Work Text:
“Martin help!” Sasha nearly dropped the plate she was washing as Martin jumped up from the kitchen table and ran up to the sink next to her. “Martin help! Martin help!”
“Do you need help with something, baby?” Sasha asked as she carefully placed the plate back in the sink. They’d just finished up lunch and he didn’t get any food on himself so he probably didn’t need to change clothes.
Martin huffed and shook his head, making grabby hands toward Sasha. “Martin help!”
“Um, Jon? Think you can translate for me?” Looking over to the table, Sasha gave Jon a confused look as she gestured to Martin who took to puffing out his cheeks and crossing his arms.
Jon had decided to be big this weekend, or at least today, since work actually hadn’t been that bad this week. He chuckled as he looked up from his phone, “I don’t think he wants you to help him, but rather he wants to help you.”
Sasha raised her eyebrows and turned to Martin, “Is that right, sweetheart? Do you wanna help Mama with the dishes?”
Martin’s eyes widened and he nodded enthusiastically, a wide smile spread across his freckled face. “Martin help!”
“Sorry, hun. This isn’t a job for little boys so you don’t have to worry about this okay?” Martin’s smile instantly fell and tears slowly creeped on the corners of his eyes. He just really wanted to help his Mama, she’s the one who always does the dishes and he thought she deserved at least a bit of help. And Mama and Papa trusted enough to handle glass cups unlike Jon when he was regressed.
“Hey, Martin.” Martin picked his head up and looked to Jon through tear filled eyes. “Would you like to help me pick out a book to read? If you’re good I can even read it out loud to you if you’d like.”
Martin gasped and ran over to Jon, tugging eagerly on his sleeve as he bounced in place. “Martin help! Martin help Tata!”
As the two of them disappeared in the living room, their voices quietly go on about what book Martin wanted to be read out, Sasha sighed and got back to washing up.
“Martin help!” Martin reached for the spoon in Tim’s hand only for it to be pulled away at the last second. “Martin help!”
“I know you want to help, but Papa can handle this. Just eat your lunch okay, pup?” Tim said, bringing the spoonful of mashed potatoes up to Jon’s lips but somehow still managing to get it on his shirt. “Oh look at you, you messy baby. Food is for eating now for wearing, kitten.”
Jon had regressed suddenly that morning, dropping far into a younger mindset which meant that he wasn’t able to feed himself and Martin was determined to help out. Especially since he was the older one right now. “Martin help!” He leant forward and grabbed the spoon from Tim’s hand, accidentally toppling over his cup and sending grape juice spilling all over the table. “... oops.”
“Martin,” Tim sighed. “I told you that you didn’t need to help. No, Jon, no don’t do that.” Tim reached over and stopped Jon from splashing the juice on the table. Jon whined and wriggled in his seat, confused as to why Papa was telling him no. “Hey now, none of that. sigh Come on you two, let’s get your food moved to the living room so I can clean this up.”
Martin watched as Tim placed Jon on his hip and grabbed his plate, walking out of the kitchen into the other room. “Sasha! Can you watch these two while they eat in the living room? We had a bit of a mess in the kitchen.”
“Coming!” Sasha called out as she entered the kitchen, “Hey, Martin. Can you bring your plate to the living room or do you need help?”
Martin stuck out his bottom lip and reached for his napkin, carefully placing it on one small drop of the spilled juice. “Martin help…”
“Don’t worry, sweetie. Papa’s gonna clean this up and you need to finish your lunch okay?” Martin stared at the messy table before scooting out of his chair and picking up his plate. “Thank you, love. Come now, we can watch cartoons while you eat. Sound good?”
Martin was sulking. It was honestly really adorable the way he pouted and half heartedly stacked blocks with Jon. But Sasha’s baby was upset and it broke her heart even if it was really cute.
“Martin? Cupcake, are you alright?” Sasha called out from her spot on the couch folding laundry.
A small sigh was thrown her way in response, “... Martin help.” God, the sadness was absolutely dripping off of Martin’s words. He really has been wanting to help out all weekend. It was really cute at first but any time she or Tim tried to do any task, Martin would come in and ask to help, even with the more difficult and dangerous things.
But it probably couldn’t be helped given Martin’s history of taking care of his ailing mother. They’d talked if over with him at length before. Tim and Sasha wanted Martin to be able to relax and not worry about anything while regressed and he’d agreed with them. But it was taking all of Sasha’s willpower not to give in right now.
She looked from her little gloomy baby to the laundry basket full of clean, freshly laundered socks and smiled. “Oh Martin honey, could you come over here please?”
Martin tilted his head but complied after giving Jon a pat on the head. “Mama?”
“Hi baby. I know you were busy playing blocks with Jon but do you think you could help me with something?” At the word help, Martin picked his head up and started bouncing on the spot.
“Help? Martin help?” Sasha bit the inside of her cheek to keep her face neutral. But the sight was just too much and she let a small smile tug on her lips.
“Yes, you can help me with something. See that basket right there?” Martin followed Sasha’s pointing finger to the basket of colorful mismatched socks and nodded. “Good! Do you think you could help me sort them? Just match up two socks that look the same and hand them to me so I can fold them. Does that sound good?”
Martin beamed and nodded, plunging a hand into the pile of socks and pulling out a bright blue sock with small pictures of flamingos printed on it. Tim’s socks first then. The two quietly worked on the laundry together, Martin methodically pulling out a sock, finding its mate, and handing the pair off to Sasha who would fold them together in between folding other clothes.
“Martin help!” he grinned as he handed off the last of the socks.
“Yes you did! Thank you so much, baby. You were such a big help.” Sasha replied, glad that she was able to let Martin help in a way that wasn’t too difficult but left him happy in the end.