Dayton came back into her room and the door clicked shut behind her with the soft finality of a rule.
For a second she just stood there, hand still on the knob, looking at her own space like she’d never seen it before. Posters, decorative lights, the neat rows of color coded pens, the stupidly pristine desk surface. All of it was familiar. All of it was hers.
And then there was Ezra.
Four inches tall. Collared. Sitting on her desk like he’d always belonged there, like he was a new pencil sharpener she’d set down and left. Except he wasn’t a thing. He was her English and literature teacher. The man who used to stand above her with a microphone and a podium of books and that smug, composed “I’m in control of the classroom” posture.
She’d wanted a Little for so long it had started to feel like a life milestone, the way other kids wanted a car or a varsity jacket. Guardian certification. Placement. A real little.
But Kinsley had soured the fantasy. Not because Kinsley was miserable, because she wasn’t. Kinsley could still laugh. Kinsley could still talk. Kinsley could still be Kinsley in the ways that counted.
It was the why that poisoned it.
Kinsley didn’t choose Smallara. Smallara chose her. And the world looked at that and shrugged like it was normal. Guardianship and getting a little was supposed to be something they did together and now Kinsley was a little.
Dayton knew very personally there was no road back. There was no expensive surgery or procedure that could fix Smallara. There was no prayer that could undo it as she prayed like she had never prayed before when she first found out. No hope, no dream, no aspiration could undo the reality that Kinsley was a little.
Kinsley was still her friend. It had changed how she viewed littles over time. But she hated that Kinsley wasn’t equal. That she wasn’t a person or human. That she would always be trapped as less than. No matter how much she and Nicole pretended at times. It didn’t change the reality.
Dayton swallowed and walked to her desk, the soft rug giving under her feet. She sat down, rolled her shoulders once like she was settling into homework, and grabbed her phone.
Nicole. Kinsley. LittleMart. Supplies. The list was already organized in her notes app because of course it was.
She tapped the screen, then paused.
Her eyes drifted to Ezra.
He was still in that weird, careful posture he’d been doing lately. Not relaxed. Not fighting, either. Just… braced. Like any second the floor could tilt or open up.
Dayton leaned forward, elbows on the desk. From Ezra’s eye level she knew, she probably looked like a building with a face. She wasn’t even trying to loom. She just existed, and the size difference did the rest.
It hit her again, clean and cold: if Ezra lived another forty years, those forty years would happen inside the radius of her life. Her hands. Her rules. Her schedule. Someday her dorm, her apartment, her career.
He would orbit her the way the moon orbits Earth. Not because he loved her. Because physics and law said he would.
She didn’t gloat. She didn’t even feel triumphant.
It just felt… real.
Dayton unlocked her phone again and forced herself back into practical mode, because practical mode was safer than thinking.
“I’m going to LittleMart soon,” she said. Her voice came out steadier than she felt. “Nicole and Kinsley are picking me up. We’re getting a few things you still need.”
Ezra’s gaze flicked to her phone, then back up to her face.
Dayton kept going before he could interrupt and make this a moral argument.
“You can come with me,” she said. “Or you can stay here.”
Ezra’s expression tightened like she’d offered him two different kinds of humiliation.
Dayton gestured toward where the habitat sat, integrated so neatly into her room it almost looked like a display case from a fancy tech store. Sleek polymer frame. Clear walls. Vents that didn’t look like vents. A soft heat strip beneath the flooring. A little water dock. A bedding pocket. A latch that clicked like it meant business.
“It’s not a cage,” she added, anticipating him.
Ezra’s mouth pulled into a line. “It’s a cage.”
“It’s a habitat,” Dayton corrected automatically, and hated that she sounded proud on the word. She was proud, which was the problem. She’d built it. She’d researched it. She’d wanted to do this right. She’d imagined it with a faceless assigned Little, not with Ezra Rhys sitting in front of her like a toppled authority figure.
Ezra didn’t look at the habitat again. His eyes stayed on her, like looking at it would make it more real.
“You can’t expect me to live in that,” he said, voice sharp in a way that didn’t match his size. He was trying for Teacher Voice, and it almost worked until the collar charms chimed when he moved.
Dayton’s jaw tightened, not angry, just… bracing for the speech.
“I’m not asking you to live in it,” she said. “I’m telling you how staying works when I’m not here.”
Ezra’s brows knit. “You can’t just… put me away.”
Dayton stared at him for a beat, then set her phone down flat on the desk like she needed both hands for patience.
“Ezra,” she said, and her tone shifted. Not cruel. Not mocking. Just the calm, procedural cadence she used with Ezra to not rile him up. “If I’m gone and you’re free roaming my room, what happens if you fall behind my dresser and I don’t hear you?”
“I wouldn’t—”
“What happens if you slip off the bed?” Dayton cut in, still calm. “Or you get stuck under my backpack. You fall into my laundry basket and get trapped in with my dirty clothes? Or a bug gets in here. A spider. A centipede. Do you know how fast those things move compared to you?”
Ezra’s throat bobbed.
Dayton kept going anyway because the list was real and she was not going to pretend it wasn’t.
“What happens if Mom comes in for something and doesn’t see you?” Dayton’s voice lowered. “She’s not mean, Ezra. She’s just… not thinking about you. She doesn’t live her day assuming there’s a four-inch person on the floor. As in her mind you shouldn’t be. She could step on you without even realizing. These are all the dangers that existed at the school you pretended to ignore like that somehow made them not exist. That’s why what you were doing was reckless. It was dangerious. It sets a bad example. What would have happened if during your free period a spider got onto your desk and just made you a snack. The next class comes in and sees your remains on the desk. That is a reality. You can’t just leave a little alone for hours. Im not saying you cant be alone for 10 minutes or if i run down stairs quick. But this is me going to be gone for a couple hours atleast.”
Ezra held still. His shoulders rose with a breath that looked like it took effort.
Dayton softened a fraction, just enough to make it worse.
“And what happens if I’m late getting back,” she continued, “and the room cools down, and you’re near the window because you thought it would be interesting to look outside, and you start losing heat.”
Ezra stared at her like he wanted to argue, but every argument required pretending his body wasn’t breakable. That his size didn’t change the math.
Dayton tapped the edge of the habitat with one finger. The polymer didn’t even flex. It didn’t need to. That was the point.
“I’m not locking you in there forever,” she said. “This is not me punishing you. This is a safety thing. When I’m gone, you need to be somewhere stable. Warm. Protected. Fed if needed. Where I can find you in two seconds if something goes wrong.”
Ezra’s jaw clenched. “So my choices are…”
“Come with me,” Dayton said, “or stay here in the habitat until I get back.”
“And if I don’t like either option?” Ezra asked.
Dayton’s eyes narrowed, not angry, just steady. “Then you still pick one.”
Silence stretched between them, filled with the soft buzz of her decorative lights and the distant, muffled sound of her mom downstairs moving around in the kitchen. Normal house sounds. Giant life continuing.
Ezra looked down at his hands, then back up at her. “LittleMart,” he said, and his voice carried disgust like the word tasted bad. “You’re wanting to take me to a store?”
Dayton shrugged one shoulder. “Yes. Because you need things. Bedding. additional Food and snacks. A travel carrier that isn’t my hoodie pocket for trips and stuff. Maybe a tiny tablet or tiny computer setup. And also because Nicole and Kinsley know what they’re doing.”
That was true, and they both knew it. Dayton had the certification. Nicole had the lived experience. Kinsley had the scars.
Ezra’s expression flickered at Kinsley’s name. There it was again, the reminder that Dayton was not doing this for fun, not entirely. Dayton wasn’t blind to what the system did. She just believed the safest way to exist inside it was to follow the rules perfectly and carve out whatever humanity you could inside the cage of legality.
Ezra’s gaze slid again toward the habitat, like he couldn’t help it. The clear walls. The neat little interior. The warmth waiting there like a quiet threat.
He swallowed.
“You really think your mom won’t…” He couldn’t finish.
Dayton’s face softened, but her tone stayed firm. “My mom would move mountains for me. She already did. She let me bring you home at all, and that was a whole fight.”
Ezra blinked, startled.
Dayton leaned back in her chair. “She’s not cruel. She’s strict. She doesn’t want Littles on counters or tables because she thinks it’s unsanitary and unsafe and she’s not wrong, maybe misguided. And she’s not going to be your babysitter. She didn’t sign up for that.”
She glanced at her phone again, at the time, at the text thread with Nicole.
Then back to Ezra.
“So,” she said, voice flattening into business again, because she couldn’t afford to make it emotional. “Are you coming with me to LittleMart, or are you staying here in the habitat until I’m back.”
Ezra didn’t answer immediately.
He stared up at her, trying to measure something that couldn’t be measured. Pride versus safety. Dignity versus reality. The unbearable thought of being seen in public like this versus the equally unbearable thought of being shut behind clear walls like a hamster.
Dayton waited him out, still as a statue, because she could.
If he does go with Dayton to LittleMart, I can’t wait to see his interactions with Kinsley.
I agree, should be fun. I love Kinsley as a little.
I can’t wait for him to see how Dayton interacts with Kinsley
so funny this chapter came up cause yesterday we talked about practicing radical acceptance in therapy lol this is like a great example of it
1) “She’d wanted a Little for so long it had started to feel like a life milestone, the way other kids wanted a car or a varsity jacket. Guardian certification. Placement. A real little.” I could see Dayton having listed getting a Little as an inevitability.
2) “But Kinsley had soured the fantasy. Not because Kinsley was miserable, because she wasn’t. Kinsley could still laugh. Kinsley could still talk. Kinsley could still be Kinsley in the ways that counted. It was the why that poisoned it” Kinsley’s infection having such an effect on her maes sense.
3) “Kinsley was still her friend. It had changed how she viewed littles over time. But she hated that Kinsley wasn’t equal. That she wasn’t a person or human. That she would always be trapped as less than.” That sounds good, but from what I can tell, Kinsley is still the exception to how Dayton views Littles, not yet changing her view of Littles.
4) “It hit her again, clean and cold: if Ezra lived another forty years, those forty years would happen inside the radius of her life. Her hands. Her rules. Her schedule. Someday her dorm, her apartment, her career.” Ezra’s probably got more than forty years left.
5) “He would orbit her the way the moon orbits Earth. Not because he loved her. Because physics and law said he would.” because she forced him to, because this is what she wanted for him,
6) “She didn’t gloat. She didn’t even feel triumphant. It just felt… real.” I’m glad active guardianship is already not as glamorous as she’d hoped for her.
7) “You can come with me Or you can stay here.” – “Ezra’s expression tightened like she’d offered him two different kinds of humiliation.” Can’t really say either option sounds appealing. Personally, I’d wanna stay home, get some time to sort my emotions out without her loomingover me
8) “It’s not a cage,” – “It’s a cage.” – “It’s a habitat.” Technically, it’s a terrarium, but it functions like a cage.
9) “She was proud, which was the problem. She’d built it. She’d researched it. She’d wanted to do this right. She’d imagined it with a faceless assigned Little, not with Ezra Rhys sitting in front of her like a toppled authority figure.” This is actually what I was referring to in 3. She still doesn’t associate Littles with having identities; she likes the idea of having a Little, but isn’t prepared to actually have one.
10) “What happens if you slip off the bed?” Dayton cut in, still calm. “Or you get stuck under my backpack. You fall into my laundry basket and get trapped in with my dirty clothes? Or a bug gets in here. A spider. A centipede. Do you know how fast those things move compared to you?” All reasonable things to be concerned about.
11,1) “These are all the dangers that existed at the school you pretended to ignore, like that somehow made them not exist. That’s why what you were doing was reckless. It was dangerous. It sets a bad example” He did have methods in place to mitigate such dangers, other teachers, including Cassie looking out for him
11.2) “What would have happened if, during your free period, a spider got onto your desk and just made you a snack?” I think it’s safe to assume his classroom had those Little bug deterrents.
12) “And what happens if I’m late getting back, and the room cools down, and you’re near the window because you thought it would be interesting to look outside, and you start losing heat.” Dayton’s got some solid logic in this chapter, really making it clear how pathetic he is.
13) “This is not me punishing you.” Every part of this is you punishing him, whether she still means to or not.
14) “And if I don’t like either option?” – “Then you still pick one.” Dayton’s loving having the power to force him into two bad options.
15) “And also because Nicole and Kinsley know what they’re doing.” Nicole and Kinsley’s assistance would benefit them at this point. It’d be interestingto see Ezra watch how the Myers twins interact, how much better Kinsely is treated than he is, both by her guardian and his own.
16) “Dayton wasn’t blind to what the system did” No, in fact, infact she loves it, wants to use it to her benefit.
17) “The unbearable thought of being seen in public like this versus the equally unbearable thought of being shut behind clear walls like a hamster.” I’d say it comes down to what’s in the habitat to entertain him while she’s out.
you know one thing that just crossed my mind is what happens if Dayton gets a 2nd little. Like Ezra is a little she wanted but isn’t THE little she wanted, ya know? so if she got a second one, would she care more about them vs ezra?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Dayton were prone to blatant favouritism, especially if Dayton’s second Little was closer to her own age and personality.
To give you a potential preview of a fan fiction (though that’s still a draft, so it might not happen), but in an argument between two guardians, one claimed that “They’re Littles, not children, I’m allowed to have a favourite.”
I puff keeps being boring, he will always be left home more. who wants to be around a bummer cloud. A little like Kinsley is way more fun.
i think we can all agree that once dayton brings up the possibility of hanging with Sara and Chloe, he’ll jump at the chance lol i see it being excited then hiding his excitement like a anime character
Well he is a fan of Sara’s content he would probably be excited but also could be nervous when actually there.
Meeting Chloe or Ellie would be enormous for him. Considering there stature within the world. They aren’t megastars but they are influential. Dayton has always known them so its not odd to her they are just people but to someone like ezra it would be culture shock.
I doubt Dayton gets a second little, considering the price tag for just one, unless it’s a package deal like Liam and Noah from The Brothers’ side story.
It would depend on her future career, we know she already comes from money, and given her moralless navigation of the law, Asuka has confirmed that she could potentially become a lawyer, which would be a high paying career.
True, I didn’t think of that.
I do like the idea of dayton being lawyer. I feel like she’d work for Ellie and her family’s business.
Shocking, he is having a hard time understanding staying home or going with Dayton shopping lol.
He understands that, but he just wants more.
what is the old saying.. want in one hand shit in the other lol
yup he doesnt like the restriction. Not that he wants to go somewhere or do something specific in the room. Just the idea that he would be in a habitat until dayton let him out is what is giving him pause.
Then the idea of shopping as a little has its own concerns and annoyances.