Work Text:
– 1 –
“Joel, have you even had anything to eat today?”
“You worry too much Etho of course I have”
“Oh yeah, what was it”
“... uhh it was-”
“Okay I’m going to go make us some food”
“No, Etho its fine you don’t have to,” but before Joel could finish what he was saying, Etho had already gone into Joels base to start prepping some food.
It was known on the server that Etho was Joel’s primary caregiver, it was also known that out of all the littles, Joel disliked his regression the most. For this reason, it was not uncommon to see Etho hovering around Joel quite often, usually looking for any excuse to get Joel to regress.
Joel wasn’t going to let it happen this time though, he had spent so long putting off terraforming this side of his mountain, he wasn’t about to stop after he’s finally gotten into the groove of things just to eat some food.
And no, it did not matter that the last thing he had eaten was a couple pieces of bread as soon as he woke up, roughly about 12 hours ago. He just didn’t have the time to take a break today, that isn’t his fault. Either way, point of the matter is that nothing is going to distract Joel from getting his terraforming done, not even Etho and his tricks.
Some more time past, with the grumbles coming from Joel’s stomach getting gradually louder, until eventually Etho came back out to find Joel.
“Okay, food’s ready its time to come inside now”
“Etho I can’t, I’ve already told you this. I’ll have it later once I’ve finished, just leave it in the fridge.”
“Nope, no way, come in and eat, and then once you’re finished you can come back out and continue, okay. Let’s go.”
Joel just ignored him and continued texturing his land.
“Joel, I’m being serious, come and eat, right now.”
After the second time Joel ignored Etho, Etho decided to just cut his loses and get Joel inside however he had to.
“He- HEYY!! Etho put me down!!” Joel cried out after being hoisted over Etho’s shoulder, now dangling upside down as Etho walked them up Joel’s stairs and into his main house.
Once they got into the house, Etho placed Joel into a chair, before going out into the kitchen to bring the food in. In this short period of time, Joel had stood up and attempted to walk back out the door, Etho managed to quickly get between the two, and guided Joel back to the table.
Etho placed down a bowl of spaghettios, with a side plate of cut up carrot and potato slices. Joel eyed his own food, instantly recognising the differences between his and Etho’s meals, whilst Joel’s resembled that of a childs, Etho had fixed himself some mushroom soup, with an aray of veg mixed in. But, it wasn’t until Etho had placed the drinks down on the table, that Joel called him out for what he was doing.
See, whilst Etho brought himself a mug of hot coffee, for Joel, he had placed down a sippy cup full of juice.
“I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work.”
“Hmm? All I’m trying to do is get you to eat some proper food”
“I’m not going to regress”
“I never said you were. Why, do you feel like you need to?”
“What- no, I..! Don’t worry about it”
“Okayyy then…”
For the next 15 minutes they both sat there in silence. Etho making his way through his bowl of soup, waiting for Joel to drop. Whilst Joel, avoided his meal like the plague, fully aware that the moment he started eating it, he wouldn’t be able to trust himself to stop him from slipping.
“You struggling there baby?”
“...What?”
“You’ve not had much of your food, I was thinking you might need some help” Etho said, not willing to wait any longer for Joel to just accept the regression. He scooped up a spoon of spaghettios and held it up to Joel’s mouth. Joel quickly went to push the spoon away, and likely shout at Etho that he was too big to be treated like this, but before he could get one word out, Etho took the opportunity and fed Joel the food.
Out of instinct, Joel chewed up the food and swallowed, before looking at Etho, shocked at what had just happened. Mouth agape, another spoonful of spaghetti was poured into Joel’s mouth.
“I’m not going to slip”
“Fine, but you are going to eat,” Etho said whilst wiping a bit of sauce that was starting to drip down Joel’s chin, knowing full well the boy was already dropping.
They continued this process until Joel had finished almost his entire meal, and if he had to be carried and tucked into bed by a ceratin caregiver, well, that was something for only them to know…
— 2 —
Etho checking up on Joel has (to no surprise) had become a regular thing. Much to Joel’s dismay, at least once a day he’ll either be asked directly or get a message from Etho asking how he was, if he’s taking care of himself, what he’s had to eat, all that kind of stuff.
And no, it’s not often that Joel will lie to Etho in his responses, it’s just that he’s so sick of Etho not trusting him to take care of himself, that maybe if it seems like Joel is doing just fine without him, he’ll stop checking in. So, if Joel maybe misses a meal or two, hurts himself whilst working on his base, or is generally just feeling stressed out, those details will usually be missed in his updates to Etho.
Most recently however, the lacking details have revolved around sleep. Joel honestly cannot remember the last time he’s gone to sleep at a reasonable time, usually taking an hour or two power nap somewhere between 5 and 7 in the morning, but then he gets straight back to work once he’s up again. There’s just so much he needs to do, he had no idea how big of a task his base was really going to be, it felt like no matter how long he spent on it, progress was moving along frustratingly slow.
Some could argue this lack of progress is likely due to the lack of focus Joel gets from his lack of sleep, and to that Joel would most definitely turn a blind eye. But honestly, Joel would rather accept that to be the reason for his slow progress, rather than his other theory…
He needs to regress.
Like he reallyyyyy needs to regress.
He’s honestly surprised he hasn’t just dropped yet, seeing as the fuzzy feeling in the back of his mind has gradually dragged itself forward in the past couple of days. He knew it was going to happen soon, he just had to hope no one else will be there when it does, and hopefully he won’t slip to the point where he can’t continue with his work, that would be disastrous.
But, there was nothing he could do about it for now, so whilst yawning all the way, Joel continued developing his area…
Just over yonder however, was another player, maybe not Joel’s caregiver but a caregiver none the less. And having witnessed the ungodly hours Joel has been staying up to, Impulse eventually decided he had to let someone know.
Being an age regression friendly server, all the caregivers are made aware whenever a little is discovered on the server, and when he had learned about Joel he was shocked. He usually had such good instincts for when a little was around, but somehow Joel had managed to slip under the radar every time…
Either way, he shot Etho a message, detailing everything he has seen recently, and expressed his concerns for Joel’s wellbeing, and thankfully the response from Etho was instant.
“Okay, I’m going to come now and sort this out”
“Alright, I’ll see you soon”
“Thank you for coming though, I would just go up to Joel myself but I don’t want him to freak out since I’m not his caregiver”
“No honestly thank you, I guess it was stupid of me to just assume Joel would be truthful about how he was doing”
Etho is honestly racing to get to Joel’s base. He doesn’t know why he’s surprised that Joel had been lying to him when he witnessed first hand how Joel DIDN’T want his help… Either way, Etho makes it to Joel’s base and lands right in the centre of the high street.
“Joel!! Hey bud where are you?!”
“Etho?” Joels head poked down from where he was detailing one of his taller builds.
“Heyy, could you come inside with me for a sec, I just wanna talk with you about some things”
“uhhhh could we maybe talk a bit later, I really need to get this building done and I’ve been procrastinating it for ages now” Even just seeing Etho, Joel could feel that fuzzy feeling making its way to the forefront of his mind again.
“It won’t take long, I promise. I just haven’t seen you in person for quite a while now, I thought it’d be nice to catch up over some tea”
“Uhh… Umm… yeahhh okay I guess that’s fine” And with that Joel glided back down to the ground (and Etho would be lying if he said he wasn’t even a littleeee bit terrified Joel was going to straight up fall)
Leading Joel back into his main house, he got started making the tea whilst Joel sat on the sofa. Etho started to notice some small things around Joel’s base, like how the dishes were starting to pile up, and how most of his cupboards and drawers only contained the basic essentials of food and drinks… No matter, he’d help Joel out with that soon, no doubt. For now he continued making their drinks.
He debated straight up pouring Joel’s into a sippy cup, knowing he was going to be small by the end of the interaction, but ultimately decided not be so blunt about it and just made his in a regular mug. Carrying both drinks over, Etho sat down and began their conversation.
“So, how have you been lately Joel”
“Uhh I mean I’ve been fine, just been getting some work done around the base here and there, y’know the usual”
“That’s nice, you’ve been taking care of yourself as well though right?”
“y- yeahh… just like I’ve already told you in the message you insist on sending me everyday”
“Uh huh, uh huh… getting enough sleep?”
“Wha- I- Etho, yes yeah I have!”
“You wouldn’t lie to me would you Joel”
“Etho what is this, what’s your problem”
“It’s just that a little birdie told me, that you’ve been staying up. Wayyyy to far into the night for a little thing like you”
And with that Joel coughed and splutttered on his drink. Etho grabbed the tea and placed it down onto the table, moving closer to Joel to rub his hand in circles on his back.
“It’s okay bubs… I’m here now. Don’t worry”
“Etho… stopp” Joel murmured so quietly, Etho could barely make out what he said.
“What’s wrong baby?”
“I… I can’t regress”
“Why not? I’ll take care of you, you know I will”
“No I…” Joel’s suddenly has a big yawn as he leans further into Ethos side
“… I- I need to keep working on my base”
“The base can wait Joel, it’s not going anywhere I promise, if anything I think you need a nap right now.” As he said this, Joel was slowly manoeuvered onto Ethos lap, before Etho stood up, holding Joel on his hip.
“Nooo, nooo” Joel whispered as he buried his head into Ethos shoulder.
“Yess yessss” Etho responded, matching Joel’s tone. Etho lead the two into Joel’s bedroom and laid Joel down.
“Where do you keep your little gear baby?”
Joel didn’t respond but just made a disgruntled noise.
“Joel bubs, could you tell me where you keep it please, I just want to make sure you’re as comfy as possible”
“Grmrm, I don’t got any” Joel mumbled into his pillow.
“Ohh, oh okay baby. I’ll sort that out for next time yeah…”
“Efoooo lay downnnn”
“You want me to lay with you?”
And with that Joel just grabbed onto Ethos hand and pulled him to the bed. Etho just climbed over Joel and pulled him close.
Rubbing his hands up and down Joel’s back, and whispering him sweet nothings, Joel eventually fell into a deep sleep, Etho joining him soon after. Not once though, even in sleep did Etho let Joel go from where he was, safe between his arms.
— 3 —
Joel woke up to the sounds of pots and pans clanking down his stairs. He didn’t mind though, as this was the first time in weeks he’s woken up actually feeling rested. Sitting up and stretching his arms, he began to remember the events of the previous night. And just like that, it was no longer a good morning, but a miserable one at that.
Groaning, Joel swung his legs over the bed and was able to pretty easily guess who was the source of the noise from down the stairs. Feeling a lot older now, however, Joel decided not to delay the following events any longer, and instead just get them done and over with.
“Hello, Etho.”
“Goooodd morning, Joel. Feeling better this morning?”
“...sureee”
“Thought so, here, take a seat breakfast is almost ready”
Joel took his place at the table, Etho joining him shortly with a plate of fresh pancakes for both him and Joel. They both ate quietly, thankfully the silence wasn’t awkward, more just a shared content and peacefulness between the two. It didn’t take long for Etho to break this silence though…
“So, about last night”
“Mhmm”
“I think it’s long overdue that we set some official rules for your regression”
“...Etho, I’m not an actual child. I don’t need rules…”
“Having rules doesn’t make you a child Joel, every little on the server has their own set of rules decided between them and their caregiver. To be honest we probably should’ve set some rules when I was taking care of you during double life, but oh well”
“I don’t even need to regress that often though, I don’t really see a point in spending time coming up with a whole list of rules when they’re rarely ever going to be needed”
“You don’t need to worry about that Joel, some of these rules are going to apply to when you’re big as well,” Etho said this as he picked up his and Joel’s now empty plates and carried them over to the sink.
Joel turned around in his chair, jaw wide open.
“You’re joking right…”
“Nope! It’ll be good for you to have some rules to follow, hopefully it’ll prevent this no sleep problem from happening again…”
And so Etho returned to the table, placed out a pen and paper, and began to negotiate a set of rules for Joel both when big and little. Eventually this is what they came to:
Must be in bed by 2 o’clock at night (any later and a midday nap is REQUIRED the following day)
Eating and drinking ALWAYS take priority over working
When regressed, tell either Etho or another hermit straight away
Must be honest when asked about your little age
No being rude or mean to other littles or caregivers on the server
Listen to whatever instructions the person taking care of you gives
Don’t hold back your regression
Enjoy your regression!
These rules were not set in stone, and could be altered later on if anything changes, but for now it was what they were sticking with.
Etho placed the list onto the fridge, and held it in place with a magnet.
“See, that wasn’t too bad now was it?”
“I still don’t think that first one is fair…”
“Joel, we are not having this argument again. You’ve shown time and time again that you seem to just lose control of your sleeping habits, alright. That isn’t healthy, you need to get enough sleep to function. You’re lucky I let you convince me to make bedtime 2am and not 12am…”
“Whatever… so, what would happen if I didn’t follow those rules..?”
“Well, if you were big, I would just make you do it, cause y’know, the only rules that really apply to when you’re big are 1, 2, and 7, so if you broke those rules then I’d do what I have been doing and just get you to sleep or eat and what not”
“Righttt, and if I’m small?”
“Welllllll, it really depends on what you actually do, it might mean I’ll just have to have a talk with you and remind you of the rules, or if you did something like be mean to another hermit then maybe time out or something?”
“I- you wouldn’t really put me into time out would you??? That’s ridiculous”
“Well just don’t misbehave and I won’t have to, anyways, I need to get back to my area now and sort out some things, I’ll be back in a few hours to check up on you so I’ll see you then. If you need anything in the meantime, okay anything at all, just message and I’m there. I’ll see you later!”
“Bye etho…”
And just as he had promised, later on in the evening, Etho had returned. Joel showed him the build he had been working on and even got Etho to help with a section he was particularly struggling with. After that they headed back inside and this time Joel was the one to make dinner. They both ate their food and had some good conversations with one another before Etho headed home to bed, Joel following suit not long after. And for a while these rules worked perfectly, Joel unintentionally stuck to them most of the time, only needing to be reminded once when he had genuinely forgotten to have breakfast and lunch, in favor of restocking his shops.
It was all going great until Scar had to come and ruin it all…
You see, the only rule Joel was purposely breaking was rule 3, he wasn’t lying when he said he wouldn’t need to regress that often, and even when he did, he regressed by such a small amount (or at least it only felt like a small amount to him), he didn’t see the point in dragging any of the hermits away from their busy schedules in order to take care of him. And this was all well and good until Scar had called him out for it.
Joel, Etho, and Grian were all just hanging out together, going around and admiring other people’s bases, and eventually they got around to scars. Whilst admiring his train and mountain of ore, Grian suddenly noticed out of the corner of his eye, a little scar about to fall down into a deep cave that blended in perfcelty with its surroundings. His caregiver instincts must’ve kicked in or something because Joel had no idea as to how Grian had managed to travel that many blocks just in time to catch Scar before he plummeted.
Joel and Etho rushed over to where Grian was clutching onto Scar as if his life depended on it. And after everybody had calmed down, Grian began to scold Scar.
“Scar, this is why it’s so important you have to tell one of us when you’re small bud! If we didn’t happen to be walking by, you would’ve died from that fall, and you know better than anyone how horrible respawns are especially when you’re small”
“I’m sorry” Scar wailed as he began to cry, “I just wanted to see what it’s like to be regressed without being watched the whole time, it’s not fair that other hermits are allowed to be small by themselves but I’m not!!!”
“Scar, none of the little’s are allowed to be small unsupervised. That’s like the golden rule of the server” Etho chimed in.
Now as Scar’s attention was pulled back over to Joel and Etho, he decided to cry out, “That’s not true!!! Joel regresses all the time with nobody there!”
“Wha-! I! That- that’s not true, I always go get another hermit”
“You’re lying I see you in your base small all the time, I never tell anyone cause I thought you were allowed to do that!”
“Scar bud calm down there’s no need to shout-” Grian chimed in
“NO! NO, ETHO HE’S LYING, NOT ME, I-, UGHH WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU SCAR”, and with that Joel moved forward slightly and took a swing at Scar with his fist
“WOAH WOAH!” Grian called out as he quickly pulled Scar back into his arms and out of Joel’s reach.
At the same time, Etho grabbed onto Joel’s waist and tugged him back whilst yelling, “JOEL NO! We do not hit our friends!”
As Scar grew more and more upset, Joel grew more and more angry, so Etho quickly lifted Joel up off the ground and flew them back to Joel’s base, rushing out a quick apology to Grian as they left, whilst Grian attempted to do the same thing for Etho.
As they landed back in Joel’s area, Etho rushed to get them inside, the whole time Joel is screaming and trying to run in the opposite direction. Once they get inside Etho grabs Joels shoulders and tries talking to him to calm him down, but in a fit of rage Joel just started throwing arms and punching Etho.
“AH AH AH! DON’T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT PUNCHING ME YOUNG MAN!”
Etho grabbed both of Joels wrists and held them at his side, guiding Joel to face into a corner. As Joel continued to shout and wail, Etho said, “You are going to stand here for five minutes and think about what you have done, okay?! Everytime you turn around or try to walk away the timer will restart understood?”
Etho walked away, and Joel instantly made a dash for the doors, but the caregiver instincts seemed to kick in, allowing him to easily retrieve Joel and place him back in the corner. And so it began, a 20 minute back and forth of screaming and shouting as Joel continued trying to escape from this punishment, only to be put straight back before he even got a chance to leave the room. Eventually, however, Joel had used up most of his energy and decided to just stay put for the five minutes, throat sore from screaming, all that was coming out were dry heaves of breath, and the occasional sniffle.
After an eternity, however, Etho did come back, with a bottle of warm milk in hand, he gently placed a second hand on Joel’s shoulder.
“Time’s up bud”
All Joel could do in response was whine and curl into Etho’s shoulder. Etho lifted him up from the corner and carried him over to the sofa.
“You’ve tired yourself out now haven’t you…”
Etho placed a finger under Joel’s chin and lifted his face to look at him. This was also when Etho had noticed the thumb that had made its way into Joel’s mouth, Etho (much to Joel’s dismay) ushered the thumb out of his mouth and kicked himself whilst making a mental reminder to go out and get Joel some more little gear, something that had entirely slipped from his mind.
“Here, you can have this milk in two seconds bubs just listen for a little bit, okay?”
Joel layed his head against Etho’s chest but nodded and continued to look up at him.
“What you did to Scar and me today wasn’t very nice, and I think next time you see Scar you owe him a biggg apology yes?”
Joel made a slight whine before nodding.
“And as to wether or not you’ve been regressing and not telling anyone, don’t worry about that for now because we can sort that out once you’re big again yeah?”
Joel just nodded as his thumb got closer and closer to reentering his mouth…
“Uh uh uh, your thumb is icky… have this instead”
Etho held the bottle nib closer to Joel’s mouth, which he accepted immediately with zero complaints. This is where the two fell asleep that night, Joel exhausted but safe in his caregivers arms, and Etho responding to the plethora of Grian’s messages, updating him about what ended up happening with him and Scar, whilst Etho did the same with Joel.
They decided they’d give the two time to cool off before trying to get them to apologise with one another (little did the two caregivers know that it wouldn’t even take till lunchtime the next day for a little Scar to reach out to Joel, getting him to slip as they both apologised to one another. Shortly after they both messaged their caregivers, neither one wanting to get into more trouble for not following the “golden rule” as Etho had called it)
— 4 —
Etho needed lot’s of mangrove wood for his build and has spent the past few days gathering enough for it, still he realised he may be spreading himself too thin and decided to recruit Joel in helping him. And so that’s how they ended up here, in a mangrove forest collecting wood and enjoying eachothers company.
Between the two of them they were getting this done quickly, and all whilst keeping a good level of banter between the two, Etho couldn’t imagine this going wrong in anyway whatsoever… until he heard a shout before a splash.
Joel had fallen into a particular large patch of mud and was now laid in it, with only his head and top of his neck sticking up.
Etho’s reactions were quick and in an instant he was at Joel’s side, helping him out of the mud.
“Baby are you okay?? What happened!?”
For a few moments Joel just sat there, shellshocked. Before he burst out in an uncontrollable laughter! Grabbing a fistful of the mud he had just been freed from, he tossed it at Etho, watching it stain his clothes, all whilst his fit of giggles continued.
“HUH?! Joel-” Etho cried out whilst joining Joel in his giggly state, “-what do you think you’re doing?!”
This only made Joel laugh harder, and once again he swooped his hand through the mud, causing it to shoot upwards onto Etho.
“Oh! Okay, I see how it is Joel” With that Etho abandoned his resource gathering and changed his focus to joining Joel is this mud war he had began. For hours the two played together, Etho only stopping them once he realised just how messy the two had gotten. So, with a promise of some snacks and a movie once they returned home, Joel was convinced to start heading back with Etho.
By the time they had reached Etho’s base, Joel was exhausted and leaning heavily against Etho’s side. Quickly Etho had sat Joel down on his sofa, but knowing he couldn’t leave Joel in the dirty state that he was, he quickly ran to another room and ran him a bubble bath.
Surprisingly Joel made no protest to getting in, and with that Etho left him to sort himself out. Joel really did enjoy the bubble bath, at his base he only knew how to install showers so on the rare instances he had someone else put in a bath for him, he often found himself scared of breaking it, hence never getting to enjoy it.
Thankfully, Joel wasn’t small enough to need any assistance in washing the grime and dirt off of his body, but once he had gotten to his hair, his hands simply weren’t coordinating the way they had been; not only this but as time progressed, he was gradually getting more and more tired, wanted nothing more than to go to bed. So, he called for Etho. In only a matter of moments he was there, knelt at Joel’s side. Joel didn’t even have to say anything for Etho to understand his problem, before he was gently massaging the shampoo and conditioner into Joel’s head before rincing it out.
By the time Etho was finished, Joel was practically asleep. Quickly drying him off and getting him into some comfier clothes, Etho carried him to his bed and layed down. But, whilst walking away to leave him rest, he felt a tug at his sleeve, turning back he saw Joel, eyes barely open but looking up at him.
“Stay?”
“You want me to stay with you?”
To that Joel just tugged harder on Etho’s sleeve, pulling him closer. Giving in to Joel, Etho climbed into bed and pulled Joel into his arms. Together, they both eventually fell asleep, with not even a single of Etho’s thoughts going towards the hours of resource gathering he still would have to fulfill…
— 5 —
“Joel, get your fingers out your mouth”
“Sorry, sorry.”
“We need to go get you some proper little gear soon… Joel?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you hear me? We need to get you some gear, yeah?”
“Uhhh, yeahh Etho, sure”
“I’m being serious Joel”
“...I know, I know”
“You know there’s nothing wrong with having gear right. If anything its abnormal to have gone this long without any”
“Yes Etho I know. Do we have to talk about this right now?”
“...No, no I guess not”
With that Etho decided to leave Joel be, working on his base. He had already had this conversation with Joel a plethora of time, urging him to join him in selecting his own supplies. Etho quickly realised that Joel would likely never willingly come with him shopping for the smaller essentials, so Etho made the executive decision to just cut his loses, and follow his caregiver instincts to buy the items himself.
He tried his best to choose both a combination of both things Joel would want, and he would need. By the time he had finished his shop, he had gotten Joel everything he could need: child-safe cutlery, bibs, toys, and more. The main focus of Etho’s shop, however, had been on pacifiers.
He knew Joel needed them, both big and small. It wasn’t uncommon for the little’s on the server to use their pacifier whilst big, it tends to help them focus. Knowing Joel however, Etho doubted he’d be too happy to have a proper dummy whilst small, let alone whilst his mind was conscious enough to recognise what he was doing. So, he had made the decision to buy multiple pacifiers. One was green, Joel’s favourite colour, whilst the other was just white, Etho hoped that if the dummy lacked any special features, big Joel may be more accepting of it… He had also gotten a variety of clips, some solid colours, others with fun patterns and designs.
How Etho was going to present these new items to Joel, he had yet to figure out. He figured that maybe once Joel seems to be in a good enough mood he could just bring it up… Etho wasn’t sure, but he’d have to figure it out soon…
A few days had passed since Etho had brought all of the gear, and he had organised it all nicely into two separate shulkers, one to keep at Etho’s and the other for Joel to have at his base. He was yet to actually make Joel aware of his shopping spree he had gone on, still trying to figure out a way of handing it to Joel without upsetting him. That was when a knock on the door had dragged Etho away from his thoughts.
There at the door was the one and only Smallishbeans.
“Hey Joel, what are you doing here? Joel?” With no response, Joel just continued to look up at Etho.
“Are you feeling small bubs?” With a small nod, Etho placed his hands around Joels shoulders and brought him into the building.
The two had formed a little routine for when Joel was small, Etho would usually get Joel some food and a drink, before setting up a movie for Joel to watch as he fell asleep. It was rare for Joel to have a lot of energy whilst regressed, seeing as he only did it when he absolutely had to (Etho was STILL working on getting Joel to regress just for the sake of it), which is why they usually remained very calm and quiet whilst Joel was in little space, and today was no different. Only, once Joel had laid down and his fingers made their way back into his mouth, Etho saw his chance.
Quickly, he made his way to the shulker and got out the green paci. Joel looked back at Etho once he reentered the room, and Etho came and took a seat next to him. Gently, Etho placed his hand over Joels and pulled them out of his mouth.
“Baby, I know you may not want this, but I think it’ll help you…” and with that Etho held out the paci for Joel to see.
“No!” instantly Joel jumped off of the sofa and backed away from Etho into the wall
“No! No! No!” Joel cowered in on himself and dropped to the floor in a fit of tears. Instantly, Etho was at Joel’s side, pulling him into his lap and slowly rocking them back and forth. The two of them sat there for a long while, Etho calming him down whilst warming him up to the idea of the paci at the same time. So, with a sniffling Joel in his arms, Etho held the dummy up to Joel’s lips, urging him to accept it. And hesitantly, he did.
The two of them sat there for a while, hugging one another as Joel continued to suckle on the paci, gradually falling back to the sleep he had been so close to prior. Once Joel had entirely fell asleep, Etho picked him up, and carried up to bed. He knew Joel would likely be mad at him, once he awoke and found himself suckling on the dreaded dummy, yet that was something he’d deal with when the time came.
Etho wished he was wrong, but when the following morning the first he heard of Joel was him storming down the stairs, before shouting at Etho and throwing the dummy at him and storming off. Etho had only just managed to catch up to Joel before he flew home to his base, and somehow convinced him to hear him out, and let him explain himself. And with that, Etho led them back inside and grabbed the two shulker boxes to finally show to Joel.
This turned out to be a whole day discussion they had to have, with every piece requiring an explanation as to why Etho had brought it, and thankfully, Etho had an answer for every single thing. Whilst Joel wasn’t happy with what Etho had done, by the time the sun was setting, he understood why. This was a hurdle for Joel, something both caregiver and regressor was aware of. But with time, Joel would learn to accept his little side, eventually it grew to not be something he had to do to stay healthy, but something he wanted to do. Now his regression was not something he was ashamed of, nor something he tried to avoid doing, but an experience he thoroughly enjoyed and got to share with his friends.