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.

Sorry this took so long to write! I was having trouble getting a solid advice section down, and I still feel like it is a relatively weak part of this chapter, but it is something I wanted to do, and definitely fits the theme of the story. I've also switched my spacing style to be more in line with some of the other authors. Let me know if you prefer this one or my old style. And without further ado, here's chapter 9. Chapter 9 “I’m just saying, he should be more appreciative of the sacrifices you’ve made for him. Right now, he resents you, and he has no right to.” Beth was speaking to Erin on the phone again. She had expected a call, maybe one saying that she’d decided to return Luke to the adoption center, or that she wanted advice on how to manage his temper. She hadn’t expected Erin bearing down on her instead. Erin was always kind, quiet, and meek, while Beth was strong, loud, and confident, always ready to stand for her eternal friend. It hurt more than a little bit to have her friend standing up to her. “That’s not the point Beth! What you did was wrong too, quite frankly a lot more wrong than Luke’s response, and your actions will make it even harder for him to accept being here in our dimension.” Erin sighed. She was regretting telling Beth so much about Luke during his first few days with her. It had soured Beth’s view of Luke, though Erin also wondered if Beth wasn’t experiencing some amount of jealousy. They had been eternal best friends, and now Erin had something that was taking up a much larger portion of her attention and time than Beth ever did; even when Beth had broken her leg back when they were sixteen. “Look, I’m not saying you should return him.” Though Beth thought she wouldn’t mind that either. “I’m just saying that you need to reel him in a bit. He needs some discipline, otherwise he won’t ever fit in. I suggest-” Erin cut her off. “We aren’t talking about Luke’s behavior here Beth. We’re talking about yours! I know you think you’re standing up for me, but you’re not. Next time you meet Luke, I expect you to give him an earnest and sincere apology. Until you’re ready to do that, AND treat him respectfully, you won’t be coming over to my place.” Erin’s voice got quieter, almost to a whisper. She hated fighting, especially with her best friend. “And I know he needs a more stable authority figure. I’m working on it. Not all of us can be you Beth.” It was Beth’s turn to sigh. She didn’t really intend to hurt Luke, well she did intend to, but only wanted to hurt him a little bit, not in such a brutal way. She really really didn’t intend to hurt Erin. Beth knew that Erin had been so excited to get a Little: talking to their group for weeks about the process of signing up to adopt an Accidental Little, the training she’d have to go through, and then, what Erin, and at the time Beth, had hoped would be the joy of bringing that Little into her home to help them grow and accept their new place in the world. She resented Luke for not fitting in with what Erin had imagined. Beth wanted her friend to be happy, but she also wanted Luke to not be an asshole. She wasn’t sure the first could happen without intervention forcing the second. But for now, she’d keep out of it. “I’m sorry Erin. I’ll apologize next time I see you guys. And I won’t pull any more shit on Luke.” “Good. And thank you. You know I lean on you a lot, I do appreciate you more than you know. You’ll always be my best friend. I hope, eventually, you’d want to Little-sit for Luke sometime as well.” “Yeah, I think eventually I’d like to do that.” Before Erin had adopted Luke, Beth had been eager to be a Little-sitter. Now she and Erin both weren’t so sure. “Okay, well I gotta run, we’re chatting with Luke’s parents in a couple hours and need to get ready. See ya Beth.” “See ya Erin.” Luke had been eavesdropping outside the third bedroom that doubled as Erin’s office. He wasn’t to excited to know that he’d have to interact with Beth again, and especially didn’t want her to be his Littler-sitter, he didn’t want a Little-sitter at all! It also scared him a little bit to hear Erin raise her voice, she hadn’t even done so when sending him to his room last evening, the size differential between him and everything and everyone else was reminded to him once again. Protecting himself from physical harm wasn’t what he had been talking to Erin about the night before; he had been describing his reliance on her, but now thinking on it, the fact that any Big over the age of 3 or so could immediately assert their will upon him was mildly terrifying. After hearing Erin hang up the phone, he scampered back to the living room where he had left his book. Erin returned to the living room without having noticed Luke listening in. He was laying belly down on the rug, reading one of his books with his diapered butt sticking up cutely under his flannel pajama shorts; the shorts had ridded up a bit, and Erin had a mostly clear view of his bottom underneath. She had to resist the urge to pick him up and pull him into her lap, or to at least hold him on her thigh and give his diapered butt a few solid pats. Erin went on to prepare breakfast while Luke kept reading in the living room. He was a very basic breakfast person, never needing more than eggs or oatmeal. Prior to adopting Luke, Erin usually had some sort of pastry for breakfast, a scone or a muffin, to go with a cup or two of coffee. Under Luke’s ‘guidance’ she had also switched to eggs or oatmeal, Luke using the excuse that such a breakfast without significant protein wouldn’t give her the energy to make progress during their morning workout. Sitting at the table with their giant eggs over easy, Luke started chatting. “So how long until my parents call?” “Hmm, about an hour and a half. You excited to see them again?” Erin mentally smacked herself: of course Luke would be excited, and she didn’t want to remind him that he couldn’t leave to be with them. Luke seemed unphased. “Yeah… It’ll be nice to see them.” He had a soft smile on his lips. In college he didn’t call his family that often and getting him to talk for more than a few minutes was like pulling teeth. Ironically, he’d probably be talking to his family more now that he was in this dimension than he would have otherwise. “It’s funny, Melody and I don’t get along that well, but now I’m really looking forward to seeing her again.” “I’m sure she’s going to be happy to see you too. Your parents are really nice, I’m also looking forward to talking to them again.” “How are we gonna organize it this time? Some time talking together, then each of us talk separately again?” “Yep, that’s what I was thinking too.” Luke was also feeling a bit nervous about the conversations that would be happening with his parents. Would Erin talk about his misbehaviors? His anger at her last night because of Beth’s goading hadn’t bothered him at the time, but now it seemed a little different. How bad had he been over the last week? He could think of a number of small misbehaviors and outbursts he had, and while he generally felt vindicated about having them, now he wasn’t sure what Erin would consider reasonable to bring up. There was no consequence to things Erin would tell them, it’s not like they could ground him or take away his cell phone. He didn’t want them to be ashamed or disappointed with him either, he loved them more than anyone else. Luke wondered if he should proactively discuss with Erin to get on the same page with what they would tell his parents. Erin was also experiencing trepidation about what would be shared with Luke’s parents, though for a different reason. What if he discussed with them how much he didn’t like living at Erin’s place? It would be crushing for Erin to learn that that was what he really thought of living with her. She believed that he was more or less okay with being there but was still harboring insecurity about his feelings. Those insecurities were amplified by their interactions the night before. Erin concerned that Luke would use it as evidence she was an inappropriate guardian. Luke concerned that Erin would highlight how uncooperative he was being. Neither of them decided to bring it up. Each scared what the other would say, each hoping that they could guide the conversation to dampen any negative response. “Want to watch TV while we wait for the call time?” Erin was cleaning up their dishes. “Yeah, I’m gonna use the bathroom and change first.” Erin noticed Luke fidgeting on his walk towards his bathroom. He had the day before as well. She had some suspicion as to why, but didn’t want to bring it up right now, before his parents called. After Luke changed himself, they found themselves on the living room couch; rather than watching TV, each were consuming a book. Erin hadn’t really been a TV person before adopting Luke, and Luke was never really attached to screen time of any kind, he much preferred to be outside, or at least out socializing. Soon enough, it was time for the call. Erin and Luke left the couch and went to the spare bedroom that doubled as Erin’s office. Luke hadn’t really spent time in it before; there was a bed that was maybe a size smaller than Erin’s, in one corner was Erin’s office setup. She had a modern double monitor setup with a third vertical monitor for coding. Luke didn’t see any special equipment that he thought would allow a call to another dimension. “Hey Erin, so how are we gonna call my family? I don’t see any special stuff here…” “Oh! We’re going to use my cell phone.” She indicated to a mount on top of one her monitors. The phone would act as a camera while Luke’s family was displayed on the monitor. “The DLS has a relay ansible for calls like this, there should be close to zero lag even though we’re talking between dimensions. Erin attached her phone to her monitor and pressed some sort of button on her phone, it was obviously waiting for a connection from the other end. “How long do you think it will take for them to answer?” Luke was feeling more and more anxious. “Not long, I’m sure they’re eager to see you.” Erin gave Luke’s shoulder a gentle squeeze, rubbing his upper back a little bit with her thumb. Luke turned his head mechanically from his chair, elevated in a booster seat. He gave Erin a thin smile, but his eyes clearly betrayed fear. Erin didn’t know what to say to make him feel better, and so said nothing. She could imagine a few reasons for him to be scared, but didn’t know which he was feeling, and figured the fear would pass once his family showed up, which she assumed would be any second now. Sure enough, the screen changed from a waiting screen to blue to black, and then without any static or pixilation or distortion there was Luke’s mom, dad, and sister. Lindsey spoke up first. She was beaming upon seeing her son. “Heya Luke! It’s so good to see you again. How’re you guys doing?” Melody was sitting in between Mark and Lindsey with a big smile on her face. “Hey Luke!” Upon seeing his family, his nervousness and trepidation about this call fell away. He was just glad to see his family once again. “Hi mom and dad.” He gave a smile and wave and Mark waved back. “Hey little sis.” Melody’s height was a sore subject for her, at 16 she still hadn’t grown very much and was still definitively under 5 feet tall. Melody stuck her tongue out. “Actually, I think you’re the ‘Little’ brother now. Isn’t that what they call humans in your dimension? Next to Erin you look like an infant!” Luke blushed and bit back a mean response. It was Erin who stuck up for him instead. “Well to me, you all look tiny, just wait until you visit, Melody, you might fit in one of my hands.” Erin gave a Cheshire grin and spread out her hand next to Luke’s face; the hand was clearly broader. Lindsey and Mark snickered. Lindsey jumped back in while Melody took her turn blushing. “But really, how are you guys? Are you adjusting a bit better now?” Erin let Luke take the lead, but this question had reignited anxiety in both of them. Luke decided that starting off positive may encourage Erin to do the same. “Yeah, I’m definitely doing a lot better than I was a week ago. Erin’s condo really is super nice. I think I’ll like living here.” He left the ‘but I don’t currently’ off from his final sentence. If Luke had to choose between staying in this dimension or going home safely, he’d choose home in a nanosecond. Mark spoke up this time. He’d been a crying wreck during the first call, letting Lindsey do most of the talking. Those first few days had been especially hard on him, having to cope with the fact that he’d never have his son in his home again. While Luke was often said to take after his mother, in personality if not appearance, Mark and Luke’s father-son bond was at least equally as deep. It was after more talking with Lindsey, and him doing research on Aquitane, and realizing that Luke wasn’t really gone forever (they could certainly go visit him), that Mark had calmed down somewhat. “How about you Erin? You doing okay too? Has Luke been behaving himself?” Mark knew for certain that the answer to the final question was ‘no’, but he was curious to see how Erin responded. Erin gave Mark a wide smile. It felt good to know that Luke’s parents were supporting and looking after her as well. “Yeah! I’m really enjoying having Luke here with me. And while each of us have had some hiccups this week, I think all in all, it’s going well.” “That’s really good. I’m glad you both are doing okay.” “Oh! Would you guys like a video tour of the condo where we live? I know you saw a few pictures online, but I can show you around the whole place. Erin was excited to show off how well her place suited Luke, especially since he had always seemed to be happy with her condo too. “Yeah! That would be great!” Lindsey had already been a bit jealous of Erin’s condo when looking online, so seeing the whole tour would be great. However, Luke was getting nervous again. He didn’t want his family, especially his sister, to see where he was living. A crib was just too infantilizing. While it was normal for a Little in his dimension, he thought his parents would be surprised, and Luke would definitely be embarrassed. It was too late now though. Trying to tell Erin that he didn’t want to give a tour after she had already offered would simply draw more suspicion. Erin unplugged her phone from the monitor while Luke hopped out of his booster seat to the ground. Erin still found herself wanting to lift him down to ensure his safety but held herself back. Erin first gave them a quick panorama of the spare bedroom. Using Luke for scale, she illustrated the size of the bed. “Wow it’s huge!!” Was the consensus response from Mark and Melody. She next took them to the kitchen and dining room. She illustrated the size of a cabbage by holding next to Luke’s torso (they were about the same size). “Wow the food there is huge!!” Was the universal response from all of Luke’s family. Next was the living room and the wall to wall windows that Lindsey was so jealous of (Lindsey joked that maybe she’d move in too). Erin had never been so proud of her apartment than receiving approval from the actual parents of the Little she was caring for. She really wanted them to be impressed, and they seemed to be. “Ooh, next let’s check out Luke’s room.” Erin was so caught up in wanting Luke’s family to like him that she didn’t consider that his room might not be considered normal in the human dimension. Erin also didn’t catch Luke’s look of trepidation, he knew that there was nothing he could say or do that wouldn’t arouse suspicion, making his family even more curious. It was a train running for an inevitable crash. They entered, with Erin slowly panning the camera from left to right, occasionally aiming down to highlight some pieces from his room. “So yeah, here’s his couch and bookshelf – I tried to import stuff from your guys dimension, but I don’t think I really hit the mark.” Mark and Lindsey laughed, while Erin grinned and blushed a bit, she’d been meaning to sit down with Luke and order some books he’d enjoy. “And here’s his changing table…” Erin trailed off a bit, Luke was standing next to her with a thousand-yard stare, and Erin finally realized why. Erin felt some sympathetic embarrassment for Luke, as well as another twinge of fear that she’d done damage to their relationship. But there was still a crib left to show, and just like a train crash, there was nothing Erin could do now to stop it. “Andhereishisbed,” she tried to say it as quickly as possible in hopes that it would somehow cause time to speed up and take her and Luke out of this awkward situation. “How about we go back to the office so we can chat some more?” Luck was not on Erin and Luke’s side. While Mark and Lindsey had gentle smiles and felt a twinge of embarrassment and sympathy that their college age son suddenly had a changing table and crib, they hadn’t really been caught off guard; once Luke had come to the dimension, they did all the research they could to understand what his life would be like. However, Melody, catching the sudden change in Erin’s voice, knew the jig was up. “Hey, could you show me his bed again? I didn’t really get to see it before.” Melody wore an innocent smile and tilted her head in a way that adults would have found adorable if she were six years younger. Erin still found it adorable. Erin sighed and Luke looked up at her, with begging eyes to save him from his plight. “Uh sure, here it is.” She panned back to his crib. “YOU SLEEP IN A CRIB!” Melody exclaimed loud enough that her parents and Erin flinched away. “You really are my baby brother!” Mark nudged his daughter with his elbow while Lindsey shot her a subtle glare. Luke didn’t have a witty response. He did sleep in a crib, and while he had been moderately annoyed that it was a crib, compared to the other things in his life, it felt relatively minor, plus the mattress was really good. Now he wished he’d fought against it more. Erin caught Luke’s trembling near-cry look and at least spared him the embarrassment of Melody seeing his current expression. She flipped the camera so that they were viewing her face instead of the room. “It’s only technically a crib, they don’t really make any other bed types for Littles here. Luke can get in and out on his own, it’s essentially a normal bed, but with a railing that he can open.” “Uh huh uh huh, and does he play with blocks too? Is it almost his nap time? Does he need a diaper change?” Luke hadn’t yet played with his legos, though he had been planning on it, it in fact was almost his nap time, and he’d need a diaper change pretty soon he suspected. Lindsey took control before Erin could speak up. “Melody! Your brother is going through something harder than you can even imagine, that’s not how you talk to him. Why don’t you wait outside while we continue our call.” Melody got up to leave without saying anything. Now that it had come out of her mouth, she realized she hadn’t wanted to take it so far, just have a bit of fun. “And you can give me your cell phone too. You can spend the time thinking about phrases like ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I apologize’.” Lindsey and Mark apologized profusely to both Luke and Erin after Melody left. Luke knew that Melody was mostly just teasing, though that didn’t make it hurt any less in the moment. Erin had been stunned. Her experiences with adolescent Littles were nonexistent, and she had somehow imagined them to be more like cute regressed Littles you’d see in a daycare or at the park than a normal vindictive Big teenager. Alas, teenagers are teenagers in any dimension. Erin brought them back to her office, having skipped showing off her bedroom and the bathrooms. They chatted a bit more about Erin’s life there prior to Luke’s arrival, her job and education, her hobbies (Luke was already getting familiar with those), and her family (Erin was planning on having her parents visit relatively soon). After a bit more mundane chatting, Erin left to give Luke some time to chat privately with his family. This was the time Erin felt most nervous, Luke would be free to air all his grievances without her being there to defend herself. Luke’s conversation with his parents did begin with him letting out some complaints, first toward his sister, and the toward Beth, and finally he discussed the Big woman who had made him feel so horrible at the park. Thinking more on her statements to him, it reminded Luke of his mom telling him that his travel here could be good for him, it inserted just a tiny bit of insecurity that the right place for him in the worlds was here in this Big dimension, that somehow the universe had conspired to send him here. Both Mark and Lindsey put those thoughts to rest. They apologized again for his sister, and promised she’d be suitably disciplined. They talked a bit more at length about Beth, but Luke didn’t really know why Beth had been so adversarial, in the end they concluded that maybe she was jealous that Luke would be taking Erin’s time away from her. Finally the promised Luke that if there was any opportunity to bring him back home safely, they wouldn’t rest until it was done, Lindsey promised him that while he could grow in the Big dimension, she wanted nothing more than for her son to be home. In the end, Luke didn’t really bring up any complaints about Erin, besides having Beth for a best friend. Mark and Lindsey didn’t think asking him how he was handling being a Little would be productive during this call, especially given the teasing he had received from Melody earlier. They figured that if he didn’t bring it up and complain about it, then it was best to let matters lie. Soon enough, Luke, Lindsey, and Mark’s talking had run its course. Erin was nervously trying to read a magazine in their living room when Luke popped out of her office. “Hey Erin, my parents want to chat with you too if we still have time.” He didn’t think they had any plans for the rest of the day, but he was never really aware of Erin’s schedule. To Erin, Luke’s statement sounded like the ringing of a death bell, like a parent or significant other saying ‘I want to talk’. She walked into her office preparing herself to be chewed out by Luke’s parents. She hoped the positive impression from most of the tour would still leave her in their good graces. She did still want to ask for advice on how to prevent more of Luke’s little blowups, how to help him become for accepting of his life here, outside of the standard ‘time’ answer. “Hey Erin, thanks for coming back, we were afraid Luke might have scared you off.” Mark was making a joke about Luke being hard to take care of, but Erin immediately interpreted it as confirmation that Luke had blasted her in his private call. Erin decided to speak up to stay in control. “Of course! I just want to say, I know Luke and I have had a lot of bumps the past week or so, but I do think I’m getting better at treating him the way he wants to be treated…” Lindsey could tell Erin was nervous, she stopped her before she really put her foot in her mouth. “Actually, Luke seemed pretty satisfied living with you as well. He mentioned a few issues, but the only one I’m concerned about is your friend Beth.” Erin was amazed. Luke’s only complaint about her was about Beth? He didn’t mention the attempted bottle feed or complain about diapers or his crib or anything? Erin wanted to run back to the living room and hug him. But she still needed to satisfy his parents, and she still had questions to ask them. “Yeah, with Beth, I think she sort of got fed up with Luke, not because of anything he did, but because I was using her as my shoulder to lean on when I first got him. She’s always been the one to stand up for me, or to try to solve my problem when I’m not able to. She just went way, way too far this time. I’ve already talked to her about it, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. She’s already promised she would apologize to Luke.” “That’s good.” Lindsey was glad to see Erin taking the initiative. Lindsey’s only concern was that Erin seemed too passive to the extent that it could cause harm to herself or Luke. “And what about Luke? I’m sure there weren’t just some small hiccups like you said before.” “Well, yeah. This is something I wanted to talk about. Luke still has pretty frequent outbursts, and uses vulgarity more that would be normal for a Big, and he’s probably cussed more than the entire Little population of Aquitane since his arrival. I think the outbursts and language will really prevent him from interacting positively with his environment. Our world is a lot better at handling Little tears than it is Little swearing. I guess in general, I’m concerned that he hasn’t found anything about being a Little that he’s happy, or even okay with.” Mark spoke up this time. They knew that Luke swore a lot, but most college kids do, especially guys in fraternities. “So when he has his outbursts, what do you normally do?” Now Erin felt on the spot. “Well except for this last time with Beth, I usually don’t do much. I figured it was just him venting about his new life situation.” Mark shook his head, almost imperceptibly. “Well it probably is, but you still have to stop it. There are healthy, productive ways to vent, and cursing out your new guardian isn’t one of them. I think once you set some well-defined rules for him, he’ll be able to find his place more easily. I’d bet part of his outbursts come because he doesn’t know what behavior is and isn’t acceptable.” “But how do I do that? I’m not his mom…” This was the crux of it for Erin. Besides the piece of paper she signed, she felt like she had no grounds to have authority over Luke. Lindsey spoke up this time. “In your dimension, you are. That means he relies on you for care, but also means that you are responsible for disciplining him and setting the rules. I’d suggest sitting down and having a talk with him and setting the groundwork for behavioral expectations.” “And what about helping him accept more Little things into his life?” Erin wasn’t sure that Luke’s parents would be comfortable with that either, but figured it was worth asking. She knew they’d want him to become well-adjusted. “What sort of Little things were you thinking of? What did you want when you decided to adopt an unregressed Little?” Lindsey figured those would be the best to start with for Luke, seeing that he was making Erin happy might help him find comfort in the changes in his life. “Well, I did want someone I could take care of. But I haven’t held him more than a couple of times, most Littles here bottle feed at least occasionally from their guardians. Essentially some sort of shared affection. I know that Luke probably doesn’t feel that way about me yet, but I honestly do for him, and him knowing that its okay to be cared for would probably go a long way to helping him fit in in this world.” Mark laughed gently. “I think you’ve taken care of the talk yourself. You can pretty much repeat what you said here, ‘letting yourself be taken care of is what is expected from Littles’.” Lindsey spoke up next. “Yeah, I think if you sat down with him, and simply had a heart to heart talk about what you wanted when adopting, you guys might be able to find some common ground on Little things that he’d be okay with doing. I think once he feels like nothing bad is happening from doing them, he’ll open up to doing more. But you gotta be the one to take the initiative, I can definitely imagine him doing nothing to fit in and just blaming everyone around him.” Mark was smiling and nodding along with Lindsey’s talk. “And you really think he’ll be okay with discussing him trying more Little things?” Erin wasn’t so sure. The bottle incident from the beginning of the week was still fresh in her head. Lindsey laughed out loud this time. She could imagine Luke not being too happy at first. Discussing this was a point where Erin would need to enforce her authority. “Well, you should probably have that rules talk first...”

This most recent chapter really reminds me of the early days from volume one in terms of writing style. Really excellent and I like both that Luke is able to stand up for himself more effectively, and that Becky takes on that momma bear role so well. I hope Ella can open up a bit to Luke though. I personally know how painful it is for someone you love and care about to be hurting, and when it seems that they don't want you, it's a punch in the gut.

Don't worry! I've been writing slowly but consistently for the past 1.5 weeks. I'm not a parent and have no parenting skills, so giving parenting advice in story form has been a challenge to write ?The next chapter will be posted in the next day or two.

Love these chapters and I'm looking forward to more! I'm curious to hear Becky and Amanda's proposed solution for Jamie splitting time between their places.

Thanks! And sure! Let's get down to business: So use Bigs spheroid counting, which allows easy conversion between sign as well as oscillation between different numerical systems, as 3 dimensional counting allows you to colocate numbers associated with different systems in space. The use of a D200 is because the creator of Labyrinths and Minotaurs preferred system is base 20, which gives you a higher number of unique prime digits on a D200 compared to a D100. The D200 replaces the D20 in the Little's equivalent of the game 'Dungeons and Dragons' as well as replacing the d100. Bigs in the know would tell you that Labyrinths and Minotaurs is more streamlined. When replacing the D20, the D200 is rolled twice, with the sum of the prime factorials of the individual digits on each roll being the player's total roll value (thus 7J is actually the highest roll) and the highest sum is kept. If you roll matching digits in your two rolls, you then take the factorial sum of those digits as well, leading to a critical success and special actions based on the score (the GM helps you improvise your action, low prime sums may not kill the enemy, but you still do something cool). If you have no prime digits, that is a critical fail. When using a lookup table, the D200 is simply rolled once and the GM examines based on premade tables or through their own inspiration. As to the dice itself, it is a diakosioihedron with even odds about all numbers. A simple 200 (50 in base 20) -sided die

I guess, when Luke was first introduced to the dimension, the trauma of that first toilet experience made him never really question having to use diapers. He probably just hasn't though deeply about Bigs who have children to potty train. Breaking the fourth wall, I didn't really want to write another story about unwanted diaper use, I don't think using diapers in really life is such a big deal. I wanted to explore more of the other parts of adult babyhood (in this case Littlehood), without having to deal with diapers usage too much (the consequences of diaper usage are another story). I think 'Done Adulting' is the ideal story for exploring undesired diaper usage in this dimension. Thinking more on my last chapter, I don't think Erin could have left things as they were that night. So you get an addendum to chapter 8! Also, thanks to @Pierry Louys and @SGTbaby chapter 9 will definitely include Erin learning to parent better from Lindsey. It's time for the weekly parental call anyway. Chapter 8, Addendum Donny had texted Erin almost immediately after leaving her condo. He felt awkward standing up for Luke, especially because he still felt like the outsider, but also because of Luke’s overreaction. What Beth had done was not okay, and while he usually appreciated her contributions to the group, he knew that many others found her somewhat overbearing, though he hadn’t thought of her as directly mean as she had been at Erin’s place. Once Erin heard and understood, she felt the worst she had since Luke said he didn’t want her to adopt him in the hospital. Now she felt like she didn’t deserve to adopt him. She allowed her best friend to manipulate her into hurting Luke, she guessed for some perceived retribution to right the wrongs he had inflicted upon her. But Erin knew that what Beth, and then she, had done was wrong, and she needed to apologize to Luke for what she had done. She also needed to talk to Beth to make sure it didn’t happen again, she didn’t want to lose her best friend or her Little. Erin reentered Luke’s room. He was still sleeping, though by the disheveled blankets, it was obvious his sleep wasn’t sound. He hadn’t even changed into pajamas. She walked over to his crib, staring down at his tiny frame, she wondered how could so much pain and emotion fit in such a small package. She also wondered how others that hadn’t met an unregressed Little could think of humans as simple, easily understandable beings. Her parents knew that wasn’t the case, but now, Erin was pretty sure that even they didn’t understand the difference between Bigs’ perception and the reality of someone like Luke. She crouched down so that she wouldn’t tower over him, and gently shook him awake. He turned to look at her, not surprised or angry, just groggy. “Hey Luke. I’d like to apologize to you. Do you mind if we chat for a little bit?” “Sure. That’s okay.” He stretched out his body, working out kinks in his back and neck that would surely have left him uncomfortable if he had slept through the whole night. “Let’s go to the living room. We can chat on the couch.” Luke toddled along while Erin slowly walked by his side. She lifted him onto the couch and then sat down next to him. She took a deep breath. Luke took one too; would she diminish him again, even in her apology? He was nervous, and trying hard to find the anger he had felt towards Erin at the time, but simply couldn’t conjure it up. “So, I’m sorry. I treated you badly, sending you to your room the first time. You should have been allowed to stay out in the living room. I didn’t stick up for you when Beth was treating you poorly. And I’m sorry again for how Beth treated you after our game, she baited you into your reaction and was simply mean. You were right to be angry, and it’s my fault for not understanding why. I’m sorry again for not protecting you.” She waited for his response. He seemed to be carefully considering what he would say, and it took a minute for him to speak. Luke knew now (and had known since the day after the toilet incident in the hospital) that Erin would never intentionally hurt him. Sometimes her desire for him to act more like a normal Little hurt him (or he thought it should), but not through any bad intention. “I forgive you.” He sighed, he didn’t want to hurt Erin with what he was about to say, but he felt he needed to speak for himself. This wasn’t a tantrum or lashing out, this was Luke protecting Luke. “Beth manipulated you too. She knows that you don’t like conflict, and used you to hurt me. And you did hurt me. I tried really hard the first time to not lash out, and honestly I thought I handled myself pretty well. I don’t know why Beth has such a vendetta against me. But I can handle her not liking me, I can’t handle her using you to hurt me, I can’t protect myself from you. Our relationship has been getting better, and that honestly set it back a bit.” Erin felt even worse, did Luke really feel like she could be dangerous to him? However, she appreciated that Luke was truly trying to make their relationship work. “I understand, and I really appreciate you telling me so clearly. I will work harder to make sure things like that don’t happen in the future, and I promise, really promise, that I will not hurt you. I’ll talk to Beth too; I’ll make her understand that what she did was not okay.” Erin wasn’t looking forward to that conversation. Beth was always the one sticking up for her, protecting her, guiding her, Erin usually followed along, though Beth hadn’t really done anything like the day’s events previously. She would need to put her foot down. “Thanks. And again, I forgive you.” He put his hand out for Erin to shake. She smiled weakly and engulfed his tiny hand in hers. She wished he had gone for a hug instead, though she understood that would be a long time in coming, especially after today. “Let’s get you back to bed. How about I get you some water while you change into PJs.” Later that evening, Erin was sitting in the rocking chair in Luke’s room, watching him sleep. She knew that Luke wasn’t really at fault for some of his behavior during the day, but she also knew that the angry reactions, cursing, and hurtful comments would prevent him from integrating well into society, even as an unregressed Little. He needed a stronger parental figure than she was providing, and Erin figured that she would need advice and assistance in the near future if they were to make real progress in getting Luke settled.

Here's my update The goal of this chapter was to highlight (at least somewhat) that all my characters are fallible. Erin is definitely caring, kind, and mostly understanding, but she still makes mistakes, as does Luke (as we all know), and everyone else in the story. I now have a framework in mind for a new climax/major conflict section that I think fits in much better than the previous one does. Chapter 8 “I just want to make sure you understand what he’s okay with. He’s still new, so a lot of things are triggering to him.” Elizabeth was getting bored. This was the third time Erin had called her to make sure she knew what to do and not to do when meeting Luke. Elizabeth - Beth to her friends, got it: Luke was basically just a really short, really tiny, apparently very cute Big. She could deal with that. What she couldn’t deal with where the four other times Erin had called her crying or near tears about things Luke had done or said to her; sometimes it was Luke being mean, sometimes it was Erin feeling sorry for herself that she couldn’t make Luke happy. In the almost week that Erin had known Luke, Beth had been called seven times, along with innumerable text messages. While she understood that Luke had been going through hard times, and that part of Erin’s calls was just her venting, Beth was tired of Luke’s shit. “Trust me Erin. I’ve got it. I’ll treat him with respect.” Not that he deserved it. “See you soon.” Two more days had passed since Luke’s experience at the park. That day he had mostly been subdued, crying in his room. The day after, Erin had forced them both to go back to the park – it had been the first time she had put her foot down with Luke: He hadn’t wanted to exercise in the morning, but went along with it when she insisted (Erin even led the yoga), after his morning nap, she pulled them along for a longer walk in the park, no picnic this time, and they weren’t accosted by any ignorant Bigs; Erin and Luke only received smiles for what a cute pair they were. The rest of the time was spent with Luke deep in his melancholy, he mainly just read some of his books or laid in bed, he never played, didn’t ask to watch any more movies. He was still passing the occasional snide remark, but it mostly momentum from his initial outbursts, he didn’t have the hate behind it that he used to. He had awoken to nightmares during a couple of his sleeps. Those were the only times Erin got to hold him, she had stopped being gratified by it, mostly just sad that her Little boy was so miserable. Erin hoped that today, with her friends coming over, he would get broken out of his extra-funk. “So, today, some of my friends will be coming over to hang out. You’re welcome to join us.” She tried to keep her tone upbeat, but was worried that a change to his routine would have him lashing out. “What are you guys gonna do?” Meeting new people didn’t sound so bad. If they were like Erin, they’d probably be nice to him. “Well, we usually have a semi-weekly ‘Labyrinths and Minotaurs’ get together. I’m usually the host, and they’ll bring the snacks and stuff.” “Hmm, what’s ‘Labyrinths and Minotaurs’?” It sounded extremely nerdy. “Oh, it’s awesome! It’s a tabletop role playing game. Basically, you represent a character you create, and through dice rolls and role playing, you go on an adventure! We’ve been playing our current campaign for a couple months; we just left our second labyrinth.” “Hmm. I think I might pass. Just read a book in my room.” It wasn’t really that it didn’t sound fun, he could believe that it was. It was that it sounded exceptionally nerdy, he wasn’t sure he wanted people to think he enjoyed playing that sort of game, and really didn’t want to be seen with people who did enjoy playing that sort of game. Seen by who, he wasn’t sure, but kind of felt like it was a contagious thing: once he’s done it once everyone would know. Erin was a little disappointed. She wanted him to like what she liked, or at least try it. And she wanted to show off her Little, even if he was different from the standard. “Oh, okay, well you’re welcome to join us whenever you want.” “Yup, I’ll probably pop in for snacks and stuff.” “Okay!” A couple of hours later, Luke was watching football on the television. Bordeu was playing against Ancon from Itali in the Champion’s Cup, Bordeu was down on away goals (tied 2-2 at home), so they either needed to win at Ancon, or tie scoring 3 or more in order to proceed to the semi-final. It was still 0-0 at the beginning of the second half when the doorbell rang. Erin had been busying herself cleaning up the condo and just generally prepping herself. She went to answer the door. Luke wasn’t sure what to do: if he were the host, he’d follow Erin, but if he got down from the couch, he’d need Erin’s help to get back up again, and he didn’t really want to get accosted by some Big he didn’t know. “Hey guys, come on in.” “Hiiii Erin! How’re you doing?” The high pitched squeal was said kindly with an undertone of concern. Beth was there and gave her a hug along with another Big woman. The two male Bigs just smiled and entered. “Luke’s watching football on the couch if you want to go meet him.” “Of course!” The other female Big was leading the way down the hallway. “Hey Luke! My friends are here!” “Okay!” Luke still didn’t get off the couch, but he did stand up on the cushion to face their approach, his head just poked over. The taller of the two male Bigs – Donny leaned in to whisper to Erin. “Does he like football?” He was pretty excited, no one in their group besides himself liked sports. “I know he likes to at least watch sports. I guess he likes football.” The extent of Erin’s sports knowledge was to recognize which one was being played on tv. She couldn’t name a player on Bordeu’s team. “Maybe I could take him to a game sometime? Do you think he’d like that?” They had all reached the living room. Luke was giving his best polite smile, though Erin could tell he looked nervous. Patricia was beaming down at him, while Beth had a more contemplating look on her face. “Luke, so, these are my friends.” She indicated to the Bigs around her. She indicated to the shortest Big there, “This is Patricia, we used to work together.” She indicated next to her, “This is Beth, we’ve been friends since we were five.” She then indicated to the guys, “This is Tyler, and this is Patricia’s boyfriend Donny.” Donny was the newest to the group, and while they all got along, Donny still felt a bit like an outsider. “Nice to meet you guys.” It was kinda intimidating to meet four new people at once, especially when they were all so much bigger than you. “Has Bordeu scored yet?” Donny indicated to the football match. Luke smiled more naturally, here was someone who shared his priorities. “No, and it wasn’t looking good in the first half, Ancon definitely had more possession.” “Well, Bordeu is more of a counter-attacking team anyway. Hopefully they sneak one by.” Beth spoke up, “Isn’t football a too violent for a Little?” She was asking Erin, not focusing on Luke. “I don’t think so, remember, he’s an adult, not regressed. He can watch what he wants.” Though she hoped he wouldn’t want to watch something that was actually violent. Luke spoke up too. “You know humans have wars and shit right? And we have violent television. And football isn’t violent anyway, you guys even banned headers.” Everyone except Donny and Beth cringed at Luke’s cursing. “Yeah, but Littles come here to get away from all that stuff. That’s the point right?” “But I didn’t choose to come here!” This wasn’t the happy introduction that Erin was looking for. She decided to interrupt. “How about we save this discussion for later. Let’s get setup for Labyrinths and Minotaurs. Luke, you sure you don’t want to play?” “Yeah, I’d like to watch the finish of this game, just in case. Maybe read a book after that. Board games aren’t really my thing.” He didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with Bigs again, though Beth was making that a slightly challenging. Luke already liked Donny for taking an interest in what he was doing. Patricia seemed nice enough, though he suspected she might be Little crazy based on the way she reacted when seeing him. Tyler seemed nice enough, though he hadn’t really made an impression. Tyler spoke up now. He was short and bald, with glasses that were a little too large for his thin face. “Actually, Labyrinths and Minotaurs is a tabletop roleplaying game, we represent our own characters we’ve created. It’s not really a board game. It’s way more fun!” He spoke authoritatively, but not rudely, and he didn’t speak down to Luke. Tyler had Erin’s discussions with him at the front of his mind. Luke let out a small laugh. “Well I don’t think tabletop roleplaying games where you create your own character that are a lot more fun than board games are my thing either.” Both Erin and Donny chuckled at Luke’s response, Tyler blushed a bit; he really loved Labyrinths and Minotaurs, he was the group’s game master. “How about we start getting set up. Do you need water or anything Luke?” “Uh yeah, water would be great.” Tyler got stuff for the game out of his Big-sized backpack. Donny, Patricia, and Beth helped set up. Donny strategically set himself so that he could occasionally glance at the television while the game was going on. About 15 minutes later, the group of Bigs were fighting a pair of wolves while surrounded by spiked pits. Beth was in the middle of her roll to cast a spell of healing on Erin, when Luke let out a huge yell. “YEAH!!! YES!” Donny immediately brought his attention back to the TV. “Did we score? What happened?” “Yeah! We hit them on the counter like you said. Picard took it up the right wing and hit a cross over to Silva, who scored on the volley.” None of Erin, Beth, Patricia, or Tyler understood what Luke said. “Yep, Picard is super quick. Hope we can hold the lead.” The others were ready to get back to the game. 5 minutes passed. The group had taken down one wolf, as Patricia’s barbarian had delivered a huge overhead blow with her battleaxe. Erin’s druid was trying to talk the other wolf into giving up, while Beth was sneaking behind it to deliver a death blow. She was again rolling, this time for sneak, when Luke again yelled. “No! Dammit, that’s such bullshit.” Beth let out a huge sigh. Luke’s existence was trying her patience. Donny was concerned. “What happened? Did they score?” “They’re going to, we gave up a penalty. It was an obvious flop though.” Ancon’s penalty bounced in off the crossbar. Erin caught Beth’s look. She knew her friend sometimes had a short temper. She didn’t want her to blow up at Luke. “Hey Luke, can you keep it down a bit? And watch your language too? It’s not really appreciated while we’re playing.” Luke felt a little embarrassed. He wasn’t trying to be rude, and definitely didn’t want to be the center of attention, though he wouldn’t have minded if Donny hung out with him on the couch. “Sorry, I’ll try to keep it down.” “Thank you.” Erin gave him a smile. She didn’t want Luke to feel bad either. The group got through another ten minutes without interruption. The second wolf was vanquished, and their party healed. They were working their way through a dark, mossy, passageway laden with traps mundane and magical, with Beth rolling for perception, hoping to get them further down the passage. Luke let out another yell. “Ahhhh no! We’re screwed.” Beth gave a heavy look to Erin. It felt like he was interrupting her roll every time on purpose. She really understood now why Erin was calling and texting her so much. This Little was just the worst. “Did they score again?” “No, but our keeper just got a red card, and we have no subs, and they get a penalty. I think one of our strikers is now gonna be in goal.” “Oh, well then I guess we’re out of the cup then…” Donny was disappointed too, but he just liked football, he wasn’t too tied to the Bordeu team. Beth spoke up this time, loudly. “Hey Luke, could you be quiet. Please. You’ve been interrupting us a lot.” It wasn’t spoken kindly. She had been supportive of Erin adopting a Little, and while her personal preference would have been for one that was regressed, she respected Erin’s charity in adopting an Accidental Little. She was annoyed that Luke didn’t seem to recognize Erin’s charity, and didn’t seem to appreciate how much effort so many Bigs were putting in to making him welcome, treating him in a way that no other Littles were treated. Patricia, Tyler, and Donny looked distinctly uncomfortable. Luke hadn’t really been that bad, and Donny was interested in the match as well. Erin didn’t want a fight between her best friend and her new Little to break out on their first meeting. She decided to see if Luke would be willing to give some ground; he had said he didn’t want to hang out with them anyway. “Luke, so if the game is pretty much decided, would you mind turning the TV off, it has been pretty distracting. You’re welcome to hang out with us or go play or read in your room.” Luke felt a little hurt. So he was interested in sports, that didn’t mean he should be punished for it. And the Bigs had been loud and laughing during their game anyway, he never spoke up or asked them to quiet down; he understood they were having fun. He grumbled his assent. “Fine, I’ll go to my room. It’s not like we’re going to win now. And I don’t want to play that nerdy game anyway.” Tyler gave a small frown, but didn’t say anything, he understood that Luke was just lashing out. However, Beth saw red. She stood from her chair, ready to march over to Luke and give him a piece of her mind. It was the bubbly, patient, Patricia who put a stop to whatever Beth was going to do. She clamped her hand around Beth’s wrist, stopping her from going any further. Glaring back at Patricia, Beth opened her mouth to say something, but Tyler took the opportunity to stop the fight from happening. “Hey guys, let’s just get back to the game, or else at least one of your characters will be making a death roll due to the boulder that is currently rolling towards the party!” The powers of a good GM can make tough situations in real life better too. Luke stalked off to his room as the party attempted to outrun the boulder. Luke was reading Love in the Time of Cholera, something he never would have picked up back in his world, but the novel was beautifully written and translated. Gabriel Marquez was a masterful writer, and Luke appreciated the imagery evoked in every sentence and paragraph. However, the laughter and general noise from the Bigs outside was now driving him to distraction. He was still annoyed that they got to keep having fun while he was stuck in his room reading. He went to the bathroom to do his business in his diaper. He was still uncomfortable pooping anywhere else, and even preferred to pee there as well. Something about using the diaper in front of, or even in the same room as somebody else made him uncomfortable. After doing his business, he changed himself again. Erin now kept extras of powder, wipes, and cream in the bathroom, where it was more accessible for Luke, they were a bit to high up on his changing table. Luke noted a few, raw, red spots around his diaper area. He usually tried to get his change done as quickly as possible and thought that perhaps he had been too lax on the application of cream or powder, not taking the time to make sure the change was done right, or maybe didn’t change himself frequently enough after peeing. He definitely wouldn’t say anything to Erin. After changing himself, he tried to go back to reading his book, but couldn’t concentrate with all the commotion outside. It sounded like the Bigs were trying to take down a giant, which was funny, because to him, they already were giant. He thought that he could ask if they were almost done, or if he could just hang out and watch them play. He didn’t know what Beth’s problem was, but the other Bigs had seemed pretty nice. He left his room and headed towards the dining table where the Bigs were playing. Erin noticed and paused before rolling. “Hey Luke, need something? A snack or drink maybe?” He had kept to himself in his room for over an hour, she figured he’d at least be a bit thirsty. “Um, I was wondering if I could hang out with you guys? I could just watch you play. Though a snack sounds good too.” He saw that Erin was munching on some potato chips, not a Luke-approved snack, but he wouldn’t begrudge her something tasty when her friends were over. He’d make sure to make their morning workout routine extra intense tomorrow. The words were music to Erin’s ears. Now she’d be able to show off the good parts of Luke, he could be quite funny, and he was pretty sharp too, he was by far the most intelligent Little she had ever met (not that the bar was very high). “Yeah! You can even make a character if you want. I’m sure Tyler could work you in.” Tyler considered momentarily, but nodded. It would be challenging to make flow, but he also wanted to make Luke feel welcomed, he understood that his situation sucked, and he was curious to see how well a Little would fare at such a complicated game. He figured he and Erin could help Luke out. Beth wasn’t convinced. “I don’t think he’s interested, remember.” She looked at Luke for confirmation. “Besides, Labyrinths and Minotaurs has a ton of rules and is pretty complicated, I’m sure he’d find it boring.” She didn’t want to say that she didn’t think he’d be able to understand how to play. Luke gave a slight grimace, but nodded his head, it did sound a bit boring to him, though the fun the Bigs were obviously having was making him reassess his impression. He didn’t miss Beth’s statement about it being too complicated for him, but decided not to say anything. “Yeah, I think for at least this time, I’ll just watch. I’d want to spend sometime thinking about my character before I started playing anyway.” There, how’s that for a mature response? Tyler was nodding as well. “That would give me more time to work you in. If you do decide to join, let Erin know, and then we can chat about your character. It will make the story flow better for the next session.” Beth smiled politely. If she couldn’t get him to go to his room, at least he wouldn’t mess up their game. “Oh yeah, Luke, we’re out of chairs. You could sit in the highchair if you want, or on my lap, and help me play my character for this session.” Erin hoped he would pick her lap, besides his sad moments, she hadn’t really gotten to hold him yet. Neither option sounded great, but the highchair really was infantile; he hadn’t sat in it since coming to Erin’s place. Plus, if he was going to join their game, getting some experience would be good. “Um, your lap I guess.” He blushed a bit, and Erin had a grin that was noticeable to all the other Bigs as well, though they figured it was more to do with him joining the game than sitting on Erin’s lap. She lifted him up, situating him on one of her thighs, and scooted in, close to the table so that he’d be able to reach her dice. She kept one arm around his waist to prevent him from falling off her lap. He leaned back a bit into her torso. Erin felt like she was dreaming. This was what she had been hoping and waiting for and made all the hardship worth it. Luke’s small, warm, strong, body resting against her, a gentle indication that he was really starting to accept Erin as a part of his life. On Luke’s end, he felt a bit surprised at how comfortable he was. Erin’s arm around his waist felt incredibly secure, her body was soft and warm (though maybe too soft still, they had only been working out for less than a week), and he felt somehow safer than he had at anytime since coming to this dimension. He guessed that he had just forgotten how good it felt to be held as a kid. He still didn’t want to become Littler, but maybe being held by Erin occasionally would be a good compromise. They continued their game, with Erin and Luke co-oping Erin’s druid Amina. The game came more or less naturally to Luke, much to Beth’s chagrin. He had trouble with some of the math concepts: factorial combinations on a D200 are a bit too much for the human brain. However, what Luke lacked in math skills, he made up for in creativity. To escape from a horde of angry ogres, he suggested that Erin use the druid’s plant magic allow the party to climb up a farmer’s now-giant beanstalk. Tyler, the ever-alert GM took the opportunity to make the beanstalk reach a castle in the clouds, which the party would then have to fight through, and eventually escape from. It was starting to get near Luke’s bedtime, and the party was only partially through the castle. Erin noticed the Luke was looking a little less energetic and indicated to Tyler. The wrapped up the game for the day as Luke munched on a sandwich, still sitting in Erin’s lap. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to make a character, handling all the math and details was challenging, just as Beth had said, but he had had some fun playing with the group. He’d think on it. The next session wasn’t for a few weeks, all the other Bigs had jobs, and some had to travel. Erin’s guests were filing out of her condo, off to other engagements for the evening. Each one offered a goodbye to Luke, appreciating what a unique Little he was, and glad for the advice Erin had given them beforehand. It had seemed like overkill at first, but now, they could definitely see how he would not have appreciated being treated like a standard Little. Donny got down to one knee to shake his hand goodbye. “It was really nice meeting you Luke. Sorry about the Bordeu-Ancon result today. But maybe we could all go watch a league match in person sometime.” Beth took the chance to add one last bit of spite to Luke before leaving. “Actually, I checked the score just a bit ago. It turns out Bordeu won. The fill-in keeper saved the penalty, and Bordeu scored again on the counter!” Why could Bigs make anything good turn sour? Luke scowled at Beth. “You’re making that up, there’s no way they could do that.” Beth crouched and showed him her phone, Bordeu 2, Ancon 1. “Sorry you missed it Luke. Look forward to seeing you again though.” She tried to keep her tone cheery and light. Beth knew that Erin wouldn’t understand what a mean thing she was doing. “Fuck you! Bitch!” This was too much. First, Beth gets him sent to his room, and then she shows him that he missed an incredible win for the team he was now supporting. If she had been a human sized person he would have probably thought about hitting her. “Luke! Go to your room. Now!” This was the first time Erin had ever really asserted her authority towards Luke. Part of it was definitely the peer pressure of having a number of other Bigs watching her, but it really sounded to her like Beth had been trying to make up with Luke; he was interested in football, and she had given him the information on the part of the match he missed. His reaction was completely unwarranted. “Fine. Fuck you too!” He stomped off to his room. Beth’s eyebrows were raised, giving her innumerable forehead wrinkles. She only had to act half-surprised, she didn’t think Luke would take it that badly. “You’re really going to let him get away with that? He was rude to both you and me. He needs a spanking, maybe that will give him an attitude adjustment.” Erin just sighed. She knew Beth didn’t like Luke, and she felt like it was at least partially her fault. “I’m not going to spank him. How about you guys go home. I’ll need to talk with him for a bit. I do need to start nipping his attitude in the bud.” The Bigs excused themselves as Erin prepared a glass of water for both herself and Luke. This blowup had been surprising, it seemed like he had been having a really good time once he started playing with the group. She knocked lightly on his door. “Hey Luke, can we chat for a bit?” No response. Erin quietly let herself into his room, mentally bracing herself to be attacked by a violent Little. When she got in the room, she saw that Luke was sleeping face down in his crib. She placed the cup of water on the steps to the bedside and let herself out of the room. She could chat with him later.

Thanks for all the comments everyone! I'm still working on the general direction this story will be taking. I have some new ideas for the climax that incorporate some of the suggestions, but we aren't there yet This was just a chapter that was ready to be written. No Erin-hate in this one Chapter 7 “So, then you extend your left arm out like this, while keeping your right foot back and planted. Right. Now, rotate your hips so that they’re pointing forward, lunge your left leg out front. Try to get to 90 degrees. Yep, that’s pretty good. Now bring your arms straight up…” Luke was guiding Erin through their morning yoga routine. It had been two full days since Luke arrived at Erin’s place, and while there hadn’t been any more blow-up like Luke’s first night there, it was obvious to Erin that he was still unhappy with his situation. That first day at Erin’s place had been a horrible day in general: leaving nurse Joy, being treated like a regressed Little at the adoption center, and finally Erin’s blatant desire to baby him had been the cherry on top. Erin hadn’t done anything to make him feel Little since, she’d hardly made a request of him. Luke was still handling his own diaper changes, and always looked grumpy afterwards, but the quality of his changes were already getting better. He obviously didn’t like having a crib and what it represented but the mattress Erin had purchased was blowing his dorm room’s foam pad out of the water, he was easily getting the best sleeps of his life. Many of the things that were associated with Littles didn’t suck, the no homework thing was nice, the problem was that those many things were associated with being a Little. The parts of his current life that Luke was actually enjoying were more in the realm of being a Big. He liked exercising: yoga and light weightlifting in the morning and evening let him work of some of the nervous energy that had been bottled as anxiety up until that point. Perhaps even more than exercising, Luke liked showing Erin how to exercise properly: She was a complete novice, but apparently eager to learn. She listened well and asked meaningful questions. He was excited to see her improve; he knew that beginner gains would come rapidly, and hoped that when Erin realized how much she had changed she would want to keep up the new exercise and diet regimes. Luke also enjoyed watching movies with Erin. He didn’t really have a well-defined movie taste prior to coming to this dimension, usually watching the latest superhero movie or whatever his girlfriend or current date wanted to watch. He liked Erin’s eclectic taste, he liked that she had a taste at all, doing something with someone is always more fun when they are passionate about it. Over the past couple days, they’d already watched five movies that were a mix of animation and live action, some had heavy themes, and some were more lighthearted. He liked that she didn’t try to make him watch children’s movies. He did note that none of the movies depicted any violence; he wasn’t sure if that was just her preference or if it was because he was a Little. He also noted that none of the movies had Littles in them. It seemed to Luke that he’d be happy and comfortable living with Erin as a roommate. When they treated each other as peers, they were getting along well. He even thought he’d be able to get used to life as it stood currently. His fear was that there was some expectation for him to become Littler than he already was, while he thought he might already be too Little. Erin wasn’t really sure if she liked her new exercise routine. She always felt a little embarrassed whenever she’d have a stumble or wobble or fall during the yoga, though Luke never made her feel bad about it, she didn’t like that she needed to do modified push ups rather than the real deal, and she felt silly when she saw Luke doing multiple sets of ab combinations to her one. She did like how the exercise was making her feel, that achy soreness which always feels better after stretching, and Luke was making sure they were doing plenty. She found it cute that this Little, less than half her size, was so fit and motivated and serious. She also knew that whether or not she liked exercising, they needed to keep doing it: The only time she had seen a genuine smile from Luke was when he was helping her through the routine, she could tell he was having fun, and for Erin, right now, that was enough. She’d work out 36 hours per day if it meant Luke would keep up that smile. Neither of them had set foot outside Erin’s condo since Luke arrived. Luke hadn’t set foot outside pretty much at all in this dimension except for his initial foray into the lake. They were both ready to go out, but Erin was scared to suggest anything, afraid of Luke’s potential reaction. Luke knew what needed to be done. “So. Once we finish up with the yoga, I was thinking maybe we could go outside? Maybe the river park?” He figured a place where he wouldn’t be required to interact with people would be best, and the constant view from Erin’s magnificent windows made him a bit jealous of all the other people who were outside. “That’s a really good idea. Would you like to have a picnic there too?” Erin wanted to. It was still early spring, but the weather was pretty good, and she figured that as long as they dressed warmly, eating outside would be nice. “Yeah, that works for me. Maybe we could each bring a book and read a bit also.” “Sure! It sounds like a fun lunch.” Erin prepared some veggie wraps and egg salad, feeling slightly guilty she also packed a cookie for her and Luke. When Erin realized that the two of them wouldn’t be leaving the condo very much at first, she set up a subscription with a grocery delivery service. There would be no starvation due to acute agoraphobia. In his room, Luke was getting dressed for his first outing. The clothes Erin had purchased had fit him well, and while he wouldn’t have considered them fashionable, he did appreciate that for the most part they weren’t infantile, though one or two shirts with a bear or cat were snuck in. He chose a sweatshirt with diagonal striping and a pair of jeans with an elasticated waist. There wasn’t a piece of clothing that could effectively hide his diaper butt. His books were on a shelf next to his toy chest. He had peered in the day before expecting baby toys and was pleasantly surprised to find stuff from home. He thought he wouldn’t mind playing with Legos, though he didn’t want Erin to see him when he was doing it. Looking at the books, he wasn’t sure if he should be insulted or amused by what Erin had inferred humans’ taste to be. A lot of those books would go unread. He decided to take a Harry Potter novel and sat looking at ‘So You Want to be a Little’. His first instinct was to be angry at Erin for assuming he wanted to be here, but he knew that she knew that he didn’t want to be here. So why did she buy the book? Looking at the back cover, he understood: ‘So You Want to be a Little – A guide for humans travelling to the Big dimension. Learn from the experiences of author Alisa Smith and others she interviewed, each of whom spent at least 10 years in the dimension. Topics include logistics of going to the dimension, getting adopted, regression, typical life (including differences between countries in the dimension), understanding Bigs, significant challenges and occasionally significant dangers, life upon return to the human dimension, and much more!’. It was an actual orientation to this dimension in book form rather than the maliceful attempt given by Steve and Alyson. He decided to take it as well. Heading back out of his room, Luke saw Erin finishing her preparations as well. She had packed their lunches into her backpack, gotten a couple blankets, and packed a diaper bag for Luke as well. She put the blankets and diaper bag in Luke’s stroller, assuming he’d want to walk. Erin had been a little nervous doing these preparations; she guessed that Luke wouldn’t like being seen with the stroller or diaper bag. She wasn’t wrong. “I’m not riding in a stroller… and is that a diaper bag?!” Erin took a deep breath first. ‘Just assume that he will argue against anything that might possibly seem Little’ was her new motto, it had her walking on eggshells the past couple days. “It is a diaper bag. If you need to be changed away from home, this will have all your supplies.” She didn’t tell him that she’d have to change him if they were away from home. “And I’m glad you’re not riding in the stroller, then I can put my backpack and our blankets there.” Luke’s disgruntled expression had quickly come back to near-neutral. He wasn’t happy with those items but couldn’t argue the logic. He was looking forward to going outside and didn’t want to hold it up. “Alright. Then can we head out?” “Yep. Let’s go.” They left the building through the main entrance rather than the garage. The doorman greeted Erin politely and gave Luke a smile and small wave. The park was across the street from Erin’s building. The greenery sloped gently downwards from the street level until it reached the river. The park itself was a combination of paved sitting areas, walking paths, grassy fields, and mixed trees. It stretched up and down the river for miles. There were also a number of play structures for children and Littles that dotted the park. This was Luke’s first time seeing the world on foot. Erin’s building seemed impossibly big, the streets were massive, and the park was larger than any he had been to in his world. The sidewalks were not too busy, but he was careful to stay close to Erin, the difference in size between him and Bigs more forward in Luke’s mind. “When we cross the street, do you mind holding onto the stroller? My hands are full, and Bigs in cars probably can’t see you that easily.” “Yeah that’s fine.” Luke didn’t like the implication that he’d be holding her hand usually but couldn’t deny her logic about crossing the street. It’s what they’d do for small children in his world. And she hadn’t made him do anything while they were walking on the sidewalk. They entered the park a couple blocks down from Erin’s building. The entrance path turned into an open, paved area with a few food vendors, bathrooms, and plenty of seating. They continued through, down towards the river. “Wanna just walk along the river a bit, and then pick out an area to stop and eat?” Luke nodded absentmindedly. He wasn’t paying too much attention to what Erin was saying, taking in the size of the park while simultaneously people watching. Erin smiled and could tell that Luke was pretty impressed. She didn’t know what parks were like where he lived before, but in Aquitane, Riverside Park was a national attraction. In a month, many of the tree would be blooming into a blizzard of white petals. They walked for about 20 minutes, Erin moving at a pace much slower than she was used to, trying to match Luke’s speed. Eventually, she guided them partially back up the slope to an open field that she liked to rest in on sunny days. There were already a few other Bigs that had set out blankets, reading, napping, or socializing. Walking up the knoll, they eventually laid out their blanket in an area that was farther away from the other Bigs; Erin didn’t want to risk a Little-crazy Big getting in their face. While they were eating, Luke decided to directly ask a question that had been weighing on his mind since seeing Erin’s condo, a question that she’d been dancing around every time he asked. “Erin, it seems like you don’t work, as in like, have a job, and all the stuff you have is really nice. Your car is super nice, your condo is super nice, you’re buying all this stuff for me. What’s up? Is your family really wealthy or something? Did you win the lottery? How can you afford all this...” he waved his arms himself, her, back towards her condo, “this everything?” Erin knew she hadn’t really answered that question previously. She was still a little embarrassed by her money, and the explanation of how she had earned it would make her seem even nerdier to Luke, an issue she hadn’t worried about since high school that was now making her feel uncomfortable again. But she didn’t have any secrets, and Luke was, at least on paper, family. “Well, yes, I’m, I guess we, are very wealthy. But I didn’t grow up rich; basically, I made a discovery during my work after my PhD that lets companies predict crop prices with much more lead time than they were able to previously. I basically made my money selling that piece of software, in addition to using it in the stock market.” Luke grinned, he didn’t really know what Erin was talking about with the stock prices and stuff, but he did know money. He imagined all the cool stuff he could buy if he were back in his dimension. “Sooooo, how rich are we?” Erin smiled, but responded seriously. She treated him more like a peer than any other Little in Aquitane, but he needed to know that she was the one with financial control, even if they shared in the spoils. “Rich enough that you don’t have to worry about it. If there’s something you need, let me know, and we can probably get it. If there’s something you just want, let me think about it a bit. I don’t like spending superfluously, and I don’t really like to show off my wealth, my condo notwithstanding.” Luke hadn’t expected the lecture, but smiled and nodded anyway. So they wouldn’t be flying around in a private jet anytime soon. Maybe he could ask her to buy him some different shoes. They continued to eat their lunch. The temperature was comfortable, if a little on the cool side. They were sitting on one blanket, while they had their legs under the other one. When they finished with their lunch, Erin pulled out two Big-sized cookies and gave a questioning glance to Luke, she understood what he was trying to do with the changes in diet and exercising, and while it hurt to know he felt that way about her (or that she felt that way about herself), she figured the occasional cookie wouldn’t be a problem. Luke was more than happy to oblige. He knew the occasional cookie wouldn’t hurt, and Erin was working hard. Plus, he wanted a cookie too. “Yeah! I’ve been craving something sweet. Though I think I might only eat half that cookie, it’s the size of my face!” “Deal. We can save the other half for later.” After their quick dessert, they each retired to their books. Luke was laying on his belly, with only his head and arms outside of the blanket, Erin was doing the same, except most of her torso was outside. Erin had noticed that Luke had taken ‘So You Want to be a Little’, which had her pleasantly surprised. Luke hadn’t given any indication that he was willing to act Littler, so she assumed it was him just trying to learn more about his world. They kept reading. Luke spoke up out of the blue. “Is it true that you guys call bears dogs?” Luke was looking intently at his book, brow furrowed in concern and confusion. “What do you mean? Dogs are dogs, bears are bears. “ Luke looked back at his book for confirmation. “No, what I mean is, what you call dogs, we call bears, and what we call dogs, you call…” He checked back at the book again. “You call bruins.” “Bruins? Those tiny things? How could they be dogs?” “For us, that’s a dog. Your dogs are considered an extremely dangerous animal in our dimension.” “Well, you don’t have to worry. A dog would never hurt you. Though we also can’t get one. Our building doesn’t allow pets.” Luke was glad humans weren’t considered pets. He also thought he’d better stay cautious of the bears here anyway. They continued reading for at least an hour. Luke would pop in with the occasional question about his new world. Yes, the planet was smaller than Earth and had lighter gravity. Yes, time here moves slower than on Earth, and you’ll live longer here anyway (his sister would pass him in age in a few years). No, it’s not legal to take a Little to a non-Alliance nation. “So it says here that nearly every human that comes is regressed, and generally recommends coming regressed. Is that true?” Erin thought she knew what he was getting at. “Yes, that’s pretty much true. I’d only met one unregressed Little before you, and that was just for a few minutes. You guys are very rare. But don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on asking you to become regressed. If I wanted a regressed Little, I would have adopted one.” That only answered part of Luke’s concern. “So am I the only unregressed Little in Bordeu? How will I make friends or have a social life? Just with Bigs?” He didn’t think most Bigs would take him too seriously. The book told him that nearly every Big thought that Littles were about as capable as toddlers and didn’t distinguish between regressed and unregressed. “Well, you aren’t the only unregressed Little in Bordeu. Steve told me there were a few, including a couple other Accidental Littles. But due to privacy reasons he can’t tell us how to find them, just that they are find-able. You won’t be able to interact in a group of Littles for a while anyway. We still need to finish up you vaccinations.” “But how will we find the other unregressed ones?” “Once you’re more ready, physically and mentally, I’ll do some searching online, and prodding around. I think we’ll be able to find them.” It didn’t sound like there was much more that Erin could do at the moment. They continued reading for a few minutes more when a Big woman walking through the field spotted them and began walking up. Neither Erin nor Luke noticed until the woman was nearly on top of them. “Aww, what an adorable little boy.” She got a little closer as Erin and Luke looked up. “And wow! What a big boy you are, reading so seriously! I think that book is probably a little much for you, I bet it doesn’t even have pictures in it.” She had crouched down on her haunches, smiling at Erin and Luke. She was close enough that she easily reach out and touch him if she wanted to, though for now she was keeping her hands to herself. In her intensive training, Erin had prepared for scenarios just like this one. She knew what she needed to do. “Excuse me. Can you give us some space? He’s new, and not ready for other Bigs yet.” “Aww, you’re all new! She took a small shuffle back. How regressed is he? I haven’t met other Littles than can read real books. Maybe he’s just playing pretend?” That was enough for Luke. “Hey. I can read. I’m an Accidental Little, I’m not regressed, so please just leave us alone. Okay?” He felt he had restrained himself nicely. The woman had a blank look for a moment, parsing that the Little had given a coherent sentence and not just toddler rambling. “Ooh” She shuffled back another half-step. “Well you’re in a better place now. Happy accidents are the best.” She was beaming. Luke looked blankly at the woman, at Erin, back at the woman. Erin looked incredulous as well. This wasn’t something that had been covered in her training. Luke wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt before he tore her throat out. “Well, yeah, Erin’s place is better than the hospital or adoption center.” Erin’s heart warmed a little bit, but both she and Luke suspected what was coming next. “Oh! I meant coming here to Aquitane. Your life will be so much better here than in your dimension. Life must be so hard where you are from, always struggling to survive. You won’t have to worry about any of that here.” Littles were so silly sometimes. Luke thought back to what he had lost in coming here. His family, his friends, his university, his future job, his future life. All of it had been taken away through a shitty event that this woman thought was somehow a good thing. Luke sprung off the ground moving to try and kick the shit out of that woman. Erin grabbed him by his waist before he got off the blanket. “You fucking piece of shit! You think I want to be here? Fuck right off down the river. My life was way better before coming here…” Luke was still halfheartedly struggling against Erin. He started breaking down into tears. The other Big woman was a little stunned, by smiling weakly. Erin finally found her voice again. She wanted to stay in control of the situation. “Hey, can you just leave us alone. Next time, use your brain before opening your mouth.” “Aww, I’m sorry. I guess he’s just not ready for other Bigs yet. I took a class on Littles in college, their brains aren’t as developed as ours are. Don’t be too hard on him for his tantrum.” The apology was only for Erin. She stood up to leave. Luke was trying to speak through his sobs. “Fuck you, you bitch!” Erin was still holding Luke around the waist with one arm. The other woman was already walking away. Erin pulled Luke in for a hug. She figured he needed that right now. He kept sobbing and buried his head into her chest. His arms were at his side, with Erin wrapped around him. Her warmth felt good. It didn’t matter that he didn’t like Erin (did he?) he just needed something to comfort him then. Erin held him in the hug, gently rocking, saying nothing, until Luke fell asleep. This was by far the most physical contact she’d had with him, and while she felt a little guilty about the circumstances, it was still gratifying. She picked him up and placed him in the stroller, tucking one of the blankets around him for the ride home. Erin was concerned about her interaction with the Big woman. She hadn’t anticipated just how blinded people in her dimension could be. She needed to talk more in depth with her friends to make sure they didn’t hold the same feelings, or if they did, she needed to correct them. She had been planning to have a few over to meet Luke and have a game night in a couple days.

That's not Erin's issue. She's fine, happy even that Luke is there. She's struggling to make the world they exist in fit with Luke. Luke isn't an absolute asshole, he was never a bully, when he feels like he's being treated respectfully he's polite and sometimes kind. His problem is that he had a very narrow world view in the human dimension, and now that view can't even exist anymore. He has no anchor on which to stabilize himself. But I don't see him being the awful person I intended when I started writing the story, which is why my initially planned climax doesn't work.

I kinda feel like I'm writing myself into a hole ? I also feel bad for Erin, she's trying to be understanding and the 'cool mom', but Luke doesn't care who his caregiver is. I think the climax that I was aiming for doesn't really fit into the story that's being written: I'd have to make Luke even more horrible, and I don't really see him getting worse. I have a backup, but gives less heavy feelings.... I'd appreciate opinions on where the story should head. I still have an idea in mind, but I'm a bit at a loss.