I shuffled along outside of the glass door sullenly with my head down until I felt a familiar tap on my shoe. Glancing over, I saw that it was Darien who I was grateful for. "How was round two?" I asked this quietly and jokingly, and he just sighed in response. "It was basically the same but they tried to narrow it down to one specific topic to learn about or something..." he shrugged, looking as wiped as I felt.
"Oh, that kind of sucks." He nodded before asking how my class went. "Oh, surprisingly way better. The doms teachers don't treat us like we're stupid, but I guess it will be about the same when I have the class in the subs building." He nodded, understanding. "Well, pretty soon we will have our classes together, so I guess I'll find out..." he said this, and I looked over to notice him turning pink.
"When is that happening, by the way?" I smirked and this time looked up fully to see his reaction. "Oh. Probably in the next break actually... so pretty soon. What do they want me to do? You know, when I get there?" I hid my grin, seeing that he actually looks nervous about this.
"It's really not that much. You just have to fill out some information on your own and then with Jayden. It might take a while but it's chill. Don't stress about it too much." He nodded and seemed to calm down slightly. "Why, are you nervous or something?" It felt mean to tease him, but I wasn't really sure how else to ask him. "Uh. No. I just... idk. Ive never had like... a Dom before. I guess I wonder if it's as decent as I hope." He looked at the ground the whole time, but I got the sense that this was a deeper confession for him. "Well... as someone who knows absolutely nothing about all of this, it seems okay so far. And I'm not even comfortable with going full whatever yet. I mean... how was he last night? When you were... y'know?" I felt stupid for beating around so many bushes, but he understood thankfully. I also noticed that when I asked him about last night he seemed to pause, as if making a realization.
"Oh. I forgot about that..." he scratched the back of his head and looked embarrassed, and suddenly I regretted bringing it up. "Well, from my perspective it looked like Jayden was really happy about it..." I was still looking at him as he snapped his head up, looking back at me before asking the inevitable; "he did??"
I smiled and nodded, trying to remember details. "Yeah. If I'm being honest, I got the idea he did it on purpose." By this point I was grinning, and Darien's eyes widened, with him almost stopping in his tracks completely.
"Shit, of course he did. Fucking bitch." He roughly ran his hands over his face, looking both embarrassed and frustrated. "Well, I think Ezra kind of did too... I don't know. You seemed happy though. I think I was..." I blushed, realizing I probably shouldn't have thought that out loud and this time Darien shot a small look at me, looking almost surprised. I quickly turned my head away, pretending I didn't say anything.
"Hold up... you were happy... because of me?" I turned back and saw him smirking, but almost... in a heartfelt way? "No. Forget I said anything." I quickly scrambled to erase my statement, wishing I had out more thought into my words before embarrassing myself.
"Uh-huh... sure." He let it go, and I was grateful. We walked in silence the rest of the way over tot the treatment buildings, with us being split into the same group this time for group therapy. This time we had a very tall man with a grey mustache lead us back, and after entering he told us that his name was Mr. Ross.
I wasn't looking forward to this next hour and a half, but this time he wanted to do something different and instead asked us about our thoughts on being littles. Most of the other girls and boys suddenly turned quite sheepish, some blushing visibly. "Hm, no takers? Can we have someone to start us off? You don't have to talk if you don't want to, but I would greatly encourage it seeing as though this is something you are all going through together right now. I think it would be helpful to hear more about what others are feeling during this time, maybe to feel less isolated?" Everyone sat silently, glancing around seeming to take this into consideration. I, for one, was actually intrigued to hear someone else. Surely it's not just me that's embarrassed to actually be trying this stuff?
After a few moments, a girl cleared her throat and everyone turned to look at her. "Um... yeah I guess before I came here I had heard about this sort of thing before and I thought it was weird... but now I don't know. It feels... strange. I guess." She shrugged this answer, with her blonde hair bouncing on her shoulders. A few kids nodded, everyone seeming to be thinking the same things. Except for the kids who were already littles, of course.
"Well, I mean, I already knew before I got here. I started a couple years ago and I think it's helped a lot. My mom knows, and she heard about this place and got me in." A short boy with black spiky hair and black clothes spoke this time, his necklaces clinking together quietly.
I continued to look at him, wishing I could ask more. If I was going to do this, I wanted to ask another experienced little. I glanced at Darien and made a mental note to talk about it later.
"That's good. That's always the goal here, to use these roles as healthy outlets for our more complicated feelings. Anyone here who's regressed before, can you maybe share how it makes you feel? When you're younger?" Mr. Ross made this a lot easier with his questions, and I found myself looking around hoping to hear an answer.
To my surprise, Darien was the one who spoke this time. "Uh... I guess... it makes things feel simpler... or... like cloudy. In a good way. It's kind of like being... never mind." He began to say something, but then glanced up at Mr. Ross and changed his mind. "But it's sort of a positive reliving how things used to feel. If that makes sense." He kept his face blank, and I was watching him the whole time. I got the sense that he didn't like being a little, so it was interesting to hear him speak about it.
"That's good. I like that. I would say most littles describe having the same experience. Would anyone else like to share?"
The rest of the time continued with people speaking of their experiences and fears and if they're new and if they want to try it and everything. I was surprisingly enlightened and even though I didn't say anything, I'm glad I got to hear what was said. The more I heard, the more I felt inclined to do this.