A Small Feeling

When Chloe woke up from her nap a few hours later, Red was still holding her, looking at something on her phone. The disoriented girl noticed her thumb had made its way to her mouth while she was asleep and hastily pulled it out and wiped it on her shirt.

Fragments of what had happened earlier came flooding to her mind, as whenever she was little-which wasn't often-she never fully remembered whatever happened while she was. Still, it was enough to piece together that she'd dropped in front of Red, and her best friend knew her biggest secret. Well, one of them.

At least, it was a secret to everyone at school. She had nothing against being a Little, and she often regressed when she was at home and let her family take care of her. But she kept it from everyone she knew at school not because she was afraid of what they'd think of her, but because all her Little friends had trauma and big reasons to need to cope, meanwhile she just had a bit of stress and anxiety. Now she didn't believe anyone needed a reason to be Little, but she figured that hers needed to be more severe to matter since others had bigger problems.

So she bottled it up until she was home. And wanting to help take care of her other Little friends came naturally to her since she liked being helpful. She just had to be careful not to let them trigger her own headspace.

Jolting back to the present, Chloe noticed she had a pounding headache, which usually happened when she dropped so abruptly. Red noticed the movement and smiled softly at her, which did nothing to help the fuzziness at the edges of her mind that came from being between headspaces after a drop.

"Hey princess." Red said, her voice on the quieter side as she reached over to smooth the furrow between Chloe's brows. She had made that a habit once she noticed Chloe did it whenever she had a headache.

"Hi, mmmmotherfucker." Chloe stuttered, unsure why she was about to call Red Mama but not about to let it happen. Even going against her reservations on cursing unless in an extremely appropriate situation where she needs to get her point across.

"Really? I take care of you and you call me Mama only to be called a motherfucker hours later? What am I, chopped liver?"

"I did what?!"

Red giggled at Chloe's mortified face. "I know, I felt so special! Anyway, I think we need to talk."

Chloe paled. "I.. um-"

"-If you want to. If you're comfortable." The redhead quickly followed up with.

Chloe sighed and snuggled closer to Red, laying her head on her chest and ignoring how it made warmth spread throughout her body. "No I.. I think I need this."

Red stayed quiet a moment longer, giving her the chance to back out, and then started rubbing her hand up and down Chloe's back. "Why?"

"Wh- Huh?" Chloe sputtered in confusion.

"Why'd you hide being a Little from me? From everyone?"

"Oh. I.. It's just- I don't know. Well, no that's a lie. Most Littles I know have trauma and real reasons to need to cope by being little and stuff, meanwhile I just get a little in my head. Not that anyone needs a reason to be little! I also know plenty of Littles who are perfectly fine but just are Little anyway. I just-"

"Feel like you need a reason?" Red questioned.

Chloe took a deep breath in before confirming. "Yeah."

"Welp, that's crazy talk. Everyone is different Chloe, and just because other people have quote unquote 'reasons to need to cope' doesn't mean yours are any less significant. Second of all, you don't just get 'a little' in your head, you get very stressed out and anxious over things, so don't try to downplay it. But anyway you don't need a reason to be a Little. You just are. And that's okay, And your reasons are valid. Okay?"

Chloe was teary-eyed by the time Red was done, so she just buried her face in Red's neck and nodded.

"No, I need you to use your words Chlo." Red said firmly.

Chloe giggled, the sound lighter than it had been in awhile. "Okay, Red."

"There you go. Now, you've been the mischievous one lately, hiding your classification from people. Clocks, I don't even know how you managed to fool the staff. So we're gonna get you something for your headache and then go talk to Uma." The caregiver told her.

"Okay, but um, Red?" The bluenette looked up at her, suddenly sounding a bit shy.

"Hm? What's up Boo?"

"I uh, I've thought about this before a few times but never said anything since y'know I was hiding being a Little from you but since you know I want to bring it up and you like totally don't have to actually nevermi-"

Red cut her off with a knowing smirk. "You want me to be your caregiver?"

Chloe's cheeks flushed and she started tracing nervous patterns on Red's stomach. "Mhm.."

"Good, because I want you too." Red's face almost matched her namesake as blood rushed to it at once. "I mean as a Little! Geez I meant I want you to be my little. I.. I'm gonna shut up."

Chloe giggled, her eyes the slightest bit unfocused, as she sat up with Red following suit. The rebel reached into her bedside drawer and grabbed some medicine that would ease Chloe's headache, then forced her to drink some awful tasting syrup.

"Das fuckin' bad." Chloe lisped, her face scrunching up despite her headache immediately feeling ten times better and her hands batting the spoon away even though she already took the medicine.

Red flicked her shoulder and stood, her hands on her hips. "No swearing little missy, only I can do that when you're little."

"'m not widdle!" Chloe whined, then caught herself. "Oh."

Red's eyes crinkled in the corners as she grinned at the adorable Little that was Chloe Charming. "Yeah, busted. C'mon, let's go bother Uma."

"Okay!" The Little bounced off the bed and up to Red, immediately grabbing her hand and tugging her toward the door.

Red spotted Chloe's thumb back in her mouth and walked over to the Little cabinets, grabbing a plain pacifier and promising herself she'd decorate one for Chloe later since her Little deserved much more than a boring white one. Especially when she had such a bubbly personality and should have one that reflected it.

"Alright, okay I'm coming! Here you go bubbles." Red laughed, pushing the soother into Chloe's mouth and letting Chloe drag her down the hall until she stopped, looking around in confusion when she realized she didn't exactly know where Uma's office was.

Red chuckled again and led the way, not even bothering to knock as she barged into Uma's office a few minutes later. Chloe, ever the polite one even in littlespace, closed the door behind them.

"Whaddup?!" Red shouted, noting that the office was empty save for the principal currently pretending to be annoyed at her desk. The redheaded teen plopped down in a chair, her Little immediately clambering into her lap with a shy smile around her paci.

"Really Red?" Uma faked a sigh, but Red could see the slight smile on her face. She and Uma had a certain closeness after the coup and going back in time thing, which she'd spilled one night when she couldn't sleep and didn't wanna wake Chloe up. She trusted Uma, so she told her.

"Yep, there's someone you've met before but I'd like for you to meet, plus some important matters one of which questions the competency of your pirates." Red snarked.

Uma rolled her eyes and gave a real sigh this time. "What did Harry fuck up now?"

Chloe's eyes widened and Red waved her hands around for a moment as her brain shut off. Luckily, it turned back on just as quickly. "Uma! No swearing around Chloe."

Uma narrowed her eyes in a 'seriously?' sort of look. "You probably cuss a lot more around her than I-" Then she spotted Chloe's pacifier. And something clicked.

"Chloe's a Little?"

"Yeah, I just found out she'd been hiding it from everyone here and somehow fooled your crew and the other staff. Anyway I wanted to talk to you about something but first- Chloe, this is Uma."

"Uma?" The Little echoed as Red quickly caught the paci that fell out of Chloe's mouth as soon as she opened it. She then grinned and shook Red's shoulder excitedly. "'s 'ike Team Umizoomi!"

Uma chuckled and waved at her. "Hi there little one."

"Hi Umie." Chloe said with a wave back. She then took her paci from Red and put it back in her mouth, leaning her head onto the caregiver's shoulder.

"So.." The pirate gently prompted.

"Oh, right. So I wanted to ask about becoming Chloe's official caregiver." Red explained after a not at all subtle loving look at the Little.

"Swing by with an out of headspace Chloe tomorrow and I'll have the paperwork ready for you. Now go play with her or something, she looks bored." Uma shooed them off with a fond look in her eyes.

"Thanks Umie!" Red teased on her way to the door with Chloe in her arms, met with a fake scowl from the principal.

"Only little Chloe gets to call me that."

"Aw you love her already?"

"She's adorable, how can I not? Now skedadle somewhere, kid."

"Alright alright, bye." Red finally said.

Uma smiled and said bye back, then waved to Chloe who waved back over Red's shoulder.

Red snorted, catching the interaction out of the corner of her eye. "Dorks."