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Peter got bored of playing ping pong alone in the rec room so he ran around the school looking for stuff to do. He tried bothering Bobby, but his roommate told Peter Bobby was in Kitty's room so he gave up on that idea. He wanted to annoy Scott, that was always fun, but Scott was busy in the Professor's office for whatever reason. Kurt was always available, though.
He ran over to his and Kurt’s room, knocking and giving enough time for Kurt to say ‘don’t come in’ or something along those lines if he was getting dressed or something, but there wasn't a response so Peter took that as the go ahead to open the door. Peter walked into their shared room, but stopped in place when he saw Kurt sitting on the floor in a onesie, playing with toys Peter didn't even know he had. Kurt froze when he saw Peter and immediately dropped everything.
“Hey, Kurt,” Peter said to his boyfriend. This was definitely out of the ordinary for the German.
Kurt didn't say anything, he just looked at Peter with his big yellow eyes and started crying.
“Oh. Oh my god. Okay,” Peter was surprised, but immediately went to Kurt to hold him. “It's okay, I'm here. Shh, it's okay.”
Kurt sat there with his arms to his sides while Peter calmed him down. Once he was calm enough to speak, the demon choked out, “Y-you’re not mad at me?”
“Of course not,” Peter stroked his hair. “Why would I ever be mad at you?”
“Because I'm like zhis,” Kurt sobbed again.
“I will never be mad at you for doing something you like,” Peter held him close again. He had absolutely no idea what was going on, but he will, without a doubt, be supportive. His boyfriend is acting weird, as if his personality completely changed, and he was baby talking, but he's still Kurt and Peter will love him no matter what. “Could you explain to me what's going on, though? Just so I understand.”
Kurt nodded. “I'm little,” he said quietly.
That cleared absolutely nothing up. “I don't–” Peter started, but decided to say something else. “That's alright,” he said softly.
“Can ve vatch a movie?” Kurt asked hopefully.
Peter smiled, “Sure. I'll go get one from the rec room. We can watch it here.”
Peter ran to the rec room and looked for movies. While he was there, and since he was alone, he called his mom.
“Peter, this better be important. You know I have lunch with my girlfriends on Saturdays.”
“Mom, I need your help,” Peter said. The panic in his voice must've come through the phone call because his mother immediately started panicking too.
“What's going on? Are you hurt? Should I call the school?”
“No! None of that! It's Kurt, I don't know what to do,” he said, looking at the Disney movies on the wall. He picked up The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh and put it back on the shelf.
“What's going on with Kurt?”
“I don't know, he's acting like a child. He said he's ‘little’. I looked up what that meant and Google said it was a term for age regression – I think that's what it was called – where the person mentally acts at a younger age. I'm looking for a cartoon to put on now, what else should I do?” Peter picked up The Little Mermaid and started walking back to his and Kurt’s room.
“Did he tell you about any of this?” She asked.
“No! I walked in on him playing with toys and he started crying,” Peter lowered his voice so people couldn't hear him through the walls as he walked back to his room. “He just asked if we could watch a movie.”
“Maybe give him a stuffed animal? Hon, I'm not sure what to do here.”
“You dealt with me when I was a kid, what did you do?”
“I’d read you bedtime stories and play with your toys with you.”
“I gotta go,” Peter said, stopping in front of his door, “thanks, mom. Bye.”
Peter hung up and walked into his room. Kurt giggled happily when he saw Peter.
“Thank you for waiting for me,” Peter said, putting the movie in and sitting on the floor next to Kurt.
Kurt climbed into his lap to watch the movie. Peter pressed play and wrapped his arms around Kurt. He felt Kurt relax in his arms and nuzzle his head into his chest. They skipped past the trailers before the movie, but Kurt paused it before the film started.
“I'll be right back,” he said before trotting off into the bathroom.
The moment the door closed, Peter ran out of the room and headed directly for Kitty's room. He knocked on the door and impatiently waited for Kitty to open it.
Kitty opened the door and greeted Peter. “Hey, Peter. What's up?”
“Do you have a stuffed animal?” Peter said, not wasting any time. He waved to Bobby while he spoke.
The question caught Kitty off guard. “Yeah, why?”
“Can I borrow it? I can't explain why, but I'll give it back. I promise. I don't have a lot of time,” he kept turning his head in the direction of his and Kurt's room.
“Um, sure?” Kitty said. She left to get a cat plush from her bed and handed it to Peter.
“Thank you!” He said before running off again. Kitty gave Bobby a confused look. He replied with a dismissive shrug saying this behavior wasn't that strange for Peter.
Peter was sitting back on the ground, now with the cat plush in his lap, when Kurt came out of the bathroom. Kurt's eyes lit up when he saw the stuffed animal and his tail swayed behind him. Kurt teleported onto Peter's lap and he squeezed the stuffy close to him.
“Be careful with that,” Peter told him. “I promised Kitty I'd return it later.”
Kurt giggled and kicked his feet, petting the cat toy. Peter turned the movie back on and Kurt laid his head back onto Peter's chest. He rubbed Kurt's back while watching the movie, occasionally looking down to check on how Kurt was doing. Halfway through the movie, Kurt was falling asleep on Peter.
He looked down at the German boy and saw big yellow eyes staring back at him. “Zhank you, Daddy,” he whispered.
That threw Peter. He knew Kurt didn't mean it in a weird way, but it was still strange. Everything that's happened today has been strange to Peter, but he's trying his best to learn. If Kurt wanted to call him that when he's little, Peter would let him. It'll just take some time to get used to.
Kurt quickly fell asleep after that. Peter decided to finish watching the movie before taking Kurt to his bed. When the movie ended, Peter picked up Kurt in a bridal carry and he heard Kurt giggle quietly. He was, albeit poorly, pretending to be asleep so Peter would carry him. Peter smiled at that and put Kurt down on his bed.
Peter tried to go get the movie and return it to the rec room, but Kurt stopped him by wrapping his tail around Peter's leg.
“Hey! You could've tripped me!” Peter scolded him gently. Kurt laughed and held the stuffed cat they were borrowing from Kitty. “I'll be right back, I just need to put the movie away. It won't even look like I'm gone,” he tried negotiating.
“Promise?” Kurt asked.
“Promise.”
Kurt held out one of his fingers, the closest one to being called a pinky finger, and made Peter pinky promise he'd be back soon. Peter flickered in and out of Kurt's sight for a moment before he was back fully.
“I told you I'd be back,” Peter said, sitting down on the bed next to Kurt.
Kurt nodded and rested his head on Peter's leg to use him as a pillow. “Her name is Candy,” Kurt said.
Peter looked down at him while he stroked Kurt's hair. “Whose?”
“Hers,” he held up the cat plush. Kurt pushed Candy's front paw so it looked like she was waving. “She says hi,” he giggled.
“Hi Candy,” Peter said. Kurt yawned and hugged Candy close to him. “Are you tired– sleepy?” He asked, remembering to try changing his language. The article he read on the Internet said he should treat Kurt as the age he's acting.
Kurt nodded. “Mhmm,” he hummed, snuggling into Peter.
“You should go to bed.”
“Nooooo,” Kurt whined. Whined. Peter had so much research to do after Kurt eventually fell asleep.
When the demon finally fell asleep after complaining for a few minutes and insisting he wasn't tired, Peter put a pillow under Kurt's head to replace his leg while he went to the computer and looked up things about age regression. Peter did as much research as he could, reading articles from psychiatrists and therapists, reading stories from other people who regress or are caregivers, and learning about things that could help someone when they’re little.
At 6:23 pm, Kurt woke up. He looked at what he was wearing and the toys he left on the floor, as well as the stuffed animal he'd never seen before in his arms and pieced together what happened. He didn't remember when he regressed, he just knew that it happened so he kept some stuff around that he thought would be comforting. Kurt panicked when he saw Peter at his computer, however.
Peter heard the bed shift and he turned around to see Kurt sitting up and staring at him. Kurt started stuttering, feeling the need to explain himself, which made Peter get up and walk over to him.
“You're alright,” Peter whispered, holding Kurt. “Are you still little?” He asked. Kurt shook his head ‘no’. “I did research for the past couple hours while you slept, can we talk about what happened?” Kurt nodded. “I'm going to move Candy out of the way, is that alright?”
“Who's Candy?” Kurt asked.
“Kitty's stuffed animal. You named her that,” Peter answered, moving Candy out from between them.
“I vas vondering vhere zhat came from,” Kurt muttered.
Peter laughed softly. “Do you not remember anything?”
Kurt shook his head. “Not usually, no.”
“Should I tell you what happened?”
“Yes, please.”
Peter explained what happened earlier that day to Kurt and Kurt nodded along, listening to him.
“I am sorry I got you involved, Peter,” Kurt apologized.
“Why?”
“My issues should not be your problem.”
“You're my boyfriend, all of you is my problem,” Peter laughed.
Kurt laughed a little at that. “Vould you be my caregiver?” He asked after a minute of silence.
“Of course. Would you like me to get you some stuffies, and maybe some children's books for me to read to you?”
Kurt nodded, embarrassed at the offer, but grateful for it.
Peter smiled. “I'll go find a nearby library tomorrow. And I'll find some stuffies I think you'd like. Or would you like to come with me and pick it out yourself?”
“Can I come vith?” Kurt asked.
“Of course,” Peter said, stroking Kurt's cheek with his thumb. Kurt leaned in to kiss him. “Do you want me to call you anything when you're little? I read online that some people like being called things.”
“Like vhat?”
“‘Prince’, ‘kiddo’, ‘buddy’, ‘little guy’, that sort of thing.”
“Can you call me Prince?”
Peter nodded, smiling. “Yes, my dear.”
“That too,” he whispered.
He nodded again. “Whatever you'd like.”