All The Small Things

8

I reached Marcus' door and knocked, leaning against the wall as I heard him scramble to the door. I breathed deeply, trying to calm myself down before talking to Marcus and Veronica about what they saw. Surprisingly Veronica opened the door and offered for me to come in. I thanked her and entered the room, leaning against the wall, waiting for Marcus to acknowledge I was there. When he didn't, Veronica nudged him and he looking up at me.
"Oh.." He said, sounding underwhelmed.

I took a deep breath as I felt anger fill my body.
"Look! I just cane up here to talk to you guys about what you saw in the kitchen." I told him, coming off a bit aggresive. Marcus looked at me and scowled. Thankfully Veronica jumped in.
"Hey! How about, we have a civil conversation, yeah?" She suggested, trying to stop any fights before they start. I sighed and nodded.
"Well, what I heard was you trying to get him to eat.. but I also saw his shirt pull up when you picked him up.." She started, testing the waters on what she was talking about.

I nodded at what she said.
"U-um yeah.. I'm not sure about his eating habits before just recently but.. his weight scares me if I'm being honest." I said, seeing Veronica's expression filled with sympathy and Marcus actually start to look interested.
"Why doesn't he eat?" Marcus asked, bluntly. Ignoring the the feeling he was sparking within me, I answered.
"I'm not quite sure. I looked into his family when he first came into the station and.. if I'm being honest both his parents were charged with neglect." I said, catching Marcus' attention fully.

"Um.. and they didn't do jail time, they were just charged with a fine for it so, if I had to guess, I would say it's an issue that stems from their neglect.." I concluded. Veronica nodded.
"Well, do you know how much he weighs?" Veronica gently asked, leaning forwards a bit.
"Whenever the station weighed him, he was about 137, so he's pretty underweight.." I mumbled loudly.
I looked up and saw Marcus, for once, seeming atleast a little sympathetic.

"Hey, question about a different topic." Veronica started. I looked at her confused but signaled for her to continue.
"Why did he call you that? Call you Daddy." She dead-panned. I sighed but began explaining.
"He's got this thing called age-regression. It can be both a trauma response and a coping mechanism. Basically, it's where the person who regresses, their mind goes back to a younger age." I scanned Veronica's face as to see what she was thinking. She didn't seem like she was judging or grossed out so I kept going...

"But, whenever that person is in that mindset of a younger kid, that's what they'll act like. So.. like he'll act and think younger than he is. He's normally regresses to about the age of 2 or 3. And, whenever someone age reggresses, it's good for them to have someone watch over and take care of them which people call a caregiver or cg." I continued, waiting for a reaction from either of them.
"Is it on purpose or involentary?" Marcus asked, actually engaging in a conversation for once. I ignored how rare this occasion was and answered the question anyways.

"It can be either, like if he were to get super stressed or scared he might regress and doesn't mean to, but sometimes age regressors just want to regress to relax or de-stress. But with Luca, so far, it's all been involuntary." I told him, trying my best to answer. He nodded and I felt myself slowly relax.
"So, I assume his chidhood wasn't the best.." Veronica spoke up, kind of giggling, trying to make light of the situation. I smiled at her and nodded a bit.
"Well, if you guys don't have anymore questions I should probably get back down to Luca.. I let him fall asleep but I don't know if he still is..." I said, sort of mumbling the last part. Veronica and Marcus looked at each other, silently deciding to let me get back to him.

I nodded and walked back down to my room, gently opening the door and closing it behind me. I looked over at the bed and saw Luca kinda staring off into space.
"Bubbas.." I softly whispered, taking small steps over to the bed. He quickly snapped back into reality and looked over at me alarmed, though that quickly faded away. He sniffled and reached for me. I smiled sadly and climbed into bed, pulling him onto my lap.

I softly drew shapes into his back in attempt to soothe him.
"How long have you been up, Bubbas?" I whispered, relaxing into the bed. He shrugged.
"I don no.." He mumbled, "Like.. 10 minutes..?" He guessed, not very sure of the accuracy of his answer. I nodded a little.
"Let's go to sleep baby.. Dadys tired." I suggested. He nodded and gently bit down on my shoulder. I groaned a bit, rubbing his thighs gently,, accidentally brushing across his cuts I had forgotten about. I gently rubbed my thumb over them, making Luca whimper. I pulled my hand away and went back to rubbing his back.

"Sorry baby, I didn't mean to hurt you." I apologized, kissing his forhead. He yawned a bit and said something about how he didn't mind and that it didn't really hurt.
"D-do Dady have scars..?" He quietly asked. I thought about it and nodded after a minute.
"I've got one on my tummy actually," I said, gently smiling. He sat up on his bottom and pulled my shirt up, revealing a semi-large scar that goes diagonally from my waist to about half up my stomach. He stared at it and started tracing it lightly. I smiled and put my hand over his, tracing it with him.

He giggles and leaned down, kissing it once. He pulled my shirt back down and laid on top of me once again. He rubbed his face against my chest and closed his eyes tight. I smiled a bit and wrapped my arm around him.
"Go to sleep baby, Daddy's here and he's not leaving.." I told him, rubbing his head. He leaned into my touch and slowly drifted to sleep. I soon fell asleep after him to his rhythmic breating