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Van hiccuping and baby Lottie absolutely giggling her head off, realising it makes her laugh Van continues to make hiccup noises on purpose only to be gently told to be careful by Tai because she’ll end up getting them properly… her and baby Lottie laugh so much that they both end up getting hiccups which sends them into hysterics whilst Tai goes and fetches two sippy cups of water.

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In reference to this post:

Mild tw for needle talk

Mari struggling so badly to settle down at bedtime one night and cgs are cycling through trying to help her calm down and doz off. Mostly they think she’s just a bit fussy because she’d had a long day and missed her nap, but none of their usual tactics to soothe her to sleep are working. Shauna reading her a story doesn’t help, Gen braiding her hair back gentle doesn’t make her head dip sleepily at all, and Van climbing into bed with her doesn’t make quiet her down like it normally might.

Van’s trying to talk her to sleep by very softly going over their schedule for the next day, highlighting bits Mari might be excited about and such, but she realizes very suddenly why Mari might be so restless and whiny. Thursdays are her allergy shot days and she takes them in the morning because she’d spent all day thinking about it otherwise.

She brings it up carefully because she doesn’t want to upset Mari, but having it acknowledged actually seems to settle her a little. Mari gets teary about it instantly, because she’s so tired and she really really doesn’t want to have to do her injection. She’s getting a little more used to them, but they’re still a smudge on her days and the mere thought of it is making her stomach swirly and her chest feel tight.

Van, exhausted herself, doesn’t have the energy to talk Mari through it, so she just draws her in close and starts tracing shapes over her back. She’s sort of mumbling a story, but Mari can’t really make out the plot, which is okay because she actually just finds the way Van’s chest is humming and the low tone of her voice very soothing. She slowly starts to drift off, but when Van moved to get up, comes awake again immediately with a cry.

Suffice to say, Van doesn’t end up leaving and Mari dozes fitfully throughout the night. Van helps her with her injection the next morning, which is an ordeal in itself, but once they’re done, they both collapse sleepily on the couch to nap even though it’s barely eight in the morning.

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Little!melissa - moodboard

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Shauna being a canon mom of the group friend precrash to be a total mama bear cg pipeline

I imagine she definitely has some struggles with the actual concept of being a caretaker a little bit, but she has undeniable mama bear instincts. Pre-crash, she was so quick to people's sides if they got taken out on the field and sort of subconsciously looking out for the team in small ways. She brought extra water bottles for Nat for a while and drove Van to school sometimes and pulled Tai aside to calm down before she could get herself carded in a game and tried to keep everyone quiet during Laura Lee's prayers.

Post-rescue, she's got a lot of hard feelings about it all, but she does continue to wipe crumbs off the side of Mel's mouth and smooth out Jackie's hair and pat Mari's shoulder encouragingly. She disguises the care under a sort of "brash older sister" type personality, especially with people like Mari, Tai, or Van. Slowly she becomes more openly caring and soft with people who aren't Jackie and Mel, but it takes time. She thinks she's being real subtle with it, but almost no one is surprised when she tucks a frightened Van against her side after a run-in with a dog or gives up her ice cream cone for Mari who accidentally dropped hers on the ground. She's incredibly protective and the only person who doesn't know that is her.

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Protective cg! Yellowjacket with little nat! Maybe shes being rowdy in public and some old lady tells her off?

Nat's not one to be very loud or boisterous in public—none of them are, especially not post-rescue—but they're all prone to getting excited over their interests. One day, they're out at a record shop just to poke around a bit. Misty is hunting for a Tegan and Sara record (mostly because Gen bet her she wouldn't be able to find one), Mari is rifling around for Miles From Our Home by Cowboy Junkies (she's using it to process), while Nat flits around the store getting increasingly more excited by the finds she's discovering. Shauna and Van trail her around listening to her ramble quietly about certain artists and the vinyl art. She's off on a rant about Crowded House, getting a little louder than she normally might allow herself to get in public because of her excitement, when an older woman pushes past them muttering about "twenty-somethings and their manners." Nat flinches, but Van gently encourages her to keep talking, peppering her with a few questions to distract her as Shauna eyes up the woman carefully.

The others pick up on Shauna's demeanor and drift closer. Misty gives up on finding her record and pretends to rifle through a bin between them and the woman, just to put some space between them. Mari sidles over clutching a record in one hand and edges into the conversation. It's a fairly spacious shop and there's a low hum of chatter going on anyway, so Shauna's not entirely sure why this lady is so concerned with their volume, but she keeps an eye on her. Nat's still talking, quieter now, but her hands are waving about expressively and she accidentally knocks over a small plastic display sign. Van's bending casually to pick it up without even breaking their conversation, but the woman shoots off a comment about how Nat needs to be more respectful of the establishment and keep her hands to herself.

Nat visibly deflates and Shauna's so torn between guiding them out of the shop to get away from the woman and dealing with the situation some other way so that Nat can keep browsing the music. Misty makes the decision for her when she digs out her wallet and declares that their purchases are on her today, beckoning Mari and Nat up to the checkout counter. The woman is muttering something as they pass by to leave and Shauna's about five seconds from going off on her, but Van grabs at her hand and tugs her out of the shop before she can. Mari is saying something about ice cream, which perks Nat right back up again and they skip ahead together with Misty, who keeps cracking absurd jokes to try to make Nat giggle. Van keeps ahold of Shauna's hand the whole time because she can tell Shauna is simmering protectively and on the verge of snarling at every stranger who passes by too closely to Nat.

Nat forgets about the whole interaction by the time they get home with their treats, but everyone else has filed it away in the back of their minds. They won't forget so easily how Nat's whole demeanor shifted when the lady had commented, like she'd popped the safe bubble of Nat's experience in her favorite place.

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🐨 babyspace van with cg mari and mel

Van is feeling so happy around them and babbling and clapping so much

She’s currently in a phase where she crawls away whenever she needs to be changed. Tai wouldn’t really put up with it but Mari and Mel would play along and chase/catch her

Mel giving her so many snacks. She can’t resist when Van opens her palm and looks at her with puppy dog eyes.

Van would have a lot more accidents around them because the two of them are not nearly as on top of things as Tai is. Also Mari gives Van as much juice as she wants

any thoughts?

These are so sweet thank you for sharing! More below the cut!

She'd absolutely love being around Mari and Mel. Mari is so fun and Mel always matches her vibe.

Mel is way more patient than anyone gives her credit for and is always willing to play along with something to make Van giggle. Mari's less patient, but only slightly. Even if she does feel like she's losing her patience a little, she knows how to make getting Van to do what she needs her to do fun for the redhead.

Half the time Van isn't even asking for snacks—she wants to hold hands or is trying to show Mel something—but she's always stoked to get a snack instead.

They're a little less used to anticipating Van's needs than someone like Tai or Shauna because they're much more used to being taken care of by Van or being regressed at the same time. Mari doesn't have a great grasp on how Van's ADHD affects her for a long time because they don't ever sit down and talk about it, but she learns quickly. Mel's a little better at it because she also has ADHD, but their experiences with it are fairly different. Regardless, they try their absolute darndest always and are very willing to take tips from someone.

A super young Van is pretty shy and it takes her a while to warm up to Mari and Mel (and pretty much everyone except Tai), but they're both so committed to earning her trust and approval. They secretly have a tick chart of whose "winning" in terms of being Van's favorite.

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Pre-crash Mari having a really rough practice and getting increasingly more upset with herself as she keeps making mistakes. She's so distraught that she's stumbling over her feet way more than she normally would, missing all the shots she takes on goal, and losing possession within seconds every time she gets the ball. Van sees her wiping at her eyes harshly during a water break and purposefully trips to let Mari's next shot into the net. Tai catches on and eases up on her, just a little, until Mari can compose herself and get through the rest of practice without breaking down. She offers Mari a ride home after and Van sits in the back with her instead of up front with Tai like she normally would and shows Mari her newest comic book. Tai lets the radio play instead of the mixtape Van made her because she knows Mari likes Top 40 hits and she takes the long way to Mari's house when she sees that the girl has nodded off against Van's shoulder. Mari shows up to practice the next day with another new comic book for Van and cookies for Tai and plays so well that Coach Martinez lets her start the next game.

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Could you do a fic where Van's been struggling with getting tai to sleep and when she does finally fall asleep, she sleeps for a long time during which Van goes out to do something. Maybe tai wakes up really small and shauna takes care of her which they both have complicated feelings about

Shauna Shipman versus The Baby Monitor - Little!Tai

Summary: As seen above! The title has very little to do with the fic, I was just thinking about Scott Pilgrim when I was trying to come up with one.

Ft. Van, Tai, Shauna, Laura Lee, Mari (mentioned)

More notes at the end

Van lets out a long breath, leaning back against the bedroom door as it swings shut softly behind her. She startles slightly at the sound of footsteps coming down the hall, shoving her hands in her pockets before they can shoot up in front of her defensively.

"Woah, you okay?" Mari asks quietly, pausing in front of the bathroom door a few paces down. Van looks up, hoping the vestiges of her exhaustion have been wiped clear from her face. It isn't that she is annoyed with Tai—she absolutely isn't—for refusing to go down for a nap, but it is cutting into her afternoon plans a little. She's currently on her way down to the kitchen for a bottle in hopes of soothing Tai into a doze at the very least.

"I'm good," she assures Mari, plastering a smile on. "Tai's just a little fussy."

"Aw, poor kid," Mari hums sympathetically, leaning against the doorframe. "You've tried all the tricks?"

"Even down to the sleepy bunny story," Van nods. "I don't blame her after the night she had."

She had been woken by Shauna's hands yanking her up and out of bed in the middle of the night, pushing her down the stairs to meet a sobbing Tai in the kitchen. Tai had apparently sleepwalked herself into the pantry and hadn't been able to recognize where she was in the dark, resulting in a very valid meltdown.

"No kidding. Well, I'll let you to it," Mari murmurs, slipping into the bathroom fully.

Van is mildly surprised when the bottle has Tai more settled than anything else has managed to. Tai's head lolls against the crook of her elbow within minutes and she's breathing slowly and evenly minutes after that. She refrains from moving for another few minutes, just to ensure Tai really is asleep before she slides carefully from the bed, grabbing the baby monitor off the bedside table as she goes. Clipping it to her pocket, she meanders downstairs, trying to remember the things Laura Lee had mentioned she needed to take care of at breakfast.

"Van?"

Gen is standing in the hallway, duster in hand and she looks over at Van confusedly.

"What are you still doing here?"

"What?"

Still doing here? The phrasing makes her stomach flip over and she wracks her brain for a missed task.

"You're supposed to pick Mel up at four," Gen informs her. She holds up her wristwatch, which is unhelpfully tiny. Van squints. "It's three fifty. She's a twenty five minute drive away. Without traffic."

The expletives that leap forward from Van's mouth make her glad there aren't any littles nearby and she scrambles to grab the car keys. She's got two different shoes on and is half out the door when she realizes Tai's monitor is still clipped to her pants. She hurries back inside and casts around for a head of brown hair.

"Gen!"

She hopes her calling through the house won't wake Tai upstairs.

"What?"

"Where's Shauna?"

"Study."

The look she gets for busting through the study doors is really only a few steps away from scathing, but Shauna's face quickly goes worried when she scans over Van.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm late to get Mel, she'sgonnafreakpleasetakethis!" She rushes out, words blurring together in a way that she can't be bothered to correct right now. Shauna nods, wide-eyed, accepting the monitor that's shoved into her hands.

She watches as Van rushes from the room again, wondering vaguely when the redhead is going to realize she's wearing one of her own sneakers and one of Mari's. Sighing, she turns back to the computer, setting the monitor down beside it. She cranks the volume all the way up, returning to her work with hopes of getting a good chunk more done before either Van comes home or Tai wakes up.

Shauna is sucked into her writing before too long and the surrounding world fades away as she types. By the time she realizes she's been paying very little, if any, attention to the monitor, the sky outside has begun to darken. She hates how early it gets dark in the wintertime.

The monitor is still quiet and since no one has exploded into the study to take it back from her, she's pretty sure Van and Mel aren't home yet. Just as she's made the decision to wander into the den and put on a movie, a sound crackles out of the speaker. She pauses. If another doesn't come, she'll ignore it. When something a little too cry-like for her tastes filters forward, she hurries to climb the stairs to Tai's room.

When she flies through the door (more frenetically than she'd strictly intended to), Tai is reaching for her instantly and before Shauna can think, she draws Tai into her arms, cooing softly the way she would for Jackie or Mel.

"Shh, hey, I gotcha," she murmurs, resting her cheek against the side of Tai's head. "I gotcha, sweetie."

Tai makes a noise that sounds a lot like Van's name, but she settles against Shauna anyway, fingers twisting into the fabric of her shirt. She lets herself be rocked gently, cries slowly petering out into the occasional sniffle.

"There we go," Shauna whispers as Tai's breathing starts to even out. "That's better, hm? Did you have a scary dream?"

Tai nods, whining as she tries to bury her face further against Shauna's shoulder. It's a far cry from how Shauna is used to seeing Tai. The thought rattles around in her mind as she hums sympathetically, beginning to trace wide circles over Tai's back. She doesn't get to interact with little Tai very often. When Tai is feeling smaller, which doesn't happen often, she has an adorably unsubtle preference for Van or Akilah. As much as Shauna knows that Tai knows she has her back, she's never been Tai's first choice for a shoulder to cry on when she's little. It makes something in her chest warm when Tai murmurs her name, sighing contentedly when Shauna tightens her arms in response.

"Van will be home soon," she assures. Tai doesn't respond, releasing her grip on Shauna's shirt to grab at one of her hands instead, wrapping her fingers around Shauna's pointer and index, holding loosely. "But I've got you until then. Or—um—after that too, if you want."

Tai doesn't seem to be paying much attention to Shauna's awkward ramble, which is strangely comforting. At least she's no longer crying. After a few more minutes of sitting there peacefully, Shauna shifts, testing the waters. Tai doesn't react negatively from being slid off Shauna's lap, so she guides them both up to stand. Her fingers are held fast in Tai's grasp the whole time and she leads Tai out of the room, pausing at the top of the stairs to gauge the girl's reaction to going downstairs.

Instead of protesting, like Shauna was worried she might, Tai just grabs at the railing and starts making her way down the stairs. It's slow going. Little Tai seems to be just as methodical and careful as older Tai, but Shauna doesn't mind. She lets Tai keep ahold of her fingers as they go.

Once downstairs, she makes a beeline for the kitchen, Tai trailing along just behind her. Laura Lee sits at the table, paging through a recipe book, and she looks up as they enter. She waves, smiling brightly when Tai gives a shy wave back.

"Hey, guys," she greets quietly. Shauna can feel her eyes on her back as she nudges Tai gently into a chair, carefully extracting her fingers from Tai's grip so she can prepare a snack. "Snack time?"

Shauna opens her mouth to respond, a little taken aback when Tai chirps out an affirmation instead.

"Yes, please."

"That's right," Shauna agrees, unable to keep from smiling when Tai whips around to grin at her. "Snack time!"

She hesitates over the various cartons and bottles in the fridge, unsure what Tai will prefer, and ultimately settles for plain milk because she's pretty sure that's a safe bet. She pairs it with a few of Lottie's baby puffs, watching Tai's face as she presents the snack. Tai seems utterly unfazed, digging in with a murmured thanks. Letting out a slow breath, Shauna sinks into the chair beside Tai, ignoring Laura Lee's small chuckle.

They don't talk as Tai makes her way through her snack slowly, which doesn't come as much of a surprise to her. Even with Van, a small Tai is less than talkative. She's still half expecting for Tai to suddenly decide she can't stand to be around her and pitch a fit, but that's not really Tai's style. She seems relatively content, all things considered. Her nap had been pretty absurdly short, but Shauna isn't quite ready to tackle the task of getting her back to sleep. She'll wait for Van's judgement on that one.

After Tai finishes her snack, they sit quietly for a long few moments. Shauna because she's expecting Tai to get up and take care of her dishes herself and Tai because she's unsure of what to do next. Laura Lee steps in smoothly, standing up from her seat to take Tai's dishes from her and set them in the sink.

"You know, I think you might have time to watch most of a movie before I'm done cooking dinner," she suggests lightly. Her tone suggests she's talking to Tai, but she's looking at Shauna, which makes her flush a little.

"Um, yeah, Tai, wanna watch a movie?"

"'Kay," Tai says, still unmoving.

Laura Lee lifts a brow and Shauna practically leaps from her seat.

"C'mon then," she says as cheerily as she can manage, offering her hand again. Tai grabs it and allows herself to be guided into the other room, standing awkwardly by the doorway until Shauna directs her onto the couch. She sits primly, hands folded in her lap and it nearly makes Shauna laugh. She grabs a patterned blanket from the basket in the corner and hands it to Tai, turning away to dig for the remote in the bin in the coffee table.

By the time she unearths the correct one, Tai has made herself a little bit more comfortable, curling up underneath the blanket cutely. Her nose and eyes poke out from the top, the rest of her body hidden by fuzzy daisies.

"Alright, we have—uh—" Shauna holds up a few DVD cases, "these. Or I can look for some other non-Barbie themed movies. But Mari left these out last night."

Tai shrugs. Or, at least, Shauna's pretty sure that's what she does. She can't really tell from under the blanket.

"What sounds good, hon?"

Tai bites her lip, brows furrowing as she squints at the DVDs. The choice seems to be torturing her a little and Shauna takes pity on her after a long minute of deliberation. She shakes one of the cases.

"Van thinks this one is funny," she suggests. Tai's eyes scrunch as she grins and she nods eagerly, wiggling a little as Shauna chuckles and turns to pop the DVD into the player. She sits down on the couch nearby without getting too close, turning up the volume a little as various opening screens and commercials cycle on the television. Once the movie actually gets going, Tai is sucked in immediately, dropping the blanket away from her face as she leans forward in interest. It makes Shauna smile as she watches the wonder play out across her friend's face. She rarely gets to see Tai so unguarded.

By the time Van gets home with Mel, who seems mostly unbothered by the fact that the redhead had certainly been late to pick her up, Tai has scooted in to lean up against Shauna's side as she watches the movie. Every now and again her head lolls down towards Shauna's shoulder sleepily, but in true Tai fashion, she jerks awake before she can ever slip off fully. Mel joins them, settling in on Shauna's other side wordlessly, smiling at Tai kindly. Van sidles up after a few more minutes, looking even more frazzled than before, but smiling fondly at the sight that greets her.

"It went okay?" She asks quietly, sinking down on Tai's other side. Once her presence is realized, Tai instantly abandons her cuddle with Shauna to snuggle up under Van's arm, but she keeps her grip on a few of Shauna's fingers.

"I think so," Shauna replies, eyes on their entwined hands. Van gives her another warm smile.

"It seems like it," she assures. She gives Tai's shoulders a gentle squeeze. "Did you have a nice time with Shauna, baby?"

"Uh-huh," Tai nods, still captured by the movie.

"It was okay," Shauna decides after a few more minutes pass, looking up at Van. She's unusually anxious about how Van will reply, worries soothed instantly when Van nods firmly.

"Thank you," she says. "Really. I'm glad I asked you."

Shauna's mouth twists into a small smile.

"Me too," she murmurs. "Me too."

I think little Tai wouldn't have any reservations about letting Shauna take care of her, but she'd have more complicated feelings about when she's older. It's not that she doesn't trust and love Shauna, but she's much more comfortable being the caretaker than cared for. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, anon, sorry it took so long!

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Nat who normally doesn’t let herself fidget and squirm not realizing that one of her biggest tells that she’s regressed is when she does get a little fidgety. She’s leaning against the counter twirling her hair and Jackie knows not to hand her the normal knives to help chop the carrots for dinner—she grabs the brightly colored dull plastic ones instead. Lottie catches Nat watching television with a few fingers tracing over her lips and quietly switches it off the news to a kids show. Van notices Nat rocking back and forth on her heels while they’re waiting in line somewhere and she starts up a game of chopsticks to keep her occupied. Nat goes on for a while thinking they all have Spidey senses for when she’s feeling smaller because she just doesn’t make the connection. It only becomes apparent to her when Mari slots their hands together on a walk right as they’re about to cross the road and she realizes she’d been snapping her fingers rhythmically the whole way down the street.

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They’re just babies I can’t

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Hello! Another anonymous lover of the adult timeline stories. If you have any more coming out, I’d love to read them.

Hi there! I've been in a bit of a rut with full length fics (both ideas-wise and motivation-wise) and I've been super busy with life stuff, so my apologies for the lack of them recently! I hope to have some longer stuff out within the next week or so.

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🐨 Van thinking cg Mel is so cool. And going through a phase where she wants to tell her everything to make her proud. Van goes to the bathroom all by herself without any prompting and remembers all the steps— flushing, pulling and zipping her pants up, hand washing, etc— and is so excited for Mel to know

Mel is talking with Mari and Van knows she’s not supposed to interrupt so she doesn’t say anything but stands super close to Mel and bounces on her feet. Mel finishes the conversation and is like “yeah bud?” And Van tells her the entire story. Mel gives her a big hug and asks if she wants a sticker

This is the sweetest! Mel is so genuinely happy for her every single time. Van gets super good at waiting her turn in a conversation because Mel gives her a high five every time and she loves getting a fist bump for remembering her sun hat when they go out. Mel picks up a habit of mussing her hair when she's proud, which means Van's running around half the time with her hair all tousled (in my au I imagine she never went back to longer hair after cutting it shorter).

Mel's trying to give Van a sticker for her chart, but it ends up on her shirt or water bottle or stuck to the fur of her teddy, which is also fine with her. She sometimes tries to wrap up conversations a little quicker than she usually would if Van is fidgeting beside her, but sometimes she tests to see how long Van can wait patiently. One time, Van's waiting to tell Mel she needs the restroom or has cut her hand or something, which makes Mel stop testing her after that (she makes sure to clarify that Van's always allowed to interrupt her if it's an emergency). Poor kiddo.

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🍓 here! (inspired by seeing a tiktok of van and her mother ☹️)

- van accidentally hits lottie one day and immediately recoils, expecting a reaction, bc van’s mom always hit back. lottie is as soft as she’s ever been, reassuring van that she knows it was an accident.

- tai wants van to meet sammy and van keeps making excuses not to meet him bc she’s terrified that she’ll somehow mess it up. van has avoided kids forever bc she’s so scared of treating them how her mom treated her, and she doesn’t ever wanna scare the kids or make any kid feel like she did at that age. she agrees to meet him tentatively, only if nat joins.

- misty does nice things like making van tea, lecturing her abt the dangers of vaping (her and nat try all the flavors, after callie introduces them to her, for funsies), even braiding her hair. van tries to roll her eyes and act annoyed, but misty’s hands are a lot gentler than her mother’s were.

These are so heartbreaking and the bit with Misty is so so sweet! Thank you so much for sharing!

Her relationship with her mother isn't explored too much in the show but the bits we do see are pretty sad. That scene with the SAT phone and her blurting that she's gonna call her mom is just devastating. She knows her mom doesn't give a damn about her but she's also just a kid who doesn't know who else to call.

I think it's interesting that the girls get very physical with one another in the show but Van is never part of it, aside from when she's trying to separate them. She's somewhat comfortable with violence when she feels like it's necessary (slapping her mother awake in the pilot, certain points the wilderness, etc) but she hates it when she doesn't feel like it's going to solve a problem. That said, she hates to be the instigator and avoids it all costs. Little Van might have some impulse control issues, but she doesn't push or hit or pull hair ever. It's so horrifying to her when she finds herself in the middle of something really physical.

Van's really good with kids and she's the only person who doesn't know that. She's funny, she's gentle, she's not very tall—she's great with them but that doesn't do much to erase the fear that she'll make a kid flinch with her words. Nat's a very righteous person; if she sees a kid getting yelled at in public or sees a kid flinch away from their adult, her first instinct is to rocket over and put herself between them. She's a protector. Van really looks up to Nat in this way and wants to be like that, but her instinct is to duck her head and run away because she was never able to shake that childhood desire to flee from discomfort.

She tries so hard to be indifferent about Misty, but there's a huge part of her that actually adores her. Misty's one of the only people in her life that could reel off so many obscure details about the things Van likes and dislikes. She knows that Van doesn't like green colored candy and gets headaches from squinting so much and needs her pants to be loose and that she's mildly allergic to shellfish. She's never going to turn to Misty for a hug or a cry, but she also doesn't shy away when Misty pats her back or ghosts a hand over her hair to smooth it down or reaches out to fix the collar of her shirt.

If you made it this far, hi! Also, anon who requested a little Tai and Shauna fic, it's halfway done, sorry it's taking so long!

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ADHD Van thoughts (below the cut) - Apologies if you've gotten bored of these, but I cannot stop thinking about this hc. As always, I am working through my inbox and I'm so sorry if I've left an ask unanswered for a long period of time! My goal is to get through most of them soon.

Gets super flustered when she realizes she's forgotten something important. She's used to her forgetfulness being met with hostility and that's not so easily unlearned, even when the others try to be very gentle with her about it. Being so flustered only serves to make it more difficult for her to remember stuff because she gets anxious about forgetting and focuses really hard on trying to keep details in her brain, which usually backfires when focusing too hard just ends up jumbling them all up in the wrong order.

Doesn't understand why she's able to quote 95% of Jurassic Park from memory but cannot for the life of her remember to grab her wallet when she's leaving the house. It's frustrating for her to have specific pockets of very detailed knowledge about things but struggle to remember very simple things like her debit card pin at the same time.

Has big time sensory issues with her clothing being too tight. Anything form fitting is a huge no and she can get really upset with the cinched waists of hoodies and jackets. Sometimes getting her out of the house is a hassle because she hates the feeling of one shoe being tied tighter than the other, but she also can't stand when they're too loose.

If she skips a step in her routine one time, she's about ten times more likely to forget it the next time and then the step will be inadvertently dropped from the routine. She skipped the mouthwash step of her nighttime routine one time and then suddenly realized that she it had been ages since she'd gotten the bottle out of the cabinet weeks later.

Leaves things like her keys, wallet, sunglasses, etc on random surfaces in the house (mostly the kitchen) because if she puts them in drawers, she'll either completely forget they exist or be totally unable to find them again. Lottie really prefers the house not to be so cluttered, so they put a 'Van bin' on one of the counters where she can dump all her stuff and no one else can move it. It comes as a slight shock to almost everyone else that she loses stuff way less after this because the bin itself is so cluttered, but it makes perfect sense to her.

It becomes second nature for cgs to make sure they have spare sets of ear defenders in their bags when they go out because the likelihood and Van remembering them is so low. They're not just useful for her, of course, but she's the most likely to space out and not grab them.

She gets a little surprised every time someone understands a reference she makes in an attempt to explain how she's feeling about something or blurts something out that, in all honestly, doesn't really make that much sense. Her whole face totally lights up when she realizes she's come across exactly how she's intended to.

Really likes music, but gets fixated on one or a few songs at a time and doesn't want to listen to anything but those songs. Nat burns her CDs and lets her use her portable player to listen to the songs so that the whole house doesn't have to hear the same three songs on repeat for hours.

Has a habit of repeating things that are said to her as a means of giving herself an extra second to process the words. It's so second nature she doesn't always realize she's doing it.

"Van, can you pick up some paper towels when you go out later?" "Can I pick some paper towels when I go out later?" "Ye—" "Sure!"

She's not actually looking for a response—she's just processing. It gets a little confusing if she inflects like it's a question, but she's just sounding it out to herself. They all pick up on that after a while.

"Van, go pick up the dinosaurs, please." "Pick up the dinosaurs?" "The ones—" "'Kay."

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🐨 Van would love when Mari and Mel are both feeling older because it means she gets double the attention.

They’re a little more likely to let her get away with stuff she’s not usually allowed to do which is super fun for her. They would absolutely play along with her wildly complicated games and be so goofy to make her laugh. Mari’s unusually collected and gentle around a little Van because she loves the opportunity to make her feel as cared for as Van makes her feel.

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Cg Mel/Mari with little Van…Thoughts??

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Shoutout to anon who requested something about Van and Tai being regressed at the same time a while back. These are just hcs but I hope you enjoy anyway!

Van tries to force herself out of her regression whenever Tai is feeling little for a long time. No one really picks up on it at first because she's pretty adept at. It happens the other way around a bit too.

Usually, Van feels a little older than Tai and she likes to help take care of her. She puts so much effort into making Tai laugh, sometimes even going as far as to fake trip or bump into something (which usually turns into a real fall and a real bruise).

Tai will trail Van around the same way that Van does with Lottie or Shauna. She'll request the same snack as Van at snacktime, even if her favorite sitting right there, raise her hand to vote for the same movie as Van, announce she needs the restroom if Van does, and so on. This starts to calm down some after heavy encouragement from cgs for Tai to be a little more independent and advocate for the things that she wants. Van sorta has no idea that this was happening and they end up not mentioning it to her so she won't feel bad.

Van gets really stressed out if she feels like she can't fix a problem that little Tai is having. If Tai is refusing to go down for a nap or is fussing over a headache they haven't figured out she has yet or is just a little upset that Jackie had dibs on the toy she wanted to play with and doesn't respond to Van trying to help, Van's RSD kicks in and she'll convince herself Tai is upset with her.

Little Tai isn't quite as patient with Van's rambling and forgetfulness and impulsivity as older Tai is. The first time they're both regressed, Shauna leaves them alone together out of habit. She's juggling a lot and passively assumes that Tai will be able to handle Van for a second while she steps out to soothe Jackie back to sleep, but she comes back to them both crying. She manages to get the story out of them that Van wouldn't stop interrupting Tai and Tai got a little annoyed and told her to shut up, but immediately regretted it when Van started crying.

Tai really likes listening to music when she's regressed and Van tries super super hard to do it with her. Laying quiet and still on the floor while listening to a CD isn't exactly her idea of fun, but if she really focuses, she can get lost in her mind and keep still for a good few songs. It turns into an exercise for her to practice doing something that she doesn't necessarily find fun. Shauna challenges her to pay attention all the way through one song, then two songs, and so on. If Tai's feeling old enough, she'll pepper Van with questions about what she thought of certain parts of the songs when they're over.

After an incident where Tai ended up in tears while playing dinosaurs with Van and Mel, they just take it as a ground rule that Tai shouldn't get involved when those two are playing together. If Mari's playing along, though, she's allowed because Mari's shockingly good at keeping the game somewhat calm and making sure Tai's not too overwhelmed by it all.

Shauna gets a little stressed out by both of them feeling smaller at the same time. She's torn by her allegiance to Tai causing her to want to take care of her and that same allegiance making her want to look after Van for Tai's sake. She tries wrangling them both the first few times, which she manages, but it spreads her a little thin. Usually there are enough other cgs around that are super willing to step up and look after Van while Shauna takes care of Tai. Van's cool with this 99% of the time, unless something has happened that's causing her to need Shauna above the others.

Little Van loves to tell Tai stories. Allowing her to tell Tai a story before a nap or bedtime is the quickest way to get her to settle. It always makes her sleepy too and Tai responds great to it. Even if she doesn't fall all the way asleep, it gets her to stop fussing over needing to sleep so much. Seeing Van start to doze off and get taken to bed tends to stop any fights she might try to put up because it registers in her mind as "oh, it's bedtime because Van is sleepy and I know I'm usually sleepy when Van is."