diaper dimension The Worst Little Ever (Chapter 13 Part 1, 01/14/2020)

[Sarah Penguin]

I haven't gotten sick at thanksgiving but Halloween and October being my favorite season I missed lots of trips to haunted houses and other fun things  because I'd start mild drippy nose and intermittent extremely mild coughing every October.  Not even a headache normally which I always developed when actually sick and my parents wouldn't pull me from school but wouldn't let me stuff outside of because I get sicker or infect people?  I got to take my sister to Halloween things though because by then I'd gotten my parents to realize the pattern too and I was suffering probably some sort of seasonal allergies.  My dad went off in spring like a sneeze geyser if he wasn't taking allergy meds all season so you would have thought he would have believed me about the "cold" being a fall allergy thing in me but he never did. Silly man

[Shawnie]

Great chapter !

[Baby Billy]

I agree with Little Tomas, Luke is a real brat with an attitude of a bitch.  I like the way Erin handled the cursing by staying clam and reminding him to use his manners.  I also agree that little snacks are as so so good and addictive as amazon breast milk. 

[Little Andrea]

I really can’t wait for more.

[zatchie]

21 hours ago, Little Andrea said:

I really can’t wait for more.

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.

[Sarah Penguin]

Yeah he should have had milk to drink in the first place if he knows he's heat sensitive from here.  Water is the worst possible choice he want's to tone down the fire.  Water redistributes the pepper oils all over your mouth so new places get  exposed the burning.  Milk has a chemical that displaces  the oil from your tongue and help's it go away.

[littleTomás]

10 hours ago, zatchie said:

He smiled and nodded. “Yeah Ewin, I’m pwetty sweepy.” His smile flattened and widened, mouth closed.

See I told you Luke! Little food is the best drug ever. All the benefits with zero consequences. Man I wish I could have little food.

[Sarah Penguin]

1 hour ago, littleTomás said:

See I told you Luke! Little food is the best drug ever. All the benefits with zero consequences. Man I wish I could have little food.

Little food has well known side effects: if your big doesn't want you eating it all the time so it's a treat then you'll be punished for having too much.  Conversely if you don't like or want little food you'll be forced inevitably to be stuffed full of it or get punished and you end up with sad punished littles and/or annoyed bigs.  Almost like bigs were being hypnotised in their own media to stuff littles full of it, like it or not...

[kerry]

11 hours ago, zatchie said:

Great. We’ll go there then,” Now came the hard part. “So Luke, at the restaurant, all the Bigs won’t know you’re regressed. 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 unregressed, even if you say something.”

You seem to have reversed the "regressed" and "unregressed" here. 

11 hours ago, zatchie said:

Erin looked down at Luke and felt the urge to say booster. 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.”

Pretty sure this was supposed to be "high chair."

As always, I really loved this chapter!

[zatchie]

4 hours ago, kerry said:

You seem to have reversed the "regressed" and "unregressed" here. 

Pretty sure this was supposed to be "high chair."

As always, I really loved this chapter!

Thanks for the catch!

[littleTomás]

10 hours ago, Sarah Penguin said:

Little food has well known side effects: if your big doesn't want you eating it all the time so it's a treat then you'll be punished for having too much.  Conversely if you don't like or want little food you'll be forced inevitably to be stuffed full of it or get punished and you end up with sad punished littles and/or annoyed bigs.  Almost like bigs were being hypnotised in their own media to stuff littles full of it, like it or not...

Why do you have to be a party pooper? *whines louldy* I want my little food gosh darn it!

[SGTbaby]

Well at least she gets to break the little food to him at home also. Like the chapter and the music seems like a great idea

[Sarah Penguin]

On 12/11/2019 at 12:02 AM, littleTomás said:

Why do you have to be a party pooper? *whines louldy* I want my little food gosh darn it!

i'm not standing in the way of your little food *stuffs you full of bottles full of little formula just for extra small littles like you by sigining you up for an inhome robot nursey service, far be itfrom me to stand in front of people's happiness *nodsnods* Well unless they are potty monsters

[littleTomás]

5 hours ago, Sarah Penguin said:

i'm not standing in the way of your little food *stuffs you full of bottles full of little formula just for extra small littles like you by sigining you up for an inhome robot nursey service, far be itfrom me to stand in front of people's happiness *nodsnods* Well unless they are potty monsters

? I like that!

I can’t wait for the next chapter.

[zatchie]

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.

[Jayme]

Take your time. I for one would rather have a well written chapter that stays congruent than a chapter hastily written that screws up the story.

[DiaperBoy37]

Please continue 

[Little Andrea]

I can’t wait for more, any chance we’ll get an update?

[zatchie]

1 hour ago, Little Andrea said:

I can’t wait for more, any chance we’ll get an update?

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.

[DiaperBoy37]

On 1/5/2020 at 12:31 PM, zatchie said:

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.

Thanks!

[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?”

[trans-baby-girl-shea]

It's nice to see beth and luke starting to get along and him beginning to accept where he is. Good chapter keep it up.

[Pierry Louys]

Good chapter is good to see Beth and Luke finally having a decent conversation ! Now I am curious to see Erin parents !,,

[littleTomás]

3 hours ago, zatchie said:

but basically they couldn’t really make it as a successful adult.

I still don’t like Luke’s ego. He’s literally the type of person who I meet and immediately wish I hadn’t. He doesn’t want to go back if he could because he’d be happier with his relationships back home, but so he can feel superior to others. The idea of someone being better than him makes him annoyed.

[WBDaddy]

4 hours ago, zatchie said:

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.

I completely feel all of this.  Just saying.

Keep doing what you can do, don't sweat it.  You're doing great.