RegressCo - Mistaken Identity - Part 1 (Patreon)

A family of foxes, with one regressed Dad, are heading into work, and today they’re taking in their son. He’ll need to stay in the day-care of course while both of the Dad’s head up to the office… What could possibly go wrong?

Mistaken Identity

As Greg was hoisted out of the miniature prison that was his crib, he tried to rub his eyes and get his bearings. Last night had been difficult, a combination of heat and restlessness had left Will, his partner who now carried him over to their bedrooms changing table, with a soaked and rather stretched diaper on his hands

“Lucky this one didn’t leak… he mumbled, his red muzzle curling as he opened his husbands diaper and began the process of wiping him down.

Greg’s only response was to stretch his arms out behind him and yawn. He’d got used to this process over the last few weeks but it didn’t make waking up in a body that was three foot smaller with substantially less motor and muscle control any easier. His own red fur was fuzzy and matted, his hands trying to straighten it out as Will dropped Greg’s used night-time padding into the pail under the table.

“Danny is already up” Will said with a smile as he collected a new Teddies branded diaper from under the changing table “I think he’s looking forward to his first day in the office” a little wink from the fox followed as the thick padding was taped securely round Greg’s waist.

“Cool… he’ll probably be disappointed when he gets to the day-care…” Greg mumbled as Will pulled him back up onto his arm.

“Sure you don’t want to take him up with you? He loves playing assistant when you two get your toys out”

Greg pouted “You know that’s not “play” Will, I need the practice for my presentations…”

“Sure you do, that’s definitely why I find you two laughing and clapping along every afternoon”

The pout was replaced by a blush “He… he asks funny questions. Besides, he might get into trouble, however good he can be.”

As the two left the master bedroom and turned towards the nursery, the sounds of a giggling child could be heard from outside the door. A large colourful sign saying “Danny” was emblazoned on it, little trains book-ending either side of the word. With a small push Will opened the door and a toddler in a poorly done up polo shirt and trousers that were hanging off his hips bounced out and grabbed his legs.

“Daddy look! I got dressed all by myself!”

Will sighed and put Greg down next to their son. The tip of his tail was a dull brown, the same as Greg’s, and when his husband's regression had kicked in you could’ve sworn they were twins. Danny was a little taller; he was four, half-way through pre-school and a little older than the age Greg had landed into, even if it was a difference of six months at most. But they fit in the same outfits, the suit even being a little tight on the pre-schooler. Will kept most of Greg’s clothes in the nursery, rather than moving all of his adult ones out of the walk in closest of the master bedroom. They’d laid out both sets out on the bean bag next to his toddler bed, ready for the two of them to get dressed before work, but apparently Danny hadn’t got the memo that the rather more infantile set was for him.

“You sure did kiddo, but aren’t those Greg’s clothes?” he noted with a smile “What’s he gonna wear today if you’re in his suit hmm?”

The boy ran back to the chair where his outfit had been folded and pulled out the short-alls and Teddies branded t-shirt they’d got free with their first repeat diaper order.

“Daddy can wear these! I like them lots and he always says I look really good in them!”

“Danny, Daddy needs to wear his suit.” Greg started to walk towards him, wanting to get into something to cover his diaper as soon as possible.

“Awww… but… but I wanna be like Daddy and do budgets and stuff” the kid started to tear up.

The couple sighed simultaneously. Those eyes could disarm an Olympic fencer at thirty metres, they stood no chance of resisting them.

“Ok, ok.” Greg backed down and looked at the shortalls “It’s not like I’ll be the only regressee underdressed”

“Yay!” The crocodile tears vanished in an instant from Danny’s eyes “I get to be a con-sul-tent!”

Will laughed and ruffled Danny’s head-fur “I’m sure all the other kiddos at the day-care will appreciate such a mature little helper!”

Danny pouted a little “Day-care? Daddy doesn’t go to day-care though?”

Greg shook his head “Sorry kiddo, I have to do adult things.” He pulled the t-shirt over his head as Will started adjusting the buttons on Danny’s polo “I’ll have to leave you with the caretakers in the break room and check in though, don’t worry”

The boy looked disheartened, his tail curling between his legs “I wanna do adult things though… I’m bigger than you anyway!”

“Danny, we talked about this. Daddy is just smaller than you because he’s regressed at the moment, you’re not “bigger” than him” Will’s voice was stern “Even if he’s not as good at making it to the potty as you are”.

Greg blushed “Not helping!”

Danny giggled “Don’t worry Daddy! I’ll teach you!”

Will chuckled as his husband pouted at him. Establishing that Danny still had to listen to someone who was, by most accounts, younger than him had been a difficult process initially. In many ways it mirrored his RegressCo welcome meetings, or advice from the Regression in the Workplace newsletter that came out each month.

“I guess I can do day-care…” the fox started and then felt Greg’s hand on his shoulder, his father now fully dressed in the rather infantile, if fetching, denim shortalls.

“Will ice-cream afterwards make it up to ya?”

In an instant the fox beamed. Will looked at Greg and sighed before shaking his head and laughing.

“So much for less sugar!” Will said, standing up to admire his handiwork “You’re all set for your first day at RegressCo though kiddo!”

“YAY!” Danny hugged Will’s leg “Thank you Daddy!”

Will groaned as he unstrapped Greg and Danny from the monorail seats. The two of them had decided a nap was in order during the thirty minute train ride. He had sympathy with Greg at least, his husband had clearly had a difficult night, but carrying both him and Danny wasn’t something he’d planned for.

“Oh well, I can leave them with Claire at reception. She’ll get them where they need to go.” He thought to himself, striding through the turnstiles and slowly making his way towards Essex Tower. He didn’t really want to wake either of them if he could avoid it, the slow suckle of their pacifiers felt like it would be rude to interrupt, or at least create more problems than it would solve.

The reception was as busy as always on a Monday morning. People mulling around with fresh coffees and sippy cups of juice, chatting about the week ahead and weekends gone. Will carefully made his way around all of them, the two sleeping boys on his arms continuing to sleep soundly.

“Morning Will… oh goodness!” a raccoon stood up from behind the reception desk as Will approached her.

“Morning…” Will replied with a groan “I need to get Greg upstairs and Danny to day-care…”

“Oh my! Gosh they look so precious… Leave them with me, I’ll get someone to take them there. You’re already a little late…”

“I am?” Will put his husband and child down on the desk and looked at his watch “Crud! Thanks Claire, you’re a lifesaver! I’ve got a full day committee to be in!” He grabbed his ID card from his pocket and tapped it through the turnstiles before running to the elevator, “Greg needs to go upstairs Danny to the day-care!”

“No problem!” Claire shouted to him, giggling a little as she watched him shove his way into the packed box. Her attention then turned to the two foxes sitting on her desk, both curled up into rather adorable balls of sleeping fur. A quick call through to her colleagues in the back office and both were back in the arms of a suitably adult guardian.

“Danny needs to go to the day-care, Greg upstairs to his office in finance.” Claire repeated Will's instructions as the two kids continued to sleep in the arms of their new carriers.

“Which one is which Ma'am?”

Claire looked at the two of them. Her initial instincts to send the one in the suit upstairs made sense but RegressCo training kicked in.

“Do they have their ID cards? Maybe in a pocket?”

Her two colleagues gave the rears of their charges a pat on the rear, both finding the small plastic card lodged in back pockets. Claire took a look at them and smiled.

“Thought so, didn’t think Greg was the type to wear those shortalls. Danny is such an adorable kiddo though, make sure Vivian knows he’s sleeping when you drop him off ok?”

“Will do, Greg will want to be woken up the moment he’s upstairs though right?”

“Yup!” Claire grinned “Can’t be sleeping on the job!”

As her two colleagues parted ways past the turnstiles, Claire brought herself back round to the small queue that started to form while dealing with the two boys, her day starting just as theirs would in a few moments time…

*************************************************************************************************************

Greg awoke to the sounds of crying coming from his left side. He groaned as he shifted on his back seat, feeling the bulb of a pacifier moving around in his mouth. The intensity of the noise was such that he could feel his paws instinctively heading to his ears, planting themselves against them

“Urghh…shut up!” he shouted at the direction of the noise, opening his eyes slowly as he did so.

“Danny! That’s no way to talk in here!” a female voice came in over the top of the wailing as Greg's eyes fully opened.

“Wha… where…” he shot up into a seated position, his eyes darting left to right as he took in his surroundings.

He was in the Essex Tower day-care. The massive letters scrawled across one wall above a row of toys of all shapes and sizes confirmed that much. Around him were dozens of crawling or toddling furs, some fully dressed and others in just a diaper. The crying next to him started to die down as a vixen bent down and picked up the sobbing form of the otter that had awoken him from his involuntary nap.

“There there, shhh… It’s ok, you just had a little boo boo…”

Greg pulled himself to his feet, adjusting and moving around so that he could feel a little more at home in the shortalls. They were just a little big on him, the legs coming down to his knees. More importantly though he needed to find a way out of the day-care. He took the pacifier out of his mouth, allowing it to drop onto the lanyard clip it was attached to and hang down his chest.

“Sorry Miss…” he glanced at the vixens staff card “Vivian. I think there’s been a mistake I…”

“Danny, I think you should apologise to Luke” she looked him in the eyes, her eyebrows furrowed.

“I… wait, Danny?” he shook his head “I’m not Danny, that’s my son!”

“Danny, this isn’t funny. You need to apologise to Luke now”

“I’M NOT DANNY!” he shouted back “LOOK AT THIS!” he went into the back pocket of his shortalls and…

“Wait… where’s my ID?!”

“Danny! We do not shout in here. Your little card is with me, don’t worry. I’m going to go change Luke and when I come back you’d better be ready to apologise” she started to rock the child in her arms, who had started to calm down.

“Wait! There’s been a mistake! I’m not Danny, I'm Greg, I…”

Vivian looked back around at him with a thunderous look. Greg immediately felt a sense of fear hit his brain like a truck. He knew what that look meant, even if it had been over two decades since he’d seen it.

“Fine. You want my attention, you’ve got it Danny.” she started to rub Luke's back, clearly trying to keep him calm for a little longer “I was told you were very well behaved by your Daddy on the phone…”

Greg tried to get his head back into gear “I… I’m sorry Miss, but I’m not supposed to be here! I work in the…”

“WAAAAAHHH”

Luke interrupted again, throwing his head back off of Vivian's shoulders as he bawled incoherently.

“Ssshhh baby” Vivian bounced the otter a few times before turning back to the regressed fox. “Danny, your Daddy told me you’d want to go back upstairs to work with them this morning. But they need to do their adult things, and you can have fun here ok?”

“Please just…”

“I’m going to change Luke now, go find a toy to play with. Be a good kiddo, I don’t want to tell your Daddy you were a brat…”

Greg wanted to respond again but before he could, Vivian turned and strode away towards a side room.

“What’s happened, how did I get…” he started the thought and immediately felt his brain put the pieces together. Looking down at his outfit, he slammed his palm into his forehead and groaned.

“Of course…. We didn’t swap the ID....”

His brain reached the next logical conclusion a moment later.

Danny was upstairs!

*************************************************************************************************************

“Hey Greg, wake up sleepy head!”

Danny slowly opened his eyes. Above him was someone he’d never seen before, their the brown fur of their form taking up almost his entire field of vision.

“Huhhh…” he groaned round his pacifier, still lodged firmly in his mouth.

“Oh goodness you must have a bad night” he felt a paw start to rub his back. Almost immediately he felt a sense of calm, the slow motions relaxing him as he took in his surroundings.

He was lying on a small footstool, just about large enough to accommodate him curled up. In front of him, past the figure, was a desk and office chair. A few colourful pictures that he recognised from his little attempts at art were tacked to a corkboard along with some posters and charts. Above the computer monitor a little sign saying “Greg Crawford” was written in clear black.

He couldn’t see his Daddy anywhere. But that was Daddy’s name.

“Wher...where am I?” he lisped round the pacifier.

“A very bad night” the figure responded, her caring tone relieving some of his growing anxiety. “You’re in your office honey, don’t worry you’ve not got anything urgent today until your budgetary committee at eleven”

“Office?” He looked around. Daddy worked in an office, so this must be his!

Daddy had let him come up with him!

He immediately grinned and sat up, only to feel a paw pull back the waistband of his trousers.

“Oh you’re potty training now?!”

Danny finally looked his impromptu caretaker in the face. It was a kangaroo, a very old one too, a few wrinkles on her face giving away years of work. She was still rubbing his back, her caring smile putting Danny completely at ease.

“Yeah!” he beamed back “Daddy W says I’m a big kid now!”

Another huge smile greeted him back “Oh that is a positively adorable nickname for Will dear. When did you start using that?”

“I dunno!” he responded honestly, jumping off the footstool Daddy W was Will and Daddy G was Greg, always had been.

He wanted to explore, this was so cool!

“Well…” the kangaroo paused, clearly a little taken aback “I’m glad to hear it! Do you need to go potty now?”

“Nuh-uh, I went potty before we left” he clambered up onto the office chair, it’s natural inclination to spin giving him an instant burst of joy.

“Such a good boy! I’ll go get you a cookie! One of Granny Evelyn's specials!”

He looked back. That must be her name! She looked like a granny, that was for sure!

“Thank you Granny Evelyn!” he giggled continuing to slowly spin on the chair.

“So polite today!” She turned round to head to a small side room behind them, it’s floor and walls looking like a kitchen of some kind. “I’ll let you get started!”

When the chair came to a stop, Danny settled down with it. The room he was in was large, brightly lit and contained several desks and chairs. Most of them were currently empty, but there was the figure of a jackalope talking to a raccoon down one end of the room.

“Let me know if you need anything Kirk, glad to have helped with the transfer.”

“Thanks” the racoon responded “Sorry about the late reply, nearly missed the deadline because of that damn fire drill”

“No worries, I’ll leave you to it. Just email if you need anything else” the jackalope left via the office entrance, leaving both Danny and the racoon alone.

Hopping down off the chair, Danny walked around the desks and made his way over. The racoon had already started digging through drawers, plugging a USB into the tower that lit up like a Christmas light. Daddy liked to say hello to all his plushies when they played together… Maybe that’s what he did here!

“Hi!” his voice was still a lisp round the pacifier in his maw.

“Gah!” The raccoon jumped, his chair going back a metre or so as he regained his balance.

Danny immediately felt a sense of fear build up. Had he done something wrong?

“So… sorry! I… I’m Danny!” he tried to recover, hoping he hadn’t made a mistake.

The raccoon smiled and breathed out slowly “Hah, it’s alright…” he moved himself back in front of the computer “I’m Kirk, glad to meet you”

Danny smiled back. He’d already made two new friends! Today was gonna be great!