good, glad you had fun”. 

Jonny can’t help but smile big and go back to digging into his mom’s cooking. Could this really be happening? At this point Jonny was just praying that this was at the very least a dream he wouldn’t be waking up from for a long time. As dinner went on, Jonny continued to eat slowly, looking around the house a bit and taking in the scenery while he had the chance. The walls are lined with photos of the three of them and he noticed there was his first school photo up as well. Scenes that started as distant memories and now feel like they only just happened like their summer trip to the beach and his most recent birthday at Chuck E Cheese’s. 

After more searching, the TV in the living room catches his eye. He remembers spending so much of his time after school sitting in front of it either watching cartoons or playing video games, and now… could he really just go back to it all? He thought quietly about what he was leaving behind, his somewhat boring job…his tiring day in and day out…it might be honestly easier to leave it than he thought. He went to take another bite only to feel his fork tink against his plate, looking down he noticed his plate was empty, causing a soft smile as he looked back to the video game still paused on the TV.

“Umm… could I be excused?” Jonny managed to squeak out. His dad smiled softly

 “Of course bud, go have fun before it’s time for bed. Jonny nodded, quickly mumbling out a “‘kay!” as he slid himself from his chair and rushed to the living room, plopping down in front of the TV and grabbing his controller and unpausing the game. The music from Spiral Mountain almost completely envelops Jonny, like a warm blanket. He couldn’t help but smile as he played, the controls and layout all coming back to him like muscle memory as he got right into the groove of things. He played, getting sucked into the world again, much like he did as a child and didn’t realize how fast time really flew when you’re having fun.

It was the tap on his back from his mother that shook him out of his almost hypnotic trance with the TV. Looking back she smiled down at him softly “Honey, you need to go brush your teeth and get ready for bed.” Jonny groaned “But moooommy!” She just smiled “No buts, it’s a school night, you can play your game tomorrow after school.” He let a soft whine out before slowly standing, shuffling towards the bathroom as his mother turned off his system behind him.

He shuffled in, slowly stepping onto the stool he needed to be able to see himself in the mirror and started to put water and then toothpaste on his brush. He started to brush his teeth and stared at himself in the mirror, barely not a toddler, freshly starting school staring back at him. He just stared, thinking about how he was actually here, actually five again. He spit into the sink and gargled some water before spitting that out as well before hopping down, wiping his face and walking to his room. His eyes widened upon walking into a room he hadn’t seen in over a decade.

He saw a room covered in toys, pokemon posters on the walls with a race car bed in the corner. He slowly shuffled about, seeing beanie babies on plastic chains and his gameboy color sitting on his bed with the light attachment added on so he could play at night. He then blushed as he looked beside his bed and noticed pull ups, something he knew was for his…night time accidents. He slowly undressed and looked at them, sighing as he knew he couldn’t trust his kinder bladder.

He gently slid one out of the package and up his legs, it holding snuggly around his waist as he started to get dressed into his pokemon PJs with a bit of a waddle now. He slowly made his way to his bed, blushing as he crawled in with a slight crinkle and felt the slightly rough sheets with dragon tales prints all over them. He laid down as his mommy came in, tucking him gently in and smiling softly as she kissed his forehead “I love you honey…so much.” Jonny just smiled up “Love you too mommy…”

A patreon comm from a few months ago I never uploaded here, enjoy! ___________________________________________________________ Yoshio sighed a bit as he walked up to the front door of Aaron’s house, noticing that Aaron’s parents' car wasn’t in the driveway. He slowly knocked and felt his mind race as he thought about how he got into this situation. He’d made a bet with Aaron last week over whether or not he could beat him in a best of three in pokemon…and quickly found out why Aaron always talks about pokemon in a competitive manner. Needless to say it didn’t make it to three games and now Yoshio stood here after getting a text from Aaron that he wanted him over for the payment of the bet.

Yoshio tapped his shoe against the deck a bit nervously as he watched the door, and soon enough he heard footsteps approaching the door before it swung open. The strawberry blonde curly haired boy stood before Yoshio, a grin on his face as he looked the other boy up and down. “Hey there Yoshio! Glad ya could make it.” 

Yoshio rolled his eyes a bit as he was motioned in “Yeah…cause I really had a choice in the matter.” Aaron gave a soft chuckle and a smile “Oh…you did, I warned you not to bet on it, everyone told you not to, and you did it anyway.” Yoshio whipped around and looked at the smaller boy. “Well I didn’t know you were someone who spent like…days just on one pokemon!” Aaron shrugged “Hubris my friend, anyway, I guess I should fill you in on what our day is gonna be like.” He smiled, shutting the door behind him as a chill ran down Yoshio’s spine at his tone.

He just smiled at Yoshio. “So…I called you over because I just want something simple…my parents are gone for the weekend, and I want a butler to take care of me.” Yoshio blinked at him, looking confused at the request “A…butler? Like…you want me to be a servant to you?” Aaron just nodded “Yep, your bet was loser does WHATEVER the winner wants for as long as they want…so I want you to be my butler for the weekend.” Yoshio just stared at him, he already babysat his little brother often and had to babysit for some extra money for games…but now his own friend wanted him to be a butler? This was gonna be a long weekend…he could just feel it in his core.

Aaron just smiled at him “Oh come on, don’t look so down! It’ll be fun! You get to do my laundry…and chores…and take care of me….” Aaron grinned wider as he listed everything and Yoshio just groaned, looking like he was almost ready to bolt out the door. “But! I…do have one extra thing I want from you, something very very important that if you tell anyone, I WILL tell EVERYONE how you had to play dress up with my little cousin.” 

Yoshio’s eyes widened as Aaron threatened that no one could know just how bad it was to babysit Silvia…he was still finding lipstick and glitter on himself a week later. Aaron started to walk upstairs and toward his room, normally Yoshio would be stoked as this normally meant they were gonna play games or cards…now it just felt…sinister. Aaron walked into his room and opened his closet, starting to dig through as if looking for something. He suddenly heard Aaron let out an “Ahah…” before pulling out a fairly large fully black trash bag.

Yoshio’s heart raced as his mind ran through every possibility of what could be in there, a dress, maybe a maid outfit, or…what if it was somehow worse. Yoshio stood there staring in fear as Aaron set the bag on his bed and looked at Yoshio seriously now “Again, you tell ANYONE about this, and I will tell EVERYONE your most embarrassing secrets…got it?” Yoshio just gulped and nodded as Aaron sighed, reaching into the bag and Yoshio’s jaw dropped open as he saw just what Aaron pulled out.

Aaron stood, his face bright red with a pack of diapers that looked to be sized enough to fit him, as the boy wasn’t very big to begin with. Yoshio just stared at him before slowly asking “Wh…what are those um…for?” Aaron let a sigh out and muttered “Me…” Yoshio just kept staring, looking bewildered at the other boy before asking “You…? Like…for you? To like…wear?” Aaron sighed a bit at that and rolled his eyes slightly “Yes for me to wear…what else do you do with diapers, stare at em and hope they do a tap dance routine?”

Yoshio couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Aaron, the kid that mopped the floor with him with one pokemon and was basically the tech wiz of their group…was asking to be put into baby diapers. Yoshio finally found his voice again enough to ask “Why? Why…diapers?” Aaron just shrugged at that, still avoiding eye contact with Yoshio as he muttered towards the floor “I…I dunno…I just…like em, they’re…nice…” Yoshio thought a bit, watching Aaron as he shuffled a bit nervously in place, Aaron’s parents did put a lot on him to do well, get good grades, run his lawn mowing business and more…maybe he just wanted a weekend to be a little kid rather than the mini adult he always was?

Yoshio kept looking the smaller boy up and down before sighing a bit “Fine…hop up onto your bed, I’ll get it on you.” Aaron blink, only now looking up with a look of excitement and confusion on his face “Wait…really…? You…know how an..and you’re not gonna think it’s like…um…weird or… um…” Before he could finish Yoshio snatched the pack out of his hands ``Yes I know how, I have a little brother and babysit for god's sake, I also don’t think it’s weird, no.” He said simply before motioning to the other boy's bed “Well…? What are you waiting for? Written invitation?”

Aaron just blushed more, slowly climbing up onto his bed and laying back as Yoshio sighed a bit “Pants and undies off please, I know you can at least do that for yourself.” Aaron’s blush persisted as he slowly slid his pants off, his hands shaking badly before he stopped, laying in just his undies “A…Are you s..sure? I um…we can um…totally call this off ya know.” Yoshio smirked a bit now, shaking his head a bit “Nope…you asked for this, you called me over and said I was taking care of you, so now  I am, so you can take those undies off, or I can for you.” He said in his stern babysitter voice. 

Aaron tensed at the sudden sternness from Yoshio before slowly starting to slide his undies off “A…Are you sure you’re-” Yoshio cut him off “You called me over, I lost a bet and you want this as your reward for winning, I gotta go with it, so….” He waited till Aaron’s undies were fully off before sliding the diaper quickly under the boy. Aaron blushed even more as Yoshio with the speed of a babysitter and older brother had the other boy powdered and taped up before Aaron could even get another word in edgewise. 

Yoshio quickly did a check of the leak guards to make sure they were properly in place before nodding and stepping back “Well? You’re all done so…stand up.” Aaron nodded, slowly standing as the diaper crinkled with each movement, he slowly felt it and felt his heart flutter in amazement that he was even in one. Yoshio just gave a bit of a smirk as Aaron looked at him and blushed more before demanding “Go make me a pizza or something butler!” Yoshio chuckled “Right away your crinkleness.”

Yoshio made his way downstairs, still chuckling as he thought about the fact he just had to diaper one of his classmates…and he was somehow easier than some of his babysitting gigs. Yoshio made his way to the freezer, pulling out a frozen pizza and starting to warm up the oven as Aaron shuffled down, his pants back on as Yoshio chuckled more. Aaron shot a look over “Keep chuckling and I’ll make you change me way more than once tonight.” Yoshio shot a look back at the boy whose pants were very obviously diaper bulging. “Oooo…I’m soooo scared, baby gonna wet himself?” Aaron just smirked a bit “Worse…”

Yoshio froze for a second and just looked at Aaron in disbelief “You wouldn’t…” Aaron crossed his arms, he being the one smirking now “Try me, butler, please.” Yoshio just stared at the other boy before sighing “Fine…I’ll stop teasing for now…cause I really don’t wanna change…THAT.” Aaron chuckled a bit “Ohhh…we’ll see, it may still happen, you ARE my butler afterall.” Yoshio groaned quietly “Aaron…please do not…I…that’s gonna be…” Aaron just nodded “Yep! And it’ll be YOUR job to make sure I don’t get a rash…sooo…” Yoshio just groaned more as he waited for the oven to warm up.

Aaron walked into the living room, lounging onto the couch and turning the TV onto what looked to be Steven Universe, something that had been playing even before Yoshio got there. Yoshio sighed a bit, wondering what this now-diapered pre-teen would make him do now. He said something about chores and just hoped it wasn’t something like cleaning the entire bathroom. The oven dinged, letting him know it was ready and he quickly grabbed a pizza pan and put the pizza on it before sliding it into the oven and setting the timer.

He walked back out, seeing Aaron sprawled out on the couch he couldn’t help but chuckle at the other boy's waist, he really did look like an oversized toddler at this point. Aaron looked over with a slight glare, narrowing his eyes “Yes?” Yoshio just smiled “Oh…nothing, just…admiring my handy work.” Aaron just kept his eyes narrowed “Yeah…? Well…why don’t you admire some other handy work butler, my clothes need a wash.” 

Yoshio rolled his eyes a bit, washing clothes was the easiest thing Aaron could’ve given him, though he should probably play up how annoying it’d be, otherwise it might get much worse. “Oh come on…doing your laundry? Really?” Yoshio said with a sigh to which Aaron smirked, doing a double clap as he said “Yep! So…get on it! Chop chop!” Yoshio made his way to Aaron’s room, seeing the laundry basket already set up and ready to go, even easier.

He grabbed the laundry basket and made his way back downstairs, carrying it to the laundry room which he’d used a few times while staying over for long periods. He quickly tossed a good amount into the washer before adding in the washing detergent in the form of one of those pod things, somehow, even easier. He smiled, starting it before walking back out and peeking in, snickering a bit at what he saw.

He saw Aaron sitting on the couch, quietly feeling the diaper like at any second he might wake up from a dream and it’ll be gone off him, he looked completely enamored with it. Yoshio decided not to poke the bear…for now, and instead walked to the kitchen to check on how much time the pizza had, seeing he still had five minutes he pulled his phone out, checking a few things as he tapped his foot a bit.

As he waited he heard the TV playing quietly and heard the soft crinkling from Aaron every so often, it honestly felt like he was just babysitting another kid…unfortunately without the pay. It was then he had an idea hit him like a bolt of lightning, Aaron was asking to be diapered and taken care of…so maybe…maybe he could tap into that, give him an amazing night as a toddler pretty much…and maybe he’d let Yoshio go free early. Yoshio heard the ding from the oven and happily pulled it out, checking the bottom to make sure it was fully cooked before cutting it up.

Yoshio looked over to call for Aaron but almost jumped out of his skin as the other boy stood in the doorway, eyeing the pizza hungrily. Yoshio took a few breaths before saying “Pizza’s ready…not that you didn’t already know that…” Aaron nodded and quickly pulled out two plates and handed one to Yoshio who smiled and cheekily said “Oh? I get some too? So generous!” Aaron rolled his eyes a bit. “Yeah yeah…well the least I can do is feed ya so you don’t keel over, dad says it’s bad for insurance.”

Yoshio chuckled as they split the pizza evenly before making their way back out to the living room, each also grabbing a soda. Aaron immediately began to dig in as Yoshio thought for a second before looking over at Aaron “Hey…so…do you want me to treat you like I would any other kid I’m babysitting?” Aaron seemed to tense a bit at that but slowly looked over “Wh…what would um…that entail?” Yoshio thought “Well…TV time, then changes as needed, probably a nap time…um…” He thought for a minute before shrugging “Depends on the kid honestly.”

Aaron seemed to think about it and stopped eating for a second as he looked away and towards the ground before glancing up “Do…you think we could do that for a bit…just to try?” Yoshio nodded and looked at the other boy. “And before you say it, no, I won’t tell anyone, promise.” Aaron just nodded and sighed a bit as he mumbled a bit “Please…” Yoshio smirked a bit now “Well…one of the few rules I have as a babysitter…if you’re in a diaper, no getting out until you need a change, don’t need to be wasting em.” Aaron blushed deep red now “B…But…”

Yoshio shook his head “No buts, you asked for this one, now you gotta live with it” he also quietly muttered to himself “And so am I…but at least I get to see him get somewhat embarrassed over it.” Aaron just sat there, slowly eating as he began to squirm, something Yoshio knew all too well. Now that he’d brought attention to it again, Aaron likely had to go potty and now it was all he could think about. Yoshio just smiled softly, cooing to the other boy “What’s wrong little one?~ Does someone need to make a pee pee?~” He said in a tone normally reserved for toddlers.

Aaron just blushed more at that, squirming “D…Do you gotta do the voice?” Yoshio laughed now “Of course! Especially when I’m taking care of lil baby Aaron!” Aaron just kept blushing before giving Yoshio a sly look “Well…if I’m just a baby then…” He slowly stood, dropping his pants around his ankles and showing his diaper on full display as he was already soaking it, but that isn’t what made Yoshio’s heart drop like a rock…no it was what Aaron did next.

Aaron slowly squatted, going into what Yoshio knew to be a toddler squat as all he could do was stare and mutter a soft “No way…” Aaron just smirked back as he grunted a few times before Yoshio to his horror saw Aaron’s diaper sag. Yoshio just stared as the other boy grunted a few more times before standing, the smell of a used diaper already there and something Yoshio was unfortunately used to as he stood “Really Aaron?!” Aaron just giggled “Well! You said I was a baby! So now you really gotta change me! Or do you want me to cry first?”

Aaron took a deep breath in like he was about to belt out a loud cry but Yoshio grabbed him by the arm and quickly walked him upstairs and to his room. Yoshio grabbed another diaper and wipes out of the bag as Aaron went to go lay down, to which Yoshio basically yelled “Stop!” Aaron froze on the spot and Yoshio sighed “You’ve really NEVER been around an actual toddler, have you?” Aaron blinked in confusion as Yoshio kneeled down, gently untaping Aaron’s diaper before lowering it, and groaning at the whole situation

He quickly balled up the diaper and tossed it into a grocery bag before cleaning Aaron quickly and throwing the wipes into the bag too before quickly tying it up. He then laid out the new diaper where Aaron could lay “There…now you can lay down.” He sighed as Aaron blinked at the suddenness of it all and laid down slowly on the diaper “Wh…what was that all about?” Yoshio narrowed his eyes “If you would’ve laid down clean-up would’ve been impossible, least with the way I did it, it was clean and quick, if not a bit gross….” 

He quickly powdered Aaron again before taping the new diaper on and nodding a bit as he checked the leak guards “There…clean, now…go down and eat, I gotta throw this out outside since you didn’t happen to get a diaper pail too, did ya?” Aaron just slowly shook his head as pulled his pants back up and went to slowly shuffle out of his room and back downstairs. Yoshio sighed softly again as he grabbed the back with the freshly changed diaper in it, walking downstairs and outside towards the trash bin.

We started our drive, pulling out of the daycare and were about a minute in before Ty spoke again “Stephen, what happened?” I looked up at the mirror as I saw him glancing back at me every so often and I just shrugged a bit as I rubbed my eyes. “Bud, what happened, even Stevie doesn’t have accidents like that much, and the not taking a nap? Really? You know your body needs that rest.” 

I just shrugged again and muttered “I’m fine.” He gave me a bit of a look “You’re not, you look like you pulled an all-nighter, and especially with the accident…you’re worrying me lil dude…” I huffed a bit, hearing that stupid nickname again “I’m fine, it’ll all be fine, just…gotta get used to not needing naps…” 

Ty just sighed again as he drove, continuing to glance back at me as I sat back, staring out the window of the car, seeing the town fly past. Though soon enough we were slowing down and pulling into the house, we didn’t live far from the daycare, and honestly if either Khris or Ty were home for the day I know they’d normally walk me.Ty stopped the car, but didn’t move to get out, instead he turned around and looked at me, patting my leg a bit. 

“Stephen, I’m being serious when I say I’m worried…this isn’t like you at all. I know you wanna be seen as an adult still and wanna be ‘big’, but that’s not a thing anymore, and I’m worried forcing yourself down this path is gonna hurt you more than it helps…” I just rolled my eyes and gave him a look “Well thanks ‘dad’, I’ll take that into consideration, now, let me out” Ty just looked at me, looking a bit upset and hurt as he slowly got out and came to my side, opening the door and unbuckling me as I climbed out and walked towards the house without another word.

Ty followed, opening the door for us and I immediately went to make my way to the living room, but was stopped by his voice “No Stephen, you need a nap, to your room.” I whipped around, shooting a death glare up at him “I don’t need a nap! You can’t just tell me what to do!” Ty gave me a look “I can and I will, now, go to your room or I’ll take you there, your choice.” 

I just glared, feeling my anger rising, who the hell did this guy think he was, telling me when I needed to sleep. Ty just crossed his arms a bit, looking at me, obviously this hadn’t been his first rodeo with me as he simply said “You go or I take you, your choice.” I clenched my first a bit but then yelled out “FINE!” Before stomping to my room, the anger still there as I couldn’t resist the urge to shout back “I hate you!” before slamming my door shut and locking it, stomping to my bed as I felt what often comes with anger welling up inside me…sadness. 

I sniffled a bit as I threw myself on to this stupid toddler bed, in this stupid toddler room, grumbling as I kicked basically everything off, thinking for some reason that’d show them just how mad I was. I slammed myself onto the mattress and curled up, sniffling into my pillow. This was all so…stupid, they wouldn’t let me do ANYTHING, treating me like a stupid child, thinking they have ANY say over ANYTHING with me. 

I just laid there, my thoughts running in angry circles as I felt the tears finally start to run down my cheeks. I stared at the window for a while, watching cars pass outside and hearing the sounds of kids playing after just getting done with school. It was all so…stupid, I thought as I felt my eyes start to flutter, though I was just as determined to keep myself awake. My body though, had other plans, and knew I couldn’t keep myself up like this. I watched out the window and there were moments my eyes would flutter shut for minutes before I realized…and soon enough they fluttered shut and stayed that way as I felt sleep take me, my body giving into the nap I desperately needed at this point.

I don’t even remember dreaming, I just remember falling asleep and then waking up after what felt like a few hours, having the moment of waking from a nap where your entire body feels heavy and you wanna just keep sleeping. I slowly rolled over, feeling a blanket on me now as I looked down, seeing my race car baby blanket on me and my door wide open. Ty must’ve used his screwdriver trick again. 

I slowly sat up, feeling the squish between my legs that was all too familiar and happened nearly every time I slept now. I just softly groaned, my day clothes feeling…gross on me at this point, especially after sleeping in them. As I sat there, rubbing my eyes and waking up, I could hear a conversation in the living room. It sounded like Khris was already home, so I must’ve slept really hard. 

I felt like I was coming in mid conversation as I heard Ty say “I just don’t know Khris, it was a lot.” Khris responded with “I know hun, it’s…hard when he gets like this, I love both big and little Stephen but…when he’s big it’s like he doesn’t understand anything about himself.” Ty sighed “And hearing him say that he hates me…” Khris sounded a bit upset but said “He didn’t mean that and you know it, he was just…tired and probably overwhelmed from his accident…” 

Ty sighed again “Yeah I know…it’s just…easier when he’s little, ya know?” I felt my heart sink and the sadness well up inside me again as I slowly got up and tiptoed to my door. Khris sighed this time “It is, but…we also have to understand he isn’t all used to this still” Ty just stayed silent for a second before responding “I know…I just, I wish he’d try to work with us like Stevie does, instead of fighting everything.” Khris stood “Well he’s asleep right now, so he should be better when he’s…” 

It was just then that she rounded the corner, seeing me standing in the hall, my bottom lip quivering as I stared at her. She just looked stunned, as if caught in the act of sticking her hand in the cookie jar, before saying “Stephen…honey we didn’t…” I just turned and ran into my room, shutting the door before sprinting to my bed and climbing under the covers, feeling the tears already rushing down my face as I started to cry into my knees.

They liked Stevie more, he worked with them, he was their good little boy, he did everything they wanted and I…I was just the problem child. I sat there and cried as I heard the knock at my door and shouted through my tears “GO AWAY!” I heard the door still open as I cried and heard a single set of footsteps walking towards me even as I yelled “I said GO AWAY!” I heard a soft voice, that of Khris as I felt a weight on my bed “No honey” and then I felt her arms wrap around my blanket covered form as I just wailed and sat there. 

She gently rubbed my back and hugged me “I’m so sorry Stephen, I’m so so sorry.” I sniffled and just mumbled out a shaky and snot filled “You don’t want me no more.” She just kept hugging me “No Stephen…that’s not it, we love you, both you and Stevie…it’s just…” She sighed as I tried to answer for her “Stevie’s better.” I felt her hesitate for just a second before gently pulling the blanket off me, looking at me face to face, mine covered in tears and snot as I saw she was also tearing up. 

“No Stephen, Stevie isn’t better or worse, Stevie is you, and you’re Stevie, I just…wish you’d let anyone help you. You don’t have to be big, or do all this on your own…just let us help you.” I sniffled and looked away “I have to be big! I have to…” Khris cut me off with a soft “Shhhh…no Stephen, you don’t, you just have to relax, go with the flow.” 

There was that wording again, same as with Oisin, but Khris continued “I’m…worried about you right now Stephen, the doctors say if you overly stress yourself you could…snap, and…I don’t wanna lose you Stephen…I…I can’t…” She started to sniffle now as the tears welled up and she just hugged me, pulling me close and into her lap. 

“You try to do so much, and I’m worried it’s just hurting you…and I’ll lose you forever Stephen…” I looked up, the tears still running down my cheeks but now I was confused as well, what was she talking about ‘snap’, I’d not heard this, even at my pediatrician. My best guess was that they talked about it outside the room while we were there, but whatever it was…it didn’t sound good if it had her this upset.

We sat there, and just cried together for a long while as she held me tight, as if I might vanish at any second. She calmed down faster than I did, and then slowly worked on calming me, similar to last night with small back rubs and shushing as I just cried into her. After I was somewhat calmed down, still letting out small anguished moans here and there and felt the tears still coming, she gently sat me down on the floor, wiping her tears before grabbing a fresh pull up for me. 

I just followed quietly, sticking to her like a lost puppy at this point as I hiccuped and sniffled, trying to get myself back together unsuccessfully. She gently kneeled down and smiled a weak, motherly smile at me “Shhh..it’s okay Stephen…it’s okay…mommy’s gotcha.” She gently pulled my shorts down and made quick work of ripping the sides of my pull up, cleaning me and getting me to step into the fresh one. She then gently pulled me into another hug, gently patting my back and bottom as she tried to help calm me down fully, rocking me softly as she whispered “Shhh…shhhh….it’s okay…it’s okay..” 

I felt the anxiety and upset feelings fading as she held me, that child mother bond strong even through mental ages as before long she gently let me out of the hug. “There we go…there’s my big boy…” She said, gently combing her fingers through my messy bed head before grabbing a tissue off my dresser and holding it up to my nose. “Blow” she said simply and softly, to which I blew my nose into the tissue and then felt her wipe it clean before throwing all the used items into my diaper pail. 

She smiled a bit and just kissed my forehead “There we go honey…shhh…” I hiccupped a bit more before she slowly helped me back into my shorts and gently scooped me up into her arms, carrying me out and to the living room where Ty sat, looking a bit ashamed as he looked at me. He looked at me “I’m sorry lil dude, I didn’t know you were awake…”

 I just nodded as I cuddled with mom- Khris, and she sat with me in her lap. Ty looked at me “I hope you know I…I love ya little dude, it just…hurt a lot when you said you hated me, it was like a dagger through my heart.” I just nodded slowly as I mumbled “Sorry…” He nodded, patting my leg gently as I just laid on Khris. Khris looked down at me and then Ty “Today’s been a long day, seemingly for all of us…why don’t we just do something easy tonight? Pizza?” Ty nodded and smiled at me “That sound good Stephen?” I nodded slowly as I just cuddled in and Ty stood and walked to the kitchen, probably going to grab a menu.

Ty walked back after a bit, menu in hand as he smiled a bit at us “Why don’t we get the family special? It’s got two pizzas, cheese sticks, and pop.” I nodded a bit as Khris looked down at me “Don’t over do the pop this time, okay Stephen? I don’t need you having another accident today…” 

I felt a slight blush at my cheeks but nodded softly as Ty made the call, going back into the kitchen as Khris just sat with me in her lap, gently rubbing my back and rocking me. I heard Ty ordering the pizza in the other room, one normal cheese, the other supreme, probably for them as my childish tastebuds did make it hard for me to eat anything with lots of different flavors. 

I hear him also order red pop, my mouth immediately watering at the thought of it as it was my favorite always, and likely still will be. Khris just smiled softly at me as I listened and rubbed my back a bit softly “Feeling better honey?” I nodded a bit as she slowly set me next to her “Good, I’m glad to hear it, but we gotta talk, tomorrow when I say it’s nap time, it’s nap time, none of this staying up until you can’t or throwing a tantrum til you have an accident, got it?”

I blushed more at my, now looking back on it, childish actions and just slowly nodded as she ran her fingers through my hair “Good…glad to hear it, now, what do you wanna watch while we wait for this pizza? Bluey?” I cringed almost immediately at the idea and looked up at her “Khris…I’m not a kid right now I-” She cut me off, and gave me a bit of a look 

“Right…I almost forgot with how sweet you were being, we need to talk about…something else, something we can only talk about when you’re an adult.” I felt a small pang of anxiety rise in my chest as I looked up at her, she had a serious look, one I haven’t seen since she said I had to stop sleeping in her room, I knew I was in for a rough conversation.

Khris sighed, as if what was coming next was weighing as heavy on her as it was about to drop on me, and I braced myself for something like her saying I’d have to look for a new place soon or maybe we had to move or something. What came next I would have never guessed though. 

She looked at me seriously and said “Stephen, since you went under the last time, we’ve gone to the doctor a few times, just normal check ups more than anything, but at the last checkup the doctor talked with me about something to do with new research coming out.” I blinked, I’d remembered the visit, I’d gone in and played with the toys before being called back and told I was growing normally and I remember having to get a shot, something that scared even adult me, so that was more than an ordeal…but I didn’t remember this conversation. 

Khris continued “They’ve done research, specifically into kiddos that become lucid and found that high levels of stress can lead to something called a…snap.” I listened closely, she’d used that word earlier when I was having my little breakdown, now I get to find out why. 

She took my hand gently “Snaps happen when virus victims stress themselves out too much, often when trying to be an adult still when they’re not, now I want you to know I’m not saying this to scare you because I’m just as worried about this. From what they’ve gathered when a person snaps, it’s almost like forcing them out of being lucid from what they can tell, and can cause them to have issues…” I looked up “Like…accidents…?” 

She just nodded “So when I heard you’d had one today…I got very scared, especially seeing you so deeply asleep when I got home. I just want you to be safe and make sure you don’t hurt yourself in the process of trying to…I honestly don’t know what you’re trying to do other than prove yourself to…no one at this point.” 

I stared up at her as she  gently started to pet my head, I could see her lip trembling a bit “They don’t know how serious these snaps are Stephen, what they do to people, they say that it is something many bounce back from, but there are a few stories of kids just…snapping and never coming fully back and…Stephen, I…I don’t know what I’d do if that happened to you, I love you so much sweetie, and I wanna protect you, but I can’t protect you from hurting yourself.” 

She gently pulled me close, kissing my head “Just…please, I don’t wanna lose you…I need you to just let us help you…understand we know you’re big…but we can’t keep letting you hurt yourself like you’ve been.” I just looked up at her, feeling her so close to me I could hear her voice breaking as she held me, so I just nodded as I leaned on her “I…I’ll try I just…I don’t want you two thinking I’m some…small child constantly needing help.” 

Khris nodded “But…you are a kid Stephen, my kid, and I know what’s gonna help you the most, okay? So please…let me help you, okay?” I just nodded slowly as she hugged me and kissed my head again. “That’s all I ask honey…just relax, let us help you.” I nodded again as I laid on her and she smiled a bit, gently petting me as I thought about what I’d just learned…and all I could think about was that moment of fuzziness in the bathroom with Sarah…was that a snap? Or the start of one? If so…I’d have to be a lot more careful…and try to get these emotions under control sooner rather than later.

Khris just gently rubbed my side as Ty walked back in and smiled “Alright, pizzas ordered and will be here soon, so, what’s on the docket tonight? Cartoons? A movie? Watching paint dry?” I felt a giggle escape me at that last one and Ty practically beamed a bit at that “There’s a giggle, haven’t heard that in almost two days, here I was thinking my material was getting stale.” 

He walked over and sat as Khris smiled softly down at me “Well…what do you wanna do sweetie?” I shrugged softly and looked, “I guess we can try Bluey…but it’s for kids right?” Ty gave me an almost offended gasp “Not at all! I actually like the show a lot…I mean I didn’t know it existed until YOU forced me to watch it with you for almost three hours straight one day, but honestly, it’s great for kids and adults.” 

 I blushed at that but nodded as Khris pulled it up and smiled down “I think you’ll like it hun, honestly, and if not we can swap to something else, sound good?” I looked up “Yeah…sounds good.” She started the first episode and as I heard the opening kick up I felt a small jolt of elation. That feeling of Stevie poking his head to the surface as it was like I’d not seen the show since I was truly a kid, even though I watched it literally two nights ago with Khris while Ty was out with a friend. 

I watched the show, leaned on Khris and felt enamored with it, not realizing as time seemed to slip away a bit and before I knew it the episode was already over and Ty looked at me “So…whatcha think lil dude?” I blushed a bit as I shrugged “I mean..it was alright” He chuckled “Oh yeah? That’s why you barely even moved and just quietly watched the entire time? I thought for a second you reverted back already.” 

I blushed more as I looked down and Khris chuckled “Ty…no need to tease him, if he liked it, he liked it. No need to push it past there.” Ty nodded a bit, sitting back as he checked the time, likely checking to see if the pizza was late. I went to move, blinking a bit as I felt a slight squish between my legs, I tried not to tense too much as I realized…during that time of watching Bluey…I’d…I’d had an actual accident…and almost immediately felt the sharp shot of panic as I thought about what Khris and I had just talked about. I knew I’d slipped a bit too far down the slope already…the question was if I could claw my way back up or if I’d slide even farther tonight. 

I just laid there, hoping I wouldn’t have to move as the next episode started and we all watched. I was trying to think of a way out of this that wouldn’t let Khris suspect me of anything but my thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing and Ty practically jumping onto his feet “That’d be the pizza! I’m starving!” 

He quickly made his way to the door, pulling his wallet out as Khris rolled her eyes a bit, pausing the episode “Alright honey…lets get you to your seat for dinner.” She went to pick me up but I quickly squirmed away “I..I can walk Khris.” She gave me a bit of a look but nodded as I hopped off the couch and shuffled my way to the kitchen, trying to make my walk look as normal as possible, even with the added bulk between my legs from the now soggy pull up. 

I shuffled to my seat and slowly climbed up onto it, looking back as I sat to see Khris watching me closely. I looked up and likely looked a bit nervous “Y-Yeah?” She shrugged “Nothin, just watchin ya, waitin’ for Ty to get the pizza’s in, but I can hear the ‘starving’ guy talking our delivery guy’s ear off about his car.” She sighed as I nodded a bit quietly and before long we heard the door open and shut again, Ty bringing in all the food as Khris gave him a bit of a look. 

He looked back at her “What…?” She sighed “We’re hungry as well ya know.” He groaned a bit “Khris, it’s not often you see a pizza guy driving a Jeep in that good of condition, and the way it just hummed?” He gave a bit of a chef's kiss as I giggled again at him and he nodded to me “See? Stephen gets it.” Khris sighed as she got the plates out “Yep…you two are just two peas in a pod for that.” 

Ty set the pizza’s down and Khris got my plate ready along with a sippy cup of soda. She brought my food over, setting it in front of me and looking a bit seriously at me “This is your only cup of soda tonight, got it? After this it’s water, milk, or juice.” I nodded a bit as I looked up, quietly mumbling “Thanks Khris.” She smiled, ruffling my hair a bit “Of course sweetie, eat up.” She went to go make her plate as I started to eat, she’d started me with a plate of one slice of cheese, a few cheese sticks and some marinara sauce. 

I started with my pizza, starting to slowly eat as the other two sat down in their chairs. I glanced up at them as they started their conversation up again from last night about us going to the mall, though this time Khris talked about wanting to go to specific stores, starting off with needing to get me new shoes. She looked at me “Now, one thing about the new shoes…you gotta pick something you AND Stevie will like, nothing too plain otherwise Stevie might lose his marbles.” 

I nodded “Alright…I mean, light up shoes are cool no matter what so, I’ll probably go with those.” She smiled and chuckled a bit “Well…maybe you and Stevie have closer tastes than I thought.” She went back to eating as I squirmed a bit in my seat, my pull up starting to get cool and a bit uncomfortable. This was gonna be a long dinner if I didn’t speed it up somehow….

I tried to eat as fast as I could, something that Khris didn’t miss as she sighed a bit, grabbing a napkin after a bit and wiping my cheek “Slow down Stephen, it’s not going anywhere, and you’re making a mess of yourself.” I blushed a bit as I nodded “S..Sorry.” She smiled softly “It’s fine hun, just slow it down, do you want another piece?” 

My tummy told me yes in a heartbeat, but my rapidly cooling pull up told me I needed a change even more. I likely looked unsure as Khris gave me a bit of a look “What’s wrong hun? Pizza not good?” I looked up quickly “No! It’s really good I just…um…I gotta go to the bathroom!” I nodded as Khris gave a slight chuckle “Then go ahead silly, you don’t need to wait for permission.” I nodded and quickly pulled myself out of my chair and shuffled off towards the bathroom, but instead of going in I flicked on the light and just shut the door from the outside before tiptoeing to my room. 

I shuffled in and quickly made my way to my pull ups, pulling one out as I yanked my shorts down quickly and tore the sides of my sodden pull up, quickly putting it in the pail incase Khris decided to try and check on me. I cleaned myself up and slid my new pull up on, sighing happily at the feeling of the fresh, dry padding around my waist. I hated the feeling of a wet pull up more than anything. 

I was just sliding my shorts up as I heard Khris walking towards the bathroom “Stephen…everything going okay in there?” I heard her knock on the bathroom door and felt my heart jump into my mouth a bit, but quickly went to the corner closest to the bathroom wall, trying to talk through it to make it sound like I was in there “Yep! Everything’s fine!” 

Looking back this was probably the most childish thing I could’ve done, as Khris and Ty both heard my voice coming from my room. I knew that because almost immediately I heard Khris’ footsteps coming towards my room. I just tensed more as she walked in, looking confused at me “Stephen…? Why are you in here? Didn’t you need to potty?” I nodded “Y-Yeah…but then I realized I had a stain on my shirt and wanted to…change it.” 

She gave me a bit of a look “Stephen…are you lying to me right now?” I looked nervous as I looked up at her and she crossed her arms a bit “Why are you in here Stephen…” I looked down, knowing I’d been caught at this point. “I had an accident during Bluey…” I mumbled as Khris continued to look down at me. She gave a soft sigh “And…why didn’t you say anything Stephen…” I shrugged a bit as I just stared down at my feet. 

Khris walked over, picking me up gently. “Hun, we just talked about this…you need to let us help you, and especially if you had an accident you need to tell me, so you don’t get a rash or leak.” I softly nodded as she sighed “And I’m sure you stressed yourself out more doing all of this run around…” She carried me out and sat me in my booster seat, I saw a fresh slice of pizza in front of me as she looked at me “That was strike one hun, I’m gonna start checking you now, whether you like it or not, I can’t have you being wet for long periods of time or not telling us.” 

Ty nodded a bit at that as he just ate, speaking with his mouth a bit full. “You can’t get a rash again dude, I can’t deal with the whining again, it was unbearable.” I nodded softly and started to eat again, just thinking about what was going on…why did everything seem so…hard now.

Dinner passed by much faster without the uncomfortable feelings around my waist and soon enough I was hopping out of my booster seat while Khris filled my sippy cup with water as I’d finished my soda fairly quickly. She brought it over, handing it to me and smiling “Why don’t you go watch TV until bedtime kiddo, you got about an hour.” I nodded as I shuffled over and climbed onto the couch. Bluey was still left up, paused mid episode, I could change it right now to something more mature…but there was this gnawing inside me, telling me to just watch it. 

I gave a soft sigh, starting the show back up as I heard Ty walk to the garage, liking going to work on his car and I heard Khris doing dishes. I watched the childish show, enjoying it for the most part as I realized for the first time since waking back up I was just…relaxing, letting myself just do something without second guessing it. I gave a soft smile as I laid on the couch, just watching my show. The day had been long and though I’d just gotten up from my nap around an hour and a half ago, I felt the tiredness creeping up, even after having the sugary soda. 

Likely this tiredness was coming from my body struggling with the virus due to all my stress, mixed with the emotional rollercoaster I’ve been on all day. I checked the time and saw it was around 6 currently, meaning I wasn’t going to bed much earlier than normal with 7. I just laid there and watched the cartoon, letting it autoplay into the next episode as I heard the water turn off in the kitchen and Khris walked out, smiling a bit at me as I waved “Well well..guess someone does like this show huh?” 

I blushed a bit and nodded “It’s not too bad as kid shows go, even has some like…adult humor in it.” She nodded “It’s why I’m glad you’re obsessed with it and paw patrol, I figure there’s much worse you could be into.” I blushed and nodded a bit as she sat on the other end of the couch, near my feet and just started to gently rub my leg while watching with me, likely trying to help me wind down and get more tired. 

I hated to admit it though, but it was working as she gently worked up to rubbing my back and smiling softly at me as I watched this children's show, feeling the sleepiness overcoming me faster and faster, yawning softly. She smiled down at me “Mhm…had a feeling you’d be sleepy tonight…lots of big emotions the last few days…” I nodded softly as my eyes started to flutter and she just kept gently rubbing up and down my back. I saw the next episode starting as I felt sleepiness taking over, hearing the theme song echoing into my ears as my eyes slowly fluttered shut and then…sleep took me into its embrace, the gentle back rubs being the last thing I felt before going into dreamland.

I feel myself waking up, though I felt odd to say the least, like my body just felt…weird and wrong, my eyes fluttering open as I laid on the couch still. I sat up and saw all the lights were off, minus the TV which seemed to be playing an older cartoon that I felt like I recognized, but not totally…disney must’ve autoplayed to it. Still, it was odd I was still out here, I’d fallen asleep on the couch before and every time Khris brought me to my room and I’d wake up in my bed. 

I looked around, the house only illuminated by the glow of the old cartoon on the TV and everything looked…much more scary in the dark. I slowly hopped off the couch and walked to turn on the living room light, but upon trying to reach for the switch, it was higher than normal by at least a foot. I looked up at it and then myself again, I still looked around four, hadn’t shrunk at all that I could tell…maybe I was misremembering? I shrugged a bit and made my way to the kitchen, going to turn the light on in there and this time the light switch was in reach, but when I flipped it the light briefly flashed before going out, and I could’ve sworn I saw…people at the table in that flash. 

I rubbed my eyes, I’d have to tell Ty about the blown bulb tomorrow morning, obviously I was still tired and it was starting to affect me. I went to walk towards my room, leaving the TV as it was currently my only source of light. The problem was the hall seemed to be extremely dark, more so than usual, but still I pushed forward towards my room. 

I reached the door, fumbling around in the darkness and finally finding the handle, slowly opening the door and seeing my night light was on, the stars projected onto the ceiling. Khris must’ve turned it on for me just in case I woke up and decided to go to bed. I slowly walked into my room and looked around, everything felt…off, like I was in a place I shouldn’t be for some reason, even though this had been my room for almost six months now. 

I looked at my bed and realized something was even more off than I thought, there was…someone in my bed, the lump of what looked like a child laying there, my heart jumped into my mouth as I saw it. I just stared at them, unsure what to do or say, Khris hadn’t said anything about someone like Oisin coming over to stay, and we didn’t have any family around my age…maybe Ty did but he would’ve asked me before putting em in my bed. Maybe that’s why they’d left me on the couch? Maybe it was a sudden need? 

Either way I needed to grab my pajamas and get to the living room again, this place felt…unsafe. I went to slowly open my dresser where my PJs were, finding them quickly when I heard something behind me, the bed creaking. I slowly looked back and saw the child had moved from being rolled away to looking at the ceiling, and it was only now I realized while being this close…the kid had similar hair to me…. I just stared, hoping I hadn’t woken them, though I wish I had looked away as they slowly rolled over, looking at me…but what was looking at me wasn’t a..person. 

It looked like one, it had facial features like one, it looked like it had a nose, places where eyes and a mouth would be, but…where those should’ve been was just…skin. It looked like the skin had just grown over those places, I stumbled back, my back slamming into the dresser as they slowly sat up. I heard..something coming from them, a noise of some sort, but by now my heart was beating so loud I could hear it in my ears so if they were talking somehow, I couldn’t hear it. 

I saw them wearing my paw patrol PJs and they slowly pulled themselves out of bed when my fight or flight kicked in. I threw the clothes I had in hand at them and sprinted for the door, running into the hall as I heard footsteps following close behind. I ran as fast as I could for the glowing light of the TV, the slapping footsteps of the other child behind me as I started to call out now “KHRIS!? TY?! HELP!!” I heard nothing in response as I ran, the hall seeming to get longer as this…thing followed me. 

I just kept running, feeling my breath starting to catch as I felt tears of fear starting to well up in me as I called out “KHRIS! HELP ME! PLEEEEASE! K…MOMMY! MOOOMMY!” I screamed as I ran, the light of the TV now within reach as I sprinted in, but felt…something trip me up, sending me sprawling to the floor with a loud thud and a yelp of pain as I looked back. 

Now laying in the light from the TV as that thing ran from the darkness at me, it’s hand outstretched as it went to grab for me. I could only scream and cover my face as I felt it get close, its footsteps shaking the very floor I sat on. I felt it’s hand barely touch me when I felt a jolt of anxiety and suddenly I was shot up in my bed, mid-scream as I heard footsteps rushing to my door.

My door was thrown open with me screaming again as I covered myself and I heard footsteps coming to my bed quickly and I felt a weight on it before there were suddenly arms around me and I heard Khris. “Shhhh, Stevie shhhhh, it’s okay, I’m right here honey, shhhh…” She started to gently rub my back and head, looking around defensively as I shook in her arms, whimpering. 

I felt terrified, but I felt too scared to cry as I just let Khris hold me, actually pushing myself into her as she looked down at me. “Sweetie, what happened? Is everything okay?” I just shook my head softly as I cuddled into her and she gently pulled me into her lap. “Did you have a bad dream sweetie…?” I just nodded quietly as I heard her sigh in relief but continued to just rock and hold me close. She gently patted me “It’s okay sweetie…mommy’s here…I’m right here….” 

I nodded slowly as she helped calm me, that feeling of tears on the verge of coming out fading as I laid on her and she smiled down, likely feeling my heartbeat slowing. “There we go…that’s my boy…shhh…” She rocked me for a few more seconds before going to set me on the bed again. At that moment I felt a jolt run through me, realizing she was gonna try and leave, and I reached up, grabbing her arm a bit tight as she looked at me “Stephen…? What’s going on hun..?” 

I just looked at her “I…I don’t wanna sleep in here…” She looked honestly surprised for a second, before confusion washed across her face “Oh…? Well…why not?” I looked down, feeling childish as she gently took my chin, tilting my head back up to her. “Come on…honey, you gotta tell me.” I whimpered out a soft “I…I had a dream someone was…in my bed…and…they looked like me and…I couldn’t find you and…they…they had no face Khris…” 

She looked surprised again as she sighed a bit and nodded, though her face portrayed that…she’d heard this before. She just gently checked my pull up and nodded “Well…you need a change but…would you like to sleep with us for tonight?” I blinked as she suggested this but the childish side of me was practically begging at this point to get out of this room, so I nodded. Khris smiled a bit and ran her fingers through my hair “Want me to change you? So we can get back to bed?” I just nodded as she gently set me on the floor, pulling my sleep pants down and tearing the sides of my pull up, cleaning me quickly causing me to jump at the still cold wipe, but it was nothing close to the discomfort this room gave me right now. 

She got me in the fresh pull up, pulling my pants up and throwing the old one out before picking me up and carrying me out and to their room, my old room when Khris and I had been together. As we walked in I saw the room hadn’t changed much, minus Ty’s clothes being in the dresser that’d been mine and obviously his stuff on the nightstand next to where he currently sat, looking at us tiredly “Everything okay?” Khris shook her head a bit “Nightmare.” 

Ty just nodded in understanding as he scooched over a bit and Khris laid me down next to him, in the middle of the bed as she gently covered me with the blanket, smiling softly at me. I would be lying if I said this didn’t feel weird, because it felt extremely weird, I hadn’t been in this room in months, at least not when I was big, and now here I was, being laid down in my old bed with my ex-girlfriend, now mommy and her boyfriend. 

Hello all! Just got the A-Okay to drop this soooo...without further a do, I give you all  NG+ ch 2! This chapter is much more character based but I hope you all love it just as much! 

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Quinn looked up at her as she patted his head and frowned a bit “You…didn’t answer me by the way…how did you get in?” Lily gave a bit of a nervous smile “I uh…know where you guys keep the spare key.” Quinn sighed a bit at that, of course she knew, why wouldn’t she know they hid it in the light, she’d probably seen him grab it out of there a thousand times by now. “W…Well you can’t just barge in Lily! What if my parents were home?” Quinn sighed, trying to find any reason to be annoyed with her doing this, even though he knew he was over the moon with joy right now.

Lily shrugged a bit at his question “I’d tell em I was bringing you food and leaving.” She said, starting to dig into her burger as she sat on his bed. Quinn cringed a bit, hoping not to find anything in his bed…again but sighed as his stomach grumbled loudly at him, telling him exactly what time it was. Lily just chuckled at his stomach’s sudden outburst “Well? You gonna eat? Or you gonna let that shake melt?” Quinn perked up, remembering exactly what she’d gotten him now as he whipped around and hopped back into his chair, grabbing the straw and shake, starting to sip at it slowly.

It was like an explosion of flavor that danced all over his tongue as the wonderfully sweet strawberry flowed up the straw, it was like his first time trying strawberries again, it was incredible. Lily chuckled softly at his face, he looked like he was on cloud nine from just a simple shake. Quinn blushed softly as he heard the chuckle, setting the shake down and starting to dig into his nuggets as he sat in his chair and saw Lily softly smiling at him. He looked up at her “What?” He asked between bites.

She shook her head a bit. “Nothing, just funny, no matter what age you always sit like that.” She motioned to his lap where he was sitting like a bird perched on his chair and he shrugged a bit “It’s just comfortable.” She nodded but slowly frowned now. “Well..I’m glad you are because…we’re gonna have to get a bit uncomfortable now.” Quinn looked at her now and felt his heart rate rise as he mumbled a bit “Yeah…?” 

She nodded slowly and sighed “Well…do they know how little you’re gonna get? I’ve heard lots of stories and….” Quinn looked at her and quietly said “You’re worried about being friends with a toddler…?” Lily took a small breath like she was going to dispute the claim before sighing and taking on a look of thinking, as if trying to come up with the best way to say what she was going to say next.

Quinn just stared as Lily sighed “Well…yes and no, I’m gonna be by your side no matter what, but more so…how are we gonna…y’know? Stay friends? What if you get all toddlerized and forget how to even work a computer?” Quinn’s eyes widened as he sat there, the thought of that shaking him to his core as he stopped eating and thought quietly. Lily noticed how uncomfortable he looked and gently patted his shoulder, causing him to jolt to attention a bit and look at her. “That…that’s not how the virus works…right?” Quinn asked, his doctor said he wouldn’t be a full toddler but…what if he was wrong? What if he was gonna just be some…dumb toddler?

Lily slowly shrugged and looked at him “I…I really don’t know how it works to be honest Quinn, I just know what I see on TV and stuff.” Quinn rolled his eyes a bit now, feeling uncomfortable still but now giving Lily a look “Yeah…cause the news is ALWAYS right Lily.” She leaned back a bit defensively “Well excuse me, little boy, but I don’t search up info on a brand new disease daily.” Quinn looked at her and then snickered a bit, his annoyed facade slipping as she smirked “Yes? What is it small child?” He chuckled a bit now as he gave her a now playfully annoyed look “One, not that little, two, call me that again and I’ll bite your ankles.”

Lily chuckled now and rolled her eyes “Oooo, I’m soooo scared, it’s like it’s the only place your short stack self could reach now.” Quinn did a fake offended gasp “How dare! I’ll have you know I am a medium stack!” The both started to chuckle more as Quinn got back to eating for a second before something seemed to strike him “So…what are we gonna do if you got the virus too?” Lily blinked before shrugging a bit “I dunno…deal with it? I mean what else can we do?.”

Quinn shrugged back “I mean…I’d feel bad for getting you sick or…possibly ruining your life…” Lily gave him the annoyed look now “You didn’t mean to, and you wouldn’t be ruining my life, ooo, I get to go back to kindergarten with you or something, that’s so terrible, please no, let me get back to my algebra and learning about the holocaust.” Quinn smiled a bit and looked “So you’d prefer to be learning shapes again?” Lily nodded quickly “Hell yeah! I’d nail the quiz on it! It’d be a cakewalk! Plus we get nap time again? Sign me up.” She smirked now, obviously not fully meaning it, but the more Quinn thought about it, she was right, it could be worse. The virus could be killing him or something instead.

Quinn sighed “True, but I still don’t wanna get you all sick and stuff, cause…this isn’t the best to have, let me tell you.” He said quietly nibbling on a nugget as she raised her eyebrow at that “I mean…you seem fine, not nearly as sick as I thought you’d be to be honest.” Quinn just nodded a bit “Yeah…that’s uh…not the issue, least not totally.” Lily looked confused as he just stared at her before a sudden look of realization washed over her and she slowly stood up and off the bed.

Quinn narrowed his eyes at her “I didn’t wet the bed without protection dingus!” Lily threw her hands up defensively “Well how would I know that, Mr. Cryptic!” Quinn groaned “Like my mom would let me get this young without shoving me back into goodnites or something.” He said, blushing as she sighed a bit “True, she’s always kinda…” Quinn cut in quickly “Babied me.” Lily nodded as he sighed “Well…you might wanna get going soon, my mom should be home soon and I don’t want you getting yelled at or in trouble.” 

Lily nodded, finishing up her small meal before grabbing the bag to throw out in the herby curby “Sounds good, wanna hop on minecraft tonight? Maybe work on the world?” Quinn nodded quickly “I gotta show ya what I’ve done! I’ve had lotsa free time so I’ve been able to get us tons farther.” Lily smiled, ruffling his hair “Awesome, I’ll text you once I’m home and we can call.” Quinn nodded, blushing at the hair ruffling as Lily made her way out, shutting the door behind her, leaving Quinn alone again.

He softly sighed a bit, slumping into his chair as he sipped his shake, the brief period of feeling normal again now gone. He sat for a few minutes just thinking about how they could keep being friends, and what if he’d really given her the virus, it was worrying to say the least. He sat up after a bit and started to work on finishing his fries as he watched her status on Discord, waiting for it to flick to green so he wouldn’t feel so alone again.

Meanwhile, Lily was walking home, about halfway there at this point as she wasn’t particularly rushing, just taking in the day as she thought about Quinn and just how much he’d dropped already. She was truly worried about staying his friend, worried about what people would think, and most of all, worried what might happen to him if he slipped mentally into the toddlerish abyss. She walked, barely recognizing the area as she seemed to move on muscle memory, it wasn’t until she let a soft cough out that she snapped back, her eyes widening a bit as she felt…odd, like there was suddenly gunk in her chest.

She started to quickly check herself over, seeing if she’d shrunk at all or if her clothes were loose. Her pants were still fitting well, her hoodie wasn’t draping over her more than normal and her shoes still felt tight, something she needed to fix with a new pair sooner rather than later. She sighed a bit, taking the relief of not getting smaller but letting out another cough as she walked again, it was likely a cold…or allergies or…something. If she had RARS, she’d be shrinking by now…right?

She nervously kept checking herself right until she got to her front door, opening it and walking in as her mom peeked around the corner, looking down the hallway from the kitchen “You’re home late hun, get busy with after school stuff?” Lily looked at her mom before quickly nodding “Uh…y-yeah! I had to um…help with a project suddenly, nothing too major just…took some time.” Her mom nodded, “Well…I’m making grilled cheese for dinner, it was a long day at work and I kinda want a lazy cooking night.” Lily nodded again, not wanting to tell her mom she’d already eaten as she wasn’t supposed to be spending her money willy nilly so she just smiled “Sounds good to me, I’m gonna head upstairs, gonna play games with Quinn.”

Her mom frowned a bit now, looking at her seriously “How’s he been? I know he caught that RARS virus…poor thing must be feeling awful.” Lily just nodded a bit, looking solemn “He’s…alright, the getting littler is hurting him more than anything, it’s why I was gonna play games with him for a while, maybe help get his mind off it, even for a little bit.” Her mom nodded, giving a soft smile “That sounds wonderful hun, maybe we can even make him a little gift basket, to help adjust to the change and give him the support we always have.” Lily perked up a bit at that and nodded “Yeah…I think he’d like that a lot, but I’ll keep it a surprise for him, not like we gotta really ask him what he likes, we’ve only been friends since…” Her mom chimed in now “Kindergarten, second day.”

Lily chuckled a bit at her mom knowing that by heart as her mom smiled “You begged me to have him come over for nearly a week before his mom and I could plan anything. Been bonded like siblings since.” Lily nodded, thinking about those early years and she began to let her mind wander. She thought about catching the virus and getting small like Quinn, she started to wonder though…would it be so bad? Then they could keep being best friends and just…focus on nothing really at all for a while. 

It was her mom saying “Well, don’t you have to go talk with him hun?” that snapped her back to reality. She nodded quickly, starting to head up the stairs as her mom called up “I’m gonna start dinner in about an hour, okay hun?” Lily called back “Okay mom!” before walking into her room, tossing her backpack onto her bed and booting up her PC as she flopped into her chair. She felt tired, almost lethargic, but that was all probably due to the emotional day she’d had or that cold she felt coming on.

She typed her password in and saw discord boot up, before she was even able to process any of her other messages she saw three quickly pop up from Quinn: QtheQing: Hey QtheQing: You home yet? QtheQing: Hellloooooo? Q to L, you hooooome? LRay12: Just sat down, chill it out short stuff QtheQing: Again…not that short LRay12: Give it a day QtheQing: Not funny Lily LRay12: Then don’t spam me the second I get home dingus QtheQing: Sorry…you still wanna play? LRay12:Of course, I’m the one who offered QtheQing: Awesome, call? LRay12: Sure. And sure enough within seconds the discord ring was going through her headset as she slipped it on and answered.

“Yo” Lily said, starting up minecraft as Quinn sounded excited on the other end “Alright, so, you gotta see what I did to the house, I made a massive storage room, and started working on getting us more diamonds in prep for the ender dragon and wither.” Lily just smiled softly as she logged onto their server and let him lead her around, just enjoying the semi-normalcy of this as they started to work again on the server they’d spent the last month and a half on.

The night wore on, the two friends exploring and building in their world they’d used as an escape when Quinn first got diagnosed. Quinn was working on a stable currently for their horses while Lily was in the nether trying to find a fortress when she heard her mom call from downstairs that dinner was ready. “Oop…okay, I’m gonna hop off quickly and eat, don’t wanna get caught in the nether while I’m doing that, I’ll be right back, okay Quinn?” Quinn sighed a bit “Alright, just…don’t be too long, okay? I’m still never forgiving you for the night you went to have dinner and got all caught up in that…NICS show” Lily chuckled “NCIS, and I won’t, I’m bringing it up here and watching a video. I’ll be quick.”

She muted and Quinn sighed a bit as he now sat alone, he knew she’d be back quick, but he still felt that dread of his situation creeping back into the forefront of his thoughts. He rubbed his eyes a bit and frowned as he also felt something else creeping up on him, the feeling of extreme tiredness. He shook his head a bit, slapping his cheeks, he had to stay up, he was not missing out on playing games with Lily, no way no how.

It was just then he heard her mic unmute and the sound of a plate being set on her desk “And back, but like I said, I wanna watch a video rather than game while I eat so…” Quinn cut in quickly, not wanting her to vanish again “W…Why don’t we watch something together?” Lily was quiet for a second before Quinn heard “Sure, why not.” and then heard the ding of the discord watch together popping up. He quickly logged out of the server to be safe and joined the watch together as Lily said “Lemme find something quickly, hmm…” 

Quinn waited and stared at the basic video recommendations, feeling that drowsiness creeping up on him again as Lily finally said “Ah! Here we go, why don’t we watch some D&D horror stories?” Quinn smiled a bit “Yeah, sounds good to me.” and almost instantly the video was on the screen and Lily muted to eat so he couldn’t hear and they both watched the video about a railroading DM trying to force his players to do some weird things.

The whole time though, Quinn felt himself drifting, his smaller body hitting the wall of sleep harder than he ever could remember. His eyes kept fluttering and he felt his head dip a few times before he’d suddenly jolt back to consciousness. He tried to keep awake and watch the video but found that after the third time of jolting back up, he’d missed about half the video. Suddenly Lily’s voice was back “Alright, and back, ready to get back to MC?” she asked and it took Quinn a second to fully process the question before he mumbled “Uh…yeah, sure…” Lily paused for a second before bluntly asking “Are you getting tired Quinn?” Quinn sat up “Wh…uh, no, not at all, why do you ask?” He said, trying to sound as awake as possible. Lily sighed “Because you sound like you just pulled an all-nighter.

Quinn felt his heart rate tick up a bit, he didn’t wanna miss out on a night of playing with Lily, he couldn’t “I…I’ll be fine, promise!” Lily sighed similar to how a sister would with a sibling “Quinn, if you need sleep, sleep, you’re sick and I don’t need you feeling worse of passing out in call.” Quinn frowned and pouted a bit, not that Lily could see “But…I’m fine.” “If you were fine, you wouldn’t be arguing with me right now.” Lily again said bluntly “Here…how about this, we finish this video and if you’re still awake, we can keep playing, sound good?” Quinn scoffed a bit “Easy.” He said, sitting up straight now as she started the video back up.

Not even ten more minutes had passed when Quinn felt his body desperately crying for sleep again, he was determined to stay awake, he had to. He tried to keep sitting up but his head felt like a ten pound weight, he let out a soft sigh and rested his head on his arm rest. Just to keep himself from wearing himself out keeping his head up, but as he did it was like his body knew the signal and he felt waves of exhaustion hitting him at once, his eyes started to flutter, he’d been up since around 7AM and it was now close to 8PM. 

This is my first comm for my friend Arya! They wanted a simple and sweet mama baby time and I think I nailed it pretty well with the regression popped in and some hypnosis. I hope you all enjoy and just know I'm still open for comms! ______________________________________________________________

Arya sighed, shuffling into the apartment after a long day of work, having had to work a double because a coworker didn’t show up. He kicked his shoes off at the door and tossed his jacket onto the hook, the house already filled with the smell of spaghetti being made. Arya slowly shuffled into the kitchen and smiled, seeing Draven working on the spaghetti. “Shoulda guessed, you always make it when any of us have a bad day.”

Draven smiled a bit at Arya and nodded, gently patting his back a bit “I know my ba…friends well and…I know what’ll always cheer em up.” Arya nodded as Draven looked him over “Why don’t you go get into some more comfy clothes hun.” Arya looked down at his work uniform, nodding a bit as he made his way to his room, sighing a bit and not even noticing the sparkle of magic glittering on his back.

Arya shivered a bit as he walked into his room, wondering if he’d left the fan on only to see it off and frown before shrugging a bit and starting to undress. He tossed his work clothes into the hamper and sighed a bit before looking for a change of clothes, slipping a pair of shorts on and smiling a bit as he noticed something he hadn’t seen in years.

He pulled out a shirt and smiled, swearing he’d gotten rid of it before moving but now…here it was, he just smiled a bit as he pulled it on and looked down at it, it even looked as good as new…he could’ve sworn it had a hole in it. He just shrugged a bit and walked to the door and back out to the kitchen, noticing Draven smiling softly at him “Uhhh…yeah?” Draven just shook her head “Oh…nothing hun.”

Arya frowned a bit at that but shrugged a bit “So uh…when’s the sketti gonna be done?” Draven looked at it and thought “Well…it’s still got some time, along with the bread, so…I’d say 15 minutes, think you can wait that long?” Arya blushed a bit as he realized he did kinda sound like a needy kid before nodding “Y…Yeah I can wait”

Draven nodded and smiled softly at Arya “Why don’t you go watch TV or something hun, a watched cook doesn’t…cook” she seemed to get a bit lost in the allegory but just chuckled a bit before gently shooing Arya out. Draven had to stifle a chuckle though as she noticed she was just the slightest bit taller than Arya now, not that he’d notice of course. Arya made his way to the couch, sitting down and pulling up disney plus and scrolling through.

Arya sighed a bit, finally deciding on throwing the first Star Wars up as he laid on the couch. He began to smell the bread being cooked and felt his stomach rumble a bit as he glanced towards the kitchen. He watched as Draven worked and hummed softly, giving him a bit of a smile and wave which caused a slight blush from him. He went back to his movie, hoping dinner would be done soon as he looked down at himself, smiling at the newer shirt he’d gotten today with Draven at the store.

He just smiled, glad she was so willing to spend the money on him, it made him shiver a bit as he laid there, that same cold feeling that he’d felt earlier. He sat up, checking the thermostat and frowning a bit, seeing it was 72 in the house. He softly sighed a bit and slumped over a bit, hoping he wasn’t getting sick. He didn’t get much more time to think about it before Draven poked her head in with a soft smile “Arya sweetie, dinner’s ready” 

Arya smiled and excitedly hopped off the couch, rushing into the kitchen as Draven smiled down at him. Arya frowned a bit as he looked…up? He looked confused, as Draven just softly smiled down at the teen “What’s wrong hun?” Arya crossed his arms a bit, looking up “Wasn’t I…bigger?” Draven just chuckled at that “Hun, you may be having growth spurts all the time, but you haven’t caught up to mama just yet.” She ruffled his hair and he felt that tingle again.

He felt dazed for a second…what was he just talking about? He shook his head a bit and looked up at…mom, yeah, that was the name for her. She just smiled down “Well? You hungry or what?” She motioned to where he normally sat and Arya nodded, making his way quickly over and sitting as she made the plates for them. Arya just smiled in excitement as he waited, mom’s spaghetti was the best always.

She brought it over, smiling still as she set it down in front of the boy, she looked him over, noting to herself that he looked around 11 or 12 currently. “So honey…how was school?” Arya frowned a bit at that, thinking quietly to himself…how was school? Did he go to school? It all seemed…just a bit fuzzy. He just nodded a bit as he looked at his plate. “It…was fine, not lots to talk about.”

She smiled softly at the boy “Really? Nothing fun happened? Nothing you wanna tell mommy about?” Arya shrugged a bit as he started to nibble on the bread “Jus…I dunno, its kinda a blur of a day…” Draven just nodded as she started to eat, smirking as she saw the sprinkles of magic she put into the food already doing their work, the boy’s regression speeding up just in time for sketti~.

Arya didn’t seem to notice the change though, exactly how Draven set the spells up, just softly smiling at the boy as he shrunk, each year being about a minute at this point. Arya slowly ate, glancing every so often up at mama as she watched him, confused as to why she was staring and…why was the table so high up all the sudden? Arya slowly stood in his seat, causing Draven to chuckle softly at the boy “See honey…I told ya you need your booster seat.”

Arya frowned at that, looking down at himself, seeing his bluey PJ’s on him, what he’d changed into upon getting home from school.  He frowned even more at that, that didn’t seem…right, but as he thought about it he could only think of him being in first grade, it being a long day as they did…something, something about being outside, he’d come home super sleepy and took a nap in his favorite PJs. Arya shook his head a bit and frowned as none of this seemed right…but his memories were right there. 

He just stood there, thinking quietly as he suddenly felt himself lifted for just a second before being sat down in a higher position, looking down and blinking a bit as he saw the booster seat under him now. “There we go, much better, right honey?” Draven said, kissing the boy's head in hopes of clearing up the muddled thoughts of his. Arya felt his head clear a bit, some of that confusion from the day evening out as he thought about…what grade was he in again? Kindergarten? He frowned a bit as mama tapped his hand and he looked at her, she just smiled softly at the boy “Eat up honey, you gotta eat before it gets too cold.” Arya nodded, looking at the sketti in front of him and going to try and eat with a fork, but quickly finding it hard with his little hands. Draven just softly smiled, knowing he’d be reaching the perfect age soon. “Hey honey…do you just wanna use your handsies?”

Arya  hadn’t done that since he was little little…but this fork thing was pretty hard to use…. He thought as Draven smiled a bit “Lets get that shirt off honey...don’t need bluey all messy.” Arya just nodded a bit, lifting his arms up on instinct and not even thinking to try and take his shirt off himself, mommy always did it for him, why would now be any different.

Draven gently slipped the shirt off the boy and smiled down at him, kissing his forehead and making sure to slow down his regression, just enough to where she could enjoy these little years. She gently patted his back “Alright sweetie, dig in, mummy will get you all cleaned up after you’re done, don’t you worry.” Arya nodded and smiled, quickly digging into the sketti, picking it up by the handfuls and putting it into his mouth, this was soooo much easier than that silly fork thing.

Arya ate the absolutely delicious sketti mama made quickly, she always made the best sketti, he didn’t even notice as he ate that he got it all over his face and cheeks. Even if he did though he likely wouldn’t care, after such a long day at preschool, he just wanted to relax! They only let him have a little nap! Not even the big naps like mommy gives him. He ate and looked up to mama who just had her phone out, smiling as she snapped pictures of the freshly regressed little guy.

Arya waved at the camera and smiled big, showing just how messy he already was as Draven gave a soft chuckle “Guess someone’s gonna need a serious bathie tonight, huh?” Arya just giggled a bit as he ate. It was only then that he felt an odd…nagging in his brain, like this wasn’t right, he should be…bigger? Arya slowed his eating before frowning softly, and this was not lost on Draven who frowned with him “What’s wrong pumpkin?” 

Arya looked up at her, looking confused as she just smiled down at him “I…I was…bigger…?” Draven did a surprised gasp, though one Arya wouldn’t be able to pick up on being sarcastic “You were?? How big? Like…a house?” Arya giggled at  that and shook his head “Nuh uh! I…I was as big as you mama!” She looked surprised “You were? Then how’d you get so little and cute?” She said, tickling his tummy.

He giggled and squirmed at that before looking up, confused at the question “I…I dunno” He crossed his arms, confused as to how he got so small. He sat and thought about it before suddenly looking up “Is cause…the cold tingles!” Draven nodded a bit, looking interested much the way you would with any little one telling a story “Oh? The cold tingles?” Arya just nodded and looked up as serious as a three year old could be covered in spaghetti sauce “Yuh huh! Is makin me all little!”

“Well well, that’s no good at all, is it?” Draven asked in a sing song tone, leading to Arya shaking his head. “Nuh uh! Gotta fix it!” He nodded, sure there had to be…some way to make him a big…kid again. Draven chuckled a bit “Honey, there’s nothing to fix, I think you’re just being a silly little boy” Arya looked at her now and frowned “Buh…I gotta…be big” As he looked he noticed something in Mama’s eyes, they were…swirling. 

Arya couldn’t help but stare as Draven just smiled at him, gently petting his head “There we go…see? Isn’t it better to just…relax, be all little, let mama do the thinking?” Arya just nodded slowly, staring as his mouth slowly fell open, too entranced to speak at this point as he stared into the swirling pink mess that was his mama’s eyes. She just kept gently petting him, that soft smile never leaving her face “Yes…you wanna be mama’s baby boy don’t you? Just take a break from being a big boy and just…relax.”

Arya just stared into his mommy’s eyes, not even noticing as he slipped down to around two, nor the sudden bulk between his legs. Draven could only smile as she saw the sudden bulk between his legs as his undies became likely one of her signature dragon luvs. “That’s it…just relax, you’re such a good little boy, such a good baby” She gently petted him as Arya just stared into her eyes, drooling.

Draven gently patted his head, chuckling a bit at the now toddler, covered in sauce and in just a diaper “Now honey, I need some help, are you big, or are you little?” Arya in his hazy mind just stared at her, blinking a bit. Big? Little? He was…big right? But he felt so…little. Arya mumbled out a soft “Big…” as Draven chuckled a bit “You’re big? How exactly are you big sweetie?” Arya slowly shrugged a bit at her question, still entranced as Draven smiled softly “Sweetie…you don’t even use a potty.”

Arya blinked again “I…don’t…?” Draven just smiled at the boy “Nope, not at all, you’re too little, I doubt you even know what a potty is, do you?” Arya thought, and at first it felt like that knowledge was all there…but as mama asked if he did it’s like it slipped right out of his ears. He wasn’t sure what a potty was, not at all, but that left him with another question “Wh…where do I potty..?” Draven smirked a bit at that, it was like he was just leaving himself wide open “Why…where do you think sweetie? Where do all little babies go?” 

Arya didn’t have to think about this, it was like it was the first thing in his mind, softly mumbling as he stared “In…In their diapers” Draven gave a bit of a clap at that “Yes! Good boy! And what are you wearing sweetie?” Again, he didn’t even have to think about this, it’s like he’d known since the weird bulk wrapped itself around his waist “A…diaper” Draven just smiled at him “So…where do you think you go?” 

It’s like Arya could feel the change in his head, nodding slowly as he stared and Draven rubbed his back a bit “Why don’t you then sweetie, we gotta give you a bathie anyway.” Arya looked unsure for the first time as Draven kept gently rubbing “B…But…I’m big.” Draven tsked at that, shaking her head softly “No sweetie, you’re not, you’re my little boy, my baby, and right now, mommy wants you to get all those silly big boy thoughts out.” Arya could only parrot a soft “Get em…out?” Draven nodded “Yep, out, and it’s not as hard as you think sweetie, just give a little push.” Arya looked confused again as he looked at her “Push…?” She nodded again and smiled softly “Yes sweetie, a push, right into your lovely luvs for mama, just push all~ those big boy thoughts right out.” Arya just stared as it all started to click for him, he had to push, push all the big boy thoughts out, just be mama’s good little baby.

Draven watched the boy slowly lean forward, just keeping up the back rubs as she watched and whispered “That’s it…good boy, just push em all out for mama, let that little brain get all empty so mama can give you a changie, a nice bath and then maybe later, even a boobie.” Arya felt his mouth water at the thought of her wonderful milk, softly grunting as he stared, the eye stopped swirling a while ago but he couldn’t help but stare at mama as he softly grunted more.

It was quick, just like mama said as Arya leaned forward, grunting softly as he felt that feeling in his tummy moving down, pushing out into his diaper. As he pushed he felt his brain getting all…empty, like stuff was supposed to be there but..now it was only mama and...how he was a baby. He kept grunting, staring as mama praised him “There we go, such a very good boy, get it all~ out for mama, let all~ those big boy thoughts out.” She said again as Arya felt the weight in his diaper, it gently sagging under him as all he could do is let a soft giggle out at the funny feeling of all that big boy stuff just going right into his padding. 

Draven just watched the boy, smiling as he finished and plopped back into his messy diaper, knowing there wasn’t a lot going on upstairs right now “Such a good boy! Who’s mama’s good boy? You are! You are!” She said, gently tickling the boy’s tummy causing him to break into a fit of giggles and kicked as she gently scooped him up, smiling down at the sweet boy in her arms, one that just an hour ago was a stressed adult dreading tomorrow.

She gently carried the boy to his room, one that was already changed due to her magic. His bed was now a crib for his soon to be infant form, his dresser was now still one somewhat, but had a changing mat on top and was stocked with diapers. Long gone was his TV and games, rather it was now a star projector that played lullabies. She just softly smiled at the boy as she laid him on the changing mat and started to make quick work of untaping and wiping him down.

Arya looked up adoringly at mama as she cleaned him and cooed at him, telling him how cute he was now and how much better it must be. Arya could only suck on his paw as he stared up at her, smiling at her as she gently finished cleaning him before lifting him up and carrying the now one year old to the bathroom. She turned on the warm water and gently set the boy in as it slowly filled. 

Arya giggled as the warm water gently and slowly enveloped him, splashing a bit and wiggling at the warm feelings of the water. Draven smiled, just letting the water come up to about just below his chest line before stopping it and putting some boat toys in for the boy to play with as she grabbed a cup and childrens shampoo.She filled the cup before pouring it over his head, wetting his hair as the boy just giggled and flailed a bit “Nuuuh mama!”

Draven chuckled back “Well someone’s gotta clean this messy little boy, and I know you won’t do it yourself.” She said as she gently started to work the children’s shampoo into the boy's now wet hair. Arya just giggled and splashed as started to play with the toy boats as she gently started to clean him with a wet washcloth, trying to get all the sauce off him while he was distracted with playing. 

Arya didn’t make it easy though as he kept giggling and squirming at her trying to hold him still and wipe him down with the funny feeling cloth. Draven could only smile and shake her head at his antics before pulling her phone out and waving at him which led to a wave back as she took a picture to remember the night. She smiled as she dunked the cup back under the water “Okay sweetie, close those lil eyes of yours.”

Arya nodded and closed his eyes quickly as Draven gently poured water over his head, washing the soapy suds out of his hair and into the awaiting water, causing giggles from the boy again as she did it once more to make sure they were all out. She let him keep playing as she gently cleaned him up a bit more, making sure she got all the sauce before smiling and pulling the plug on the bathtub.

The boy watched the water swirl down the drain as he was lifted out by mama, with a towel in her arms as she made quick work of drying off his hair and body. She ruffled his hair dry and smiled as she kissed his forehead upon the boy poking his head out “Alright, let's get you all diapered and then we’ll relax on the couch before beddy byes, how’s that sound pumpkin?” Arya could only nod, most of the words coming at him way too fast for his now little, empty head to fully comprehend.

She carried him back into his room and laid him on the changing table, quickly sliding a diaper under his bottom, applying powder and taping him up quickly. She nodded at her work, she still had the magic diapering touch, before lifting the boy off the table and looking at her choices for PJ’s for him. She gave a small chuckle as she pulled out a romper with the words “Mommy’s lil Rah” with a little picture of a dragon on it “Perfect for my little boy.” 

She gently slipped it over his head before gently snapping the crotch and nodding at him as he just gently started to suck on his paw again, looking at it. He knew he should know those words, but they were gone now, mama took em away, but that's okay cause he was just a little baby after all. “Alright, time for some Bluey and then nini time for my little boy.” She brought him out to the couch, slowly sitting and stopping the movie that’d been playing since before dinner, pausing it and swapping quickly to Bluey, chuckling as she noticed the little one in her lap start to wiggle and dance as the theme started to play.

“Do you like Bluey baby?” Draven asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it from him. Arya nodded quickly and babbled out  a “Wub Bwuey!” as he was already transfixed with the TV. They spent the next thirty or so minutes doing just that, watching Bluey and relaxing, Arya relaxing truly for the first time in a while, though as he laid there, he started to smell a wonderful smell.

He started to look around, wondering if mama had something or lit something, but quickly realized he was much closer to the smell than he thought. He looked back and saw he was right next to her chest, and sure enough, the wonderful smells were coming from her chest. It made his mouth start to drool almost instantly as he stared, something that wasn’t lost as Draven smirked down, the perfect way to get a little one like him asleep.

“Does my little boy want some num nums? Hmm? Does hims want some mama milk?” Draven cooed down as Arya just nodded. She gently undid her shirt before lowering her bra and smiling as her nipple hung in front of the boy’s open mouth. Arya could barely stand it, the wonderful smell was overwhelming his senses as he stared at the wonderful source, and he knew exactly what to do, he was a baby after all.

He latched on quickly, starting to drink and gulp down the wonderful, sweet and almost entrancing milk. He felt it roll down his throat and warm his tummy, causing shivers to run up and down his back as he felt so..loved, so cared for, so close to mama in this moment. Draven just smiled down at the nursing boy, feeling the same closeness as she watched him drink, his eyes slowly shutting as she gently held him, rubbing and patting his bottom as he slowly relaxed more and more into her arms. 

Just a forward, this is the October short story that was voted on by the people in my patreon! If you would like to be able to vote in the next one or possibly even get a 3K or 6K a month comm slot of your own, check out my patreon here! https://www.patreon.com/JTwritesstuff ____________________________________________________________ Gabe sighed as he pulled up to the party he was last minute invited to, it was some halloween party being put on by his best friend and he couldn’t really say no to them. He slowly climbed out, in a Friday the 13th graphic tee and had a set of Chucky sleep pants on, otherwise he looked mostly normal, hair pulled into a bun, clean shaved, his skate shoes on his feet. He figured if anyone asked he could say he was going as someone going to a horror movie or something, he wasn’t huge on the whole dressing up thing, just seemed so…childish.

He knocked on the front door, hearing what sounded like monster mash inside already he let out a sigh, knowing tonight was gonna be a long night. Liam, his best friend, opened the door and smiled a bit “Well hey hey there! Glad ya made it!” Liam was dressed up in a pretty simple Tigger onesie, meaning his girlfriend was probably in something similar. “Yeah, I was able to get off work.” Gabe smiled a bit, trying to hide the fact he wanted to get going as soon as possible.

“Well come on in, party is just starting, we're just about to get the drinks and food out” Liam said, motioning Gabe in who shuffled in with a bit of a sigh. Liam patted his back a bit “Look, I know it’s not totally your thing but…I think tonight might change your mind on halloween.” Gabe gave Liam a look, he wasn’t one for holidays in general, so he highly doubted one night would make him suddenly look forward to the next halloween.

He walked in, seeing the house wasn’t full of people, but it was more than he thought, and sure enough, all of them were dressed up in costumes of all sorts, from anime to sexy maid, everything was here. He sighed a bit as Liam patted his back “Alright, you go mingle, I gotta get the drinks ready” and before Gabe could say another word Liam wandered off to where Gabe knew the kitchen was.

Gabe started to walk around the party, mostly avoiding others as he tried to find anyone he might know, only seeing a few acquaintances, otherwise most of these people look like they’re probably from Liam’s job. Gabe sat on the couch and sighed, praying he could slip out sooner rather than later because at this rate, the party seemed like it was gonna be him following Liam around like a lost puppy.

Meanwhile, Liam was putting the final touches on the food, taking a small vial he’d slipped from work to here, it was a chemical they were testing that had rejuvenating properties. Liam had been telling them they needed to see how groups reacted to it, but they’d been too worried, so he figured he’d take matters into his own hands. He smiled at his girlfriend, Miranda who just sighed.

“Do you really know if it’s safe Liam?” She asked a bit nervously as he gave her a bit of a look. “Yes, it’s very safe, it only lasts twelve hours at most, so…everyone here will be back to normal before work tomorrow, it’s why I wanted the party early.” She just sighed again, “And…what if someone goes too far?” Liam looked at her seriously now. “In all testing, animal and human, no one has gone below the age of two, so…it would be very odd and new, but nothing I’m not ready for.”

She gave him a look now, raising her eyebrow as he held up a spray bottle with what looked to be a swirling silver liquid. “One spray in each nostril and it will nullify the agent instantly, they will be completely safe, I promise.” She nodded a bit and looked at the punch “Well…we better get the food out then, huh?” He just smiled at her and nodded, picking the punch bowl up carefully and carrying it out the door.

Upon entering the living room Liam looked around for Gabe as he slowly made his way over to the table he’d set up for the party. Setting down the punch, Liam turned around to see Gabe on the couch right in front of him. “Oh Gabe! There you are, I just got the punch out if you wanna try some” he says practically beaming. Gabe looked up from his phone, his one source of proper entertainment at this party “Nah I’m good.” Gabe’s cold response caused Liam to almost pout. “Come on Gabe, I invite you over and the least you could do is drink the punch I made.” Gabe sighed as he saw several party guests had already made it over to the punch bowl and started filling their plastic red cups with the spiked concoction. “Eh, I’ll wait for the crowd to die down a bit.” Gabe sighed as he went back to scrolling through his Twitter feed. “Alright, just make sure to get it while it’s hot…” Liam responded sounding a little defeated. Gabe gave Liam a bit of a look for a second, “The punch is… hot?” he says bewildered. Liam stares back and mutters “No… it’s just like… you know…fresh…” before walking away to prepare to observe the effects the serum will have on his guests.

Liam wandered around the room as he observed who has punch and who hasn’t, taking mental note of who needs to still drink. After casually informing some folks that the punch is ready Liam slinks over to the front door and locks it. “Can’t have any little tykes sneaking out” he mutters to himself, making the note to make sure to lock the back door as well soon.

“What’dja say Liam?” Someone said from behind him. Liam whipped around, making it very obvious he’s doing something suspicious. Before him is a girl dressed up in full Power cosplay giving him a weird look. “Oh! Sophie, glad you could make it. You uh… enjoying the party?” Liam practically blubbers leading Sophie to only narrow her eyes further. “You okay man? You’re acting…weird.” she asked before taking a sip from her solo cup. Liam, taking note of the punch now in Sophie’s body, let his body relax a bit and gave a small smile. “Yeah Soph, everything’s good. Just keeping an eye on things is all.”

“Well alright, by the way what’s in this punch? Tastes hella good” Sophie asked, seemingly dropping the topic all together. Liam smiled “Sorry, family recipe. If I told you I’d have to kill you”. There’s a brief pause as Sophie and Liam both just burst out laughing. Liam chuckled a bit more before smiling “But seriously, nothing major in it, just a bit more sugar than normal, and I added some citrus fruit juices in.” Sophie nodded a bit “Well now I know because this is something I gotta make myself.” 

Sophie started to walk off to the rest of the party as Liam sighed, taking note of everyone again, noticing most everyone except Gabe and two others have had at least a cup of the punch. He smiled as he made his way across the room to lock the other door, passing Gabe. Gabe glanced up just in time to see Liam looking at him and with a sigh he slowly stood up, muttering “I guess I should at least drink some, make him happy.”

Gabe walked over, grabbing a cup and looking into the red orange liquid, frowning as he swore he could see what looked like sparkles in it, but shrugged, it was probably something to make it a witches brew or something. He took a scoop and dumped it into his cup, swirling it a bit before taking a sip. His eyes almost physically widened, it tasted…amazing, it tasted like orange..and lemon and…something else, something from his childhood he couldn’t quite place. 

He took another sip and glanced around, seeing everyone else drinking as well, smiling a bit as he sighed, guess at least the punch was good too, and no one was really bugging him right now, so that was even better. He started to just wander around the house, looking at others as he saw Liam chatting with a few people, what Gabe didn’t notice was the person he had just walked past, dealing with the fact her sexy maid outfit was getting a little too loose, leading to her having to adjust it for the second time already.

Liam smiled, chatting with a few other people from the lab, though he wasn’t smiling about the conversation, it was just another boring slop of something to do with work. No he was smiling because as he talked, he saw around the room as people started to slowly shrink, their clothes getting just that little more baggy. He smiled because he knew it was working and he could get so much good data from it, this could change the world.

Gabe sat back down on the couch, sipping his punch and scrolling as he noticed his phone seemed…a bit bigger? He frowned a bit as he looked it over, it was his phone so…why did it feel so off? Liam must’ve made the punch alcoholic, Gabe groaned as he thought he realized the truth, thinking he’d be tipsy all night. He went to go back to scrolling as he heard some people gasping and looked up, his eyes widening.

The sexy maid from earlier was standing near the bathroom, but she’d frozen as her skirt and panties had fallen down, along with her top straps looking barely on her shoulders. The woman, now a teen at best, looked completely confused and scared as she continued to get smaller, and it was only now that the other guests began to realize fully what was happening to their shrinking forms.

Gabe looked down, seeing his own pants looking baggy as his eyes widened more “Wh…what the hell?!” he said, going to stand as his pants started to drop. He quickly grabbed them, yanking them back up around his rapidly shrinking frame as he saw the only person not shrinking, Liam, standing with a grin.

Gabe frowned even more now as he stormed over to Liam “LIAM!” The other man just looked over with a smile “Yeeeess?” Gabe growled a bit now at his tone, it was like when he pulled pranks, but this was no joke. “What are you doing to us!?” Liam sighed a bit “It’s nothing serious Gabe, just a little test, you all will be better by morning!” Gabe could feel his eye twitching as he just stared at Liam.

Gabe looked around 17 now, having been one of the last to drink the punch while some of the earlier drinkers were starting to look around 13 or younger, and Liam noted that their emotional and mental states were also starting to reflect their new ages. Gabe just continued to glare “You can’t just…experiment on us! What the hell are you even doing?!” Liam gave Gabe a bit of a look “It’s just to see how different people react to an age reversal serum, nothing major, like I said, you all will be better by morning, just…enjoy the night.

Gabe felt the blood rushing to his ears as he felt his anger burning red hot, he felt like he might punch Liam right here and now. What he didn’t realize was that as his heart rate rose due to the anger, the serum worked its way through his body faster, and he was slipping faster, down quickly to 15 or so as Liam looked around. Liam could only feel pure joy, as he watched his guests now turned kids shrinking more and more, some of them starting to panic like the little nurse now looking barely 10. He also noted that as she shrunk, her modesty seemed to slip as well, just in time for his girlfriend to bring out the pull ups and diapers, along with much kiddier costumes he’d bought for the night.

She gave Liam a bit of a look “So…what exactly are we going to do with a bunch of kids and toddlers?” Liam smiled a bit “That’s why I set the basement up! Movie to start and then we get some games and whatnot set up! I wanna test em, see if they retain their adult intellect even as kids.” She nodded a bit as she watched the room of quickly more and more nude kids as she started to get underwear and pull ups pulled out “Don’t need people thinking this is…weirder than it already is…”

Liam looked back at Gabe who just glared at him and sighed “Buddy, I’m giving you a break for the night…take it.” Gabe stomped, looking around 11 “Oh yeah! Cause being some dumb toddler is soooooo fun! Thanks LIAM!” Liam sighed as he saw Sophie stumbling towards them, she must’ve had a lot more punch as she was only around six right now, her Power cosplay hanging loosely around her frame as she giggled “Is all so…big!” she said as she looked around in amazement. 

Liam smiled a bit as he kneeled down “Sophie, come here” She looked over, shuffling over as she looked almost dazed. “How old are you honey?” Sophie seemed to think a bit “Um…” She looked down at herself before shrugging “I…dunno…” Liam nodded a bit, noting that her regression seemed to be slowing. He felt Gabe standing over him and looked back as the boy, roughly 10 now, was still looking annoyed, but not nearly as mad.

“We cooled down now?” Liam asked with a smile as Gabe glared “No! I just…dunno why I was so mad…but I’m mad!” He said, as if trying to convince himself of the fact more than anything. Liam nodded a bit as he looked at Gabe now “How old are you now Gabe?” Gabe glared “I…I’m…nine..? I…think…” He said, trailing off a bit as Gabe nodded, similar to their in lab testing, until the subject was fully regressed, they struggled to remember their age.

Liam stood, seeing the formerly adults around him now mostly kids were starting to settle into their new ages for the night. Smiling a bit, he started to help Miranda get them dressed in appropriate underwear and costumes, taking note of each age as the kids came up before sending them down to the basement where he had a cartoon playing currently. Sophie bottomed out at around three and was cute as a button for it, getting dressed in a pull up and a princess costume. Most of the newly regressed kids seemed to stop between 3 and 5 but some hung out on the high end, and others like Gabe, seemed to slip just that bit lower.

Gabe felt himself slipping lower and lower, his mind getting fuzzier, more childish as he seemed to feel his adult stuff just slip away, like why he was even mad seemed to be like a dream. Soon he stood there in just his oversized shirt, looking barely a day over two as he looked up at Liam, helping the big kids into their costumes. He wanted a costume…he pouted a bit and simply said “Wan’ it!”

Liam looked back, smiling a softly at the tiny tot pouting “What do you want?” Gabe looked up, his previously dark brown hair now a shaggy almost dark blonde as he pouted “Wan da cosdume!” He said, stomping again as Liam chuckled, taking two of the few costumes he had for a toddler Gabe’s new size “And which one do you want sweetie, do you want the doggie or the pumpkin?” Gabe seemed to ponder this, starting to suck on his pointer finger as he looked between the costumes before pointing at the dog costume.

Liam nodded, gently taking the oversized shirt off of Gabe and going to lay him gently down as Miranda handed him a diaper and powder. Gabe just watched quietly, not even arguing as in his newly regressed brain, this was normal and natural. The diaper was slid under Gabe’s bottom, then powder applied liberally before the quick tape up and a smile from Liam as he pulled his friend to his feet.

“Alright buddy, costume time!” He said, as he pulled the costume out, seeing it was from some preschool show called Paw Patrol. He gently helped dress Gabe in it, helping the tyke into the onesie part of it before zipping it up in the back and smiling as he put the little fire hat on the boy, the dalmatian ears flopping from the sides of it pulling it all together.

“Well aren’t you just the cutest little fire dog around!” Miranda smiled down at Gabe as Gabe nodded quickly, making little toddlerish barks as he giggled “I da best doggie!” Liam gently patted his friend’s back “You sure are lil man, why don’t you go down with the others and watch the show while we get the party all ready?” Gabe seemed to think on this, seeing Liam had a few cameras up on his phone to watch the other kids. Gabe shook his head and sat down as Liam raised an eyebrow.

“And why not lil man?” Liam asked, eyebrow still raised as Gabe pouted a bit “Wan hewp!” Liam smiled a bit now “Oh? You wanna help us set up for the party?” Gabe nodded, his mind already made up as Liam chuckled “Alright then, well…why don’t you help Miranda with the candy bags?” Gabe perked up at this as Miranda nodded, smiling as she kneeled down and picked up the tot “Sounds like a plan to me, I could use help putting the candy in the bags.” Liam nodded and smiled as she headed to the kitchen with Gabe.

Liam began setting up simple things, easy games for the kids to play, a little area for dancing, and so on. He was keeping a close eye on the kids through the cameras as they seemed enamored with the show he’d put on downstairs, something about some blue dogs, it’s pretty popular from what he could tell online. As he did Miranda had Gabe sitting on the counter and she opened up the bags decorated with little ghosts, bats and pumpkins and let Gabe put in a few handfuls of candy from the bowls.

Soon enough the new and improved, more kid friendly party was set up, Liam smiling as he made sure all the cameras were still rolling upstairs as well, this would be perfect to show the board. He walked downstairs, seeing the gaggle of children all in costume and entranced with the TV “Alright kiddos! I have the party all ready upstairs and candy is waiting as well!” A fair few kids hopped up almost immediately and ran upstairs, trying to get the candy first to which Liam just chuckled as he saw one of them was from HR, normally a stuck up guy, now dressed in a spiderman costume and as wild as any other five year old.

He walked upstairs, seeing about half the kids were still much too interested in the TV or for a few, sleeping. He figured they’d come up soon or he’d just have to keep an eye on them down there for the time being through the cameras. He smiled as he helped kids with the different games he had set up, all simple like pin the leg on the skeleton or twister, but more than enough for some of these rowdy, barely school aged kids.

Gabe helped hand out the candy bags while Liam was teaching kids about twister, making sure to take one bag at a time and bring it to a kid he hadn’t given one to yet. He walked up to Sophie, holding the bag out who immediately took it and smiled at him “Fank yoo!” she practically yelled as Gabe smiled “Yoo wewcome!” She leaned in, pecking a kiss on his cheek before digging into the candy, causing Gabe to look confused down at her “Why yoo kissin..?”

Sophie pulled out a small twix and shrugged “Mama says kissin’ means ya wuv someone, an yoos gave me candy…so I wuv ya wight now.” She said matter of factly as Gabe just looked lost in conversation, just simply responding with “Oh…” He rubbed his cheek a bit as he saw Liam watching them, smiling a bit as he saw how little they were aware of social norms, definitely something he’d need to note down to show as a possible rehabilitation positive.

Liam started to walk about again after teaching a few kids the ways of twister, likely again, and started looking for one person in particular, someone he was dying to see much younger, and hopefully less of a dick. He wandered only for a bit before he spotted the little tyke, only about three and dressed up in a simple cowboy outfit, he recognized the raven hair anywhere, it was his manager and head of the lab, Alan. 

Liam gave a bit of a smirk as he saw the boy getting spun around before stumbling dizzily towards the skeleton, pinning the leg way far off but getting claps from everyone around him, looking overjoyed at the fact. Liam sauntered over, smirking down at Alan who excitedly looked up “I dided it!” Liam chuckled a bit “You sure did lil guy! Man, what a big boy you must be for being able to do that!” Alan just giggled more at that and nodded quickly “I twee!” Liam just chuckled at the literal take the tot had on being big “Wow, that is pretty big!”

Alan just nodded and smiled proudly as he looked around for the next thing to do before Liam kneeled down and smiled softly “Hey Alan, I have a question.” Alan looked back and nodded a bit “Otay, buh I wanna go do da dots!” he responded as if it was just so urgent it had to be done right now. Liam nodded in understanding “I getcha lil dude, I just wanted to know…how much do you remember? Like…from being big”

This seemed to make Alan stop for a second, seemingly thinking before looking back “I…member bein big…an workin an stuff, buh I dunno how ta do dat work no more…jus…like it’s all locked up.” He nodded a bit as if that’s as good as he would get in explaining it. Liam nodded back, fully understanding, he’d written the thesis on the phenomena afterall “I getcha…so still think this shouldn’t be mass tested?” He gave a bit of a smirk as Alan looked back and gave a childish grin “Everyone should get ta do this! Is so fun!” 

Liam chuckled a bit at his response “So…when I ask on monday about more testing…?” Alan just nodded quickly “We doin it! I wanna do it!” He said, hopping up and down before looking back to twister, quickly losing interest in the conversation and running off to the game. Liam just smirked, making sure the camera caught all of it, knowing he could at least use it for leverage on monday. 

He watched as the kids played, moving swiftly between the main floor and the basement for a while, checking in on kids as he went and taking similar notes as to Alan. Eventually smiling as he sees Gabe and a few other of the littler ones playing with what looked to be some halloween wooden blocks as Miranda sat nearby. She was mediating the play seemingly and looked up as Liam walked over.

“Everything going well here?” Liam asked and smiled at the roughly 4 kids that went younger than expected, still within the margin of error he noted to himself. Miranda nodded softly and smiled at the little ones “Perfectly fine, they’re starting to wind down a bit from what I can tell.” Liam nodded “Well, we’re coming up on six, so I’m sure the little ones are gonna be crashing soon, and we just gotta work on getting the older ones down so their bodies can get themselves bigger again.”

Miranda nodded a bit “Let them wear themselves out, otherwise it’ll be fight after fight.” Liam looked over as he noticed Gabe was now at his leg, looking up and holding a block out to him. Liam slowly kneeled down and smiled at the tot, taking the block “Why thank you Gabe, I see someone’s playing and having lots of fun, isn’t he?” Gabe just nodded and smiled as Liam gently ruffled his hair “Told ya this party would change your mind.”

Gabe just giggled at the hair tussling before rubbing his eyes “Da pawty is…fun.” Liam nodded again and smiled “It is! Especially for little ones like you, I’m sure there’s just so much new stuff, isn’t there?” Gabe just nodded softly and mumbled “Mah head gotted…awl…empty an..fuzzeh” Liam just smiled “Yep…that’s what happens when you finally let it all go and just have fun.” Gabe smiled this time and nodded “Wike fun!”

Liam just nodded at the boy and stood, handing the block back and smiling as he saw his now tiny best friend building with the blocks, yawning softly as he did so. Liam made his way down to the basement, smiling as he dimmed the lights and noted that some kids were already asleep, likely the ones that barely sleep as adults. Liam began to lay out more beanbags and some cots, smiling softly as the room started to look like one big sleep over.

As he did this more kids started to make their way down, whether it be due to coming down from a sugar high or it be their little bodies just giving in as the clock slowly ticked closer to seven around 80% of the kids were downstairs. Liam had Halloween town on and watched as kids took cots, many of the couples sharing cots or beanbags as they began to watch the movie.

Miranda soon came down, carrying a few of the very little ones, Gabe being the only one that was just following behind, yawning softly every few seconds as he tried to fight off sleep, leading to Liam gently scooping him up. “You sleepy lil guy?” Liam asked the obviously exhausted tot as Gabe shook his head “Nuh…nah sweepy…” Liam nodded a bit “You wanna party more, dontcha?” Gabe just nodded a bit as he yawned again and Liam gently rocked him, walking over to a bean bag

“Well..how about this, we take a teeny nap and then we can party more later, sound good?” Liam asked as Gabe gave him an unsure look “Buh…noh pawty watew…” Liam had to chuckle a bit at the lisp “I’ll make sure I wake you up before the party ends, okay?” Gabe seemed to think about it as he was laid on the bean bag and Liam started to gently rub Gabe’s chest in small circles, much like Liam’s mother used to do. 

Gabe laid there, trying to keep awake as the rubbing mixed with his much smaller body was making it harder and harder to stay awake, yawning softly he looked up at Liam and blinked. Liam just smiled down at the boy “Just a quick sleep lil one, then you’ll be right as rain, promise.” Gabe tried to respond, but barely slurred words out as he felt his eyelids slamming shut and felt almost as if he was falling for a split second before the inky blackness of sleep took him.

Gabe’s dreams were odd to say the least, dreams starting out with him as a tot, before he slowly but surely worked his way back up, growing up at a fast rate. He went through grades in an hour and college in what felt like minutes. He felt all the knowledge that had been locked away pouring back into his skull like a torrent of water. Then as he was catching up to last night, he felt this odd sense hitting him, this sense of deja vu, as he dreamed about pulling up to Liam’s house in a car..dressed in his chucky sleep pants and friday the 13th graphic tee, dreading halloween, and all at once his mind was confused by the mix of memories and that spike of anxiety led to him jolting awake with a gasp.

He looked around him, breathing quickly as he saw he was in Liam’s basement, it was mostly empty minus one or two others still sleeping and he quickly reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and seeing it was roughly 8 AM. His breathing slowed, last night an odd blur as if he’d dreamt it all, and the last solid memory he had was of him drinking the punch he swore Liam spiked with alcohol. He turned has he heard the sound of the stairs creaking and blinked as he saw Liam, coffee in hand, smiling down at him.

“Some party eh?” Liam asked, raising his coffee cup a bit and taking a sip as Gabe slowly stood, his legs feeling like jelly “Y…Yeah, What uh…happened?” Liam seemed to think for a second before nodding “Well…you all had a lot of fun and I decided you wouldn’t be able to get home on your own, so I let you all stay here.” Gabe blinked, thinking back on the night, trying to think of what he did, but all that came to mind was candy and games and…stacking blocks? 

He shook his head a bit as Liam just gave a knowing smirk. “I…I think I should probably get going, feel like I’ve already overstayed my welcome….” Gabe mumbled as Liam chuckled “Please, this isn’t the first time you’ve slept in my basement.” Gabe chuckled at that as he slowly made his way up the stairs and to the front door, looking around as the now pretty much cleaned up party.

He slowly began to open the door when something caught his eye, just under the couch he noticed it. It was a block…just like the one he swore he played with last night. Liam followed his gaze and just gave a smile as he patted Gabe’s back “Well…it was great having you over, see you for thanksgiving maybe?” Gabe looked back at his friend, seeing his smile and realizing something all at once, before slowly nodding “Y…Yeah, actually that sounds like a…good time.” 

I felt the soft shaking in my dream before I was even fully awake, having a dream about driving my car again. No destination in particular in mind, just driving when the car began to rattle and shake. I felt the car seemingly almost falling apart before suddenly, I was opening my eyes, my room was still somewhat dark, save for the nightlight and I had Khris over me, gently shaking my arm before smiling. “Good morning sleepy head, time to get up, we gotta get you brekky and around for daycare so I can go to work.” 

I nod  as I slowly pull myself out of bed, seeing my day clothes already laid out as Khris quickly kneels down, gently slipping a finger between my legs and nodding as she goes to pull the sides off my pull up, making me blush deep red as I just stand in my half awake state “You coulda just asked…” I mumble as I hear my pull up drop to the floor with an audible plop and she looks at me “Sorry hun, just habit, mixed with a bit of oversleeping on my part.” She starts to make quick work of cleaning me with a warm wipe before having me step into another pull up, which I don’t argue with right now, given her rushed nature currently. 

“Sweetie, can you do me a big favor and get yourself dressed? I gotta go make sure your breakfast didn’t overcook” She asked, standing quickly as I was barely able to nod before she was out the door. I gave a small sigh as I looked at the outfit she’d picked for me, cargo shorts and a t-shirt that had some dinosaur on it with the saying “I’m dino-mite”. I get my clothes on quickly and shuffle out and to the kitchen, rubbing my eyes tiredly as Khris scoops me up without a second thought, setting me in my booster seat. I look up as she set a plate of eggs and french toast in front of me with a sippy cup of milk as she went to go finish her own breakfast. 

“Where’s Ty?” I ask, as normally he’d be bustling about along with her. This led to a small sigh from Khris “He got a promotion a week ago and now has to help open, meaning he goes in an hour earlier.” I nodded a bit as I started to eat, trying to make as little work as possible for Khris so I tried to keep as clean as possible, drinking from my sippy cup without issue. 

She sat and ate, giving me a soft smile “Thanks for being such a big boy for mommy this morning.” I blushed but also felt a rush of pride run through me at being praised for such a simple thing as getting dressed and eating cleanly. “Well…yeah, I’m not Stevie right now so…I’ll help where I can.” She nodded and smiled at me still as she ate her own meal and scrolled her phone, the morning mostly calm now as I saw the sun just peaking over the trees through the back door. It wasn’t much longer before we both finished up, Khris grabbing my bluey themed backpack off my hook and making sure my water bottle was filled before handing it to me. She took me out to the car, opening the back door and with the swiftness only a mother could have lifted me into my car seat and had me buckled in one swift motion. She got into the driver's seat and the garage door opened behind us as she backed out and we were off. 

The neighborhood rushing past outside the window as I sat with my backpack at my feet, only just now feeling the butterflies in my stomach as I slowly started to realize…we were heading to daycare. An ACTUAL daycare, and not for a little meet and greet for some kiddos that really liked my driving, no, I was going because I was a student, and I had to be there. Those thoughts rattled me a bit to my core and I was lost in thought as the town rushed by, seeing the playground pass by and kids going to actual school before we slowly pulled into the daycare. I grimaced as I recognized it as “Little Lions daycare and nursery”. 

I slowly unbuckled myself as Khris got out and helped me out, barely even looking at me before going to walk in as I stood there and looked down “K…Khris..?” She turned around now and frowned, walking back and kneeling down “What’s wrong Stephen? Did you forget something? Did you have another accident?” I blushed at the second one and shook my head quickly before softly asking “Do..I have to go to daycare? Can’t I come with you? I…I don’t think I’m gonna fit in here at all, and..might make things harder on them.” She shook her head “No sweetie, I can’t bring you to work with me, I have a meeting with a client today to set his court date, and I picked this daycare because they can care for all sorts of littles, even the big ones.” 

I looked a little surprised at that, though..that might mean today won’t be nearly as bad as I thought. “Alright…I…I guess I can give it a try.” Khris smiled and kissed my forehead “And that’s all I can ask, now come on, I don’t wanna be too late.” She said, taking my hand and leading me in. The first thing that hit me was the noise, even though it was early, the sounds of play and childish chatter echoed through the halls of this place and I was led to the front desk where a woman I recognized to be Lily sat. She looked fresh out of highschool and had her black hair tied into a ponytail today. She’d been working here for a few months now and often let me sit up here and ‘help’ check others out when I didn’t wanna be in the room.

 She looked up from her computer and smiled at Khris “Well good morning you two, did we have a rough time waking up today?” Khris chuckled at that and nodded “Though this time it was me, rather than him.” I blushed as I looked down and Lily nodded and looked down at me “And how’s my best little helper Stevie today?” I shrugged as Khris leaned in a bit to Lily, and I heard her say “He’s actually older today, and might prefer to go by Stephen right now.” Lily nodded in understanding before smiling at me “Well, it’s good to see you Stephen, I’ll let your teacher know she’ll have an extra big helper today.” 

She stepped out from behind the desk and took my hand gently as Khris let go and looked at me “I’ve gotta be off, I love you and will be here to get you as soon as I can, okay?” I nodded as she blew me a kiss and started to make her way out, while Lily led me down a brightly colored hall, filled with murals of various safari animals before we reached a room labeled “Lion’s den” and inside I heard the loud chatter of voices as I saw the room was filled with play and excitement already, today was going to be a long day….

I’m led into the room by Lily, though she quickly breaks away and makes her way to my teacher, Mrs. Sarah, and the two start to have a quiet conversation, likely about my lucid time. I give a soft sigh as I shuffle to my cubby, cringing a bit at the poorly written name that’s hot glued above where my gloves and winter hat are currently living until it gets colder, likely forgotten by Stevie before it started to get warmer and now here until suddenly needed again. As I get my stuff away I notice Lily walking out and soon enough Mrs. Sarah is kneeled down next to me, a soft smile on her face. 

I’ve been in her class for the last three ish months after Khris stopped being able to get her mom to care for me, and so far she’d been super nice, though this would be a true test for her likely. Her smile never faltered as she said “Good morning Stephen, nice to finally meet you sweetie, I’ve heard a lot about you, though from what I know about regressies, your probably gonna be pretty close to little Stevie.” I looked at her and shrugged a bit “I mean…maybe? I dunno, from what I remember he’s kinda, wild at points.” 

She nodded a bit at this and chuckled “What four year old isn’t, heck, if I was four I’d probably be wild too.” I chuckled a bit as I smiled a bit at her “Well…I’m not as wild, but yeah, still love cars, still wanna help ya however I can and um…” I blushed a bit as she nodded and just motioned to my lower area in a silent understanding. “Well, I’m excited to have you back in class today sweetie, you remember all our morning routines?” I nodded and smiled at her as she ruffled my hair “Good, well then you know it’s morning play time, so why don’t you go hang out for a bit before we start morning circle time.” 

She stood and walked to her desk as I looked around the chaotic room, though now that I was looking at the room as an adult, I could see it wasn’t just random chaos, it was controlled, some kids running about, but most being in certain areas to play with certain toys. The room was set up in a way that flowed but was easy to control, magnet tiles and Duplos on one table, some wooden buildable train tracks on one carpet while the other had tons of blocks, cars and traffic items, in the center I saw a mock kitchen, with a few kiddos playing in it. Currently it looked like there were a few kids playing with pretend menus in hand, obviously acting like this was an actual restaurant. 

I walked through the room I’d spent many hours in already, though now as I walked I looked at all the kids. wondering which ones were like me, just not having lucid periods, who was fully regressed and just like any other kid, and who might be a physical regression only.Here just enjoying themselves and chilling while their caregiver was at work. 

As I wondered I noticed one kid I’d actually played with a fair amount, though now that I was older something clicked in my head as I looked at him. He stood over the play stove, currently making some sort of stew, though when I looked I noticed his movements were…too clean, too…professional. He also wasn’t randomly adding items to the fake pot, it was actual items you’d want in a stew, and as he turned to look at me it all clicked, it was that chef kid, the one I’d read about…the one who’d been like me.

I stared, probably mouth open as the boy smiled at me, his curly blonde hair looked still damp, probably from a morning bath as he waved at me “Hi Stevie! We’s playin’ west-a-want, you wanna join?” He asked, his diction not the best as he pronounced every syllable in restaurant and all I could do was stare at the boy, his heterochromatic eyes looking back at me, the fire of intellect burning in them, but with the innocence of a child. 

“Uh…I..yeah, sure, I’ll play” I nodded, walking over “What do you want me to do?” He seemed to think before nodding at me “You get to serve da food” he said matter of factly, me not getting much of a choice as I nodded. “Alright, when will it be ready?” I asked, looking into the little pot. It was currently filled with what looked to be tomatoes, an onion slice probably from a burger playset, some cheese and…it looked like some leaves, probably supposed to be some sort of basil or other green. 

The boy, whose name came to me just now to be Oisin (O-shen), looked at the pot and then me “Should be weady in…maybe a few minutes.” He nodded at me as I gave him a bit of a look, his ability to tell time was obviously gone, though he still knew roughly how long soup took to make, probably just based on muscle memory. “So…Oisin, I wanted to let you know before we play more, I’m uh, I’m back to being older, ya know” I tapped my head a bit “Up here?” He looked at me and that spark of understanding was still bright in his eyes as he nodded “Hadda feelin” 

I blinked a bit at that “Huh..? You had a feeling?” He nodded as he kept stirring his pretend soup “Uh huh, you’re nowmally lots mowe bouncy an…” He paused, as if looking for the right words, though not having all of them “talky, but it’s nice to meet ya, big you.” He smiled at me as I just stared, my whole world being shaken right now as I started to come to the realization…he was still very much in there, and not just that it was like he’d…reached a balance with his little side. 

Though I only had a few moments to have this realization as he poured the ‘soup’ into a bowl, handing it to me “Take dat to table A.” He said before turning back and I turned, only seeing one table with two little girls at it, which had to be the table he’d meant. I walked over, putting on my best waiter impression as I set the bowl between them “The chef’s special soup, for the two ladies at table A.” I said with a bow which caused the two girls to giggle before  one bowed back “T’ank you very much sir.” I nodded before walking back to Oisin and smiling at him as he looked at me now, though his face had a much more focused look to it, still childish, but like a child ready to talk about something serious. 

I frowned a bit as I looked at him “Everything okay Oisin?” He nodded but looked at me “You still swappin’ from big to lil, wight?” I nodded as he sighs a bit “Well…what questions you got?” I looked a bit surprised and taken aback by the suddenness of his question “Well…I mean, who said I had any?” He gave me a bit of a look “I know ya do, you’we in the same boat I was, and you pwobably wanna know why I’m like…dis.” He said, motioning to himself as I sighed a bit. 

“Yeah, I mean, I was curious about it, it’s not every day you hear about someone swapping so much before suddenly just, leveling out.” He nodded as he looked seriously at me “Well…I dunno lots myself, all I know is I twied to be big lots and all the sudden I just kinda…welaxed, like I just suddenly didn’t feel the need to weally twy to be as big, ya know?” I looked at him in disbelief “And you don’t miss being…completely clear?” He shrugged a bit “Not weally, its kinda nice, like I know I was big and I know some of the cookin stuff kinda, but it's like it got locked up an  I can wememba it if I fink weally hawd, but it's lots mowe fun to just play and go wif da flow. I dunno why it happened but it's like suddenly bein’ able to just…bweathe.” 

He smiled at me as I probably looked unsure and nervous because he gently patted my back “But hey, you might not be like me, you might just keep swappin, I’m just sayin fow me it’s pwetty nice.” I nodded but as I went to ask about how clear he really felt I heard the clapping from our teacher and as if on instinct I copied her morning clapping rhythm and immediately knew that meant it was time to quiet down and go to the carpet. 

Oisin smiled at me as he ran to the carpet and I followed, sitting next to him as I looked up at Mrs. Sarah. As she began our normal morning routine and I went through the motions with the other kids I could only continue to think about what Oisin had said, wondering if leveling out was as bad as I’d been making it in my head. Wondering if my big boy act had actually been working against me all this time, all the while doing our morning breathing.

The morning kept up, learning about the letter of the week, that being L and of course a few kids in the class with L’s in their name couldn’t help but shout out about it and go on long tangents about someone's cousin's sister's friend they know that has an L in their name. I just sat and likely looked lost in thought as I kept glancing at Oisin and even he at one point raised his hand eagerly and talked about how lemon has an L in it, like it was something brand new. Though to most kids in the class, it likely was new information. 

Soon enough though we were allowed to play and almost instantly kids ran to their preferred toys and Oisin just turned to me, a smile on his face “Whatcha wanna play with?” I frowned a bit and looked him up and down a bit “Don’t you wanna keep playing chef?” He shrugged a bit at my question “Not weally, I like to do otha stuff cause cookin can get suuuuper bowing.” I thought a bit and frowned “So…you don’t like cooking as much?” He shook his head “I like it lots, just…takes lots of time and I don’t always wanna do it.” I nodded and frowned, it must be due to his new age, though it could also be due to him not wanting to be the traditional chef all the kids think he should pretend to be. 

Either way I started to look around the room and seeing the magnet tiles free I looked at him “How about we build with those?” He looked over and perked up, hopping up and rushing over, causing me to scramble after as he looked at me “These are never fwee! We gotta play before others get hewe!” He seemed extremely genuinely excited about this…and I had to admit it was a bit infectious as I nodded and smiled “Alright!” I dug with him and we started to work on a large castle, the entire time we talked about what rooms were what and where certain things needed to go. 

It was…nice, calming, I barely noticed as we played just how much time had passed. As soon as I was done with what we decided to be the stable, I heard the clapping and Mrs. Sarah saying it was time to go outside for a bit. I turned and Oisin grabbed my hand, yanking me to the line as I yelped and he smiled “We gotta be close to fiwst in line, cause othawise we might not get swings.” I nodded, more going with his flow right now than actually wanting to swing, but I also figured he kinda knew his way around and knew the pecking order better than me at this point. 

Soon enough we were led outside to a childish playground, filled with things to do and all I could do was think about all the memories Stevie had out here, the hours of playing pretend and the picnic we’d had out here just a week earlier. It all looked so much the same, but different as I was dragged along to the swings by someone who was quickly becoming someone I might consider to be a…friend…maybe today wouldn’t be all that bad.

We sat on the lower swings, they were just high enough our feet couldn’t touch the ground, but also barely needed us to lift ourselves to get into. I immediately started to gently pump my legs back and forth, glancing over as I saw Oisin starting to do the same, though he seemed to struggle with keeping in time with his swings. He didn’t seem to mind though, he only looked over at me and gasped in awe “Whoooaa! You’we so high alweady!” I nodded and smiled “You gotta do big kicks! Like this!” I said, before kicking my legs forward while leaning back, giving myself a big speed boost and as I whooshed past Oisin I heard his childish “Whoaaaa!” again. 

I giggled as I kept swinging higher and higher, smiling big and feeling a childish giddiness wash over me. I saw Mrs. Sarah watching me, a slight look of worry on her face, though she likely knew I knew my limits and it was more of an instinct than a realistic worry. I just kept swinging but before long Oisin called up to me “Stevie! Do ya wanna go down the slide!?” I looked down at him and nodded quickly, slowing myself before getting to a comfortable height and hopping off, landing in the woodchips with a giggle as Oisin ran up “You okay?” I nodded and stood up “Beat ya to the slide!” I took off as I heard Oisin call from behind “Hey! Nuh uh!” and  then I heard his feet stomping behind me as we raced to the top of the playset. 

We both rushed up the stairs and Oisin giggled as he poked my arm a bit hard “Next time ya gotta wawn me!” I shook my head “Then you’d win!” He giggled more as he nodded “Duh!” and before I knew it he’d tossed himself down the slide, giggling as he slid down and I followed right behind. We did this along with playing in a springy car and climbing in the jungle gym, and soon enough we were wrangled up and brought inside by Mrs. Sarah and a helper.

As we walked in I looked up at the time and audibly gasped, it’d already been almost two and a half hours since I got here...time was flying past and I’d not even realized it. Though the next sound that hit my ears actually made me jump a bit as I heard Oisin yell out from next to me “NO! DON’T TOUCH OUW CASTLE!” He quickly rushed from my side to the table with our castle, where another student had started to knock various things over, likely out of the sheer fun of knocking things down. 

I saw this and felt my blood boil a bit, we’d worked so hard on that, and he didn’t even think to ask who was playing with it?! How…dumb was this kid! I stomped over behind Oisin as Mrs. Sarah quickly made her way over “Boys…what’s going on?” Oisin looked up  “He’s knockin ouw stuff ova!” The other boy, who I recognized to be Liam shook his head “I jus wanna play with it too!” Oisin stomped “Then ask! Don’t just knock it down!” Mrs. Sarah now chimed in and looked down at them “Boys…inside voices. Oisin, if he wants to play he can play, you need to share. Liam, if you wanna play you need to ask, they were playing with it before recess and I’m sure they’d be more than happy to let you help, right Stevie?” I blinked, suddenly being put on the spot as I nodded a bit “Uh…Yeah, I mean, long as he doesn’t knock it over and stuff…” 

I looked down, feeling bad I’d felt so mad about something so easy to rebuild, but Mrs. Sarah just continued “See Liam? This is why we gotta ask” Liam huffed but nodded as Oisin started to work on rebuilding again and Liam looked, starting to help pick up a few of the tiles that’d fallen on the floor. Mrs. Sarah smiled and winked at me as she stood and clapped “Alright friends! It’s almost lunch, so anyone who needs to potty should try now!” I rolled my eyes a bit, I didn’t need a reminder to go potty, and instead I turned to the castle, helping with the rebuilding process. 

After a bit of building we decided that a dragon had done the damage, rather than Liam, and Liam was actually a knight that’d fought the evil dragon off. We played and I started to genuinely enjoy myself, barely noticing as the lunch cart with hot dogs was rolled in and our teacher began to get others to wash their hands. 

Sarah tapped my shoulder a bit “Stephen, we gotta stop playing for a bit so we can eat, do you mind going and washing your hands?” She said, a smile on her face as I turned, blushing “Oh…yeah, sorry, I was focused” She nodded a bit and chuckled “I could tell, it’s okay, I have tons of fun with those too” She patted my back and I walked over, washing my hands quickly before finding a spot near Oisin, who was currently talking to another student about why ketchup was better than mustard. 

The lunch helper served us food on little plates, making sure we each had some french fries and hot dogs, along with a milk and fruit cup. I smiled and waited to get ketchup before digging in, swinging my legs a bit as Sarah walked around helping anyone who needed it. I rubbed my eyes a bit as I ate, knowing nap time was after this, though…I didn’t need that…right?

We cleaned up after lunch, throwing our plates away and washing up again before everyone started to pull out their rest time mats. Everyone except me, I walked up to Sarah, tapping her leg causing her to turn around and kneel down, smiling. “Yes Stephen?” I sighed a bit as I nervously asked “Do...I need to grab a mat? I mean..I’m older right now.” Sarah frowned for the first time today it felt as she knelt down “Stephen, I know you’re big, but you need to nap, your little body needs that rest, even if you feel like it doesn’t, and I’d prefer if you did because you tend to be cranky if you don’t nap.” 

I frowned at that and huffed a bit “I’m not gonna be cranky, I’m not some…toddler! I just wanna stay up and do…something!” Sarah gave me a bit of a look “Stephen, go get your mat, at least rest, even if you don’t sleep because I’m not sending you back home exhausted.” I huffed again and walked over, grabbing my sleep mat and stomping next to Oisin as Sarah grabbed the blanket Khris had packed for me in my bag. 

I laid out my mat as Sarah put my blanket on it and I kicked my shoes off as Oisin yawned and looked at me “What’s up Stevie, why you all mad?” I huffed a bit “Cause…she thinks I still need a nap when I’m fine.” Oisin looked at me “Well…you seem cwanky, but..you could just act like you’we sleepin,but I’m gonna sleep, naps awe pwetty nice.” He said, rolling onto his side. 

The lights were lowered and I slowly laid down, crossing my arms after covering myself with my blanket, determined to not sleep. I didn’t need this stupid nap, just like I didn’t need a reminder to go potty or help with my shower or…anything, I was an adult still, and they’d figure it out, sooner or later. 

I laid there and stared at the ceiling, Sarah walked around, helping some other kids fall asleep while soft music played through her computer, just some generic nap time music. I glanced over and saw Oisin already softly breathing, he was out like a light. I rolled my eyes a bit as I laid there, trying to think of anything to keep myself awake, even as my eyes started to flutter a bit. 

I slowly sat up and as I did I saw Sarah already heading my way, a soft groan escaping me as she slowly sat on the floor next to my mat “Stephen…honey, I need you to sleep.” I just shook my head a bit as she let a bit of a sigh out “And why not?” I looked away now “Cause, I’m fine, I’m not some little kid really, I’ll be fine to stay up” I could almost sense the annoyed look from her as she said “Honey, you might think you’re fine, but I’m telling you, your little body can’t do this, it needs sleep and is very used to this nap time.” 

I shrugged “And it’ll get unused to it, I’m not napping, I’ll sit here quietly if needed, but I’m not sleeping” She let another sigh escape her as she slowly stood “Alright then, if this is what you want sweetie, but you won’t get another chance to nap til you get home, so don’t throw a fit when you can’t.” She said before finishing her rounds and sitting at her desk, doing something on it as I watched silently, feeling the waves of tiredness hitting me as I swayed a bit, determined to stay awake, to prove her wrong, to show everyone just how big I was. 

The nap time passed slowly, the soft music continuing to play as it mixed with the clacking of her keyboard as she worked on something, likely lesson plans or maybe emails, but I wasn’t focused on that, at least not totally. I was focused on keeping myself awake, the dark grip of sleep threatened to pull me under multiple times, only for me to wake up with a bit of a jump, that shot of adrenaline keeping me awake until the next. 

I thought of pretty much anything to keep my mind going, dinner tonight, what to work on in the castle next, my old jobs, hell even what Ty and Khris might be doing right now. This went on for roughly an hour before the music suddenly stopped and I looked over as the lights were brought up to a light dim. 

Sarah slowly began to go around, waking children up as I got myself up and folded my mat up, grabbing my blanket as she slowly woke up Oisin and gave me a bit of a look “Sweetie…you look exhausted.” I shrugged and just walked away, putting my blanket back into my bag as I tried to hold back a yawn. 

After doing that I made my way to our castle and started work on an inner tower, something I’d thought up during my time awake and soon enough Oisin was at my side, watching as he looked at me “You didn’t sleep…did ya?” I shook my head and muttered “I don’t need it.” He frowned a bit “You suwe you don’t? You look like you can’t even stand up stwaight.” I gave him a bit of a glare and huffed “Yes I’m sure, thanks for the concern.” 

He looked a bit hurt by the sudden sharpness to my words. I sighed a bit “Sorry…I’m fine, just, a bit annoyed with Sarah…” He nodded a bit and slowly started to help me build as I stood there, swaying a bit as I built, the room coming to life around us, even as I felt my head spinning with exhaustion.

The day continued on, though I didn’t really participate as we were called together to small groups, something about colors, more stuff I didn’t need. I kept watching the clock, dismissal on the board said it was at 2:45, it was currently getting to be around 1, I still had an hour and a half pretty much. I groaned as we were called to the carpet for a movement break, something schools were doing now since the virus had locked us down so much. 

It was just something to keep kids moving while keeping them inside, it honestly made more sense during the winter than now, but I just stood there. The video was something to do with a moose and making a purple stew. It wasn’t terribly annoying, but currently everything was grating on me, and worse, I’d started to feel an all too familiar feeling in my bladder and bowels. I refused to use the childrens bathroom here, they’d probably make me use some training potty or something, or it’d be disgusting. I could hold it til I was home, even as I unconsciously started to shift in my position, something Sarah didn’t miss for a second. 

I saw her make her way to me quickly, leaning down and whispering “Stephen…do you need to go potty?” I gave her an obvious death glare “No, I’m fine, thanks” She gave me a stern look back “Really? Well your little potty dance tells me otherwise, I’ve worked with Stevie enough to know when he has to go.” I huffed a bit “Well I don’t need to, now go away, I’ll be fine” She gave me another look, somewhat surprised at my abrasiveness as she looked at me seriously now “Stephen you have two choices, go to the potty or have an accident, Stevie goes by now, so I know for a fact with you not going all day you probably need to.” 

I tensed at that and glared at her now “Well guess what Sarah, I’m not Stevie! You don’t know me! I’m not like that little twerp! So stop acting like you know anything about me when you only know some little kid!” I huffed, the suddenness of my outburst having taken her aback and now the rest of the class was looking at me as I looked away. Sarah sighed again “Stephen, I’m about to not give you a choice, go to the potty, now, I don’t need to tell Khris you had an accident because you were being stubborn.” 

I tensed again “You won’t tell Khris anything! She’s not my mom! She’s my caretaker! And I’m not gonna keep putting up with everyone treating me like some dumb little kid because you all think you know me at ALL!” I screamed, stomping as I felt my stomach lurch. There was the sudden feeling of the urge turning into a need quickly, something I couldn’t deny for much longer, and Sarah noticed it too. She quickly went to scoop me up and carried me to the bathroom. 

As we entered the bathroom I saw it was actually fairly clean, potty seats with each kids name set up next to an actual toilet and spare clothes in bins that were clearly labeled. Though that didn’t matter at all right now, I felt the feeling in my gut getting worse and as I was set down I could feel it, and I knew…I’d made a huge mistake.

As I felt my shorts getting pulled down by Sarah I felt the feeling overwhelm me, my eyes widened as I felt my head go fuzzy in a way I’d only felt during my times as Stevie. I slowly went into what I knew to be the toddler squat, basically on instinct at this point as my brain felt so…scrambled, so lost. I knew I should be doing something else right now, but I needed to go, and I needed to go now, and I knew my pull up was there for a reason. 

I barely even grunted before I felt the warmth flood the front, soaking it as the back slowly started to get heavier, sagging as it filled out. I just heard Sarah sigh and in a way that sounded empathetic say “Oh Stephen…” I just kept going though, my head still fuzzy as I filled my pull up. Soon enough I felt myself finish, blinking as my senses slowly came back to me, likely looking fairly dazed as I looked up at Sarah, only able to utter a soft “Wh…what the….” 

I looked slowly down at my Cars pull up, the little indicator to show wetness completely faded as it sagged heavily between my legs and that's when the full realization of what I’d just done hit me. I used it…I used my pull up, I didn’t even just wet it, I full on used it, like a toddler, like a kid that’d just started potty training. That realization led me to stand there for a second as Sarah kneeled down “This is what I was worried about honey…you stay here, I need to go get you a spare pull up, okay?”

 I could only nod as she walked out, I just stood there in shock, staring at myself and feeling nothing, before I suddenly felt…everything. I felt the hot anger of letting myself do this, of messing up this badly, mixed with the sadness of knowing I had my first real accident in roughly a month. Those mixed with my tiredness was all too much as I felt my lip start to tremble first, before I just suddenly felt my emotions burst out of me like a damn bursting. 

I started to cry, loud childish wails as Sarah walked back in, fresh pull up in hand as she slowly kneeled in front of me “I know honey..I know..” She gently pulled at the sides of my pull up and got it off me with only the expertise of a preschool teacher or a mother, throwing it into the diaper pail before starting to clean me. All the while I just cried, the tears flowing freely down my cheeks and face as I just stood there, letting her do what she needed to. 

It wasn’t long before I felt her tap my legs, softly saying “Legs up sweetie…” I slowly lifted my legs out of my shorts and she gently held a fresh pull up open for me, which I stepped into as snot ran freely out of my nose and tears rolled down my cheeks like waterfalls. As I felt the pull up secured around my waist and leak guards checked I felt her pull me into a hug and just slowly rub my back in small circles, attempting to calm me as I cried into her shoulder. I didn’t care I was getting her shirt messy, I didn’t care how loud I was, I just needed comfort right now, and she was giving it freely.

I cried for a while, longer than I had with Khris, but it didn’t feel like it as I pulled myself away from her shoulder and Sarah already had a tissue ready, wiping my nose for me without even giving me a second before holding it there “Blow.” I blew my nose into the tissue as she smiled a bit. “Good boy...now, just breathe with me, let's get these big emotions under control.” 

She put her hands on her head in a way I’d recognized as balloon breathing, I copied her and we both breathed in, my breathing shaky but she just waited for me before letting the breath out together, we did this another few times before she smiled softly. “Alright honey…better now?” I nodded a little before mumbling “I…I’m sorry…” She nodded a bit “It’s okay sweetie…but this is why I was telling you to go, you obviously needed to and this is what I was worried about…big boy or not, you gotta go when your body says to”. 

I nodded a bit as she rubbed my back gently and helped me back into my shorts before checking the time “It’s around 1:30…do you wanna see if Ty or Khris could come get you early? I think you need a nap and just some time to cool down” I just slowly nodded as she gently led me out by hand, Oisin waiting by the door and just hugged me tight as I walked out, whispering “It’s okay…it happens”. I whimper and nod a bit as he gently takes my other hand, leading me towards our castle as I see Sarah heading to her desk and making a call. 

I helped Oisin build a bit more as Sarah hung up and walked over “Sweetie…Ty is on his way, he’ll be here soon.” I looked and nodded a bit as I suddenly had a new thought…how was I gonna explain this to either of them, an accident but not just any kind, a full on storm cloud, for the first time in a month. I probably showed it on my face as Oisin just hugged me again and Sarah smiled a bit “It’ll be okay, he’s not mad, if anything he sounds concerned.” I nodded again as she stood “Make sure you grab your shoes and bag, okay?” 

I nodded as Oisin helped me over to my shoes and tried to help me get them on, but I had to admit, it was mostly me. We walked over, grabbing my bag and as I slung it over my shoulders Oisin looked at me “So…see you monday?” I nodded and just hugged him. “I dunno if your mom and Khris talk…but I’ll let her know we should hang out.” He smiled a bit and nodded “Yeah…we should, maybe I can ask my mom about monday” I nodded smiling now too “Yeah, that..that sounds nice.” I stood there and soon enough I saw the door open, Ty standing there, still dirty from work as he walked over quickly. I almost expected a spanking, but instead I felt him scoop me up and hug me close, gently patting my back.

Ty just held me close as I looked at him and he checked me a bit “You okay lil dude? Everything okay? What happened?” I looked down a bit. “I thought I could hold it..I just..it was an accident.” He nodded and slowly set me down. “Okay, I just...was worried something happened, like you suddenly regressed more or something.” I looked up at him with a bit of a raised eyebrow “Ty…that can’t happen…” He shrugged, “It might, I didn’t know.” 

I sighed, at least he cared enough to drop everything and get here as fast as he could. Ty then looked to Oisin and smiled “Hey lil dude, what’s up?” Oisin looked and tensed a bit “O-Oh I was just…helpin Stevie get awound and stuff, we were talkin about maybe playin on monday after daycawe…” Ty gave a bit of a surprised look “Stephen, did you make a friend?” I blushed a bit and shrugged “I…I guess yeah, we just…get along, apparently when I’m big and little.” 

Ty chuckled softly and ruffled my hair as he looked at Oisin “Well, I know Khris has your mommy’s number because they’ve talked about the virus together, so I’ll let her know to text your mom and we’ll see about a playdate, okay?” We both nodded as Ty smiled and took my hand. “But right now, this one needs to get home and take a nap, and we need to talk a bit.” I looked up, looking a bit unsure as Oisin nodded, giving me one last hug before waving “See ya monday Stevie.” 

COMMS ARE NOW OPEN! I'm in some financial need and figured I might as well cast this out there! 10$ per 1K words and I will be taking as many slots as I feel comfortable with. These may take a bit to be done as a warning but I will keep it locked within the end of the year, if not much sooner, feel free to DM me here, on my discord (linked below) or on my telegram @/jtcbf to snag a slot!

This is my first commission story and first patreon reward for Joey! This is a look into the life of two teenage best friends, one with RARS and the other looking to support him the whole way,  I hope you all enjoy and as a preface, this will be a slower story to come out as it is patreon rewards, thus leading to some skipped months. If you want early access to all of my works, a vote in my monthly story poll and currently I still have two spots open for monthly comms, please check out my patreon! Starts at as low at 3$ a month for votes and early access! patreon.com/JTwritesstuff

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The alarm clock buzzed loudly in her room and the only other noise heard at such an early hour was a groan from an overly tired middle schooler rolling over to slap the alarm silent. Lily sat up with a sigh, first day back from spring break, but even worse, first day back without her best friend. Quinn and Lily had been friends since grade school, and were basically attached at the hip through thick and thin. They learned soccer, instruments, video games, everything together…but for the first time seemingly since kindergarten, they wouldn’t. They wouldn’t be riding the same bus, they wouldn’t talk about the few days they spent apart like they were years apart, nor would they be in the same classes they were in together just two weeks prior.

Lily had found out during spring break that Quinn had gotten what was coming to be known as the RARS virus, or Rapid Age Regression Syndrome. He was in the middle of regressing and was one of the youngest known people to get the virus, hence why she was up so early, to quickly hop on her computer before school and message him on Discord. She did just that, yawning and rubbing her eyes as the computer booted up before quickly clicking his name and typing: LRay12: Hey Quinn, you up? QtheQing: Yeah. LRay12: You okay? This hitting you as hard as me? QtheQing: Oh, I dunno, I mean just a week ago I was preparing the rough draft for a science paper, now I’m struggling to not wet the bed and none of my clothes fit, so what do you think Lily? LRay12: Sorry…I know this is hard on you too, harder even just…it’s weird…you’re not gonna be waiting at the bus stop or…at school at all, ya know? QtheQing: Yeah…sorry, just, didn’t sleep well, been anxious all night. LRay12: You need to go to bed then dingus, I may have to go to school but you aren’t even allowed out of your room rn. QtheQing: Believe me..I know… LRay12: Do…you want me to bring you some snacks? Maybe a few pops? QtheQing: If you could…mom’s cooking isn’t cutting it, especially with her being so stressed about my virus. LRay12: I’ll get stuff around and stop by before school, K? QtheQing: Alright, just use the pulley system, I’ll wait to grab it til you’re gone, just to be safe. LRay12: Alright…I’m sure we’d be fine, it’s like 10 feet though. QtheQing: I don’t wanna chance it, just ring the bell when you get here, okay? LRay12: Yeah, see you soon. And just like that she was back offline.

Quinn sat back in the chair that was now a size too big for him and sighed deeply. He was around 10 now he guessed, he’d been 14 just a week ago and he was slipping farther fast. He looked solemnly out his window, two weeks ago he’d been glad spring break was starting and was wishing it’d last longer, now he was wishing he could go to school just to get outside. He watched as lights flicked on across the neighborhood and all the while he was stuck in here, unsure if he was still contagious.

It wasn’t until he heard the footsteps of his older sister walking by the door that it really hit him that she was gonna leave too, head to school and live a normal life without him. He felt the tears welling up again, he couldn’t tell Lily that’s why he’d been up, but if she could see his bloodshot eyes she’d know, she always knew. Whether they were tears of sadness or of anger at what he’d lost, he didn’t know, all he knew was they were coming back, and it took all his willpower to shove them back down.

As he sat, staring at the now gray circle next to Lily’s discord name, he heard a knock at his door and sighed as he shakily answered back. “Yes…?” His mom pretty much shouted through the door, sounding as if she was across the hall “Breakfast is in front of your door hun! You can grab it-” Quinn cut her off and grumbled “In two minutes when everyone is out of the upstairs, we do this every day mom, I get it…” He sighed again and just curled up in his chair, he probably wouldn’t even eat today, given how  anxious he’d been all night and his mom just reinforcing just how scared she was to be around him just…made him feel awful.

He just sat there, counting down the seconds before going to grab the food, to at least appease his mother, opening the door was like opening a forbidden lock, seeing the rest of the house was so close, yet so far. He leaned down and grabbed his tray and brought it into the room, a pretty normal breakfast of bacon and eggs with orange juice this morning. He sighed, setting it on his bed and just staring at it, another sign of the outside world he wasn’t allowed in right now, and when he finally was…it would be all different.

He stood there for a while, just lost in thought and staring at the food as if it might magically fix him, when he was snapped back to reality by an all too familiar sound, a bell. He looked over, seeing the pulley system that’d been in his window for years creaking and moving. The bell had been put in as a “Hey! I’m sending something up!” kind of system, and right now, it was his access to the outside world. He walked over, making sure to stay away from the window as best as possible, not wanting Lily to see his diminished state. He watched as the bucket came up and felt his heart flutter as he saw a freshly made PB&J, something he loved but his mother vehemently kept out of the house as she counted it as junk food, along with red pop and a few odds and ends of snacks and candy.

He smiled and waved out of his window as he pulled everything in, hugging it close as if it might vanish at any second as he heard Lily call out “I’ll stop by later!” before he heard her leaving, her shoes running on the pavement. He pulled the PB&J out and felt like he might cry, even if it was something so simple, it made him soar to the moon with glee. He opened the sandwich and quickly started to eat, sitting with his back against the wall near the window. He sat and enjoyed the first thing that wasn’t his moms cooking in a week when he heard his Discord boop and got up to check it.

He opened discord, seeing a few messages from servers, but specifically one from Lily, he opened it:

LRay12: Hey, so people are asking where you are at the bus stop and on the bus…what do you want me to tell em?

QtheQing: I dunno…that I’m sick or something? Unless someone told em, no one should know I’m sick.

LRay12: Well your sister is on the bus, but she’s dead quiet like always so…I don’t think she did? 

QtheQing: She better not or I’ll cough on her in her sleep.

LRay12: Lmao, well, I’ll just…tell em you got super sick and had to take some time, then I’ll also tell em you’re like…super contagious and could get anyone sick.

QtheQing: Well…least one of those is true, I think.

LRay12: Want me to bring you anything after school? I have some cash my dad gave me for cleaning the kitchen, could maybe get us some mcdonalds or something…could always get you a happy meal.

QtheQing:...Really…

LRay12: What? I’m joking Quinn, you gotta lighten up a bit about this, or it’s gonna drive you crazy.

QtheQing: Kinda hard when soon enough I’ll barely be able to finish a happy meal.

LRay12: Sorry…look I’ll get you a burger or something and a shake, deal?

QtheQing: Deal…see you then…think I’m gonna try to nap.

LRay12: Sounds good, peace

QtheQing: Peace

Lily sighed as she put her phone into her lap, seeing the bus so lively and people acting like nothing was going on, while all she could think about was that kid she briefly saw in Quinn’s window, looking depressed and alone. She watched out the window as the town rolled by, this being the first time in years she didn’t have her best friend to talk about stuff with. It felt wrong, like she’d entered a different dimension and now for some reason, Quinn basically didn’t exist. It would probably only get weirder in school, one desk in each class constantly empty and everyone would act normal, or ask once before moving on.

The bus rode along, picking others up and Lily kept an unneededly sharp eye out for anyone else who might be missing. Not seeing anyone quite yet, though she was sure there had to be others, a sickness doesn’t just hit one kid and then stop. She sighed, wondering how dangerous it might be going to school right now, how many kids might be just at the beginning of their regression. As her mind drifted she felt the bus come to a stop in the bus line at the school and the door opened as everyone started to stand.

She slowly stood, gathering her backpack from the floor and shuffled out in the line of kids heading into the school, she noted that some were wearing masks today. Something must’ve gotten out about it going around the school, and she felt her anxiety spike a bit at that, just how many kids might have it, and was she one of them? She shook her head a bit, trying to calm her nerves as she walked to her locker, opening it quickly and putting her bag in before grabbing some books for her first two classes and quickly making her way to Algebra 2. 

The morning went pretty much normal as Lily noted other than Quinn, around 4 people from each class were missing as well, though she couldn’t be sure it was due to RARS or just a common cold going around. She made her way to lunch, this time trying to just see how many were missing from her class entirely, and while she didn’t know everyone…she had to guess it was close to 20. That was a lot, even for a common cold, she sat and ate, her mind running through the possibilities.

As she thought her mind drifted to the thought of her having the virus possibly, what that might be like…what it might do. She sat and thought about Quinn and how he was feeling, and if she had it, she’d be like that soon as well. Her thoughts also drifted in a positive direction though, maybe her and Quinn would be the same age again..maybe they’d be able to go to the same daycare or preschool…maybe they’d be able to have another go at being best friends. As she thought and the lunch bell rang, she started to realize something deep inside her, she almost…wanted that, to be with Quinn again, to be best friends again, and for it to be just them, as they’d always been, just smaller. 

She had to pull herself away from such a weird fantasy, blushing as she sighed, knowing it was probably just her brain looking for any way to try and keep things as normal as possible. She threw her tray out and shuffled to her study hall, bringing some books with her and of course, her phone. She spent the first half of study hall actually doing work and getting all her homework done before spending the second half doing research on RARS, seeing how contagious it was and what were some of the warning signs for it.

She found out quickly that about 9 out of ten people are immune, but those who aren’t can quickly catch it and once it’s caught, the regression starts within a few weeks of getting the virus. She sighed a bit, so not only was Quinn an unlucky 10 percent chance, she’s likely in the 90 percent who are immune, she’d have to watch her best friend regrow up and likely go separate ways soon enough. She kept looking to see what the age ranges were, finding out that people end up mostly between 2-5, with some outliers a few years younger or older, and a story about a boy who actually stopped at 15.

She scrolled and scrolled and the thing that stopped her was a discord notification from Quinn, she quickly opened it to see what he said.

QtheQing: Hey…just woke up, still getting younger, seems to happen faster when I sleep and of course, I need more as I get younger…

LRay12: I was looking stuff up during study hall…do you want the good or the bad news first?

QtheQing: I don’t know if there can be any bad news to make this situation worse, but I guess go for it.

LRay12: Well…from what I’ve read it looks like you’re gonna be a toddler around two at worst and a kindergartener around five at best.

QtheQing: …Okay so I was wrong, that’s awful, what’s the good news then…?

LRay12: Uh…well, the good news is someone only regressed like…11 years and got stuck at 15.

QtheQing: Lily…you realize 11 years for us is 4 years old right?

LRay12: …Look it’s just a hope that maybe you’ll stop at like…8 or something.

QtheQing: Yes because 8 is SOOOOO much better than 5, thanks, I can’t wait to be a weird third grader obsessed with…I dunno…FNAF or something.

LRay12: Hey! Don’t be dissing FNAF, we both had that phase, and were literally gonna go see the movie before all of this, so shush.

QtheQing: I guess…yeah it could be worse, could be like…an Ipad kid or something.

LRay12: That’s if you don’t just…keep your same personality dingus, which most people do, even if they’re full mental regressies.

QtheQing: And since when did you become the RARS queen of info?

LRay12:...Since I looked it up.

QtheQing: Ah yeah, cause Google never lies.

LRay12: Look, at least it’s something to hope for.

QtheQing: I suppose.

LRay12: Look…I just wanted to tell you that, I gotta go to social studies (Blegh) you try to rest so you stay old enough we can hang out still, got it? I’ll talk to you later when I come by with that burger for you.

Quinn sighed deeply as before he could even start typing his response, she was offline, he rubbed his eyes tiredly and sipped one of the red pops. He sat in just a pair of basketball shorts tied much too tight as he was roughly around nine currently. He could also feel his brain starting to be affected by the virus, it wasn’t terrible or scary just…odd, like a soft blanket being put over the stuff he wouldn’t know at this age, but if he thought real hard about it, he could access that knowledge again.

Unfortunately the regression was making him less and less interested in the stuff he’d normally watch and play and more interested in the stuff from this age. He’d only brought up FNAF to Lily because it was fresh on his mind, having caught himself watching an old playthrough of it with such excitement, he only came back out when the video ended and he realized just how fuzzy his head felt. 

Now he sat quietly, a bit nervous to do much as he wasn’t sure what it might do to him while in this state. He’d closed youtube and now just sat with some lofi playing from his spotify as he thought, trying to think of something that might help him jog his way out of this brain funk. He sighs a bit as his brain immediately jumps to minecraft, the first thing to excite him since watching a “scary” video, at least in that he could do some building or redstone or something rather than just sitting here letting his head run in circles.

He sat up and started the game up, picking a new world and starting to play, smiling a bit as he felt an odd sense of nostalgia. As if it was his first time opening the game even though he had well over hundreds of hours in it, with tons of worlds with many years of builds in them. He decided he was gonna make a treehouse in a jungle for this playthrough and spent most of the afternoon doing just that, working his way through the world, picking woods to build with and just enjoying his time.

He got so sucked into the game he didn’t even hear the handle of his door jiggle and rattle and by the time he did, his door was wide open. He yelped as he spun around, only to see Lily standing there, McDonalds in hand as she had a smile. “Heya Quinn!” She said, setting one of the bags with a strawberry shake next to him as he stared in awe. “H-How did you get in?! Why are you in here?! You realize how dangerous this is?!”

I feel awareness coming in first, that feeling of waking after a long nap, and the tiredness that comes with that feeling. I gently lift myself up and let a soft groan out as I look around. The room hadn’t changed much since my last lucid period, maybe a few new toys here and there, and that loop-de-loop hot wheels track was definitely new. The room was mostly the same, the same race car bed my other side had picked out, same wild, unkempt toys scattered here and there, again thanks to my other side. 

As I sit I feel the telltale squish of my pull up under my bottom and wince, the night accidents had started soon after catching the virus, even when I was an adult, and I’d still not gotten used to them after…well I didn’t know how many months it’d been at this point. The periods of my other side taking over were there, but kids couldn’t tell time, dates, much of anything, and some things like waiting for mommy- Khris… to get out of a conversation felt like an eternity to a four year old, yet things like daycare seemed to pass in a snap. I slowly pulled myself out of bed, cringing at the feeling between my legs as it squished, and upon looking down cringed again, seeing the childish Paw Patrol PJs I was in. I got up and went to my dresser, one now much bigger than me, though I knew where all the clothes were, starting with underwear I opened the lowest drawer and sighed, digging through, looking for anything without cartoons or cutesy animals, picking a pair that just had Pikachu on them. I had pulled my pants down when I’d heard the sound of the door opening and a blush fell across my face as Khris, my mommy and previous girlfriend walked in, smiling softly. 

“And what are we doing mister?” I let out a sigh as I looked down “Khris… it’s me… I’m just trying to get out of..this” I said, motioning to my well used pull up. Khris seemed a little shocked but kept the smile up “Well, welcome back Stephen, heard ya through the baby monitor and assumed little Stevie was trying to change himself, normally doesn’t end up well as he can have trouble with pants.” She chuckled as I blushed more, my face feeling like it might catch fire at any moment. “W-Well…I’m not him so..c-can you please leave, also where are the wipes?” Khris chuckled again and just walked over, taking them off the top of my dresser and handing them to me before going to walk out. 

“Call me if you need help, I’m just in the living room.” I just blushed more as the door shut, how could she think I need help, it’s just pants and underwear, maybe a shirt if I’m lucky and any of them are less childish. I make quick work of ripping the sides of my pull up and letting it fall to the floor before cleaning myself, something I’d gotten used to before the periods of mental regression had started happening. I slide on the underwear and find a somewhat mature looking pair of shorts before throwing the pull up into the diaper pail near my dresser, though I didn’t need diapers, it kept my room from smelling like stale pee. I walked out and sighed as everything seemed so…big now, everything from a four year olds perspective seemed like it was made for giants. I made my way to the living room where Khris gave me a warm, motherly smile “Good job sweetie! Glad you could get yourself changed after your little nap.” I blushed again “Of course I can, just because…Stevie can’t, doesn’t mean I can’t…” Khris nodded as she looked at me a bit seriously. “Well..this was a longer period under, honestly sweetie, we thought you were permanent this time.” 

I looked annoyed now, probably ‘we’ as in her and her new boyfriend I’d found out about after my last time under. His name was Ty and he honestly wasn’t a bad guy, when I was in my older mindset we could talk about our passion, which was cars. Though we’d gone two very different places with our passion as I’d been a professional stunt and race driver before the virus hit, while Ty was just a mechanic. “Well, I’m back so…of course I can dress myself” I said with a huff 

“Where’s Ty?” I asked, wanting a way to maybe get into a more…adult conversation. Khris sighed a bit, my want to cut the conversation not lost on her “In the garage, the car needed an oil change and he’s getting it done” I nodded and started to head that way, not wanting to lose a second where I could be having a much more…mature conversation than the triumph of being able to put my feet in the right holes without getting lost. I pulled the toddler proof door open, it having one of those over the handle covers to make it near impossible for an actual four year old to open, and made my way into the garage. Ty pulled himself out  from under the car and looked at me “What are you doing out here lil guy?” “I…wanted to see if you needed any help.” Ty looked a bit surprised but then smiled and nodded “Of course I could Stephen, good to see ya back bud, been a minute.” He sat up slowly, having not changed a ton in the time  I’d been under, same long hair tied into a bun, somewhat scruffy but short beard, looked like he’d just gotten out of work as he was still dirty and had the overshirt with his name on it on. 

“So…what do you need me to do?” I asked, unsure how far along the process was “Well, right now could you hand me the wrench on my stool? Getting the oil filter off now.” I smiled and nodded, knowing I’d come in just in time for the start. I grabbed the wrench and quickly handed it to him and he went to slide under as I asked “Do…you need me to help under there?” He stopped and poked back out, a bit of a worried look on his face “Why don’t you stay out here bud, I don’t think you’d be able to get this off being how small you are, and you know how mommy feels about you getting all dirty, especially with oil? She’d have my head and you’d probably have a new daddy” he chuckled as he rolled under and I frowned.

I found myself actually pouting for a second and feeling the urge to stomp my foot, but just barely stopping myself as I said “I can help Ty, I’m not just gonna be a…tool boy. I know cars probably better than you!” I huffed as he sighed from under the car “It’s not about knowledge lil dude, it’s about the fact you’re four now, even if you’re mentally bigger.” I huffed again as I looked around, seeing the new oil sitting near the oil pan and grabbing it “W…Well I wanna put the oil in!” I said, not realizing how childish it sounded at the time as Ty chuckled “Sure bud, you can put the oil in, and in fact, I almost got this off, slide me the oil pan.” I walked over and pushed it towards him with my foot as I held the new oil like it was life or death. 

I heard the telltale thunk as the oil filter fell into the pan and the oil started to pour out with it and Ty slid out, grabbing the new filter and chuckling upon seeing me before sliding back under and waiting. During that waiting period I cooled down a bit, sighing as I realized I’d let my more…childish emotions take over in the moment. Something that wasn’t uncommon when I was aware, though I’d never felt that..close to a tantrum before…it was odd, concerning to say the least. Before long I heard the clicking of the ratchet as he tightened the new filter in place and slid back out, smiling at me as he stood, now towering over me. 

“Lemme grab the stool for ya bud, and the funnel, and then the oil is all yours.” He said, sliding the stool over and helping me onto it before putting the funnel in place and making sure it was secure as I struggled to get the cap off the fresh oil. Ty helped me a bit just to get it started but then let me do it the rest of the way, standing right behind me as I lifted up the fairly large bottle and started to pour it in. I smiled as I felt a form of accomplishment as I watched it go down the funnel, knowing I was doing way more than just handing him tools. 

I helped with the first bottle and then the second and smiled as he put the engine cap on and went to go check how it ran, turning the car on. Though in my excitement of helping I went to hop of the stool, misjudging just how high up it was to my little body, I hopped down and yelped as I landed but quickly tumbled forward and whined as I caught myself on my hands and knees, wincing as I felt the sharp pain I hadn’t felt since childhood of my hands and knees getting skinned, whimpering as I stood back up, feeling my lip trembling and the childish emotions welling up, though I did my best to keep them down as Ty turned off the car and stepped out.

“Good job bud, seems to be running…you okay lil guy?” I just nodded, but my face obviously showed otherwise as he kneeled down and started to check me over “Ooo…looks like you got scraped up pretty good, this is why I told you to wait for me bud, come on, lets get mommy to get you a bandaid.” He went to stand as I looked at him, my already heightened emotions flaring up at being talked down to so easily by the man who took my girlfriend. “I can get my own damn bandaid and I don’t even need em! It was a little fall!” 

Ty seemed taken aback by my sudden outburst and just looked at me “Buddy..it’s okay to-” I cut him off “And stop calling me “Buddy”! I’m not a little kid right now! You don’t need to look down on me like one!” I went to stomp into the house, flinging open the door and stomping towards my room as I saw Khris getting up from the couch. I heard Khris ask “What’s going on” and Ty said something back, I’m sure they were talking about me. I was just too upset to even care as I slammed my bedroom door shut and sat down against it, trying to hold myself together…big kids didn’t cry, adults didn’t cry, and I wouldn’t cry.

I sat there for a while, and after a bit I felt and heard a knock at the door behind me to which I responded with a moody “What” Khris responded “Sweetie…can I come in? I wanna make sure you’re okay…Ty told me you took a pretty good tumble.” I felt the red hot rage boiling back up but scooched away from my door and just muttered a soft “Fine….” Khris slowly walked in and looked at me before kneeling down and frowning “Is everything alright hun? This isn’t like you, even big you….” She sounded worried but I just pulled away “I’m perfectly fine…thanks.”

 She sighed and sat down now, probably knowing she was in for the long haul as she gently took my hand “Honey, I know this is all a lot, and while we’ve had time to adjust, I know you haven’t. If you need to talk to us, you can hun, this has to be a lot, and especially being that we don’t know what’s going on in that little head of yours, we can only help you as much as you let us….” I pulled my hand away and curled up again “I don’t need help, I’ll be fine…” Khris frowned “Sweetie, we both know that’s not true.” I shrugged as I just sat there “My issue, not yours…I’m gonna go shower…get this dirt off me” I said, looking for any escape from her ‘mommy of the year’ act, though as I stood, I noticed something off, specifically around my crotch. I frowned as it felt…cold..clammy, though my shorts looked fine. 

Khris seemed to notice my sudden stop too. “Everything okay sweetie?” She started to even make a move to check me probably as I pulled away and just muttered “I’m fine.” I walked out of the room and towards the bathroom, hearing Khris walking out behind me, but stopping in the hall. I made my way into the bathroom, quickly shutting and locking the door behind me before yanking my shorts down and feeling my undies, feeling the telltale squish of the padded undies, wincing I realized…not only was little me not potty trained yet…seems like that little bout made me have a bit of an accident, and not one that will go unnoticed, as I can’t throw these out like a pull up. 

I sigh and slip my now soggy undies down, that being a problem for post shower Stephen as I pulled off my shirt and going to turn the water on, though struggling heavily to do so from outside the tub, just barely being able to turn the knob to the hot area. I got into the shower after it'd warmed up enough, grimacing at the tub toys hanging from mesh bags on the wall, knowing any other night I’d probably be ecstatic to play with those right now. I turned away from em and started to let the warm water run over me, sighing as I felt the stress seemingly start to melt away already, the dirt washing off my body. Some being from the garage, but most I suspect to be from daycare that day, we’d had an outing to the woods behind the school and I’d been getting into everything.

 I washed my body with a soap bar I could only guess to be Ty’s, not that I really cared, though as it came to my hair I looked around for any shampoo, only finding the kids shampoo left low, making it easier to get me washed during my baths.  I groaned, I was not using THAT, I already probably smell like a kid constantly, I wasn’t going to add onto it. I began to look around for some more mature shampoo, noticing it on a higher shelf and well out of my reach, but easy for any adult to get to and use. 

I huffed a bit, crossing my arms before looking for a way to get it, realizing my only way would be to climb, though I knew it was probably not the best idea, it was better than using that childish smelling gunk. I began by stepping onto the edge of the tub, it wasn’t too slippery so it was easy to make my way around to the shelves, and start to pull myself up. This though, was my worst decision of the night, as when I tried to step up onto the lowest shelf, grabbing a higher one. I didn’t realize just how slippery they’d gotten from the steam and water falling on them. 

It was over before it’d even started as I felt my hand slip first before my foot slipped off the lower shelf, sending my tumbling back towards the tub with a loud thud and a yelp. I winced, not hurt, least not badly, and I’d not hit my head on anything, though I’d fallen on my bottom fairly hard, I was surprised though when I heard the knob to the bathroom rattle, and then the door swung open, I thought I’d locked it….

I looked up as the shower curtain was pulled open and Khris was almost immediately at my side, not worried about the water as she immediately went to check me over. “Stevie, sweetie, are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?” She seemed panicked as she looked me over, but I was mortified. Being completely nude in front of not just her, but I could see Ty behind her, holding a screwdriver and looking concerned. I pushed her hands away from me, blushing as I scrambled back up to my feet. “I’m fine, just…tried to get shampoo and fell.” 

Khris frowned as she heard that “Sweetie, your shampoo is down here, you shouldn’t have to climb for it, you know how dangerous that is.” She said, scolding me like you would a small child which only made my embarrassment rise as I looked at her “I’m not gonna use stuff that’s gonna make me smell more like a toddler!” She looked surprised at me for raising my voice and frowned. “Well it’s what we normally use for you,it’s just oranges, nothing kiddie Stephen, you need to understand you can’t do everything like you used to…” 

She stood and sighed, seeming satisfied with me not being hurt and…maybe even a bit hurt herself? I just went to pull the curtain closed as she seemed to linger for a few more seconds before walking out, shutting the door behind her and I could hear some talking behind the door. I sighed and gave a death glare to the bottle of shampoo with a smiling octopus on it before grabbing it and making quick work of washing my hair, huffing as I washed with the shampoo. It didn’t smell bad at all, though I don’t think I could ever admit that to Khris or Ty at this point. 

I stood for a bit longer after washing and just let the water run over me before turning it off and stepping out, grabbing a towel and drying myself off, if there was one good thing about being this small, it’s that it was much easier to dry myself with just one towel. After drying I went to grab my clothes and noticed something that caused my blush to come right back…there was a fresh pull up sitting on my clothes, the sodden undies nowhere to be found. 

I froze as I stared at it and didn’t know what to do. After a few seconds of hoping this was all a childish hallucination I slowly leaned down and picked up the crinkly garment, blushing as I sighed and slowly opened it up, stepping in and pulling it up, wincing a bit as I felt the plush interior of it hugging my crotch and bottom, before putting my shirt and shorts back on and going to walk out, probably with a bit more of a gate, though I was hoping it wasn’t too noticeable.

Upon walking out I heard the TV on, the local weather being read off as I smelled something being cooked, it smelled like something with tomatoes. I made my way into the living room, finding Ty on the couch who gave me a small nod as I just looked away before making my way to the kitchen, looking up at Khris who was currently over a steaming pot, stirring. 

“Khris..?” I asked quietly “Yes Stephen?” “Where did those undies go..?” She gave me a small, almost annoyed look “Well, normally when Stevie wears those undies and goes in them, he tells me and we get him in a pull up for the rest of the day. I see that part doesn’t transfer over as much as the emotional outbursts do.” I blushed deep red as I looked at her “I…I didn’t mean to, I was gonna tell you but I didn’t even realize it happened, I think it happened when I fell off the stool…” I looked down, feeling like a child who’d just done something very bad. 

Khris sighed a bit and looked down at me “Stephen, believe it or not, you’re not an adult anymore, and you need to accept we’re your legal guardians now. We know how to care for you, and we aren’t gonna make fun of you for anything you’d do normally, Stevie hasn’t mastered the potty yet and I know for a fact that means you haven’t either. You know that as well as I do, so you should’ve told me or let me check when you noticed it in your room” I just stared at her, she’d known the entire time, maybe it was my face, or my reaction? 

I must’ve given the same tell as Stevie… I just stood there as she went back to stirring “Dinner will be done in about ten minutes, why don’t you go watch TV for a bit while I work on it?” I could tell by her tone she was upset, so I just nodded and shuffled my way out and to the couch as Ty looked at me and gave a small chuckle. Though it wasn’t one of laughing at me, more of understanding “Guessing her angry voice isn’t any different from when you were big huh?” I just shook my head quietly as he gently rubbed my back “Look bud, she’s just worried. I know you didn’t mean to blow up on me or her, but you gotta understand, we just want what’s best for you, and if you need help or for us to do something, you need to tell us” 

I nodded slowly but scooched away from the back rubs, sitting back and watching the news, something about a local school doing a fundraiser for something. Though my thoughts weren’t focused on that, they were focused on my outburst from earlier, how childish it was, how close I was to a tantrum. It was odd, almost like I was slipping back into the Stevie mindset for a second there and for some reason it reminded me of a story I’d read early on into the virus’ outbreak. 

It’d been about someone who, like me, was swapping between his adult and child mindset, though he was worse, swapping almost weekly, though that wasn’t the only odd thing about him. After around 3 months of this he suddenly just…stopped swapping, and seemed to level out. He knew all about his life as a chef and having a fair amount of his adult thoughts, though he seemed to also have more childish impulses and seemed like any other three year old. Unless you talked to him about food, then it was closer to a hyperactive toddler. 

I began to wonder if this was what he went through, if he had started off by just having small tantrums here and there, maybe an outburst, then he just…slid down until he leveled out as a toddler. I probably looked lost in thought before I was pulled back out by Khris calling out “Dinner’s ready boys.” Ty stood up and smiled at me as I slowly got up, pushing my worries to the back of my mind for now as I walked into the kitchen, seeing Khris setting my spot. 

 I knew it was mine because of the booster seat covered in stickers that was sitting in the chair in front of the spot that Khris was setting, I shuffled slowly over and mumbled “Can’t I have a normal seat…?” Khris gave me another disapproving mom look, one I didn’t even need the rest of the answer for as I pulled myself up and sat in my booster, looking at the plate in front of me. Spaghetti with cheesy garlic bread, on a…what I believe to be a Bluey plate. 

I slowly grabbed my fork and started to eat as Khris and Ty sat with their own plates and started to eat. Ty seemingly trying to break the tension with a “So…least tomorrow’s Friday right?” Khris gave him a bit of a look as she sighed “Yeah…speaking of, that means you do have to go to daycare tomorrow, okay Stephen?” I looked and frowned “But…I’m in my big mindset…do I really have to” Khris nodded at that “Yes, you do, especially after that fall tonight, I’m not trusting you to be home alone all day, let alone cook your own food” 

I looked, trying to think of an argument…though she had me dead to rights with that, so I looked for another way “Can…Can I atleast be in a bigger kids room?” Khris shook her head “You’re in the oldest room you can be in at this daycare sweetie, and you know it’s not realistic to swap daycares when we don’t know when you might just swap back to Stevie.” I nodded again and looked down at my spaghetti, slowly eating it as I mumble softly “Sorry…I just…don’t want you guys to think I’m still some…needy kid.” Ty looked at me this time “Bud, we know you’re not, but we also recognize you still have physical limitations, you’re not very big, even for a four year old. The doctor was worried you were younger than we’d thought given we couldn’t get ahold of your family, but everything else developmentally pointed to a four year old. We just need you to trust us and let us help you, even if you’re an ‘adult’.” 

I nodded slowly at that and just slowly ate, trying my best to keep myself clean as the two actual adults at the table moved the conversation into talks of weekend plans. After a bit of chatter about something to do with going to the local mall for some new clothes for me, Khris turned to me, seeming in a better mood as she smiled “Hey…why don’t we watch a movie tonight. We’ll even let ya stay up a bit late, as long as you promise you’ll wake up good for us, you can pick the movie too, okay sweetie?” 

I looked up and perked up a bit hearing I got to pick it, there was so many movies that came out while I was little that I’ve not gotten to see yet. It would be hard to pick just one to watch, but I nodded quickly. “Yeah!” I finished up eating and quickly went to climb out of my chair, rushing to the living room as the other two chuckled at my sudden reversion to a childish excitement over a movie. Though I was already flipping through the movies, coming to the horror section with a smile.

I selected a newer movie, Scream 6, it having come out during my last bout of being little. I’d been told no to watching it on more than one occasion, but now I’d surely have free reign of being able to watch it. Khris and Ty finished up their dinners and Khris walked out, looking at me with a soft smile before looking at the TV and giving a bit of a worried grimace. Looking back at me she asked “You wanna watch that tonight?” I nodded quickly and smiled as she gave a small sigh. 

She wasn’t big on horror movies, but often did it for me, and tonight she knew she’d given me the choice, and there was no way to talk me out of it. She nodded as I heard Ty already getting the popcorn out and putting it in the microwave, I decided to try my luck at something else “Can…I have a pop too? I haven’t had one in a while.” Khris looked at me and looked unsure “Sweetie…your little body can’t handle that much sugar, nor the caffeine…but…I’ll think about giving you some. I don’t need you getting a sugar rush before bed.” 

I smirked, it was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. She stepped back into the kitchen as I got the movie ready. I could feel the excitement welling up in my body, and I even let a small giggle out, but quickly quelled it, knowing it was the childish emotions pushing their way to the surface again. Ty brought out a big bowl of popcorn and set it on the coffee table in front of the couch as Khris brought out drinks, two obviously alcoholic drinks for them, and something in a sippy cup for me. My excitement died down almost immediately upon seeing the childish cup, decorated in Bluey designs, probably came in a set with the plate. 

“Khris…I don’t need a sippy cup, I’m grown right now” She gave me a stern look this time “And I just cleaned the floors yesterday, last thing they need is orange pop staining them” she said as she set the cup in front of me,I couldn’t exactly argue with that, she’d given me the pop I’d wanted, but on her terms so…I guess small victories again? I took the sippy and drank from it, feeling the carbonation sizzling into my mouth and down my throat mixed with the immense sweetness from the pop, something my little body wasn’t used to…but something my little body absolutely loved at the same time, it was like stimulation in a cup.

We started the movie soon after and I watched, entranced as it started with a fake out opening, sipping my pop and eating popcorn by the not so big handful. Khris sat on her phone, not enjoying these movies in the slightest, but Ty seemed just as invested as me, or atleast acting like he was. This continued for roughly an hour, my sippy nearly empty of the sweet soda I’d been given and the popcorn running low already as I began to feel the consequences of my actions. I started feeling that familiar twinge in my bladder, letting me know it was time to go, but being mid movie I didn’t wanna miss anything nor ask for a pause. So I sat and watched, thinking I could easily make it to the end of the movie. 

I started to squirm a bit and that wasn’t lost on my two caretakers as Ty looked over at me “Everything okay? Got ants in your pants?” I glanced back “I’m fine, just, nervous…yeah” I tried to calm my wiggles down though only a few more minutes had passed and that twinge had turned into an urge, causing me to cross my legs as Khris looked at me and in a very mom tone asked “Stephen…do you need to go potty?” I gave her a side eye as she looked at me and just muttered a soft “...No” She sighed a bit as she went to reach for the remote to pause it, just as a small jumpscare popped onto the screen. One of the first in the movie, causing her to let a yelp out and me to jump…though that momentary lapse in control led me to feeling the warmth spreading slowly across the front of my pull up, and my two carers hearing the unmistakable hiss of an accident in progress. I tensed as I realized fully what I was doing, the movie paused as Ty looked at me and let out a soft “Oh buddy…” I whimpered a bit, as Khris quickly got up “Stephen…why didn’t you say anything? We can pause the movie ya know.” I looked down as the hissing stopped and just sat in disbelief at what I’d just done, feeling the warmth sit around my waist “I..I thought I could hold it” 

Khris looked at me “And as I told you earlier, Stevie isn’t fully potty trained, and neither are you, it seems you even less so at this point because at least Stevie tells me when he needs to go.” I winced at the words being flung at me, looking down still as Khris in one swift motion scooped me up and carried me to my room, Ty looking embarrassed for me as I was carried by. I didn’t even fight it at this point, as I was in too much shock to know what to even say or do as Khris set me down and pulled my shorts down, before tearing the sides of my pull up and letting it fall to the floor. 

Grabbing a wipe and warming it with her hands as she looked at me “Stephen, I know you want to be a big boy, but you’re not, you’re four, and right now, you’re even acting like a four year old. You should’ve said something, we’re not gonna get mad or tease you for it, you’re still learning.” She started to clean me as my lip trembled a bit and all I could manage was a shaky “Sorry…” as I tried to fight back the tears welling up inside me. 

The shame of having an accident mixed with my childish emotions and the urge to prove I’m big was all getting to be too much and threatened to spill over, especially with Khris being so upset as she finished cleaning me. She grabbed a fresh pull up and held it open for me as I shakily stepped in, still barely holding it together as I let soft whimpers out. Khris looked up at me and gently pulled me into a hug “Sweetie…I’m not mad…I just wish you’d understand. You’re not that big Stephen the race car driver anymore, you’re Stephen the four year old, you’re learning still and just getting your fresh restart into the world, and you’re not nearly at the level you were.'' 

I looked at her as I felt the tears start to flow and I started to sniffle out “B…But I’ve…I’ve gotta be big, I’ve gotta show everyone I’m old enough s..still I…” I sniffled more as Khris just rubbed my back “Shhh…sweetie, being big isn’t doing everything alone…being big is knowing when you need to ask for help…and knowing when to let yourself take that help, like right now. I don’t see a big boy who can do everything like superman, I see my little boy, who’s had a rough night of trying to be a big boy and needs his mommy for a hug and a kiss” 

I listened to her as my tears grew to be too much as I let out a soft whimper before the water works truly started, starting to openly cry into her shoulder as I felt the tears rush down my cheeks. The loud cries barely muffled by Khris’ body as I heard something, probably Ty in the hall and felt Khris shake her head before I felt myself being lifted again. Letting my emotions flow as I was carried back to the living room, Khris sitting on the couch with me held in her lap, I didn’t care I was in just my pull up and shirt right now. I didn’t care how childish I looked crying into Khris, my emotions and body knew I needed to let this out, and at this point there was no stopping it as I just cried into her.

I don’t know how long it went on, but soon I felt myself calming down, whether it be due to the back rubs, the rocking or my tears finally running out, I wasn’t sure. I felt myself slowly coming back into focus, softly hiccuping and breathing as my powerful emotions subsided in favor of a post cry tiredness. Khris looked down at me in her lap and just gently kissed the top of my head and helped me calm down before softly asking “Do you want to finish your movie?” 

I nodded slowly as I laid on her and she smiled “Okay…we’ll finish it, if you need to potty, you let me know okay? And after it’s bed time.” I just nodded again as Ty started the movie back up, sitting close but not too much so as the movie continued, going on for roughly another hour or so, filled with a few scares and an end scene that filled me with nostalgia for the original movies. I remembered my first time watching the first movie with my brother after he snuck it in the house. How I was hooked from there, through the ‘bad’ and ‘good’ movies, and how for two halloweens I went as a ghostface because I was just that obsessed. I smiled a bit as it slowly came to an end, knowing I’d get a second chance with those memories.

 Though as it ended and the credits rolled, I could feel the tiredness taking over as I rubbed my eyes, it’d been a long day for sure, and the sudden crying hadn’t helped my case of needing to stay up. This didn’t slip past Khris either as I heard her lean whisper to Ty “I’m gonna put him to bed, you pick something” before she slowly lifted me up and carried me to my room once again. This time carrying me to my bed and laying me slowly down, smiling softly. “Alright, it’s time for you to get your rest, you’re already up well past your bedtime, and I’m hoping I don’t regret it tomorrow morning.” 

I just tiredly nodded as she gently tucked me in, smiling as she sat on the edge of my bed, gently combing through my hair with her fingers. “Thank you for being such a big boy tonight and letting that cry out, some ‘big boys’ still don’t know how to do that, like the big lunk on the couch out there.” I let a soft giggle out at that as she leaned down and kissed my forehead “Sleep well Stephen…I’ll wake you up in the morning, if you need anything, you know where our room is.”