Roni and Joey hurriedly followed Santiago downstairs after he told them that Joey’s parents had come to a decision regarding Mr. Hale’s proposal. Both teenagers were rightfully nervous, knowing this decision would affect the rest of their lives in different ways. For Joey, it would not only seal his fate—sending him far from home once he was reborn as a “little”—but also mean that he would never see Roni or her family again. He’d never see his friends again. Worse yet, he’d likely end up in the care of someone who wouldn’t view him the way he believed littles should be seen: as equals.
Similarly, Roni was anxious, aware that this was essentially the last chance to save Joey without pressing charges and getting Generitech officially involved. While she had never wanted a little—nor even put much thought into it—she knew she didn’t want to lose her best friend. She couldn’t bear the thought of living the rest of her life knowing that the one person she could always turn to would be in the hands of some heartless slave-driver, forcing him to do God knows what for their amusement, without ever considering his feelings. Roni might have to make Joey do certain things as part of her agreement with her parents, but at least she knew his likes and dislikes and could work around them. She had already decided that Joey could help her clean her Chibi figures—some of which he had helped her acquire. Knowing how much pride Joey took in organizing and cleaning his own figures, Roni figured that sharing ownership of hers would help him maintain an interest from his old life and preserve their bond.
The post-negotiation tension was palpable as the three descended the final set of stairs. Mr. Calhoun was clearly struggling to hide his frustration. His nostrils flared, a vein throbbed visibly on his temple, and although his hands were clasped together, it was clear he was squeezing them hard, trying to maintain some semblance of control.
Mrs. Calhoun wasn’t faring much better. She had one arm folded across her chest, the other hand fiddling with a pearl earring as she pulled at her ear in frustration. Her eyes were bloodshot, and even as Joey approached, she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. A nerve had been struck during the negotiations, and although she might not admit it, Joey sensed a very small glimmer of something—something he couldn’t quite recognize.
As Joey truly looked at his parents and Mr. Hale, he realized something was off. Their skin seemed unusually detailed, the flaws from aging and their respective vices—whether it was drinking, smoking, or tanning—were more apparent. He noticed more gray in Mr. Hale’s and his father’s hair, and despite being clean-shaven, Joey could see the faint beginnings of stubble on his father’s face, even from across the room. The paintings and photos on the walls also seemed more defined, dust on a few vases more visible, and even small spider webs in the room’s corners stood out with prominence. Roni, too, seemed to have more freckles than he remembered. After a few blinks and a shake of his head, everything returned to normal.
Chalking it up to stress, Joey took a few deep breaths as Santiago and Roni stepped aside, allowing him to stand before his parents. He could tell they had been put through the wringer, and hadn’t expected whatever it was that Mr. Hale had said. Now face to face with them, Joey’s nerves began to take over. His hands trembled in his pockets, his heart pounded in his chest, and sweat formed at the back of his neck. His mouth went dry as he stood at attention, feeling like a child who had broken a window playing baseball in the yard.
Mr. Calhoun was the first to speak. He stepped forward with a sigh of exhaustion, his eyes shifting from Joey to Mr. Hale and back. “Joey…your mother and I have…taken some time to really consider your situation,” he began, trying to sound fatherly but coming off as detached and disinterested. “It’s…come to our attention that we…might not be the best suited to…care for you. We’ve been…causing more harm than good,” he said, clearly struggling with Mr. Hale’s gaze on him.
Joey’s eyes widened slightly, feeling anticipation build as he listened to his father’s insincere attempt to sound thoughtful. “Go on,” he said, his voice calm, masking his true feelings.
Mr. Calhoun’s upper lip twitched in anger. “Okay, I won’t beat around the bush. We’ve put up with your shit long enough, Joey—your uppity attitude, your smart-ass remarks, always pushing back against us. This…underbred thing? We could’ve handled it if and sent you somewhere that you’d have been cared for. You’d lived with your uncle, Johnny could have visited whenever he wanted, whatever…but that damn mouth of yours…and your self-righteous attitude…your insistence that your kind matters—it all played against you!” he said with vilification before feeling his wife’s hand on his shoulder, calming him slightly. “The point is,” he said with a deep breath, “we want you gone. But since we’d be screwed in court for ‘mistreating’ you, we’re letting the Hales adopt you. It’s what they want, and frankly, it’s what’s best for everyone. You get a home, and we’re rid of you for good.”
With a softer tone, Mrs. Calhoun added, “This is the best decision for you, Joey. For all of us. You’ll be with a family that can focus on your…needs. They’ll care for you in ways that…well…” She paused, fiddling with her pearls before forcing a thin, unconvincing smile. “In ways we can’t.”
“Exactly,” Mr. Calhoun affirmed, leaning in closer so Roni and Mr. Hale couldn’t hear. “We’re giving you a gift here, boy. If it weren’t for the threat of this becoming public, you’d be off to Preematech, where no one would ever hear about this. But since I can’t do that, I’ll at least stop this from becoming a spectacle. Now, go upstairs, pack whatever you can in thirty minutes, and then leave. Don’t contact us, stay away from Johnny, and never mention that you grew up here.”
Joey nodded, a strange mix of disbelief and excitement building inside him as he realized he was going to become a Hale. He stepped back, looked at his parents, and quietly said something that caught them both off guard: “Thank you…and, well…you’re still my parents. I…remember times when things were easier and…and I’m grateful for those moments and…” he choked back tears as memories from years ago flooded back, “and I love you both….” Then, he quickly turned, grabbed Roni, and ran upstairs to finish packing.
Downstairs, Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun stood in stunned silence, exchanging unreadable glances before quietly leaving the room themselves. Mr. Hale and Santiago were left puzzled as they awaited the teenagers’ return.
A short while later, Joey and Roni reappeared with boxes of Joey’s belongings—some sentimental, some valuable for Roni to keep or sell. With Santiago’s help, they loaded everything into Mr. Hale’s truck. As Roni climbed into the truck, Joey lingered behind with Santiago for one final look at the house he would never enter again. His eyes fell on an envelope labeled “Joey” on the console table. Confused, he picked it up and glanced at Santiago, who looked equally perplexed. This wasn’t from him. Before he could open it, Santiago pulled him into a firm hug.
“Good luck, Joey. The staff and I…we loved you. We really did. We’re sorry to see you go,” Santiago said, choking back tears.
“Thank you, Santiago,” Joey whispered, returning the hug. “Please…take care of Johnny.”
With a final, emotional handshake, Joey stepped out onto the porch. As he walked to the truck, he opened the envelope and froze, his breath catching in his throat as tears welled up in his eyes. From the truck, Roni frowned, assuming Joey’s parents had left him one last cruel note. She climbed over the center console to comfort him, much to her father’s annoyance, wrapping her arms around Joey.
“What is it, Joey?” she asked softly, bracing for the worst.
But to her surprise, Joey looked at her with a small smile, tears rolling down his cheeks. “It’s a photo…of me and Johnny, from when I was ten and he was six. It’s from our first family trip. It’s the only copy.”
Roni held him tighter, looking at the photo of a happy family. The smiles on Joey’s parents’ faces were a stark contrast to what she’d seen earlier. Joey’s joy in the picture was something she hadn’t associated with his parents in a long time. As they drove away, Roni pondered the meaning behind the gesture. Perhaps it was a final way for his parents to forget him, but if that were true, why not destroy the photo?
After a few minutes of silence, it clicked for her. The photo wasn’t given out of malice or cruelty. It was a reminder that, once, they had been a happy family. “Maybe there’s hope for them after all,” she whispered, thinking of a future where his parents might want to see Joey again. “Maybe even monsters can still love their children.”
I know I’ll get down voted for this lmao
so I’m pretty much caught up to where I was prior to Asuka making a fanfic option for us to use. So going forward, posts may be less frequent due to how slow I write. I’ll do my best to have a few during the week as I can, but it won’t be near daily like I has been recently.
btw, this chapter was the one I was most excited to get to.
You shouldn’t get downvoted. Its difficult to do daily postings and writing can be creatively draining at times especially if you are feeling pressured to write something.
I’d take your time.
Looking forward to the new updates whenever they may come.
Lol I like the down votes for stuff like that. makes me feel like a lot of people look forward to the posts. motivates me to keep going too 😀
1) “the way he believed littles should be seen: as equals” My favourite bit about Joey is he believed this before finding out he was vulnerable.
2) “While she had never wanted a little—nor even put much thought into it” That detail may provide future struggles for them both.
3) “would be in the hands of some heartless slave-driver, forcing him to do God knows what for their amusement, without ever considering his feelings” Oh no, Genritech would never let that happen.
4) “but at least she knew his likes and dislikes and could work around them” and that’s why I like Roni, she’s unwillingly participating in the system she disagrees with and intends to break free first chance she gets.
5) Was that High definition look at his surroundings an early smallara symptom?
6) “It’s…come to our attention that we…might not be the best suited to…care for you.” you fucking think?
7.1) “We could’ve handled it if and sent you somewhere that you’d have been cared for. You’d lived with your uncle, Johnny could have visited whenever he wanted” I don’t think that’s true, I think they’re trying to save face.
7.2) “If it weren’t for the threat of this becoming public, you’d be off to Preematech, where no one would ever hear about this” that’s more believable.
8) “They’ll care for you in ways that…well… In ways we can’t.” you mean ways you won’t.
9) Joey thanking them was a shockingly nice surprise.
10) ““It’s a photo…of me and Johnny, from when I was ten and he was six.” So Johnny’s four years younger than Joey, meaning Johnny is thirteen, therefore born in 2008, same as Chrissy, Dayton, Londyn, Mike, Nicole, Paige and Sandi. (Consider the timeline updated)
11) The photo was a kind gift. and what it represented was really sweet.
12) I’m glad this one didn’t end on a cliffhanger, knowing there won’t be more tomorrow
5) Its late and I need to sleep so I can’t reply to it all, but i am SO HAPPY you caught that lmao. exactly why I wrote it and why I loved this part of the story. since this is technically the first time we see a pre-shrunk Homo Parvus, I thought it’d be cool to show them having their biology come out before becoming small. Like I couldn’t see any real reason that anyone that is Homo Parvus wouldn’t see effects of their biology until they shrunk. I thought it was a really cool idea to show that “hey, this virus might be taking some kind of effect right now”
So I’d say ultimately we know for certain his metamorphosis is probably starting soon, but the time frame to completion is pretty uncertain.
5) Sleep well.
I mean, we saw Charity she’s pre-shrunk. But I take your meaning. He’s the first time we’ve spent a significant amount of time with one.
Yeah, as I was reading that segment I was thinking that it sounded like how they’d look to an infected little, which is where I drew the conclusion that it was related to the infection.
That’s neat, remember, smallara also has cold/flu like symptoms too.
exactly. outside of the glimpses of charity and potentially kaitlin (idk if confirmed homo parvus) we don’t really see if their biology slowly starts changing before they become little or not, so I thought it’d be a cool indication that the change is starting or had always been there.
noted the cold\flu symptoms too.
1) To him, all of their movements and conversations that have been posted on the internet were never that different from things he said and how he acted, so he really does think that little have more to offer the world, but they just need help and protection. Like his golden idea is exactly what Generitech is doing now, but on a way bigger scale to the point where everyone is coexisting with equal rights and respect. That’s just his nature, too. He’s a pretty generous dude. He hasn’t had to adapt to what it’s like to actually run the family business which is pretty stressful in itself and probably would have changed his personality a bit and made him a bit more stern, though not to the point of changing his views on littles, just altering how he could support them, at least in my mind.
2) It’ll come up. I’ve got post-shrinking ideas and notes for that. based on everything we’ve seen thus far, it’s one thing to take in a little and become a little, but accepting it as reality, especially when it’s someone so close to you, is much more different.
3) Ideally it wouldn’t. We need to see more gaurdians and their littles to confirm this, too, but I think it’s more common place for the relationships to at least be cordial vs slavery\abusive. I’m assuming that’s just for long term story telling, as it’d be boring and pretty linear to not have characters with flaw and storylines without conflicts, but the more oneshots we get, the clearer that picture will be. Granted, you are right, once littles and their gaurdians are paired up, Generitech doesn’t seem to do a lot of thurough evaluation of the situations, they just make sure they are fed and aren’t being physically abused.
4) yeah. plus, she doesn’t really want to force Joey to do things for her that she can do herself or things that she thinks are demeaning. Like cleaning Chibis and miniatures with her would be more bonding than forced labor as they could converse about it. I also think there are things he could do with her sisters too, like spectating Sandi while she practices or modeling for Ciara while she draws. He loves seeing what those two do and it’d be a good way to help him stay bonded with them while still letting him do things he enjoyed as a normal sized human at a more scaled down level
7) pretty much. They were putting on a show and trying to make it seem like they listend to reason, but really their backs were against the wall on this one. i won’t reveal too much about what was said in private but Jeff really got them good
9) It’s a sad thing when you have a strained relationship with people that you used to be on good terms with, especially with parents that had genuine love for you. Joey just was a lot more rebelious and his parents did all they could to squash it. happens a lot with parents of teens that are also really controlling. Leads to fighting and resentment on a massive scale
11) I had mentioned this to asuka when I first posted it, but I was gonna be a REAL bastard with it lmao thought about having joey’s face cut out of it or something to be a final fuck you from his parents, but decided that it’d probably close off potential returns of his parents if I did that. Plus, I like to think people remember the good moments when something like this happens, and even though his parent’s don’t deserve to be forgiven, imo, they can still at least do something to let Joey know that they do miss the relationship they did have.
12) I’m trying to not use cliff hangers too often. kind of a crutch for me. but yeah, this part of the story needed a sound ending to wrap it up. I’m gonna have two chapters done soon and might even be able to put up something tonight or tomorrow evening.
Great chapter. I aslo think we appreciate your effort to write the story & post it on daily basis already. Don’t worry about posting routine, you’re doing great!
Thank you! I try not to worry but at the same time I like sharing what I write lol it’s a lot of fun. I’m hoping J-Vader and Nord start posting too. Lethals stories on the fanfic section are good reads, too.