The Designation

Chapter Description: ​Richy meets someone who is like him, then, when he is taken to the swings, a familiar face appears...

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The girl uncurled herself a little. As she moved her legs Richy saw her diaper underneath a short dress, she was very clearly wet. He nodded to her. Tried a little smile of solidarity but it seemed to fall a little flat and he looked back down at the sand.

“What’s your name?” Richy asked.

“Jessica… Well, they call me Jess now.” The girl replied, “You?”

“Richy. Used to be Richard but… you know.” Richy shrugged his shoulders.

It wasn’t exactly an official rule that Littles had their names modified after designation. It was more that longer or “complicated” names just seemed wrong for babies, so most Bigs who found themselves looking after a Little shortened their names. Richy thought there was an element of psychology at play too, working both ways, where changing the Littles name made it easier to see them as different to who they were before their designation.

Jess didn’t say anything more. Richy grabbed a plastic bucket shaped like a castle from nearby as well as a small shovel of the same colour. They were laying nearby and seemingly abandoned. Without any idea of what else to do he started to slowly fill the bucket. After a few minutes, with the sand packed down, he overturned it and made half a castle, with the other half collapsing almost immediately.

“I’m… new to all this.” Jess said quietly.

“When were you designated?” Richy asked.

“Last month.” Jess answered. She unfolded herself a little more, until she was sitting cross-legged to the side of Richy.

Richy winced, and then did his best to hide it. Those first months, when your entire life has been upended just like his bucket, were particularly rough. It was before there was a chance to grow the mental and emotional callouses needed to get through a lot of the daily humiliations. He didn’t know what to say, so he settled for filling the bucket again. He turned it upside down and this time the whole castle crumbled.

“It sucks.” Jess finally said with a sigh.

“I’m doing my best.” Richy replied with a small smile.

“No, I mean… everything.” Jess saw Richy’s face and realised he already knew what she meant.

“Sorry.” Richy leaned back on his hands, “I think it’s sort of like gallows humour.”

Richy was pleasantly surprised to see Jess shake her head and give a small laugh once the shock had worn off. She was actually very pretty, it had been hard to tell when she was all curled up, but now Richy could see much more clearly.

“Hard to believe anyone could make a joke in this situation.” Jess spoke a little louder and with more force. It seemed it had just taken someone engaging with her, someone who knew her plight, to bring her out of her shell, “I think that was the first time I’ve laughed since going into the Designation Office.”

“Yeah, I know how that can be…” Richy replied, “It’s been three years for me.”

“God, I don’t know if I can last that long.” Jess swallowed hard. It was clear to Richy that she had been taking things days by day, that thinking that far ahead was scary for her.

“You will.” Richy replied reassuringly, “You kind of get used to it… A bit, anyway.”

Richy went back to the sand as Jess regained her composure. It was strange to be talking so much, his opinions meant little at home after all, this was the most he had spoken in one go for a long time. Maybe going out would be a little less daunting if it meant he got to speak to people in his position.

“Who are you here with?” Richy asked.

“My brother.” Jess’s cheeks went a little red.

“Older or…” Richy started.

“Older.” Jess said quickly, “I don’t know if I would be able to handle being looked after by my younger brother.”

Richy hung his head. It was a special kind of humiliation to be babysat by your younger sibling, he knew that much. Jess seemed to quickly catch on that she had put her foot in her mouth. She started spluttering an apology.

“It’s OK.” Richy said, “My younger sister brought me. It’s been weird, that’s for sure.”

“I’ll bet.” Jess replied.

For a few minutes they didn’t really talk about anything. Jess joined Richy in the sand, idly building things without any particular shape or plan. It was pleasant, and the screaming kids generally stayed to other parts of the sandbox, it meant the two of them had a little privacy. It was certainly far nicer than Richy could’ve expected from a day out of the house.

“Does it get better?” Jess asked after a period of comfortable silence.

“Well, it gets… Easier.” Richy said hesitantly.

Richy didn’t want to lie to Jess. She seemed nice, but the truth was that he couldn’t tell her it got better, not without lying. The best she could hope for was that she would get used to things. Having to live like a baby never lost its humiliation, but it was something you could get used to over time. The first time Richy had been forced to have public accidents it had been enough to make him cry, now he usually limited himself to blushes as he looked for whichever Big was designated to look after him.

They remained together in the sand for a little while. By the time Richy heard Kate approaching him from behind, he had wet himself twice more. She had a juice box in her hand that she gave to Richy. He quickly sucked on the little straw, he hadn’t realised how thirsty he had been until right then.

“Aww, have you made a little friend?” Kate asked.

Richy felt fresh embarrassment wash over him. He didn’t know how to respond, he didn’t want to be so forward as to suggest Jess was his friend already, but he also didn’t want to potentially insult her by saying she wasn’t. He half-shrugged and half-nodded. Kate beamed at the pair of them.

“Wonderful! See, Richy? I told you it wouldn’t be so bad.” Kate chuckled, “But I want to see you do more than just dig in the sand. Come with me.”

“Huh? Why?” Richy asked quickly.

“You need to experience more things. A Little who doesn’t have a wide range of experiences can become stunted in their growth.” Kate spoke as if reciting from a textbook.

“But can’t I just…” Richy started.

Richy didn’t get to finish. His sister took his hand, and he was quickly pulled to his feet. He felt his diaper sag between his legs and realised he was wetter than he had thought. There was zero chance he was going to ask for a change though, not when they were surrounded by so many people. Kate started pulling him away from the sandbox and over to his shoes. He looked over his shoulder to see Jess waving at him sadly, even as he watched she seemed to be shrinking back into herself again.

It turned out that when Kate had said Richy needed to experience more things in the playground, she had meant everything. He was taken from the spinning roundabout to the see-saws, to the big slide and everything else that was deemed appropriate for him. It was whilst sat on a little wooden horse with a spring underneath that he could rock back and forth that he saw some teenagers outside the fence and playing with a football. They were glancing over and laughing, teasing each other about which one would end up like “the baby.”

“Can we go home now?” Richy asked after going down the spiral slide for the sixth time.

“Nearly.” Kate replied, “But first… the swings! Oh, come on, don’t look at me like that. You always liked the swings!”

“When I was a kid…” Richy muttered. Fortunately, Kate didn’t hear him.

Richy followed his sister across the playground to the swings. He was keen to go home, but not just because of how embarrassing the day had been, but also because of his diaper. He had flashing red alarms and sirens in his head telling him that he was pushing his luck with it. Like most of the other playground equipment, there were swings designed specifically for Littles. Richy sat in one and was strapped in. His feet dangled off the ground as he held on to the chains that linked the seat with the crossbar above them.

“Ready?” Kate asked.

Richy was about to answer that he was when he heard Kate’s ringtone go off. She dug around in her pocket and pulled out her phone; she looked at the screen and then let out a little sigh.

“Alright, wait there. I need to take this.” Kate said.

Richy couldn’t have gone anywhere even if he wanted to. The swing operated a little like a highchair or a rollercoaster in that there was a bar going across from side to side that meant he couldn’t get up. The latch to undo it was behind him, and he wouldn’t be able to get to it without badly straining all the muscles in his arm. He watched Kate walking over to the fence, which she leaned against as she started talking.

Richy had just reached a hand down between his legs, to check if he could feel any dampness underneath him, when he heard a familiar voice saying his name from behind. He guiltily snatched his hand away and tried to see over his shoulder at where the voice had come from.

“Richy? It IS you!” There were footsteps and then Troy stepped in front of Richy.

Richy’s mouth dropped open, and his brain seemed to stop working. Troy, one of his best friends from school, was stood in front of him and staring with almost the same amount of shock. Richy hadn’t seen the captain of their high school football team since the day before he went to be designated. He had no idea what to say to Troy, who was now looking him up and down and taking in the obviously Little outfit.

“T-Troy… Good to see you.” Richy finally managed to say through the lump of shame in his throat. He could feel himself blushing.

“I heard about…” Troy gestured to Richy’s waist. He seemed almost as embarrassed as Richy was, “Sorry, man. That sucks.”

“That sucks” seemed like an understatement. He couldn’t blame Troy for not fully encapsulating the gravity of the situation though, Richy wasn’t sure the words existed. It was excruciating to be sat in the swing and totally unable to run away with Troy looking straight at him. He wished his friend would look anywhere else, or just say goodbye and excuse himself out of the situation. It wasn’t a choice Richy himself had.

“What about you?” Richy asked, eager to shift the conversation away from his own circumstances, “What have you been up to?”

“Oh, I just finished college.” Troy replied with a smile, “Just back at home until I sort myself out a job and stuff.”

“O-Oh, college? Cool…” Richy tried not to let it get to him. He felt the creeping dread of time disappearing and experiences lost, the things he would never get to do because of his stupid designation.

“Come on, stop dawdling.” Troy suddenly said.

Richy looked up in confusion. The words weren’t aimed at him though; Troy was looking behind Richy as he gestured someone to come forwards. The swing made it hard to look over his shoulder, but Richy did his best. It still wasn’t until Jess was stood next to the other swing that he saw her properly. Richy’s eyes opened wide as Troy started helping Jess into the swing just like Kate had done for him.

“Wait… you’re with him!?” Richy looked at Jess in shock. He turned to Troy as he stood back up, “You’re with her!?”

“Come on, man, you remember my sister. Jessica? I talked about her all the time.” Troy said as he looked at Richy. Jess was blushing and gave a little shrug.

Richy just stared with his mouth hanging open. He did indeed remember Troy mentioning his sister, fairly often if his memory was correct, but he never really met her. Whenever they hung out it was usually either out of the house or at Richy’s place, he hadn’t seen Jess since she had been a little kid. Troy shook his head and snorted with laughter.

“You always were a little self-centred.” Troy joked, “Maybe that’s part of the reason you are where you are.”

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