Work Text:
It starts with Peko scrolling through Instagram. She’s just on her explore page, when she sees a cute pastel image of a cat, so of course, she clicks on it. For a while, she’s pleased with her scrolling experience. That is, until she ends up scrolling into a weird text-post screencap image. Something about “being a little”?
Weirded out, to a degree, she scrolls a little further, and raises her eyebrows at a post she finds. It’s a cute, pastel cloud background with text on it. The post’s cover slide reads Agere Information for new Littles & Carers.
Reminded of the strange image she found, she tentatively reads the post.
She’s surprised with how well this… “agere” is explained. It’s a coping mechanism for trauma? And it can be used to cope with other mental health issues? As well as chronic illnesses, on occasion? Intrigued by the concept of this, Peko goes to the person’s profile.
Their profile image is of some cute anime boy with blonde hair and blue eyes, and she smiles fondly about how, for a moment, she’s reminded of Fuyuhiko.
…and then she reads their bio.
It’s decorated with cute emojis with a blue theme, which is fine. And then she reads about them. Because then, she’s very confused, and startled at how similar this person is to her Fuyuhiko.
Their name is “Hiko” and they use he/him pronouns, saying in their bio that they’re transgender, female to male. Just like Fuyuhiko is. Plus, “-hiko” is a part of his name, even! Fuyu hiko .
They don’t state their biological age, but their regressed age is a range of one to four, and they’re taken. (Peko and Fuyuhiko have been dating for a while…)
Hesitantly, Peko selects the first highlight, and finds it to be a story game highlight. The first one is an “about me” highlight, listing name, bio age, pronouns, regressed age, and a few more details.
Everything lines up as if it were to be Fuyuhiko.
Eyebrows shooting upwards, Peko starts to scroll through their posts. It seems pretty hard to tell if it really is Fuyuhiko or not, until she hits one post.
It’s a photo of a light grey bear with a red bow tied around the neck, and a hand is holding it to the account owner’s chest. Freezing up, Peko read the caption. If it said the stuffie’s name…
Peck and I say hello! Make sure you take care of yourself today! You’re very important! (Tags below!)
Peko, in a heartbeat, is messaging the account.
Hi, I hope you’re doing well! I actually messaged because you seem very familiar. Familiar to the point of having a light grey teddy bear with a red bow named Peck, just like my boyfriend. This will sound weird, and be very awkward if I’m wrong, so I apologize. However, Fuyuhiko? I’d like to talk to you about this. I’m just curious.
She turns off her phone after sending that, and sets it face down, running a hand over her face under her glasses and sighing to herself, before picking up her phone again, seeing that there’s already a response.
I never expected you to find this account, Peko… I’m really sorry I never told you. What are you confused on?
They talked for a solid, discussing Fuyuhiko’s use of age regression, dynamics, so on and so forth. And then, Peko made up her mind, and sent The Message.
May I try being your carer, Fuyu?
Of course, there was no way of her knowing, but Fuyuhiko choked on the water he was drinking, eyes going wide, his jaw going slack before he responded.
Are you sure?
Quite.
There was a pause before Fuyuhiko responded.
How do you want to start then? We need to talk about this, first.
Fuyuhiko was smiling, absolutely ecstatic. Peko was glad he was okay with the idea, albeit nervous about how this would go.
The negotiation of rules was easy, and so was punishments. Fuyuhiko had to at least try to eat healthy, could not swear when regressed, and had to communicate properly with Peko whenever he had regressed. Punishments were standing in a corner, writing lines, not being allowed to have sweet treats, or writing an apology note or letter. Light, easy things, ones that Fuyuhiko was very much okay and comfortable with.
Peko was smiling, too. This was turning out very well. She asked about boundaries, and the boundaries were just as easy. Nothing sexual (easy), swearing and loud noises kept to a minimum (slightly more difficult, the dorms and the character of their classmates considered), and no taking away comfort items (obviously).
Oh, and pet names were okay, too.
But when Peko asked be able to meet Fuyuhiko’s little self, she received a very shy response.
…I didn’t want to tell you at first, but it is a part of our rules, huh? I actually regressed talking to you about this stuff…
Unable to help it, Peko requested to go and see Fuyuhiko in person, in his dorm. Once she’d been given the okay, she left her dorm, and headed right for Fuyuhiko’s, finding it to be unlocked.
She opened the door and stepped in, looking up from the floor. Being greeted with the sight of Fuyuhiko buried in a (very cute) fox kigurumi and snuggling a stuffed animal was adorable, and Peko couldn’t help but smile.
Fuyuhiko reached for her expectantly, and Peko quickly trotted over to settle down on the bed with Fuyuhiko, gathering him into her arms and nuzzling his temple softly, rocking them side to side almost right away. Fuyuhiko seemed to melt against her as she did, too. How cute.
Slowly, Peko pulled away, and spoke gently to Fuyuhiko.
“Is there anything you want to do?” She asked quietly, watching as Fuyuhiko paused, seeming to think about the answer to his question.
Then he smiled, and nodded, slipping out of bed. He grabbed the tablet he owned, and returned to his bed, slipping into it again and crawling over so there was space for Peko, making grabby hands at her, and then pointing at the tablet.
“A… movie?” Peko guessed, joining Fuyuhiko with her legs under the blankets, just like him, and pulling him close to her.
Fuyuhiko nodded, grabbing his tablet and going to set up a movie for them to watch together. Entertained, but smiling, Peko kissed his head softly.
Even with that account being relatively anonymous, Peko was glad Fuyuhiko had left her just enough hints for her to figure out who it was, because if her gut instinct was telling her anything, this was the start of something great.