Joey and Roni had sat in silence for the past few minutes, both lost in thought. Joey, for the most part, was considering his options for the coming weeks. He looked out towards the street to see the familiar silver coupe that had been “assigned” to him in order to “keep him out of trouble” as his mother had said. In reality, though, JJoey knew that if he were to shrink in public, the person stationed in the car—one of his parent’s “handlers”—would immediately whisk him away to a hospital, only to be shipped off to a facility. His parents’ connections could probably even get him sent out of state, perhaps to a place like New York. Joey had heard stories during his parents’ social gatherings and online about this happening to others in similar situations, but he never really believed it would come to that. Now, it seemed all too real. “They just want to guarantee I’m never seen again” thought Joey. He sneaks a quick glance at Roni, who’s adjusting her glasses and staring at the ground. What would happen if he shrank while he’s with her? Or one of their other friends? Would they even be his friends at that point? “Roni wouldn’t turn on me” he assured himself “I’m sure my parents have given the guards a blank check that will entice most people, but not her, right?”.
Joey let his mind drift, running through scenarios of shrinking around Roni. She had a strong moral compass; he knew that much. She’d want to help, but would she try to hide him? As much as he loved Roni, the thought terrified him. If she got caught hiding an unregistered little, it wouldn’t just ruin her—it would drag her whole family down too. Joey could picture it: Roni, her sisters, her parents, all pulled from their home in cuffs because she tried to save him. The image made him feel sick. Maybe cutting ties now was the only way to keep her safe.
While Joey wrestled with his thoughts, Roni’s mind was going through every possible scenario to get Joey as her Little. She knows she doesn’t have the money to outright bribe the Calhouns into letting her keep Joey. Her parents might make a fair amount of money, but not the kind of money that would sway people like Joey’s parents. On top of that, Roni know’s she needs to convince her parents to let her keep Joey. “Aunt Lilie’s gonna have to be my ace” Roni thought solemnly, knowing her dad’s emotional attachment to his sister could be her leverage. It felt underhanded, but if it meant saving Joey, she’d do whatever it took. “But how can I save Joey?” ponders Roni. She knows that he’s right and that his parents would rather him be gone for good than be in the same area code as them once he becomes a little. Roni also agrees with not telling Johnny. He’s a good kid, and really looks up to Joey. She knows that Johnny would do everything in his power to save Joey, and that could cause issues within the family. Roni thinks back to the few times Joey was almost sent to military school for being so expressive about his beliefs regarding littles, or just arguing with his parents about his future and the future of the company in general, only for the threat to fall through due to his high grades in school and him possibly graduating early. She shudders to think of something like that actually happening to Johnny at just age 13 all because Roni told him the truth about what was going on with his older brother.
Roni turned to Joey, breaking the silence. “You said your parents have been keeping you away from the house? How have you been surviving? Hell, Where have you been staying, Joey?”
Joey blinked, snapped from his thoughts. “Oh, yeah. They cut me off from the family accounts, but I had some money saved in a separate account, just in case.” He smiled faintly. “Guess this counts as an emergency.” He shrugged. “I’ve been staying with our house manager, Santiago, and his wife. They’ve been pretty good about it—nicer than most. Their nephew’s a little too, so they get what I’m going through.” He brightened a little, adding, “I’ve been helping them come up with ideas to make his habitat more accessible without being too expensive. It’s been kind of cool, actually.”
“That’s really sweet of you,” Roni said, smiling. “You always find a way to help people, no matter what you’re dealing with.” But her smile faded as she grew serious again. “You know, you could stay with us too. My parents wouldn’t mind.”
“You know, you can stay with us, too, right?” Roni says with blunt sincerity, hoping he’ll take up the offer. She appreciates what the people he is staying with are doing for him, of course, but ultimately Joey is her best friend and Roni can’t help but feel responsible for keeping him safe and happy.
“Roni, I thought about it but…well…” Joey trails off.
“But what Joey”
He hesitates just a moment before coming up with an answer “I just, ..don’t want to be a burden I guess.” he quietly states, thoughts from earlier still playing in his mind, “Plus, like I said, once your parents find out I’m going to be a little, they’ll probably want nothing to do with me”
“Oh Joey, just stop,” said Roni with a huff, “They love you, and you aren’t a burden. We don’t have to tell them anything, anyways. They know what your parents are like, you can just say you needed some space and just do chores and babysit or something in exchange like usual. Sandi and Ciara love when you babysit them, too! They practically call you their big brother. Hell, even my dad calls you…”
Roni stops for a moment and plays back the conversations in her head, recalling the part about Joey being disowned, and this leads her to form a coy smile as a solution to the whole situation pops into her head.
Seeing this, Joey looks at her wondering what she could have just thought of before suddenly Roni speaks again.
“You know what Joey, my mom’s making her lasagna tonight. You’re coming over, okay? And you’re staying the night, no ifs, ands, or buts” states Roni with a look that brooks no argument.
1) I really like that this story starts pre infection, the only pre-infected character in the main story is Charity Stevens, and she’s a cunt.
2) so Joey won’t be a burden to the Hales, but doing the same to the Santiagos is fine.
3) Roni searching for possibilities to how she can help Joey’s is sweet, but the Calhouns sound like a monumental obstacle for her to overcome.
1) that was kind of my big reason for this story. Just wanted to see something from that prespective. the other reasons was just cause I like the universe and that I had been seeing all the other fanfics and it seemed like fun
2) I see what you mean, but I’d say the big thing with this is that Joey’s paying to stay there and is helping out around the house and things like that. Plus they’re his families employee’s and probably wouldn’t try to do anything should his parents people come to collect Joey otherwise they’d probably be fired and potentially ostracized just to keep the fact that Joey’s a little from coming out in a way that the Calhoun’s don’t like.
Living with the Hales would be kinda different because they’d refuse his money outright for something like this as they view him as family, and he really doesn’t want his parent’s people watching them and doesn’t want to put them at risk.
3) they are. I’m glad I’m getting to redo this because while I like how I did some of the major events, I was working to condensing things cause I felt bad for blowing up the comments lol they did end up really long, but I think I could have drawn it out. now that i’ve got somewhere to put these without distracting from the comments for the canonical stories, I can draw some things out a bit more in the chapters
the Roni’s fall to earth toward her family about her BFF’s situation gonna be interesting to watch.
I think it turned out pretty good. I’m hoping I can flush it out bhetter and give it some more imagery as I post these
Congratulations to the author of this story, finally a story worth following, finally a story that is not limited to defending eugenics and based on an almost sadistic pleasure of humiliation.