✅ My Cousin's Keeper [NaNoWriMo 2021]

140. My Girls

This bonus chapter is dedicated to Anon, with thanks again for all the support you have given me!

The first thing I saw when I got home was Ffrances lying on her back, giggling through the pacifier in her mouth. Then I realised that Tess was tickling her, while Spike giggled as well. The boy was wearing one of Tess's pinker dresses, and seemed a whole lot less threatening dressed like that. Maybe it was because I could imagine how real the hypnosis made things for him; in his mind he really was a girl. Or perhaps it was because he was willing to go so far to earn my acceptance; I couldn't imagine any of the bad boys I'd known in my youth even entertaining the possibility.

"That's such a pretty dress," I said, and the kids all laughed. Spike jumped up and did a twirl, apparently not even noticing how weird it was for a boy to be in a pretty frock. I was sure that he would make a cute girl; perhaps I could find a way to get him to stay in that headspace full-time once I'd got Tess to accept that she needed to be a baby. Maybe I could even buy him some dresses of his own, so he wasn't always borrowing hers. That could even have a couple of benefits: showing that I seemed to accept him into the family, giving him more excuses to indulge this headspace more often, giving me an opportunity to make him regress further, and reassuring Ffrances that I really had gotten over my initial distrust towards the little pervert.

For a second I imagined going round one of the big shopping centres with baby girl Spike in tow, letting all his school friends see him and knowing that they'd never take him seriously as a guy again. Or, a little cheaper and even more humiliating, taking her around the kids' clothing section of the supermarket. I could imagine it so clearly, and I wanted so much to do that. I knew Ffrances would kill me if I tried to push it; but maybe there was some way I could make it happen. But before I could think any more about it, that little fantasy brought another idea to mind, and I couldn't think about Spike anymore.

"Actually..." I said, turning to Tess, "have you picked a dress for the prom yet?"

Going shopping with my little girl was probably one of the big pleasures of being a Mommy, and I was surprised to realise that I hadn't even thought about it before. Of course, it might be hard to persuade Tess to go outside regressed; but I was sure that if I could persuade her to give it a try, it would be easy enough to make her littler and more excited through the shopping trip. I would find some dresses that look suitable for a toddler, and ask her to try them on. She would start to regress just from wearing clothes in that style, and she might not even realise; or think about how eager her little mindset was to be good for Mommy. So that would be the perfect time to ask her to drop younger.

"It's not a prom," Tess said with a laugh. "Isn't that like... a thing that only happens in the movies?"

"I don't know," Spike joined in the laughter. "I think it's like... a special kind of party for the graduating class, isn't it? The ball's probably a similar thing."

"Yeah. All the places I've lived, I don't think I've seen it mentioned. But any movie that has a high school reunion, they're talking about memories of the prom."

"Anyway, the ball isn't one, right? It's just a party to celebrate the end of the year, and an excuse to get all dressed up." Spike hesitated a second, before adding: "Adam's helping me buy a fancy suit this year! I wonder if he'll let me have a pretty dress instead."

"Aww," Tess laughed, and I couldn't tell how much she was feeling little, or how much was just playing along there. "My cutest little sister. You'll look wonderful even without a dress. Or you can borrow one of mine!"

They all seemed to be happy with the idea, and I wondered if I could make it happen. Even if they'd only said those things because Spike was regressed now and seeing herself as a little girl, maybe I could persuade them that the things said under hypnosis could be revelations of subconscious desires. I'd just have to talk them into it when Ffrances wasn't around to correct me on the details.