ʚĭɞ

THE STAYING AT ARLO'S SOON TURNED INTO A SLEEPOVER. Arlo had given me one of his marvel tops and a pair of his joggers that almost didn't fit me, of course the two teased me for it, but they cheered me back up and I couldn't thank them enough. I knew Marlene had told him everything I told them and I was happy they weren't bringing it up once more.

"No way!" Marlene shook their head, "Wanda Maximoff is the best marvel character ever!"

Arlo turned to her offended, "nu uh, I'd definitely go for Bucky or Natasha Romanoff!" I rolled my eyes at their playful banter and ate a handful of popcorn continuing to watch End Game, "Jayden, who is your favourite Marvel character?"

"Peter Quill," I say showing them my bitten lip. Marlene sits there letting out a chuckle, "like he is just a daddy." Arlo glanced at me once again, he wasn't disgusted or anything but he had that look on his face that he wanted to say something.

"Oh, yeah, like how Wanda is a total mommy!" The redhead squeals, "Arlo, I think I have a mommy kink."

Arlo and I glance at them, Arlo once again turning back to me. "Does this mean you have a daddy kink?" He asks, I shrugged my shoulders feeling a nagging feeling make my head feel fuzzy.

"Mmm, I dunno." I missed the look Arlo sent to Marlene, but I noticed how he was sending someone a message and being secretive about it. I turned my head back to the movie and again didn't realise that Marlene was also texting someone when their phone binged once Arlo looked away from his screen.

After the movie was finished I noticed how silent it had gotten between the two of them. "What's up? Did I do something wrong? Maybe say something?" I began to panic slightly.

"No! Not at all, Jay!" Marlene quickly answered, "we just wanna ask you something and you don't need to answer if it makes you uncomfortable, but we've been wondering all day and night about something."

"Sure...hit me with it." I tried to be subtle, and I nervously turned to Arlo who soon sat up.

"So, that shop that had that huge bear in front of it...it looked like a baby shop. We noticed that you seemed to be attached to it, like you liked the things you saw in the front window." He explains looking at Marlene who suddenly jumped in.

"We're not trying to jump into your privacy or whatever, but just know we have your back. I thought I also saw you come out of that place and you looked so happy, even I have never seen you so delighted like that before." They say with a smile planted upon their face.

I sat there in shock, "I know this seems so sudden with us asking you. But I've also noticed some things about you in school even though you try to hide it; which you're not very good at. You constantly bite your thumb because you itch it towards your mouth, you are very playful and childish. Then let's not forget the lisps you create in your voice and the biting at your sleeves making them wet and then whine about it." He shrugs and I sit there not really knowing what to say.

"Let's say you went into that shop and bought stuff for yourself to relax and enjoy," Marlene says. "You like it because it makes you feel safe and possibly comfortable, right?" I nodded, I knew it was probably best to out it to them, they had too many details and have witnessed things I couldn't even deny.

Taking a deep breath I looked up at them, "it's called age regression."

They both look at me to continue, but I could easily see two smiles. They didn't look at me weirdly; just looked at me like I've answered their questions for them, I sighed. "Age regression is when someone reverts to a younger state of mind; such as only a few years younger than the person's physical age or could also be much younger, into early childhood or even infancy. I wet my sleeves to stop me from slipping and bite my thumb to stop me from being putting it into my mouth." I explain, I hesitatingly look up afraid that I'll see disgust written all over their faces, but once again they looked like they were in thought but there was smiles on their faces and they began to look intrigued.

"And you like this?" I swallowed nervously with a nod. "Then I'm okay with it. I'm not going to tell you to stop, but what you do need to stop is looking at us like that, we are okay with this. We're your friends, and friends stick together and I'd like to see baby you one day." Arlo says sternly, I began to relax, I could feel happy tears come into my eyes as I smile at them.

"Oh, Jayden! Come here!" Marlene shouts as they climbed over the sheets and pulled me into a hug. I melted into it, "I'm guessing by your reaction this has gone horribly wrong before, huh?" I nod my head. I could feel the bed dip from besides us as another set of arms wrap around both Marlene and I.

"Well we aren't like whoever didn't accept you for who you are, you're always welcomed to be with us; you as you are or this little you." Arlo says from the left as Marlene who was on the right nodded and clutched us closer to them.

"I don't mind taking care of little you," they say. "I don't know about Arlo, but I'm actually pretty excited to see little you."

"Don't even get me started on this I wanna see little Jayden too." Marlene chuckles as mumbles into my ear.

"He's a big teddy bear when you get to know him, isn't he?" I could feel Arlo glaring holes into the side of Marlene's head when I began to nod.

"I'll be a teddy bear to you both," he says causing the both of us to huff. "Though to anyone I hate I'll be rude as fuck."

"Arlo!" Marlene snaps, "stop swearing in front of the baby!"

Oh hell no. We are not going into this.

"Marlene, he's fine, I swear all the time." I laugh, but the look they gave me caused me to quickly add in; "but I don't when I'm in my headspace!"

Arlo whispers into my ear, "good save." I rolled my eyes and stared at Marlene once more who had their thinking face on.

"Okay, you can when your like you are now, but not little space." They say and have her finger into Arlo's chest. "And you! If you swear around him, Arlo! I swear!"

"Okay, okay!" The boy puts his hands up, "I'll not swear around him."

"I'm creating a swear jar for baby Jay!" I snap my head towards them and gave a blank look. Can I possibly take back what I said about all of this, please?

"Ugh, stop it Marlene." Arlo groans, "you're making Jayden regret telling us this. The look on his face says everything."

Marlene turns to me and shrugs with a laugh, "okay, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to take extra precautions, I've never took care of a baby before."

"Not a baby, but a toddler." I say pointing my finger towards them, "probably makes no difference, but still." I laugh. "And you don't need to take care of me, I'm alright with doing it myself, but if you ever see me zoning out in class tap me and walk me out. That's my precaution because I can slip out of my regression quickly."

"Alright, sounds good!" Arlo says while jabbing Marlene's arm. "Marls, you good?" He asks them.

"Yeah, I'm just so happy that you told us." They say with a big grin.

I shrug nonchalantly, I knew everything was going to be a little different now and I do hope I made the right decision. Hopefully, this whole thing doesn't go wrong and the entire school knowing about it right after I told them. My heart falls to my stomach at the memory between me and an old friend once I told them and they did that to get popular. "Just – Just don't tell anyone, though."

"We won't, pinky promise." Marlene says holding up their pinky to mine and I took it. For the first time in years I felt a little happy, I gave them both a smile once Aro also connected his pinky with mine.

"Thanks for letting me know I can trust you." Their eyes met mine, "didn't go so well last time."

"Well, whoever did that was wrong and they didn't deserve you." Arlo says while getting comfortable. "You can talk to us whenever you want. Besides, who are we going to tell, we're the freaks of the school, we would gain absolutely nothing."

My heart flutters, I felt like I could just cry. These people, no my friends who I hang around with and only met since starting school...care about me. The only two besides my mom and possibly Primrose care about me. I was so thankful.

By the time we had watched some more movies and talked it was now 3am, Marlene had grown tired and we figured we could go to bed and do something later in the afternoon. We all had curled up on Arlo's bed it was King sized and all of us nearly fit, we didn't at first, but once they put me in the middle which I just saw as an excuse – everything apparently was much better. We all talked for a bit and said our good nights and I felt myself dozing off with a smile on my face; hopefully, and I mean hopefully everything goes well in the end.

• • •
Edited.

Authors Note
I understand that he's told them
right away, but honestly this was the best
thing ever to make because he can take a big step in trust and some of you may not like that but tuff. anyways, like I said big step in trust, he's very brave and I'm happy my baby is gonna be happy!

Also, you can trust them, they're not going to fall out with him or anything near the future. Again, I hate writing slow burn, so they now know haha.

I would like to thank you for your funny, supportive and thoughtful comments! They really do make my day!

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