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Angela is sat on the floor in Chanse’s apartment.
It's been about a year since she had made her deal with Chanse, Angela now informing him when she drops. He has come to her apartment or taken her to his a few times, but she usually spends them alone.
She doesn't tell him when she's getting closer to the day she'll be forced to regress, but she figures that at this point he can tell.
And that's where she is right now. The headaches have started again, meaning headspace is on the horizon, but still weeks away, at least ideally.
Right now she's with little Chanse. He had asked the week before if his “Aunty Angie” would come hang out with him next weekend, and she can never say no to him. Especially when he wants to spend time with her.
He’s trying to get her to play a board game with him, but as hard as she tries, she can't understand. It's co-op, which is helpful, but even with help, she's confused.
There's too many mechanics. The board is made up of constantly moving tiles, you have to move around, collecting resources without sinking as the tide rises.
She can't keep track of everything, and while Chanse is trying his best to be nice about it, she can tell he's annoyed with her
“You can't go there, it's sunken” he reminds her sassily
On a normal day, she'd laugh, and move on. But today, a drop begins to creep up on her.
“You can't go diagonal, only I can.”
She tries to push it back, not wanting to drop while Chanse is already little.
“You need four treasure cards, not three.”
She opens her mouth to warn him, and she drops.
... -- --- ... ..../.. .../--. .- -.--
Chanse can sense something is off as they start playing the game. But between being little and excited to play his new game, he ignores it.
They're about halfway through the game, and he was trying to explain how treasure works again, when Angela freezes, slamming her eyes shut.
“Angela?” He asks cautiously. “You ok?”
He gets no response, so continues.
“I'm not mad that you're bad at the game.” He adds.
Angela sniffles, and opens her eyes, tears welling as she looks at him.
“Chansey” she mumbles, clearly little.
“Shit.” Chanse swears under his breath, assuming now is a comedic enough time to swear while little.
And he's right, Angela giggles quietly.
“Hi Angie.” He says with a small wave, not knowing what to do.
She tilts her head, but waves back. “Chansey.”
“You ok?” He asks helplessly
She shakes her head, pulling her knees to her chest.
“I don't know what to do,” Chanse says sadly, frustrated with himself. “Wanna, um, play?”
Angela shakes her head, slowly rocking herself back and forth.
Chanse tries to think of what he likes when he's upset.
“Want candy?” he asks hopefully, and she perks up.
“Candy?” She repeats, pulling herself up on her knees.
Chanse cheers. “I got so much candy we can eat.” He says excitedly, hopping to his feet.
He holds his hand out to Angela and she grabs it, pulling herself to her feet.
The two run into the kitchen, and Chanse opens up a cabinet, pulling out a bag of mixed fun-size candy.
He hands it to Angela. “Can you hold it for me while I get water?” He asks, already walking away to grab two water bottles.
He walks back before looking between Angela and the water.
“Straw” he mumbles under his breath, turning back around.
The baby can’t drink out of a water bottle like that, she'll spill. He thinks to himself.
So he starts looking around his kitchen, leaving the cabinets and drawers open, until he finally finds a cup with a lid and straw.
He turns back to Angela to find her sitting on the floor, candy now open, eating a Reese's.
He grins at her. “Candy!” he cheers, skipping back over to her.
She cheers back, putting another piece of candy in her mouth.
He carefully pours the water bottle into the cup, spilling it on the floor, but deciding that's an adult problem and ignoring it.
He reaches for her hand again. “Candy and movie." he says excitedly.
She grabs his hand and follows him back to the living room.
The two sit on the couch and Chanse grabs the remote.
“Baby wanna pick the movie?” He asks sweetly
She whines at him. “No baby.”
He huffs, not agreeing with her, but knowing better than to argue with a baby.
“Angie wanna pick the movie?” He tries again
She hums, eating another piece of candy. “Into unknown?” She asks hopefully
Chanse easily complies, starting Frozen 2.
The two watch the movie loudly. Singing along, cheering, and laughing. Eating way more candy than Chanse has ever been allowed to while little.
The movie ends, and the two are surrounded by candy wrappers, giggling at each other. Both clearly full of energy after eating almost an entire bag of candy.
“Let's play a game!” Chase shouts excitedly, hopping off the couch, and running to where he keeps his board games to find the perfect game.
Angela also jumps off the couch, but just runs in circles around the table.
Chanse runs back with a game under his arm.
“Twister.” He calls out in triumph.
Angela turns to look at him, but keeps running, tripping on the couch and falling into it.
Time stops
Chanse freezes, waiting for Angela to react, but she doesn't make a sound.
He walks up to her slowly. “That was funny.” He says quietly, letting out a small laugh.
She looks up at him, she has tears in her eyes, but slowly smiles as she sees that he thought it was funny.
The two erupt into giggles, Chanse falling onto the couch next to her while laughing. They cling to each other, as they both slowly calm down.
When Chanse goes to sit up, she holds him down.
“Cuddle?” She asks shyly.
He grins at her, and pulls her towards himself. The two of them lying on the couch next to each other.
She buries her face in his chest and sighs. He kisses her head.
“You tired Angie?” He asks knowingly
She nods and he laughs quietly. It was funny how fast she went from running to sleepy.
He stretches and grabs the remote, before grabbing his phone from his pocket, placing both next to him, so he has them without moving Angela while she's asleep.
And within a couple minutes, she is asleep.
Chanse has to decide what to do.
He's not supposed to be alone and little like this. That’s why Angela is here, but now she's little too.
And her being a little is technically a secret, so he can't tell anyone, but he also doesn't wanna get in trouble for being alone and not telling anyone.
He tries to think of who's most likely to let him get away with this, but is also able to back him up.
Patrick
He's close with Angela, and a caregiver. He's also laid back, especially about Chanse. Trusting him to make good choices as a “big boy”.
He texts Patrick.
Chanse: little
no one available
telling you
safe
He puts his phone down, turning to the tv, and putting on “Treasure Planet”.
A third through the movies he gets a response from Patrick
Patrick: i’m working but thanks for the heads up
call and i'll get over there
Chanse: 👍
He sighs in relief, tossing his phone and turning back to his movie.
He finishes the movie, and gets halfway through “Big Hero 6” when Angela wakes up.
She blinks up at him sleepily, and he smiles at her. “Still a baby?” He asks curiously and she pouts at him.
“No baby” she reminds him petulantly.
He pats her head. “Not a baby.” He agrees to placate her.
She sits up and turns to the movie, instantly becoming absorbed.
The movie ends and Chanse looks over at her.
“Wanna play?” He asks and she nods, crawling off the couch.
“I'm gonna grab toys. I'll be back!” He yells running out to his room.
He grabs his bin of dolls and action figures from his closet, swiping his stuffed turtle off the bed for Angela.
Chanse re-enters the living room, Angela waiting for him sitting in the middle of the floor.
He hands her his turtle and she beams at him. “Turtle!” She yells excitedly, clutching it to her chest.
The two dump out the bin on the floor, and Chanse starts explaining the game to Angela. He knows she won't really understand, but wants her to feel included anyway.
The two commence in an epic battle of swords and song, the Autobots and Barbies against the superheroes and Bratz.
Chanse directs Angela through the game, happy to have such an excited little participant in his game. Angela follows along excitedly, laughing the whole time.
They play for hours until Chanse's stomach rumbles.
He scrambles over to his phone. It's 9:00 and he hasn't had dinner yet. It's almost his bed time too.
He groans. “We forgot dinner, Angie.”
She pouts at him, pointing at all the trash on the couch. “Candy” she reminds him.
He shakes his head, handing over her water so she'll drink.
“Gotta eat real food.” He recites solemnly, something he's been told by lots of caregivers in the past.
He huffs, there's not enough time to order anything, and he's not supposed to cook.
“What do you want?” He asks curiously
She blinks at him. “No hungry.” She responds immediately.
He tries again. “What should I eat?”
Angela tilts her head in thought. “PBJ”
“I think I can do that!” He says excitedly, opening his phone again.
Chanse: use butter knife to make pbj?
He texts Patrick, hoping he'll respond quickly. He leads Angela to the kitchen, where she sits in the doorway, cuddling his turtle.
After collecting the ingredients he gets a response from Patrick
Patrick: be careful
Chanse: 👍
“Sandwich time” he cheers, carefully making three sandwiches.
They're messy, but they're as good as they're gonna get. He cuts them into uneven quarters and puts them at the dinner table on one plate.
He sits in a chair and Angela copies him. He begins eating, rambling about their game earlier.
The two talk and laugh through the meal. Angela eating about half a sandwich, copying Chanse and not even realizing.
Both done eating he pulls Angela to the sink where he clumsily cleans her hands and face.
She pouts at him, squirming unhappily. When he's done, she swipes the towel from him and wipes his hands and face. He lets her, even though he’s clean, wanting her to be happy.
He decides to ignore the mess in the kitchen, as it's an adult problem, and grabs Angela's hand again.
“Bedtime soon” he says, leading her to his room. He digs through his clothes and pulls out normal shorts and a shirt, knowing his Auntie will be upset if she wakes up in his little pjs.
He hands them to her and points at the bathroom. “You can get ready first.”
He watches her close the door and he picks out his own pajamas, long sleeve Avatar ones.
The two switch places, and he climbs into his bed next to her. She crawls into his arms, holding his turtle in hers.
“It was nice to play like this.” Chanse murmurs, closing his eyes.
“Yeah” Angela mumbles. “Love Chansey”
He squeezes her. “Love you too, Angie.”
The two cuddle and slowly fall asleep in each other's arms.
... -- --- ... ..../.. .../--. .- -.--
Angela wakes up well rested in Chanse’s arms.
She sighs.
Well rested, in Chanse’s arms, and holding his stuffed turtle means she regressed.
“Shit.” she murmurs.
Chanse had been little, and she had also dropped. That was very irresponsible of her, someone could hav-
Before she could spiral, Chanse chimed in.
“I can hear your thoughts bitch, be quiet.” he grumbles, looking down at her.
“I’m so sorry, Chanse.” she whispers, looking up to look in his eyes.
He rolls his eyes. “Accidents happen, and I had a great time.” he says easily. “Besides, I texted Patrick, so we were “supervised””. He says with air-quotes
“Did you-” she starts, but he cuts her off.
“I didn’t tell him.” He reassures, “Just that I was unsupervised and no one was available. He even said I could use that knife.”
At that his smile drops. “We left my apartment a fucking mess didn’t we?”
Angela laughs, “Don’t ask me, I was just following you.”
He shoves her, “You better help me clean, bitch.”
She rolls her eyes, “I doubt it’s that bad.” she jokes.
... -- --- ... ..../.. .../--. .- -.--
The two walk into the living room to dolls and action figures covering the floor. The Twister box half opened next to the couch, and Forbidden Island’s pieces everywhere. And all over the couch and everything else were tiny candy wrappers.
They look at each other.
“It is that bad.” Angela jokes, and Chanse rolls his eyes.
“I’ll start cleaning, you go grab a trash bag.” Angela says, walking over to the dolls to begin putting them away as Chanse heads to the kitchen.
She hears him swear. “How is it worse in here?” he calls out faux-annoyed.
Angela laughs, glad she has a friend as amazing as Chanse