#useless.fandom thoughts

It just so happened that his comfort items were a soft blanket, an old and well-used All Might-themed teddy bear, and a rubber toy that he plays with.

From there he was looking up ways to comfort himself and fell into the age regression community. He joins online servers and starts talking to other littles and caregivers and finds that he has been regressing since he was 13 years old.

He has very specific needs;

He needs a night light (can't be in full darkness), he has an oral aversion to things (reminds him too much of the Sludge Monster incident), and cannot have his hands restricted in the slightest or he will get more upset.

These aren't the only specific things that he needs, but he's never really taken a caregiver prior to class 1-A so he doesn't know a lot of his own things just yet.

The move into the dorms was a struggle for him.

Unlike the other age regressors in the class, Katsuki had known he is one prior to moving in. So he already had little gear with him in his unpacked boxes.

When he does move, it is very anxiety-ridden and Katsuki keeps his little gear stored in a box under his bed for a long time. He doesn't even think about pulling it out and using it because what if someone comes through his door and catches him? No thanks.

It takes him a couple of months and a good mental breakdown for Katsuki to finally bust out his little gear and let himself regress in the dorms. And for the first time since moving in, the boy was able to fall asleep easily and stay asleep for the night.

Then this started the slow but sure adventure into regressing while staying at the dorms. And while he's figuring out which nights are better to do this and which nights his idiot friends bother him too much, he runs into Deku in the store (see Izuku's post for more info on this).

Unsure of what to do, he just cleans his sheets (sitting down in the laundry room by himself and spacing out entirely while he waits for the buzz of the machine) and just thinks that it is... normal. He thinks that it is a one-time thing and that it won't happen again so it is fine.

It happens again. It happens a lot, actually.

Sero is the one that ends up explaining age regression to Shouto.

He is up one night after playing video games with Kirishima for too long and when he goes down for a midnight snack he runs into Shouto carrying his bedding down to the laundry room.

"What's up, buddy?" Sero asks too cheerfully for someone who is awake at 4am.

"Uh," Shouto stops in the hallway and stares awkwardly at the floor. He is holding his wet bedding, his hair is a mess, and he's not wearing any pants (only underwear) and no shirt (he'd just hastily thrown on the new underwear after wetting his other clothes). He doesn't have any sort of an excuse so he doesn't give one, "I need to wash some stuff."

Sero watches him walk away and stops him again, "Roki! Do you need any help?"

"Uh... no."

"Hmm."

That night just so happens to be the night that Shouto forgot he ran out of detergent. When he realizes, the clothes and blankets are in the machine already, he turns around and chases after Sero. And then the boy gets to stay down with Shouto while he waits for his bedding to wash and dry.

Of course, he asks questions, he even runs up to his own room to grab a pillow and blanket to make Shouto a little more comfortable down there. The boy gets really quiet and accepts the cuddles without complaint.

It becomes a regular thing between them, Sero never judging or making Shouto feel bad for needing to wash his bed. He just lets Shouto sit close to him and they don't really talk because Shouto never responds when they are like this.

After a few times, Sero starts to put the pieces together and explains what he knows about age regression from going through all of this with his best friend Denki. Shouto is confused at first, but he thinks that maybe it is what has been going on with him.

Shouto uses these late nights to experiment with his regression.

They start really small and let Shouto suck his thumb one night and that changes everything. The moment he wakes up two nights later in wet bedding, he sends his friend a single text and then he is following a sleepy Sero who is carrying his bedding down the hallway with his thumb secured in his mouth.

The two of them begin to navigate a regressor-caregiver relationship quite quickly after that.

Eventually, staying up in the middle of the night like they have been starts taking a toll on their student lives, and staying awake is getting to be more difficult. So Sero, now comfortable being called Shouto's caregiver at this point, suggests a solution that will prevent Shouto's bed from facing his bladder so Shouto can sleep through the night.

Shouto becomes one of the only littles from class 1-A to use diapers, but it is something that just Sero and Shouto know about. Even once all of the littles come out and it becomes a common occurrence with the class, Shouto still doesn't tell them about his diapers. Not that he is necessarily embarrassed by them, it is just something that only Sero is reserved for.

Sero is Shouto's main caregiver.

Shouto will accept care from other people if he needs, but the times that he regresses without Sero is few and far in between. And he really only regresses during the day if the class is lounging together and he has the chance to cuddle up to his caregiver, then he will pop his thumb in his mouth and close his eyes.

Sero learns fairly quickly when he has to interrupt a sleeping regressed Shouto and when the boy is merely dozing lightly. When his body starts to relax further and further into his side, Sero will pause whatever conversation he is having, or videogame he is playing, to gently nudge the dual-haired boy awake and lead him stumbling up towards his dorm room.

Once they get there, he will change Shouto into a pair of pull-ups (so that if he does remember to use the bathroom he can but doesn't need to) and a comfy pair of baggy sweatpants so no one can see the outline of them. Then they will wander back down to the common room, sometimes Sero will carry the boy on his hip and other times they will just walk together, and no one else questions it really.

Each little has their own special needs and having so many people willing to take care of them has not only brought the class closer, but pretty much guarentees that all needs are met.