Chapter Text
Angela is sitting wedged into Amanda's side on her couch with Courtney and Shayne on the other side.
She has relented to Courtney’s begging, and agreed to a playdate.
And she's excited! Really excited! But Courtney is the second little she's ever going to play with while little, and she's never been purposely little in front of either of them.
She's scared, but she's brave. So the four are sitting on the couch, making sure Angela is sure of everything before they both regress.
Angela looks down at her outfit, a pair of overalls she'd actually gotten herself and her Spud Hut shirt. They're not specifically little clothes, but the overalls are corduroy, so they're soft enough to be comfortable while little, same with the Spud Hut shirt.
She looks over at Courtney and smiles. Despite getting dressed while big like she did, it's clear they know their littleself well, and don't care what they wear. They're wearing soft looking green camo shorts, and a big blue sweatshirt covered in animals wearing bows. It doesn't match at all, and Angela loves it.
She pulls her attention back to the people around her. “Sorry” she mumbles, “zoned out”
Amanda rubs her back. “That's ok.” She reassures and Shayne nods.
“If you want to reschedule, we can.” He reminds her and she shakes her head.
“No, I want to.” She assures him, standing up.
Amanda stands and smiles at her. “We'll go to Ang’s room and come back when she's ready.” She explains and the two on the couch agree, Courtney crawling into Shayne's lap.
“See you later!” Courtney calls after them, curling into Shayne's chest to regress.
.-/... --- ..- .-.. -- .- - ./-.-. .- -./-... ./.-/..-. .-. .. . -. -..
Angela blinks back to consciousness cradled in Amanda's arms.
“Mama” she murmurs happily, reaching for the caregivers face.
Amanda smiles at her, pretending to nibble on her fingers. Angela erupts into giggles, burying her face in Amanda's chest.
Amanda laughs, rubbing the girls back. “Hi sweetheart.” She coos “are you excited?”
Angela pulls her head back and nods. “Scared excited.” She explains, and Amanda smoothes her hair back.
“It's ok to be scared, but you're gonna have so much fun with Court.” She assures her, placing the girl's three stuffed animals into her arms.
Amanda picks her up and opens her little drawer. “Paci or microphone?” She asks and Angela blushes lightly
“Micaphone please.” She answers and Amanda clips it to her shirt. She brings it to her mouth and chews on it. “Mama? Too little?” She asks concerned
It takes a couple seconds, but Amanda understands the question. “You're not too little honey. You two have overlapping age ranges, and Chanse is older and he's your best friend.” She reminds her.
Angela nods, “Ready” she announces and Amanda kisses her temple.
“If you need a break you tell mama, ok?” She says as she opens the door and Angela nods.
They re-enter the living room to see Courtney giggling as Shayne pretends to drop them from his lap.
Angela wiggles to get down and Amanda places her on the ground. She slowly walks over to Courtney who's sitting in Shayne's lap watching her.
She places her stuffed animals with Spork and turns to the couple. Both of their eyes fall on her and she squeaks, scrambling backwards to hide behind Amanda.
Amanda picks her up and she buries her face in her neck as Amanda rubs her back.
Shayne stands, pulling Courtney up in his arms and they rest their head on his shoulder. He walks to stand closer to Amanda, but far enough for Angela to not feel crowded.
“Can you wave hi for me, Court?” he asks and they do without issue. Angela peeks her head out and shyly waves back.
Courtney grins at her and she shyly smiles back. “Hi Angie” they whisper “Excited to play with you.”
Angela nods “excited play.” she whispers back.
They hold their hand out and Angela cautiously takes it.
They beam up at Shayne. “Papa look,” they whisper excitedly and he kisses their forehead.
“You’re so excited, huh?” he murmurs, and they nod rapidly
“Getta play with Angie,” they whisper loudly, and he rubs their back slowly in an attempt to keep them from getting too excited.
Angela squeezes their hand, and they snap their attention to her, a huge smile still on their face. “Like marble?” she asks shyly and Courtney squeezes her hand back.
“The cool tracks?” they ask excitedly and Angela nods.
They look up at Shayne. “Papa! Ang has marble racers!” they tell him excitedly before turning back to Angela, “Always wanted to try marble racing.” they explain.
“Down?” Angela asks Amanda softly and she lowers her to the ground. Shayne copies her, and the two littles stand on the ground holding hands, facing each other.
Angela shyly drops their hand, and toddles over to her toy box. She grabs her bin of marble tracks and heads back to Courtney, dropping it in front of them. She sits down and Courtney copies her. Ripping off the lid, she dumps the bin on the floor, causing Courtney to giggle.
She smiles shyly, and grabs a track piece, handing it to them. “Build, race, destroy, then again.” she explains and Courtney nods.
“We gonna build a big one together?” they ask excitedly and Angela nods.
Courtney waits for Angela to tell them what to do while Angela waits for the same thing.
Amanda laughs, and everyone turns to her. “I’m guessing you asked them to try to let Angela lead?” she asks Shayne and Courtney answers for him.
“Papa said to let Angie lead cuz it’s her toys and she’s nervous.” she explains and Shayne pats her head lovingly.
“That’s very sweet,” she coos, crouching down between the two littles. “Ang actually enjoys following instructions, don’t you baby?” Angela nods, leaning into Amanda’s touch as she runs a hand through her hair.
“She’s only played with Chanse, and you know how he is,” she jokes and Courtney nods.
“Bossy, but nice bossy.” she answers, causing both adults to chuckle.
Amanda nods in agreement, “So just be yourself Court,” she reassures them, rubbing their shoulder.
Courtney nods and Amanda stands up, and sits on the couch with Shayne, both falling into a conversation in an attempt to make the littles feel like they weren’t being watched.
The littles look at each other and Courtney looks through the parts. “Lets make it super tall!” they suggest and Angela nods excitedly.
The two start building, with Courtney directing Angela, and Angela occasionally suggesting her own ideas that Courtney happily adopts. They slowly warm up to each other as they build, Courtney chattering about random topics with Angela slowly beginning to add her own thoughts.
By the time they finish their first track, the two are having a full conversation. It’s slightly disjointed with Angela’s choppy language skills, but both are smiling and having a good time.
“Wanna show Manda and papa?” they ask and she nods, crawling over to the caregivers.
Shayne notices her first, looking down at her with a small smile. “Hi sweetheart,” he coos and she smiles shyly at him
“Shay” she mumbles “Look” she points at the very tall marble track and he makes an exaggerated sound of amazement.
“Did you two do that?” he asks her excitedly and she nods a proud smile growing on her face.
“Court idea, I help” she says proudly and he holds his hand out for a high-five. She high-fives him, and he holds his hand out to Courtney.
“Gimme some fin.” he says with a purposely bad Australian accent and they run over and high-five him, giggling.
“Noggin.” he continues, and they bump their forehead on his.
“Duuuude!” they both shout and Courtney dissolves into giggles, bouncing excitedly on their toes.
Angela looks between the two confused before turning to Amanda. “Mama like tower?” she asks curiously.
The other two make a sound of surprise at the nickname, but say nothing. Amanda grins at the little. “I think it's the tallest one you’ve ever made!” she says excitedly and Angela nods.
“Picture?” she asks and Amanda hands Angela her phone.
It’s a common occurrence now when Angela is little for her to take pictures of things she does with her toys, usually to send to Chanse.
She takes the picture and Courtney speaks up. “Wanna take picture with it?” they ask curiously.
Angela freezes, dropping the phone. She’s still never had her picture taken while little. Ever since she first told Amanda no, she’s never asked again, and Angela’s never thought about it since.
“Scary” she mumbles, leaning against Amanda's legs.
Courtney sits at Shayne's legs next to her. “Why?” they ask kindly, but confused.
“People see” she whispers and they nod in understanding.
“I used be scared about papa takin pictures cuz I didn’t want internet see, but they only for us and reaaaaaaally safe people.” they explain. “Like you.”
Angela hums, hugging Amanda’s legs. “Bad pictures before” she admits almost silently.
Courtney looks up at the two adults in alarm, clambering into Shayne’s lap for comfort.
Amanda nonverbally tells the other two to be quiet, combing her fingers through the little’s hair.
She knows it probably wasn’t Angela’s parents, because they hated having a little as a daughter, and wouldn’t want evidence of that. Which means there’s now a new entity she doesn’t know about that traumatized Angela.
“You never need to have your picture taken if you don’t want it.” Amanda promises softly, lifting the little into her lap. Angela places her ear over her heart, facing outward to be able to see Shayne and Courtney.
“I would never send a picture to anyone without your consent.” she continues, rubbing her back.
“I always ask Court before I send little pictures to anyone, even people I know will be ok.” Shayne adds quietly and Courtney nods.
“Now he takes candids, cuz I told him he can but he used to always ask before takin pictures.” they explain, resting their head on Shayne’s chest.
“Safe?” Angela asks quietly, and they all nod.
She takes a deep breath and slides out of Amanda’s arms, holding her hand out for Courtney.
They take her hand and Angela leads them to the tower. She stops next to it and looks between the tower, Courtney, and the adults, not knowing what to do next.
“What if we stand on our knees so we’re tall as the track?” they suggest quietly and Angela nods, hesitantly dropping to her knees and turning to Amanda.
Courtney copies her and Amanda picks up her phone from where Angela dropped it.
Amanda opens her phone and gives Angela a questioning look, wanting to confirm this is what she wants.
Angela nods, “Picture.” she mumbles, pulling a small smile onto her face.
Shayne makes a goofy face behind Amanda and the two littles giggle. Amanda quickly snaps a few pictures and holds the phone out to Angela.
She looks at the pictures and frowns at her teether being in the picture. “Again?” she asks, trying to pull it off.
Amanda unclips it for her. “Do you want me to delete those ones?” she asks gently and Angela nods.
She deletes them, and Angela speaks up hesitantly. “Trash please.”
Amanda looks at her confused, but Courtney understands immediately.
“Wants you to delete from trash can,” they explain and when Amanda hands them her phone, they do just that.
Angela sighs in relief with pictures gone, and the littles go back to take it again. Shayne makes another funny face and they both laugh again.
Amanda takes a few pictures and shows them to Angela, who nods in approval.
“Keep.” she says and Amanda kisses her forehead.
“You’re so brave, love” she whispers, “Mama is so proud of you.”
She smiles up at her, “Can send Court and Shay.” she says before turning to the other two holding out her pinky “No share or show” she tells them firmly and they both link their pinkies with hers.
Shayne holds his arms open, and Courtney leaps into them. He ruffles their hair and looks down at Angela. “That was for Angie you little hug hogger.” he scolds playfully and Courtney laughs, wiggling to make room for Angela.
Angela looks at him cautiously, and back at Amanda. Her caregiver nods reassuringly, so she climbs into his lap. Shayne gently hugs the two littles, and Angela melts into his arms. She’d forgotten how good at hugging he was.
The two lay contently in his arms for a couple minutes before Amanda speaks up.
“Can I take a picture?” she whispers and Angela nods, blindly grabbing Courtney's hand.
She coos and takes a picture, before moving to wrap her arms around the trio. “Feeling left out” she jokes, and the three readjust so all four are tangled together.
They all stay like this for a few minutes until the littles get restless and wiggle back to the ground.
“We never raced!” Courtney remembers suddenly, and the two rush to their track, and begin racing marbles.
The two adults watch the two littles with a smile as they cheer for their colors, quietly discussing plans for lunch.