zatchie

I'm so sorry for the long delay. I had tons of life events happening over the past month. I got a new job!!! But I was also a little too lazy with my writing. Part 2 will be posted shortly. I'm definitely not leaving this story unfinished, and there's still quite a ways to go. Chapter 13 Part 1 Erin was preparing a roast in the kitchen, while Beth and Luke were sitting on their respective couches in the living room. They were waiting for Erin’s parents to come over for dinner; they lived in a countryside town a couple of hours’ drive from Bordeu. Beth was there because Erin’s parents had been a constant part of her life as she had grown up; essentially godparents and one of the greater influences on her. Given Beth’s prior treatment of Luke, it still felt awkward for both of them to be hanging out and interacting, though they had been chatting fairly amicably for the last hour. Beth had immediately given an earnest and sincere apology to Luke, followed up by an apology to Erin for her behavior as well. Beth would never stop having at least a small amount of resentment towards Luke, but almost nobody felt unilaterally good thoughts towards any other individual, and Beth could tell Luke really was making Erin happier, which was enough. Luke was sipping on a cup of Little formula, it had taken another long conversation with Erin, a long Gorgle search about the chemicals in the formula while perched on her lap, and finally Erin herself drinking some of the Little formula before Luke was okay again with eating Little food. The formula had nauseated Erin to the extent that she hadn’t wanted to eat dinner that evening, but if that’s what it took to make Luke comfortable with something so fundamental about being a Little, that’s what it took. Beth and Luke hadn’t conversed too much since Erin left them be while she went to cook in the kitchen. Beth would have offered to help as well, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that a Little should be minded – even if she consciously knew that Luke was more than capable to taking care of himself and was very unlikely to get into any mischief. The sports channel was playing a sport Luke didn’t recognize or understand, and was the TV thus simply providing background noise to Luke and Beth’s amicable and slightly awkward standoff. Beth decided to break the low-level tension. “Umm Luke, do you have any toys or things in your room we could do together?” She knew that Erin had been having trouble getting him to do any sort of play activities, and figured that she might as well give it a try. “I have a big tub of Legos I guess. We could mess around with that until Erin’s parents get here.” Luke hopped off the couch while Beth followed him to his room. He wasn’t super excited about playing with the blocks, but playing without any expectation towards being a Little did a lot to decrease his anxiety, and while he still felt a bit goofy, he thought it would be kind of fun. Beth sat on the carpeted floor next to Luke; he had popped off the top of the tub that contained the Legos and was vaguely building a spaceship while Beth mostly just followed his lead. “So what did you usually build with these blocks when you were a kid?” “Hmm, I wasn’t huge into Legos, but my friends and I would usually make fighter jets or spaceships and either pretend to be fighting aliens, or just crash them into each other. I guess I wanted to be a fighter pilot or an astronaut as a kid.” He snapped a few more pieces of what Beth perceived to be a wing onto his ship. Beth gave him a small smile, she hadn’t realized Littles made it to space; it seemed vaguely irresponsible to allow them to strap into a rocket. “Oh yeah! When I was a young girl, I dreamed of piloting, or at least crewing one of the colony ships we sent out decades ago. My heart was broken when my mom told me that they had been phased out of our national budget.” Luke just gave Beth a blank stare and continued with his building; he wasn’t really sure how to interact with her either. Playing with Legos turned out to be more a challenge of skill for Beth than a psychological challenge for Luke. The small blocks in a human hand were miniscule in the hands of a Big. A single block fit between her thumb and forefinger, nearly every third block she’d lose her grip and have to re-grab it from Luke’s carpeted floor. Luke finally noticed Beth’s trouble and gave her a cheeky smile. She was apparently making progress on a multi-colored castle, but progress was irritatingly slow. “You planning on building something there?” Another block fell out of her hand and landed on the carpet. “Or just watching me and letting blocks fall into place?” Beth gave a cheeky smile back, Luke was more enjoyable to be around when his existence wasn’t negatively colored by Erin’s initial difficulties. “I guess I’m just letting blocks fall.” She added more to her castle. “So, it’s been nearly three weeks with Erin now, how are you liking it with her?” Luke had been getting this question more recently, given that he wasn’t actively hating everything around him now, and it was proving uncomfortable to answer. If it was an acquaintance he didn’t think he’d have to deal with then he’d give short, one or two word answers. However, Beth was a different story, Luke figured sharing his view of the challenges in living in this world would help clarify her view of him. He tried to keep his tone neutral but serious, it was hard to keep some frustration out of his voice. “Well, I’d still go back home in an instant if I could. The benefits of being here aren’t really coming close to outweighing the cons, I think the only things I really prefer here are the no homework, and I guess now I like Little food. And I’m not even 100% sure on the no homework thing.” Beth knew that Accidental Littles had it harder, and not all Littles from his dimension wanted to come here, but she hadn’t expected such a plainly negative view. “Really? But, I mean, you’ll never have to worry about going to work, or worry about money. I know you have family back in your dimension, but Erin will also give you unconditional love whenever you need it, forever. It can’t be that bad right? You’ll basically get to be spoiled rotten for your whole life…” Luke wanted to phrase this even more correctly than his previous statement; he knew how protective Beth was of Erin. He kind of wondered if Beth wasn’t romantically interested in her. “The people that choose to come here, they often had it pretty rough back home, maybe they couldn’t get a good job, maybe they didn’t have family that cared for them, but basically they couldn’t really make it as a successful adult. I didn’t have those problems, now that I’ve been here, I at least understand why they come; for the reasons you listed, but those aren’t really such big positives in my case. I mean, just wearing diapers is already enough of a negative to outweigh those positives for me. And in addition to that, I’ve lost a lot of my autonomy, the math just doesn’t work out. Erin’s been the bright spot so far, and I really appreciate that she’s been trying hard to help me, but that doesn’t mean that I’d rather be here, or even that I’m especially happy here.” “Yeah, I guess I understand. I probably wouldn’t adopt myself out, even if the option was available.” Beth knew that she certainly would not. “It’s just that all the Littles we see seem so happy, it’s hard to imagine that you all don’t want to come here.” “I think that’s a classic observer effect. You’re only seeing the ones that wanted to come here in the first place, so of course they’re happy to be here. I also think that a big part of their continued happiness and enthusiasm is due to the regression treatments you guys do, kids are always more exuberant.” “I guess that’s true. I think that’s part of what Erin’s mom would say. She was always talking about how the majority of Littles are leading full lives and didn’t really want to be here. But she’s also against regression as well, she thinks that it’s mental mutilation.” Beth’s statement on Erin’s mom grabbed Luke’s attention. He knew Erin’s parents didn’t really support adopting regressed Littles, but he didn’t understand what drove them to feel the way they did. “What are Erin’s parents like? It seems like her mom has really strong views on Littles. Will she be mad at Erin for adopting me?” Beth wasn’t too surprised that Erin hadn’t talked much about her parents to Luke. Their relationship wasn’t bad, but Erin’s mom was always quite direct, and somehow their personalities clashed a bit. It didn’t help that Erin had always been Little crazy, her biological desire was always a small source of shame for her mom. But Samantha was still fun, as long as regressed Littles weren’t involved, and Erin’s dad Jeff always prevented arguments from spiraling away. “Samantha was a Little emancipationist before Aquitane joined the Alliance nations. She doesn’t talk about it too much, but from what I understand, she was a part of a militant group that would rescue Littles that had been kidnapped to this dimension. I don’t think she’ll be mad at Erin about adopting you – Accidental Littles need support here, she probably thinks Erin is one of the best choices, given that she’s her daughter. Jeff is pretty low key, but I think he has similar views; I guess that’s how they met.” Beth paused and thought about Erin’s parents for a moment, remembering her first time meeting Luke. “Jeff is also a big football fan, but he’s from Marselle, so he doesn’t support Bordeu. Don’t rub it in too much, they’re doing really bad this year.” That perked Luke up, sports fandom always seemed to be the great equalizer, and was always a good fallback discussion topic. “So, there shouldn’t be much issue then. Do you know if they’ll be here soon? I’m getting kind of hungry.” The smell of the roast whatever-Erin’s-making was starting to permeate through the apartment, and Luke’s stomach was well on it’s way to becoming audible. Beth checked her phone; she had a vague idea of when they’d arrive. “I think they should be here pretty soon.” Beth looked at Luke’s Lego creation, an obvious if relatively simple spaceship, she looked at her creation, a half-formed castle that would fall to any invasion. “Do you want to go back to the living room and wait for them?”

It absolutely will! I'm writing again, I've just been super busy the past couple weeks. I will definitely have an update or two this coming week.

I also went with the ~30 hour day, and haven't worried about week length. I basically handwaved the longer lifetime, some combination of lower gravity (basically has to be unless you want amazons to be elephants or have very strange bone composition), differences in how time passes (like cells literally acting differently relative to perceived time), and much much better medical care. In my mind, though not written, I imagine a very old Big is ~120, while 100 near end-of-life isn't rare. I'd say Littles can achieve 100 at a higher frequency than our own dimension as well.

These last few chapters have been so freaking good. I hope we can get some positive reconciliation between all parties, but I also know that that doesn't always happen. I am curious of Jackie will eventually want to move to the diaper dimension in the future. She seems pretty positive about the stuff that goes on there, at least in Itali.

I'm gonna be a bit delayed on this next chapter, ton of work before I head home for vacation. I might try to upload a double chapter once I'm free.

Thanks for the catch!

Well, then I guess I better give you more! Chapter 12 “Do you want to try sitting in your highchair for breakfast today?” Erin was stirring a pot of oatmeal, and had a cup of coffee on the counter next to her. Luke was sitting on a bar chair across from her. He’d always let Erin lift him up and down from these chairs; the drop was father than he was comfortable jumping. “Um, not really.” “Okay. No worries.” Recently, Erin had been casually asking if Luke would like to do some of the Littler things on the list. At first, it had seemed like he would gradually start acting more carefree about this sort of stuff, but now Erin thought that he was digging his heels in more. She wasn’t sure why, and it was starting to annoy her, though she reminded herself to stay patient. Erin continued to stir in silence while Luke stared intently into nothingness. The visit to the Humanology clinic had rekindled his already-present fear of being Little, and while he didn’t necessarily hate most of the things Erin had suggested for him to do, he wanted the pace of his ‘development’ to slow down. He had only been here for a short time after all. Yesterday they had had another call with Luke’s family, Melody had behaved much more kindly, and in general Luke’s parents were encouraging, to Luke for becoming more accepting of Erin and hopefully easing into a rhythm in this new dimension, and to Erin for helping Luke gradually fit into a life here. They weren’t too surprised or concerned about the pace being slow. “Erin, before you got me, what did you do all day?” Since the doctors appointment, they hadn’t done much except pal around the house, they watched more movies, now with Luke cuddling in Erin’s lap, which seemed to keep her contented, but Luke was growing bored and stir-crazy. Luke wasn’t used to being this sedentary. Erin knew what he was getting at. She was even getting a bit bored as well, though she was more of a homebody than Luke. “Well, right after I stopped working, I travelled for a while.” She paused, trying to think of things they could do for at least today. “Then, well, I did a bit of consulting work just to fill the time, but well, part of the reason I decided to adopt a Little was because I had so much free time…” Luke wasn’t amused. “So basically, you were so bored that you got a Little in the hopes I could entertain you? Or you just wanted me to be bored in solidarity?” Well, maybe he was amused just a bit. “That’s not what I meant… It just meant I’d be able to take care of someone who needed extra care.” Now that she thought about it though, part of the motivation for her adopting a Little was partially to just have something to do. She felt a little ashamed. “We need to figure out stuff to do. I’m gonna go crazy if things keep going like they are.” Erin served up the oatmeal into two bowls and took it over to their dining table. The only reason she didn’t eat in the kitchen bar was because the dining room afforded them a much better view from her windows. She came back to the kitchen and carried Luke over to his chair that had a booster seat. It had become fairly routine for Erin to carry him when it was convenient for her, and he didn’t mind; he’d have to be lifted up and down a few times anyway. “How about today, we head over to A Little This, A Little That, and during that time we can think of some more long-term stuff that you can do each day. I guess think about hobbies you’re interested in?” The challenge was that his hobby may not be accessible for a Little in their dimension; Erin would have to do her best to encourage an attainable choice, and to some extent just make work whatever Luke chose. Luke sighed, a store for Littles was really not where he had wanted to go or wanted to do, but he had agreed to it previously, and a couch in the living room that he could easily climb on would be nice. “Okay. Can we go out for lunch also?” He hadn’t eaten at a restaurant in this dimension yet. “Uh, sure, that sounds good.” She’d have to prepare him for how Bigs normally treat Littles beforehand. After breakfast, Luke hopped off his booster chair and went to the bathroom to do his business. That was becoming their routine at this point: They’d do their morning workout, then bathe in their separate bathrooms; Erin would get Luke out of the tub and changed into a diaper; he’d put on clothes while Erin cooked breakfast, and after breakfast Luke would do his business again and get changed again. It wasn’t the most efficient in terms of diaper changes and bath timing, but Luke never had to do more than pee right when he woke up; eating breakfast always worked to move things along. Subconsciously, Luke knew that going out more meant a greater chance that he would have to both use his diaper and be changed in public, but he wasn’t really focusing on that at the moment. Luke was getting more and more comfortable with Erin changing him. At first, it was all he could do to not curl up in shame; that graduated into him merely blushing hard every time a change came, but very quickly the changes became ordinary, without the power to make him feel embarrassed, at least at home. Erin was still changing him when Luke spoke up. “Hey, Erin. Why hasn’t Steve checked in yet? Didn’t he say he would pretty frequently?” Erin had been wondering the same thing. Two weeks had just passed, and they hadn’t heard a peep. “I guess he’ll probably check in in the next day or two.” She didn’t want to have to call him, it already felt like he wanted as little as possible to do with Luke, but to ignore his welfare would be irresponsible. She wanted to distract him from worrying about what Steve was thinking about him, though the obvious conclusion was that Steve either didn’t like working with Luke, or perhaps Accidental Littles in general. “We’re almost out of diapers, we’ll need to get more at the store too. Are you okay with these, or do you want to pick some out yourself?” Luke’s immediate reaction was to say ‘I don’t want any diapers’, but he knew by now that other solutions weren’t any more dignified. “Ummm,” he hummed to himself, was there anything he actually wanted to change? “Maybe one that’s a little thinner?” He didn’t really have an opinion on designs, not that he’d seen other options besides his current ones and the bad ones in the hospital. His current diapers were on the thicker end of average for daytime. Erin had chosen these first ones because the print was neither medical nor infantile; she wanted to give her Little something that wouldn’t embarrass them, but also wouldn’t look like they were trying to hard to be an ‘adult Little’. “I guess we could aim for that, though in that case we’d probably better get some nighttime diapers too.” So far they’d been using the same type for day and night. “Works for me.” People wouldn’t see him in his nighttime diaper he thought, and he’d wanted thinner ones so that they were just a little less obvious under his clothing. Erin finished up the change and set him down. His diaper rash was almost completely gone. “Ready to go now?” “Yeah, sure.” Erin drove them to a strip mall on the outskirts of the city; she’d been here a couple times before to get stuff in preparation and knew it could get quite hectic when people got off work. She appreciated once again how good she had it; it was late morning and there were only a few other cars in the massive lot. She pulled Luke out of the car, setting him on his feet. She figured he’d want to walk, at least at first. “I’ll grab a cart when we get to the door, if you get tired, just let me know, and you can ride. The store is enormous.” “Yep.” Luke understood, and wasn’t insulted by the implication he’d want to ride. Even the parking lot was massive, though Erin had parked close to the entrance. Inside the store was pretty disorienting; everything was sized towards Littles and it made Bigs seem big rather than Littles seeming small. It was like Erin had been transported to Luke’s home dimension rather than the other way around. Luke wasn’t sure if he liked it. They made their way over to the couches. Most of the furniture had loud or infantile patterns, which Luke wasn’t partial to. “So are you looking for in a couch” Erin asked. She didn’t really care which one Luke got, so long as he liked it. “I want one that doesn’t really stand out from the rest of the room. So no crazy patterns or colors. Then I guess I’ll just try some,” Most of the couches on display did have crazy patterns and loud colors, but there were also color swatches that showed the various options. Luke had been eyeing those swatches rather than the couches themselves. “Well, I guess we should get something in the range of browns,” Erin privately laughed to herself. No Big would judge either the Big or Little for having Little furniture that was fit for a Little. But everything in her Living room except the rug was either wooden or had some brownish fabric, so it made sense for Luke to go that route. Luke found a couch that had a swatch of brown ribbed fabric which looked like it would fit well enough. Sitting on the couch, he found that he sunk into the cushions way too far for it to be comfortable. On to the next one. They continued looking for what felt like 30 minutes but was really maybe 10 or 20. There were so many couches, and not very many had mature fabric colors, and the ones that did weren’t always the most comfortable. Erin wasn’t getting bored, but she did want to help Luke move things along, and she didn’t want him to limit himself to things that were ‘tasteful’ according to what was already in Erin’s condo. “Ya know Luke, how about you just pick out whichever couch you like in terms of comfort. As long as it isn’t leather, I can just get it reupholstered pretty quickly and easily.” “Oh, umm, okay.” It didn’t really make things easier. Now Luke was taking his time trying out every single non-leather couch, which was most of them. Erin wasn’t really much of a shopper, she always joked that she liked to go buying rather than shopping, but Luke definitely knew how to shop. Erin wondered if she should be taking notes. After an actual 30 minutes of shopping, Luke was able to settle on one: It had a smoother cotton fabric and was deeper than most of the couches in the showroom, and the cushions were pretty firm as well. Luke could lay down lengthwise or pull his legs up under him and lay back comfortably. Almost all the benefits of a Big couch, without the climbing difficulty. There were no ‘mature’ colors, so they just randomly chose a swatch, a bright orange, and continued on. “You want to ride yet?” They’d been in the store for almost an hour already. “I think we’ll go pick out new diapers next, unless you want to look at the toys.” “I’m good.” He was referring both to not needing a ride and not checking out the toys. He couldn’t imagine there would be anything he liked, and he really didn’t need to ride, he spent so much time being sedentary at home, their workouts notwithstanding, that getting his legs tired seemed like a good idea. When they got to the diaper aisle(s), Luke was stunned. “What?! Why are there so many choices?” He was sure that there weren’t this many options for children’s diapers back home. There were three full aisles for diapers, with a huge variety in brands and styles. “Well, different Littles like different diapers, and Bigs have preferences too. Plus there’s lots of different designs, I guess it’s just supply and demand.” She began walking down the aisle. “We’ll need a nighttime one, and a thinner daytime one. If you look at the capacity indicator on the bottom right,” She pulled down a random package to show Luke. “Anything less than 4500mL will be thinner than what you’re currently wearing.” Luke would rather be shopping for couches. He kept his eyes peeled for different absorptions, most were around that 4000-4500 mark, as well as designs that weren’t embarrassing. He eventually spotted one with the more modest capacity of 3750mL, which had a multicolored pattern covering the diaper: solid Reds, Blues, and Yellows. Luke was just glad it didn’t have cartoons or infantilized sports or race car designs. Erin pulled the package down ‘Tots Striders: For the most active Littles’ it was like they were made for Luke, but then again, that was the point of the massive diaper aisles. She pulled down a full box of them so that they’d have a good supply. Erin took the liberty of choosing Luke’s nighttime diaper, only stopping to confirm with him that the design wasn’t too babyish; it was white and decorated with blue crescent moons and gold stars. The absorption was an impressive 5500mL; any thicker and they’d be on their way to crawler diapers, something that was much more popular in non-alliance countries. They checked out, and while the cashier smiled at Luke standing next to Erin (he had decided to walk the whole time), she didn’t say anything to him or babble at him. Erin and Luke walked back to the car and deposited their diapers. Erin then got Luke situated in his car seat; he never got tired of the memory foam headrest. “So when will the couch be delivered?” Erin looked confused at him, not sure if he was making some sort of joke or sarcastic comment. “Um now? I was just gonna pull up to the front of the building,” Erin backed her car out of the spot and pulled up. She exited the car where an employee had already brought out the bright orange couch, it definitely wouldn’t get shot if it was going hunting. Erin popped open her trunk, and the employee simply pick up the couch and placed it in. Erin’s car wasn’t that big relative to others’, but Luke had forgotten just how much bigger Bigs were compared to Littles. “See? Delivered right now,” She had a little laugh. “Uh yeah, wow.” “Is there anywhere you want to go for lunch?” “Nah, you can pick.” Luke was just happy to be out of the house. “Okay! Do you have curry in your dimension?” Erin loved curry, and spicy food in general. “Yeah, I don’t eat it very often though. It sounds good.” “Great. We’ll go there then,” Now came the hard part. “So Luke, at the restaurant, all the Bigs won’t know you’re unregressed. I want you to be prepared beforehand incase someone babbles at you. I’ll try to correct them, but if you yell or something, they’ll just see it as a tantrum. Bigs who haven’t been forewarned have a hard time thinking of Littles as anything other than regressed, even if you say something.” Luke frowned in the back. He figured that Bigs would behave like that around him eventually, but other than his initial visit to the park, he hadn’t really been treated any way but respectfully. What Luke didn’t understand was how much effort Erin had been putting in to educating and preparing her friends, as well as anybody Luke would be interacting with. She’d even given the doorman at her building a short chat to explain things. “So what do you think I should do? They aren’t gonna grab me or anything right?” “Certainly not at a restaurant. I’d say just roll with it, they might babble a bit, I’ll correct them, and then we play it by ear from there. Just know they aren’t intentionally trying to demean you. Most regressed Littles like that kind of stuff.” They arrived at the restaurant and walked in. It had an ethnic theme that Luke couldn’t place; it wasn’t Indian or Southeast Asian. The employees all had tan skin and black, wiry hair. A waitress came to greet them beaming down at Luke and smiling at Erin. “Hello, one adult and one Little for lunch? Would you like a booster or a highchair?” Erin looked down at Luke and felt the urge to say highchair. She quashed it, but she also felt that if he’d just do it once, Luke would realize it was not a big deal. “A booster please.” They walked over to a booth with Luke trailing behind Erin. He could definitely feel the tiredness in his legs now. Erin picked him up as the waitress grabbed a booster seat. “What a cute little guy. What stage is he? Late toddler? I always thought the energetic ones are the most fun.” She was leaning in smiling at Luke, who was leaning away trying to keep a reasonable distance between them. Luke restrained himself from barking at the waitress and let Erin handle it. “Actually, he’s unregressed, so basically like an adult.” The waitress just blinked and got the chair situated. “Well, I’m pretty sure no adult Big is that cute. What a sweet boy.” She didn’t mean any harm, and she was no longer getting in Luke’s face or babbling at him. She came back and gave them two menus; Luke’s was obviously a children’s menu. “Uh, could we have another adult menu for him?” Luke eyed Erin’s menu as she said it. The menu would be too big for him to maneuver easily. “Actually, I can just share a menu with you right?” He raised his arms for Erin to lift him out of the seat and into her lap. “I guess we don’t need one.” The waitress just smiled and walked off. “So yeah there’s curries, they have a variety of spicyness levels and come with rice. There’s also children’s and Little food,” Erin pulled over Luke’s menu. “Which won’t be spicy.” Luke always liked acting macho around spicy stuff, though he never really enjoyed getting a spice level above medium. It’s just what guys his age liked to do, he’d often compete to see who could eat the most ultra-spicy chicken wings with his frat buddies back at school, and while he never won, he also didn’t embarrass himself, at least not more than anybody else. “Umm, I’ll get the medium brown curry.” It had some meat Luke couldn’t identify and came with white rice. The waitress wrote it down she’d never had a Little order any food with spice before, but she didn’t think there’d be any major issue. “Just so you know, our curry is quite spicy. You still want to go with medium?” Erin didn’t think anything of Luke’s choice, though she usually preferred to go for mild. She ordered a green curry and placed Luke back in his booster seat. “So, have you thought about any hobbies you’d like to try out?” Erin had been trying to think of some as well, partially for herself or for hobbies they could do as a pair. Luke had kinda forgotten to once they had gotten to A Little This, A Little That, but thinking on it now, he considered a few options. He had liked painting at the adoption center before everything got messed up, and he had always wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument; in high school, all his extracurriculars were sports. “Maybe I could learn how to paint, or play music? Are there instructors who would teach a human? Not just like random playing at a daycare?” Erin had also been leaning towards the arts, she figured she could probably find someone who could help. She knew Beth played the guitar extremely well, but she wasn’t an instructor. “I think we could probably find someone. It might take a bit of searching though.” Their meals were delivered. Both curries smelled amazing and Luke’s stomach let out a tiny rumble. “Yeah, maybe I could learn to play the violin or the cello.” He blew on a spoonful of curry and rice to cool it down, then put it in his mouth. He paused a second longer, the moment he put it in, he could tell that he had made a major mistake, but he didn’t want Erin to know. “Mmh, this is good.” He took another spoonful. It was too much. His face had already began turning red. He took a drink from his sippy cup of water. No help. His tongue, and throat were burning. He licked his lips unconsciously; they started burning a moment later. Tears started sprinkling off his face. Erin hadn’t really been paying attention, she was focused on her own meal, which in her opinion was milder than she liked. She turned her head towards Luke and saw her Little’s face in the process of melting. She felt pain just looking at him “Too spicy Luke?” Luke could hardly hear her. The spice was burning everything, his sinuses, his lips, his mouth, his throat. Beyond tears, he started to actually cry. He was pretty sure nothing in his life had hurt this much. “Uh, muhh, uhwaa” He was trying to make any word but it was just came out as crying. He couldn’t control himself. Erin reached out and grabbed him onto her lap. He tried to take his sippy cup of water with him. “No Luke. That’ll just make it worse.” She cooed to him as he sniffled and snotted onto her shirt. She flagged down the waitress. “Excuse me. Your curry was way too spicy for him. Could we get a cup of milk, and maybe some chicken nuggets?” Erin didn’t blame the waitress, but she did wonder just how spicy the curry could be. She took a spoonful. It was delicious, medium here was definitely a more appropriate spice choice, and Erin set her own green curry aside when the waitress came back with the nuggets and milk. Luke had calmed down by the time his new food was served, though the pain hadn’t receded. He didn’t think he was going to die; his whole head still hurt. He took a sip of the milk and immediately felt a little better. The pain in his skull lessened just a bit. He ate a chicken nugget – never his first choice, and felt better as well. Even though the pain was still there, everything was feeling better with each sip of milk and bite of nugget. His involuntary tears had stopped, he continued munching. Eventually, Luke had finished, he was leaned back in his booster seat relaxing. He was ready for his nap, glazed over eyes watching Erin finish his evil brown curry. “Ready to go Luke?” He smiled and nodded. “Yeah Ewin, I’m pwetty sweepy.” His smile flattened and widened, mouth closed. Erin tilted her head and just looked at him for a moment. She made the connection almost immediately, but didn’t want to raise her voice, or ruin his good mood. At checkout, she whispered to the waitress, “Were the milk and nuggets Little food?” The waitress nodded, smiling at Luke dozing on Erin’s shoulder. “Yep, I figured that’s what he’d want considering how the curry went. I’ll make sure Littles don’t get our spicy food in the future.” Erin just shook her head. “Next time, please ask before giving Little food. This time was okay I guess, but sometimes he’s not really comfortable with it.” That wasn’t completely the truth. Erin knew that he was only okay with it this time because it made the horrible pain of his curry go away. As she drove home, Luke slept in the car seat. Well, I guess we do get to check something off the list. I hope he’ll be okay with it in the future too.

That's good! I was a little worried I was making him too likable, it's a hard balance to have him not be an absolutely horrible person while still be a Little that people would generally regret adopting.

I've been sick for three Thanksgivings in a row ? I don't get sick more than once or twice per year. In honor of my untimely illness, Luke gets to go to the doctor. Chapter 11 Luke and Erin were resting between sets of power flow yoga. Erin had already graduated to unmodified push-ups after only a week, something she’d never have imagined doing before adopting Luke. Looking in the mirror, she thought she saw some improvements to her muscular definition, though she couldn’t tell if it was just her imagination. It was just a few days after all. She could definitely tell that her flexibility was improving; it wasn’t even challenging to touch the tops of her feet, and if she pushed, she could touch her toes, almost the floor. It had been a couple of days since Luke fell asleep on Erin’s lap, and while he hadn’t spent so much time there since, he was a lot more comfortable being held by her than he had been. Besides showing him the list of things she thought he might be okay with or want to work towards as a Little, they hadn’t made much progress on him actually acting Littler. The list had easy things like coloring or playing with block, as well as what Erin suspected would be bigger challenges for Luke, like playing with other regressed Littles on a playground or trying Little food. Other basic things included shopping at Little of This, Little of That, wearing a onesie, and eating while in his highchair. The Little food was the only thing that Luke had given any major reaction to, with a partially hidden scowl indicating his reluctance “So this morning, we have to go to the doctor to get you some vaccinations. After that how about we go do something fun?” Erin hadn’t told him beforehand, but a doctor’s visit didn’t seem like anything to worry about. He was looking forward to getting to get out of the house again. He felt pretty cooped up. “Okay, sure. Will I get to see nurse Joy again?” “Sorry, no, we’ll be going to a humanology clinic, Joy works at the Little’s wing of the hospital where you were taken to.” Erin had looked carefully for a humanologist during her time preparing to adopt an Accidental Little, even before Luke had even arrived. She eventually picked a clinic that was fairly close to her residence and had been recommended by one of her old coworkers that had a Little. The clinic had assured her that they understood the challenges associated with having an unregressed Little who wasn’t necessarily happy to be in the dimension, and had even gone as far as occasionally importing Little medical equipment to make their patients more comfortable. The drive took them to a part of the city that Luke hadn’t seen before. Unlike the central areas which were a mix of very old and very modern, this area was somehow more homogenous while being neither very old nor modern. The streets were narrower, and the neighborhood was filled with two and three-story brick buildings, some residential and some commercial, though there was little distinction when looking from outside. Erin turned into a small parking lot behind one of these buildings, unbuckling Luke from his car seat and setting him on the ground. He was glad she didn’t try to carry him in, he wasn’t that comfortable with being held yet. He had dressed himself, choosing a flannel plaid button-down shirt and jeans with an elasticated waist. Erin had ended up buying him a new pair of sneakers at his request: a pair of black Cougars, which seemed fashionable enough. She hoped he would still wear his old shoes occasionally, they were super cute. Inside, there were six or seven other families waiting for their appointments. Littles were gently running around, others playing with blocks, and a couple just sitting with their moms and dads. Erin left Luke and her bag on a seat in a corner a little farther from all the other Littles and went to the front desk to register. “Erin Miller here to check in for Luke Miller.” She’d only refer to him with her last name for official situations like this one, as far as Erin was concerned, he was still Luke Kepplin, and probably always would be. The receptionist looked up at Erin and around, noticing that her Little wasn’t with her. She spotted him kicking his feet aimlessly with a Big’s handbag and made the connection. No Big would trust any but the least regressed Little to sit patiently by themselves like that. “I see him right here.” Nodding at her computer screen. “You’re all checked in. Is he the Accidental Little?” She indicated with her eyes to him sitting behind Erin. “He is. And I wanted to ask about that a bit. Is it possible to use the imported needles instead of the ones made here? I heard the ones from his dimension are thinner and hurt less. Also, I’d like them to take his temperature via forehead instead of rectally.” “Hmm, well, we do have needles from their dimension, they do cost quite a bit more though. I’m not really sure if they hurt less; I’ve heard that the atoms are smaller there or something. But I also don’t really know if it makes much of a difference, pretty much every Little cries when they get a shot. I will ask the nurse about the temperature thing though. They’re usually pretty understanding.” If Luke wasn’t sick, she didn’t think it would be a big deal, though if there was any threat of illness, she was sure they’d want to be more accurate. “Well, I’d appreciate it if he got the thinner needles, thank you.” Erin said it kindly, hoping that the receptionist was taking her concerns seriously and wasn’t just thinking of her as another overprotective Little mom. Sitting in the waiting room while Erin was talking with the receptionist at the counter, Luke was trying to fight off a wave of growing panic and some sort of disgust. The Littles – Humans running past him looked nearly the same as any adult he had known at home, though the regression surgeries made their age seem both younger and more ambiguous overall. It was the actions of the Littles that were triggering his fear and revulsion. It was like every human had some mental disability; they were physically mostly fine but seeing somebody your own size with the emotional and mental capacity of a two-year-old is really disquieting when you aren’t prepared for it. He wanted to leave, and he was now feeling more bitter the Erin thought that he would somehow want to interact with these people. Luke didn’t even really ‘get’ these people back when he was in his original dimension; he understood that people fell on hard times, or struggled with depression or personal loss, but his own situation was so far removed from those that he had a hard time forming empathy for people who couldn’t make it work. They chose to come here because they couldn’t make it work, he was making it work perfectly and he was forced to come here. It wasn’t fair. Walking back to their chairs, Erin could see that Luke’s expression was pretty sour. She figured it was due to needing the vaccinations. “Hey, the vaccinations will just take a tiny bit of time, they promised me they won’t hurt either. I was thinking we could go see a movie at the theatre after this, what do you think?” Luke rolled his eyes internally, but wasn’t paying much attention. He was focused on two Littles ‘reading’ a cardboard book to each other. The book was upside down. “That’s fine.” She ruffled his shoulder gently to get his attention. “Hey, this isn’t gonna be a big deal, I promise.” “It’s not that.” He was now watching a Little struggle to stack four blocks on top of each other. “What is it then?” Erin was relieved that he wasn’t scared, but something was still obviously troubling him. Luke felt a little ashamed to have that view of his own species, and he certainly didn’t want to talk about that issue with others around who could potentially listen in. “I don’t want to talk about it here.” He emphasized the ‘here’, he did want to talk about it with Erin, maybe that would make her slow down her treating him like a Little. A nurse opened the door “Luke?” Luke, as well as one of the Littles attempting to read the book lifted their head. Both Erin and that Little’s guardian started to rise. The nurse saw the confusion and immediately corrected. “Luke Miller?” The other Little’s guardian sat back down. Luke looked up at Erin in some confusion. No one had told him his last name here was Miller. “That’s us. They only use Miller so that they know you’re with me. Your as far as I, and anyone that matters is concerned, your last name is still Kepplin.” That seemed to mollify him. In the exam room the nurse indicated for Erin to lift Luke onto the table. “You’re unregressed right Luke? I’m Nurse Xu, I’ll be helping Dr. Vimont here today. Now, Erin says that you’d rather not have your temperature taken rectally right? You do understand that way is much more accurate though?” She had already prepared the forehead scanner. Thinking about it, she herself would definitely sacrifice accuracy if she knew she wouldn’t have to be violated in that way. Luke’s eyes bugged out. He stammered “Uh, yeah, forehead.” Nurse Xu singsonged an “Okay” and took his temperature, which was normal. “I’ll head out and Dr. Vimont will be in in just a moment.” In something that might have been a first for both Big and Little-kind, Dr. Vimont entered even before Nurse Xu had completed her exit of the room. He wasn’t any taller than Erin, just under 13 feet, and had a stocky build with a well-trimmed salt and pepper beard. “Hello Luke, Erin, I’m doctor Nicholas Vimont, I’ll be your humanologist here in Aquitane.” He gave his hand for Luke and Erin to shake. “Now, I know that since you came as an Accidental Little, you skipped the quarantine portion of your travel here. That’s part of why you’re on an accelerated schedule for your vaccines, you’ll get four today.” Dr. Vimont paused to let that sink in, a slightly regressed Little would be completely freaked out by the thought of four shots in one sitting. Luke gave no reaction besides a large blink. “The notes from the hospital say that you’re in remarkably good health considering the interdimensional travel as well as the circumstances of your arrival. Are there any issues you’d like to alert me to?” Luke just shook his head, but Erin spoke up. She figured he’d be too embarrassed to bring it up himself. “I’d like it if you could take a look at his diaper rash. At first Luke was trying to change himself, but it didn’t work out that well; we switched to me changing him a couple of days ago.” Erin hoped that Luke wouldn’t take it as her throwing him under the bus, but she also didn’t want to be accused of neglect by the doctor. “Sure. Luke, do you mind taking off your pants and untaping your diaper for me?” Luke had hoped they would skip this part, but didn’t really hold it against Erin for bringing it up. His rash was feeling better, but having a doctor say it was getting better would be nice to hear. He pulled down his pants and removed his diaper. Dr. Vimont tapped Luke’s thigh to get him to spread his legs a bit more. “Hmm, yeah, he definitely has a pretty significant rash. Given that it’s more light pink than angry red, I believe it’s on its way to getting better, but it’s hard to tell completely without a comparison.” He nodded at Luke “Is it still bothering you quite a lot?” “Uhh, not that much, Erin got some medicated cream that’s really helped. I think it’s getting better. It feels better.” “Mmmh.” Dr. Vimont hummed in a very doctorly way. “I do think.” He paused. “And I hope you won’t feel insulted for me saying this, I think it would be better in the long run if you removed your pubic hair. It traps a lot of moisture, it will make the chances of rash higher in the future as well.” “No.” It was out of Luke’s mouth before he had a chance to think of an angrier reply. He wanted to seem more dignified about the situation, and he knew that the doctor really was just trying to look out for his health. Erin just looked sympathetically at Dr. Vimont, and prepared to intervene if the situation deteriorated. It didn’t go any farther. Dr Vimont just smiled “I understand, just something to consider. Make sure you’re very diligent with your diaper changes then, and make sure to use plenty of powder and cream.” He indicated to Erin. “Yep! I’ll make sure to be really careful.” “Well if that’s your only issue, then you can get changed, and I’ll send in nurse Xu for the vaccinations.” Erin made quick work of the change. When she had first met Luke, she wondered if he’d be interested in having plastic surgery to look younger, and if not, at least be willing to remove his body hair. Having known him for nearly two weeks now, she wasn’t all that surprised that he didn’t want to do that. She still hoped that he’d consider it in the future, it really would be a lot more hygienic. Nurse Xu entered with a tray bearing the vaccinations. “How about you sit in Erin’s lap for this; I think it will be better if she’s holding you while you get your vaccinations.” She didn’t want to demean him by saying she was concerned that he’d wiggle, scream, or pull away, but those three reactions happened frequently enough that having the Little just sit by themselves on the exam table seemed like a recipe for disaster. She suspected even an unregressed Little would have a big negative reaction, plus four shots was the most she ever gave in one sitting. Luke just shrugged his shoulders and held his arms out for Erin to take him. He still didn’t see what the big deal was, it was just a few shots. Erin on the other hand was extremely nervous. She’d never been a parent or had to deal with anything other than minor boo-boos before. Luke had been in so much emotional pain that she really didn’t want physical pain added on. “You are using the imported needles right?” She said it quietly, as if the word needle would be enough to get Luke crying. Nurse Xu smiled politely. “Yep, straight from their dimension.” She’d never seen it make a difference though. Every Little cried when getting shots, even unregressed ones, though those ones hadn’t been given the imported needles, so maybe, just maybe there would be a chance that Luke would be okay. She got the first injection ready. “Roll up your sleeve a bit more for me.” Erin started gripping Luke a bit tighter around the torso. Erin’s reaction was the only thing that was making Luke the slightest bit nervous. “Okay, now one… two… three…” The first vaccination entered his arm. Luke gave literally no response, just blinking once again as the vaccination was delivered; he was reading the human musculature poster on the wall across from where he was sitting. Erin let out a small gasp. Nurse Xu raised her eyebrows in a way to show she was impressed. Luke essentially ignored both of them. “Second one, one… two… three…” This time, Luke was swinging his lower legs back and forth gently, a habit from when he was a little kid. Erin started to loosen her grip a bit. Nurse Xu was already over the performance, now she was more curious about the differences between Big and Little needles, or maybe the previous unregressed Littles were all just wimps. She’d hold them to a higher standard next time. The final two vaccinations passed just like the first two, though Luke did flinch a bit on the last one, his arm was getting a little sore. “Well you did awesome! You’re free to go. We usually give a Little cookie to make the crying Little calm down, you can have yours for a job well done!” Little food was something Luke would still not tolerate. It scared him more than anything else. “Fuck no! I’m not eating that!” Erin regripped Luke more tightly, reminding him not to blow up. “Luke! What is our rule about cursing? You could have just said no.” Luke bobbed his head in apology. Considering the situation, with every Big at the clinic having been quite nice to him, his reaction did seem overblown. “Sorry. How about I get one free curse instead of having that Little cookie? That can be my prize right?” Erin just snorted and shook her head. Nurse Xu had been a little shocked, but it was also not the first time an unregressed Little had cursed in her presence; she knew that they were sort of adults. “Still wanna go see a movie?” “Sure. Can we see an action movie?” “We’ll see.” She didn’t think the theatre would be pleased with a Little seeing a violent film, but they could try.

That's a big oof. What a tough and scary situation for everybody. I think Mary handled it extremely well.

I think that this isn't going to be the story for you if that is how you feel about Erin's treatment.

I agree that he shouldn't necessarily be grateful for the material efforts Erin is spending on him. I will say the Erin is about as good as it gets in terms of Bigs understanding unregressed Little feelings. Erin isn't really trying to force him to be Little, she just wants to set him on a path towards happiness, which involves understanding that his current environment views him very differently than his previous one. In terms of sending him to an island or whatever, this parallel diaper dimension doesn't have native Littles, the only independent ones were emancipated or rescued from their 'guardians'.

A little too heavy-handed? ? Though who's to say that they're terribly infantilizing (beside me of course ?). I too want more games of D&D! Alas, I'm usually the DM, which means I have to spend lots of time preparing, time I could be using to write this story. Labyrinths and Minotaurs probably won't feature in the next chapter or two, but will exist down the line ?.

And here is chapter 10! More progress and more to be made Chapter 10 Luke and Erin were sitting on the living room couch, each consuming a book. Prior to Luke arriving, Erin probably would have been messing around on her laptop, browsing the internet or watching a video. She didn’t now because she did not want Luke to have much screen time exposure and wanted to keep the idea of him having his own laptop out of his head. Pretty much every Little book agreed that computer time was not a positive thing for Little mental health, and TV time should also be limited. Erin knew that if Luke saw her using her laptop around him, he would ask for one too. She could easily imagine him becoming a recluse, completely avoiding his life as a Little, building a different world for himself on the internet. So Erin’s own electronic usage was greatly deceased since his arrival; it had turned out to be a nice change of pace for her so far, and she thought the decrease in screen time might have a positive impact on her mental health as well. Luke closed his book and prepared to hop off the couch. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom and change.” Change meaning diaper in this context, though Luke did whatever he could to avoid saying the word, as if it was the word and not the object that was causing him the discomfort. Maybe it was. “After that, I think I’ll take my nap.” After her talk with Luke’s parents, Erin knew the first thing she’d need to confront Luke about was his diaper rash. She would have had to anyway; her first responsibility was to keep him safe and healthy. Happy was a close number 2. She wished she could have had a talk about toning down his behavior before this issue cropped up – she could easily imagine him blowing up at her for suggesting she take over his changes. “Um, uh, Luke.” She could tell just by watching him walk away from the couch. He paused to turn around. “You’ve got diaper rash, don’t you?” Luke’s expression downturned and he started to blush. Erin was trying very hard to not blush or giggle, not that she was feeling the need to do either, she just wanted to keep any sort of emotion or infection completely out of it. “Yeah, a little, it’s not that bad though.” It was that bad. Since the day prior, he knew that he should ask Erin for help, but didn’t want to give up his privacy, nor expose his inability to effectively change his own diapers. It was like a small confirmation that he really should be letting Bigs take care of him, which was the last thing he wanted to show. “Luke,” She said it in a slow drawn out breath, almost pleading. “At least let me look at it, I need to make sure you’re okay.” She took another heavy breath. “I’ll change you this time, then you can take a nap, then we can talk more after that.” “Fine. I hope changing me satisfies whatever perverted urge you have.” It’s hard to argue effectively when you know you are in the wrong, Luke hoped the barb would hurt, though he didn’t really think Erin was a pervert. Erin had been expecting something like this, and just shook her head solemnly and said nothing. Luke went to the bathroom, Erin went to Luke’s room and sat in the rocking chair and waited. Looking around his room, it was clear that Luke had touched pretty much nothing except for his bookshelf. There was no evidence of a single toy having been played with, crayons and colored pencils were still in their boxes, the adhesive labels holding them closed had been untouched. Erin couldn’t think of a standard Little activity that she thought Luke would immediately like, and she didn’t want to frame a Little activity as if it were for Bigs, she wanted it to be Little, and for him to be okay with that. Luke exited the bathroom and entered his bedroom. He was carrying his sweats in his hands, assuming that the change would be happening right away. His diaper was drooping in back, he’d clearly messed himself, and really wasn’t looking forward to having Erin changing him, not that he liked doing it himself. At least he wouldn’t sit in it like a regular Little. “Here, I’ll just lift you on the table, and we’ll get this taken care of.” Luke nodded and Erin got out of the rocking chair, gripping Luke under his armpits and bringing him up to the changing table. Luke kept his bum raised so that he wouldn’t impart any more pressure on his diaper. He also scooted a little farther from the edge; the changing table was more than 8 feet off the ground, enough that he felt the slightest bit of vertigo looking down off the table. Erin made every movement deliberate. She gently rolled up his shirt above his belly button and began removing the tapes on his diaper. “I’m not changing you because I…” She searched for a word that didn’t make her feel dirty while saying it. But she also wanted to be accurate, she enjoyed taking care of Littles, including Luke, and that involved diaper changes. “I’m not changing because I have an interest in touching you this way. I just want to help keep you safe and healthy and cared for.” The diaper was opened, Luke was laying back passively, though he was listening intently, his face bearing no readable expression. Erin gripped his ankles in one hand and lifted his bottom farther from the pad, beginning to wipe him down. She could already see significant areas of angry, raw skin, around his thighs from chafing, and around his rear entrance from inadequate care. On Luke’s end, he had no choice but to concentrate on what Erin was doing. The cool wipes felt calming over the abraded portions of his skin, and she made no indication that she paid any attention to his privates. Luke did feel a twinge of fear at how easily Erin was holding him up with her one hand; he wasn’t helping her at all and she was having no trouble. Luke also noticed that Erin was able to get the cleaning done with many fewer wipes than he could. Perhaps the angle or her previous experience was showing the contrast in capability. Before rediapering him, Erin got to the business portion of this change. She inspected his diaper area even more carefully, taking note of its frankly terrible condition. If a child or Little with this amount of diaper rash had been brought to a hospital, their parents would be found negligent. She was amazed that Luke had given such little reaction to something Erin knew must uncomfortable and truly painful. “This is really really bad Luke.” She indicated to his thighs and bottom, waiting for him to give an indication that he acknowledged. “I’m gonna order some medicated cream in addition to the normal stuff. I wish you had told me earlier.” Now that he didn’t have to hold it in and pretend that it was no big deal, his rash somehow hurt a lot more. Compounded with the loss of agency associated with Erin taking over this diaper change (and he guessed that she would want to take over subsequent changes as well), and Luke could feel emotions welling up that hadn’t in a week or so. He had been able to more or less pretend that while his world had changed a lot, he was still an adult in control of his own life, and now the fact that he was not was smacking him in the face/butt. A tear trickled down his cheek. He whispered, just loud enough for Erin to hear, but no louder. “I’m sorry.” Erin wanted to gather him in her arms and rock him, comforting him and telling him it would be okay. She held firm, she still needed to talk with him following his nap, and she thought that discussing everything right now wouldn’t be as productive; Luke needed to be in a stable state too. She finished applying the cream and re-taped the diaper. “It’s alright, it will just take a while to heal. How about you take your nap, and then we talk more afterwards?” That didn’t help calm Luke too much, though he wouldn’t show it. What else would she want to talk about? “Okay.” He raised his arms to be lifted off the changing table. She lifted him down and he walked off to his crib to sleep. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Luke’s sleep was restless and too short. He spent too much time thinking about the consequences of allowing Erin to change him, worrying about changes that would almost certainly be happening in the future. Erin was anxious and couldn’t concentrate on the book she was trying to read. She eventually gave up on reading for pleasure and switched to ‘Helping Your Little be a Little’, looking for advice on unregressed Littles, but she couldn’t find anything that was really satisfactory; most advice was predicated on the assumption that they wanted to be there in the first place, and was aimed towards helping unregressed Littles solve individual issues they had with being Little, not with the whole idea of being a Little in the first place. It had only been forty-five minutes when Luke exited from his bedroom, around half the time of a normal nap. He sort of slinked his way towards the living room, but when he caught the title of the book that Erin was reading, he tried to even more sneakily tread his way back into his bedroom; he didn’t want to have a discussion with those ideas so fresh in her mind. A Big’s hearing and sneaking abilities are much better than those of any human, so Erin knew where Luke was the moment he left his bedroom. Erin set the book down and called out to him “Hey Luke, could you come over here please? I’d like to have our talk now.” Luke cursed under his breath, and ended his attempted sneak. Standing more straightly, he sighed and walked out to the front of the couch where Erin was sitting. She gestured for him to join her. He scrambled up and sat crisscrossed on the other end, a fair bit more distance than he normally gave between himself and Erin. “So first I wanted to talk about how things are going so far. When discussing with your parents, we said that things have been better since the first few days, and I generally agree with that, but I think that now would also be a good time to lay some of the groundwork for your future here.” Erin paused to let what she said sink in and give Luke a chance to respond. Luke didn’t have anything to say. He agreed in principle with Erin, but was afraid where that road would lead. It also seemed to him that his fears about what Erin would tell his parents were at least partially confirmed; why else would she want to have this talk now? After just having chatted with them in the morning. In response to Erin’s hanging statement, he merely nodded. “So. I think the first thing we should do is establish some basic rules.” Luke’s brow furrowed and lips curled slightly down. He wasn’t looking forward to being under somebody else’s thumb, even if they thought they had his best interest in mind. Erin read his expression, not at all surprised that he was unhappy about having rules imposed on him; Erin thought she would at least be a little unhappy if she were in his situation. She decided to try and explain her reasoning first. “Most Littles come here understanding that they will give up a significant amount autonomy, receiving unconditional love and care in return. I know you didn’t come here willingly, and as an adult, having rules imposed upon you when others your age don’t have them doesn’t feel good. But, here, you’re also a Little, and so I think your best chance at happiness is working within the framework that exists for Littles. It might not be what you want, at least now, but I think it will provide some stability and help you down the line. Plus, I don’t think you’ll find the rules so bad anyway.” Erin gave a little smile, just thinking on it, she already followed the rules she was going to give Luke. For Luke, hearing that Erin and others didn’t view him as a peer hurt more than he expected. He’d had fun with her in what he thought was mostly a peer-to-peer relationship. But he also couldn’t deny the logic of what she was saying; she had obviously put quite a bit of thought into what she though he needed, while he was mostly acting reactively to situational events that were occurring. “So what rules were you thinking of?” He’d at least withhold some judgement until Erin spoke. “Just a few. I think the most important one is that you don’t direct bad language towards people anymore. Mature people don’t just curse someone out; there are more productive ways to solve conflicts. The second rule is that I want you cut down on your cursing in general. I understand if sometimes an f-bomb just has to come out, but really, there are a ton of ways to express yourself that aren’t curse words, plus you’d immediately alienate yourself with other Littles if they heard you cursing. The next one isn’t one we’ve had an issue with, but I just want it on paper, no violence, hitting or spitting or anything like that. And finally, I know you might not like this, but I think I should take over your changes from here on out; this isn’t a slight against you, it’s just much easier for another carer to change someone’s diaper.” Erin paused, looking for Luke’s expression. She’d prepared the list and reasoning beforehand and had been so focused on explaining everything that Erin hadn’t really paid attention to him while she was speaking. He wasn’t giving anything away. “So what do you think? Do you want to talk about it, or…” While Erin had been talking, Luke was feeling unrecognized tension leave his body; muscles loosening, heart rate lowering, and the majority of his fears dissolving. He had been so worried after his diaper change incompetence that Erin would enact rules designed to make him become Little, bottle feedings, pacifiers, and childish clothing had been pressing their weight on his brain, now he didn’t know how to react. These rules weren’t any stricter than Luke had when he lived with his parents. “I think the rules sound fine. I might have some trouble with the cursing one at first…” He gave a smile like the two of them were sharing an inside joke. “Yep, I completely understand that, and I’ll be here to remind you and help you grow.” Erin was happy that he so readily accepted the rules she set; they really weren’t too bad from her point of view either. She suspected that a few more rules would get made in the future, as a result of specific situations or circumstances that made themselves apparent. One benefit of having an unregressed Little was that you could more or less trust them to not unintentionally kill themselves through childhood ignorance – it meant that she didn’t need to make a specific rule for every single thing. Unacknowledged by both of them, but perhaps more important than the agreement to any specific rule was Luke’s acknowledgement that Erin even could set rules. Back home, there was nobody really in charge of him; here, he already understood that Littles, including himself would be looked after. “What’s the punishment if I do break a rule?” Luke was more curious than anything, after the relief from an almost completely normal ruleset, he wasn’t too worried about what would happen if he happened to break a rule. “Well, I had been planning on withholding desserts and stuff like that.” Erin gave a small laugh. “Buuuut, given your dietary preferences, I think that would end up being more of a punishment for me than you. No, I think outside of me just reminding you to behave better, timeout or loss of TV privileges would be appropriate.” “Oh.” Timeout was more infantilizing than Luke expected, but thinking on it, outside of spanking, he couldn’t really imagine a punishment that would be effective for somebody his age. “I don’t think I’ve been put in timeout since I was like eight years old.” “Well, behave and you still won’t. But that’s part of why it’s effective for unregressed Littles, most books recommend timeout as discipline for both regressed and unregressed Littles, though it’s effective for obviously different reasons.” “Hmm, I see.” He didn’t really, but assumed that it was some combination of making the unregressed Little feel Littler than they wanted, which he thought was somewhat inappropriate for a punishment, and boredom, which he assumed was the reason it was punishment for a regressed Littles as well. “Well, if you have suggestions or questions or other things you want to talk about, feel free to ask me anytime. But before we get to the second thing I wanted to discuss, do you need a change? With the rash you have, it’s important that you get changed as quickly as possible after either wetting or messing.” Luke blushed deep red. He had wet after waking up from his nap, like he usually did, though he couldn’t really feel any irritation besides the initial diaper rash thanks to Erin’s assiduous application of rash cream. “Uh, yeah, I guess I could use a change.” “Alright. In the future, just let me know. We’ve got to be especially diligent for now.” Erin didn’t think Luke would want her checking him instead. During the change, Luke decided to ask a question that had been weighing on him since his nap time, something that would probably determine at least some of Erin’s future expectations regarding him as well. Plus it would fill the awkward silence. “Hey, Erin, um, what were you hoping for or expecting when you signed up to adopt an Accidental Little?” He knew she did expect what she had gotten, but wanted to understand her desires for having a Little, and what her ‘ideal’ relationship would be. “Well.” Erin applied more rash cream and taped Luke into a new diaper as she thought to herself how best to describe what she had been thinking. She didn’t want to alienate him again. “Well, I pretty much always wanted a Little, and I Littlesat a lot as a teenager. But my parents don’t really support the idea of mentally regressing a species, and to some extent I agree with them on that. So, I decided relatively young that I’d adopt an unregressed Little whenever I was able to. But, Aquitane doesn’t get many unregressed adoptions – they all go to Itali, and with my financial windfall, I had enough resources in place that I’d be able to support an Accidental Little. So I applied a few months ago, and then I got the call about you and, obviously, I said yes. And here we are.” Luke was still laying down on the changing table looking up at Erin. The diaper change was over, and his legs were starting to get a bit chilly. He still wanted to know more. “But, I mean, what did you want in a Little?” “I just wanted to help you through the obviously hard time of being plopped in a new world, and eventually get you settled and help you thrive.” Luke gave Erin a look. This was obviously not what he was looking for Erin to expand on. Erin wracked her brain. How much could she tell him without freaking him out. He obviously wanted her to be honest with him, but there’s honest and there’s overwhelming. She took a deep breath. “I wanted someone I could take care of. I wanted a Little that I could support in whatever they do, and when they get hurt or need help, I could make it all better. I wanted a Little who would be excited to see me if I was picking them up from daycare, who I could cuddle with, who I could sometimes snuggle with. And I guess I sort of wanted a friend and life partner, in a sort of mutually supporting way.” Erin was sniffling a little bit, she didn’t think she’d make herself cry when saying what she had been looking forward to. She hadn’t planned on saying that much, but once she had started, she couldn’t stop. Verbalizing it had made it apparent to her that she wasn’t receiving any of the things that she wanted, which hurt emotionally. It also hurt and embarrassed her now, saying it out loud, that those were the things she wanted in a Little, like it was inappropriate to have those desires in the first place. She hoped Luke wouldn’t judge her too harshly. Luke didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t all that surprised by what Erin wanted, but he didn’t think he could give it to her. And he knew that trying to provide a solution or comforting her now wouldn’t be that helpful. He couldn’t exactly pat her on the shoulder. He could at least get them moving back to the living room; his legs really were getting chilly. “How about we have that other talk you wanted?” Erin pulled Luke’s sweats up from his ankles and set him on the ground. They were on the couch. Luke was sitting criss-cross, and kind of folding his body in-between two of the back cushions, something he’d done a lot as a kid. “So.” He let it hang in the air. “So.” Erin mentally and emotionally gathered herself for a fight. She didn’t think Luke would take this talk as well as the other talk. “So.” “So, I think we should start making some goals towards things that would help you fit in better here in this world.” She let it hang in the air. “You want me to become Littler.” Well, yes she did, but there was more to it than that. “I want to build kind of a goal set or development plan to help you become happier here. As I said before, I think the easiest way for you to find your niche is to fit better with other Littles here, otherwise, you’ll only ever be able to interact with me. To do that, we need to find Little things that you’re already okay with, to get a foothold we can build on.” “I don’t want to get Littler. It feels like I’m being treated too Little already. You saw my sister making fun of me.” He gave a big shake of his head. “I don’t want that. There’s nothing to build on, because I don’t want to build.” “Luke. You’re never going to be happy just sticking with the way things are. You know that. You don’t need to get a lot Littler, I obviously don’t want you to be regressed. I want you to be able to interact with other Littles and Bigs positively. I want you to be able to let go and have fun. I can’t make the world fit you.” “I shouldn’t have to be made to fit this world!” He was already entering angry pout mode. “I agree! But I’m more interested in a practical solution towards helping you find happiness than I am writing a political essay about the right way for our world to treat Littles.” “So what do you want me to do?! Drink from a bottle, use a pacifier, carry a teddy bear around? I’d add wear a diaper and sleep in a crib, but oh hey! I’m already doing those things!” He was getting himself worked up. As much as he’d felt cold just a bit ago, now he felt way too hot. His breathing was becoming more ragged, he could feel the explosion coming. Luke was kind of looking forward to it. Erin reach and set her hand on his shoulder. Her tone was comforting, but firm. “Hey. Take a deep breath.” Luke didn’t, but he also didn’t look like he was gonna pop instantly. “I’m not going to make you do any of those things. I’m not gonna make you a baby. I just want to find something, anything, that you’d be okay with doing that qualifies as Little, and then we build slowly, emphasis slowly, from there.” Luke didn’t say anything for a solid minute and a half. Erin never took her hand from his shoulder. Once he got his breathing under control, he started thinking if there was anything childish he was okay with. He could actually think of a few things, but he didn’t want to say them. Luke quietly mumbled, his hot anger having worn off, but his unhappiness remaining. “There’s nothing.” Erin was getting better at reading him. “You don’t have to be embarrassed by wanting to do anything Little. I’m not going to push you beyond a pace you’re okay with. Frankly, I’m probably treating you more maturely than anybody else in Aquitane will.” “Great, that’s a real confidence booster.” The sarcasm was thick in Luke’s voice. “I’m just saying, even if it’s just one thing. We should start somewhere. I didn’t think this was gonna be a fast process.” Come on Luke, just spit it out. “Well.” Now Erin was curious. What could it be that was so embarrassing? “Uh, huh?” She tried to coax him along. “I guess, I guess I don’t mind being held so much.” Not what Erin was expecting given the first day’s bottle incident, but one that made her immediately excited. This wasn’t that useful in terms of fitting in, but would definitely make herself happier, and they had to start somewhere. She tried to stay under control. “Like what do you mean? Or did you have in mind?” She tried to keep any judgement or excitement out of her voice. “When I sat on your lap when playing Labyrinths and Minotaurs, or when you pick me up, or hugged me at the park. That I liked, I guess. Not all the time, but sometimes.” “So, would it be okay if I held you in my lap right now?” She still tried to keep her voice professional, but the desire was obvious. Luke gave a thin smile. He knew what she was getting at. “Yes, it would be okay.” Erin scooched a bit, held out her arms with a look, clarifying now, since Luke was okay with it, that it hadn’t been a hypothetical question. He nodded. Erin gripped him from under his thighs, supporting his back with her other hand. She set him in her lap, wrapping both arms around him in a gentle but firm hug. She set her chin lightly on top of his head, her whole body gently enveloping his. She hadn’t meant to, hadn’t done it consciously, but Erin had wanted to hug him this way since the first time she saw him, and now she finally got to. It felt just as good as she had thought it would. Luke leaned back into the hug. He may have understated how okay with it he was. Now that he was sitting in Erin’s lap, he kind of regretted rebuffing her bottle feed attempt on the first day. He’d given up a week of feels like these just to seem a little more mature. Not that he wanted to drink from a bottle anytime soon. At least that's what he thought he thought. Erin released one of her arms and leaned back against the couch. Luke kept leaning back into her chest, relaxing his weight against her. He was getting sleepy. His nap definitely wasn’t long enough. “You know, we’ve still got to find some stuff to build on.” “Uh, huh.” Erin’s warmth felt too good. Erin could tell that Luke wasn’t really in a discussing mood anymore. “How about I make a list of things, and then we can go through them, you can kind of pick and choose which things you’ll be okay with.” “Sure.” Luke’s eyes were already closed. Erin brought her other arm back around his torso and held him as he fell asleep. She sat there with him napping against her chest for the next nearly two hours. It was two of the best hours of Erin’s life. That night, Erin made two lists. The first was a list of goals and things to do that she would share with Luke, events and activities that would indicate he was fitting in better in this world. She tried to make all of them have a positive context; the point of him becoming Littler was for his happiness in the first place. The second list was one Erin would keep private, to herself. This was a list of goals she had for Luke that she didn’t necessarily want to share with him, things that would indicate he was more accepting of acting and being Little, things which he would take umbrage to if he were to read. She kept that list in a drawer in her office and put the public list on the dining room table.

Thank you both! I was a little worried I didn't really get into it enough with the advice (i.e. specific situations and maybe punishments to cover), but I think some of that will come naturally as I'm writing this next chapter.