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The day started as usual. Breakfast, school, getting home. He waited boredly in his room, procrastinating on his homework. It wasn’t too tricky, and it wasn’t too long, so he could wait a little. He didn’t know when he and Egg were going to hangout this afternoon.
Normally they hung out around four, and just stayed together until they had to leave for dinner. They normally gave them a good hour or two. But right now it is only about three-twenty, so Wemmbu wasn’t very sure.
He was conscious of both of his parents being home. But in poor moods, however. He never liked when that happened. It led to arguments that were usually really loud, and it meant he just had to hide in his room and wait until it ended. Which could be a few minutes or a few hours.
When that happened he either snuck out the window and went to Egg’s, or he just called his best friend. Wemmbu hoped he wouldn’t need to do either.
And yet a mere thirty-four minutes later he could already hear his mother and father talking. Quiet stern words that he had learned would turn into an argument soon enough. And soon enough indeed, as he could hear the voices rising.
Wemmbu just made sure to lock his door and stay in his bed, phone on the nightstand next to him. He grabbed it, opened his contacts and looked for Egg’s. He pressed call with barely any hesitation. And so Wemmbu waited, listening to the quiet ringing.
And he waited.
He waited.
He waited for what felt like too long but was really only eight seconds.
“Wemmbu?” Came Egg’s voice once he finally picked up.
All Wemmbu could do was hum, letting his friend know he was there.
Everything felt too.. It felt too much.
His parents were having a shouting match, the fabric of his clothes were beginning to feel too tight and rough, the clock on the wall quietly ticked as minutes passed by, and his window was slightly cracked open which was letting in the sounds of birds chirping and frogs croaking.
It wasn’t predictable.
It was too irregular.
It was getting too overwhelming.
He tapped a button that way Egg was on speaker phone. Wemmbu didn’t feel like holding his phone right now- it felt too wrong in his hands. Everything just felt too wrong and he had no clue how to fix it. It was bothering him.
“What’s up?” Egg queried. He sounded casual, though there was that normal hint of worry on the edges of his words.
“Arguing again,” Wemmbu said quietly. It took a lot to not accidently slur his words.
“..Okay,” Egg said. “Do you want to come over, or just stay on call?”
“I dunno,” he murmured.
He wanted Egg with him. He wanted to feel his best friend’s arms around him in a hug, or his hands braiding his hair, or just feel how the mattress pressed further down with the weight of two bodies instead of just one.
But if Wemmbu moved it made him uncomfortable again.
It made him feel even more wrong.
He didn’t like that.
“I mean, I could try to get there. But I don’t know how I’d climb through your window, given how high up it is,” Egg said.
“Mn..” Was all Wemmbu could manage.
Was he slipping?
Kinda felt like it.
He flinched as he heard mum yell louder.
He moved to the corner of his bed, further away from the door. He might have flinched again as his bed quietly creaked.
“Oh damn, even I heard that one-” Egg grimaced. “Okay, uh.. Let’s see..”
Wemmbu just shuffled more. He couldn’t find a comfortable position, and when he did he was too cold. But then when he grabbed a soft blanket he had to shuffle all over again. He didn’t like it. He wanted Egg.
“Want me to just talk or something?” Egg asked.
Wemmbu didn’t respond.
His brain was cataloguing everything. Every noise, every movement, every-.. Everything. In similar short words that cut each other off and jumped around to be seen more. Words repeated a few times, sometimes his thoughts shut off for a brief moment before he went back to listing what was happening.
“Wemmbu?”
“Hm?”
“You alright?”
Wemmbu shook his head no, forgetting that Egg wasn’t there. He paused, for some reason feeling way too guilty and scared about that. Egg wasn’t here. Well he was on the phone but he wasn’t in the room. Wemmbu didn’t like that.
“Wemmbu, talk to me man, what’s going on?”
“Don’t call me that,” Wemmbu whined quietly.
“What-?” Egg said, confused. And then, “Oh.. Oh.”
He unconsciously moved the blanket to be more around him.
He didn’t like that tone from Egg. It sounded too far away and too much like realization and Wemmbu wanted to hear different words and a different tone. He wanted Egg to be with him, but not through the phone.
“Wemmbu,” Egg said, his voice sounding softer (Wemmbu liked that tone more), “are you slipping?”
Wemmbu paused. He started to nod. Only to once again be reminded that Egg wasn’t here and couldn’t see him. “..Mhm,” was all Wemmbu could manage in the end. His eyes were starting to burn and he didn’t like it. Why couldn’t Egg be here?
“Alright- uhm.. You’re in your room, right?”
“Mhm.”
“Okay. That’s good,” Egg breathed.
“..Stay?” Wemmbu whispered. His voice cracked slightly at the end.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Egg said.
“So.. stay-?” Wemmbu murmured, confused. That wasn’t a yes or no. Wemmbu was too confused by all the words to a one word answer question.
“Yes,” Egg lightly chuckled. “I’m staying.”
“..Thanks,” Wemmbu said quietly. So soft he barely heard it himself.
He flinched again at another raise of voice, this time from dad. He winced at it, anxiety picking at his skin.
“Just listen to me, alright?” Egg said. His voice was gentle and grounding. “ Do what you feel comfortable doing as long as you’re in your room, alright? You’re safe in there. Just stay in there until you’re back to usual, okay?”
Wemmbu paused, rolling the words around in his brain. At some point, as the yelling got even louder, he just curled in on himself. He shuffled all the blankets so they were in the corner, and he could just be surrounded by them. It was.. Nice. He liked it. He would like it more if Egg was here, but this would be okay.
Egg talked through the phone every now and then. About random things. Just to distract Wemmbu from how mad his parents were. He liked not paying attention to mum and dad talking all loud. He liked listening to Egg. Egg felt safe.
~~~
“Wemmbu?” Someone called softly. Wemmbu opened his eyes groggily. He still felt too small. And he could feel a hand gently resting on his shoulder.
He blinked a few times before looking up. He was scared he would see mum or dad. Instead, he saw Egg. He perked up at that. Well, as much as he could when he was still sleepy. He watched tiredly as Egg moved to sit on the bed, close to Wemmbu but not too close. Wemmbu liked that.
“You’re all sleepy, aren’t you?” Egg smiled softly.
“Mhm,” Wemmbu murmured. His eyelids felt all weird and heavy. He didn’t know if he felt more awake or more tired now that Egg was here.
Egg let out a small sigh. “Alright, come ‘ere,” Egg said with a roll of his eyes. Wemmbu happily shuffled closer, eventually opting to just fall into the arms that had moved to be offering a hug. He liked Egg’s hugs. They were always nice to stay in.
“Comfy?” Egg asked once Wemmbu mostly stopped moving.
“Comfy,” Wemmbu answered, nuzzling more into Egg’s shoulder.
“You’re so clingy,” Egg snorted.
Wemmbu pouted in response.
“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing!” Egg defended himself. “Just stating the facts.”
“You make it sound like bad thing,” Wemmbu huffed. He still slumped more into Egg, though. Egg merely shrugged as an apology, which Wemmbu whined at. “Stop moving!”
“Sheesh, sorry,” Egg muttered, though there was no heat to it.
It was quiet for a few moments. Wemmbu would not like it more if Egg wasn’t here. But Egg was here, so it was okay. He liked that Egg made things okay. Wemmbu closed his eyes again, sinking into the coolness. He didn’t mind the coolness when it was Egg.
“Quite the nest you set up, huh?” Egg hummed.
“Shut’up,” Wemmbu murmured drowsily. “I’m sleepy..”
“Alright, alright, I’ll be quiet,” Egg lightly snickered. “I am moving though, because this wall is not comfortable to be leaning again.”
And move Egg did. He just went to lay down, honestly. Which forced Wemmbu to move as well, as he was clinging to Egg the entire time. It was a little tricky considering Wemmbu was only an inch or two shorter than Egg, rather than the small child he was regressed as.
It didn’t matter in the end, though, as Wemmbu naturally curled up to be smaller. They were both laid on their side, Wemmbu’s head resting beneath Egg’s chin. Egg wasn’t entirely sure if his best friend was asleep already or not. Judging on how his breath was evening out, though, he was drifting toward it.
Part of Egg didn’t want Wemmbu to fall asleep. He wanted to try and figure out how old Wemmbu was right now- as this had only happened twice before (the second time wasn’t even with Egg). Egg was also worried that one of Wemmbu’s parents would knock on the door, and would notice that the door was locked. (Egg did that to try and give him and Wemmbu more time to look presentable).
Another part of Egg also knew that Wemmbu should probably sleep. It would calm him down, he would likely be back to normal by the time he woke up, and it would just let him recover from whatever had caused the regressing in the first place. (Egg had a good idea that it was from his parents arguing and overstimulation.)
In the end Egg listened to the second part of his thoughts. They were both comfortable right now anyways, and Egg kind of doubted Wemmbu’s parents would be bothered to check on them.
So Egg just laid there, listening to Wemmbu’s even breathing, as he himself tried to not fall asleep.