#because i can't make anything conscise

[a-clockwork-justice]

Dr. Jekyll and Little Harry - Jekyll and Hyde age regression fic concept (TL;DR at the end)

My first original J&H post, shooting into the dark here (also a crosspost from Reddit. Also also, I'm not in the age regression community nor do I know anyone adjacent to it, but this concept lives in my head rent-free and if anyone happens to be in the community and/or have some thoughts about this then all is welcome).

I have an idea for a reimagining of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde where instead of Jekyll turning into Hyde, he’s hiding the fact that he age regresses in secret to cope with the pressure of maintaining his respectable public image. Basically, age regression takes the place of Hyde and the draught from the original story. Of course, since it’s not becoming of a respectable Victorian gentleman to act so childishly, even in private, Jekyll has to keep his little side under absolute wraps at all times, only it’s getting increasingly more difficult as life throws more hurdles his way.

With the main story during the canon time period i.e. 1885-1886, this further complicates things as age regression was virtually unheard of back then - at the very least, Jekyll has reason to fear getting thrown in Bedlam if people were to find out - and resources and information are pretty much non-existent. So, how does Jekyll find out about age regression at all, much less engage in it? I have a couple of ideas for his backstory, one that’s rooted in trauma, one isn’t.

Backstory 1 (trauma edition): Decades before the main story, both of his parents die within days of each other at his childhood home in Edinburgh, so the younger Jekyll has to travel back home to plan their funeral and manage their will and maintain the stoic image a man should when all he wants to do is break down and cry Then he enters his childhood bedroom, and sees everything exactly the way it was when he left it, and time seems to fold in on itself, and he feels like a kid again, and everything is easier, and his immense burden is momentarily lifted. Just before he leaves Edinburgh, he secretly squirrels away some of his childhood toys and trinkets and hides them in his home in London, just in case he ever needs to return to that little space again, and he does, more often than he anticipated.

Backstory 2 (non-trauma edition): He just does. No explanation requires, just that he regresses to cope with the stress of living. In this version of the story though, the death of his mother, his one remaining parent, is a plot point and one that also forces him to return to his childhood home to take care of affairs, though in this version he takes Utterson with him to help out with the legal side and for emotional support.

With the backstory out of the way, here's a rough list of plot points I'm considering adding to it:

Jekyll regresses into his little self, which he calls little Harry, voluntarily when he gets a few spare hours to himself. He shuts himself in his bedroom, gets out a few toys he has under lock and key, plays for a few hours, goes to sleep, wakes up in his adult headspace, goes about life, rinse and repeat. It's not perfect, like how he gets lonely sometimes in little space but knows it has to be that way, and the risk of exposure and public shaming is always looming over his head, but he deals.

A series of hurdles in life, including long, hard shifts at the hospital and travelling to Edinburgh to see his dying mother (again, this depends on which version of his backstory I go with), make it increasingly hard to control and hide his little space, and he suddenly starts slipping involuntarily as a stress response. The longer he tries to suppress it, the more fiercely it wants to emerge.

At one point, hit butler, Mr Poole, finds out the truth about his master's little space, and though he's new to it, he eventually becomes little Harry's caregiver while he regresses. Still, Jekyll remains paranoid about this information leaking out further and gives Poole and all his household staff hefty pay raises to keep their mouths shut, threatening them with severe consequences if they tell so much as breathe a word to a mouse about their master acting like a child in his spare time.

Meanwhile, similar to canon, his increasingly erratic and furtive behaviour, as well as a few Freudian slips, tip his friends off to something being odd, and they want to find out what's troubling him, so Mr Utterson and Dr Lanyon, like in canon, do some sleuthing and put together that it's definitely something to do with Jekyll's childhood.

In the final act, the truth comes out when Jekyll breaks down and confesses. Contrary to his fears, his friends take it with compassion and understanding, albeit being surprised at first, and they all communicate healthily to help him feel more comfortable as both versions of himself as well as swearing up and down that they're not going to throw him into Bedlam, nor does he belong there. Still, they all agree to keep it to themselves, since Victorian society is Victorian society and not everyone is as decent and understanding as they are.

So there's the basic rundown of the story, now for other point about how Jekyll's age regression works, as well as how he would handle it in the canon era:

Jekyll typically regresses between the ages of 4 and 7, just old enough to be by himself for a few hours. He could probably regress even younger if he wanted to, but he doesn't want to risk it with no one to watch him.

Jekyll keeps his toys and other little items locked away, and they're either bought by him in secret or squirrelled away from his childhood bedroom. In both versions of the story, however, his favourite toy is a rag doll that he painstakingly stitched himself, which he made because he was lonely in his little space and wanted a friend to hug and keep him company. If this were set in the modern era, I'd give him a stuffed toy rabbit; however, teddy bears weren't invented until 1903, so a rag doll is the closest period-appropriate equivalent thereof.

Other toys include building blocks, toy soldiers, a model train set, and a music box, as well as some children's books and a couple of jigsaw puzzles.

Since children's clothes in that era weren't terribly different from adult clothes and don't look that much more comfortable (and even if they were significantly different, they wouldn't have made children's clothes in adult sizes back then anyway), little Harry spends a lot of his time in nightclothes since they'd at least be more comfortable for playing in.

Little Harry doesn't eat a lot, since he initially only regresses for a few hours at a time in the evenings and can't ask for or get food from the kitchen without risking revealing himself, but when he starts being taken care of by Mr Poole, he's fed a lot of sweet treats and warm milk with honey. Also, his favourite is marmalade, specifically Keiller's marmalade, which was a really famous Scottish marmalade from back in the day.

Certain things that can make Jekyll feel the pull of his little space, aside from stress, are smells, especially foods, that remind him of his childhood in Edinburgh - things like marmalade, treacle, porridge, shortbread, and kippers.

TL;DR

Concept: A retelling of "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" where Dr Jekyll hides his age regression as a coping mechanism. Age regression replaces Hyde, posing challenges during the canon era of 1885-1886.

Backstory Options:

Trauma-induced regression: Jekyll's parents' deaths lead him to discover regression during a visit to his childhood home.

Non-trauma regression: Jekyll discovers regression as a coping mechanism without a specific trigger.

Plot Points:

Jekyll regresses into "little Harry" voluntarily but struggles to hide it amidst life's challenges.

His butler, Mr Poole, discovers his regression and becomes his caregiver, while friends Mr Utterson and Dr Lanyon notice his odd behavior.

In the final act, Jekyll confesses, and his friends react with compassion, promising to keep his secret due to societal intolerance.

Details:

Jekyll typically regresses to ages 4-7 and keeps toys locked away.

His favourite toy is a rag doll, and other toys include building blocks and a music box.

He often wears nightclothes for comfort during regression.

Favourite foods like marmalade evoke vivid memories of his childhood in Edinburgh, triggering regression episodes.