Chapter Text
Hey guys! I wanted to update you guys on the situation with this series. I don’t think I’ll ever get around to finishing it, I’m so sorry to everyone who has been following it along.
I took a long break as a lot of problems had sort of popped up in life and once they were resolved my motivation and overall interest of Twisted Wonderland dropped significantly. I also started writing for other fandoms, as I saw my writing improve I really didn’t like how these fanfics turned out. I’ll always look back at them fondly as these were my first ever attempts at writing!! I’m so grateful to everyone who commented on these fics with encouragement, it’s not taken for granted and I’m so glad I was able to bring a smile to some of your guys faces!
However I did want to let you know how I intended to end this fic. This draft has been sitting on my computer for awhile (Since late 2023) as I was trying to tie up the whole fic in one chapter. What you are going to read is what I had written and then towards the end summary notes of the intended ending. I hope you enjoy it and once again thank you so much for all the support I have received.
~
When the door had suddenly opened Malleus was instantly given Cater. Yuu looking nervous as he watched intently on how Cater would react. He knew he should’ve respected the kid’s wishes but Yuu knew that if he listened to the kid’s wishes he would never move forward, silently praying this aversion to Caregivers wasn’t for a “severe” reason. So, taking a gamble with the kid’s trust he gave him to Malleus.
Cater was silent. Malleus adjusting to sudden weight that was clingy to him, relieved the kids wasn’t softly touching him (he hated touches like those). Lilia watched with a smile on his face as he noticed Malleus’ once worried demeanor shifting to excitement. Malleus reaching to touch the boy’s hair (not being able to handle to the adorable situation) noticed that the boy was silently crying,
“Um,” Malleus cleared his throat, “H..He’s crying..”
“It’s okay!” Yuu replied overly loud, desperation clear in his voice “Let’s just see how he adjusts…” Malleus nodded in agreement.
Lilia cleared his throat, “Malleus, try walking him around maybe that will help?”
The unclassified and caregivers couldn’t grasp Cater’s complex relationship with Caregivers, so they were left to fumble in the dark. No direction or guidance from the boy himself, only their own judgement to go off on. Thankfully, the two Caregivers were older than they looked and as the Fae started to gently walk around the Little, he could feel the boy’s eyes fighting to stay open.
Yuu’s own eyes were fighting to stay open themselves.
The death grip on the Caregiver’s clothes, slowly starting to loosen as the ginger was coerced into sleeping.
-
Cater could not help but start to feel tired. Was the emotional exhaustion finally catching up to him after the pass day and a half? Was all the build-up from the years of running away from Caregivers to suddenly being forced into the hands of one really the breaking point?
He wanted to cry until there were no tears left to cry. Maybe there were none left because he could slowly feel his body shut down, ‘Maybe this really is what I deserve…’
-
“Oh.” Malleus said softly. Yuu slightly jumping awake, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes, “I..Is he asleep?”
Lilia walked over, placing his hand on the ginger’s head before combing through the boy’s hair with his fingers, smiling softly “Yes, he is”
“He’s…asleep?” Malleus asked, “What do I do now?”
“I suppose, we could settle him down here….or perhaps his own dorm? We could also take him back to our dorm as well” Lilia suggested, “It’s up to you, Yuu.”
Yuu rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, “You….I don’t- take him back to his dorm, i’m so tired I don’t think I’m waking up to anything tomorrow. He’d be scared if he woke up in your scary dorms,” Yuu yawned his voice thick with sleep, “so leave him to Trey,”
Malleus listened quietly, displeasure written on his face, why couldn’t he just take the boy back to his room? Lilia however, to Malleus’s displeasure, agreed with the Child of Man and they quickly said their goodbyes with the sleeping little in hand. As they made their way to Heartslabyul Lila asked,
“Did you have a good night, Malleus?”
Malleus hummed in thought, “I…I don’t know. Diamond’s crying was not pleasing to the ear or my body. The boy’s frantic behavior made me worried also. Child of Man’s responses were worried some also.”
Lilia chuckled softly, “That’s what I was thinking as well. But remember Malleus, he isn’t from our world, nor does he have the same instincts as us”
“Is taking Diamond back to his dorm really the best thing to do?”
“Well…” Lilia hummed, “from what Yuu told us, Trey and Cater got into a pretty heated fight, I’m not quite sure either”
“Can’t we just take him back with us?”
Lilia was quiet for a second, rolling the options around in his head, “….I suppose. We have everything ready; it could turn out being good for Cater?”
Malleus nodded in agreement, “I….I could take care of him?”
Lilia patted Malleus of the back, “Of course you can”
-
Malleus couldn’t lie that his heart wasn’t beating a million miles per hour this whole night. Every slight rise of Cater’s chest made Malleus want to drop the kid before he starts crying again. Since Malleus could remember, even before he was classified, Littles cry just at the sight of him… ‘maybe it’s my horns’ Malleus thought sullenly.
He remembers how much Sebek cried when he got classified. The boy was so sure he wouldn’t, yet Malleus knew he would. They all did. He loved Littles, he supposed all Caregivers did, but most Caregivers could hug and play with their Littles and other Littles whenever they wanted to.
So, to have the Ginger in his arms, sleeping and quiet made Malleus a tiny bit excited. Sure, the whole situation had been very distressing but to hold a Little in his arms for the first time in a long time made him happy.
~
“What are you saying I was a bad mother?”
“N..No? It’s just my classification, Mom ”
“Fuck.” He could hear the displeasure, “Cater, what are you saying, that your life was filled with hardships?”
“Mom, that’s not what I’m saying at all”
“No. This can’t be happening. You had a good life, you know that? There is no reason for this.”
Cater could feel heat traveling to his face, his head pounding, how could she be like this? Sure their entire family (with the exception of him now) are Neutrals but not their extended family, how could his mom still think in such an outdated way. “No reason for what!?” He exploded
“This!” He could hear the waving of paper over the phone, her own copy of her son’s classification,
“My fucking classification?”
She laughed in disbelief, “Cater. You are not a Little. You had a good life, a good environment, you are not a Litte. Especially not a Little of this age”
“I- I can’t control this, Mom!”
“Get re-classified. I refuse to believe this. You aren’t a fucking Little, Cater!”
“I am!”
“God, God! What the hell is wrong with you Cater?”
“N-Nothing. Nothing is wrong with me, Mom! You’re the one who still believes in what they used teach back in the fucking 50’s”
“The one with an actual reason? God, what in the actual hell have they’ve been teaching you. It’s only logical that Littles come to being when they grew up in a fucking terrible environment. You, Cater, didn’t. Stop acting like the fucking victim all the damn time. You have a good family, a good house, a good life.”
Cater could feel his head continue to pound at him, “….Are you serious?”
“What part of this makes you think I’m fucking joking. I’m not going have my son, my growing son, act like a fucking child, just because some paper told him to, I know you aren’t because we always gave you the best. You are not a Little, got it?”
“Mom. I can’t control this. What are you not understanding? It’s quite literally fucking impossible to control”
“You can and you will. You don’t need to act like a child and you don’t need help. God your supposed to be maturing and learning independence not having someone fucking babying you.” She sighed deeply, “I don’t want hear another word from you about this, Cater. Fix it.”
She hung up. The dial tone ringing in his ear, and ringing and ringing and it was so loud and it wouldn’t stop-
The impact of metal to the wall registered in his ears as he looked over at his phone, his uncle’s phone, lying on the carpet, cracked. When a loud creak of his bed making him jump.
Trey. Oh, Trey was here, right? Those eyes, they looked so worried, why were they so worried. He watched the boy grab his hands and suddenly he felt the tears that were falling down his face and they weren’t stopping. He couldn’t stop from dropping to the ground as he felt that foreign fuzzy feeling invading his brain as he cried.
“Cater?” The green haired boy tried asking his voice laced with panic and worry, “It’s okay. What happened?”
He couldn’t- Trey shouldn’t have to deal with him.
~
Malleus sunk onto the bed, holding the ginger tightly as the Little nuzzled his head deeper into the man’s neck. Lilia had gone to get what he called ‘Little supplies’ they had in the dorm for unexpected drops/visitors, leaving Malleus with getting the Little into bed. Though sitting with the Little in his lap Malleus didn’t want to tuck him in anytime soon.
“Malleus, I thought I told you to tuck him in.” Lilia reprimanded while placing some items on the boy’s dresser,
“Yes, but he-“ Malleus looked away as he felt the heat rise to his face. Lilia walked over with a smile and ruffled his hair,
“You wanted to hold him longer?”
Malleus nodded shyly making the older one laugh, “It’s okay if you did, I know you don’t get to interact with Littles often.”
Malleus looked down at the ginger, the way his chest was slowly moving up and down, the tear tracks that litter his face, and the smudge of his diamond mark on his cheek. He wondered how the boy got to be in such a state. He saw only the collateral not the buildup of what could make him so pained from affection. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Lilia’s voice,
“Though, Malleus we should really put the boy to bed, he’s been through enough already,” Lilia’s eyes softening, “he deserves to rest a bit.”
~
He could feel Trey’s gaze on him for the rest of the day. The man was practically vibrating with worry, so much it almost made Cater sick. Alongside of course, with the little asks throughout the day ‘Is everything alright?’ ‘How are you feeling?’ ‘Are you doing, okay?’, made Cater want to shut the man up.
When they returned back to the dorms, Trey following him to his room like they always did after school, Cater finally shoved the papers into Trey’s hands,
Age: 3-4 Years Old
[Please find a Caregiver/Guardian by XX/XX/XXXX or you will be provided with temporary services]
Cater’s eyes everywhere except the boy in front of him, “I…I found out my age range and-“
“I’ll take care of you!”
Huh…? Trey eyes were wide, filled with something Cater couldn’t understand. Why was he looking at him like that?
‘You don’t need help’
He doesn’t need help, did Trey really look down on him that much, thinks he can’t take care of himself? He’s been taking care of himself his entire life, he doesn’t need anyone’s help-
He- “I don’t need your help, Trey”
The words making the green haired boy falter a bit, he was quick to recover, “Cater, you know me,” His hand coming up to Cater’s shoulder as he looked him in the eyes, “I have no issue with your age range, I want to take care of you-“
“Take…care of…me?” Cater couldn’t believe the words he was saying. They were lies. It was all lies. No one wants to take care of him not unless it’s to take advantage of him.
Getting him to do whatever they want when they want, no say in what he gets to do, dress, eat.
“Yes, Cater I-“
“I- I don’t need your help!” Why would he even think that, that he needed someone to take care of him, to baby him? “I don’t need anyone’s help!”
“Cater…” Trey’s face full of concern, the grip on his shoulder tightening, “I’m not leaving you because of this”
Trey would leave. Everyone leaves, nothing stays hadn’t he learned that his whole life, moving to town after town.
“Just get out! I don’t need you fucking babying me, okay?!”
“What’s going on, Cater? You were fine a couple days ago? What happened?” The nagging, the nagging, the nagging, shut up shut up shut up shut up.
“Shut up! Just leave!”
Trey’s face made him want to throw up, he felt his hands pulling, pulling, pulling his hair, he wanted Trey to leave, to get out of his sight with those eyes. Those eyes he hasn’t seen since he was 8. Those eyes that left him, that cared for him.
Tears threatening to spill over, his voice wrecked as he tried to keep himself together “Please just stop looking at me like that- leave, please”
He doesn’t deserve it.
~
Malleus stood over the ginger, who was now safely under his covers watching his chest fall up and down, over and over again. He felt his chest become tight with worry; it had been a while since his instincts flared up like this. In a weird way, it was comforting if not a bit suffocating.
Lilia had left a while ago after Silver had woken up regressed, he said he would be back after he settled him down again. Though Malleus knew the boy could be playful in the middle of the night, unlike his older counterpart.
It probably wouldn’t be till late morning when Cater would awake so, perhaps Malleus could get things ready? He nodded to himself, liking how his plan sounded. Going over to the bin of Little stuff that Lila had brought over he dumped out the contents. Thankfully Lilia had known the age range Cater was in, so the contents should do nicely for the boy.
Though, pulling out a pacifier Malleus couldn’t help but be confused on how this would be helpful to the 3–4-year-old. Deciding to put it aside, he looked through the rest which consisted of coloring books, a sippy cup, some stuffies, and pull ups. Well, he could give the boy a stuffie right now that he could sleep with.
As he crouched down near the boy, he noticed as he put the bunny in the ginger’s arm his thumb was set snuggly in his mouth. So that’s why Lilia brought the pacifier, hm, he needed to wash it off first.
Walking to the adjoining bathroom Malleus wondered how Lilia could possibly know how Diamond used a pacifier as he washed it softly under the spout of water. ‘Then again, Lilia did just have these natural and usually stronger instincts than other caregivers’ Malleus reasoned as he came back to the bed and slowly crouched down beside the bed. He slowly took the boy’s thumb out of his mouth, a small whine of displeasure being let out (Startling Malleus slightly). Though, the boy was soon settled once again after latching onto the open pacifier offered to him.
Now then, I should get going, Malleus stretched tiredly, checking the clock that read 5:34am, Before the Little one wakes.
And with the wave of his hands, Malleus was gone.
~
Flashback for when Trey tried to alert Trein of Cater’s recent classification:
He hadn’t seen Trey in a couple of days, not after he yelled at the man to get out of his room.
Trey understanding and thinking Cater wanted someone else so he decided to go to Trein.
Telling him his concerns
Trein decides to visit Cater
Huge fight, confrontation between why he never called him to why Trein never called to wanting to care for him to Cater acknowledging he’s not stupid enough to believe his mom’s outdated way of think and would regress but wouldn’t get help (He doesn’t tell Trein the last part)
~
‘His sisters’ were right, the only way people would like him is if he dressed the part, no one would even acknowledge him if he didn’t.’ ( this was related to a flashback I was going to do with Cater & his sisters’ controlling the way he dressed/eat)
~
Trey just waking up first class at 7am
Malleus appears in front of Trey scaring him and confuse him by asking for Caters phone
Trey is confused but concerned
Malleus not giving too much details not because he’s offended on behalf of Cater but genuinely clueless on how social rules are.
Goes back to Cater right before he wakes up. Cater wakes up regressed. Dropping to 3byears old. At first very frightened especially when Lilia comes in. Hides himself under the bed. Lila is forced to leave (Silver and Sebek related), unsure whether to leave malleus by himself with Cater. Malleus is clueless on how to get the little out but decides his best method is leave him alone?
Malleus sets up the Little Supplies Lilia had left on the bed, making Cater curl up a bit when he saw the mans feet by the bed. Malleus also drops a stuffy right on the floor so Cater can grab it if he wanted to.
It seems to work and Cater eventually comes out after much hesitation. He avoids eye contact which Malleus doesn’t seem all that bother with. Which confuses Cater as he was always told growing up ‘people look people in the eyes’
Malleus was reading while waiting and Cater seems curious about what Malleus was doing but when Malleus asks if he wants to see and gets closer the boy backs closer into the corner.
Cater is thinking of an escape but is scared as he’s still aware of who Malleus is and how powerful he is. So he doesn’t move from the corner just warily watching Malleus.
Malleus is just as equally freaked out. The little wasn’t crying and this was a first. Surely they should’ve started crying but no the boy just stood there watching him. Malleus felt bad for the boy but didn’t want to freak him out he also had no idea what do so he just continued to read
The boy had started to fidget. Malleus noticed but had no idea what the boy was doing and left him until he was essentially doing the potty dance.
“P….Potty..”
“Hm?”
“I have to go potty”
Malleus helps Cater go to the bathroom, awkwardly standing outside the door while the boy goes. Malleus does help the boy washing his hands after he’s done.
Insert some awkward silence between Cater and Malleus in his room, the silence actually has Cater opening up and the boy plays with the supplies that is in Malleus’s room. Malleus doesn’t try to make a move in fear of upsetting the little, he takes to trying to read in the corner while watching the boy. Cater eventually very hesitantly goes up to Malleus and asks him to play with him.
Cater thinks it’s weird that Malleus just seems different than other Caregivers. Lilia makes an appearance and the boy hides behind Malleus and refuses to even look at Lilia. Lilia leave and Malleus is left alone with Cater once again. Malleus slowly coaxes bits and pieces of Cater’s situation out of the boy but not much.
Cater falls asleep and when he wakes up he is back to his big headspace. He’s absolutely mortified at what has happened. Malleus stops him before he can leave and is able to get the whole situation from Cater.
Cater and Trey make up, Trien and Cater eventually make up and Cater allows Trein to be more present and then Malleus becomes Cater official Caregiver.
THE END.
If ANYONE at all is interested in picking up the series, continuing it, I give you free liberty to do so! Go crazy! I’ll be orphaning this work but if you are interested in what else I am writing, that being MCU/AOT/Whatever I’m interested in, you can find me under MarbledMarvel. I write only Age Regression/Classification AU so if you want more feel free to check out my other works over there.
This AU and series was one that taught me a lot when it came to writing and was just overall a blast to write. Once again thank you all for sticking with this series and I apologize again for not being able to finish it.