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"Nick?"
Charlie wasn't trying to be a distraction. His boyfriend had invited him over to do school work together so that they could exist in the same space while working on their own things because occasionally, they were actually productive when they worked in that way.
In the same way these sort of study sessions always worked out, the younger of the two finished all of his assignments while Nick slowly progressed through a page of math problems.
Charlie tried to occupy himself with the spare time, he really did.
He doodled on paper, he flipped through a book, he reorganized the knick-knacks atop his boyfriend's dresser and the books on his shelf. The whole time, Nick kept looking up from his page and smiling at his antics as if he were amused by them. As if he was just waiting for him to run out of miscellaneous tasks to do.
And eventually, Charlie did.
"What's up, Char?" The blonde bounced his pen against his paper a few times, a form of fidgeting he expressed while mid-thought.
He took in the sight of Charlie, stood at the end of the bed. He had pulled the sleeves of the sweater he was wearing, one stolen directly from Nick's closet, over his hands. It made him look physically smaller. The boy shifted his weight from one foot to the other, shuffling as he tried to come up with words.
He hadn't planned past getting Nick's attention, barely gathering the courage to do just that. He had no idea what to say next.
"Are you almost done?" he managed after a few moments.
"Pretty much." Nick shrugged, "It's due on Friday, isn't it?"
Charlie nodded. It had just been assigned the day prior. They were sort of getting a head start on it.
"I can finish it later." he decided confidently. He set it to the side without another thought on the matter, "How come? Are you getting bored sitting here waiting for me to finish my homework?"
Charlie pouted softly, furrowing his eyebrows together. He observed Nick's face, the smirk that sat there and the slight tilt of his head.
He was being playful, he was silently daring him to say 'yes' so that he could pretend to be offended and they could play fight over it. They liked play fighting. Charlie giggled at this thought, at the memories of Nick tickling his sides and tossing him to the other side of the bed effortlessly with those strong arms of his.
Nick never made him feel genuinely scared with the roughhousing. He always stopped if Charlie genuinely wanted him to, but he never did because it was always just a game. One that'd make him smile with little effort.
"What're you laughing about? Me being boring is a very serious matter. I'd like to get it fixed immediately. I am proud to be a lot of things, and boring isn't one of them." Nick turned so that his legs were hanging off the side of the bed. He was wearing fluffy socks, ones Charlie had gotten him. They had dinosaurs on them.
"I never said that you were borin'." Charlie denied, scrunching up his nose a little as he took the chance to sit next to Nick.
"You're just saying that you were bored, which is almost the same thing." Nick fought back, reaching over and messing with the curls atop the younger boy's head. Charlie didn't reply, just shaking his head as if he disagreed. Nick leaned in after a beat, a softer and more genuine look on his face, "What's going on, Charles?"
His voice was nearly a whisper, full of genuine curiosity and a light shade of concern.
Charlie felt sort of shy all the sudden, now that he was being directly addressed in the way he was. He sunk back a bit, hugging himself. Nick just watched for a moment, giving him the time he needed to speak for himself. "I'm feeling...." he trailed off.
"Hm?" The blonde encouraged him to keep going. Charlie had a feeling that Nick probably knew what was happening, that he could figure it out and identify exactly what was going on if he wanted to. But he also knew that he was probably pushing him to admit it himself.
"Small. Feeling small." he finished in a quick breath.
"Oh, yeah?" Nick smiled as if he were proud of him, "Is there anything that made you feel small? Are you upset about something?"
"No, don't think so. I just feel small." Charlie shook his head and gave this little shrug, "I'm happy that I'm here. With you." he poked his knee with a giggle, looking up to meet those blue eyes again.
It wasn't very often that Charlie regressed for no reason. Typically, it was in response to being panicked or overwhelmed or stressed and each regression session began with Nick calming him down in one way or another.
But on that day in particular, luck seemed to strike and he began in a good place. He regressed just because he felt the urge to, just because he wanted to.
"I'm happy that you're here with me too." Nick chuckled in response to his innocent laughter. He lifted his hand and tapped the tip of his nose, causing him to scrunch up his nose and break out into another fit of giggles. "So this is a good regression, then?"
Charlie nodded. "Is that okay?"
"Of course it is." He assured with a voice that was oh-so-gentle. "Just how small do you feel today?"
Charlie thought on it, only to frown. "I dunno."
Nick chuckled, "That's alright, I can help you figure it out. Do you feel extra small? Like a baby?"
The caregiver had mostly been teasing when he said it; He didn't actually expect Charlie to feel quite that young.
Charlie thought about this as well, and then he didn't answer. He ducked his head and leaned into Nick's side as if he was trying to hide. The blonde mumbled out an 'oh', wrapping a strong arm around his shoulders.
"I won't be upset if you say yes. I won't make fun of you, either. You can be as small as you need to be." Nick was getting better at reassuring him when he got like this. When he felt like a kid. He was a bit awkward the first few times Charlie regressed with him, but the whole 'caregiver' thing seemed to come naturally after he had a second to adjust.
"You mean it?" Charlie asked, voice wary and a bit unconvinced.
"Promise it. I'll even pinky promise if you'd like." Nick offered, holding out his smallest finger. The younger boy smiled again, clumsily reaching his own hand out and locking his pinky finger with Nick's.
"Okay." the boy whispered softly, poking at Nick's arm as he spoke, "Feel sorta like a baby. Almost."
"I can work with that." The blonde decided. "What would an almost-baby Charlie like to do? Go run a marathon? Do the dishes? Mop the floors?"
He kept suggesting increasingly absurd and not-baby-friendly tasks as if they were serious suggestions. Charlie giggled, shaking his head as fast as he could.
"Oh, no? Why not?" Nick questioned, feigning genuine curiosity.
"Because m' too small!" Charlie's voice was a higher pitch now, as if he was fully giving into that headspace of his. Nick was pretty good at that, at pushing him gently through his playful antics.
"That sounds like a bunch of excuses if you ask me." The blonde huffed. "But I suppose that I don't feel like cleaning either. Do you have any ideas?"
"Can we..." Charlie started a sentence before he knew exactly what he was going to request, forming the rest of his sentence after a small pause. As if he remembered what he wanted, he bounced in place a little and blurted out, "Snack! Snack and drink, first."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Nick was quick to agree. "And while we eat, we can figure out what we wanna do for the rest of the day, yeah?"
Charlie was quick to agree. "To the kitchen!" he shouted.
"You gotta be a little quieter than that, Char." Nick reminded softly with a wince at the volume.
"Oh, yeah." Charlie hummed, fidgeting with his hands, "To the kitchen!" he repeated in a whisper-shout.
With that, Nick led the pair down the stairs and through the house to the kitchen. The dark haired boy tried to sit on the counter as Nick pulled a plastic plate from a cabinet, only to slip off the edge and give up with a huff. The taller boy chuckled.
"Here, I'll help you." He motioned for Charlie to lift his arms, and placed his hands on his waist once he did so. With what seemed like no effort at all, he lifted the smaller boy up and placed him on the counter next to the fridge. "If you're gonna sit up there, you gotta be careful. We don't want you slipping and getting hurt, do we?"
"Nuh-uh." Charlie agreed, shaking his head as a sign that he understood. Nick seemed satisfied by this response, ruffling his hair before moving on with the process of putting together a snack for him. "Can I have animal crackers? Please?"
Nick held up a finger as a sign to wait, going over to the pantry and glancing inside. With an over-exaggerated and delightful gasp, he pulled the pink bag from one of the middle shelves. Charlie gasped too, leaning forward slightly,
"Can I have some?" he asked again, making these impatient grabby hand motions that caused Nick to chuckle.
"Sure thing, Char. And what would you like to drink?"
"Hm." Charlie kicked his feet back and forth, thinking deeply as Nick came back over to where the plate was sat. It was a plastic blue one, covered in little animated animals.
"I can make you tea if you'd like. Peppermint with some milk in it, and we can put it in your bottle." Nick offered after a little while of no response, realizing that Charlie was going to struggle with broad choices like that at his current headspace age. "You can do that, or I could get you some juice."
"Tea sounds nice." Charlie decided. "Wha' about you?"
"I'll make myself a cup of tea too. And I might steal one or two of these crackers." Nick replied, plucking an animal cracker off of the children's plate instead of grabbing one from the readily available bag. Charlie gave an offended gasp this time.
"Those are mine, though." he pouted, watching Nick cross the room again to put the animal crackers away.
"It's the caregiver tax." Nick said very seriously as if that was a real, well-known thing as he came back over. "I put your snack together and then I get to steal some. It's very legal and official."
Charlie tilted his head, "That's not real."
"Oh, it isn't? How do you know that?" He placed the plate of frosted animal crackers next to where Charlie sat, moving towards another cupboard to grab everything needed for tea. In the time it took the little to stumble over his words, Nick had the tea bags, sugar, and cups pulled from their various places in the kitchen.
The visual of Nick's favorite mug next to Charlie's baby block themed bottle was something so domestic.
"'Cause...um, it's not! You make it up 'cause you want my snacks." The dark-haired boy sounded very determined to prove him wrong. It was kind of cute.
"You can't prove that." Nick pointed out, giving this challenging and curious sort of look.
"You're so mean to me." Charlie eventually threw his hands up, giving up on the play-argument.
"Is that right?" The blonde put the kettle on the stove, turning the knob that'd allow it to heat up. He spun around to face the boy, who nodded very confidently. Nick couldn't find it in himself to push the mock-disagreement any further, entirely overwhelmed by how cute Charlie looked when he was trying to be taken seriously, when he was trying to be right. "Oh, baby."
Charlie seemed confused, squealing when Nick made his way back to him and planted a kiss on his forehead. "Nick! Nick!" he laughed, sounding confused and grabbing at his hands, which were holding either side of his face.
"What. Is. It?" Nick had a smile stretched across his face, pausing between each word to kiss a different part of Charlie's face. He ended with the tip of his nose, causing the boy to scrunch it up. Nick pulled his face back, absolutely delighted to see the bright smile Charlie showcased across his.
"Why did you attack me with kisses?" Charlie questioned, but he didn't sound all that upset about it. He leaned into one of Nick's hands, not complaining about the physical touch but rather the surprise of it.
"Because you're cute, and I love you." Nick answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Love you too." the boy replied. After a moment of comfortable nothing, he pulled away from the hold, "Sorry but I wan' my snack now. We can cuddle after?"
"Oh." Nick chuckled, lowering his hands, "Yes, we can cuddle after." he agreed.
"You're silly." Charlie stated, reaching for a snack.
"Oh, yeah?" Nick challenged.
Right after being done with their first useless and playful debate of the day, they got into another one. As the water in the kettle heated up, Nick entertained the regression-riddled nonsense and prepared both cups for tea. He encouraged Charlie eating his snack by stealing bites and saying he was 'almost done' even when he had more than half of the crackers left.
He cheered him on as if eating a single animal cracker was equivalent to a baby taking their first steps, like it was the huge milestone. His praise was sort of nonsensical, but Charlie seemed to love it.
i'm proud of you, char
if you eat three more, i bet you'll grow to be taller than me
you're such a strong little guy, aren't you?
Eventually, the water was all ready, and Nick was able to fill the bottle and pour what was left into his cup. He mixed in milk and cinnamon and-
"Sugar!" Charlie reminded.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm getting there." Nick confirmed, "Just a little though."
"Just a lil'." He parroted, holding one hand up and pinching two fingers really closer together in a motion that was supposed to represent a really small amount of something. "Maybe not that small."
He separated the two fingers a little bit, showing off what he seemingly deemed as a much more acceptable metaphorical amount of sugar. Nick shook his head lightly, dumping one small spoonful of sugar into the bottle, atop the milk and tea and everything else. Once that was done with, he closed the bottle and placed his finger over the tip so that he could shake it.
"All done?" Charlie asked, reaching out for the beverage.
"It's done, but it needs to cool down a little more. We gotta be patient, don't we?" Nick set it back on the counter, reaching for his mug and taking a sip despite his words.
"You not bein' patient." the little pointed out. Nick considered this, coming to stand in front of him again.
"You're just a baby, you need to be careful."
"Not a baby." Charlie disagreed.
"Oh, that's right. You're almost a baby. Silly me." Nick corrected himself, taking another sip from his mug.
"Tha' smells good." the dark-haired one said, swinging his feet back and forth a little. "I wan' some."
"You're gonna get some, in just a few minutes. Patience, remember?" Nick sounded amused, chuckling softly when Charlie pouted and leaned forwards towards his mug. He held it up so that Charlie couldn't reach it, stepping backwards. "I'll wait to drink mine until you can have yours, okay? That way it's fair."
"Nick be patient, too." Charlie sounded satisfied with this compromise, watching the caregiver set the cup back onto the counter. Nick was quick to return, holding out his hands for him to grab. "Time to get down?"
"Time to get down." Nick confirmed with a nod, clutching onto his smaller hands and helping him carefully jump down. "There we are. What do you want to do now?"
"Oh!" Charlie hadn't thought past retrieving a snack, pulling on Nick's hand as he thought about his options. "Can we- can we watch cartoons? And cuddle?"
Before Nick could answer, the little had another idea.
"Or we can play with stuffies or play Mario kart or or-" He spoke quickly and with wide eyes, as if he was suddenly realizing how many choices there really were.
Nick cut him off with a chuckle, "We can do whatever you'd like, but you have to pick something to do first. Why don't we start with something calm, since you're so small and need to drink your bottle?"
"Bluey?" Charlie suggested, tilting his head.
"That's a good choice, baby. Do you wanna watch it in the living room on the TV or in my bedroom on the laptop?" the caregiver tried to give Charlie choices whenever he could, even if they were small. The little thought about it,
"Room." he settled. "With all your blankies."
"Sounds like you know exactly what you want." Nick smiled, "Are you all done with your snack or do you wanna take what's left with us?"
"Um..." he hesitated, "All done for now."
"We can always get more later." The blonde assured, deciding to leave the plate on the counter for when Charlie inevitably got hungry again and asked for more of the same exact snack. He grabbed his bottle, "Can you carry this upstairs for me? It's still a bit too hot to drink, so don't take a sip. Just carry it."
"Jus' carry it." Charlie repeated, taking it in his hands carefully. Nick grabbed his mug and then motioned for the younger boy to follow him as he exited the room. On slightly clumsy feet and with very little words, the pair made their way back up the stairs and to the room.
Charlie ran over to the bed and climbed up, carefully setting the homework that was left there to the side so that he could get comfortable. He buried himself in multiple blankets and effectively robbed Nick of most of his pillows. By the time Nick was coming over to the bed with the laptop, the boy was all settled in, bottle in hand.
"Are you sure you're not just gonna end up napping?" Nick asked, reaching for his phone to set an alarm before Charlie could even reply. He gave them two hours to sleep, so that they didn't completely ruin their sleep schedules with the mid-day cuddle session.
Despite the caregiver's preventative measures, Charlie assured that he wouldn't fall asleep. "Yes, m' sure! Jus' wanna be comfy."
"Oh, sure thing." Nick hummed, sitting on the bed and depositing his phone and mug onto the bedside table. Immediately, he set to work pulling up the show.
"Nick?" Charlie asked hesitantly while watching him click around on the screen.
"What's up, baby?" the blonde replied simply, trying to figure out which episode they were on last time. They had quite the habit of falling asleep to cartoons, actually. It was almost a given at this point.
"Watching cartoons and cuddling" was the closest Nick was going to get to an organized nap time as a caregiver. If it got Charlie a healthier amount of sleep, then who was to question Nick's methods?
"Can I drink my tea now?" Charlie's voice sounded distinctly more babyish now, his words more slurred together and soft. It took Nick a moment to figure out what he was saying.
"Are you gonna need help with it, sweetheart?" The nickname slipped from Nick's mouth without him really thinking about it. He had found the episode, pulling it up and pausing it so that they could both get comfortable first.
Charlie's cheeks went pink and his lips formed into a pout, as if he felt bad that he might have needed to take Nick up on that offer.
"I think that maybe I wanna help you with the bottle either way. I've never tried it before and I want to. How does that sound?" Nick realized that he was feeling embarrassed about being so small, deciding to flip the perspective. He wasn't lying; He did want to do everything he could to care for Charlie, and that came down to making his bottles and holding them in place while he drank them.
The little seemed comforted by this, scooting closer as Nick climbed into the bed and pulled the second halves of the blankets over his legs. It didn't take long before the show was playing and the caring but inexperienced caregiver was taking the baby block-themed bottle and holding it to Charlie's lips.
He had to readjust a few times in order for the regressor to be comfortable, and Charlie still loosely placed his hands on either side of the cup so that he felt like he was helping, but eventually they were settled in.
Nick couldn't describe exactly what he was feeling, but it was definitely just as sweet as the overly-sugary tea in Charlie's bottle. It was as soft as the blankets they had layered over themselves, and it was as comforting as Charlie laying his head on his chest as his eyes drifted shut.
"It's all gone, Char." The blonde chuckled eventually, placing the bottle on the bedside table. The dark-haired boy opened his eyes slightly, looking up at him sleepily. "I know, it's crazy. You drank it all."
Charlie didn't reply vocally, giving this soft babble that probably registered as a comprehensible response in his current state of mind. Nick chuckled, "I think you need to rest up, yeah? I'll be here when you wake up, I promise."
The dark haired boy nodded, snuggling closer and letting his eyes shut again.
"I love you, Char." Nick shifted so that he could plant a kiss on his forehead.
The caregiver made sure that he stayed awake until the regressor was definitely asleep, but that resolve melted away the moment Charlie's body fully relaxed against him. Nick closed the laptop and in a moment, that soft-sweet-comforting feeling had pulled them both into a semi-spontaneous midday nap.
The tea left in Nick's mug lost it's heat as they slept, but the caregiver would only laugh at the sight of the nearly-full cup next to the empty bottle when that alarm went off in two hours.
When Charlie rubbed his eyes and tried to figure out what had happened, when Nick ran his fingers through his hair because it was a mess, when they went back to living in the real world.
For now, though, they were cuddling. They were basking in that domestic, sugary, fluffy feeling. That's all they needed right then; Each other, and the safe feelings that came with it.
It was like warm tea in a bottle.