Chapter Text
When Yandere finally turns back to normal, it happens just as suddenly as his first transformation. One moment Dr. Iplier looks away from baby Yandere to get one of his toys, and in the next turns to see full-grown Yandere standing there.
Everyone is relieved to have Yandere back to normal; it took so long that everyone had been a little worried that Yandere would be a baby forever. They’re glad Yandere can take care of himself again, and Yandere’s loved ones are relieved that their relationship with him can go back to normal. Chrome and Wilford are happy to have a friend and brother they can actually talk to again, Dr. Iplier is happy to have a self-sufficient son again, and Dark is glad to finally have his boyfriend back after all those weeks without.
Yandere, for his part, is happy to be normal. He doesn’t remember everything about being a baby, but he remembers bits and pieces. He recalls flashes of experience, sensation, memory. He wonders if this is how humans remember their childhoods; as quick snapshots in time. It’s these memories that lead him to egos he normally doesn’t talk to.
“Thank you for rescuing me before, Giniro-san,” Yandere tells Silver Shepherd one morning.
“Oh, n-no need to thank me, it’s what I do,” Silver stammers, though he can’t seem to help smiling. “How much do you remember?”
“Not a lot,” Yandere admits, “I remember being kidnapped, and I remember you finding me, and not really anything in between.” He pauses, thinks for another moment. “I remember flying, though!”
“Oh, yeah!” Silver laughs, “You really enjoyed that. Not many babies like being flown around as much as you did.”
“Yeah, that was fun!” Yandere giggles, “Although, I was wondering…whatever happened to the guys who kidnapped me?”
“Well, uh, Dark and Wilford…took care of them.”
Yandere grins brightly.
“Good! Saves me some trouble.”
“Y-Yeah…” Silver mumbles. He almost seems relieved when Yandere leaves not long after.
Another time, Yandere walks by Ed’s nursery and happens to encounter Marie again. He remembers really disliking her before, but now that he’s normal, the whole situation feels more funny than anything.
“Hi, Marie!” he says to her, and she jumps, surprised.
“How do you know my name!?” Marie yells.
“Because we’ve met before!” Yandere laughs, “Don’t you remember?”
Marie glares at Yandere cautiously.
“I don’t know you,” she insists, “Stop being weird or I’m gonna call Mr. Edgar!”
“Remember that baby Ed babysat a while ago? The one who you made cry?” Yandere asks. “Well, that was me!”
Marie blinks. Yandere can almost see the gears turning in her head; how she’s reconciling this impossible information with the fact that, yes, this person does look a lot like that baby.
“That doesn’t make any sense!” Marie cries, “You’re a baby!”
“Not anymore.”
Marie looks completely bewildered. She turns and runs off.
“Mr. Edgar! Yan turned into a grown-up!! Why can’t I turn into a grown-up!?”
“Dang nabbit, Marie–”
Yandere just laughs and continues on his way.
Later, he spies a familiar squirrel in the hallway. The squirrel seems to remember him, too, and approaches him cautiously.
“Hey there!” Yandere coos, kneeling down to the squirrel, “What was your name again? Allen, Evan–”
“Everett, actually,” says a voice, good-humored, “Close, though.”
Yandere looks up to see King of the Squirrels approaching him, and grins sheepishly.
“It’s pretty hard to remember specific details,” he mumbles.
“Hey, don’t feel bad!” King laughs, “Everett doesn’t seem to mind.”
He doesn’t; the squirrel is right in front of Yandere now, sniffing his outstretched hand.
“You can pet him whenever you want,” King says, “As long as Everett’s alright with it.”
“Really?” Yandere asks, eagerness shining in his eyes.
“Of course,” King replies, “These guys don’t just let anyone pet them; I think I can trust you with him.”
Yandere looks at Everett, and scratches behind his ear with one finger. Everett leans into the touch and squeaks happily. He’s not the Shiba Inu that Yandere has begged Dark for a hundred times over, but he’s still pretty cute.
“Arigato,” Yandere says to King, smiling gently at Everett.
Yandere later finds himself being followed by the Jims, who are apparently interested in filming a conclusion to the documentary Yandere vaguely remembers being a part of. Not so interested that they’ll approach Yandere directly, though.
“Stabby Jim appears to be grown again,” RJ stage-whispers as he and CJ trail several yards behind Yandere down the hall, “We must be careful, Jim! We don’t want to end up on the wrong end of his stabby!”
“You mean my katana?” Yandere asks pleasantly, not turning around or changing his pace.
RJ yelps, and CJ manages an involuntary squeak.
“Run Jim!!” cries RJ, and the pair scramble away as Yandere laughs.
He does get a quiet moment with the Host later, however, reminiscing on being in the room for his bandage changes and interrupting his tender moments with Dr. Iplier.
“I definitely remember getting jealous of you,” Yandere giggles to him from a chair in the library. “I wanted Shishi all to myself.”
“The Host recalls,” Host replies over a cup of tea, smiling gently, “Apparently the fact that Dr. Iplier spent nearly every other waking moment with you wasn’t enough.”
Yandere shrugs amicably, then pauses to think.
“You know,” he says, “Even though I remember all those times when you were in the clinic getting your eyes cleaned, I can’t remember what your eyes look like. I must have seen them…”
“The Host considers it a stroke of luck,” Host says quietly, sipping his tea.
Most interesting to Yandere, though, is talking to his loved ones about the experience, recalling how they reacted, and occasionally scolding them about it. They’re the ones he goes to first, and goes to most often, to learn about what happened when he was a baby and get context for the memory fragments in his mind.
“You were a pretty terrible babysitter, onii-san,” Yandere tells Wilford one morning as they’re eating breakfast together in one of the communal rooms. Yandere’s memories of Wilford’s misadventures in babysitting are predictably fuzzy, but he’s been told what happened enough times already by others. In response to Yandere’s words, Wilford gasps dramatically through a mouthful of bacon.
“Slander!” Wilford cries. “I was a great babysitter!”
“You lost me twice.”
“Excuse you, I lost you once! I…outsourced you the other time.”
Yandere snorts, almost choking on the toast he’s eating.
“Is that what you’re calling it? I think Yami and Shishi would call it “dumping me on someone else” and “shirking responsibility.”” Yandere makes light air quotes with the hand not holding his toast.
“Yanny, my boy,” Wilford says, “I haven’t cared what Dark and Doc think about my behavior since…hmm…” He wiggles his moustache in thought. “About 1976. Give or take ten years.”
“Shishi didn’t even exist yet back then, Wil.”
“See, you get it!”
Yandere laughs again, shaking his head. He knows how to get a reaction out of Wilford, though, and slides back in his chair with mock despair.
“Oh, but nii-chan, did you really not love me enough to watch over me?” Yandere asks, throwing his arm over his eyes. “Did you really dislike me so much that you’d give me to someone else?”
“Hey now…” Wilford starts, bewildered by Yandere’s sudden mood change.
“I’m so crushed…” Yandere moans, sliding all the way off his chair and slumping over to Wilford, “My nii-chan doesn’t love me, he doesn’t want to deal with me anymore…”
“Yan–”
“What am I gonna doooooooo??” Yandere wails, throwing himself across Wilford’s lap, face-down. “How am I gonna survive without my nii-chan??”
“Oh, calm down,” Wilford huffs, rolling his eyes, “Look at you, so dramatic.”
“Well,” Yandere says, craning his head up to look at Wilford, “I learned from the best!”
Wilford bursts into laughter at that, guffawing uproariously as Yandere drops the act, laughing along with him as he gets up from Wilford’s lap.
“To tell you the truth, kiddo,” Wilford says, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, “You were just too much trouble as a baby. Adorable, of course, but you got into everything! And you just can’t reason with a baby.” He smirks. “But you know, you’re just as difficult grown up, aren’t you?”
“Niiiiiii-chaaaaaaaaan…” Yandere whines, slumping against Wilford’s shoulder.
“Exactly what I mean,” Wilford insists, “You troublesome little rapscallion!”
Before Yandere can whine again, Wilford stands from his chair and grabs Yandere in one swift motion, scooping him up and twirling him around. Yandere shrieks and laughs as he’s spun around, so fast that he’s still dizzy when Wilford stops.
“If I’m still troublesome,” Yandere says, “Am I still adorable, too?”
“Of course!” Wilford laughs, planting a kiss to Yandere’s forehead. He pauses. “I suppose what I mean to say it that you haven’t changed at all, except we don’t have to be watching you all day anymore.”
“What “we”?” Yandere giggles, “You pretty much admitted that you didn’t do much watching.”
“Alright, you ungrateful little–”
Wilford spends the rest of the morning alternating between tickling Yandere relentlessly and squeezing him in tight bear hugs and swinging him around. Yandere lets him, laughing and shouting and putting up token protests all the while. Wilford does eventually let him go, kissing his forehead again before poofing away to his studio.
Yandere talks to Chrome, too, as the pair are sitting in the control room playing Mario Kart.
“I’m getting deja vu,” Yandere says as he plays, struggling to get Princess Peach back into second place against the high-leveled NPCs. “Did you play Mario Kart with me when I was a baby?”
“Sort of,” Chrome answers, in first place by a wide margin. “I let you sit with me and watch me play a few times. I didn’t watch you that much, though, it was mostly Dr. Iplier.”
“Makes sense,” Yandere hums. He glances over at Chrome with a grin. “Was I at least fun to babysit?”
“I hate babies,” Chrome says, deadpan, “You were…tolerable.”
“You wound me, Aka-kun,” Yandere says, feigning sadness, “Everyone else says I was adorable.”
“That’s because they’re human adults, who are predisposed to finding babies endearing. I’m not a human, and I have no reason to find babies cute.”
“I’m pretty sure Kiiro-kun thought I was cute.”
“That’s because Oliver’s weird.”
Yandere laughs, then groans in frustration as Princess Peach drives over the finish line at fourth place. Chrome smirks, and Yandere whacks him in the arm with his controller.
“Don’t do that,” Chrome says, mildly annoyed, “You’re gonna break the controller.”
“You’re not gonna scold me for hitting you?”
“I don’t think I need to explain that hitting people is rude, but if you really want me to…”
“Alright, baka!” Yandere laughs, leaning against Chrome as he goes through the game’s menus to start another race. Yandere pauses. “You’re being pretty light on your teasing today. What’s up with that?”
Chrome stops pressing buttons on his controller, and gets an odd look on his face. He knows what he wants to say, but isn’t sure how best to say it.
“I guess…I don’t know,” he mutters, “Remembering when you were a baby, it’s just…do you remember anything else about me from being a baby? Aside from me playing Mario Kart?”
Yandere considers. He does remember something else, but only vaguely. He has an undefined memory of being held against Chrome’s red t-shirt, of crying in his grasp, but he can’t remember what the tears were for.
“Kinda,” Yandere says, “I remember at one point you were holding me while I was crying.”
“But you don’t remember why you were crying?”
“No…why was I crying?”
“I…yelled at you for trying to touch something dangerous.” Chrome shrugs, but the movement seems tight. “I just feel sort of bad, I guess.”
“Well,” Yandere says, “You were trying to stop me from getting hurt, right? You don’t have to feel bad about that!”
“Yeah,” Chrome mutters grudgingly, “I guess so.”
Yandere suspects there might be a bit more to the story, but he knows that Chrome is unlikely to tell him anything if he presses the issue. So he lets the subject drop, but stays leaned against Chrome’s side until his body relaxes. Yandere soon forgets the odd moment as he wins the next couple races, and he and Chrome get back into their friendly jeering and bantering.
Yandere talks to Dark, too; sits on his desk and asks him about how he took the situation, ignores him when he asks Yandere to get off his desk. He doesn’t seem too annoyed about it, though, because he answers Yandere’s question anyway.
“I’ll admit it was strange,” Dark says, “I was never quite sure what to do with you whenever I had to look after you.” He grins. “You still seemed to like me a lot, though.”
“How could I ever not like you?” Yandere asks, leaning towards Dark to kiss him. Dark does more than let him; he moves into the kiss, hand creeping across the desk towards Yandere’s thigh. Yandere pretends not to notice. “I remember being really happy whenever you gave me any attention. I guess it was like…” He thinks. “You know when little kids get crushes on, like, their teacher or their babysitter? Even though they don’t know what romance and stuff are yet? They just think they’re nice and want their attention all the time? That’s kind of how it felt.” Dark chuckles a little at that.
“That makes sense, I suppose,” he says, “I don’t normally like babies, but you were very cute.”
“Thanks~!” Yandere giggles. “So you kinda felt like I did, then?”
“Well, I wouldn’t call it a “crush.”” Dark looks away for a moment, awkward. “I didn’t feel anything stronger than fondness for you. You were a child, after all.” He smiles at Yandere. “I’ll admit I missed you a bit while you were transformed.”
“Really?” Yandere asks, putting his arms around Dark’s shoulders, “You missed me?” Yandere never passes up an opportunity to hear Dark talk about how much he loves him, and Dark’s smirk suggests he realizes that.
“Of course,” Dark insists, turning his head to kiss Yandere’s arm, “I missed having you around to talk to.”
““To talk to”? Is that all?” Yandere’s tone is playful.
“Oh, far from it,” Dark murmurs, lust creeping into his tone. “Would you like me to be blunt?” He finally moves the hand on his desk to touch Yandere’s thigh, the tips of his fingers just barely under his skirt. Yandere shivers with goosebumps and leans close to Dark.
“I’d like you to stop talking and show me what you mean,” Yandere whispers with a devilish grin.
That’s all the encouragement Dark needs to stand up out of his chair and push his hand all the way up Yandere’s skirt. His other hand goes to Yandere’s back to pull him close as he kisses him, going from Yandere’s mouth to his neck, biting and sucking.
“Yami, ah,” Yandere gasps, already overwhelmed and holding onto Dark’s shoulders for dear life, “Yami, slow down, ohh–”
At that, Dark does stop, but only to push Yandere down onto his desk with a hand spread over his chest, aura creeping up against Yandere’s clothes, chomping at the bit to pull them off.
“You asked me to show you what I meant,” Dark says, “And I intend to show you exactly how much I missed you.” He smirks again, but his eyes are more intense than before, his whole posture radiating power. “Isn’t that what you want?”
Yandere gazes up at him, slack-jawed and starry-eyed, still overwhelmed yet eager for more.
“Yes,” he gasps, “Show me, senpai.”
Yandere doesn’t leave Dark’s office for a long while, and when he finally does, he’s bruised and disheveled, lovestruck and humming to himself as he walks down the hall.
But out of everyone Yandere knows, he’s most curious to know what Dr. Iplier thought of his transformation, of having him as a baby. Dr. Iplier’s his dad, after all, and he already enjoys babying Yandere enough anyway. He’s getting a mild gash treated at the clinic when he asks about it.
“Hey Dad,” he says, “What was–ow–what was it like when I was a baby?”
Dr. Iplier isn’t stitching his arm; the cut isn’t severe enough to need it. He is sanitizing it though, and somehow Yandere still isn’t used to that particular stinging pain. Dr. Iplier continues to work on Yandere’s arm, thinking as he does.
“It was…interesting,” he says, then laughs a little at himself. “Descriptive, huh. But honestly, it was…really nice, in some ways. But different. But also not that different.” He grins, looking up from his work to meet Yandere’s eyes. “You still had your normal personality, that’s for sure.”
“Really?” Yandere asks, curious. Most people didn’t have much to say about what he was like as a baby, other than that he was cute. Now that someone’s going to tell him, he’s eager to know.
“Definitely,” Dr. Iplier answers him, holding the edges of Yandere’s cut together with one hand and putting a butterfly bandage over it with the other. “You were just as affectionate, always wanting to be held or hugged. God forbid I talked to anyone but you, you’d get so jealous!”
“I do kinda remember that,” Yandere admits with a sheepish grin. “I really hated it when you hugged or kissed the Host.”
“We could tell,” Dr. Iplier laughs, “You were a troublemaker, too, just like you are now.” He pauses. “Well, not quite as much. There wasn’t as much trouble you could get into as a baby.” His voice has gone wistful.
“What do you mean?” Yandere asks.
“I mean…” Dr. Iplier chews his lip for a moment, choosing his words. “You were too little to hold a sword, or spar in the dojo. And you were too little to want to go out at night and get into fights. You were too little to go out at night at all. You were perfectly happy to just stay here at home all day with me and the other egos. I never had to sew you up or give you blood transfusions, and I never had to worry that I might need to. You were…always safe.” He wipes away the last drops of blood from Yandere’s cut. “It was a relief to not have to worry about all that.”
“Dad…” Yandere mumbles, guilt sinking into his stomach. “I didn’t…I mean…” He looks away. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey now, don’t be upset,” Dr. Iplier murmurs, gentling taking Yandere’s chin in his hand and turning his head back to face him. “I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad. And you know, there’s something I’m relieved about now that you’re back to normal.”
“What?” Yandere asks, still moping.
“You’re not as helpless as you were as a baby.” Dr. Iplier’s voice gets a little quieter. “Do you remember at all, when those guys kidnapped you and held you for ransom?”
“Yeah,” Yandere says, “Mostly when I first got taken and then when Giniro-san brought me home, not much in between.”
“Well, let me tell you,” Dr. Iplier says, “I was beside myself when I realized what had happened. I was a complete wreck. I was so terrified for you because I knew you were helpless. You were a baby; you couldn’t defend yourself or escape. There was a real chance I could lose you.” He manages a smile and cups Yandere’s face in his hands. “You may be a champ at getting into trouble, but you’re even better at getting yourself out of it. You’re so strong and resourceful, and I might worry about you, but I know you’ll always come home in one piece.”
Yandere smiles back, giggling as Dr. Iplier kisses his forehead.
“So you’d rather have me as a grown-up than as a baby?” Yandere asks.
“Yes,” Dr. Iplier replies, “But I wouldn’t be upset if this happened again. Then again…” He grins a particularly playful grin. “…You’ll always be my baby.”
“Daaaaaad,” Yandere groans, but he can’t help but laugh as Dr. Iplier kisses his forehead again, one, two, three times, before finally letting him go.
“Alright, I’ll quit embarrassing you,” Dr. Iplier chuckles, “You’re free to go, kid. Your arm’s all set for now.”
Yandere jumps off the examination table, but doesn’t leave right away. There’s another memory at the back of his mind that he’s curious about.
“Hey, Dad?” Yandere asks, “I have a weird question about when I was a baby.”
“What is it?” Dr. Iplier asks.
“Did you, um, ever…sing to me?”
Dr. Iplier’s face somehow both lights up and turns an embarrassed shade of pink in the same instant.
“You remember that, huh?” Dr. Iplier laughs a little. “I did, a few times. After that kidnapping ordeal, you kept waking up in the middle of the night crying, and it got harder and harder to console you. Finally I ran out of ideas and sang to you one night, and it cheered you up and put you right to sleep.” He smiles fondly at the memory. “I ended up singing to you a few more times after that when you cried, and you seemed to really love it.”
“I remember being held and hearing your voice,” Yandere says, blushing to match Dr. Iplier’s still-pink cheeks. “I only kinda remember the tune, it was like…”
He half-hums an incomplete melody, straining hard to recall it. But the notes he does remember ring true, and Dr. Iplier joins in, recreating the song.
“Oh!” Yandere gasps as Dr. Iplier hums. “It was “What a Wonderful World,” wasn’t it?”
“Yep,” Dr. Iplier replies, “I didn’t expect you to remember it that well, I’m kind of impressed.”
“I really don’t remember it that great,” Yandere says. He tilts his head. “Maybe you cooould…sing it again sometime?”
“Ah, I don’t…” Dr. Iplier ducks his head, embarrassed. “I’m no singer, you don’t need to hear me singing again.”
“But Dad,” Yandere whines, pouting, “You sang for me before and I liked it!”
“You were a baby. I knew you were gonna like it no matter how it sounded. I’d feel awkward doing it again.”
“Daaaaaaaad…” Yandere sighs, flouncing to Dr. Iplier and leaning into his side, “You don’t have to sing right this second, just, eventually! Please?”
“Yan…”
Yandere lays his head on Dr. Iplier’s shoulder and looks up at him with the biggest, saddest eyes he can muster.
“Please, Papa? For me?”
Dr. Iplier sputters, and it takes all of Yandere’s willpower to keep a straight face.
“Alright, alright, I’ll sing for you again eventually,” Dr. Iplier sighs, “Happy?”
“Yep!” Yandere perks up immediately, back to his sunny, happy self.
“You’re a spoiled brat, you know that?”
“Whose fault is that?”
“That didn’t sound like a denial.” Dr. Iplier ruffles Yandere’s hair. “If I’m gonna embarrass myself for you, then I expect something in return.”
“What?” Yandere asks, intrigued. Dr. Iplier grins.
“You have to let me show you all the photos I took of you as a baby, and deal with all my gushing.”
Yandere laughs, a bit awkward but mostly genuine.
“I guess that’s fair. Bring on the baby pics, then!”
That’s how Yandere ends up sitting next to Dr. Iplier on his bed, scrolling through photos on Dr. Iplier’s phone. It’s strange for Yandere to see himself as a baby, but he has to admit he was as cute as everyone says. He’s surprised the spell that transformed him took away his hair dye in the process, but it doesn’t look too bad in the photos. There’s photos of him playing, eating, sleeping, and wearing many, many different outfits (“Why did you buy so many? It’s not like I’ll ever be able to wear them again.” “I know, but look how cute you are in this one! And this one, and this one…”). Most interesting are the ones featuring Yandere with the other egos. There’s RJ and CJ holding microphones up to him, Silver hovering in the air with Yandere held securely in his arms, Yandere toddling after Marie, Yandere surrounded by curious squirrels, Host reading him a book, and even a series of photos showing Bing and Bop trying to teach Yandere how to skateboard.
Naturally, Yandere ends up with a few favorites: The one of him sitting in Chrome’s lap while Chrome plays Mario Kart (“You were totally enthralled by the screen, it was pretty funny.”), the one of Wilford holding him up in the air (“He actually tossed you a few times, almost gave me a heart attack! You didn’t mind, though.”), and the slightly blurred one of Dark kissing his cheek, clearly taken from afar (“I don’t know how he didn’t catch me taking this, but it was worth the risk.”).
But then they come to one of the last photos taken, one of the only ones that appears to have been taken at night, and one of the few that feature Dr. Iplier. It’s of Dr. Iplier standing before a crib, cradling a sleeping Yandere in his arms. Yandere’s sucking his thumb in his sleep, and as cute as it is, Yandere’s favorite part of the image is the serene, adoring smile on Dr. Iplier’s face. One of his hands is tucking a dark curl of hair behind Yandere’s ear. Yandere can’t help but recall every time he ever felt like a burden, like there was no way Dr. Iplier could care about him, and how it compares to the simple sweetness in this photo. Does Dr. Iplier always look at him like that, and Yandere just doesn’t notice?
“You like this one?” Dr. Iplier asks, humor in his voice, breaking Yandere out of his reverie.
“Yeah,” he mumbles, “It’s…really nice.” He pauses. “But wait, who took it since you didn’t?”
“Host did, he was with us that night.” Dr. Iplier’s expression softens as he remembers. “He took this of me while I was putting you to bed. I didn’t know until he showed it to me afterwards.”
“Host took this photo?”
“Yes…?”
“He took this really nicely framed and well-timed photo??”
“Yes, Yan, what are you–”
“How???”
A long pause. Eventually, Dr. Iplier shoves Yandere playfully and Yandere breaks into laughter.
“Don’t be rude!” Dr. Iplier shouts through his own laughter. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he used his narration to make sure he got the best photo possible. I’m glad he did it, though.”
“Me too,” Yandere says, smiling big.
As sweet and fun as it seemed to be for the other egos, Yandere is glad that he’s not s baby anymore. He supposes he’s glad it happened, though, if for nothing else than the memories. But also for the knowledge that the other egos still protected him and cared for him at his most helpless, and, if he’s honest, his most useless. After all, what’s more useless than an infant who can barely even walk or talk? Yet the other egos still liked him, still wanted him around, and his loved ones still loved him and cared for him. Chrome still played Mario Kart with him, Wilford still scooped him up and spun him around, Dark still kissed him, and Dr. Iplier still comforted him when he cried.
Even if the other memories of being a baby eventually disappear, Yandere hopes that the memory of the unconditional love he received will lift his spirits forever.