I'll Never Be Little

Entering the class, I did a double-take, immediately hating everything about the room. Everything was way too bright, there were soft things everywhere like plushies, ridiculous pillows and- wait WAS THAT A CRIB?

I just wanted to back out, but then I heard behind me,

"Hey, some of us actually want to get to class. Move it, squirt." And so I did. Didn't need a beatdown to add to my day.

I just sat down on the ground as far away from the cribs as possible. The rest of the Caregivers joined the class, and we ended up being around 24 in total. There were going to be so many Littles....

One by one, the Littles were carried to the cribs on the other side of the room. They looked incredibly stupid, cladded in onesies. Many were asleep, but some were awake, clinging on for dear life or cuddling for comfort. I wanted to puke.

After they were placed, a woman who looked like she was in her early-thirties went to the front of the class.

"Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Ms Andreas, your new Caregiving/Littles 101 teacher. I bet all of you are going to have an amazing time here," she said in an overly sweet voice.

I sighed and put my head on my knees. I was going to go insane from all this nonsense.

"Now, the Caregivers, I want you to bond with a Little.  This could be through just talking if some of you are shy, but the best way to bond is through touch. Please go to each crib and find the one that's in your age range who you feel suits you," she said.

Age...range? What was... Oh, I never looked at my packages. I'll probably look at the one on the stupid Little sheet later.

I took out the one for Caregiving and checked the age range.

2 to 3 years

Yipee. Time to find another Caregiver. I approached the teacher and showed her the note the Head of Classifications wrote for me, saying that I needed to work with another Caregiver.

"Oh, that's fine, honey. What's your age range and name?"

"2 to 3 years, Alexander Lowry," I grumbled.

"Oh darling, that's no attitude to have in this room. Remember, you want your precious Little to feel happy, and when they do, so will you!" She turned to everyone else. "Class, Alexander here needs another Caregiver to work with him. His age range is 2 to 3 years. Any volunteers?"

One hand went up, and it was another dude. He didn't look half bad.

"Òkay, Alexander, Gabriel over there wants to be your partner. Go join him."

I went over to him as he was beside a crib with a Little who didn't look happy at all.

"Come on, little one, don't you want a hug?" Gabriel cooed.

"No! I shouldn't even be here! I'm not a Little," he growled.

Oh, I feel you, man. I feel you.

"Now, now darling," Gabriel cooed in that stupid voice again, "you shouldn't fight your Little side. It's actually really fun when you embrace it."

"You can go embrace your mother if you want to, but I'm not doing that. I'm getting out of this damn crib."

I laughed at what he said as he tried to get out of his crib, standing up and putting his leg over the side. He looked over at me curiously before going back to what he was doing. Gabriel tsked and placed his arms under the Little's armpits to place him back into the crib. The Little, clearly didn't appreciate that and punched him in the face.